Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

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A couple of weeks has went by and Defense Against the Dark Arts was so far her best class except for Malfoy and his gang. She was thankful to have dropped Divinations and Muggle Studies from her schedule to give her some breaks from using her Time Turner so much. She was enjoying it quite a bit, and even found it amusing messing with Ron and Harry when they're trying to figure out where she came from.

Then one evening they discussed how it would soon be the weekend where they got to go to Hogsmeade, which Ron and herself felt really bad that Harry couldn't come with them... but she slightly was glad at the same time. Black was still at large and though her Grandma finds him innocent, Hermione didn't want to take any chances at all. Their talk ended when Crookshanks suddenly made a go at yet another attempt at Scabbers. It took about almost everyone in the common room to try and catch Crookshanks and Scabbers. Finally after Scabbers slipped behind an old chest, which Crookshanks laid down low on its belly trying to reach out for him. 

Fred picked the cat up and handed it to Hermione as Ron had great difficulty pulling Scabbers out from behind the chest. Ron proceeded to yell at her about Crookshanks, which Hermione tried for the hundredth time of explaining to him it was just in Crookshanks's nature to chase rats. Ron gave another rant of how Crookshanks had it in for Scabbers before turning on his heels and hurrying his way up to his dormitories. 

The next day, Hermione and Ron were still in a foul mood with each other. She refused to speak to Ron, who did the same thing with her. Poor Harry was stuck in the middle of the two as they kept their tensed attitude around him. It really got worst when they overheard Lavender telling about her pet rabbit dying by a fox and saying how Professor Trelawney had been right. When Hermione had tried to ask simple questions, Ron had the nerve to say she didn't think other people's pets matter as much. Hermione was lucky Professor McGonagall came in and stopped her from doing anything stupid while she was still fuming. 

On Halloween morning, Hermione and Ron proceeded to promise Harry they would bring him loads of sweets when they got back, even though Hermione promised herself to stay clear from Ron while there. She still was upset with Ron. 

The moment they got to Hogsmeade, Hermione set off to find her own way around town. She didn't want to go to the Joke Shop since she wasn't exactly thrilled at the thought of any kind of pranks but she did want to try out Gladrags Wizardwear. She was just about to enter when she felt like a pair of eyes were on her. Just as she turned her head, she saw someone slipping behind a building. She didn't put too much on it because she figured it was just someone walking off somewhere else as she went inside the shop. 

Her eyes shot around the shop as they took in all the lovely and strange outfits and jewelry. They even have a special area dedicated to socks. She walked through till her eyes landed on a lovely crimson velvet coat with black faux fur collar and trim on the sleeves, four large shiny black buttons. She couldn't help but run her hand over the coat, feeling like she saw this coat before. 

"See something you like, dearie?" Hermione jolted when the sudden voice came out of nowhere. She turned to see the shop manager walking over to her with a gentle grin crossed her lips, "Ah! Interested in the Crimson Queen's Coat, I see? Unique History behind this coat." 

"What kind of history?" 

"Well legend has it, during the time where there were tons of Wizarding Monarchs, there lived a woman they called the Crimson Queen. She loved the colors red and black, insisted on wearing the two colors regardless of how much of it she wore. She was a reclusive woman, and she would only keep company with animals. Even when she married to a dark wizard known as Ekrizdis, she spent most of her time with a pet python she was rather proud of. Rumor was she was a vicious queen, behead anyone she disagreed with... which was the luckiest punishment. Worse case, she would feed you to her crocodiles, which she had a large pit full of them, 

"Rumor was this was one of her favorite coats she adored wearing, which is kind of the reason not a lot of people want to buy it. She wasn't a very liked figure of the community. Also some of the customers that wanted to buy it kept claiming it was too small even when we did alternations with it. Personally, I believe the coat shrinks itself, like it was only made to be worn by the Crimson Queen and only the Crimson Queen. It's the reason we have it as low as we can afford putting it down. The shop manager said while pulling up the price tag that had a measly two galleons. 

"May I try it on?" Hermione asked the shop manager, curious now about the coat. The manager pulled the coat off the rack as careful as she could before handing it to Hermione. She wrapped the coat around herself, feeling a bit nervous, as she felt it shrink on her till it was perfectly snug against her body. 

"Merlin's beard! I can't believe it. It actually fits! I thought this day would never come." The shop manager mumbled, glancing the coat up and down like she was making sure this wasn't a dream. Hermione slipped it off her as she gently folded it against her arm while fumbling with her money bag. 

"I'll take it," she stated while handing the galleons to the manager and headed out of the shop, clinging tightly to the coat.