Two
"A Hot Mess"
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. All characters are creations of Joanne K. Rowling, © 2007, to whom I am deeply indebted. I make no money from any of this. I'm just taking her world and tweaking it a bit.
Note One: Hey guys! Again, I'm blown away with the response this story is getting! And I'm really glad you guys like Viola as much as I do.
EDITED 06/11/2011: Just some date changes and minor edits.
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5 July, 2016
In the summer when Lindsay worked full time at Just Imagine, she had a certain morning ritual that she went through. Each morning she would visit the Starbucks beside the shop and order a Grande Passion Iced Tea and a slice of lemon poppy seed bread. After that, she would head into Just Imagine and open the store, finishing up with fifteen minutes to spare before it opened up to the public. In that time, Mrs. P said she could pick out a book to read during the morning when things weren't busy until Karen showed up just before lunch. Lindsay had done this procedure so many times that she didn't have to think about it anymore.
This morning, however, was different. She stood in the doorway of Just Imagine with her Grande Passion Iced Tea and slice of lemon poppy seed bread in hand, staring around the shop. She wasn't sure why, but she was expecting to find something different about Just Imagine; something that was out of place. Of course, everything was exactly where Lindsay and Karen had left them the previous night. Lindsay let out a nervous giggle and shook her head, feeling ridiculous. She placed her goodies down on the counter and began the opening procedures.
When it became time for Lindsay to find herself a book for that morning, her eyes immediately went to the storeroom door. After getting home last night, Lindsay's mind was reeling with questions. Who put the journals in the storeroom? Who wrote them? She found the more she asked those questions, the more she wanted to read the rest of the journal. Granted, it wasn't much of a journal. It was written in third person and was more like a novel... No, she thought, forcing herself to go down the adventure section and away from the storeroom. We agreed we wouldn't read anymore. We're going to tell Mrs. P as soon as she gets here.
She browsed the adventure section, not having anything catch her eye. Fed up, she grabbed the one with the most interesting cover and went back behind the counter. Taking a sip from her drink, she sat down on the stool and opened the book.
Lindsay hadn't even gotten halfway down the first page when she felt her eyes slowly start to shift towards the storeroom door. She blinked, shook her head, and refocused on the paragraph she had been reading. Thirty seconds later she found herself staring at the door yet again.
Lindsay put the book down and bit her lip, feeling as though there was some unseen force beckoning her to the storeroom. She really did want to read the rest of the journal, and it wasn't like she would be hurting anyone by reading it…
"Alright then," she mumbled. She marched to the storeroom and threw open the door, glancing around. Again, she felt as if there should be something different about the room. She ignored it and hurried to the back where she had placed the journal and grabbed it, peeking to make sure that the rest of them were still in the box (which they were), and ran back out. There was still five minutes until Just Imagine opened but Lindsay unlocked the door anyway, flipping the sign to `Open'. She settled back into her stool, found the place where Karen left off, and started to read.
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11 July, 1991
"Minny, I'm bored."
Hermione dragged her eyes up from her book to see Viola standing at the end of the sofa, pointing her newly perfected puppy dog eyes at her. She sighed and placed her bookmark on the page she was on, closing the book. "Vi, your party starts in a few hours. Surely you can wait until then."
"But I'm bored now," she whined, drawing out the `now'. She draped herself over the arm of the sofa and let out another whine. Because it was July, Viola was able to have her birthday party on her actual birthday and not have to wait until the weekend.
"Well you need to learn how to have some patience," Hermione retorted, reopening her book. "Why don't you go ask mum or daddy to see if you can help set up for your party?"
"Okay!" Viola straightened up and scurried out of the living room. Hermione giggled at how fast her sister could change her attitude and went back to her book. A few minutes later, Viola stomped back into the room with a sour expression. She threw herself onto the sofa and crossed her arms across her chest. "They won't let me."
"Why don't you read something, then?" Hermione suggested patiently, closing her book yet again.
"I've already read all the books I have," she grumbled.
"You could borrow one of my books."
Viola shot Hermione a nasty glare, "All of your books are too hard for me to read."
"Well I don't know then," she said, getting fed up with her little sister's attitude. "Take a nap, you're getting cranky." She opened her book and went back to reading.
"No!" Hermione rolled her eyes and ignored Viola as she flopped down onto her side and began to hit the sofa cushion repeatedly with her fist.
A car door slammed in front of their house. Hermione looked out the window and groaned as she saw Uncle Robert, Aunt Mary, and Claire heading up the walkway. They were early, but Hermione figured that her aunt and uncle were planning on helping with the party preparations. Still, she wasn't too keen on having to spend extra time with Claire. A few seconds later, Mr. Granger walked through the house to the entrance way to let them in.
Viola stopped her tantrum to look up at Claire as she walked into living room. "Mummy and daddy said I have to play with you guys until the party," she said, not even greeting the two girls. She sat down delicately on the chair across from Hermione and Viola and stared at them. "And I'm not reading, Hermione."
"I wasn't going to ask you to, anyway." Hermione replied, flipping the page.
"There's the birthday girl!" Uncle Robert declared, entering the room. He picked up Viola and spun her around, making her squeal and giggle. Hermione glanced at Claire and smirked as she saw her purse her lips at her father and Viola. "Happy birthday, sweetheart."
"Thanks, Uncle Robert!" Viola wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and gave him a hug. "What did you get me?"
"You'll just have to wait and find out," he teased, flicking her nose gently with his finger. Viola groaned as he let her down. He straightened up and turned to Hermione. "Your aunt and I also got something for you as well, Hermione."
Both Hermione and Claire looked up at him in shock. "You got something for me?" she asked, feeling Claire's glare on her. "You didn't have to do that."
He shrugged, "I just saw it and thought of you. Plus, both Claire and Viola will have gotten presents from us in the past couple weeks and it's not really fair to you."
"Thanks, Uncle Robert."
"You're welcome, kiddo." He reached over and messed up her hair, then excused himself from the room.
"You even got a present today and I didn't?" Claire snarled, crossing her arms. "How is that fair?"
Hermione shrugged, "It wasn't like I asked for one. And besides, your birthday was two weeks ago."
"So? He's my daddy, not yours," she said snottily. "I was the one who was supposed to get the present, not you."
"Don't fight, you two," Viola said in a small voice, glancing nervously between the two girls.
Claire glared at Hermione one final time before turning to Viola and putting on a big, fake smile. "I'm sorry, birthday girl. What did you want to do until your party?"
Viola gave a small shrug. "Tag?"
"No," she said immediately. Claire's eyes went wide and she suddenly sat up, clapping her hands together. "I know! We can play beauty salon!"
"How do you play that?" Viola asked. Hermione felt dread start to creep up as she saw the glint in Claire's eyes.
"We get the make-up kit I brought with me, change into pretty clothes, and gossip!"
"I guess that could be fun?" Viola said slowly. She had always been more of an outdoorsy, tomboy type of girl.
"I'll go ask mummy to get the make-up kit," Claire jumped up from the chair and ran out of the room. Moments later, she returned with a silver box. "Come on girls, we'll have to go to one of your rooms to do this."
"Do I have to play?" Hermione asked, hoping she didn't have to.
"It's up to the birthday girl," Claire answered coolly.
They looked at Viola, who nodded vigorously. "I want Minny to come."
Claire looked a little put out at this but said nothing. She turned on her heel and started up the stairs, Hermione and Viola scrambling to follow her. "Are there rules to beauty salon?" Viola asked.
"There are three," she said after thinking it through. "First rule, no reading anything except fashion or gossip magazines." Hermione groaned. "Second rule, you have to pretend to be rich and famous."
They stopped at the end of the hallway where Hermione and Viola's rooms were. Claire stepped into Viola's room and shook her head. "Sorry Vi, this room is too messy for a salon."
"It's okay," she replied, going red. "I was going to clean it up later."
Hermione groaned, knowing that they'd be using her room. She just hoped they wouldn't mess it up too much. Viola skipped her way into Hermione's room as Claire stood in the doorway. "What's the third rule?" Hermione asked, knowing she would regret asking.
"Third rule is you have to do whatever I say." Claire said, grabbing Hermione's arm and yanking her into the room.
"That doesn't sound very fair," Hermione said, twisting out of her cousin's grip. She watched as she shoved some books that were stacked up on Hermione's desk to the floor. "Hey!"
"Sorry," Claire said, not sounding apologetic at all. "But an artist needs her space."
"Even so," Hermione growled, picking up her beloved books, "that doesn't give you the right to come here as a guest and disrespect my things." She went over to the large bookshelf and placed the books back in their original places.
"Funny, I always thought that the guest came first." Claire dragged the chair that was at Hermione's desk to the middle of the room. She glanced at the two girls and nodded towards Hermione's bed, "Sit."
Hermione and Viola shared a look and sat down on the bed. Hermione was already starting to regret agreeing to play this stupid game and, with one look at Viola, she could tell her sister was as well. "What do we do now?" Viola asked.
"You wait until I'm good and ready," Claire replied. She opened up the silver box and began taking out different sized brushes, combs, blush, and eye shadows. After laying them out meticulously, she turned to them and stared at them thoughtfully. "Alright Vi, come and sit in the chair."
Viola slid off the bed and went over to the chair. Claire circled around her, examining her as she tapped her finger on her chin. "What to do, what to do," she murmured.
Viola shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"Oh honey, you're such a hot mess," she said in an extremely posh voice, jutting out her hip. "When I'm done with you, you will be be-you-tee-full!"
"I-I'm a what?" Viola asked, looking a little worried.
"A hot mess," she repeated, grabbing a chunk of Viola's hair and examining the curls, "Actually, a hot, hot mess."
"Claire," Hermione warned, seeing tears begin to fill Viola's eyes. "Don't listen to Claire, Vi. You're not a hot mess." She didn't even know what being a `hot mess' meant, but the way Claire had said it made it clear that it was an insult.
Claire let out a sound of frustration, throwing her hands up in the air. "Why do you have to ruin everything?" she rounded on Hermione.
"Excuse me?"
"Rule number two!" Claire cried. "You have to pretend to be rich and famous!"
"Being rich and famous doesn't mean you have to insult people," Hermione defended.
"Yes they do! Rules are rules, Hermione." Claire rolled her eyes. "And I said that I was going to fix her, didn't I?"
"I don't want to play this anymore," Viola said, starting to get up.
"Oh come on, Vi." Claire placed her hands on Viola's shoulders, keeping her in the chair. Hermione glared at her. "I said I was going to make you beautiful."
"But mummy and daddy say I'm already beautiful," Viola argued.
Claire let out a little snort and patted Viola's head. "Mhm," she cooed.
"Alright, that's it." Seeing Viola's crestfallen expression was enough for Hermione to get up and go over to Claire. "You will stop insulting my little sister right now or-"
"Or what?" Claire challenged, stepping towards Hermione. Hermione felt a little intimidated by her but refused to step down. "You'll go running to mummy and daddy again? God Hermione, you have to ruin everyone's fun."
"How is this fun?" Hermione asked, "Vi is obviously not enjoying herself and -"
"Yes she is!"
"Does that look like the face of someone who is having fun?" Hermione pointed to Viola, who shrank back into the chair. Silent tears were streaming down her cheeks and she stared at the floor. "You may play this way with your friends Claire, but you're twelve. Viola is eight! You can't just say that stuff to her and expect her to not react."
"I know what this is about," Claire said coolly.
"Oh really? What's this about, then?"
"You're just mad that I knocked your stupid books onto the floor."
"What?" Hermione cried. "How -"
Claire let out a smug grin, "Thought so." She turned back to Viola, who was still crying, and grabbed a brush. "Remember the third rule, Hermione. You two have to do whatever I say. And I say that we're going to play this game."
"You know what?" Hermione said as Claire began pulling the brush through Viola's hair so violently that it caused her to yelp. "I say that we aren't. You're hurting her."
"Hermione the Saint," Claire sneered. Hermione reached out and grabbed the brush, yanking it out of Claire's hand. "Don't you dare touch me!" Claire whipped around and shoved Hermione roughly.
Hermione stumbled back against her bed, shocked, and stared at Claire. She had an almost wild look in her eyes and Hermione had to admit she was slightly afraid. "Viola," she said, "go get mum and daddy."
"You don't have to do that, Vi." Claire said. "Hermione's not allowed to play anymore so you can't listen to her."
"Go get mum and daddy," she repeated forcefully. Viola looked terrified as she ran out of the room. "You have some nerve, Claire."
"I have some nerve?" Claire laughed. "No, Hermione. You have some nerve. You're going to get me in trouble."
"You deserve it," she spat, feeling something inside of her snap. "You're nothing but a selfish, spoiled brat who bullies anyone who is the slightest bit smarter than you, which doesn't take much."
"Well at least I have friends," Claire said arrogantly. "Being smart means nothing if you don't know how to make and keep friends."
Hermione stilled, feeling as though she had been slapped in the face. "I do too have friends," she denied.
"Oh yeah? Like who?"
"Sally-Anne and Susan are my friends," she said. Hermione wouldn't exactly say that the twins that lived next door to her were good friends, but they did have fun together whenever they played.
"Them?" Claire laughed. "Please, twins are freaks. They don't count. Face it, Hermione, no one can stand you."
Hermione had never felt so much hatred towards one person as she did for Claire at that moment. She felt something start to churn violently in her gut as she started to shake.
"Poor Hermione Granger," Claire continued. "Friendless and only has her books to keep her company."
"Shut up." Hermione whispered, clenching her fists.
"Bushy haired, buck-toothed freak," Claire mocked. "Ugly, bossy, know-it-"
WHAM!
Claire screamed and fell back against the chair as one of Hermione's books flew across the room and hit her on the side of the head. She tumbled to the floor and grabbed her head as Hermione stumbled back in alarm.
Claire blinked and pulled back her hand. There was a tiny speck of blood from where a page had cut her. "I'M BLEEDING!" she screeched.
Mr. and Mrs. Granger came running into the room at that moment. "What is going on in here?" Mr. Granger demanded. Viola came into the room a moment later, sniffling, and Uncle Robert and Aunt Mary right after her.
"Hermione attacked me!" Claire said immediately, starting to cry.
"No I didn't!" Hermione protested. "I didn't do anything to her!"
"Yes you did!" Claire screamed. "You forced Viola to tell on me when I was doing nothing wrong!"
"What?" Hermione turned to stare at her cousin in disbelief.
"Hermione -" Mr. Granger began.
"She's lying!" Hermione cried.
"Then," Claire continued, "she ran to the bookshelf and threw a book at me!"
"I didn't, I swear!" Hermione said desperately. Tears of frustration began to form. The adults looked like they had no idea what to do next as Claire's cries began to escalate. Aunt Mary hurried to her daughter and bent down, bringing her into her embrace. "I don't know what happened. Claire was calling me all these names and a book just hit her!"
Mr. Granger ran a hand through his hair, looking at the book that lay by Claire. "Claire," he spoke softly. Hermione couldn't believe they were just ignoring the fact that Viola was still visibly upset and not trying to resolve the issue of Claire's bullying. "Is it at all possible that a book could've just fallen on you?"
Claire shook her head. "No," she said. "Hermione put all of her stupid books away before we started playing."
"Because you shoved all of them off my desk!" Hermione said angrily.
"Hermione," her father bent down in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'm going to ask you this only once. Did you throw the book at Claire?"
"No," she replied, appalled that her father would even ask her that. "I would never do something like that, daddy."
"She's lying!" Claire screamed. "She acts all perfect in front of you but she's a bossy little know-it-all to Viola and me!"
"Stop being mean to Minny!" Viola yelled, startling everyone. She stepped out from behind Mrs. Granger and pointed a shaking finger at her cousin, fresh tears falling down her cheeks. "You're the bossy one. You always make us do what you want and I hate it! I hate you!"
There was a stunned silence before both Claire and Viola started wailing. Mrs. Granger and Aunt Mary looked panicked, sharing a quick glance at each other before ushering the two girls out of the room. Uncle Robert gave a loud sigh and picked up the book that had hit Claire, smoothing out the paperback cover that had bent from the impact.
"I'm sorry Uncle Robert," Hermione apologized. "But Claire really was being mean to us. She wouldn't let Vi up from the chair and was hurting her."
"And she will be punished for that," Mr. Granger said, looking at his brother who nodded. "But be that as it may, it doesn't condone you throwing a book at her head."
"What?" Hermione cried, stepping away from her father. "But I didn't!"
"There was no one else in the room," he said. Hermione couldn't stand to look at the disappointment in his eyes. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but that's the only logical explanation."
"But what happened wasn't logical!" she said. "The book really did fly through the air. It was like magic or something."
"Magic doesn't exist, Hermione."
"I know it doesn't." she yelled, stomping her foot. "I said it was like magic, not that it was magic."
"You are grounded to this room." Mr. Granger said, a note of finality in his voice. Hermione's eyes widened; it had been years since she had last gotten in trouble and she had never been grounded before. "When you decide to change your attitude you may come down and apologize to Claire for throwing the book at her and to your sister for causing all of this on her birthday."
Tears pooled over onto Hermione's cheeks as she watched her father and uncle exit the room, closing the door behind them. "I'll apologize to Viola!" she screamed, running to the door and kicking it. "But I'll be in this room forever because I am never apologizing to Claire!"
She paced the room, tears blurring her vision as what happened slowly started to hit her. Claire's make-up kit was still on her desk and she went over to it, swiping her arm across the desk. All of the make-up fell to the floor with a loud thud and the sound made Hermione feel a tad better. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything else in the room but her books and she would never abuse those.
Letting out an angry yell, she ran to the door and locked it. The urge to kick the door again was too great and Hermione kicked it, crying out as she hurt her toe. She collapsed to the floor and leaned against the door, crying.
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5 July, 2016
"I can see you're working hard."
Lindsay yelped, jumping in surprise and dropping the journal. "Karen!"
Karen watched with an amused expression as her friend disappeared behind the counter to retrieve the journal. "I said your name at least five times and you didn't hear me," she teased.
"Sod off," Lindsay said, feeling her face start to heat up. She didn't think that she would get so absorbed into reading and hoped no one had come in while she was off in her own little world.
"You just couldn't stay away," Karen chastised, a huge grin on her face as she grabbed the journal. Folding the corner of the page that Lindsay had been on, Karen held the journal up and started walking off to the break room. "I still have about forty-five minutes until my shift starts, so I'll use that time to catch up with you."
"Why are you here so early?" Lindsay called after her.
Karen stopped at the door and turned to Lindsay, "You aren't the only one who wants to read what happened next."
Karen disappeared behind the door, cackling. "Well now what?" Lindsay mumbled to herself, leaning against the counter and propping her chin up on her hand.
Forty-five minutes later, Karen reappeared and then hurried to the storeroom. She came back a moment later and went to go clock in. "Just had to put the journal away," she explained to Lindsay who had raised an eyebrow at her. It was unusually quiet for lunch hour and the last customer they had just left before Karen came out. "Oh, there were a couple pages left until the end of the… chapter I guess you could call it, so next time we read we'll be starting from the new chapter."
"What?" Lindsay asked. "That isn't fair. You got to read more than me."
"Read the last few pages on your break then," she said simply.
Lindsay grumbled and went back to her doodling.
"So," Karen said after a while, "we aren't really going to tell Mrs. P about these, are we? You know she'll want to take them away."
"I was thinking about that earlier," Lindsay said. She crossed her arms and leaned against the counter. "I think we should… hold off on telling Mrs. P what we found. Y'know, just until we… finish them."
Karen nodded, "Should we keep them here though?"
"I think we should," Lindsay said slowly, "but hide them. I don't want to test our luck by bringing them somewhere else and damaging them somehow."
"I'm sure we could get away with hiding them in the break room under -"
The bell above the door jingled and in walked Mrs. P. Both Lindsay and Karen straightened up quickly, Lindsay sending a nervous glance at her friend. "Good afternoon, ladies." Mrs. P greeted.
"Good afternoon," Karen said, clearing her throat.
Mrs. P gave the two girls a confused look, "Is there something wrong?"
"No, nothing!" Lindsay squeaked. She couldn't believe how nervous she felt around her boss now.
Mrs. P let it go and placed her purse on the counter. "So how did yesterday go?"
"Busy," Karen said shaking her head. "We have maybe two copies of Bite Me left."
"I told you so," Mrs. P gloated.
"Yeah, yeah." Karen rolled her eyes. "How was your day off?"
A soft smile spread across Mrs. P's face. "It was good," she said. "I really missed my kids."
"I'm sure they missed you too." Lindsay smiled.
Mrs. P picked at a loose thread on her purse. "I think I'll be taking some more time off for the summer. I'll still be here, don't worry," she added quickly, "but just shorter hours."
"Why?" Karen asked.
"Being with my kids yesterday made me realize how much I've missed them, and they are away from home so much now." Lindsay's eyes widened as she saw Mrs. P start to tear up. "I want to spend as much time as possible with them until they go back to school."
Lindsay didn't know what to say as she watched Mrs. P take a deep breath and compose herself. "Take as much time as you need, Mrs. P," Karen said softly. Lindsay could tell from her tone that she was just as bewildered.
"Thank you, girls," she said, smiling. She picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. "My husband and the kids are waiting in the car, so I should go. I'll see you ladies tomorrow."
"Bye," Lindsay and Karen chorused. They watched as Mrs. P walked out of the shop in stunned silence. Neither girl had ever seen their boss act like that before.
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A couple hours later, Lindsay decided it was time to go on her break. She quickly ran across the street to the bakery and ordered some lunch before booking it back to Just Imagine. Karen had the journal waiting for her up at the counter.
"Thanks," Lindsay said, grabbing the journal.
"Just stop where the page breaks." Karen warned, putting away some books. Lindsay rolled her eyes and went to the break room. She wolfed down her lunch and snuggled into the sofa, opening up the journal.
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11 July, 1991
After Hermione managed to calm down, she began to feel guilty about the way she acted. She was still adamant that it was Claire's fault, but her actions did help cause Viola grief on her special day. She resisted the urge to go down and apologize and lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling and listening to Viola's birthday party from the open window. She'd just wait until the party was over and all the guests, namely Claire, leave before going to apologize.
Hours passed and the party eventually died down. Hermione's room began to get darker and she reached over to the bedside table to turn on the lamp just as there was a knock on the door.
"Hermione," Mr. Granger called. He tried the door, which was still locked, and sighed. "Unlock the door, sweetheart."
Hermione slowly rolled off the bed and made her way to the door. She unlocked it and stepped back as Mr. Granger entered the room. She didn't look at him and went back to the bed.
"Listen," he said softly, going to sit down beside her, "I'm not entirely sure what all happened this afternoon, but Viola told us what Claire had said and did and I want you to know that your mother and I are so proud of you for sticking up for your sister like that."
Hermione nodded but said nothing. She was still hurt that Mr. Granger didn't believe her when she said she hadn't thrown the book and wasn't quite ready to forgive him yet.
"Now that you've calmed down, I want you to answer me honestly," he continued. "Did you throw the book at Claire?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, I didn't," she snapped.
Mr. Granger sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "So you're telling me Claire hit herself with the book?"
"I wish," she snorted. Mr. Granger gave her a stern look. "Sorry."
"Then explain to me what did happen."
"I told you and you didn't believe me," Hermione said, sighing. "Claire was being mean Vi and called her ugly, and I told her to stop. She pushed me and that's when I told Vi to get you and mum. Then she started saying all these mean things to me and then a book just flew across the room and hit her."
"And you expect us to just believe that?" Mr. Granger asked slowly.
"But that's what happened!" Hermione exclaimed. "Daddy you know I would never do that to anyone."
Mr. Granger nodded and stayed quiet. He looked like he was thinking quite hard and Hermione didn't want to interrupt. "I know," he said finally.
"Minny?"
Viola walked in the room, freshly bathed and dressed in her pyjamas. She looked between Hermione and their father and then hurried onto the bed, launching herself at her sister.
"I'm sorry, Vi." Hermione said, hugging Viola tightly.
"It's okay, Minny. Thanks for helping with Claire."
"How was your party?" Hermione asked, pulling away.
Viola's eyes lit up and she started bouncing on the bed. "It was fun!" she cried. "I missed you, but you should see the presents I got!"
"You can wait until tomorrow," Mr. Granger laughed. "It's almost bed time for you, missy."
Viola groaned and stopped bouncing on the bed. "Does Minny at least get to come out of the room?"
Mr. Granger nodded. "Your mother and I decided that you're still grounded until next week," he told Hermione. "But not to your room."
Hermione nodded, feeling a little frustrated that she couldn't explain what happened. Mr. Granger stood up and pulled a small, wrapped box from his pocket and handed it to Hermione. "This is the present your uncle was going to give you."
Hermione took the package and unwrapped it, slowly opening the box. She gasped. Inside were two silver hair clips with diamonds at the end of them. Hermione wasn't the type of girl who was into hair or fashion but she immediately knew what her uncle had meant when he said he'd thought of her when he saw them. They were simple, yet elegant. She loved them.
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End Note: And there you have it! I don't think that the term `hot mess' was used in 1991, but it fits Claire's character so just ignore it.
So read and review like you know how to do and I'll hopefully see you guys next week!
Kelci
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