Hermione had no other choice but to run behind Almira with the latter holding her hand as a hostage, and the moment they reached the Ice cream parlor was also the moment Hermione was finally free from Almira’s unusually strong grip.

“You can’t just drag someone with you against their will, that’s called kidnapping.”

She said to Almira while trying to get her breathing back to normal.

“Two house’s recommendations!”

Almira doesn’t even seem to register Hermione’s accusation as she tells their orders to the clerk without asking what Hermione wants. Moments later the clerk hands both of them two scoops of ice cream served in glass bowls.

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”

Hermione is dumbfounded as Almira once again ignores her opinion and leads her into a table next to a window.

“You have to take little bit from both of the scoops at the same time or you’ll lose out on the taste experience.”

Almira says as she takes a bit from both scoops into her spoon and delivers it into her mouth, leaving Hermione bewildered on how she should react to this girl blatantly ignoring everything she says.

Hermione looks at this kidnapper of hers and, while still angry for being dragged against her will, finds her kinda cute, with fire red hair, golden eyes, pointy nose and wide smile on her face as the girl focuses fully on tasting the cold treat in front of her.

After watching Almira enjoy her ice cream, Hermione decides to turn her focus towards the serving of her own, one scoop being pink with red jam and the other light green with pieces of unknown fruit in the mix. She follows Almira’s example and takes a bit out of both into her spoon and brings it to her mouth and gets pleasantly surprised at how well the sweetness of the pink one comes together with the freshness of the green one and lets a small smile slip to her lips.

“It was good, wasn’t it?”

Almira ask after both her and Hermione have finished eating their servings in silence.

“Yes, it was. What flavors were those anyway? Mine tasted like some kind of berries and something like mint or lime but not quite.”

“Well mine was listed as scorpion’s legs and spider webs. Yours was vampire’s blood and viper’s venom. It’s kinda hard to know what each listed flavor really tastes like if you have never had one before, so ordering the house’s recommendation is a good way to get something good.”

Almira then proceeds to happily explain what all the weirdly named flavors taste like, after which Hermione can’t help but wonder how Almira managed to explain 158 flavors of ice cream in a way that she now has a clear idea on how each of them taste and their differences to those with close to same flavor or color.

“You must be coming here quite often. Are both of your parents magic users or just your mother?”

“Yeah, I come here with mom every time she comes to sell her potions. Never had a father though. I wonder what it would be like.”

Hermione falls silent on Almira nonchalantly telling her she never had a father.

“Sorry.”

“Hm? Oh, don’t be. Like I said, I was only wondering what it would be like. It’s not like I ever needed or wanted one.”

Almira says to Hermione as she seems to really be upset that she breached what could have been a really sensitive subject.

“So, are your parents magic users or muggles?”

“Depend on what being a muggle means.”

“They are people with no magical powers or no clear magical ancestry.”

Almira decides to change the conversations direction and succeeds, as a word Hermione has yet to learn the meaning of comes up.

“Oh, then yes, they are muggles.”

“Cool, my grandparents were muggles too.”

“What are they like?”

“I’m not sure. My mom told me they both died in an accident 20 years ago.”

Hermione’s eyes widen as Almira for a second time in a short span of time tells with a calm look on her face that her relatives are gone, or dead.

As there seemed to be no way to save this conversation, Hermione was happy that it didn’t take long before their parents walked into the parlor, with a single suitcase following Almira’s mother and Hermione’s dad pushing a big trolley filled with school supplies and a huge amount of books.

“Hi sweetie, did you already eat your ice cream?”

“Yes, I had scorpion’s legs and spider web!”

“That’s nice sweetie, though I think spider web goes better with dragon’s spit.”

Almira’s mother smiles as she shuffles Almira’s hair.

“I’m finished talking with Hermione’s parents, so are you ready to get your uniforms and go home?”

“Yes! See you in Hogwarts Hermione!”

“Yes, see you Almira.”

Almira answers her mother and turns to say goodbye to Hermione, who promptly replies, before leaving the ice cream parlor with her mother.

“Sweetie, you know that she’s going to have hard time in Hogwarts, don’t you? So try to be nice to her, she’ll need it.”

“Yes!”

With her mother having explained her own school years, Almira knows what Hermione has to face when she reaches Hogwarts.

“Good. Now, lets go pick up those uniforms of yours and go home. Who knows, maybe I’ll make something good for dinner tonight.”

“But everything you make is good!”

“Well aren’t you the smooth talker.”

And so, there was only little under 10 months left before Almira has to board Hogwarts Express.