Chapter two: Diagon Alley
After a few more magical gestures and tricks the Granger Family, Hermione and her mom (her dad wasn't home from work at the dentist office), had to except the truth. That or they were going mad. Dumbledore then handed over the letter to Hermione. Hermione's finger brushed over the red wax that sealed the letter shut. She looked up to reach Dumbledore's eyes and he nodded in permission. The envelope came loose after a second of prodding from Hermione's shaking fingers. She slowly pulled out the message not knowing what to expect.
"Owl?" Hermione asked after breaking her concentration on the letter.
"Yes owl. It is the way of communication in the wizarding world," Professor McGonagall answered. "Now the other paper in the letter is a list of the required materials needed for Hogwarts.
Hermione scanned over the list. "Why do we need so many things to carry around?"
"You need all of the items because Hogwarts is a school that you have dorms and live there for most of the year. But I assure you that it will be a nice home and place to live in," McGonagall reassured the suddenly worried Grangers.
"I'm sure you will enjoy your stay," Dumbledore added with a smile. "And if I may add, Hogwarts is one of the best,"
Hermione nodded her head while saying "But where am I supposed to buy all of this, it sounds expensive,"
After a few more minutes of explaining the place to get all of the materials on the list, the wizarding money system, and platform 9¾, the two professors stood up and walked to the door. "Will you be joining us in Diagon Alley?"
Hermione stared in awe at the people buying items like wolfsbane and broomsticks. She even saw a few kids her age running around with brand new wands. That was what Hermione was most excited about. All she had left to get were her robes and her wand. Hermione bought her books first. She was definitely happy to find out that you still read in the magic world. Dumbledore and McGonagall had shown them the passage way through the brick wall at The Leak Cauldron. They had left them to shop for supplies.
"Mum! Look out!" Hermione pushed her mother out of the way as two boys with the reddest hair she had ever seen raced straight for them on broomsticks.
They raced to a stop and hopped off. "Sorry miss," one of the boys said. As they came closer Hermione thought they were the same person but realized quickly that that wasn't true.
"Still a little bit rusty,"
"Haven't taken these out in a while,"
"Righty that, Fred,"
"You're not wrong yourself, George"
"Pleasure to meet you miss" the one on the left said and stretched out his freckled hand to Hermione.
"Umm. You to…George, I think," Hermione said with hesitation not sure is she got his name right.
"Nope. I'm Fred and he's George"
"No! He's George and I'm Fred"
"Just kidding we know who we are," they said together.
"I'm Gred"
"And I'm Feorge,"
Before anything else could be said they both shrugged at the same time and flew off riding their broomsticks.
Hermione blinked several times before being able to mumble "That…was confusing," before turning back to her list and dismissing the odd introduction. "So should we get my robes?"
Hermione's mom replied with a yes. They walked further down Diagon Alley but Hermione was slow to take it all in. Beautiful buildings towered with hanging banners and freshly painted signs stood on either side of the street. Every once in a while there would be an old looking shop with almost no visitors and cracked windows. But Hermione didn't care, this was wonderful. She looked up at a building with a label that read Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. While pushing open the door, Hermione saw a lady accepting wizarding money from a blonde boy who looked her age. Hermione's mom decided to wait outside.
"First year?" Madame Malkin asked.
"Yes," Hermione replied after being rushed to a stool. The lady started to measure her arms, legs, and around her stomach.
"I'll be right back," Madame Malkin said before leaving to a room in the back.
Now that she was carrying her new robes along with everything else, Hermione and her mom walked over to Ollivanders, the wand shop. The building was cluttered and dusty. There were rows upon rows of wands in boxes stacked up to the ceiling. Every box was labeled, Hermione noticed, with things like: hawthorn, unicorn hair, ten inches, quite whippy. Or maybe something like: maple, phoenix feather, twelve inches, hard. Hermione had no idea what these weird labels meant but assumed it had something to do with wands.
Out of now where, a man popped up with grew, whispy hair and glasses to small for his head. He and asked her what her name was, which arm was her wand arm, and wrote down the lengths of things like her elbow to her wrist. After he finished, Ollivander walk down the many rows of wands. By the time he came back, he had about fifteen wands still in their boxes.
"Well are you going to try one?" Ollivander asked.
Hermione picked up the wand on the top of the stack. Not sure what to do, she just held it in her hand.
"Give it a whirl," he urged.
Hermione felt stupid as she wove the wand in circles. Red lights like fire flew out of the end. A tower of boxes fell over with a crash. Hermione let out a small yelp and her mother jumped high in the air.
"That won't do, now will it?"
Not answering Ollivander, but picking up another wand, Hermione sent the man's glasses askew. The same process went on and on with no progress and Hermione frustration started to boil. Finally, near the middle of the pile, a wand chose Hermione. It let out delicate sparkles of gold and silver that rained around her.
"Hmm. Vinewood and dragon heartstring," the old man seemed pleased with himself. Hermione thought he shouldn't be because it was her who went through all of the wands, not him.
"Thanks," Hermione mumbled as she tossed him the respective amount of galleons and left the store.
When Hermione got home from a day's shopping, all she could think about were the books and classes. "I am going to have no idea what is going on!" She thought. Hermione pulled out all of the books from her bag. There was a book for every class (which Hermione quite liked). She grabbed her wand off her bed and examined it but put it back down after remembering Professor McGonagall's lecture of under aged magic.
Hermione was excited to learn spells so started with that. The book was long, just the way she liked it. Hermione hated it when books ended so quickly but she needed to learn something about magic. Skipping a few pages here and there (she didn't want to ruin the school year) Hermione educated herself about the proper techniques of wand waving and the background of some spells.
By the time Hermione's mom came to say goodnight, Hermione had skimmed through The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration, A History of Magic, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. "Bed, Hermione," her mom coaxed. "I can assure you there will be time tomorrow,"
"Okay," Hermione replied. As soon as her mom shut the door, Hermione's reading light was on. She was a rule follower but the one thing she would bend those rules for was books.
Eye-lids droopy. Heavy eyebrows. Fingers not responding. The book falling. These are the things Hermione remember from a late night of reading. But tonight was different. Tonight was the first night in her life of knowing about magic.
Her dreams floated with wands and bright lights. She saw the two redheads on the broomsticks coming straight toward her. The wind whistled her ears as they flew by. The confusion of their names flooded her mind. Fred? George? Surely they were kidding her about Gred and Feorge. Were they? Her dream replaced it with haze. Then there was Madame Malkin measuring her waist and arms. The tape measure suspended in air by magic lightly tapped the top of her head. Bubbles. The jingle of the bell as she entered the wand shop. Then the frustration of a wand not choosing her. Was she not really magical? The thought vanished with golden sparks covering her. A wand chose her. The scene changed. Now it was filling with books. Quotes from books drifting through the air as if they were typed on the clouds. It disappeared. Now Hermione saw clearly. Her mom asking if it was a joke. Dumbledore reassuring her.
The last thought before Hermione woke up from a deep sleep was Hogwarts.