It was Sunday. As soon as the alarm went off, Anne threw off her covers and jumped out of bed. She opened her wardrobe and quickly dressed in the outfit she had picked the night before.
Standing in front of the mirror, she tidied her hair and flashed herself a confident smile. "Perfect!"
She chuckled twice, then bounded down the stairs. Orbie was already in the kitchen, placing Anne's breakfast on the table. Aaron hadn't left yet, he was sipping his coffee while reading that day's issue of the Daily Prophet.
When he looked up and saw Anne, he smiled. "Morning, Anne. I can tell you're going out with a friend today, up so early for once."
Anne giggled. "Well, I promised Hermione, didn't I? It wouldn't be right to oversleep."
"Where are you two going?" Aaron asked.
Anne sat down at the table, grabbed a slice of toast, and answered with her mouth full, "Just wandering around, maybe a movie, some food… probably won't be home until later."
"As long as you stay safe. Have fun," Aaron said as he folded his newspaper and stood up. With a parting reminder, he vanished into the fireplace for work.
After breakfast, Anne still had time, so she went out to the greenhouse. She loosened the soil for one magical plant, watered another, and took notes on the new ones she had recently planted. Even after all that, there was still time to kill.
Just as she reached for a magazine to pass the time, the phone rang. It was the driving school she'd contacted a couple of days ago. Anne had always wanted a car, but with so much going on when she turned 18, she hadn't gotten around to it.
The call was to inform her that her written test at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency was scheduled for the upcoming Tuesday afternoon, and her provisional license had already been processed. The instructor would bring it on Monday when he came to give her a driving lesson.
After the call, Anne settled on the couch with her magazine again. When the clock on her watch ticked to 10:25, she put the magazine down, slung on a simple drawstring backpack, and called out to Orbie before heading out the door.
A few minutes later, a black cab pulled up on the street outside. The driver confirmed Anne's reservation from the day before, smiled politely, and she returned the smile before hopping in.
About 25 minutes later, they arrived at Hermione's house. Anne asked the driver to wait a moment, then stepped out and rang the doorbell.
The door opened quickly, but it wasn't Hermione, it was Mr. Granger. He smiled apologetically. "Hello, you must be Anne Roland-Reeve? We met in Diagon Alley, right? Sorry, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a moment. Hermione's still upstairs."
"Good morning, Mr. Granger," Anne said with a warm smile. "Yes, we met before, and that's fine, I can wait."
"Dad! Anne!" Hermione called as she came down the stairs, having heard the bell and realizing her friend had arrived.
She was wearing a simple pale-yellow dress, and her hair had been carefully styled into a neat ponytail. The whole look made her seem especially lively.
"Good afternoon," Anne greeted, her eyes lighting up when she saw Hermione.
After saying goodbye to the Grangers, Anne opened the car door for Hermione before climbing in herself. She gave the driver a brief address, and the car pulled away.
"Hermione, I've been wondering," Anne said.
"Hmm? About what?" Hermione asked.
Anne scratched her head. "Your CD player, it's the latest Sony model from February, but it hasn't even been released in Europe yet. How did you get it?"
"Oh, that," Hermione replied. "My aunt bought it for me. She went to Japan before the summer break. They advertised this model a lot on TV over there."
Anne nodded. "That makes sense. By the way, here are the films showing today: Primal Fear, Silent Witness, Secrets & Lies, My Friend Joe, and The English Patient. We've got time to catch two this afternoon. Want me to give you a quick summary of each before we decide?"
Hermione nodded eagerly.
Anne smoothly and quickly ran through the plots of each movie, then looked at Hermione expectantly.
Hermione decisively chose My Friend Joe and The English Patient. Then she asked, "Anne, how do you remember all those summaries?"
"Oh, I picked up a flyer from the cinema near my house on Thursday. Flipped through it a few times, and they stuck. Way easier than remembering all those twisted ancient runes in class."
"Hey! I remember you were the best in Ancient Runes! You always aced those mini quizzes before lunch," Hermione laughed.
Anne shrugged. "That's only true before lunch. I think my brain works best in the morning."
Hermione giggled.
The taxi pulled up in front of a Michelin one-star restaurant. Anne handed the driver some money, thanked him, and got out with Hermione.
"This is our first stop. Time to treat you to something delicious!" Anne said cheerfully.
Hermione followed her inside.
When they got their menus, Hermione tried to make sense of the dish names:
Black Pepper Venison Puffs, Truffle Pork Ribs, Mushroom Spring Rolls, Special Dumplings, Shrimp Rice Noodles, Crispy Duck Rolls, Spicy Chicken Soup, Shrimp Dumplings, Tofu, Century Egg Congee, Soup Dumplings, Scallop Siu Mai, and more…
Hermione scanned the menu, but the direct English translations didn't help much.
Seeing her confused expression, Anne chuckled. "Want me to order for us?"
Hermione gratefully closed the menu.
"These dish names are tricky, even translated," Anne said with a wink.
Knowing Hermione's tastes, Anne quickly chose the dishes and waved over the waiter. "Black pepper venison puffs, truffle pork ribs, mushroom spring rolls, char siu rice rolls, and shrimp rice noodles. One of each, please."
Once the waiter left, Anne took a sip of tea and leaned back. "Might take a while, the kitchen's usually slower at this hour."
"Mm." Hermione took a sip too and began looking around. The restaurant was packed, every table taken, but thanks to Anne's reservation, they had a seat by the window, a wall-sized pane of glass facing the street.
"This place is popular," Hermione remarked.
"Lunch is the main meal here. There's an old saying: 'Eat breakfast like an emperor, lunch like a commoner, and dinner like a beggar.'"
"Really? Why those three?" Hermione asked, intrigued.
"Well," Anne explained, "breakfast should be rich and varied, like what emperors used to eat. Lunch should fill you up, like a commoner's hearty meal. Dinner should be light, like a beggar's."
"Fascinating," Hermione said. "I never knew that!"
"Food culture is a big part of every country's history and daily life," Anne smiled. "In fact, there's another saying: 'Food is the first necessity of the people.'"
"Haha, I feel like that perfectly describes you," Hermione teased.
Anne nodded seriously. "Exactly."
They chatted about food traditions from various countries and the differences between European and British cuisine. After enjoying their meal, they headed to the cinema together.
London's public transport was excellent. They passed bustling streets, took the historic Tube, navigated weekend crowds, and grabbed ice cream just before reaching the theater.
Once there, Anne rushed to buy two juices, soft candies, and some licorice.
Arms full of snacks, she walked over to Hermione and scratched her head. "Uh… I thought we'd be in the theater for a while. I picked stuff that's tasty and won't make too much noise…"
Hermione laughed. "No problem. Are we heading in now? Which one's first?"
Anne handed her the snack bag, and Hermione pulled out the tickets. "Looks like The English Patient is first. It starts in 15 minutes, but we need to queue at 5."
Hermione nodded again, then asked curiously, "Say, Anne…"
"Hmm? What is it?" Anne turned to face her, tearing her gaze from the movie posters.
"Why did you invite me to the movies today?" Hermione's eyes sparkled with excitement and a bit of hope.
Anne replied honestly, "Well, I wanted to ask you about the CD player, and thought I should find a chance to thank you properly."
Hermione's eyes dimmed slightly. Oh… that's all? she thought.
But Anne had been watching closely. She clearly saw the flicker of disappointment in Hermione's eyes.
Fanny's words popped into Anne's head, and before she could stop herself, she blurted, "This is actually the first time I've ever invited someone out one-on-one…" She scratched her head. "Did I mess anything up?"
"Ah! No, not at all. You've done great," Hermione quickly reassured her.
Anne kept watching Hermione's expression, and saw the joy and excitement sparkle once more.
Eyes don't lie.
Fanny had been right. It wasn't just a teasing joke.
But now that Anne realized it was true, her heart started pounding. If Hermione really liked her… wouldn't that throw everything off?
In the original story, Hermione liked Ron. Even if she didn't, she'd never fall for a Slytherin, would she? Gryffindors and Slytherins were sworn rivals.
What would this change affect? Could it weaken the trio's bond? If it did, who would defeat Voldemort in the end?
Would the wizarding world's future collapse?
A massive variable had just landed in front of Anne.
"Anne?" Hermione waved a hand in front of her. "What are you spacing out for?"
Anne blinked back to awareness, despite it being midsummer, she felt a chill down her back.
She forced a calm expression. "Time to go in?"
"Yeah," Hermione said, still watching her with concern.
"Alright, let's go." Anne took the lead, but as she started walking, her legs felt strangely weak.
⚡︎━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ❖ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⚡︎
If you're enjoying the journey so far and want to read ahead, you can check out 25+ advance chapters on Patreon: Patreon/Crimson_Lore