Chapter Three
by Skysaber
OoOoO
The Granger twins' foray into the realm of magical publishing had paid off better than either of them could have hoped for. In the first place they'd simply recycled muggle dating tips and fashion advice gleaned from magazines laying around the dental practice, reworded for a wizarding audience. After all, colors were colors whether applied to robes or blouses, and matching tips were the same either way.
Jane was right. The wizarding world's magazines had been screaming for stuff not reeking of the current war, something for a young witch to read to take her mind off of the dire danger she and her family were in, for the same reason that people drink - to forget. And that was exactly what the reworded muggle articles provided to the teen witch audience.
This sold like neither of the twins could have believed going into it, granting them a small yet adult income, enabling them by the grand old age of eleven months old to have picked up a handful of resources to better improve their knowledge of the field they were now presenting themselves as experts in, buying magical guides to cosmetic charms and so on so they'd know some of the common spells and potions. Ann even went so far as to learn some of them wordlessly and wandlessly.
Jane was too busy learning wandless and wordless Confundus and compulsion charms.
They could speak now, so wordless was not a requirement on any of their spells. But it was something they'd gotten the hang of, and the more they did of it the easier it got to learn more spells that way. Just like learning a new language, the first little bit is really difficult and doesn't seem to have any real utility. 'Okay, I can introduce myself. So what?' But the more you learned, the more it linked together and the easier things got.
So, having started things that way, it was easy enough to continue that both sisters felt it worth the effort. Besides, wordless spells had the advantage that they could cast them around their parents when they weren't looking and still not get caught - a vital advantage.
Wandless they still didn't have any choice on. It was wandless or nothing, so they learned to use any new spells just like all the magic they'd practiced this life - without tools.
It was never as easy as learning spells using wands and incantations would have been, but it lay within their ability, and after nearly a year of dedicated practice getting the talent started did not take too much extra effort or time for each additional spell. So they decided to continue going that way as the advantages outweighed the disadvantages. Besides, one very important fact lay in the observation that the Ministry had not come to stop them, so in all probability they could not track this kind of magic, so it was something they could continue during summers while at Hogwarts - a very appealing advantage indeed.
However, it was not their spell work that had their undivided attention just then. Having an owl and a source of magical income meant they had access to magical products. Both of the twins were as eager as anything to fill their entire home with magical textbooks on every subject, but they had to acknowledge they could not hide much of that sort of thing before it got discovered and they'd be explaining things to their parents.
That promised to be an awkward conversation, so by mutual consent the girls avoided it.
Around this time their new baby brother arrived, the poor sap laden with the unfortunate name of Romeo, which their mother felt romantic and their father did not object to strongly enough, dooming the child to years of teasing at public schools. He could have gone by his middle name, save that was equally unfortunate: Romeo Millhouse.
The poor boy was going to hate public school.
Still, this arrival, delightful as it was, was not able to capture much of the girls' attention. No, that focus lay in an entirely different direction.
They had discovered Aging Potion.
This had been used unsuccessfully by the Weasley Twins during that whole tournament fiasco trying to circumvent the age line protecting the Goblet of Fire. A few drops made them a few months older while the potion lasted. And, well, both Hermiones got caught up by the observation that a few bottles of that and they could be sixteen again.
Then they both had, practically in the same instant, the same absolutely wonderful idea.
They could be eleven again just as easily as sixteen.
"We could continue our educations!" both cried out at once in the same excited voice, then statements began to ripple on top of each other with no clear origin between which girl had stated them as both cascaded along the same thoughts at once. "We both did very well in muggle primary school the first time through. But then we got the invitation to Hogwarts and never completed our secondary ed. But we could this time! I'm certain we could pass the entry tests again. Our scores were always top of our class, whether magic or muggle."
Although neither said it, Hermione had her academic future plotted out well in advance of even hearing about the wizarding world, and had been quite excited about those plans before learning about magic. So excited it had been a difficult thing to abandon them to go attend Hogwarts, and though magic was superior in that it could allow a person to do more types of things than a single muggle education, that disappointment had still lingered.
Both girls assumed that getting into Hogwarts early would be impossible. For one thing the magical staff could probably detect the use of Aging Potion to get in early, but for another attendance was by invitation only.
So that left her free to pursue her once lost but not forgotten muggle education goals in the meantime. The hurt of abandoning those fond plans still lingered, but now she could pick up where she'd left off, and there was so much out there still to learn!
"Now we can finally finish attending Cheltenham Ladies College!" Ann clapped her hands in glee, having attended one year there while waiting to enroll at Hogwarts.
"It's a very prestigious school, but I'm not going back," Jane objected.
Ann was flabbergasted, staring at her sister in utter horror, to the point where Jane felt embarrassed enough to explain, "It's a very good school for what it does, but what does it do? Prepare girls for life in the normal world. I'm sorry, but magic wasn't enough by itself to save us from the war the first time, and we all know we are eventually going to be drawn in to it again, being muggleborns. Math and art are not going to be any better at helping us survive. If we are to get through this, what we have to know is how to really fight."
Ann regarded her sister a little dubiously, not having had any idea the breach between their ideals was this bad. Cheltenham had always been their dream! Attempting to reconcile the points of view, she tried, "But they have sport. I'm certain we can take gymnastics or fencing or even martial arts if that would help."
"Dancers on a stage!" Jane shook her head in rejection. "Those won't do it! They aren't good enough. We know what the war is eventually going to be like: ambushes in the middle of the night, murder, rape and torture along with no holds barred battles to the death! A sport isn't going to help enough! It isn't, *can't* teach us what we need to know! Not even fighting trolls and rescuing baby dragons prepared us for how bad this was going to be! No, I've already decided. The only kind of environment that's able to give me the kind of background education I'll need to survive is St Trinian's School for Young Ladies."
There followed an instant of absolutely horrified silence, then suddenly Ann was on her feet and shrieking, "ST TRINIANS!!? HOW COULD YOU..."
"Quiet back there!" the nanny shouted. "It's not a commercial!"
Jane cast a quick spell to reinforce the ongoing Confundus on the nanny, the one causing her to mistake the girls talking for crying, then reinforced her Compulsion to ignore it. They didn't actually need the nanny to do anything for them they couldn't do themselves, after all, and it was better to be ignored than discovered.
Sitting back down, Jane repeated, "Yes, St Trinian's."
Ann reacted with the shock one expected of someone seeing their Pastor stand up to announce he was going to hell, and would anyone like to bring the barbecue sauce? She was astounded, and couldn't help staring at her clearly deranged older sister. Wetting her lips, she replied, "Um, you are aware that's not exactly a school. It's more of a training institute for young offenders masquerading as one. Most places when you graduate they send you to college. With St Trinian's it's more like you get shipped to the prison of your choice, and that's IF you last that long! They're the only school in the country that has a spot on both the scales of 'most dangerous correctional facilities' and 'top party schools'! How could you possibly pick the only institution in the entire Commonwealth more dangerous than Hogwarts? It's a mess of violence, robbery and scams not seen outside an American gangster movie and sees more of its students dead of drug overdose than graduated!!"
Jane retorted calmly. "One where I hope to acquire the useful life skills of picking locks and pockets, forgery, flouting the law, and smuggling - tools that are all sure to serve me well in the upcoming war. C'mon, every spy has to know that sort of thing! And with the Ministry as fouled up as it is we're going to need to operate outside of the normal rules. Where else do you think we could learn such things? It's not like they teach that kind of subject in normal books or schools. They don't print Practical Guides to Overthrowing Your Government!"
"You're serious," Ann realized, her eyes hardly able to get any wider. Something within her had held onto the hope that her dear older sister had been telling a bad joke.
Ann could only view this with horror. To her this was losing her sister, someone whom she had only just realized really mattered to her. Having been flung through time together she was the only person who understood her, her only friend.
Tears began to flood down Ann's cheeks at once, only it wasn't the way babies cry, it was the heartbreak of a young lady who was losing her only companion in the world. The very name of St Trinian's was enough to make all right thinking people react with shock and horror and her sister was about to go leaping into it!
"Isn't there anything I can do to change your mind?" she pled.
To Jane's surprise, Ann's reaction was breaking her own heart, too. And she found herself melting in the face of this plea. After all, each girl only had one friend - the other, and the depth of experiences behind them would make it hard for anyone else to relate even if she hadn't had a history of finding it hard to make friends in the first place. So there stood a very real chance they might be each other's only true friend all their lives long.
She certainly wasn't going to hook up with Ron again.
Jane sucked in her own lips. "Can you think of another way to acquire the skills we need? I've given this a lot of thought, and we need basically the ability to thumb our nose at the magical government and get away with it - there's just too much that's rotten there to work with it! Even the Underage Magic Restriction alone has almost gotten Harry killed!"
Ann paused, heartbroken and stymied, for a moment before blurting, "We need to do something to prevent you from becoming a common criminal."
Jane laughed wiping tears from her eyes. "I assure you, I have every intention of becoming an *exceptional* criminal!"
Both laughed, frightened, but somewhat eased.
"No," Ann corrected, "what I mean is, you are going to plunge yourself into a lifestyle that corrupts and destroys brains as well as bodies..."
Jane interrupted, making a face, "I was hoping to avoid destroying either."
"And what will you do if someone slips drugs into your tea? They won't ask nicely. Pushers always need more addicts." Ann scolded. "That place is only allowed to exist as a dumping ground for all of the incurable discipline problems in the English speaking world! The school yearbooks are used as mugshots by the local police! A St Trinian's education counts as evidence against your character in any court of law. I don't think we can count on nothing bad happening to you there!" she finished energetically.
"I... I guess I hadn't thought of that," Jane allowed. "I was all focused on what I could get out of the experience, not on what it could do to me."
"Well," Ann considered, "even supposing that none of them succeed at ensnaring you, which is far from assured as they're all expert crooks and you're just a beginner, we'd still have to do something to make sure you don't wind up adopting their lifestyle and outlook. That school does not produce productive achievers, only small time crooks who come to very bad ends. I think the record for new graduates staying alive and out of prison is seven years. Most are behind bars inside of three months. In fact that's where many of the girls spend their summer holidays even during the course of their education there."
Jane blinked. Perhaps she hadn't thought this through as well as she might've? The difference in perspective as Ann presented the same data was coming as a bit of a shock. Jane already knew those things, but hearing Ann present them they sounded so much worse than when she'd been working it out in her own private thoughts.
But Ann was rolling on without interruption. "In the first place we need to find a way to stop any hint of that place from turning up on your permanent records, which is a bit of a trick as they take fingerprints of all future hooligans who enroll there, as well as keep dental records to help identify the bodies. So polyjuice or other kinds of disguise are a must, a pity we aren't a metamorph. That would make this simple and not cost as much as continual rounds of the potion to change your looks, which I'm not sure we could afford."
Jane now started to look at this as an intellectual problem. "Actually, we'd have to find some way to do that regardless, just to reproduce all of our previous school records, as we'll need those wherever we go. If we can do that, fixing up fakes shouldn't be too much a problem."
"Our original records shouldn't be too hard," Ann considered. "All we need is a pensieve to look over our memories of them. You recall how we used to be about them." Indeed, both girls recalled how the Hermione of old loved reviewing her excellent grade reports, some she'd even framed and hung on her walls. Children learn to focus on whatever earns their parents' approval, and good grades had been a source of much parental attention for her. So there wouldn't be any problem coming up with a complete history of her schooling as those memories ought to be firm enough to easily recall.
Ann was already rambling on, "then I'm certain we could magically produce copies able to fool the muggle education system. The trouble would be getting them distributed to all of the various departments and things that needed them to recreate our muggle educational history. I can't see a way to do that. Ideally we'd even go so far as implanting the memories of us in all of our former teachers if possible. But that's even harder."
Jane had an odd thought. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if the Ministry of Magic didn't have a department for fiddling with muggle records. They'd almost have to, considering all the evidence and reports and things that would have to disappear semi-regularly to keep the magical world secret."
"You're right. We'll have to look into that," Ann agreed. "It's almost certain to exist, and that would make things so much easier if we could get it to work for us. Actually, it MUST exist, because otherwise there'd be no way for them to dispose of squibs by safely tucking them away in the muggle world like they do. So they must be able to create muggle identities for them, or the people without magic would get caught for lack of records."
Jane began nodding. "And that way we wouldn't be stuck simply with our own records, we could create a disposable identity for me to attend St. Trinian's under, one that I wouldn't be stuck with for the rest of my life. So that way I won't be followed around by the stain."
Ann rolled her eyes. "Well, not a stain on your permanent records, anyway. I still worry about the stain on your heart and soul if you go to such a place. But perhaps there's something to be done for that as well. In the first place, I recommend you don't board at that awful place, just treat it as a day school. That should minimize the impact, at least."
Jane now giggled. "I could say the same for you. Cheltenham Ladies have their own bullies, and I don't seem to recall we had any friends there, so..."
"That's an awful long commute," Ann observed dubiously.
"Not by magic," Jane riposted. "In fact, now I think about it, we were licensed to apparate back before we returned. We could be getting around as much as we wanted!"
OoOoO
"I can't believe that worked," Jane described, pulling off the Yoda ears she'd gotten from the back of a muggle costume shop and slipping out of her tea cozy. At eleven months she was close to the appropriate size for a House elf, too.
Ann was blinking in astonishment at the clump of long blonde hair her sister held in her hand. "Yeah, me too. Popping outside Malfoy Manor, summoning their House Elf and saying 'Mistress demands Hermy clean her hairbrush or Hermy must iron hands' to get it to bring Narcissa's hairbrush to you so you could pull out all the loose hairs."
"Dobby was most helpful," Jane supplied, slipping out of the rest of her 'Hermy the House Elf' disguise. "So, is the Polyjuice ready?"
"Yes. I bought it fresh from a reliable dealer. I just wish we could've chosen a safer target."
"We've already been through this. Death Eaters don't target each other, so they are the only people safe to impersonate, just in case there are random raids. And we know Dobby wasn't right in the head, so was the elf most likely to go along with such a crazy scheme and not see the obvious holes - like if I'd been Narcissa's elf I could've crossed the ward line."
OoOoO
Bureaucracy runs on paperwork.
The first part of the girls' mission to obtain their muggle background vital to resuming their beloved educations was simple enough. The plan was to have Ann, acting as Narcissa Malfoy, carry baby Jane into the Ministry of Magic, deposit her in the nursery, then walk out again.
They ran into immediate problems right before she drank the polyjuice. Namely they didn't have any clothes that would suit Narcissa Malfoy. They didn't even have for themselves other than diapers and baby outfits.
"Okay, change of plans," Jane declared, on spotting a well-attired witch heading for the Ministry entrance. Before Ann could say anything, Jane had shot out a stunner, dropping the woman. A quick Confundus and Compulsion charm later and the anonymous witch had downed the potion and was carrying in two baby girls, placing them at the Ministry nursery.
"Name?" the bored Ministry clerk who didn't actually have to deal with babies other than registering them in and out asked.
"Narcissa Malfoy," the well-charmed witch replied.
The worker looked up, then down at the two babies in her arms. "Children's names?"
Ann had a moment of squirmy panic, but Jane had already thought ahead and poured on the wordless, wandless compulsion charm. "Anastasia and Jacqueline," the woman said, hefting first Ann then Jane as she did so, matching both 'A' names to the same girl and both 'J' ones together likewise.
Soon they were deposited in the creche, alone with some elves and the other infants.
"Anastasia?" Ann asked dubiously. "Jacqueline?"
"Well, you have to admit, Ann and Jane are way too plain for someone who named a boy Draco," Jane shrugged, ignoring the wide-eyed elves for now, as they knew that most of them were incapable of exceeding their instructions, and these elves had been told to provide feeding and changing services for the babies, nothing more. So they wouldn't be reporting this, and the other babies couldn't. In fact, the twins were in the most private place in the Ministry building outside of a private office, which no one like them could get in to.
They were left on their own with the toys.
"So, Wacky Jackie, when will our 'mommy' pick us up? Half an hour?" Ann guessed.
"She should, if my charms work as well as they ought to. I never did get much of a chance to practice them, though. So if she's not back in forty we'll find our own way out."
"Best to hurry then." Ann summoned parchment and Jane retrieved ink and quill that had been smuggled in in her diaper.
The standard for communication inside the Ministry building was the paper air plane charm. So a memo, coming from inside the Ministry building, arriving at any Ministry department, was taken as the genuine article.
And a simple request for the appropriate forms to start a process had no reason anyone should be suspicious of it.
Twenty minutes later, the right forms arrived. The Hermiones spent only a moment looking over the tall stack before they decided this had to be done as homework. They wouldn't have enough time remaining on their visit. So Ann shrank the pages and braided both her and her sisters hair, using them as ties.
Ten minutes after that their mommy-for-a-day had them out of there.
"What will she remember?" Ann asked once they'd been deposited safely outside, and were apparating to a few muggle parks to hang out and shake off any potential followers.
"I don't have Obliviate spells, only Confundus and Compulsion." Jane corrected. "So I couldn't make her forget. I did suggest that she regard it as an ordinary event and dismiss it as unimportant, though. So unless someone asks about it she's not likely to do any thinking about our trip today."
They were gone about an hour, with the nanny charmed to miss the whole thing.
OoOoO
The next day both Hermiones were there at the same place roughly the same time with properly filled out paperwork tied in bows in their hair, ready to try the same thing again.
The amazing thing was that same well-dressed witch was there again. Although they really should have suspected something when the lady, compelled to drink polyjuice charged to make her look like Narcissa Malfoy, drank from her own supply.
Frankly they didn't notice because they weren't looking for anything like that, and everything else seemed to go smoothly right up until they were dropped at the creche.
Jane sent off the forms via the memo spell. Five minutes later they had a confirmation back along with a date a week later for the appointment to have two muggle IDs assembled. She had only just returned the forms to her hair when their fake Narcissa came back in, accompanied by Lucius Malfoy.
Jane was so startled at the unexpected interruption that she stunned the man. But he was quickly brought back by the lady, who said, "As you can see, they are both magically strong, healthy baby girls."
"I already have a son," Lucius sneered. "What would I need two girls for?"
The fake Narcissa gave him the Look. "Do you honestly mean to tell me you have no use for the potential alliances and affiliations you could get from two arranged marriages?"
"Arranged marriages of any worth cost rather hefty dowries," the man returned smoothly. "If these were boys, I'd be receiving money instead of paying it out."
"If these were boys your recently born son's succession would be in doubt," the black market child dealer returned with her own snide twist. "In fact, the heir of your body would be unlikely to inherit. While these don't cause problems. You've already announced the birth on your heir. Acquiring older boys could raise suspicions you were dealing in this kind of activity. But girls? There is no social requirement to announce the birth of daughters, only that their magic is expressing, which theirs clearly is. Quite early, too. Remarkably so."
Hermione Jane honestly wanted to start flinging cutting curses at that point. Even if she couldn't get away with killing them, as that would bring down aurors for certain.
Then she had a brilliant idea, and snipped the cords holding up the woman's dress, so it fell off to pool around her feet. She sputtered, dreadfully embarrassed, but it was all resolved with the woman's quick use of a repairing charm.
Lucius' eyes over his oily smile had never left her face, calculating the advantage her shame had granted him. At this juncture she obviously wanted to get rid of the children more than hold out for a better deal or find another suitable customer. "Should I be inquiring where you got them?"
"Better you don't know," the woman returned, covering her moment of confusion when she herself found herself unable to recall more than the pickup point and time. Oh well, it had to have been one of her more secretive contacts.
"Fifty thousand," Lucius offered.
"They're worth twice that and you know it!" the woman hissed.
"Each." Lucius spread his hands in false sincerity. "You know I'm being generous. After all, the worth of a girl child is reduced by the value of the dowry I'm to come up with to make use of the arranged marriage contracts which are the only value they have to me."
"Oh, alright." The woman accepted a hefty bag of cash, counted it with a charm, then left in an angry huff. It was not half what she'd anticipated going into this sale.
"Well, my dears." Lucius bent down to pick the horrified twins up. "Shall I take you to your new home? Anastasia and Jacqueline? She even picked appropriate false names. I think I shall allow you both to keep them." He mused.
Jane looked at Ann, trying to communicate without words that as soon as they were out of the building and away from the anti-apparation wards she would stun the man and they could both get away. Only Lucius unknowingly foiled that plan by flooing home, holding both girls tight as he did so, emerging into the Malfoy mansion, calling, "Narcissa dear, look at the baby girls you so foolishly left at the Ministry creche. Aren't you lucky I was there and able to pick our daughters up on my way home?"
The real Narcissa Malfoy came to the top of the stairs. It was interesting for the two girls to watch her Slytherin mind process what she'd been told, then the woman was sweeping down the staircase to kiss him on the cheek. "Oh, you dear! I knew I'd forgotten something dreadfully important, but I couldn't think what it was. How are..?"
"Anastasia and Jacqueline," Lucius supplied smoothly.
"Nice names," Narcissa declared. "Shall we let them keep them?"
"Yes, I think we might." Lucius handed off the girls to House Elves that appeared to accept them from the master. "Our contact came up with them herself, so there's nothing there to trace to us."
Seconds later they were popped by the elves into the nursery of the Malfoy home. Baby Draco was there, and Ann quickly grabbed Jane's hand, pulling it down out of the arc of fire. "No! If you kill him who knows what alarms may sound?" she whispered fiercely, directly and soft into her twin's ear. "Let's just leave."
Jane acquired a nasty grin. "Ok," she whispered back. "But only by way of the library."
Twenty minutes later they got out of there, a diaper bag full of carefully selected shrunken books floating along behind them.
"Sorry about that," Jane apologized once they were safely out. "I didn't realize that every rich person I've met in the wizarding world had earned their money in illegal ways. And that woman was well-dressed enough she had to have been wealthy."
"Now we know why." Ann sighed. "Don't worry about it."
And still they got home in under the hour they'd been anticipating.
OoOoO
"Wacky Jackie! What is it you are doing?"
Jane cringed a bit at the hated nickname. Her sister knew she hated it, which was why she only used it when she disapproved of something she was doing. The girl looked back over her shoulder, after having composed herself and returned calmly, "You know you spoil mom's scolding pose by being less than a year old. You're too cute to pull it off."
Ann dropped her hands from off her nonexistent hips. "Answer the question! What is *that*," she pointed to what looked to be a third Hermione, "doing here? We're twins, NOT triplets! I get enough headaches trying to figure out how I got one sister."
Jane turned back to what she'd been doing. She was working in the Granger home's library, because the nanny didn't have a key and so couldn't get in there (she was still required to check books out that she wanted to study. Helen was being very strict with her on account of earlier messes). All around the room were hip-high (on an adult) stacks of photocopies that their parents and nanny were Confounded to ignore, taken from the Malfoy books.
Both Hermiones had assumed that the original Malfoy volumes would have been too easy for that family to find magically. So they'd taken them in to a muggle copy shop and had replications made.
The originals they'd sold for ready cash down Knockturn Alley.
"I'm trying out some of what I read in those books, just like you have."
Ann blushed. They both had been devouring the manuals on magic taken from the Malfoy residence like sharks drawn to blood, as it was the first magical reading material they'd had in almost a year, barring a few books on makeup tips neither were particularly interested in.
Before they couldn't afford much, now they were hoarding their galleons hoping to save up for a self-shrinking magical trunk with expanded interior, something they could hide easily so whatever magic they collected wouldn't be caught by their parents.
"What is it?" Ann asked, this time more gently.
"She is a clone. Don't worry, I can dismiss the magic holding her together at any time. I was going to try for a simulacrum, but we couldn't afford the ingredients."
Ann's thinking leapt ahead to where her sister was going with this. "You're learning how to make magical duplicates, hoping to save Harry's parents by substituting them with fakes when the time comes. But aren't clones potentially dangerous?"
"That's why I'm not *finishing* her," Hermione Jane declared strongly. "But, like I said, we can't afford the ingredients to make the walking potion that is a proper simulacrum. Nor could we afford to make a golem, much less several. So clones it will have to be."
"Still, those are dangerously real, and won't animate unless you risk a part of your magical core on loan to it." Ann disapproved.
"I'm hoping to clone them, not me," Jane declared. "But I have only myself to practice with. And even in case I do use one of mine, I think I can learn to hold it down to a minimum, and at any rate I'm hoping to withdraw the animation magic from them before they get hit by the killing curse, so no matter whose clone I'm using, they shouldn't lose anything when it gets killed. Still, even in worst case, losing the ability to cast a few spells in return for Harry's survival is a risk I'm willing to take. He means everything."
"Don't clones also have blank minds?" Ann joined her sister, proving that she too had read that fascinating book, probably thinking of these same possibilities.
"Yes," Jane proved she'd gotten further along on devouring that particular manual. "It's like, well, separating a finger or a toe, magically expanding that into a full person, then controlling it as a puppet. It has a brain, but no life experiences to guide its actions. I'll have to learn some very complex compulsion charms to program her behavior. But Harry is worth it."
"It won't be able to cast any spells, will it?" Hermione Ann wrinkled her nose.
Hermione Jane shook her head. "Not at the amount of magic I'm willing to risk animating it with. At best I want to risk the tiniest sliver of my core possible, as I'm not too fond of the idea of losing any of my magic at all, should it get destroyed before I recall the fragment. Although I wish we had more than one book on the subject of magic cloning. There has to be a better way. This one barely had any explanation beyond a few warnings."
Ann nodded in total agreement. "What part of your body are you using?"
"Some fat and baby teeth. It has to be flesh and bone, but those I can replace. Well, time will replace the baby teeth anyway. And it's easy to grow more fat."
Ann looked at her sister dubiously. "Ok, I know our baby teeth haven't come in yet. What are you using, really?"
Jane blushed. "Below the human sacrum, or tailbone, are an apparently random number of very small bones called caudal vertebrae which are thought to be evolutionary remnants of a now-vanished tail. They are tiny and without apparent function. Some people have four, some five. We have five, so I thought I could spare one for a little while I practiced this. It will return to me when I dispel this girl. It has before."
Ann scowled, but for an entirely different reason than one would think. She'd been through those same medical books as her sister had, so she didn't need a lecture. Actually, for the first time she began to see what others saw when they called her bossy.
Jane sighed. "And really, nothing less realistic than a full clone could fool Moldyshorts."
Ann pursed her lips in fear for her friend and sister. "Yes, but we'd better do something to augment the realism, because he'll expect the defenders to cast spells."
Jane sighed, only partially in relief. "Well, at least we know that Harry and his mother didn't. But you're right, James won't be convincing unless he puts up a fight."
OoOoO
Author's Notes:
Was going to get them to school in this chapter, but that required skimming over the records process, and that didn't seem right. But then it grew and grew...
