Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original ideas. The rest belongs to JKR and Blackwell's.

Author notes: Thank you to noybate for the beta on this chapter. It has not been Britpicked, so any mistakes are my own.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Professor Granger, may I speak with you?"

Hermione looked up from the essays she was grading in the staff lounge to see the Muggle Studies teacher standing in front of her. "Professor Murdoch, how may I help?"

"I understand you have Muggle literature." Sheila Murdoch looked rather uneasily at Hermione. "I need some help."

"With Muggle literature?"

"With making it easier for my students to understand Muggles," she explained. "Goodness knows the books I have for them now are useless. They were useless when I attended school."

Hermione giggled. "I know what you mean. But I thought you were a half-blood. Didn't you...?"

"My father is a wizard who fell in love with a Muggle, so I was raised pretty much in the Wizarding world. Especially after I started showing signs of being a witch."

"Oh." Hermione looked thoughtful. "That must have been hard on your mother...not being able to do magic."

"We have house-elves, and they adore Mother," Sheila said, smiling. "She and my father live very well without her having to do any kind of magic."

"I'm glad for them," Hermione said. "So you want me to recommend some Muggle books? For what years?"

"First through fifth, I should think," Sheila replied. "I rarely have any N.E.W.T. classes for Muggle Studies, but I do have a few O.W.L.s."

"Let me think about it and get back to you," Hermione said. "I may want to see what I have at home that I enjoyed reading at that age."

"I quite understand and I really appreciate this."

"No problem."

* * *

"Professor Murdoch?" Hermione held out a parchment of book titles. "Now, these are just recommendations..."

"If it will help," Sheila Murdoch said, "that's all I ask." She took the list and scanned it quickly. "Some of these authors I've heard of," she mused. "Jules Verne, Rudyard Kipling, Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien..." She looked at Hermione. "I don't know why I didn't think of these. They're some of my mother's favourites.

"But some of these others I've never heard of: Brian Jacques, Lloyd Alexander, Lois Lowrey..."

"I might suggest a field trip, Professor Granger," a familiar, silky voice said from behind the two women.

"A field trip?" Hermione turned to face Severus. "Why a field trip?"

"To Muggle London and a Muggle bookstore, of course."

"That's a wonderful idea, Severus." Sheila clapped her hands gleefully. "We could go this weekend, Professor Granger, couldn't we?"

"Hermione."

"Beg pardon?"

"You can call me Hermione. Professor Granger is a bit formal between colleagues, don't you think?"

"Oh. Of course." Sheila blushed. "You can call me Sheila. What about this weekend?"

Hermione laughed. "You have to ask me if I want to go to a bookstore? Haven't you been listening to the gossip in the staff room?"

"I don't pay much attention to gossip," Sheila giggled. "It's the bane of my husband. He lives for information of any kind."

"What does he do?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Mike's an Auror," Sheila answered. "He's stationed in Hogsmeade, which makes it wonderful for me. I can be home every night without Apparating to London and back.

"Shall I ask Minerva about going to London this weekend?" she continued. "I really want to have something for my classes on Monday."

"I have no objections so long as I'm not needed here," Hermione said.

Sheila grinned and almost ran out of the staff room towards the Headmistress' office.

"Hermione, might I ask a favour?" Severus said from his seat in the corner.

"Certainly, Severus," she replied. "What do you need?"

"If you do go to London, may I give you a list and the Galleons to pick up a few books for me?"

"I'd be happy to." Hermione smiled at him. "Don't worry about the money. We can figure it up when I get back."

"Thank you."

Hermione decided to tease him. "Is that why you suggested a field trip?" she asked. "So I could buy you some books?"

Severus smirked. "Of course. How else am I to have something new to read when the Ministry won't let me order anything from either Muggle or Wizarding establishments?"

"Nothing?"

"Not a thing. Minerva has been good enough in previous years to purchase what I needed in the way of journals and periodicals in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley, but she won't venture into Muggle London very often. I was unaware of the fact that Flourish and Blotts was now selling Muggle literature..." He paused. "Of all my restrictions, I find that I miss reading the newest books the most."

Suddenly serious, Hermione said, "I'll do what I can. Just give me your list."

"I am most appreciative."

* * *

"This is fabulous," Sheila exclaimed, her eyes moving constantly over the many shelves of books in Blackwell's. "I'm sure to find what I need here."

"Indeed," Narcissa said from behind her. "Elizabeth, you never told me this was here."

"You never asked, Narcissa." Elizabeth smiled. "Hermione, isn't this where you and Draco bought the medical books you researched?"

"Yeah, Mum, although we went to the Guys branch," Hermione said as she ran to keep up with Sheila. "They've got almost everything..." Her voice trailed off into the distance.

Narcissa smirked. "Lucius won't like it if I come home with more books, but I did tell him I was going shopping."

"Matt's the same way," Elizabeth said with a laugh. "It's their own fault for not wanting to come with us."

"Indeed. Now, where do we start?"

* * *

"May I help you ladies find something?" The snooty-voiced salesclerk looked askance at Sheila's attempt at Muggle clothing. There wasn't anything he could place as being wrong, but her clothing seemed off somehow.

Hermione drew his attention. "We're looking for books for our students. Most of them have no idea of how British society works, so we're hoping to find something they'll enjoy reading and yet manage to learn at the same time." She looked at the clerk, who decided that, as teachers, they were to be accorded some respect.

"Of course, Madam," he said. "Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?"

"I'd say some of both. Wouldn't you, Sheila?"

"Hmmm?" she said, looking up from the cover blurb of the bestseller she held. "Oh, definitely. A little of both, especially on how things work and why."

"I see," the clerk said. "And what age group are we looking for?"

"Grammar school," Hermione explained. "First year through fifth. We... er... teach at a small public school in Scotland, and we're only here for the weekend."

"I see," Obviously this particular teacher knew what she wanted. "If you would come this way..."

"Oh, that's perfect!"

* * *

"Okay, I think I have enough books here," Elizabeth said. "What do you think, Narcissa? Narcissa?" She looked around. "Narcissa, where are you?"

"Are you looking for the blonde lady you came in with, Madam?" a sales lady asked with a suppressed giggle. "She's over in our Romance section."

"Thank you very much."

"Don't mention it."

Elizabeth hurried over to the Romance section only to find Narcissa knee-deep in books. A harried salesclerk was busily trying to pick up the books from the floor, while Narcissa kept looking at one after another, replacing them on the shelf only to have them fall off.

"I'm terribly sorry, Elizabeth," she said, turning around as Hermione's mother called her name. "I seem to have lost track of time."

"What is all this?" Elizabeth asked, trying unsuccessfully to suppress a smile. "Narcissa, there are more books on the floor than in your basket."

Narcissa looked down. "Oh, dear. How did that happen?" She replaced the book in her hand back on its shelf and it promptly fell to the floor. "That's not right." She started to draw her wand.

"It's all right, Narcissa," Elizabeth said, placing a hand on her arm. "Do you have everything you wanted?"

"Yes, indeed, Madam," the salesclerk said, looking up at her customers as she stacked the books. "This happens all the time." Her expression said just the opposite, however.

"I believe so. Where are Hermione and Professor Murdoch?" Narcissa asked, stepping over the floored books, leaving the salesclerk to pick them up.

"I saw them in the queue waiting to pay for their purchases," Elizabeth said. "Why don't we join them and then go find someplace for lunch?"

"An excellent idea."

* * *

Author's notes: Blackwell's is a real bookstore with over forty shops in Great Britain, including Oxford, Edinburgh, and Charing Cross Road. For the purposes of this chapter, I used the shop in Charing Cross Road. If you're interested in an online listing of all locations, go here: http:// bookshop. blackwell. co. uk/ (remember to remove the extra spaces) and click on the "Our Shops" link at the top of the page.