"Didn't you wear that shirt yesterday?" Sofia grumbled, stabbing at her breakfast roll with a jelly-covered knife.
"That one was black." Isidoro's current shirt was dark blue. He didn't seem particularly worried, though, being too distracted by the game on his cellular telephone to care about his partner's opinion of his choice of clothing.
"How many damn "Che vive" shirts can you possibly have?"
"Eighteen...and four hats."
Sofia told herself that she shouldn't have asked, and returned to her breakfast. The hotel was a typical three-star fare with the occasional hot shower and a crappy continental breakfast, but it was cheap and the beds were softer than the ground. Considering she'd be spending at least the next four days camping in the Peruvian mountains, she supposed she should be thankful for even this much.
"Could you please explain to me again why we're hiking the whole way?" Isidoro complained. "The train'll take us to the base of the mountain and then we can buy bus tickets." His eyes didn't leave the cell phone the entire time he spoke.
Sofia rolled her eyes and stabbed another breakfast roll. "We're hiking because there are ruins along the trail that are probably more likely to have interesting stuff. Machu Picchu was just a random village that's famous because the Spanish didn't destroy it. Back in its day, it wasn't special, and I doubt it's hiding any secrets, especially with all the tourists tromping through it everyday. I'm more interested in Phuyupatamarca."
"You know, people die on the Inka trail."
Isidoro flipped his phone shut and sent her a harsh look. She ignored him. Stupid Muggles were the only people who died on the Inka trail, and Isidoro knew that. He was just being a lazy, whiny prick, as usual. Instead, she finished her mate di coca and got up from the table, heading to her room. She wanted to go over her supplies one more time, just to make sure she had everything.
Camping gear, food, extra clothes, first-aide...everything seemed to be there. She cast a quick levitation spell on the bag, making it light as air, and then slipped her wand into the sleeve of her jacket. Donning the backpack, she scanned the room once to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Nothing was out of place, so she left and went to the lobby to wait for Isidoro. He appeared a moment later, also carrying a backpack and playing on his telephone again.
They checked out of the hotel and walked down Calle Suecia to Plaza de Armas, the main square of Cuzco. The square should have been gorgeous, with well-tended grounds and a beautiful old cathedral. Unfortunately, with all the tourism in the city, the plaza teemed with backpackers, pasty-faced tourists from the States and Europe, small children trying to sell finger puppets, and an overabundance of insane taxi-drivers.
As Sofia and Isidoro attempted to hail a taxi, a little girl in traditional clothing approached them. "Finger puppet, two soles," she said, shoving her puppet-covered fingers at Sofia.
Relax, Sofia warned herself, clenching her fist and resisting the urge to smack the little girl. Just because she was backpacking didn't mean she was a stupid tourist interested in stupid souvenirs. She was from Peru, Goddamnit, and she had made those stupid souvenirs as a little girl. If she wanted a llama finger puppet, she'd make her own.
A taxi pulled up, and she and Isidoro hurried into it, thankful to get away from the tourist traps but also a little anxious. Taxi drivers in Cuzco could be a little...crazy. She told the driver their destination, the train station, and then settled back in her seat. Isidoro hadn't put his cell phone down yet, and she scowled at him. He probably wouldn't stop playing games until it was time to set up camp.
Unlike Sofia, Isidoro was not a native Peruvian. He'd been born in Cuba, and had only joined the Order of the Phoenix in the last six months. Her last partner had been from Colombia, but he'd turned out to be a greedy little bastard, and Andrea Mancini had...taken care of him. For all Isidoro's weird quirks (his cell phone games and obsession with Che), he was brilliant at Runes and together they'd managed to find plenty of helpful wealth and information for the Order. He just...got on her nerves occasionally.
The taxi got them to the train station intact, though Sofia was silently thankful the breakfast served at the hotel had not been very substantial. Any more food in her stomach, and she probably would have made a mess of the cab's relatively clean-looking interior. She fished a two-sole coin out of her pocket and paid the driver before exiting the vehicle.
Outside the train station, they were again assaulted by people trying to sell them finger puppets and such, but once they made it inside, it was relatively peaceful. Their train was set to leave in minutes, though, so they had little time to relax until after they'd shown their tickets and found their seats. Isidoro had the seat across from her, so she didn't feel the least bit guilty kicking her boots off and sticking her feet under his thighs. Knowing his phone's batteries would only last so long, he'd ditched it in favor of a well-worn copy of "The Motorcycle Diaries."
"How many times have you read that book?" Sofia asked.
"Go to sleep. It's still a few hours until we get to kilometer eighty-eight."
Sofia grumbled softly but pillowed her head against the wall of the train. "If we miss our stop, you are in so much trouble," she threatened.
The train lurched and began moving. Within moments, its gentle swaying had her drowsy. She couldn't have stayed awake even if she'd wanted to.
Rei returned to Japan every few days to continue teaching Hermione meditation and wandless magic. These sessions lasted much longer than the first, and were mentally draining. However, Hermione could feel the progress within her. She could feel the magic coursing through her, resting at her fingertips, just waiting to be unleashed. She was close, so close to doing wandless magic, and her failures were starting to get discouraging. Still, Rei reassured her that she was far more advanced than anyone, and that most people could never even progress this far. These words were vaguely comforting, but the perfectionist in her kept her from being happy about her improvements.
On days she wasn't studying with Rei, she spent most of her time at Usagi's apartment, doing schoolwork, reading or talking with the older woman. There were times when she'd burst into tears, still not really over what had happened, but there were also starting to be times where she'd smile. Usagi truly had been a wonderful influence over the past weeks, and Hermione was sure she wouldn't have been nearly as emotionally stable without her.
Chibi-Usa was another cheerful influence in her life. For the first few days, Hermione saw little of the pink-haired girl, but once Helios and Hotaru were gone, she found herself the center of the younger girl's attention. Chibi-Usa frequently took her out to see Tokyo, showing her all the most popular shopping areas, restaurants and theaters for teens. It was nothing like England, and not knowing Japanese was a little frightening, but most of the people were reasonably friendly. Hermione started picking up bits of the language, though it was so different in form from the Latin-based languages she was familiar with that she knew she wouldn't be fluent unless she practiced for years.
Professor Snape visited once more, both to check up on her and to reassure Usagi that Rei and Hotaru were doing well. When he informed Usagi of Rei's plans to wheedle some information out of Lucius Malfoy, Hermione was surprised to hear the woman laugh. Apparently, that was the kind of plan Rei would make, and most likely, she would succeed at it. Just hearing the name Malfoy made Hermione shudder. While she would love for Rei to dig up some dirt and get the bastard locked in Azkaban, she didn't envy her the amount of time she'd have to spend in close proximity to him.
Snape stayed for supper again that night, and Hermione felt only marginally more comfortable than last time. Snape spent most of the meal talking with Chibi-Usa about every possible subject, and occasionally they would drag Usagi into the conversation. When the conversation switched to Hogwarts, Chibi-Usa had a lot of questions, and Hermione found herself more comfortable. She knew plenty about social and academic concerns Chibi-Usa would face in a couple of months, and was glad to be helpful.
Again, the conversation eventually shifted to anecdotes from the time Snape and Usagi had gone to school together, but this time Hermione did not retreat to her room. She was vaguely interested to learn how two people as seemingly different as the two in front of her could possibly have gotten as close as they apparently had over sixteen years ago. Asking questions outright would have been rude, but she did manage to hear about the first time they met.
FlashbackUsagi had met and befriended Rei Hino on the Hogwarts Express, before school and before the labels Gryffindor and Slytherin had driven any sort of wedge between them. They had started talking immediately about Japan, about how scary it was to be going to school in a different country. Rei had been in England longer, and was plenty willing to help Usagi adjust to the culture shock. The dark-haired girl had spent the summer and part of the last year with her father and brother, and was more knowledgeable about Hogwarts and the wizarding world, as well.
A few days into the term, they agreed to meet in the library to work on their very first Charms assignment. Usagi had a desire to impress her teachers, and her study skills had yet to decline to the level they would be at for the greatest part of her time at Hogwarts. It was probably a good thing, too. If Rei had seen her as a slacker from the beginning, she would have been more reluctant to work with her on schoolwork, and they might not have ended up friends.
As they were finishing their work, a dark figure stalked into the library, scowling. Snape had been a gangly youth with an unfortunate nose and no real desire to attempt to improve his appearance. He had far more important things to do than wash his hair every day. Still, as an eleven-year-old, Usagi had only looked at him with timid curiosity.
"Professor Dumbledore has given us permission to leave next weekend, as planned," Snape said. He spoke in Japanese, and though his words were correct, Usagi immediately got the feeling that he was still learning the language.
"Oh good," Rei replied, smiling brightly. She turned to Usagi, to explain. "This is my half-brother, Severus. Our father has opera tickets in Milan next weekend. Have you ever been to an opera?"
Usagi flushed. "No. Aren't they...really boring?"
Rei giggled. "Only some of them. This one's Madama Butterfly, by Puccini. It's really good. It's about a geisha...ooh, 'niichan, does father have any extra tickets?"
Severus raised an eyebrow. "I was going to owl Lucius. Do you really want to take a Gryffindor?"
"She's my friend," Rei said, glaring icily.
"Fine. If we can convince Dumbledore to convince her parents to let her out of Hogwarts for the weekend."
"I'm sure you can be persuasive." Rei beamed a smile at him, and started gathering her books. "I'm going to go back to the common room. I'll see you in class tomorrow, okay?"
Rei grinned briefly at Usagi and then sauntered out of the library. Usagi stared after her, stunned. She'd never really even thought about going to an opera before, but apparently Rei believed she should go. After a moment, she turned to look at Severus, who was scowling at the door his sister had just walked through. When he finally turned his intense gaze to Usagi, she blushed and smiled shyly.
"I'll take you to the headmaster's office. Hurry up."
Usagi had to rush gathering her books to follow him. She struggled to keep up with his long strides as he stalked down the hallway, all the way wishing she could be taller. She knew she would be lucky if she ended up five feet tall, and Severus was already pushing six feet. She found herself huffing for breath within minutes, and though it was difficult, she found herself again marveling at the size of Hogwarts castle. It seemed never ending, and yet every inch of it was a new adventure, just waiting to be uncovered.
End FlashbackUsagi leaned back in her chair, a happily nostalgic look on her face. Snape's face was a mask, but that didn't surprise Hermione. He was hardly the type of man to reminisce about the past, especially not in the presence of a student. Hermione wouldn't gossip about him, but she could definitely see nearly any of her fellow classmates doing so, were they to learn anything about Snape that might be considered gossip-worthy. She was drawn out of her thoughts by Usagi giggling.
"Remember how James and Sirius thought you were going to drag me off into some dark corner to kill me?" At the mention of the two Gryffindors, Snape scowled darkly. Usagi turned to Hermione to related the story. "They were going to pick a fight with him, and they told me I should stay away from people in Slytherin. Lily Evans made them back down, and told me I should be friends with whoever I wanted to be friends with. She was an amazing woman, and I can't understand why she let James convince her to marry him."
Hermione frowned. "So...you aren't a big fan of James Potter? I mostly only ever hear good things about him."
"Oh, he was a good person and all...but he was always such a jerk to people I considered friends, just because they were in Slytherin. He was better than Sirius, though."
This bit of information was shocking to Hermione. She'd been living in such a Gryffindor bubble while in the Wizarding world, where everyone loved and respected James Potter. Except the "evil git" Slytherin, Severus Snape, of course. To learn that there were Gryffindors out there who weren't infatuated with Harry's father was amazing in her eyes. Things really weren't always what they seemed.
"What about Professor Lupin?" Hermione just couldn't picture the werewolf as being a jerk, even a young and misguided one.
"Remus?" Usagi's face brightened. "He was like a brother to me. He always made sure James and Sirius left me alone about my choice of friends. Though, he could have done the same for others and chose not to." She pouted.
"It just goes to show how shallow most Gryffindors are," Snape said, unhappy with the topic of conversation. He would rather spend as little time discussing James Potter as possible. Hermione shot him an openly dirty look.
"How am I shallow?" she demanded angrily.
"How many friends do you have who aren't in Gryffindor? And, study partners from Ravenclaw hardly count as friends." Snape sneered, and Hermione bit her lip uncomfortably. Finally, she came up with a retort.
"Because you Slytherins are so much better about associating with other houses."
Snape immediately grew angry, his face twisting with rage. "Those students in Slytherin who might choose to socialize elsewhere are so in fear of their Death Eater parents that they are forced to suppress it. The politics involved in being a member of Slytherin are so complex, I suggest you not presume to know anything."
Hermione blushed and looked away. Usagi frowned and quickly changed the subject.
"Hermione, have you ever been to an opera?" she asked. Hermione shook her head, and Usagi grinned. "People are always shocked to learn that I like it. Everyone thinks it's stuffy and boring, and I'm completely opposite. But, a lot of them are really romantic and funny. Severus, are there going to be any good ones in London when we go back?"
"The only ones I know of are 'The Magic Flute' and 'Salome'," Snape replied. Usagi immediately grew excited.
"You have to start with 'The Magic Flute.' It's hilarious, you'll love it."
The conversation digressed into an argument between Snape and Usagi about whether or not Mozart operas were worth watching. Usagi maintained that they were amazing, while Snape found them tedious and with sub-par music. Hermione had never heard anyone criticize Mozart's music before, and sat enthralled by the argument. She had very little real music education, and she didn't think Usagi did either, but Snape seemed as well read on the subject as everything else. It amazed her to think about just how much stuff her potion's professor knew.
Harry groaned, looking over the criteria for his summer assignment in potions. All of his teachers assigned a lot of work, but Professor Snape seemed to take some sort of sick enjoyment out of ruining his students' summers with profuse amounts of homework. For all Harry wanted to be an Auror, he sometimes wished he hadn't gotten an 'O' on his potion OWL. It would save him a lot of anxiety over the next couple of years. But, keeping his goal in mind, he sucked it up and attempted to start his essay.
Hotaru found him over an hour later, surrounded by crumpled-up bits of parchment. His fingers were stained with ink, but he could easily clean them later. His naturally unruly hair was especially messy from constant running his hand through it. He looked up when he heard her and blushed.
"What are you working on?" she asked, her voice quiet and timid.
"Potions."
Her face brightened immediately, and she moved to sit next to him on the couch. She glanced over the criteria for the essay for a moment and then turned to his notes. He blushed, thinking she looked very pretty. Her brow creased as she continued reading.
"The brewing for most of these potions is NEWT-level. I wonder if we're going to be working on them this year...that would be so incredible. Imagine what he has the seventh-years learning."
She spoke under her breath, softly, as if to herself. Harry stared at her. "Snape's classes aren't exactly what I'd call incredible. Difficult and frustrating and unfair, maybe."
"Unfair?" Hotaru asked, frowning. She knew that Harry was unaware of her relationship to Snape, so she wasn't really offended, but she was interested to learn more.
"Well, unless you're in Slytherin. You seem like you'll probably be in Ravenclaw, so maybe he won't be a total jerk to you."
Hotaru shook her head and smiled sadly. "I'll be in Slytherin, like my mom."
"No way. There's nothing cunning or devious about you." Harry beamed a smile at her, trying to encourage her not to think so morbidly.
"It goes a lot deeper than personality types for some." She lifted her head to capture his gaze. "You know how it feels, I can tell. Your brush with the Dark Lord lets you understand what the darkness feels like."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. She was starting to get a little creepy.
"Mama told me about the Sorting Hat. Did it try to put you in Slytherin?" Harry nodded, dumbfounded. "There's a darkness in some people...it isn't always evil like it is with the Dark Lord, but it's always Slytherin. Houses aren't always about personality types. My best friend's mother was in Gryffindor, and it had nothing to do with her bravery. She's brave, but there's something else...something bright that just belongs in Gryffindor. When you meet her, you'll understand better."
"And you think...because of Voldemort, I got some of that darkness, and that's why the hat tried to put me in Slytherin?"
"Don't you feel it sometimes?" she asked, her brow furrowing again. Harry couldn't help but get distracted by how cute she looked. He grinned at her.
"I think I know that feeling you're talking about. But I still don't think you're Slytherin material. Anyway, do you know about these potions? I was a little confused on the ingredient preparation..."
They spent the next hour going over potions. Hotaru was nearly as smart as Hermione, and Harry genuinely liked working with her. It was strange though. He found her just as pretty as Cho, and yet he could talk to her comfortably, without stumbling over his words and making a fool of himself. He really hoped she ended up in Ravenclaw, because he wasn't sure he could handle having a crush on a girl from Slytherin.
You guys are so lucky I went to Peru. World travel is really inspirational, and I definitely would not have written this otherwise.
Information on stuff in the chapter:
"Che" Guevara was a revolutionary communist who helped Castro overthrow Batista in 1959 (I think). He road across parts of South America on a motorcycle with his friend, helped out lepers and stuff, and wrote a book about it. He was very cool, even for a communist.
New characters:
Sofia Valdez Ramos: Peruvian chick, age 22, Order member. Isidoro frustrates her sometimes.
Isidoro Herrera Reyes: Cuban guy, age 30, Order member. Obsessed with Che and playing video games on his cell phone. Annoys Sofia, but very good with Runes.
Together, they go tomb-raiding across South America, looking for nijizuishou and artifacts to help the Order. They work directly under Andrea Mancini, who I hope you remember from earlier in the story.
In case you hadn't noticed, my Peru trip rubbed off on the story...so much in fact, that I finally developed a plot for this thing! That's right, there's some new bad guys and drama in the future, and it's gonna be cool...and educational. That's right, educational. You're gonna learn stuff from reading this story. Muwahahahahaha
I also made Snape a little more...Snape-y in this chapter, in that I made him be mean to Hermione. He ain't just gonna get all fluffy...he wouldn't be any fun that way.
I think that's it. Same stuff applies to reviews: make 'em worth my while.
Love ya!