Chapter 61
Sophia would have the most advantageous introduction to the wizarding world that any Muggleborn had ever had. Not only had her mother and grandfather (and her to a degree) been aware of the existence of magic, reducing the shock of their child being accepted into a wizarding school they'd never personally attended, they had two well-trained wizards introducing them to Diagon Alley.
Where most Muggleborns and their families walked timidly down the street, unguided and expected to find everything for themselves, Sophia — along with Henry and Alice — had two personal guides in Hermione and Ron.
The three of them stared in awe at the parting wall as it opened before them into the hidden shopping district for wizards in London. This was after they'd been led through a pub that they — as far as Ron knew — couldn't actually see. It must have been exhilarating. Or terrifying. Maybe both.
Sophia, who could see all the magical elements around her, looked on with wide eyes, staring at the interesting figures sat in the Leaky Cauldron, and at all the shops that lay before her. Diagon Alley was bustling, older witches and wizards dressed in their usual wizarding attire that drew attention, but the younger ones had adopted a trend more attuned to what the Muggles wore.
All shops were open and welcoming its visitors.
Hermione led the way, stepping across the threshold between the pub and the shops. Ron went next, then Sophia, and lastly Henry and Alice.
"This is so cool!" Sophia cried. She spotted in the distance Quality Quidditch Supplies and was immediately drawn to the large broomstick sign hanging out the front. "Quidditch," she whispered, having already become interested and accustomed to the popular sport without knowing anything but what Ron had told her about it.
Ron smiled. "Future Quidditch player in the making," he said to Hermione. "Couldn't stop her if you tried, I don't think."
Hermione rolled her eyes but said nothing.
"Can we go and see the Quidditch stuff?" Sophia said, turning to Hermione. "I want to look at the broomstick. Do they have the Firebolt Five?" She looked up at Ron.
Ron shrugged, but grinned proudly. "Possibly."
"First years can't even join the Quidditch team," Hermione replied irritably. She'd had an itinerary, a plan, and it didn't involve stopping by the Quidditch shop and looking at broomsticks. "And…" She eyed Sophia for a moment, then shook her head, her question fading in favour of the girl's excitement. "Oh, alright, but I think maybe after we get all of your supplies."
Sophia looked disappointed, but nodded.
"Don't worry," Ron assured her, "getting your wand is just as interesting."
"Can I get an owl?" Sophia asked, running to catch up with Hermione who was leading them to Ollivander's.
"That's up to your mum," Hermione said. "But you're allowed one if she says yes."
"Mum?"
"What do you need an owl for?" Alice asked.
"For communicating," Sophia said as if she'd known this her whole life. "Do you want me to send you letters or not when I'm at school?"
"Owls are very useful," Hermione reasoned. "Ron and I have one and we use her all the time. Besides, they can make good company."
"Please," Sophia said. "Everyone will have an owl except me if I don't get one."
Ron was impressed by the girl's reasoning. It wasn't true, of course — there'd be plenty using the school owls — but she seemed to be winning her mother over.
"They really are useful," Hermione said again as they stopped out the front of Ollivander's. It wasn't run by Ollivander anymore, but the old man still made the wands. He simply let someone else run the shop and sell the wands on his behalf.
"What's this place?" Alice asked.
"Ollivander's, Mum," Sophia said, rolling her eyes. She had clearly listened to every word about this world she'd suddenly become a part of, with her already extensive knowledge about Quidditch and guilt tripping her mum into buying her an owl.
Ron couldn't help but wonder if this had been Hermione at eleven years old, dragging her parents along to every shop, informing them about their histories that she'd read about. He couldn't help but smile at the thought, finding it endearing now, but knowing full well how irritated eleven-year-old Ron would have been by it.
"It's the wand shop," Sophia added, following Hermione inside.
"This just gets weirder and weirder," Henry muttered.
"Not weird," Ron said. "This is our world. This is normal. This is her world now."
"My sister, nor Hermione, has ever really shared much about it until now," Henry said, joining the others inside the shop. "We may have known of this world, but we certainly knew nothing about it." He stopped, looking around at all the shelves with boxes of wands lining them. There was a young witch at the counter, who greeted them all with a warm smile. "Wands," he said, shaking his head.
"The most useful tool a witch or wizard can have," Ron said, and he took out his own wand to show Henry. "Every single one's different, too. Mine is willow and made from unicorn hair. Fourteen inches."
Henry blinked, staring at what he seemed to think was nothing more than a polished piece of wood. Then, "And Hermione's?"
"Er, dragon heartstring, I know that much. You'll have to ask her about the other bits."
"Dragon… heartstring?"
Thankfully it wasn't a question Ron had to answer, for the woman had set a tape measure about to take Sophia's measurements. The witch had disappeared to find some wands, Sophia grinning from ear to ear. At one stage she even giggled. "It tickles."
The witch returned with a pile of boxes and set them before Sophia. She took out the first one and passed it to the girl. This one is oak, phoenix feather, nine inches."
Sophia picked up the wand and waved it immediately, not waiting for any further instructions. The glass vase on the counter exploded in a display of glass fireworks. "Oops," she said, grimacing.
"The first one is never the right one," the witch said, smiling. "Try this one. Cherry tree, also phoenix feather, ten inches."
Sophia waved the wand, this time splintering a hat stand by the door.
Henry jumped out of the way, avoiding the little bits of wood that shot out around them.
"Why isn't it working?" Alice asked, sounding worried. Was she worried that her daughter wasn't a witch after all, and that it had been a big mistake?
The witch at the counter looked over at Alice, then took in her appearance, as well as Henry's. Her eyes then really looked at Ron and Hermione and they widened in recognition.
"They're… new to this," Hermione said.
The witch nodded, then turned back to Alice and said, "the wand chooses the witch or wizard. We'll know when the right one is here."
Alice didn't look convinced, but said no more as Sophia tried three more wands that were not the right fit.
It wasn't until the sixth one — apple, dragon heartstring, nine and a half inches — that something was different. Rather than Sophia destroying the shop, the shattered vase returned to its normal structure. She gasped.
Alice and Henry looked completely taken aback, having never witnessed magic in action before.
Hermione smiled, which made Ron smile too.
The witch at the counter also smiled. "There you go," she said cheerfully. "That's your wand."
"It is?" Sophia asked, staring at it.
"Does it feel right?" the witch asked.
Sophia nodded. "It feels better than all the others, at least." She turned to her mother. "Can I get it?"
Alice, who still seemed to be coming to terms with the fact that her daughter had just repaired the vase, could only nod.
"Nine Galleons," the witch said, and Hermione handed over the coins, having got them converted earlier in the week.
Smiling proudly at herself and reliving the moment she'd fixed the vase aloud to her mother and grandfather, Sophia gleefully entered the street again, following Hermione to Flourish and Blotts.
"While we're here, I need to get some books for work, too," Hermione said to Ron. "I've put them on hold, so do you mind helping Sophia with her books while I sort it out?"
"You take charge of the wand, but you give me the books?" Ron asked with a smirk.
"It's about time you learnt," Hermione teased, nudging him as they walked. She passed him the list.
"What is all this nonsense?" Ron asked, scanning the list. "We didn't need half of these when we were first years. Basically, just the Charms one and your personal favourite, Hermione, Hogwarts: A History."
"Things change over the years," Hermione said. "Education being one of them." She also handed Ron a pouch of gold as they entered the store. "That should cover it." And then she vanished in the throng of shelves to the front of the counter, leaving Ron alone in the bookshop with her two Muggle relatives and their eleven year old Muggleborn witch.
"I'm scared to even look at what these books are about," he heard Alice say quietly to her father.
Sophia, however, had no such qualms and had already located one of the books on the list.
"Oh, look, you really are a mini Hermione," he said as Sophia tucked Hogwarts: A History under her arm. "You know, I think it's page three hundred and ninety-nine, you'll see a picture of me in there."
"Really?" Sophia asked, immediately opening the book and flicking to the page. She found it, immediately spotting Ron's picture from a few years back. "Hey, it's Hermione too."
"Yeah, we're pretty famous, you know," Ron said, smiling.
"Really?" Sophia asked again.
"No, not really, but we made a history book, so I suppose it's something. It's my sister who's the famous one because she plays Quidditch, plus she's married to Harry Potter. Might be worth mentioning when you get there that you're related to them."
"Isn't he your friend?" Sophia questioned, her finger tracing the picture of Harry on the same page. "Though, we aren't really related. I…" She frowned. "I don't think."
"Yeah, and he's the famous one. You're related by distance. It'll be enough. You'll learn a lot about him if you can stay awake with Professor Binns for long enough. He's been teaching for hundreds of years, I daresay."
Sophia's eyes widened — finally something that seemed to shock her.
Ron grinned. "He's a ghost."
"Cool," Sophia said. "That's so cool!"
"They are if they walk through you, yeah." Ron looked at the list in his hand. "Come on. Let's see if we can track down all these books so we can get to the Quidditch shop. Much more interesting than here."
They spent the next fifteen minutes collecting all the required textbooks, Ron using his wand to keep them in a neat pile hovering just above their heads.
Alice and Henry said nothing, but their pile wasn't the only floating one in the shop. Once they'd paid for everything and Hermione was done with what she needed to do, they left the store with shrunken packages in a single bag.
"You know, Ron," Henry said as they once again set off down Diagon Alley, "until I saw you… float those books around, I'd always seen you as just another bloke. Like me, like Robert… now I know different."
"Yeah, well, it's still kind of against the law to use magic in front of Mug — non-magic people for the sake of it. So we try not to."
"Does that mean I can't use magic in front of Mum and Grandpa?" Sophia asked.
"You can't use magic outside of Hogwarts until you turn seventeen, anyway," Ron said. "So no need to worry about that."
"Aww, why can't I?"
"Because you're not considered fully trained until then," Hermione said. "Still susceptible to mistakes and things going wrong."
"Well, that sucks." Sophia pouted.
"Yeah, a little," Ron agreed.
"We still need to visit Madam Malkin's, the apothecary, and Eyelop's if you're getting an owl," Hermione said.
"What's Madam Malkin's?" Sophia asked.
"Ah, something she doesn't know," Ron teased.
Sophia grinned.
"It's the robe shop," Hermione explained. "You'll need at least two sets."
"Okay. Where's that?" Sophia asked, looking up and down the alley.
"Not too far," Hermione said and they set off again.
By the time Sophia had been measured and an order put in for her robes, the girl's feet began to drag. The excitement of entering the wizarding world for the first time had worn off and she complained that she was hungry.
"Is there anywhere to eat around here?" Henry asked tentatively.
"There's the ice-cream parlour," Ron said. "It's really great if you like ice-cream. They probably have all different flavours to what you're used to. I've seen some of the Muggle flavours — they're quite boring."
"I'm up for ice-cream," Alice said with a small smile directed at her daughter. She seemed that there was something she was familiar with.
Florean Fortescue's was busy when they reached it, but after some shuffling by other occupants, they managed to squeeze onto a table outside.
"Why do they have a pumpkin pie flavour?" Sophia asked, sitting in one of the chairs. "That's… disgusting."
"I told you," Ron said, "the flavours are more interesting here."
"What do you all want?" Hermione said. "Ron and I will get them."
"Not the pumpkin pie one," Sophia said, making a face of disgust.
"Something you think we'll like," Henry said. "Maybe steer clear of the pumpkin pie."
Ron followed Hermione into the shop where they stood in the queue to order their ice-creams. As they waited, he caught Hermione smiling at him knowingly.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing," she said. "It's just… you."
"I'm glad I amuse you."
"You don't amuse me, you just… you like Sophia, don't you?"
"What do you mean?" Ron questioned as they moved up a spot in the queue. "She's a good kid. Reminds me of you. Walking around like she's been coming here for years."
"I don't know. It was just something about it. I liked it. You seem to get along really well with her."
Ron shrugged. "As I said, she's a good kid. Like you, except she seems to think I'm funny where you just roll your eyes."
Hermione smiled, moving forward once more. "I think you're funny."
"No you don't." Ron looked at her, frowning slightly. "Why are you making a big deal about me talking to Sophia, anyway?"
"No reason," Hermione lied. "It's just an observation I made, is all." When Ron continued staring at her, she sighed and smiled. "Well, I think when the time comes for us to actually have children, I think you'll be really good at it. That's all I was thinking."
"Really?" Ron questioned, slightly stunned by her observation. He hadn't even been thinking about that — well, not really. When they'd been in the wand shop, his mind had briefly paused to wonder what wands their kid or kids would have, but that was it. He genuinely liked Sophia. She was fun and enthusiastic and there were elements of Hermione in her that he found adorable.
Hermione shrugged.
"I thought you weren't thinking about that," Ron then said. "I mean, I thought we weren't discussing it until… next year."
Hermione shook her head. "We aren't discussing it. It doesn't mean we can't talk about it in passing. I know where your head's at and… as I said… when we reach that place, I think you'll make a great dad. That's all."
Ron couldn't help the smile and the warming in his chest. Not that anyone had had any reason to say that to him before, but he'd not been told that by anyone. He wrapped his arm across her shoulder and drew her towards him, kissing her temple. "I love you," he said.
"I love you, too."
They finally reached the counter, where Hermione ordered the boring flavours for her family. Ron got the Bertie Botts Surprise and Hermione got the coffee flavour. Levitating the ice-creams in front of them, they went back outside and sat down.
"How do I learn to make things float?" Sophia asked.
"First year," Ron said.
"Cool!"
As they ate, Hermione answered further questions that Alice and Henry had about everything. Most of it was about the school and asking whether they could visit Sophia, and information about the train ride to and from.
Then Sophia spotted another child about her age wearing a hat that sang songs when it opened at the top. She giggled at some of the rude words that came from it.
"That's a cool hat," she said.
"That is the work of my brother," Ron told her proudly. "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes — it's a joke shop here."
"Can we go?" Sophia asked.
"If your mum says it's okay."
Sophia turned pleadingly to her mother.
"Don't you want to go to the Kwinch shop?"
"Quidditch, Mum. Can't we do both?"
"We still have many things to get," Hermione reminded her. "And considering your Mum can't just take you whenever she wants, we need to get them today."
"Well, we better go then!" Sophia exclaimed, shoving the last of her cone into her mouth and jumping to her feet.
And everyone was off again, walking down the street, with feet sorer than they were before they sat down.
"Remind me," Ron said, putting his arm across Hermione's shoulders again, "when we have kids, we're going to take them here at least once a week from the day they're born. That way, this excitement level won't exist when they turn eleven."
Hermione smiled. "It gives us something different to do, though, doesn't it? And it's kind of fun."
"Every day with you is fun. You know that."
"Is this the shop?" Sophia asked, stopping out the front of the joke shop with wide, interested eyes.
"Yep," Ron said. He turned to Hermione. "What would you prefer? The joke shop or the Quidditch shop? Maybe she'll forget all about Quidditch if she's entertained in here."
Hermione pushed open the door, giving Ron only a mild irritated look. And she was smiling somewhat. He grinned at her, stepping inside. "Don't worry," he assured her, "we'll leave here today with everything Sophia needs. Plus some."
Her response was drowned out by George's loud greeting, wondering just who his brother and Hermione had brought in with them.
After greetings were done, George beamed at Sophia and said, "Well, you're essentially family and guess what happens with family when they come in here?"
"What?" Sophia asked, just about bouncing on the balls of her feet with anticipation.
George grinned. "They get a private tour out the back." He looked up at Alice. "If that's okay, I mean?"
Alice glanced questioningly at Hermione and Ron, but seemed to surmise that it was safe sending her daughter off with this virtual stranger, considering he was Ron's brother, and nodded.
"I can go and quickly get the other stuff she needs while you stay here," Hermione said to them all. And she left before anyone could protest.
George grinned. "Come out the back, Sophia," he said. "And anyone else who wants to join. I've got some new things for you to try first before I put them on the shelves."
George spent an hour showing them around and showing them all his new products. Sophia was amazed at everything, from the trick wands to the more impressive things such as miniature broomsticks. But her absolute favourite thing was the Extendable Ear, which George said she could have a set of.
"Always popular with the kids," he'd chuckled, smiling between the adults. "The spell wears off after a few weeks, so just be careful what you say in the meantime." He spoke to Henry, who nodded uncomfortably.
The rest of the day was fun and filled with excitement, and by the afternoon, they returned from Diagon Alley with bags filled with everything a young witch would need to start her first year at Hogwarts.
This was just a fun chapter. This will be the last we kind of hear of Sophia for a bit, as I didn't want it to become a focus, but I do have plans to revive her every so often to check in! I hope you all enjoyed :D