Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not mine, no money.

Hermione walked with Ron and Harry out onto Enchanter's Way. Her friends seemed just as immediately impressed by the display and organization of the shops as she was. To her, it felt like the first time she'd stepped onto Diagon Alley.

“Welcome to Enchanter's Way,” a witch said as they entered the street. “I was told that there would be three new people coming to visit us. Here are maps of the street and coupons for each of you. The coupons can be used for twenty percent off your purchase at any of our stores.”

“Thank you,” Hermione replied with a smile. “Okay, let's see. I know you two are going to want to go to ‘An Itch for Quidditch.' How about I go to ‘There's No Place like Tomes’ and meet you at ‘How Sweet It Is’ in half an hour?”

“Alright,” Harry said.

Ron grinned at Hermione. “Leave it to you to choose the two stores that we will spend the most time in.”

“I didn't spend all that time with you two in Diagon Alley for nothing. Okay, half an hour,” Hermione said, setting her watch. “See you then!”

Knowing that her time was limited, Hermione hurried down Enchanter's Way and was soon entering the shop. A smile crept over her face as she saw that the layout of the shop was similar to a library.

“Welcome to my shop,” the witch behind the counter said to her. “Please take your time and look around, and be sure to ask me if you need any help.”

Looking through the shop, Hermione knew that this was where her coupon was going to be used. There were so many different spells and so much information that she wouldn't have known about if she hadn't come to the States.

She was browsing the history section when she heard someone come up behind her.

“You aren't from around here, are you?” the shopkeeper asked her.

“No, I'm here on holiday with my two friends. We're from the United Kingdom.”

“I've always wanted to go there. Didn't you guys have some trouble with that dark wizard there a few months ago?”

“Yes, you could say that,” Hermione answered ruefully.

“Fortunately we never had anything like that happen here,” the witch said, knocking on the door jam. “By the way, I'm Abigail,” the witch said, holding out her hand.

“I'm Hermione.” After shaking the witch's hand, she glanced at her watch and her eyes opened wide. “I told my friends that I would meet them in five minutes. I'll take these books now and come back again later.”

“Please do,” Abigail replied. When she rang up the order, she handed her back her coupon. “Save it for the next time you come in.”

Harry and Ron were waiting at the door of ‘How Sweet It Is’ when she got there. Ron had a new broom, and Harry was tossing a new Snitch as she approached.

“Nice broom, Ron,” Hermione said with a smile. “Is that all you bought, Harry?”

“Actually, I got a Quidditch set. It's being sent to the room,” Harry replied.

“Yeah, now we can have a proper game of Quidditch,” Ron said with a grin. “And with this new broom, our team is going to be unstoppable this year.” Suddenly, Ron's face fell, and Hermione put her arm around him. She knew that he was thinking of his brother.

“Fred would have been proud of you, Ron.” Reaching up, she gave him a tender kiss on the cheek and a small smile.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Harry watching them closely with sadness in his eyes.

Pulling away from Hermione, Ron looked pleased, but embarrassed at the same time. “Let's go see what kind of sweets they have in here.”

They found that ‘How Sweet It Is’ was a shop very much like Honeydukes back in Hogsmeade, but with different types of candy.

“Hey, Ron, look! They have things like our Chocolate Frogs,” Harry said, holding up one of the wrapped foil packets.

“Feels kinda heavy, doesn't it?” Ron said, taking one. “Fudge Eagles,” he read on the wrapper. “With a collectable coin inside.”

“Those are one of our best sellers,” the wizard who owned the shop stated. “Everyone seems to love collecting the coins. Where are you from?”

“We're from the United Kingdom. We have Chocolate Frogs there with Famous Wizard cards inside. Here, think I gotta couple with me,” Ron said, reaching into his pocket and showing them to the shopkeeper.

“Cool! Think the owner of your candy store might be interested in doing some trading?” the shopkeeper asked, looking at the cards that Ron had given him. “By the way, I'm Drew.”

“Don't know. Maybe,” Ron replied with a shrug.

“You have a lot of these cards at home?” Drew asked, handing the cards back to him.

Hermione chuckled. “Thousands, more than likely.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, remembering when he had met Ron on the train during their first year.

“If you would be willing to sell me your spare cards, I'll make you a good deal on them.”

“Yeah, that would be great!” Ron couldn't keep the excitement from his voice.

“Here are a couple of my cards. Take them with you, and give one to the owner of your candy shop. If you can convince them to carry some of my stuff, I might send you some compensation for that as well.”

“Great!” Ron grinned and shook Drew's hand.

The three of them left a few minutes later, each carrying a bag of Fudge Eagles and assorted other sweets.

“Where to now?” Harry asked, looking up and down Enchanter's Way.

“Why don't we just walk along and see what there is to see? We can go in the shops that look interesting.”

As they made their way down Enchanter's Way, they went into ‘Robe -n- Hood,' ‘Boiling Mad,' and the apothecary. But as they came out of the apothecary, Hermione and Harry saw Ron standing in front of a shop.

The shop was a joke shop known as ‘Guffaw.'