Chapter 1: The Burrow
The first thing Chrissy became aware of as her consciousness returned was the rain. Her fur was soaked and she ached horribly. She groaned and struggled to rise to her feet, pleased to find that she still had full mobility in spite of the pain and stiffness.
As the memories returned in a flood, she found herself frantically looking around for any sign that the others were nearby. She saw a red and pink mass on the ground about fifteen feet away and ran to her, checking for a pulse.
"Amy... Wake up..." She said nervously, gently trying to rouse the Rose girl, who began to stir.
"Chrissy? Owww... Which one of Eggman's robots handed our asses to us this time?" She mumbled, climbing into a kneeling position and looking around. "Where... Are we?" She mumbled.
"I don't know, Amy but we have to find the others I have no id-" Chrissy began, eyes roaming the land, when she was suddenly cut off by shrill, girlish cries some distance away.
"AMY? MISS CHRISSY?" Cream's voice echoed through the vast expanse of land from the skies above, where, ears flapping, the rabbit was getting a bird's-eye veiw of the situation.
Chrissy waved at the pale orange blob above and continued scanning before seeing a figure step from a house in the distance, hood up, carrying a source of light and headed directly for them.
The Candmalian princess blanched and tugged Amy into the bushes after frantically waving for Cream to hurry down to them. "We can't be discovered!" She hissed to Amy. "We don't know where we are, or how the inhabitants will react to us. We have to assume the worst and avoid detection!"
Cream landed next to Chrissy and Amy and crouched. They stilled their breathing as they watched the figure and its light get closer and closer.
When she was about thirty feet away, Chrissy was able to make out that she was a human, or humanoid at least, with firey red hair. She was a little stout, but not overly so and her eyes were bright brown and alert.
"She's searching... If we just stay quiet, maybe she'll go away." Chrissy breathed to the other two girls.
The woman seemed to be approaching with clear intent, however, and stopped right about where they had landed in the middle of the clearing just before the start of the woods surrouding what Chrissy now recognized as the property of the house.
The woman cleared her throat and spoke.
"I know you're out here, children. I won't hurt you, and neither will the rest of my family. I know it's a lot to ask dears, but I need you to trust me and come out. You were expected and arrangements have already been made for your safety while you're here. All I need is for you to come with me, and I'll explain what I can."
Chrissy tensed. Trust her? They were expected? She wanted to snort with disbelief, but didn't dare to give away their position. She began to back away slowly, beckoning the other two girls to come with her.
But a certain little rabbit had other ideas.
Cream stepped forward from the bushes and approached the woman cautiously, and was rewarded with a warm smile.
"Miss Chrissy..." Cream said over her shoulder. "We can trust her."
The black dog sighed and shook her head. "Children always know..." she mumbled to herself before standing and walking foward. Amy followed suit, but stayed behind the elder woman, carefully examining with her large blue eyes.
"Thank you dears." The woman said with a relieved tone. "Now let's get you into the house. You'll catch your death in this dreadful weather!"
Chrissy came up quickly and stepped in front of the woman. "Questions first." she said tersely, eyes still suspicious.
The woman sighed quietly. "Dumbledore said you'd be suspicious and unwilling to trust at first." She smiled a little. "My name is Molly Weasley, Mrs. Weasly to you. All I can tell you is that your arrival here was foreseen. We know why you're here and how to get you back to where you came from, but I'm not at liberty to say, I'm afraid. Dumbledore was very firm in that matter."
Chrissy looked away and sighed, thinking before looking back into the woman's eyes.
"On your life, no harm will come to them?" She said gesturing to the hedgehog and rabbit.
She smiled. "On my life, my honor and my wand." She said solumnly.
Chrissy raised her eyebrow at the last two words, but nodded and turned aside, motioning for Mrs. Weasley to lead on.
They walked back to the house in silence, slight tension in the air, but Chrissy seemed to relax more once they were in the warm atmoshpere of the house whose mailbox dubbed it, "The Burrow".
A tall man with equally firey hair and blue eyes was sitting in front of a fireplace and he smiled warmly as the three walked in.
"They arrived safely then, Molly?" He asked, rising, but not waiting for an answer, stepping forward, offering his hand to Chrissy. "Arthur Weasley, Molly's husband. Was your journey at all... Erm... Uncomfortable?"
Chrissy shook his hand firmly and offered a weary smile. "Well... Traveling between dimensions tends to leave a bad taste in your mouth, even if it is expected... I"m Chrissy. The pink one is Amy Rose and the other is Cream."
Arthur raised is eyebrows in surprise. "Only one of you has a surname?"
Chrissy smiled. "Surnames aren't usually a custom where we come from."
They were rushed to the fireplace and handed warm blankets and clean clothes before any more was said, and a cup of hot cocoa was placed in each of the three pairs of gloved hands.
Chrissy stared into the fireplace, searching for a place to start her inquiry. "It was forseen that we would be here... What about my friends?" She said quietly, immediately wondering about Knuckles.
Molly nodded. "They were expected as well. If all went as foretold, two of your friends would have been whisked to one location where a certain friend of ours would be meeting them, and three of them would have wound up in another location where they would, again, be retreived."
Chrissy worried her bottom lip for a moment. "But who with who?" She mumbled to herself, before asking "Who is Dumbledore? Is he your leader?"
Molly smiled. "In a way, yes, but in many ways, not at all." She said cryptically. "You'll get to meet him later dear, and you can ask for yourself the questions I cannot answer."
Chrissy nodded. That would have to suffice. Besides, Amy and Cream were tired and sore, as was she, and they needed their rest. She was about to suggest they turn in when Chrissy perked her ears and looked up the stairs.
"We have company." She said, gazing into the darkness to see a young girl, no older than Amy, perched on the steps.
Molly sighed. "Ginny, dear, come down. I suppose you ought to meet your new roommates."
The girl timidly walked down the stairs, wide eyed and nervous. "Mum, what are they?" she asked, more curious than fearful.
Chrissy smiled crookedly and stood. "That's an answer more complicated than we have time for this night, little one."
"For now, Ginny dear, they're just children, children who will be your roommates and classmates in the years to come." Molly said warmly. "And children who should be off to bed for a good night's rest."
"But first," said Arthur, stepping forward. "We have some welcoming gifts for you, so to speak." He handed each of the females a bracelet matching their fur color.
Chrissy slipped hers on and looked at her hand, and wrist, only to find the fur gone from her arm. Further investigation of her body revealed a lack of tail and muzzle, and ears on the sides of her head, rather than on top. She looked at Cream and Amy to find that much the same had happened to them. The three were now in the guise of three young human girls, with hair to match their previous fur color and style.
Arthur smiled at them. "There. Now you can blend in. You don't have to wear them all the time, only in public. In private, you may remove them, but only if those in your prescence know about what is going on, and that list of people has to be exclusive, understand?"
Chrissy nodded before yawning, her tongue still curling as it would have in her normal form. She was still herself, she just looked different to those around her. She smiled a little at that knowledge.
"Now, off to bed with you girls. You can talk and get to know each other in the morning, but for now get some rest. You have a couple of days before we go to Diagon Alley, and then the real explaining can begin." Molly ushered them up to Ginny's room were bedrolls had been unfurled, again matching the girl's fur color.
After they were settled, there was a brief bit of whispering between Ginny and Cream, but Chrissy didn't understand it through the fast approaching haze of sleep. Her last thought before she went to bed was, "What in the name of the Gods is Diagon Alley?"