9 Hermione pt.4

"Mom used to say the same." Miles nodded, "So what's it like in Hogwarts?"

"It's always the same sometimes but if you know what to look for then things might be interesting," Cedric said, "Which house do you think you'll be in?"

"Haven't really thought much about it but I am sure it isn't going to be Slytherin," Miles said.

"It's understandable." Cedric nodded when Madam Malkin interrupted their conversation.

"It's done." She said handing Cedric his new robes.

"See you then, Miles." Cedric said, "I hope we can have someone like you in Hufflepuff but you seem like a Ravenclaw guy, anyway don't be a stranger in school."

Miles nodded, "I'll make sure of that."

"And you Bill, though I won't say anything to anyone you should at least drop by at your house." Cedric said looking at Bill, "Your mom might appreciate it."

"Will do... If I get the chance to."

Rolling his eyes Cedric went out of the shop.

"Interesting guy," Miles said, from just the brief conversation they had he already liked the guy as they quit formalities really quick and the other party seemed to be a decent guy, to say the least.

"What you interested... You know I myself am pretty decent looking and I don't know if you know this but I write really good songs."

"Oh, shut up!"

―==(oIo)==―

Getting out of the shop they went around buying other necessary items like the cauldron set, some crystal phials, telescope set, and some brass scales.

"Let's go get your brother a wand first then head for the books." Miles said as they weren't really too far away from the Ollivanders, "I don't want to carry the heavy stuff around for too long."

"Good idea."

Both of them nodded at the plan and headed for Ollivanders.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Miles sat on to wait. He didn't think he would enter the Ollivanders after he had bought his wand so he was very interested as looked around at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic. If John was here, Miles would surely give him a lesson on how a wand shop was supposed to look like.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice.

An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"Hello," said Bill.

"Ah yes," said the man ignoring Bill. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon Mr. Rakepick."

"Sorry, I have already got my wand," Miles said wondering how the old man knew him but he wanted to clear any misunderstanding beforehand.

"I see." Ollivander said with a bit of dejection in his eyes, "May I ask who from?"

"Um... It-It is from the Wolfe family back in the states." Miles felt awkward telling Ollivander that he bought his wand from a shady man in a shady place and that it's not even traced.

"Uh! The Wolfe family, I have indeed heard about them. Great wandmakers, to say the least, I know they are good at handling Thunderbird feathers pretty well. Quite a difficult core to master." Ollivander said as he looked up trying to remember things but before he could continue, Bill interrupted him with a cough as he felt ignored.

"Ah! William Weasley, its a pleasure." Ollivander said finally noticing his presence, "Unicorn hair and Holly wood if I remember correctly. Is there something wrong with it?"

"I am actually here to buy a wand for my brother, Ron." Bill said, "I don't know if you can find me a suitable one."

"I have got just the one." Ollivanders surprisingly didn't question anything as he went back to his shelves. Bill awkwardly looked back at Miles who was doing the same as they both shrugged not knowing what was going on.

"Here it is." Ollivanders said, "14 Inch long, made of willow a core of unicorn hair. The unicorns have always favored the Weasleys, of course."

"Umm, will it work?" Bill said confused, "I mean, does it suit him."

"He actually tried out the wand on his own in fact," Ollivander said, "It was 3 weeks ago when he came in and tried the wand but after Molly told him that he was getting his brother Charlie's he left, the lad seemed disappointed but I am happy you are buying one for him."

Bill nodded as he was slightly holding back his laugh thinking how embarrassing it must've been.

"Yes, please give me the wand." Bill said, "I am sure Ronnikins would be happy."

After paying both of them left the shop, while Miles could swear Ollivanders kept looking at his way until he was gone.

"Next stop, Flourish, and Blotts." Bill said as they went towards the books store.

While Bill was buying him his first-year books he was walking around the place for any interesting books he could find, just as he was walking around looking at the books he crashed into someone lightly.

"I apologize," Miles said as he turned around to find Hermione again, "Seems like we keep running into one another, huh Ms.Granger?"

When he called her name Hermione snapped out of her daze, 'I need to stop doing that!' She said to herself as she looked back at Miles.

"You can call me Hermione." She said smiling a little, "I wanted to thank you before for saving me but you just disappeared."

"Things like this happens a lot in the magical world!" Miles said vaguely as he was too embarrassed to tell her that he made Bill apparate away with him to avoid the annoying questions that a Muggle might have, even when he didn't know it was her.

"Does it?" Hermione questioned, "By the way, thanks for helping me back again at Gringotts as well."

"It doesn't really matter." Miles shook his head as he looked at the piles of book Hermione had collected on the ground, "You are really into studying aren't you?"

Hermione noticed where Miles was looking as she got a bit uncomfortable, since she was a kid, she got teased around a lot for always keeping her head in the books and she didn't want it to happen again but against her expectation the teasing didn't come and instead Miles kneeled over to look at the books as he began filtering them out.

"What are you doing?" She asked confused.

"This and This book are pretty much the same so it would be a waste to buy two." Miles said, "And this history book has its timeline messed up quite a lot, so it's useless and this one, in particular, is filled with the author's unnecessary opinion on how the world should work, it's a brain-stopper really."

Interested she joined in as she looked at the books again and nodded since she didn't know much, it would be a great help to receive it from someone who had read it before.

"Have you read all of these before?"

"Some of it." Miles said, "I was what you muggles called home-schooled so my mom left a lot of books for me to read from, so I wouldn't turn out to be a dumb wizard. She was afraid of it the most."

Though Miles words were simple, Hermione had already gone down a spiral of thoughts about how she was far behind than the others. Finding Hermione lost in her world, Miles waved his hands around on her face, for her to finally wake up.

"Is something wrong?"

Hermione bit her lower lips as she said, "Do you think I'll fall behind others?"

"What do you mean?"

"Unlike you, I am a 'muggle-born' as they seem to call it, so I don't know much about the wizarding world." Hermione said with a serious face, "So I wanted to know how far behind I was?"

"Have you finished reading the books for the first year?"

"Some of them, yes." Hermione said, "But I need to revise it again."

"Then you should already be good enough," Miles said shocked wondering how could someone finish so many books within such a short time, "I mean even I haven't read any of the books except for the Fantastic Beast and where to find them."

"You haven't?" Hermione said with doubts in her eyes.

"Why would I?" Miles said, "I have read some basic potion and magic books but that's all and the things I have read are these useless History books to learn things you muggle-borns learn in your school days. Also, you shouldn't have to worry about being behind, except for some wizards who are too into books everyone should be on the same level."

Hermione nodded but she still had doubts in her eyes, so Miles stood up and walked around as he picked up a couple of books and handed it to her. "The thing you lack is knowledge about this world you're heading into so these are the things you'll need to understand. It's mostly about how the system and politics work and also about wizarding lifestyle in general. It really helped me when I was re-- I mean when I wanted to travel."

Hermione took the four books Miles gave and nodded, "I seem to be just thanking you all day but thanks again."

"No problem," Miles said when he was suddenly called by Bill who was downstairs, he turned back towards Hermione and said, "I'll see you then."

"Wait! Are you still a first-year student?"

"Do I look older?" Miles said jokingly, "I am indeed a first-year. So let's be friends if you want."

Before she could reply Miles was gone as he stepped out of the shop arguing with a tall-redhead he was with, "Miles Rakepick..." she mumbled.