Chapter 8: Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything to do with it, though I do own the shop girls and Alex. But that's all and nothing more. L

A/n: as this is rated PG-13 it now has some profanity used in this chapter that isn't that light. Just thought I'd let you know.

The door swung open to reveal a blinding light. Though she couldn't see, Hermione felt a push forward from Greyhelm. It made her stumble, coincidentally forward, into the vault. The bright light slowly disappeared and into sight came the most wondrous heirlooms of the Granger Family that Hermione had ever seen.

Off to her left was an enormous glass case that was overflowing with assorted gems. There was a ruby and garnet encrusted sceptre, along with another one of emeralds and amethysts. There was a small tiara encrusted with topaz and aquamarine gems.

The greatest splendour of all, however, was the golden crown that had been placed on the purple- the colour of royalty- cushion. It was encrusted with diamonds and a teardrop cut sapphire. Hermione's mouth fell open at the site of it. She could not believe that one day, that crown would be hers. Actually, in a little over a month.

Framed in a silvery frame was a picture of a young girl wearing a tiara. She had strawberry-blond hair that was wavy and fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were a crystal blue that were emphasised by the blue of the gown and the sapphires in the tiara.

She held a gleaming sceptre in her right hand and a pearl orb in her left. The girl looked about the age of fifteen and was very stunning. Hermione mulled over who it might be, until her eyes came across the nameplate below the picture. It read, Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandria Christine Matilda Jane Calloway Granger.

Alex! This was what she had looked like. Hermione's eyes flittered past and came across a dusty book that had been shelved on an equal dusty shelf. It called to her, as many books had done in the past. She picked it up, dusted its cover off, and nearly fainted.

This book was the first edition of Hogwarts, a History to ever been published. Hermione's hands trembled as she gingerly opened the first page. Dust flew into the air and she coughed slightly, undaunted however. She could not believe what she was holding in her very own hands.

Each page was at least two hundred years old, though the book was still in good condition. After amazing her self by reading this one of a kind book, Hermione placed it down once more and let her eyes wander over the rest of the room.

It was quite large and full of heirlooms. Hermione knew that she did not have much time before she had to go back to real world, however she could not resist the urge to look around. Straight ahead of her, hung a large tapestry that bore the shape of an oak tree.

She had seen one like it before, in the House of Black. However, this one, unlike the other, had only one scorch mark. It was in the position of next Alex's name, therefore could only mean Madeline.

Hermione followed each branch until she found her own name at the very base. It read, Her Royal Highness Hermione Jane Calloway Granger. She wondered where the Calloway had come from, but then she remembered it to be in both Alex's name and her mother's maiden name.

The young witch stood up and looked hurriedly at her watch. It told her that it was almost noon and therefore she should head up soon. Just as she was leaving, however, her eyes caught sight of another mentioning of her own name. It was written in Alex's own hand on a letter closed with a magical seal.

Hermione knew she had to pick it up, and as she did so, an image of Alex's face appeared out of thin air.

'Hermione?' The image spoke.

Hermione, being a little taken back, didn't reply immediately but realised that there was no one else around. 'Yes?' the sixteen-year-old timidly replied.

'I can't stay long, but I wanted to warn you. Something unexpected will soon be kept a secret. Whatever you do, don't deny the chance of it and don't regret it either,' Alex slowly explained. It sounded almost like a prophecy to Hermione.

'A secret?' Hermione asked.

'Yes a secret.'

The young girl stepped into the bright sunlight a few minutes later, slipping the heavy wrought iron key into her pocket along with the unopened letter. She shielded her eyes from the glare and set out to look for her companions. Her chocolate brown eyes soon locked onto a redhead and a raven-haired.

They sat apart, though both were reading The Daily Prophet. Tonks was still on the steps, whereas Ginny had situated herself on a bench close to the front doors of Gringotts. As soon as she spotted Hermione, she tucked the Prophet into her back pocket before skipping over to the older girl.

'Hey! How did it go?' Ginny asked enthusiastically, while the two of them wandered over past Tonks, aimlessly.

Hermione was about to tell Ginny all about the warning Alex gave her, but something stopped her. 'It was good. I didn't know that my family had such a history. There was even a family tree just like the one back at Snuffles's house,' Hermione said using Sirius code name he had made up almost two years ago. While the two of them walked, Tonks casually stood up and sauntered along the cobblestone alley loosely following their tails.

'Oh wow. I think we may have one somewhere in our attics, but I doubt it's in good condition!' Ginny smiled. The two girls walked past the line of stalls and shops until they came upon one that stood out. Both girls knew this shop very well by now.

A bell quacked in the back of the shop as they passed through the chequered door. Their eyes were met with a treat of all the different colours in the store.

The shelves were filled to the brim with items that would keep any prankster entertained for years. It was the work of the two redheaded twin brothers. They now had decided to grace the girls with their presence and now stood in front of Ginny and Hermione.

'Why hello dear sister,' Fred began.

'And to you too Hermione. Seen Ron this morning?' George finished mischievously as Hermione blushed, though she knew she had to reply to the two of them.

'As a matter of fact I have, though by now I would think he was back fast asleep in his bed,' Hermione smiled and turned it over to Ginny to continue the banter between her siblings.

'My evening went quite well, before you ask,' Ginny smiled at the two of them, before turning her back to them and looking at a few of their pranks that lay on the table in front of the counter.

'What do you mean,' Fred spoke in an elderly brotherly tone.

'By that?' George's tone matched his twin's.

'Oh lets just say I had a sleepover,' Ginny tried to hide the grin that was spreading across her face. It was so fun to wind up her brothers.

'With who?'

'A boy,' Ginny replied simply. Hermione stood of the side during all this, also trying to suppress a giggle. It was all too funny the looks on Fred and George's faces.

'Do we know this,' Fred's eyes widened in elderly brother concern.

'Boy?' George's eyebrows went up in elderly brother concern.

'Oh yes, you know him quite well. For instance, I know for sure that you saw him yesterday,' Ginny waited for them put all the pieces together.

Then they did as they exchanged glances. Their eyebrows went higher up, their eyes widened further, their minds clicked and their mouths opened to emit the sound of realization, 'Ohhhhh….' However, they weren't finished.

'You had a sleepover with,' Fred's voice began to rise in older brother over protectiveness.

'Harry Potter?' George growled.

'Oh don't worry, nothing happened,' Ginny smiled cheerfully at her brothers as she pulled Hermione out of the shop. Once out, after slipping the sunglasses back on, the two teenaged girls burst into laughter.

'Oh that was fun!' Ginny spun around in a circle, enjoying her laughter. Hermione joined in, though their fun was short-lived as they both bumped into an elderly woman. Her bags went flying as Ginny toppled over her, while Hermione just barely managed to stay standing.

'Oh my god, I'm so so so sorry, ma'am!' Ginny rambled as she and Hermione helped the woman. The woman didn't think this to be adequate apology because as soon as she stood, all she did was grumble about 'good-for-nothing teenagers these days'.

'Well excuse us,' Ginny sneered back. The woman had put a damper on their moods until they saw a swinging sign up ahead that was quite peculiar.

It was painted in bright pinks and purples and had the writing LaLa Glitz scrawled up on it in a glittering shade of gold. The swinging sign hung above a fuchsia awning over a lilac door.

'This is new,' Ginny remarked as they two exchanged glances and decided to go in. As they crossed the threshold, both girls were met with bright beams of light in shades of the rainbow. Once their eyes grew accustomed the lights, they looked around.

The shop held many different sights, each better than the first. Right in front of Ginny was a rack of specially made gel quills in various colours. They ranged from plain reds and blues to bright pinks and yellows, along with glittering purples. The girls' eyes went wide as they fingered each quill.

'Go ahead, you can try them on this spare piece of parchment,' A girl not much older than Ginny and Hermione popped out from behind the counter. She was obviously the owner of this store, but what was remarkable about her were the pink pigtails she wore and the escaped wisps of the same colour that framed her face. On most, this would have appeared strange but on this young girl, it looked stunning.

'Pardon?' Hermione finally spoke after a second's pause of taking in this girl's appearance in.

'I said if you want to try the gel quills out, use this spare piece of parchment,' the girl handed it to Ginny who instantly chose one of the quills to try.

'They're wonderful,' Ginny complimented after doodling with one of the emerald green quills.

'My sister and I invented them ourselves. Muggles have pens like these and we thought that the Magical community might like to enjoy them as well. I'm Ana Mai. My sister is somewhere around here, probably downstairs. She's Katie Rai,' Ana Mai described to Hermione as she looked at the pink sparkler quill.

A crash down below was heard and Ana Mai left to go investigate it.

'What do you think?' Hermione asked the younger girl.

'Well… I have to admit I love these gel quills and that girl seems nice enough. Even her hair isn't that outrageous,' Ginny answered. It was now she wished she had more spending money to buy the quills.

'Me too. How about this, since I have some extra money, that I buy you these for your birthday? It is in a couple of days, you know,' Hermione offered as she pulled her moneybag out of her pocket. She had refilled with money from the vault. Her vault now.

'Oh all right. But lets look around some more,' Ginny gestured at the rest of the marvels the shop beheld. In the back corner, Hermione spied some dressy teenage girl robes, along with an assortment of muggle tops, skirts and jeans. Most were of the sparkly and bright colour range.

There were also shelves upon shelves overflowing with earrings. Dangling, flashing, studded, conservative, punk, and enchanted earrings all hung there. Hermione found herself drawn towards them, while Ginny drifted to the back.

Her fingers rested on a pair of small dangling earrings. The earrings were one heart for each ear. The left hand earring was a pink heart that read True, while the right hand earring was a red heart that read Love. Hermione's eyes started to tear up, though she didn't understand why. True Love. Her trembling hands picked the earrings up, as she knew that she was meant to have these earrings.

'They're my masterpieces,' a young girl popped out from behind the stair well. She looked just like Ana Mai, though younger and instead wore her light blue hair flowing over her shoulders. 'I'm Katie Rai, in case you didn't know.'

'I love these earrings, and I'm Jane,' Hermione quickly used her middle name to cover up who she really was.

'Nice to meet you Jane. Is that your sister over there?' Katie gestured towards Ginny who was in mid-laughter with Ana Mai.

'No, just my best friend,' Hermione smiled at the thought of being related to Ginny. Imagine her being one of those unruly Weasleys…….. Hermione's grin widened.

'Do you go to school around here?' Katie bent down to pick up a few of the scattered earrings that had fallen off.

'What do you mean?' Hermione didn't want to give away too much information without reason.

'As in do u go to Hogwarts, or an overseas school? For witchcraft and wizardry of course since this Diagon Alley,' Katie explained once more as she arranged the earrings just so.

Hermione saw not much harm in saying Hogwarts as she wouldn't be able to lie about the other schools as easily as she did with her name. 'Hogwarts.'

Just then, Ginny came skipping over to Hermione, 'Look at these jeans!' The redhead wore a pair of flared jean that were sparkled with glitter towards the feet. The waistline hugged her hips perfectly and the legs flattered her amazingly. All this, paired with the pale green spaghetti strap top she was wearing earlier that left a midriff showing, made Ginevra Molly look stunning.

Katie looked at 'Jane' strangely, as Hermione remove her sunglasses to examine Ginny's jeans more closely. Katie then realised why she had felt in the back of her mind that she knew this girl. This girl had been on the cover of 'Witch Weekly' more than she could count on both her fingers and toes combined. She was the one who had been linked to both Viktor Krum and Harry Potter romantically. But who was the younger one? Katie had seen her photo a few times, but couldn't remember the name.

'Excuse me, but by any chance are you Hermione Granger?' Katie asked as Hermione stood up.

Hermione sighed. She just realised that she had taken her sunglasses off and that the power Mrs Weasley had bestowed on them must have been a very strong charm. 'Yes,' Hermione gave up. She did wonder how these girls knew who she was, but then she remembered the amount of times she had been in the magazines and the fan and hate mail she received constantly over the years.

'Oh My God!' Katie and Ana completely changed from nice normal girls to over excited star struck ones. 'Is it true that you're dating the famous boy-who-lived, Harry Potter?'

'NO IT IS NOT TRUE! I have never and will never date my best friend Harry!' Hermione practically screamed at these girls. Her hair frazzled as she temper rose. It wasn't so much that they thought she was dating Harry, it was the fact that it was in front of Ginny. It was time to go.

'Gin, grab those pants, this belt and any three quills you want. Those are my birthday presents to you.'

Ginny smile at her best friend. She also knew it was to time to get out of here as fast as possible. It wouldn't take long for the wizarding community to find out that they were in Diagon Alley. She ran back into the changing rooms to slip her milky cream skirt back on.

When she came out, she found Ana Mai and Katie Rai badgering Hermione on whom she was really dating and who Ginny was. The red head just rolled her eyes, and then realised why these girls didn't know who she was. She was still wearing her bronze sunglasses that concealed her true identity.

'She's not going to tell you as much as you pester her. I wont tell either, so don't try it,' Ginny added as the girls turned towards her. 'Got what you want Hermione?'

Hermione nodded, holding up three quills for herself, the earrings and another three quills for Tonks. They came with a rainbow selection of ink and just looked like Tonks. 'Just these please,' Hermione gritted her teeth. As she placed the items down, she laid her sunglasses next to them as well.

As Ginny waited, she looked forward to finally going to the spa. It had been a long day, what with waking up with Harry and all.

Five minutes later, they finally able to leave. Hermione looked at her watch as they ran towards the spa. It read '3:10'. 10 minutes late all because of those girls!

'Where's Tonks?' Hermione asked Ginny as they zigzagged through the crowd.

'Behind us,' Ginny looked over her shoulder to confirm. Tonks wasn't running, because if she had been it would have appeared as if she was with the other two, but she was obviously speed walking towards her destination.

The spa was just around the corner, and thankfully, they didn't arrive there too late. Hermione kept apologising profoundly to the attendants who just said that it didn't matter, as today had been a slow day anyways.

It was lovely. All three girls signed up for a head to toe styling, along with a full body massage. However, the best part was that the Order had asked the spa workers to sign a binding document that they were never allowed to disclose any information about Hermione, Ginny and Tonks being there. By having that, all three girls were allowed to be themselves. Tonks entertained everyone with her metamorphmagus antics.

By the time they finished, it was dusk outside. The light beamed upon their content faces as they looked around them at the happy scene before them. Witches and Wizards alike mingled and shopped all down the alley. There were the sounds of the shutting up of the stalls while you could also hear the opening of the pubs. Every voice was joyful, upbeat and at peace. You would have never thought this was a world at war if you just looked at these faces. Happiness was everywhere. However, it wasn't to last. Life wasn't meant to be this hopeful all the time.

Just as Hermione rifled through her bag for her sunglasses, a big bang erupted at the top of the winding Diagon Alley. The first attack had begun.

Tonks grabbed her wand and ran to attack back, 'Go home you two and tell everyone else!' she yelled at them before disappearing from view.

Ginny nodded back as she tried to grab her sunglasses out of her back pocket but realised there was nothing to grab. 'Hermione, where are my sunglasses?' Ginny groped in her pocket again, but to avail. She then searched her bag and other pockets. Nothing.

'I was about to ask you the same thing about mine!' Hermione cried.

'Wait! I know where yours are. You left them at the LaLa Glitz shop!' Ginny clutched her wand which was miraculously still in her pocket. 'Do you have your wand?' Ginny turned to Hermione as they tried to head back towards the shop. They needed those sunglasses, as they were their portkey home. Their only way home.

Hermione's face went white as she looked in her pocket. 'No,' she whispered. 'It's gone!'

Ginny took charge. Hermione's eyes teared up in fear as she was dragged by the younger girl towards the shop further down the alley. They had to get there. It was their only hope of getting out of here safely. Tonks fought for them and they hoped so much that she would be fine.

Bat Bogey Hexes went left and right at the Death Eaters that tried to attack the two innocent teenage girls. It was heart wrenching to see the civilian bodies of those who had just moments before been enjoying life, strewed across the ground as if they meant nothing. This was what war was about and both Hermione and Ginny hoped they would never have to encounter it ever again. Only problem with was they both knew they would witness it again. Over and over again.

'There it is!' Ginny cried out. She wanted to reassure Hermione and herself that they would make it. They would get home to Harry, Ron, Mum, Remus, Anne, Dad and Eric. They would get there. They had to be hopeful.

Hermione smiled weakly. She didn't know why she was being so weak about all of this. It wasn't as if this was her first time facing a life or death situation. It was just the fact that it was only her and Ginny this time. No Aurors, no Order, no Harry or no Ron to protect them. But they would do it. The shop was only a few paces ahead. Hopeful, hopeful, hopeful…..

Suddenly there was something blocking their way. A man in a black cloak stood before the petrified girls. As he lowered the hood, Hermione's heart stopped. Antonin Dolohov

'Well, well, well. What have we here?' He grinned menacingly.

'Get the hell out of here you asshole!' Ginny let her tongue get the better of her. Hermione cowered behind Ginny. This man had haunted her for months and it looked like he wasn't going to stop.

'I don't think so you fucking little bitch,' Dolohov swung to hit Ginny, but she was faster, hexing him and stunning him at the same time as kicking him in a certain spot. As his body thudded on the ground, Ginny grabbed Hermione's hand once more and pulled her over his fallen body.

As they walked under the fuchsia awning, both girls let out a deep breath. They walked up to the door and knocked. No answer. Then they tried banging. Still nothing. Next came yelling and screaming, but nothing. Their hopes were doomed.

'Come on, we have to run!' Hermione told Ginny. They had one wand between the two of them and no way home. It was the only option. Both girls set off sprinting over the bodies and past people. They had to reach the end of the alley where there was a portkey point. They had to. It was their last hope.

'Avada Kedavra!' A Death Eater yelled at a by passer in front of Ginny. As the body fell, so did Ginny on top of it.

'GINNY!' Hermione screamed. She believed her friend to have fallen dead. That couldn't happen. She needed her. It didn't help that Hermione was deeply in pain. Her side was exploding with reoccurring pain from the Department of Mysteries last June.

'No, I'm still here. Just help me up. I've hurt my ankle,' Ginny winced as Hermione helped her up.

'Just go as fast as you can. We have to get out of here,' Hermione supported Ginny as they slowly advanced down the Alley. They could see the portkey point ahead and small smiles appeared on their ashen faces.

Someone pulled Hermione backwards unexpectedly, though. Who ever it was then knocked Ginny over, who was then also snatched up from the ground. Rodolphus Lestrange then took Ginny's wand and gave it to his wife who held Hermione.

'You won't be needing this where your going,' Bellatrix hissed as she broke the wand into splinters right then and there.

Well, that's chapter eight! What did you think? It starts getting serious here. manda