Chapter Text
It was the end of a decade,
But the start of an age
-Long Live, Taylor Swift
August 2, 1971 - Hermione
Hermione woke to the sound of rapid knocking on the door. Squinting her eyes open, she saw Ginny’s bedroom. She rolled her eyes and turned to cover her ears, “Harry, Ron, whoever you are, let us sleep!”
She rolled over to cover her face with a pillow when she saw a glimmer of blond hair. The knocking on the door continued as the memories of the day before came roaring back at her. She immediately shot up out of Ginny’s bed where Luna and Ginny were starting to stir. Hermione ran to the door, opened it, and moved out of the way just in time not to be crushed by a now falling James Potter who had unfortunately put too much of his weight on the door. Scrambling to his feet James, “Morning, Annie!”
Hermione just rolled her eyes and held out her hand to him, “James, My name is Hermione not Annie.”
“I know that,” James said taking her hand to get up, “Annie’s your new nickname”
“Nickname?”
“Well, you said you didn’t like the nickname 'Mione' last night and your name is way too long so I made a new one. It’s right there in your name Her-mi-a-nie!”
“Annie? I like it.” came a voice from behind her. Hermione turned around to see Luna walking towards them. She smiled at Hermione in a way that made her feel understood in an instant. Suddenly a groan came from the bed and Ginny drudged out. “Is there a reason you’re here so horrendously early?”
“We’re going shopping for school!” James said excitedly, “Hurry up, get ready to go! Imma wake up Mum and Dad!” and with that he ran out of the room and across the hall. The girls looked at each other with bright smiles for a second until Luna said, “Well, what are we waiting for!” And with that, Hermione and Luna went back to their own rooms to get ready.
Hermione opened the wardrobe pushed against the wall next to her bed and saw the most perfect selection of clothes to ever exist, that is of course for the 70’s. Hermione grabbed a pair of blue jeans and a red t-shirt and prayed that wizard fashion coincided with muggle fashion. She threw on a pair of brown chucks and went to charm her hair with the spell she learned in fourth year but quickly remembered that she didn’t have a wand yet. Instead she grabbed a scrunchie from the nightstand and put her hair in a ponytail. Feeling ready for the day, she headed over to check on Luna. They hadn’t been particularly good friends at Hogwarts, in fact Hermione found her infuriating, but she was worried about the girl. She hadn’t signed up for this, at least not in the way Hermione and Ginny had. The two of them were designed to be intertwined with the war due to their relationships with Harry, but Luna, she wasn’t. She didn’t have to be in the Ministry that day. She wasn’t really friends with anyone other than Ginny, and she definitely shouldn’t have been sent back with them.
When she knocked on the door, a shockingly upbeat Luna Lovegood answered. She was wearing blue plaid pants and a white tee-shirt with a matching blue headband in her hair. She fit into the decade perfectly. “Can we talk for a second?” Hermione asked gently.
“I don’t see why not,” the blonde replied dreamily. “Is something bothering you Hermione?”
“Well, lots of course, but mostly I wanted to check on you,” Hermione sat down on the edge of the bed as she spoke, trying not to mess up the perfectly tucked in sheets.
“Well, It’ll take some adjusting but I’m sure I’ll be okay. After all, I’m quite enjoying 1971 so far,” the girl said with a wistful smile.
“It’s just– I mean– you didn’t sign up for this,” Hermione stammered out nervously. She obviously didn’t want to damper the girl’s mood, but she also didn’t want her to have to deal with this alone, especially when she and Ginny could help.
“Well, I hardly think any of us did.”
“But Ginny and I– we knew that Harry brought trouble. We were prepared to fight in this war and we knew that our lives might be the cost. You– you just got wrapped into the fight. You didn’t have to be in the ministry and it’s our fault you’re trapped in time.”
Luna paused for a second before speaking again, “I suppose that’s true. But I made the choice for myself to go into that battle and I do not regret it. I believe that choice was the right one. Destiny is quite creative and I truly think that we are exactly where we are meant to be at this moment. Now, if you’re ready to go, I expect that James would want us downstairs as soon as possible.”
Hermione was stunned into silence for a moment before following Luna out of the room and down the hall. James and Ginny were already standing by the fireplace with Monty by the time they got down the grand staircase. Ginny and Monty seemed to be making polite conversation while James bounced from foot to foot in anticipation. “There you are!” he shouted when he saw the two of them, “What took you so long?”
James was at her side before Hermione even reached the bottom step and began to pull the girls’ arms in an attempt to make them walk faster. “Come on, Come on!”
“Now James, relax a little. Your mother is still getting ready and we are in no rush to get to Diagon Alley.” Monty said as he ran his hand through his messy black hair. They all looked the same really, the potter men. It was truly uncanny.
“Mum! Hurry up!” James whined, clearly overly excited for the day’s shopping experience.
“Don’t rush her. You know your mother…she’s–”
“I’m what?” an elegant voice questioned from the stairs. Hermione would never get over how elegant Euphemia Potter was, she was sure of it. The woman seemed to just exude grace whenever she appeared.
“Absolutely gorgeous, of course!” Fleamont replied. He looked at her with such love and adoration that even Hermione could see that they were made for each other. She mentally sighed. She wished Ron would’ve looked at her like that at least once. Her longlasting crush had come to nothing except one jealous argument at the Yule Ball. And now, nothing would ever be able to come from it.
By the time the family got to Diagon Alley, the streets were already flooded with people, families purchasing school supplies, couples on daytime outings, and wizards and witches stopping at every window to see the newest stock. Hermione giggled slightly as the Potters quickly realized having four 11 year olds at once was not going to be a walk in the park. James and Ginny ran off to see the newest broom test fly at the quidditch supply shop, Luna wandered off at one point saying something about nargles, and even Hermione eventually got separated when they stopped at the book shop to pick up textbooks.
She had always loved Flourish and Blotts. It reminded her of a simpler time and always smelled the parchment, her favorite scent. She was scanning the shelves for any of her favorite titles when she bumped into someone. The girl dropped her stack of books and Hermione bent down to help when she saw a flash of red hair. “Oh Gin! It’s just you! You startled me,” She started before locking eyes with the girl. She was not met with the warm brown eyes she had come to know, but striking green ones that seemed eerily familiar.
“I am so sorry,” she continued, “for a second there I thought you were my fr-sister.” She quickly picked up the stack books the girl was holding.
“It’s fine, really!” the girl replied with a smile, “My name’s Lily Evans. What’s yours?”
Hermione’s heart stopped dead in its tracks. Long enough for her to almost have a heartattack, well at least she thought. “I–uh– I’m Hermione. Hermione Gr–uh–Potter. My friends call me Annie though, well actually my brother but same difference.”
“Well then, nice to meet you, Annie! I do hope we’ll be friends.” Lily said, “I would shake your hand but mine are unfortunately full. Thank you for your help by the way.”
“Of course! No prob–”
“Annie! Annie! Where were you? We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” James yelled as he rushed to her side, Ginny tailing him quickly. Luna and Mia rounded the corner next with Monty following closely behind.
“I’m sorry, Jamie. I got distracted.” She replied hastily.
“Jamie?” James made a face as a reaction to his new nickname.
“Yes, Jamie. If you can give me a nickname I can give you one.” Hermione said bossily.
“I quite like it.” Luna replied.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind Lily that sounded oddly familiar. “There you are Lily! We mustn’t get distracted. We have to– Oh hello, Fleamont, Euphemia.”
“Why hello to you, too, Minerva. So lovely to see you. I’ve been meaning to invite you to tea, but with things being so busy and the school year approaching so quickly–” Euphemia answered as if she was speaking with an old friend, which, from Hermione’s perspective, seemed to be the case.
“Oh, that would be just wonderful! You are correct about the terribly busy part, though, with the school year just around the corner the only time I seem to leave the castle is delivering letters or taking muggleborns like Lily here supplies shopping. I’m not the only one it seems. Dumbledore did mention your, umm, uptick in offspring if I might.” Professor McGonogall replied to her friend.
“Ah yes!” Euphemia added, “You know James, of course, the one next to him is Ginevera, Ginny as she likes it. This one is Luna, and the one over by you is Hermione, or Annie as James has seemingly taken to calling her.”
“Well then, this is Lily Evans. She is going to be in their year at Hogwarts.’ The Professor stated.
“Lovely for her to have already made four new friends then.” Monty said with a smile.
“Yes, very lovely indeed. I am so sorry to rush out on you all, but we really do have a strict schedule and must be going. Euphemia, dear, please do owl about tea. It would be wonderful to catch up sometime. Goodbye, Potters!” And with that, McGonogall and Lily headed towards the front of the shop to check out.
Only after they left did Hermione turn to look at James who was absolutely starstruck. The poor boy stared at Lily as she walked away from the family in complete awe. Only stopping when his mother chided him for being rude.
As the family made their way down the rest of Diagon Alley, all James could talk about was Lily. “She’s just perfect!” He’d say, “Not a single flaw, I can tell.” “Her eyes! Did you see her eyes? They were amazing!” Eventually, Ginny elbowed him when the parents weren’t looking and finally got him to stop, but Hermione knew that he had a long road ahead of him with this crush.
Their next stop was at the Magical Menagerie. “Now, we know that Hogwarts permits one familiar per witch or wizard and your father and I thought it would be best to take you here so you could each pick one. Please be reasonable with your choices,” Euphemia shot a look at James, “and pick the animal that picks you, for your relationship should be a special bond.”
Once she was finished, the four children were allowed into the store. The place was filled to the brim with animals of all sorts. The four of them spread out in order to find their new friends. The Potters were truly generous people. Most students didn’t ever get a familiar let alone a group of siblings each getting different ones. When she asked, Monty said that the magic between a familiar and its chosen witch or wizard is extremely powerful and the connection was beginning to be lost in the modern era. He said that in pureblood culture a familiar is one of the most sacred possessions of a wizard, next to their wand, and that to have a familiar was to have an extension of your soul.
Hermione searched each room for a while. From Owls to toads to rats, Hermione wondered if she could ever bond with another familiar after being separated from Crookshanks. Finally, she entered the cat room after almost giving up hope when a small ginger kitten scurried over to her. The woman behind the counter chuckled before speaking. “This one here is part kneazle. Judgemental little scoundrels, they are. They’ll live forever though, about double the lifespan of a muggle cat. We’ve been calling him–”
“Crookshanks.” Hermione finished with tears in her eyes. She bent down to pet her old friend as the saleswoman continued.
“Why, Yes! How did you know?” the woman asked, stunned.
“Just a lucky guess. He looks like a Crookshanks, don’t you think?” Hermione answered, not taking her eyes off of him for one second. She had found him. Or rather, he found her, but whatever it was she was eternally grateful to have him back. No matter how much of a kitten he was now. Without a second thought, the cat jumped up into her arms like it was the safest place in the world, and she almost broke down right there.
The pair made their way back to their seemingly evergrowing family, and found that they were the last to return. James had found a majestic Great Horned Owl named Dren; Ginny had also had an owl, but a female Snowy Owl named Voss. Luna, on the other hand, had bonded with a Raven called Harley, which seemed only fitting for their cooky, former Ravenclaw.
The group met up with their parents, and, after a proper introduction insisted on by Monty, the family checked out and made their way to their final stop, Olivander’s.