By Reason Of Birth

The tour had taken a full two hours, ending in the back gardens, which, as expected, were more formal than the front gardens. There was also a greenhouse and a carriage house with a white gravel driveway that meandered through the gardens, fitting in with the pathways and making its way to the road, the fence stopping and being replaced by a black wrought iron gate.

The next two hours Hermione spent unpacking her suitcases. Her judgement had been right and her clothes barely filled the smallest portion of her dressing room. Having nowhere to put any of her books or pictures, she left them all in her suitcases.

She was almost finished hanging up the last few pieces of clothing when Caoilinn appeared in the doorway. "You barely have any robes, everything in here is Muggle," she observed, scaring Hermione, who hadn't noticed that she was no longer alone.

"I haven't had much reason to have a lot of robes. I have my school robes, and a couple dress robes, but I've never really needed more," she explained, her heart slowing down.

"That settles it. Be ready in one hour, we're taking a trip to Diagon Alley. Do any of these dress robes fit you?" she asked, looking at the blue one from the Yule Ball.

"Ummm... yes," Hermione answered, thinking as she went through the small grouping. "This purple one fits," she responded, pulling the robe in question off the rack still on its hanger.

"That will never do. You'll be far too hot in those, they are clearly winter robes," her mother tut-tutted. "We'll have to get you a few sets off the rack and have the rest sent over."

"If you say so," Hermione responded, knowing nothing about the ins and outs of having clothes tailor-made. "I think I will have to have my room redone as well. Or at least a couple of bookshelves put in if it's not too much of an inconvenience."

"Of course it's not an inconvenience. You get ready to go shopping and I'll contact the decorator and set up an appointment. Be in the foyer in an hour."

"Yes, Caoilinn, I'll be there," she affirmed, already feeling slight angst over the trip. She was never one for shopping and she had a feeling there would be a lot of fussing involved. She went to the dining room, where lunch was set out, and ate before going back to her room and changing for the outing.

She decided that though they were shopping for robes, and Caoilinn would probably prefer that she be wearing robes, even if they were casual, she decided to wear Muggle clothes, having far more of them. In the end, she put on a past-the-knee white spaghetti strap dress with small roses scattered throughout and white strappy sandals, pulling her hair up into a messy bun that looked elegant rather than rushed.

She was leaving the room when Theo's door opened for the first time that day; he came out fully showered and dressed. "You look nice. What's the occasion?" he asked. She rolled her eyes at him and he felt the need to respond. "What? Just because we don't run in the same circles doesn't mean that I never noticed you... especially since I did know you were my sister. I know you're not really one for dressing up."

"Thanks, then, I guess," she responded, shocked to learn he had been paying her attention. "Caoilinn saw my wardrobe, or lack thereof, and has decided that we absolutely must go shopping," she said with a look of distaste on her face.

"Better you than me," Theo laughed. "Have you had a tour of the place yet?"

"Yes, it's the most beautiful house I have ever seen," she responded.

"I've never thought about it, really, having grown up here, but it is very pretty," he said as they made their way to the staircase together. They continued talking until he left for the dining room and she continued up to the foyer.

Once there, Caoilinn eyed her critically. Muggle clothes, but she had seen the girl's wardrobe, it couldn't be helped. Hair and makeup were both nice. She smiled to Hermione, pleased with the end result. "You look very nice, Hermione. The appointment with the interior decorator is in two days at three. Now let's be off, I've already informed your father, but we will be home with plenty of time left before dinner."

Hermione nodded her head in response, not knowing what to say. Caoilinn took her hand and Apparated them to Diagon Alley, right outside Madame Malkin's. "I think that tomorrow we will stop at the Ministry and get you an Apparation license. I assume you are efficient at Apparating?"

"Yes, Mother," Hermione answered, remembering her 'public' rules. "That would be wonderful." Caoilinn smiled warmly to her daughter as they made their way into the shop.

They stepped over the threshold, and a bell tinkled to signal the new customer. Momentarily a witch came out of the back room, a measuring tape slung around her neck. "Hello, Mrs. Nott," she greeted, recognizing one of her upper society patrons. "To what do we owe the honor of this visit today?"

"Madame Malkin," Caoilinn returned the greeting warmly, "My daughter, Hermione, has finally come home to us, and the majority of her wardrobe is Muggle."

Madame Malkin took a better look at the girl who had been standing near Mrs. Nott. "Your daughter is Hermione Granger?" she asked, amazed. Hermione's cheeks started to tinge pink at the attention, expecting the situation to only get worse.

"Yes, though she is now Hermione Nott," Caoilinn said. She knew that by telling the shop clerk that word would soon get around, but she would rather it become common knowledge in the most benign way, and she considered gossip far better than on the front page of the Prophet.

"Of course. Let's go to the back room to measure you, Miss Nott, then we can get started on your clothing problem."

Hermione looked to her mother, who nodded her head and followed as Madame Malkin took Hermione by the shoulders and led her to a stool in the middle of a small room. Hermione had been fitted here before, but never by the owner herself, and never in such a private room.

The witch poked and prodded Hermione all over to get her exact measurements and Hermione was relieved when she was finally allowed to step down from the stool and sit on the nice sofa her mother had been watching from.

Hermione was left out of the conversation as the two older witches decided what Hermione would be needing and what styles she would be wearing. In the end, her mother had ordered ten sets of dress robes, all for the summer and the fall, three sets of school robes in a higher quality fabric than the ones Hermione currently had, and five sets of casual robes, assuming that Hermione would end up wearing her Muggle clothes when at the cottage. They left the store with another two sets of each type of robe so she had something she could wear before the others arrived.

They had spent nearly two and a half hours in the clothing shop and it was already almost three. Hermione just hoped that she wouldn't have to go through that again for a while. She never cared much for shopping, and even though she had to be fitted, she was still happy that she had not had to try everything on and that it would all be sent to the cottage.

Chapter End Notes:
thanks to everyone reading and reviewing, and to sugarquill39 for betaing. this chapter was fun to write, but there's not much substance to it, lol.