The next week was one of the worst on record, in Hermione's opinion. It was full of lonely, pointed silences and meals all alone, and many, many trips to the library. By the time term had started, Hermione was almost relieved. She had thought a lot about the night of the 28th and had firmly concluded it was a stress induced delusion. A nice little vacation from reality, but hardly any different from a dream, which was an awful shame. It had been the only bit of fun she'd had the entire holiday.
She woke up on January 3rd having slept less than five hours, preparing for the day as if she were getting ready for a firing squad. On her way out of the girl's dorm, books in hand, she was stopped short by Lavender Brown.
"You dropped something," she pointed out, picking up a small scrap of paper that had been lazily folded by someone who clearly didn't care.
Looking at the uneven 'square' of paper, she took it from Lavender's proffered fingers, thanking her absently as she unfolded it. Apparently interested in whatever was on the note, Lavender skipped around to watch her open it, much to Hermione's annoyance.
It was some kind of poster from a muggle video game with abysmal box art which someone had crudely drawn over in Sharpie. The knight on the box had been modified with a pair of shades and had a red blurb written above him that said, "FORSOOHT n' get ur shit TOGETHER you chumpstick!" While the wizard had been made to look like her, which involved a dark brown blob of squiggly hair and a witch hat, the blurb over her head proclaimed proudly, "HOPY SHIT IM A WIZORD!" Even more strangely, there was another figure that had been drawn over.
This was a game based on Dungeons and Dragons, and if she remembered correctly from her short time playing a similar game when she was much younger, the class of the third figure was a seer. Someone had drawn glasses over the seer's face, red glasses. Crude black hair had been scribbled over the hood with a pair of candy corn colored horns sticking out of it and the symbol for Libra was drawn on the seer's tunic. The bubble over this figure's head was clearly written by someone else as the handwriting didn't match what was on the rest of the page, not mention that it was written in teal ink, rather than red or black.
It said simply, 'H33 H33 H33. S33 YOU SOON.;]'
"Strange," she thought, regarding the picture quizzically. There was a postscript on the back written in blocky red text with a time, "sunday, jan. 9 8:55 am astronomy tower. don't be late. DS".
Hermione could feel her cheeks becoming warm and knew she was blushing, in front of the school's worst gossip no less. Looking over at her roommate imploringly, she was frankly alarmed to see a sly smile as Lavender's eyebrows slowly raised.
"Who's DS?" Lavender asked with a slow, conspiratorial smile.
"Um, just a friend." Hermione winced, because it didn't sound like a statement.
"Oh, a friend-friend or a friend." Lavender leaned hard on that last word, her eyebrows rising ever so slightly.
"A friend-friend," she replied, a bit too quickly.
"Mmm-hmm." Lavender nodded, her lips tipping up into a devilish grin and her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Sure he is."
Before she could explain, Lavender flounced out with a hop in her step. Hermione moaned quietly, banging her head on one of the bedposts on her four-poster. The only reason Hermione wasn't panicking was that her thumb had been over the time and meeting place. Being that neither Lavender nor Parvati were particularly sneaky, avoiding them on the day of the meeting would be relatively easy. The only real difficulty would be dodging them in the common room for the next week, for they were sure to pester her about who DS might be. She could only hope their short attention span would keep them from being too distracting.
Luckily for Hermione, Daphne Greengrass had evidently been dumped by her most recent boyfriend rather publicly that morning right in the middle of breakfast. From what she'd heard there had been a very loud shouting match and then an entire ramekin of baked beans had been dumped over Theodore Nott's head before Daphne had stormed off, threatening to hex him if he said so much as a word to her. Such an awful spectacle would fuel the rumor mill for weeks while Hermione's positively boring meeting with an unknown friend was pushed to the back burner as all old news is. Though Lavender and Parvati themselves had badgered her a bit over who 'DS' might be, no one else seemed to care all that much.
The thought of the meeting was really the only thing that got her through that dreadful week. And not just because it'd be nice to have a friendly ear she could talk to but because it meant that she hadn't been hallucinating. Lavender had seen the note he'd sent, touched it with her fingers. And she'd been able to read the message. If she could do all those things, it had to be real.
Creeping out of her dorm at 8:30 in the morning, Hermione was relieved to find her dorm mates were still asleep. She had been half expecting them to be wide awake and more than willing to follow her to her morning meeting. Lavender and Parvati were the only obstacles she had counted on that morning. She in no way expected Harry to have been awake at this hour on a weekend but he was. Seeing that dark of mop of hair relaxing in front of the fire had honestly been the last thing on her mind, he usually slept in on weekends. Willing herself not to cry, she clutched her book bag and briskly walked by, glancing at him only once a bit hopelessly. That he didn't even bother to call after her to see where she was going so early in the morning stung.
With a heavy heart, she sat down on the cold cobblestone of the Astronomy Tower. It was 8:45 and she was trying desperately not to cry. Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths, her head pressed into her knees. Just when she felt tears prickling, someone ruffled her hair. There was only one person whom she'd ever let ruffle her hair.
"Hey there, how's my time buddy?" She looked up at him with puffy, red rimmed eyes. "Pretty bad, eh?" She nodded miserably. "S'bout to get better. Brought a friend," he said, jabbing behind him at the silhouette of a woman, hidden by shadow.
The darkness seemed to slide off of her until it revealed a person she had only ever seen in a faded photograph. She was taller than Hermione had imagined but her hair was just as riotous as it had been in the picture, it drifted lightly in the wind. Her bright pink eyes were more vibrant and electric than any photo could capture. Dark, full lips formed a large smile, so overflowing with joy one could almost think she'd seen a long lost relative, rather than a girl she'd never met before. She let out a high pitched squeal that sounded like a tea kettle going off before she took a couple of very deep breaths while fluttering her hands excitedly.
"I'm sorry... it's just, I'm a HUGE fan. It's a friggin' honor to me you, like for reals. Can I shake your hand?" the pink eyed girl asked, pausing contemplatively before glancing over at Dave." Would it be weird to ask for an autograph or...?"
"Dude, you are a fucking mess," Dave chuckled, shaking his head ruefully.
"Oh, fuck you, Strudel," she guffawed merrily. "S'not every day you meet your literary hero."
"Wait... what do you mean?"
The pink eyed girl grinned, giving her a little wink. "Don't pay no attention to my silly ass, I'm just full of beans this morning. Dave's told me a lot about you, that's all. Roxy Lalonde, pleasure ta meetcha," she said, offering her hand which Hermione shook slowly. "Okay. We need to get on the road, because we gots a ton of shit planned for today."
"We do?" squeaked Hermione, she had been under the impression that this meeting would be more low key, like last time.
"Hells yeah we do! Dave brought me in cus he said you need to have a good time. And errybody knows good times are my deal. Gave me the 411 on all your mad sads. I aim to fix that, cus doing a bunch of castle moping ain't gonna solve nuthin', IMHO. Thought we outta get out for a bit, do something fun."
"Like what?" the young witched asked, looking over at Dave who gave her a lazy thumbs up as if that was enough to convince her that whatever they had planned wasn't just ill advised shenanigans.
"The kind of fun that's a surprise," Roxy replied, wiggling her eyebrows. "So, we get to point two on our agenda. See, Dave ain't so good at the whole transportation deal. Time travel is supes dangerous, ya know. Going places that way is looking for trouble in a bad way. Now, I ain't no expert. That's Jade and John, but they ain't available, as always." She rolled her eyes dramatically and laughed. "I do know a thing or two about going to a place or three. But if you're gonna travel my way, ya gotta trust me."
Without further preamble, she pulled out a large bright red rifle with a ridiculously long barrel. Shouldering it, she walked to the very edge of the Astronomy Tower, long purple striped scarf flapping behind her heroically. With clearly practiced ease, she aimed and fired it. Hermione, expecting a loud rapport, covered her ears before realizing that she didn't need to. It only made a strange soft 'bwoing' sound because the rifle didn't fire bullets. It fired what looked like a whole window but what Roxy called a Fenestrated Plane.
"Basically, it's like a portal that allows you to travel from one place to 'nother by using the space between dimensions, aka The Furthest Ring. But it's real tricky to use, on account of having to travel through a nearly unnavigable void which is hella dangerous for peeps who ain't got my type of mad skeelz. Hence, why trust is important here, you do not wanna get lost in the Furthest Ring," she explained, holding her rifle loosely at her side. "So this is how it's gonna go. Dave's gonna go in first and then me n' you. Portal auto-closes behind us and I open up another portal that gets us to our destination-"
"Wait, wait!" Hermione objected nervously. "This doesn't sound any safer than time travel! If Dave goes first won't he-"
Dave cut her off. "I'm touched and all, but don't worry 'bout me. Got a map of the Ring all memorized. One of them long boring stories I ain't never gonna get around to telling you about."
"All right, then. How are we going to go about entering the portal?" Hermione snapped, jabbing at the Fenestrated Plane as it hung in the air a good ten feet away from the edge of the Astronomy Tower. "We'll fall to our deaths!"
Roxy and Dave looked at each other knowingly, small smiles appearing on their faces. "Show her," Roxy challenged, gesturing with a hand at the portal.
Nodding back mutely, he approached the edge of the tower, standing there as a fierce January wind rippled his clothes. His feet slowly left the pockmarked cobblestone until he was suspended easily in the air. He floated for only a moment before hurtling towards the portal at distressing speed, disappearing into its depths without a sound. Hermione's jaw dropped, mouth working soundless as she stared at the place Dave had been.
Roxy, mistaking her silence for awe and not mortal terror, smiled and said, "Neat trick, right? So, our turn next."
Shaking her head slowly, Hermione took a step back, uttering a single, soft, "No."
Approaching her like she was a scared cat, Roxy carefully put her hand on the young witch's shoulders. "Hey... lookit me," she instructed, repeating herself until Hermione met her eyes. "You're gonna be with me and I ain't lettin' nothing happen to you. You gotta trust I got your back."
"I can't f-fly," she stuttered, her eyes darting from Roxy to the portal. "I c-can't-"
"But I can," Roxy stated with not just a little bit of humor.
She grabbed the young witch gently by her hands and their feet slowly left the ground. Hermione let out a shrill gasp, convulsively squeezing Roxy's hands. They hovered there for a bit. It was a bit of kindness on Roxy's part to help Hermione feel a bit more comfortable. At the very least, the young witch had stopped shaking, though she refused to open her eyes. Somehow, Roxy coaxed her into allowing her to slip an arm behind her back. Breathing shallowly, Hermione's hand clutched the back of Roxy's dark blue pea coat in a death grip and buried her face into her friend's shoulder. Accelerating without warning, Hermione screamed and her eyes shot open as the world became a blur. They entered the portal at full speed, just as Dave had moments before.
The difference between being outside of the portal and being inside was stark. There was an oppressive void of feeling; it was neither warm nor cold. Though they were traveling at a quick pace, there was no wind against her face. All sound was dampened and flat as if everything was muffled by a large pillow. Worst of all was the complete and utter darkness that was so thick she couldn't tell if her eyes were opened or closed. Halfway through the journey and she had begun to almost prefer the terror of flying to whatever terrible place this was.
There was a muffled 'bwong" sound and suddenly she could see a faint square of light - a portal that was swimming through the darkness to meet them. And just like that, they were thrown from the void into the comparatively bright January light. She could see and hear and feel again, the terrible darkness of the void loosening its grip on her. It took a good five minutes for Hermione to recover, to remember that she existed in the world and not that dark place. Roxy was terribly patient enough to allow her to hold onto her arms for a bit. After taking a very deep breath, she finally looked around to discover that she knew where they were. This was the bit of forest in front of the Shrieking Shack, which glowered gloomily in the distance.
"Hogsmeade... we're in Hogsmeade," Hermione whispered anxiously.
"Yup," Dave confirmed casually. "Rox told me about this place. Figured it'd be more fun than skulking 'round that musty ass castle. Plus, added bonus, it'll be easier for us to blend here."
She gave him a look of absolute shocked fury, shouting, "are you daft?! I'm a student and it's not a sanctioned Hogsmeade weekend! I'll stick out like a sore thumb! We all will, if we're being honest!"
"Imma need you to calm them tits," Roxy chided, easily interrupting the witch's oncoming tirade. "See, I got this rad sleeper power."
"Which is?" Hermione demanded fiercely.
"I'm sorta like a human invisibility cloak. If I don't want peeps noticing me, they don't notice. Simple as that."
Narrowing her eyes, the young witch tartly retorted, "Is it then?"
"Wow, girlfriend here is tightly wound!" Roxy exclaimed, looking back at Dave, who sagely tipped his head to the side in agreement. "You gotta do two things. One, stop being such a tight ass. Two, Trust me. Got you through the void and here with no problems. I ain't lead you wrong yet."
Against her better judgment and all common sense, Hermione huffed and nodded. With a thousand megawatt smile, Roxy linked their arms and marched her down the path, away from the Shrieking Shack and towards Hogsmeade. Perhaps she just wanted to prove, if only to herself, that she wasn't the relentless rule monger her friends thought she was or maybe it was something else entirely. Maybe she was just tired and this strange detour in the road was what she needed right now.
As they entered the little village, her courage wavered and she squeezed Roxy's arm tightly. Roxy grinned, patting her hand comfortingly. "Relaaaaaaax. We got this."
The village wasn't nearly as busy as it was normally. After all, it was a Sunday and there weren't hordes of giggling teenagers bumbling about. But there were still a fair number of people on the street. Hermione stiffened nervously, her eyes wide as they darted around wildly. No one took note of the three teenagers in their midst. They smiled and nodded at them when they passed.
It took Hermione a moment, but she realized it was like they could and couldn't see them. She could see the way their eyes fell on them and then slid blankly past as if they weren't there at all. It was even stranger when they went into Honeydukes. The attendants were pleasant and friendly, helping them with their purchases as normal. But there was hollowness - a void, if you will - just behind their eyes. It was deeply unsettling.
It was noon and they were headed to the Three Broomsticks, Hermione could no longer contain her curiosity. "You're like Dave, then? A God... G-Godtier?" she asked in a soft, breathless little voice.
"That I am," Roxy affirmed, a sly smile creeping across her face.
"He said - He said that his specialty is Time. So, what I'm wondering is..." stuttered Hermione, pondering the entire time how to ask without being rude.
The older girl finished her question for her. "What MY specialty is?"
"Well, yes. Not to put too fine a point on it."
With a wide, toothy grin, Roxy poked the young witch in her arm several times. "Beep. Beep. Boop. No spoilers."
"What... what do you mean by that?"
"She means that it's for her to know and you to find out," Dave supplied coolly, playing with a strange little device she'd seen him with a number of times earlier in the day. He held it up and said, "say cheese."
Without further warning, a flash went off and it became clear that the device was probably a strange camera of sorts. Roxy let out a small, indignant scream. Her bright pink eyes narrowed and her lips thinned as she launched herself at Dave. There was a short slap-fight between them as she tried to wrest the device from his hands, without much success (it was somewhat clear she wasn't trying all that hard).
Cuffing the back of his head gently, she declared, "Is that any way to treat your mom?! Give me your damn phone!"
He handed it to her, pointedly rubbing his head. "Child abuse. I'm calling CPS, by the way."
Roxy stuck her tongue out at him like an adult. Looking through the gallery on his phone, she found the photograph and let out a very loud guffaw. She turned it so Hermione could see what she was looking at. There was, indeed, a picture of her and Roxy walking along the lane, eyes wide with the dumbest looks on their faces either one had ever worn. Hermione was all bushy haired surprise, like a cat that had its tail stepped on. Roxy's face was more pure confusion, with one lip lifted up crazily like she'd just smelt something weird. Hermione glared at Dave, pursing her lips angrily before she smoothed out her expression.
"Honestly," she scoffed, her head shaking back and forth with an almost affectionate amount of disgust. "How do I manage to surround myself with so many exasperating boys?"
Roxy giggled, it was a lovely sound. "Ppffft. You think Dave's exasperatin'? He's a fucking sweetheart compared to his brother."
"You sayin' I ain't the most exasperating Strider? You wound me, Lalonde," he complained, hand to his heart. "Gonna get sepsis from that wound that no antibiotic on earth can cure. RIP Dave Strider, raddest motherfucker in any universe."
"You mean there's one that's worse than him?" questioned Hermione, who valiantly tried to keep a straight face.
"Oh snap," Dave quipped before all three of them burst out laughing.
Hermione's heart felt lighter than air. These people were absolutely frustrating and needlessly mysterious, but they were also delightful to be around. She had laughed hard enough that she began to cry a little. Wiping her eyes, she thought these tears were so much better than the ones she'd shed the last few days. They felt cleansing, as if she was truly releasing just a bit of the stress that had been plaguing her as of late.
Arriving at their destination, they entered the welcome warmth of the Three Broomsticks. They were the only people under the age of thirty in the building. And no one made a note of it, not even Madame Rosmerta, who should have recognized Hermione, being one of Harry Potter's two best friends, or at the very least realized she was a student who was clearly out of bounds. With that unsettling blankness in her eyes she sat them at a nice table near the back, promising a waitress would be with them soon.
"Aspect," Roxy corrected as they sat down at a table.
"What?" Hermione was distracted by the unnerving effects of Roxy's power and hadn't been paying attention.
"Time is Dave's Aspect, not his specialty."
Getting her bearings, she realized that Roxy was continuing a previous conversation. Still puzzled, Hermione commented, "I don't quite see the difference."
But before she could ask another question a waitress interrupted them. She was cursing the intrusion, sure that she'd never receive an answer. From all the tantalizing hints, these people had incredible power so different from her own. She wanted to know how it worked; her mind reeling with thoughts of how she'd pull all that information apart and then put it back together again. If only they'd let her at it.
But incredibly, once their food and drinks were delivered minutes later, Roxy answered her unspoken question. "So, you wanna know the different between specializing in somethin' and an Aspect?" Hermione nodded, nibbling at her chips absently. "Anyone can specialize in something. My speciality is guns. Really good with 'em. Dave's actual specialty is swords."
"More like breaking 'em," Dave murmured before biting into his sandwich.
"Hush you! There's no self-deprecation on the S.S. Rolal," Roxy growled, scowling at him as she threw a fry at his head, which he caught with two fingers. "Anyways, Aspects are different cus they ain't something you just learn from practice or a book. Aspects are an innate part of who you are, as unchangeable as your DNA."
"So it's like my magic, then," Hermione mused thoughtfully.
"Hrm. Yeah, sorta," Roxy hedged, looking over to Dave for help. "Cept also not."
"No help for you here, Lalonde. Rose is way better explaining this shit than me."
Roxy hummed softly in agreement. "You're right. She's way better at this crap."
Things went a bit quiet then. Hermione was dreadfully disappointed, for a bright, shining moment she had almost had some answers. Well, she supposed she did sort of have a partial answer, so that was something. She turned her questions to the "phone" Dave had taken their picture with. Not only was it an electrical device, but it was one she hadn't ever seen before and it worked perfectly well in a highly magical environment. Dave and Roxy were all too happy to talk about it, explaining its function in a way that reminded her vividly of Fred and George. It was called an iPhone and that it and other devices like it would be ubiquitous in the not so distant future. She noticed that they had dodged any questions of why it worked within the bounds of a wizarding village, when it really shouldn't have.
Hermione was thoroughly nonplussed. "You shouldn't be telling me this, if that's really some kind of muggle technology from the future." She felt stupid even saying it, feeling vaguely as if she'd entered some bad science fiction movie. "That kind of knowledge is dangerous," she said, turning to Dave specifically. "As a fellow time traveler, I'd have thought you'd know better."
The Knight of Time had the unmitigated audacity to grin at her. "Yeah, but here's the thing," he said, pausing dramatically. "What you gonna do with that info?"
"Well, I mean... one could..." she sputtered, clearly not expecting his comeback.
"Nothing. And even if someone unscrupulous overheard it..." he trailed off, glancing at Roxy.
"Ain't nothing we talk about together gonna creep out without my say so. Cus obfuscation of information is my jam," she finished, taking a swig of pumpkin juice. She looked at the glass appraisingly. "This shit is way better than I ever imagined it."
The conversation turned to more mundane things. Roxy asked her about Arithmancy, because Dave had mentioned something about it to her. And suddenly his idle perusal of her book seemed a bit more welcome, because though Dave didn't understand much of it, Roxy did. Hermione had taken her for a bit of ditz, really. Oh, she was very kind and endlessly mysterious, but she had a gregarious, open disposition that Hermione had immediately judged as wanting. She felt bad that she'd made such harsh assumptions before even giving the older girl a chance. Roxy had a very nimble mind and though she had a rather colorful way of speaking, Hermione could see her genius.
It was a breath of fresh air to talk to someone about a subject you were passionate about and not have to suffer them asking you to speak English, as if you weren't doing so already. And the fact that she was able to make a connection between Arithmancy and various different muggle mathematical disciplines, like Differential Equations in relation to various phenomena in physics, was a very welcome surprise indeed. There were a number of different types of equations used in the muggle world to describe dynamically changing phenomena and they were very accurate when worked correctly and incredibly useful. The immediate application of such equations in Arithmancy was blatantly obvious to her. It had become a point of contention between her and her classmates, many of whom were born to wizarding families and therefore put little stock in anything to do with muggles. Roxy shared her frustration.
The conversation moved on from there, though all of it vaguely orbited mathematical and scientific theories that they were both passionate about. Roxy commenting at one point that she should get together with Dirk and Jade, as this conversation was right up their alley. And from there more personal anecdotes were shared on both sides, which allowed Dave to contribute to the dialogue as math was not remotely his thing. It was frankly the most intelligent, logical conversation Hermione had in a while. The three of them had been so absorbed in their conversation that they'd lost all track of time.
"Hate to break up this nerd-fest by being the wettest of all blankets, but, uh, we gots to get back," Dave interrupted, lazily playing with his phone.
Hermione checked her watch and was shocked to find it was nearly five o'clock. "Goodness, time does fly, doesn't it?" she remarked with some wonder. "I... I want to thank you both. I know I can sometimes be a bit of a pill, but you've both been so lovely and-"
Roxy shook her head, placing her hand over Hermione's. "It ain't no thing. You're our friend. We'll always have your back." And the way she said it conveyed a depth of meaning that was almost alarming. She wasn't speaking as if this friendship was new, as it truly was. She spoke of it as if they'd been friends for quite a bit longer.
"More casual spoilers?" Hermione asked, an eyebrow arching questioningly.
"Nah, just causal facts," Roxy replied, her eyes sparkling mischievously. "Let's get this princess home. Can't have just anyone ganking her gourds."
One disconcerting dark journey through the void later, she was back on the astronomy tower saying goodbye to her new friends. She had more questions than ever and even fewer answers. But it didn't matter. Dave gave her a fist bump. Roxy gave her an over-exuberant hug. And they both promised to see her later, Roxy, in particular, promised to stop in a bit more often than Dave, who apparently had things he had to do.
"His schedule is way fuller than mine," Roxy said with a little wink. With that, she opened another portal, waving goodbye back at her before disappearing into the Fenestrated Plane with Dave. The strange window hung in the air for a second or two before abruptly winking out of existence with a thunderous 'pop'. Hermione stood there for a moment longer, staring at the space the window had occupied, the joy slowly draining from her face. Turning slowly, she walked away with a very heavy heart, heading back to the common room and all the worries and woes she had left behind, if for only a day.
Author's Notes
There are some very definite reasons as to why Roxy hasn't told Hermione what her Aspect is, which we won't get into for a very long time.
My update schedule, such as it is, may slow down a bit after this chapter so I can finish the story. It is very close to completion. But I don't want to do a bunch of swift updates and then make you wait.