That time of year

Ever since first year - before she'd known anything about feather-light charms or hold-all packages - Stacey had made Flourish & Blotts the last stop on her route through Diagon Alley.  Books were heavy and she hadn't wanted to lug them up and down the street and through every other store.  Now, it had simply become habit.

Unlike some, Stacey didn't think there was anything very special in browsing through the rest of the shelves in this shop for hours on end or even in hunting down her required reading for herself.  She marched directly to the shop counter instead.

"Excuse me?"

Hermione had been spending her morning between the pages of her newest book, coffee resting on the counter as she waited for the first customers to trail through the door. Undoubtedly there would be students who didn't know what to expect or weren't sure exactly what books they needed.

Regardless of the school providing a book list, Hermione had just begun sorting things by year in one section of the store - it generally kept students (and parents, if she were being honest) from buying the wrong things. With everything set up, it was far quicker for folks to get sorted and head home.

She had just set down the book in question to take a drink from her coffee mug, when a young girl walked up to her. A friendly smile lit Hermione's face before she replied, setting the drink down in case she needed to head off and find something for the girl.

"Hello. What can I help you with? Are you looking for something specific, or books for school?"

It was always bizarre to be served by Hermione Granger.  Of course, when Stacey had first come here she'd known nothing about the woman at the book shop, but there was no way you could be a Gryffindor without hearing the stories.  

"Just school books, please," she replied.  "Fifth year core subjects." 

Taking the lead of some of her muggle friends, Stacey had decided to drop her electives this year to free up her time for...  Well, for not taking classes, mostly.  Besides, it wasn't like she would ever use something like Care of Magical Creatures in real life.