"Harry," Hermione said surprised. "What are you doing here? I would have thought that you'd have gotten your books sooner."
Harry took off his glasses. "Couldn't. We just got the letters today."
Hermione balked. "They didn't send it out sooner? It's the last two weeks of summer. This is ridiculous."
"You didn't know that? What happened?"Harry asked as Hermione took his glasses and fixed them.
"We just got home a few days ago," Hermione said. "I spent my holiday in Greece. Saw my grandparents and some friends I have over there."
"Sounds fun. Do you go often?"
Hermione handed him his glasses back and shrugged. "At least once a year. But you would too if your grandparents were from Greece."
Harry shrugged. "I doubt the Dursleys would take me to see them even if they were alive."
Hermione frowned. "Please tell me that you're joking."
"Wish I was," Harry mumbled. "They weren't all too pleased when Ron and his brothers came to get me yesterday. Didn't help that they stole me away and pulled the bars off my window."
Hermione felt the blood drain out of her face. At least he was out of there for the time being. She didn't have any ideas yet. And she was only twelve. It wasn't as though she could do much. Not until she had talked to her parents.
"What do you know about the book list?" Hermione changed the subject. "I think seven books for Defense is a bit overkill."
"Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?"
Hermione laughed. "I'm right here."
Harry smiled. "Guess you don't laugh much at school."
Hermione shrugged. She guessed that she had more stresses at school than she did otherwise. And it was strange to think over things, but she couldn't really recall the last time she had laughed around Harry. She really didn't do it much around Ron.
Hermione practically got shoved out of the way as the Weasleys came up and fussed over Harry. Hermione scowled. She was starting to get the feeling that she wasn't going to be the biggest fan of any of them.
Well, Percy was fine. And Hermione was already fairly sure that she didn't like the twins. She didn't know Ginny, but she had heard Ron complain about her from time to time. Probably since they were fairly close in age.
They wound up over at Flourish and Blotts. Hermione frowned at the line. She had never seen such a long line for a non fiction writer. She felt red flags in her brain. She didn't feel any more confident upon seeing the man.
He was far too pretty to have done all the things that she suspected on seeing the titles of his books. And much too young. He looked like he was probably about thirty or so.
Harry got called up and then finally was allowed to get back into line. He shoved the books onto Ginny, saying he didn't need them.
Hermione looked around for her parents. They were looking around in the shelves, searching for some books on Hogwarts. They wanted to assure themselves that Hermione was going to be fine.
She was about to head over to them when she heard a commotion between Harry and what had to be Malfoy. She ignored them, looking for a compilation of the Lockhart books. But she couldn't find one. She figured she would have to do some scouring.
There was a loud crash and Hermione stepped out just in time to see Mr. Weasley attempt to tackle Mr. Malfoy. Rather successfully. She ducked out of the way and frowned. She didn't want to deal with whatever had caused that.
She finally managed to get everything done that needed to be done. She then wrote a letter to Viktor, complaining about the incident. And that Lockhart was going to be a teacher. She groaned just thinking about it.