Bond turned heads as he walked through the Leaky Cauldron, led by his daughter and her friend. The sharply dressed, handsome muggle was quite the sight in here.

"Hogwarts, huh?" The bartender asked, as they passed.

"Yes sir." Hermione said quickly. The barkeep's eyes slid over to Harry Potter.

"Is that young Harry Potter?"

"Yes sir."

Bond took the moment in stride.

"He's staying with us for the summer." He said.

The Barman's eyes slid over to him.

"Muggle, are you?" He asked, giving him a toothless grin. "Mind yourself in Diagon Alley. There are those who won't take kindly to your presence."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you." Bond said.

They made their way to the back, where they stepped through a door and faced a brick wall.

"Oh dear." Hermione said. "It's… three up, two across… right?"

She raised her wand and tapped the stones. Bond was about to ask what she was doing when the stones began to shuffle aside, opening a path to the street beyond.

Bond adjusted the camera hidden on his label to get a panning shot of the crowds and stores that they passed. Flourish and Blotts, Ollivanders, Quidditch supplies…

"We should go to Gringotts first." Hermione told him, as she pointed to a large, white building at the end of the street that Bond recognized instantly as a bank. "I'm running low on Galleons…"

Bond spent the next hour or so learning the ins and outs of the banking system. The goblin working there explained the conversion rate between Muggle Money and gold, and Bond took the opportunity to deposit a good chunk of his salary into an account for Hermione.

"For a rainy day." He explained to her, frowning. "Don't go spending it on anything frivolous."

"Oh!"

He turned to see the red headed Weasley Mother running towards them, accompanied by her son and daughter.

"Ron!"

"Hermione." Ron said. "Good job saving Harry before we had to do it."

"Oh, thank you so much for taking care of Harry this summer." Mrs. Weasley beamed at Bond. "We wanted Harry to come over as soon as possible… but… well…"

"I got there first." Bond said, amused. "It was no big deal… I live in London. It wasn't far."

"Did he really have bars on his window?"

"He did!"

Mrs. Weasley looked appalled at this news, and angry, but before she could speak to Bond about the matter Harry came out jingling a bag of gold.

"Oh, Ron."

"Hello Harry."

"Tell you what." Bond said. "We'll wait for you here in the lobby while you do your business. The. We'll all go shopping together. How does that sound?"

They all beamed at him.

Later that day Bond saw more than he had ever seen in his life. Potion ingredients made of dead animals, candies of every flavor, and a strange sort of fashion that he supposed was native to wizard culture. When the kids had gotten their robes done, the last thing they needed was to pick up their books.

They were shocked to find the place bursting with people.

"Make way for the daily Prophet!" A man shouted in front of them, as the bright flash of a camera filled the room.

"Ooooh Gilderoy Lockhart is doing a book signing today!" Hermione said, eyes wide. "Pouvon-nous aller le voir, papa?" She was so excited she slipped into speaking French.

"School supplies come first." Bond said firmly. "He isn't going anywhere."

"Bless my soul… it's Harry Potter!"

All of a sudden, the crowd gave way and a long, pale hand reached out and snatched Harry right in front of them. Bond took a hurried step forward, as Harry was dragged to the front of the store, where Gilderoy Lockhart stood waiting.

"Harry Potter!" He beamed. "Welcome! You were hoping to catch a glimpse of me, eh?"

"Uh, no." Harry said. "I came here for my-"

Bond thought it best to intervene.

"Excuse me." He said sharply, as he stepped up to Lockhart. "The boy is with me."

Lockhart's smile faded a little bit.

"Are you his guardian?"

"Yes."

"One moment, please. I have an announcement."

Before Lockhart could say anything more, Bond reached forward and pulled away from him. The photographer from the newspaper tried to stop them, but Bond pushed them back to the front of the store.

"You alright, Harry?"

"Yes, I think so… thank you."

Hermione was glaring daggers at him.

"How rude!" She huffed.

"It sure was." Bond said. "For him to drag Harry up there like that without permission."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him as Ron laughed.

It was difficult for them to get their shopping done… a good portion of the crowd had left Gilderoy Lockhart, much to his annoyance, and had begun following Harry around instead. Bond, irritably, more than once had to ask them to step away as Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys found their things.

"Done!" Hermione said, beaming up at him as she held out her last book. "Now can we get the Lockhart books signed?"

Bond unhappily agreed, and Hermione eagerly bounced up beside him to meet Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Now that was something, wasn't it?"

Harry Potter turned to see Draco Malfoy leering at him from above. Smirking, he approached them, eyeing Harry, Ron, and Ginny with a mean spirited glare.

"Famous Harry Potter can't even go into a bookshop without a bodyguard." Malfoy drawled.

"Shut up." Ginny said.

"I bet you liked that, Potter." Malfoy sneered. "He was almost like a father to you there, wasn't he?"

A sharp knotted cane fell down on Malfoy's shoulders.

"Now, now Draco." Lucius Malfoy said smoothly. "Play nicely."

Malfoy fell silent, although he was still staring rather intently at Harry.

"Well well well." Lucius said softly. "If it isn't…. Harry Potter. The boy who vanquished the Dark Lord."

Harry's lips curled.

"That's me."

"I've heard a lot about you from my son."

"Nothing good, I imagine."

Lucius smiled. "He tells me that you refused to be his friend."

"I had a good reason."

Lucius was staring intently at him. "Your parents thought they had good reason to oppose the Dark Lord as well." He said softly. "And look where that got them."

Harry stared at him intently.

"And you…"

He turned to Ron and Ginny.

"Are the Weasleys. My, my… your parents can't even afford to get you new robes."

Bond turned around as Lockhart was busily chatting with Hermione about his books. He tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up, confused, as he made his way over to them.

"Ah, hello there." He said jovially. "Friend of yours from school, Harry?"

He was no fool. He could tell at a glance that Ron and Harry were angry, and that Ginny was on the verge of tears.

"Ah." Lucius said, as he met his eyes. "The man of the hour. I haven't had the pleasure, Mr…."

"Bond. James Bond." Bond raised his hand to shake. "And you are?"

Lucius smiled at him coldly, and did not remove his hand from his staff.

"Your social superior." He said. "You would do well not to be so familiar with me."

"And you could show a better example for the children." Bond said, still smiling. "You know nothing about me."

"I know that you do not belong in this place, Muggle." Lucius said. "A wizard would know to fear the name Malfoy."

"I'm still learning about your culture." Bond said. "It's my daughter who's going to Hogwarts, not me."

At that exact moment, Hermione raced up behind him, books held out aloft in front of him.

"Ah." Lucius said. "Miss Granger. I've heard a lot about you."

Hermione blinked up at him. Her eyes fell on Draco and she suddenly looked very nervous.

"Top of your class in every subject, isn't that right?"

"Yes… yes sir." Hermione said quietly.

"Her Mother and I are very proud." Bond said, ruffling her hair a little. Hermione went pink.

"Curious how a girl with no magical background can excel at Hogwarts." Lucius said. "There are those who would say that she does not belong."

Bond's smile became fixed. He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a cigar and lighter, and lit it. He took in a deep smoke, and then breathed it back out onto Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy grimaced, but did not budge.

"I hope that you are not one of them, Malfoy."

"A bold assumption to make."

They glared intently at each other. Finally Lucius turned and beckoned his son away.

"Come, Draco… we have better things to do than consort with the likes of them."

Bond watched as the two of them turned and made their way out of the store.

"That was awesome!" Ron said enthusiastically. "You really showed him what for!"

Hermione was staring at him reproachfully.

"Father, you really should stop smoking…"

…

Later that night, after the shopping for Hogwarts had been concluded, Bond took his findings back to MI6.

"Hmm." M said with interest, as they reviewed the footage together. "So the pub is invisible to muggles?"

"Unless you have a daughter going to Hogwarts, yes."

They watched as Bond walked through the streets, went to the bank, interacted with the Weasleys, and then concluded his shopping. When the reel ended there was silence.

"There is no more room for doubt, 007." M said at last. "There truly is a secret society of magic right here in London."

Bond thought it prudent to question her logic.

"It could be an elaborate hoax."

"Don't give me that." M said, shaking her head. "Pubs that appear and disappear, goblins, a street in London that shouldn't exist… no, I am convinced, alright."

"If that is so we need to rethink what the entire situation." Bond said. "Dumbledore is not the leader of a cult… but a Headmaster for a school. He isn't some grand mastermind controlling this group of people. No, they have their own society. They have their own government and culture."

"And all of it completely unknown to us." M said, grimly. "Bond, this might be the most embarrassing intelligence secret in our field. If word gets out that witches exist in London right under our nose…"

"They aren't just in London, but all over the world." Bond interjected. "Magical people have always kept themselves segregated from us."

"Why?"

"From fear of persecution."

Again M swore.

"Are you telling me that the Witch Hunts… happened for a reason?"

"Hermione tells me they did." Bond said. "Magic has always been feared throughout human history, in all cultures. Up until now we believed that it was simple superstition, but now…"

"It was real all along." M murmured. "How we will we inform the public?"

"That might not be the best idea."

"Yes… that's right." M seemed to be struggling to come to grips with the reality of the situation. When Bond left her she was still undecided on what their next move will be.

He returned home, and found Hermione sitting up reading Gilderoy's Lockhart's entire published works. Her eyes were red and blurry, and he was certain that she had not stopped reading since he had bought the books for during their trip to Diagon Alley.

"You should be in bed." He told her.

"And you should have been home." She countered him. "Were you with a lady?"

"Yes." Bond said. "Have you been reading all night?"

"Yes." She said. "Lockhart is lovely… his books are simply fantastic." Her eyes were shining brilliantly.

"I thought he was kind of full of himself, personally." Bond said. Hermione huffed at him.

"Lockhart has been to more places and fought more villains than you have ever dreamed!" She said haughtily. "What have you ever done, Father?"

And she returned to her book, completely unaware that her father was laughing at her.

A/N

Initially I was going to have Hermione beg for Bond to buy her Lockhart's books by calling him 'daddy' but I didn't think it suited either of them. So I had her just ask him in French instead.

The interaction with Lucius wasn't nearly as interesting as I thought it would be. Going forward I think I'll try and deviate more from the book. At the very least we're past the point where Bond doesn't know that magic exists.