4th August
Hermione sat next to Harry on the muggle bus, the two of them were on their way to the centre of London, first to Diagon Alley to convert some wizarding money into Muggle, then to get Harry some much needed clothes.
Hermione didn't really care too much about how Harry dressed, to her he was the guy who killed Trolls and Basilisks that tried to hurt her, he was the guy who read her books to her when she couldn't read them herself, he was the guy who, despite hating being the centre of attention, would stand up for her in front of the whole school when Malfoy started on his blood purity bullshit.
As far as Hermione was concerned his clothing meant nothing compared to any of that.
Yet now that she paid attention she could see that Harry must've hated those clothes. Not only must it have been uncomfortable to wear clothes so many sizes too big, but it also called attention to Harry. Anybody would stand out in the rags he was forced to wear.
He stood out so much that many of the muggles whothey were travelling with shot them looks of pity and disgust, turning their noses up at his attire. Hermione's ears were inside her hairband so she couldn't make out what they were saying, but she could take an educated guess. But the truth was it didn't matter what they said. What mattered was the fact that they were getting looks at all. Hermione didn't particularly like being the centre of attention and she knew how much Harry hated it.
Yes, some normal clothes would be good for him.
The bus pulled up to a stop near King's Cross and it was only a short walk to the Leaky Cauldron from here, so the two of them set off on foot.
Hermione's mum had been in two minds about letting the teens go alone but with having to run their dental practice and Harry desperately needing clothes that fit she had eventually relented, allowing them to travel alone, only after extracting a promise from each of them that they would stay together.
They slipped into the magical old pub. Hermione loved the Leaky Cauldron, despite being in the centre of London it had the feel of a real British country pub and reminded her of weekend trips with her parents. The two teens made their way through the pub weaving in and out of the patrons who were doing more than just passing through. Hermione opened the brick arch after stopping Harry from doing so.
"Harry you're still recovering from magical exhaustion. You would probably be fine but I'm not letting you take the chance if I am here to do it.", Harry grumbled but stepped back to let her do it.
Diagon Alley appeared before them as behind the old pub the even older brick wall sifted and twisted into an elegant archway. The long narrow cobbled street was packed with brightly coloured shop fronts, each displaying eye-catching advertisements,
Cauldrons – All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self-Stirring
Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy.
Firebolt – the new broom for the quality Quidditch player
Bagdull's trunks & bags - custom luggage expansion to order
.
The shops were selling everything from potion ingredients to telescopes. At the far end of the street stood the large imposing wizarding bank, Gringotts, their destination. The intimidating nature of the building was further enhanced by the three armoured goblins standing to attention on either side of the door. The six guards each had a hand resting on the hilt of their own blade, ready and willing to leap into action to protect their beloved bank if they felt the need for it.
Hermione and Harry walked up the marble steps in front of Gringotts, past the silent guards and though the heavy doors into the bank.
Being early on a weekday there wasn't much of a queue and Harry and Hermione soon found themselves face to face with one of the bank tellers.
"Good morning. What can Gringotts help you with today?", the goblin sneered down at them.
"I need to make a withdrawal from my vault, number 687, and I need to change some of that gold to muggle currency."
The goblin examined Harry intensely, "Do you have your key Sir?".
As simple as the question was Hermione could tell that the banker would love to refuse Harry entry and was looking for an excuse.
"I do.", Harry stated, bringing out the small golden key that Hagrid had given him years ago. Hermione snorted internally as the goblin's face screwed up into yet another sneer. As though Harry would come to Gringotts without it.
"Very well...do you wish the young Madam to accompany you?"
"Obviously I want Hermione there.", Hermione was a little taken aback by that. This was Harry's inheritance, his own personal vault. She didn't want to pry into Harry's affairs. It was not her business to see inside his vault.
"Harry there is no need for me to come down with you."
"I promised your mum we should stick together today.", Harry replied, "If I go down and leave you, I break that promise. If I don't go down then this trip is pointless. And don't tell me you don't want to see a Gringotts vault."
There was no denying that Hermione desperately wanted to see a Gringotts vault. A lot of muggleborns didn't get to see a Gringotts vault all that often, if at all, unless they got a high paying job or married a witch or wizard who had one. Hermione had wanted to see one since her first time visiting Gringotts.
"Right this way then", the goblin started leading them deeper into the bank.
"Anyway.", Harry continued, "I need your help telling me how much to withdraw. I have no clue how much our trip today will cost.".
Hermione shook her head at Harry but followed. The goblin lead them to a set of train tracks underneath the Entrance Hall and another goblin. The goblins exchanged a few words in their native language. Then the goblin who lead them down left.
"Good morning Sir and Madam, my name's Bognok and I will be bringing you to your vault." At his words a dangerously old mine cart came zipping up the track, before stopping dead right in front of them. "All aboard for vault 6-8-7."
Hermione looked at the cart rather apprehensively. It had come out of the tunnel really fast and didn't seem to have any safety features like a seatbelt or even anything you could hold on to.
Harry, however, didn't hesitate at all.
"I love these things.", he muttered as he walked up and stood next to the cart, waiting to help Hermione into it. It was only when he looked back he saw the look of worry and hesitation on Hermione's face.
"It's OK, Hermione, it's just like a rollercoaster. At least I think it is...I've never ridden a rollercoaster, but this is really fun, you'll see." Hermione felt a little better at that. But she still wasn't entirely sure.
"B...but there aren't even any seatbelts."Harry grinned slyly back at her. "Magic, Hermione, magic." That helped Hermione relax. How silly was she to think that there would be no magic to keep them safe?
She climbed into the cart, quickly followed by Harry and Bognok. The second they were all settled, the cart shot off down the tunnel, Bognok leaning up against the front, directing their descent into the vaults.
Harry wore a mad grin, clearly thoroughly enjoying the ride. Hermione, however, had never been a big fan of rollercoasters and held on to Harry for dear life, burying her face in his chest until the cart came to a stuttering stop.
Hermione apprehensively took her face out of his shoulder and unwrapped herself from her boyfriend.
She proceeded to climb unsteadily out of the cart.
"'Mione, are you Okay? You look a little green.", Harry barely bit back a laugh at the sight of his girlfriend looking like she was petrified.
"I'm fine. Just not a big fan of rollercoasters."
Harry chuckled as he handed his key over to Bognok, who in turn used it to open the door leading to Harry's vault.
There was more gold in there than Hermione had ever seen. Inside were mountains of coins.
Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts. Stacks of Galleons balanced precariously. It looked like an absolute fortune.
That was until Hermione did some quick adding up in her head.
With Harry's school expenses for another 5 years to be taken out, that used up a good chunk of the money here. He would be fine for a few years after school but it wasn't as if he wouldn't need to work after Hogwarts.
Hermione grinned up at Harry.
A small part of her was worried that Harry had brought her here to show off his vast wealth, but it looked like Harry really did just want help with knowing how much to withdraw.
"You know, Harry, that you're still going to have to work once you leave school?", he stared at her incredulously.
"Your kidding, right? 'Mione, do you see how much money is in here!?"
Hermione laughed at his face of mock horror.
"Well, if you take how much it is to get your new supplies every year-"
Harry pulled her into a hug, resting his chin on the top of her head, "Don't bore me with the math, 'Mione, let's just get what we need and get out."
She huffed indignantly and stepped on his foot, hard. Harry yelped in pain, before laughing with her.
"So...how much do you think I'll need?"
"You'll probably need about 50 galleons to convert to pounds, and that should give you almost £250.", Hermione supplied to the lost face from Harry.
"50 galleons will be exactly £248 and 99 pence.", Bognok said, "Plus whatever you want to keep as galleons."
---ϟϟϟ---
Harry and Hermione were sat in a nice pub/restaurant waiting for their food. She had dragged him to a department store that specializes in clothes. What followed were three extremely boring hours of trying out more clothes than he ever had in his life.
Harry ended up buying an assortment of clothing, including, two pairs of jeans, three regular pairs of trousers that would be acceptable with his school robes, four jumpers, obviously in Gryffindor red, ten t-shirts split between regular and polo shirts in assorted colours, 6 regular shirts (three white, one black and two that were different shades of blue), a blazer not unlike the one Dudley wore to Smeltings, a practical coat with lots of pockets, a pair of trainers that weren't torn (unlike his other ones), a pair of leather shoes that squeaked incessantly when you walked in them, and enough underwear to last a few weeks.
After all that Harry was exhausted and hungry. Hermione had convinced him to "dispose" of the clothes he had come out in (a particularly old set of Dudley's cast offs) and wear some of his new things out of the store.
With much nicer apparel than Harry had left the house in, he suggested grabbing a bite to eat. At his mention of food, Hermione hadn't hesitated to suggest one of her favourite places to eat.
"Why don't we go to The Skinners Arms.", she said as she tugged his arm hard, giving him little choice but to follow, "It's close by and the food is amazing. Dad and I often eat there after a day in the British Library", and so that is where they had ended up.
The table they had chosen was out of the way in the corner, affording them an excellent view of the rest of the restaurant, while giving them a relative amount of peace and quiet. The waiter brought their starters to the table. Harry wasn't comfortable with spending a large amount of money so they had opted for a meal deal that came with two starters and mains for a set price.
"Here you go Hermione; one calamari for you, and for your young gentlemen here one bowl of tomato soup." Harry was a little startled that the waiter knew his girlfriend's name but Hermione just smiled at the waiter, "Thanks Michael. This is Harry, my boyfriend. Harry, this is Michael, his family owns the pub."
The two shook hands and exchanged the obligatory "nice to meet you"s and conducted in small talk.
"So Hermione", Michael inquired, "this is the first time you brought a boy here that isn't your da. Do I need to give Dan a call and tell him about Mr. Harry here."
Hermione smirked knowingly at him, "and what makes you think dad doesn't already know all about Harry?"
"Really? He knows about Harry and he let the two of you go off together, alone. You must be one of the good ones Harry, for Daniel to approve of you and trust you with his daughter."
Hermione glared at him, "I can take care of myself, thank you very much!"
He laughed heartily as Harry rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Yeah Mr. Granger is alright. I think both of Hermione's parents are pretty great."
Michael nodded at that, before looking around at the pub, "Well I've got to serve other customers, but it was great seeing you Hermione. I'll let you two lovebirds get to your food."
With that Michael left, leaving the two teens to their meal in private. Hermione wasn't wrong about the food, Harry thought, as he eagerly ate his soup. Tomato soup may be simple but Harry could tell that rather than using a Tinned or powdered soup they made their own from scratch, and it was by far the best tomato soup he had ever tasted. The only one he had tried that even came close was the tomato soup at Hogwarts. Hermione seemed to have the same opinion of her calamari, at least that's what Harry thought, given the sounds of approval she made while eating.
"You were right Hermione the food here is great", Hermione nodded, her mouth currently full making her unable to respond. Harry noticed that she was a bit more of a slob when she wasn't near her parents. Still nothing on Ron's level though. "How did you and your dad find this place?", she swallowed her bite of food, "Dad was in school with Michael's older brother, Steven. Steven used to work here in the kitchen but he moved to France to learn french cooking. He then fell in love with Nice, the region of France he was in, and a woman he met there. The two of them got married and made their lives in France, but before Steven left dad used to come here a lot."
Harry digested that information, as well as some more of his soup, before responding. "It sounds like he and your dad used to be close.", Hermione nodded, "We often go to France on holiday, my dad and Steve will meet and go for a catch up."
Hermione suddenly looked a little sad; "We didn't get to go this year. My parents were worried about my cat problem, they didn't know if it would be a problem at the airport." Harry felt a little guilty at that, if he had given her her present a little sooner then maybe her parents would have been able to go ahead with their plans.
When he tried to apologise to Hermione for just that she was having none of it.
"Don't you dare Harry James Potter!", while Hermione didn't shout there was all the force even without the volume, "I will not have you feeling guilty! That was a really kind and thoughtful thing you did. No one else thought of a way to help me move through the muggle world, so none of that 'if only you had done it sooner' stuff. I love my gifts and I…", Hermione suddenly blushed a deep red, "...I really appreciate that you got them for me."
They finished their meal in an awkward silence, the two of them, for the second time that week, carefully avoiding a topic neither of them felt ready to address yet.
---ϟϟϟ---
Harry and Hermione practically collapsed on the sofa* the second they walked through the door. Mrs. Granger watched with a look of approval at the clothes Harry had come back in. The two looked like they had run a marathon, panting heavily for breath. Judging by the number of bags they had with them maybe they had.
She sat in one of the chairs next to the sofa.
"So...how did everything go?"
Harry grunted in response, "Remind me never to go clothes shopping again."
Hermione giggled on the couch next to him, slapping him playfully on the shoulder, "Oh, come on, Harry, it wasn't that bad…"
"You had me try on hundreds of clothes, Hermione, hundreds!"
"But you enjoyed spending time with me, didn't you?", she teased.
Harry threw a pillow at Hermione, before turning to Mrs. Granger to tell her about the rest of their day.
She listened as the two teens described the visit to Gringotts, the clothes shopping and then the dinner at the Skinners' Arms. It seemed that the two of them had done fine on their own, even choosing an appropriate and healthy place for dinner rather than fast food or sweets.
Mrs. Granger looked over Harry's purchases to check that they were decent enough. It was one thing to let the two of them go shopping by themselves, but she at least wanted to make sure that Harry had enough appropriate clothing to take with him back to school. She was pleasantly surprised that the two had been sensible and done quite well. Harry would need a few more items, but nothing drastic. Just a belt, a pair of gloves and a warm hat. The gloves and hat were easy to overlook in the summer heat, but would be sorely missed in the Scottish weather, especially in winter.
"Well...I'm impressed. The two of you did well. You forgot a belt, hat and gloves but you can pick those up in Diagon Alley when you pick up your school books for the year. Speaking of your school books, these arrived while you were out", Hermione beamed under the praise, but seemed to be used to it.
Mrs. Granger produced the two large parchment envelopes from a side table, each embossed with the Hogwarts "H" surrounded by the four house crests. Each had one of their names and address on it.
Harry looked down at his letter,
Harry James Potter
Guest bedroom
15 Kemplay Rd
Hampstead
London
Harry found it largely amusing that the letter they needed to tell them which school books to get from Diagon Alley arrived while they were at Diagon Alley. Hermione was more than a little put out thinking they could have done it all in one trip, but Harry stopped that quickly, "Mione there is absolutely no way we could have done it all in one trip. Magic books aren't paperbacks, they are bloody heavy. There is no way our arms would have survived carrying those books around London all day, especially with all the extra books you apparently need to have."
Hermione glared at him but conceded the point and opened her letter. Harry followed suit with his.
Dear Mr. Potter,
Congratulations on reaching your third year of magical education.
Enclosed is a list of your predicted results for the cancelled end of year examinations and a list of books for your upcoming year. Third year students are permitted to visit the nearby village of Hogsmeade on selected weekends, but require permission from your parent/guardian. Please ask your parent/guardian to complete the enclosed permission slip if you wish to attend.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry checked his results first;
Predicted Grades:
Passing grades: O (Outstanding), E (Exceeds Expectations), A (Acceptable)
Fail grades: P (Poor), D (Dreadful), T (Troll)
Arithmetic: E
Astronomy: A
Charms: E
Defence Against the Dark Arts: UNCLASSIFIED
English: A
Herbology: A
History of Magic: P
Latin: P
(Introduction to) Magical theory: E
Potions: P
Transfiguration: E
Wix world geography: E
Harry didn't think that he had done too bad. He was terrible at Latin and History of Magic, and he barely tried in those lessons, hence the failing grade. Since these were predicted grades he wasn't surprised Snape had given him a failing grade. Harry suspected that he would do a lot better with a fairer teacher. But five E's and eight passes, possibly nine if they had a decent DADA Professor.
Secretly Harry thought that slaying a Basilisk and saving the school was worth extra credit for a DADA mark but professor McGonagall mustn't have thought so. He looked at the next part of his letter;
Required Books your Third-Year:
The Standard Book of Spells Grade III, by Miranda Goshawk
A Journeyman's Guide to Transfiguration, by Emeric Switch
The Monster Book of Monsters, by Willie Bovin
Spellman's Syllabary, by Rosalia Craft
The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts, by Arsenius Jigger
1993-1994 academic Magical Almanac, by Raven Magnolis
Enchanting Elixirs, by Odell Fiddlewood
Harry looked over his new bookslist, including the books for his two new subjects; The Monster Book of Monsters for Care of Magical Creatures and Spellman's Syllabary for Ancient Runes. Harry had given some thought to attending divination with Ron but had decided against it. The idea of an easy grade did appeal to him but Hermione's argument that the subject just was not worth it if you didn't have the sight pushed him into choosing a more practical class.
There were a lot of uses for Runes and Harry thought they seemed interesting enough. The clincher had been that when Harry had gone to professor McGonagall about his idea for Hermione's hairband, she had sent him to professor Babbling. It had been the Runes professor that had talked Harry through the creation of the hairband. After that how could he not take the class?
Hermione while talking harry out of divination had talked herself out of it at the same time. Hermione had tried to sign up for everything else though. Professor McGonagall had put a stop to that, saying "There just wasn't enough time to take that many classes!" In the end Hermione had been persuaded to drop muggle Studies as Harry had pointed out the class was the one where she wouldn't actually learn anything, considering she lived with her parents during the holidays, who were muggles themselves.
"How did you do Harry?", Hermione was eager to see Harry's results so he swapped his results with her.
Hermione's predicted grades were a lot better than his, as he expected;
Arithmetic: O
Astronomy: E
Charms: O
Defence Against the Dark Arts: UNCLASSIFIED
English: O
Herbology: O
History of Magic: O
Latin: E
(Introduction to) Magical theory: O
Potions: A
Transfiguration: O
Wix world geography: E
Well, if Harry ever needed proof that Snape didn't mark fairly it was Hermione's mark. Hermione's potions were always the exact shade described in the book and Harry knew for sure that a fair teacher would give Hermione an O, anything less than an E was just Snape marking down Gryffindors like he always did.
"Well Harry, these aren't too bad, though you need to brush up on your languages and find a way to stay awake in professor Binns' classes. But considering you were focusing on all the stuff with the chamber and Snape marked you down like he always does, these are really good. If you focus a bit more there's no reason you won't do better next year."
Mrs. Granger took both of the reports and looked at them, "You did really well Hermione, like always. Harry, dear, you did fine and I don't have any of your previous school reports to compare it to so I will ask you. Do you think you did your best or do you think you could have done better?"
Harry turned pale. He had never had anyone care about his grades like this before. Whenever he'd brought a school report home to the Dursley's when he was younger, no matter how well he did his uncle would always find a reason to hit him, telling him he was a disgrace and an uneducated brat. They'd stopped after he'd gone to Hogwarts, as they didn't want to know what "dark rituals" he'd get up to at "that place".
"I… I could probably do better." Harry couldn't bring himself to look Mrs. Granger in the face instead he looked at the new shoes he was wearing, bracing himself for the whip of a belt across his back or the blinding pain of a fist hitting his stomach.
"Harry, you aren't in trouble.", Mrs. Granger's voice was soft and soothing and while it prevented the panic that was starting to build in his chest it did nothing to relieve the guilt he was feeling.
"But I want you to think about something. You pay a lot of money to attend that school and to learn magic. The skills you learn there will determine how far you can go once you leave. Do you think that when you look back on your time at school you will be happy or do you think you will wish you had done more? It's your life to live Harry. The choices are yours but so are the consequences." Harry couldn't help it, he felt really bad about the effort he put in at school, especially in some classes. A trickle of tears leaked from his eyes as he considered the words spoken to him by someone he had only known a few days, but respected more than he ever had the Dursley's. "Now. I want you to go and get cleaned up for dinner and have a think on what we discussed."
Harry did just that and after a good long think, and more than a few tears, he promised himself that he would do better next time. The last thing he wanted to do was disappoint the Grangers