Chapter 35
But soon, her motherly nature returned when it came to yelling at the twins, "Not one step down Knockturn Alley!"
Harry, Ron, Lucifer, and Hermione strolled off along the winding, cobbled street.
They went to Florean Fortescue's, where Lucifer offered to buy them all ice-cream, but Harry was insistent on buying it for them.
He relented, just about to find an empty spot, when Hermione pulled on his arm forcibly towards one, "Come on, we can both eat there!" she yelled, eyeing the table for only 2.
"××××" Harry, who paid the bill, four large strawberry and peanut-butter ice creams, which Ron slurped quite happily...just his portion, of course.
But, after the ice-cream was all gone, he directly launched several complaints to Harry, "Why didn't Lucifer, tell us he was bloody rich?!"
Harry raised his eyebrows in question, and said, "...Well, you are not friends, right?" he said, taking a bite out of a small peanut-butter chunk in his ice-cream.
"But, it still would've been nice to know," Ron said, his tone hinting towards betrayal.
"So, you're just saying I should've known about your family's wealth status? Like, they were just scraping the bottom of the barrel?!" Harry outright demanded from Ron, knowing he is also in quite a similar position to Lucifer.
Said ginger's ears had turned red, while his face became paled, "N-No, of course not..."
"Ron, I was friends with you before I knew, and I'm still going to be friends with you, even after this," Harry said in a much calmer tone, while giving this child some future life-guidance.
Ron nodded, while not understanding a single thing, they are obviously bloody rich.....so he just ate his leftover before taking a stroll around Diagon Alley.
Meanwhile...
"They're very strange," said Hermione, not long after they'd become accustomed to eating Harry's ice-creams.
"They definitely seem realistic, but his talks about himself always seem so enlarged!"
"The people he speaks to are so lifelike, but then he talks about himself and says that his magnificent smile can power up those spells!"
"Also noticed, how he doesn't describe what the spell is?" Lucifer just recited one of Hermione's previous complaints, he didn't even read a single book of Lockhart, but already left a headache.
"Talked about using it many times before, but skips what the incantation or spell actually is..."
"Yeah, I just hope, Lockhart isn't our Defense teacher!" said Hermione, crossing her two little fingers, under the table, while using the other to slurp.
"I don't have much hope...."
"....." Hermione, is now also having a bad feeling, her woman's intuition is just going wild, "To be honest, if he even did teach us one spell at Hogwarts....he'll be a step ahead of Quirrell."
"If Lockhart doesn't try to kill you, he'll be many steps ahead of Quirrell," Lucifer retorted, while knowing how this Professor had let the Troll escape.
"Sorry..." Only, Hermione instantly became weak, it just made her remember, about the Manticore inside that Chamber.
But, Lucifer shook his head at her, "Not your fault, we were just talki-' his mind also moved back to the pathetic...
"I should have been there!" Hermione opened her mouth suddenly, snapping Lucifer out of his deprecating thoughts, "You needed me, I should have been fighting that Manticore with you!"
"We're both meant to be....I shouldn't have gone with Harry!"
"...Gra-Hermione," Lucifer said, while moving over the table, patting her head down, "What could you have done? That creature was much stronger than any of you....."
"No, but I could have been there after that.... instead of going to find Dumbledore," Hermione said, her eyes were now swimming with tears
It even hurt Lucifer to see her like this, previously thought she'd been doing okay with it.
Hermione, who just couldn't hold back anymore, stood up from her seat, then moved towards Lucifer, and sat down on his lap instead, wrapping both her arms, reaching his back, as she began to wet into Lucifer's chest, even grinding her butt a little.
"???"
"....It's okay, it's okay,' he just repeated quietly, while running his hand through Hermione's hair.
Lucifer ignored the other two boy's weird looks, and just stayed like that for a while, even after Hermione had finished crying, until she eventually pulled away, rubbing her teary eyes, but didn't seem to move from those comfy thighs.
'Sorry,' she whimpered, her nose quite red.
"No apologies," Lucifer denied, trying to be gentle, "I didn't realise it was bothering you, so much even now...."
"It comes in bursts. For the most part I'm okay, but I've read about that Manticore over the holidays...."
"It's horrible....I've seen pictures and stories about what happens to people bitten by it...you could have been one of t-them..."
"...I heard your voice.... begging me for not to kill...." Lucifer also started, before he could stop himself, "It was scared of my power.....even tried to use...for a second, I thought about just leavi-" he looked up into Hermione's face to see her horrified.
"D-Daddy...!" Lucifer was quite prepared for another bear hug, this time, just like he thought, Hermione directly pounced on him, in a vice-like grip.
"Sorry," he also murmured into her nest of hair, "I didn't realise how much, I needed to talk about it till I started.... Not meant to upset you," but Lucifer felt....Hermione shake her head against his chest.
"I'm glad you feel like you can tell me....don't want you to feel like, you can't trust me.."
"No matter what happens, we always stick together, okay?'
"Always"
It made Hermione beam at him, even gave a small peck on Lucifer's cheek, finding his answer quite heartfelt.
_____________
They passed a Quidditch Shop, which Ron stopped and gazed longingly towards a set of robes for the team called the Chudley Cannons.
Lucifer thought it to be a silly name, but said nothing, he also noticed Nimbus 2001, with some interest, but
Hermione put a stop to it by dragging him towards the next door shop to buy more ink and parchment.
Afterwards they did visit a Joke Shop where they found Lee, Fred, and George stocking up on Joke items.
Lucifer was rather intrigued by some of them, "Fascinating...."
Inside a tiny junk shop full of broken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old cloaks covered in potion stains they found Percy Weasley, deeply buried in a small and somewhat intriguing sounding book called Prefects Who Gained Power.
"A Study of Hogwarts Prefects and their later careers," Ron read aloud off the back of the book, "Sounds disgusting."
"Go away!" Percy snapped.
The four of them did walk away, "Percy always was ambitious. He's got it all planned out, wants to be Minister for Magic one day," Ron told them when they were a safe distance from his brother.
"Pray for your Wizarding World if 'he' does become the Minister," Lucifer said, while glancing back at Percy before they went to idly browse more shops until the hour passed.