Hermione always liked to lie-in on weekends. She was looking forward to a long summer, and to starting secondary school in just a few weeks' time. She could hear the murmur of her parents' voices from downstairs, preparing breakfast. Hermione heard a knock on the front door, and the soft footfalls of her father on the carpeted hallway; the door opened, and Hermione heard a stranger's voice. After a few minutes, she heard her father coming upstairs. There was a light tap on her bedroom door, and her father walked in.

"Hermione, can you come downstairs please? There's someone here to see you." Reluctantly, Hermione rolled out of bed, put her slippers on, wrapped her dressing gown around herself and followed her father back downstairs. As she entered the living room, she became aware that she wasn't exactly presentable.

Sat on the sofa was a very strange-looking woman. She was heavily built, and had a head of grey, flyaway hair. She was wearing robes of bright green.

"Hello Hermione, why don't you come in and sit down? My name is Professor Pomona Sprout. I am a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Hermione assumed that she had misheard.

"You teach where, sorry?"

"At Hogwarts. It is a school for gifted individuals like yourself."

"Gifted? In what way?" But it was Hermione's mother who spoke next.

"By gifted, you mean more than just intelligence don't you, Professor Sprout? You're saying that Hermione has special…abilities."

Professor Sprout sat in silence for a few moments.

"How long have you known?" Mrs. Granger smiled.

"For a few years now." She looked at her husband and smiled. "Some odd things have happened around Hermione, and we thought it had to be more than just coincidence."

"You were right, Mrs. Granger. Hermione, this will come as a shock, but you are a witch."

The silence was deafening.

"I'm…I'm a what?" Professor Sprout handed her a thick, heavy envelope made of yellow parchment. Written on the front of it in green ink were the words:

Miss H. Granger

Single bedroom

24 Hampstead Way

London

NW11

Turning the envelope over, Hermione saw that it was stamped with a large purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms: a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake, all surrounding a large letter H. Eagerly ripping open the envelope, she pulled out a letter, and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Miss Granger,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1st.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Hermione read the letter twice more, and when she looked up, her eyes were full of tears.

"Mummy? Daddy? Can this be true? Is this real?" And before she knew what she was doing, Hermione had crossed the room and had embraced her parents, crying and laughing with joy. Professor Sprout had stood up. She too was laughing.

"I guess you accept then?"

"Yes! Yes, of course I do!"

xxx

Hermione followed her parents and Professor Sprout off the bus and stepped down onto Charing Cross Road. It looked just like any other London street, but in front of her Hermione could see a rundown old inn, with peeling paint and a faded sign. The Hogwarts professor led the way into the Leaky Cauldron. It was very quiet inside, and dark. Hermione could see two old women talking in hushed tones in a corner, and a younger man was sat at the bar, drinking out of a large goblet. Professor Sprout led the way through the pub and out into a small, walled courtyard. She pulled out her wand, and tapped the wall three times. The brick she had tapped wiggled. A small hole appeared in the wall, and seconds later an archway appeared, large enough for all four of them to comfortably walk through side by side.

"Welcome Hermione," Professor Sprout said, beaming "to Diagon Alley."

Hermione wished she had eight more pairs of eyes. As they walked up the street, she tried to look in every direction at once. She had never seen a street like it. Each shop had fantastical window displays, each one uniquely different to the next. There were shops selling telescopes, shops selling cauldrons and exotic-looking ingredients, and a shop selling owls of numerous species. Outside a shop called Quality Quidditch Supplies, Hermione could see a group of boys with their faces pressed up against the window, gazing in at a broomstick.

"It's the new Nimbus Two Thousand; fastest ever!" Hermione heard one of the boys exclaim. But a moment later, Hermione saw a shop that made her stop dead as well. It was a bookshop. But not any old bookshop. Through the window, Hermione could see more books than she had ever seen before. She was itching to go inside, but her mother pulled her away with a smile. As they reached the end of the street, Hermione looked up to see a huge snowy-white building that towered over the other shops. The words Gringotts Wizard Bank where engraved over the entrance. Standing next to the burnished bronze double doors was a squat creature, with long, pointed ears and fingers.

"Mum? What's that…thing stood next to the door?"

"It's a goblin," Professor Sprout answered, "they guard the bank. Never mess with a goblin, Hermione."

Inside was a vast, towering marble hall. About a hundred goblins where sat at long counters on either side of the room: writing down numbers, weighing heavy jewels, or examining large golden coins. The Grangers approached a free goblin.

"We're here to exchange Muggle money," said Professor Sprout. The goblin looked intensely at them over the top of his half-moon spectacles.

"Ah, another Muggleborn, eh?"

xxx

Ten minutes later, Hermione was leaving the bank with a purse full of wizard money: large gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and tiny bronze Knuts. Hermione spent the next few hours exploring the shops. She bought a nice set of brass scales, and a collapsible cauldron. The young witch purchased her wand from Ollivanders. It was a dark, dusty shop, but elderly Ollivander was very helpful, and Hermione emerged a short while later with her very own wand: 10 ¾ inches, vine wood, with a core of dragon heartstring. But Hermione was most excited about the bookshop. Flourish and Blotts was every bit as fantastic inside as it looked from the outside. Bookshelves rising all the way up to the ceiling contained more books than Hermione could count. It was a long time before her parents managed to drag her out, and even then, she was weighed down by a lot more than just school books. Professor Sprout guided them back through the Leaky Cauldron and, with the promise that she would return on September 1st to help Hermione catch the Hogwarts Express, back out into the Muggle world.