"Karn, look! My spell worked!"
Hermione Granger looked at the bread floating in the air before her and spoke excitedly to Karn. After only two days of trying, she had successfully cast the first spell of her life.
Karn praised her when he saw it. "Very impressive, Hermione."
After leaving Diagon Alley, Karn had rented a small house with a garden near the Granger family, just one street away. Hermione only needed twenty minutes to walk from her house to his each day.
Since Karn knew Hermione was a young witch and had business dealings with Mr. and Mrs. Granger, and Hermione had learned on the day they returned from Diagon Alley that Karn had bought over a hundred magic books, she had pleaded with her parents to let her come to Karn's place to read during the daytime over the holidays, so she could quickly learn about the wizarding world.
Mrs. Granger had initially been a little worried about Hermione and had accompanied her twice, but Hermione and Karn had only sorted magic books, copies of the Daily Prophet, various magical materials, and so on.
When they were not sorting things, they buried themselves in books, only discussing things over lunch. After sitting with them for two days, Mrs. Granger found it utterly boring. She could not join in their discussions of magic, so after giving Hermione a few reminders, she went off to run the dental practice with her husband.
Although she had learned little, Mrs. Granger could be certain that Hermione was perfectly safe at Karn's place. Though she had not spoken much with Karn, he was a textbook magic fanatic, even more fanatical than her husband.
Hermione had still bought too few books. Although Mr. and Mrs. Granger had ultimately borrowed some Galleons from Karn before