Using the Floo, Harry decided, was odd and dizzying. Her head was telling her one thing, while her eyes were telling her something else. The fireplaces seemed to pass in a swirl of light and colours spinning around her, however she felt like she was stationary and not moving. It really was quite, yep the interface agrees, nauseating. Suddenly, one particular fireplace seems to stop in front of her and then hurtle towards her, and the inside of the Leaky Cauldron becomes visible. She leans heavily on the interface to exit properly as her first instinct is to jump through the hole in the fireplace that looks like it's going to slam into her. Instead, while she flinches, she does step gracefully out of the fireplace and dust herself down as though she's done this a thousand times before. She then steps to one side and leans against the wall with one hand while she tries to get her stomach under control.
Professor Sprout comes out shortly after she got out of the way and looks at her sympathetically.
"Don't worry dear, it gets easier with practice. Come, let's get your new uniform and we can look at hats and beauty essentials once you're more settled."
Getting the School uniform did indeed allow Harry's stomach to settle, and as in the dress shop Madam Malkin made a calico template first and promised that a finished uniform would be ready when they returned in an hour or so. As they were walking down the Alley to the hatters, Harry asks.
"Professor, why have they all made those pretend clothes first?"
Professor Sprout stops and turns to her, "While it is socially acceptable for boys to have worn or tired clothes that have been stretched out of shape. For women, especially those of your station, society expects us to always look our best. I can see that you're wearing some make-up, that is just another aspect of that, as it allows us to always present our best face. Men, in many ways, have it easier in our society. But, at your level especially, they also have it harder in many others. They must always be seen to be in control of themselves. They are not allowed to express themselves the way we are. Look around you, see how the wizards are all wearing black, grey, or one of two shades of brown? I'm sure you also saw it growing up, how the women were more colourful and more emotional than the men? I've seen almost 40 years of muggleborn children coming to Hogwarts, and the change in the girls has been far more marked than the change in the boys.
"Look at how Miss Greengrass was when she joined Hufflepuff to how she is now, I have no doubt a large part of that change is sleeping in the same room with Miss Granger. Equally, Miss Granger is now more reserved and less forceful than she was. I know you've had your own hand in that, but I have no doubt that Miss Greengrass did too.
"Back to your question, you will need occasional replacements for articles of clothing for the school uniform. Or when the weather changes, you'll want different colours or weights of fabric. As our clothes would be stifling in the summer heat, even without our petticoats. As they have a template, we can just send a request by owl and they will fulfil the request and send us the new product.
"Now, we only have a couple more hours and we still need to find you a hat and your beauty essentials."
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Finding the hat turned out to be a case of trying on different hats that Harry liked the look of before having the hat pinned into her hair with a selection of wickedly sharp, 6-inch-long hat pins. Each of which had a pretty design on the end that matched the hat. Beauty essentials consisted of a hairbrush, compact mirror, a basic pallet of makeup. Fabric fans that matched her clothes, and a few pairs of gloves, that also matched the swatches they'd been given earlier. Harry was starting to see why Professor Sprout wanted her to sleep as a girl the night before. They also picked up some house shoes to go with her girls dresses.
For the return journey, they used the Floo to get to Hogsmeade and walked the path back to the school. As they did Harry asks, "Professor, can't I just use the interface to get dressed?"
Professor Sprout laughs, "Of course you can Harry. However, you will need to learn how to use all of these products, and also how to get dressed properly. After all, how do you expect to get ready for a party or gathering with new clothes if you're not comfortable with how they all fit together? I for one will be adding my new clothes and outfits to my interface wardrobe. I suggest that for the moment you only do that for your school uniform."
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Daphne picks at her evening meal absently as she thinks about the day that she's just had. Professor Tonks came by just after Harry and Professor Sprout left and knocked on their doors.
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"Good morning everyone. There's not going to be any class today or tomorrow. Instead you're all going to have the weekend to get used to the changes that you will be using during the classes. Ernest, I know that you asked not to be involved. That means that it falls to you to keep an eye on everyone else. If any of them seem too uncomfortable with their changes either come and get me or ask one of the phoenixes or dragons to do so."
The change itself was weird to Daphne, as everything seemed a little bit off. Her blouse became a little too tight, while the other end a little too loose. Not much, certainly not as much as Hermione who was the oldest in their year. She was certainly glad when she was given a pair of elasticated knickers to change into.
Apart from that, the whole thing felt remarkably normal throughout the day. She tripped over her own feet a couple of times. However, she watched as Hermione seemed to have more issues with her body, being that little bit more developed than the rest of them. She also watched Justin as the oldest boy in their dorm. He seemed to stumble throughout the day as his feet weren't where he expected them to be. She also heard him complain about how heavy things had become, not something that she'd noticed a change in. No, the biggest challenge had been in using the toilet, as she'd not had to aim before. Even sitting down, she found she needed to aim into the bowl or stand up to pee. Something that could get very awkward in her witches skirts and dresses at home. The last thing she noted was that all of her clothes felt a little warmer than normal.
That's when things went tits up, as Spark had taken over from Sunbeam in keeping Sophie company and the other three Phoenixes disappeared somewhere earlier in the morning. However, when lunchtime came around and they were all trying to find ways to sit down comfortably, a trio of Fulgent flashes went off in quick succession. Daphne blinks spots out of her eyes and looks around at the screaming students all clutching their eyes. She could already see Professor Tonks' wand flashing out in a rapid fire casting of the spell to cure flash blindness while the headmaster seemed resigned when he cast an augmenti on his head after Fawkes flamed out in a panic while she was still blinking.
The three Phoenixes all look inordinately proud of themselves as Sunbeam nudges a familiar orb that has a bone white orb on the top towards Sophie.
Sophie looks at the orb and then at Sunbeam, "Is that for me?" – Sunbeam bobs her head – "I know that Harry asked you to find something, but you really didn't need to. I'm not worth it."
Spark nips gently at her ear and nudges her on the back of the head with her wing. As she does Madam Pomphrey and Professor McGonagall both enter the Great Hall at a run and start casting the spell to clear up flash blindness. However, they only get a few casts in before they, and everyone that hasn't been to the Realm of Magic turn to stare at Sophie as she starts to bind her new familiar. Blue magical fire racing up her arm from the orb to her head while the orb itself disappeared in a cloud of magical motes. So far, so normal with added gasps of awe from those that can see.
Then Sophie starts to summon her new familiar. Whatever it is, it's small as the halo of blue flames surrounding it's summoning point is barely bigger than the orb of the Summoning Orb. A skull starts to take form out of the light, clearly non-human as the proportions are wrong for anything that descended from apes. But still similar enough that it's recognisable, where they eyes should be are two large pale blue gems. Where the teeth should be are a further 6 pale blue gems in two rows, with one gem where the incisors would be, and the molars replaced by the a gem each.
From the teachers table there's a crash as Quirrell lurches to his feet and stumbles back, a shaky finger pointing at the skull, dull red pinpricks of light shining from the back of his eyes. A flash of blue light leaves his wand and splashes harmlessly against the skull floating in mid-air.
"Kill it, Destroy it now before it kills everyone here and makes Hogwarts it's new lair."
The headmaster turns his curious gaze towards Quirrell, "Whatever do you mean? I hardly think that phoenixes would bring something that is dangerous to the school to one of the students."
"It's a type of Lich, I, uh, read about it in an Egyptian tome on my sabbatical. Those gems used to be part of it's phylactery, now they serve to trap the souls it feeds on before returning to dormancy."
The skull turns its eyes towards Quirrell, who quails under it's gaze, then it says something in a musical language "oØ yyNj2 `B ydT 1`N 2`N 31DÀ"
Sophie hesitantly says, "Er, she said, 'Why would I do that?'"
Another spell splashes harmlessly off the skull, and then a shimmering barrier appears, covering a large area around the skull. "She said that she's just put up a spell to stop any spell fire from getting close enough to hurt us. Thank you for that, and I think your language sounds beautiful."
Quirrell's eyes roll up in the back of his head as he collapses while the headmaster draws his wand, but holds it loosely at his side. "May I ask what your intentions are in this school?"
The skull says something again and Sophia paraphrases, "She says, 'I do not know as yet, as I have just awoken from my Torpor. The people I gave up my chance for heaven to protect are long dead and turned to dust. I have a bond with this child so for the moment I will stay with her, even though she is a human child.' Wait, you're not human? Oh, I don't know maybe, I'd need to check the library, I've only been a witch for 4 months. Oh, yes, they can't hear you can they."
"Well Quirrell, for the moment it looks like your fears are unfounded. Sigh, Poppy, when you have a moment will you be able to have a look at professor Quirrel? Well? What is everyone looking at? We have dragons, phoenixes, bats, and owls as familiars this year. A floating skull is hardly the most unusual thing we've seen. Miss Roper, I would be very grateful if you could write me 12 inches on your new familiar and her culture by next week."
The headmaster then sits down and carries on with his lunch like a man who has recently had far to many knocks to his world view to care anymore.
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Daphne is brought out of her musing as the hall goes silent. Instinctively she looks around to see the source, and Professor Sprout and Harry are in the doorway. Harry is dressed as a well to do witch, and her hat frames her face bringing out the eyes and hair. It's obvious from her posture that she's wearing stays, and all eyes follow the two of them as they walk down the centre aisle. Once they reach the end of the table, Justin shuffles down and Harry daintily slides in next to him. Daphne notes that she's starting to be able to tell when someone is using the interface to do something, especially something that she doubts Harry's done more than once before.
As Harry looks around for where she should put her bag, Daphne discretely indicates the space between Justin and herself. She's about to ask Harry how her day went when her eyes glance over at something behind her. That hesitation allows Harry to start the conversation.
"Hi, I've been called Dani all day. So pleased to meet you. How is everyone doing?"
Daphne nods and puts her game face on, "We've been doing ok, though there's a long story to be told later. How was your day shopping?"
"Long, I just wish that I hadn't lost all my clothes. I am so thankful for Professor Sprout for taking the time out to get me outfitted."
When Susan stifles a giggle, she knows that she's taken the place of the lure. "Oh do tell?"
"We went to a charming dress shop in the Farmers Market, and Janice, the owner, helped me with the basics. Miss Granger, I have your dress here. I am most thankful for the loan. May I suggest though that you endeavour to be outfitted similarly to myself as your dress does little to keep out the chill."
Hermione smiles at Harry across the table, "You're most welcome. Perhaps you can escort me during the spring break."
"I would like that."
When Harry's eyes turned to look over her shoulder, Daphne knew the hook was set. By the look of the Gryffindors behind Harry, she had a feeling she knew who it was.
Draco's smooth voice floats over her shoulder, "Good evening Mademoiselle, I am Draco Malfoy. I fear that I have yet to make your acquaintance."
"Good evening Mr Malfoy, I'm known as Dani. Pleased to meet you, I'm sure."
As Draco launched into a very smooth conversation designed to put a woman at ease and tease out as much information as possible, Daphne muses that it's easy to forget that he was raised as a pureblood noble, even though his family isn't yet noble themselves. As the conversation is continuing she takes the opportunity to look behind her, ostensibly to look at the person talking, but really looking at the Slytherin table. She notes some of the more influential figures shaking their heads slowly, as they clearly recognise Harry from this morning and last week.
Daphne tunes back into the conversation as Harry says, "I'm sorry Mr Malfoy, but after the way you introduced yourself in September, followed by trying to challenge me to a duel under spurious circumstances. I have to say that I don't think I can see any friendship between us going far without large changes in your personality. I think I can safely say that I would currently rather be friends with Mr Weasley than you."
Daphne can almost hear the coin drop in Draco's little mind as his elegant speech falls to one side, "Potter! But you look like a proper witch."
Daphne smirks, "Malfoy, are you trying to imply that the rest of us don't look like proper witches?"
"What? No, no not at all Greengrass. I, uh, just mean that he, that is she, doesn't look anything like he did this morning."
"So, you're saying that we're dressed badly, is that it?"
"No, no. Your dress is lovely."
"Then why didn't you comment on it before?"
Professor Tonks decides to take pity on Draco at that point, "Mr Malfoy, what exactly are you doing over there?"
"Ah, just socialising Professor."
"Is that what it's called these days. Maybe you should exit with what dignity you have left before it's all gone."
As Draco leaves easy earshot Harry starts to laugh, "That was brilliant, thank you Daphne. Sorry I'm late everyone, picking out a hat took a little longer than we expected and then I had to get the other bits and pieces. Oh, and Hermione, I was serious about the clothing. I think we should all try to get a proper witches outfit for next year as they are so much warmer than muggle wear."
Hermione looks Harry up and down, "I'm not surprised, the outfit you're wearing hasn't been fashionable for a hundred years or so in the muggle world."
"Guys, I'm not excluding you, but I've seen a lot of wizarding wear today, and if you've ever watched Sherlock Holmes, you'll know exactly what it looks like. We should still get ourselves some casual wizarding wear for when we're shopping, but I don't think it's anywhere near as important as it is for the girls."
Justin nods beside Harry while Neville leans forward from further down the table, "I note that you included yourself in getting wizarding wear. Does that mean that you still consider yourself a wizard?"
"Yeah, I mean, it feels natural being a witch. But I've still got 11 years of being a boy. Though, to be honest, it would be very easy for me to fall into this. People are just nicer to me like this than they are normally. They don't look at me and see the weight of my reputation there and so they talk to me like they would anyone else. So what happened to you guys?"
"Oh, Sunbeam just brought Sophie a Demilich as a familiar, at least that's what Quirrell called it when he was revived a second time. Scared him so much that he shot spells at her, the Demilich, and when she raised a shield to protect everyone from stray spells he fainted. Eyes rolling into the back of his head, the works. She's the skull that's sitting on the cake server by Sophie. Apart from that, the day has been mildly uncomfortable for most of us. I think that I'm starting to agree with Hermione, I'm looking forward to get the interface."
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"Quirrel!"
"Yes Master?"
"We know Hagrid's drinking habits now, next time he'll be at the Hogs Head, take the egg and get the information about his damned beast."
"Yes Master. Master, what about Dumbledore?"
"Dumbledore is the least of our worries now. If that Damnable Skull decides we're a problem there's nothing we can do. That's not to mention the Phoenixes and Dragons. But at least you can rely on them to behave in mostly predictable ways. A Demilich? Who knows. The Egyptians destroyed all the Phylacteries of the Pharoah's that had made them and then developed the precursor to the Horcrux Ritual that Herpo the Foul pioneered. Their diviners and seers saw only calamity if a Demilich formed in their lands.
"And now there's one in the safest place in Britain, and it's the bonded familiar of a bloody muggleborn. Hahaha, safest place my arse. It's either unassailable or the biggest mausoleum ever built. No, we are not spending any more time here than we need to. If the old fool has put the stone in something, we just take it and get out of here."
The voice in the back of his head dissolves into hysterical laughter.