AN: I don't own anything. Fun fact: the idea for the first scene is all credited to my girlfriend.
CHAPTER 24 – Careful consideration
"What is this Nissa?" asked Chandra staring at the sad looking potted plant her friend had given her.
It was small and decidedly wilted-looking, but it sported some pretty flowers in pale pink that contrasted well with the dark green heart-shaped leaves.
"It's a geranium, Chandra," explained the elf with a large, sincere smile "To liven up your depressing dump of a house."
Grimauld Place was already looking tidier after barely a day, but it was a slow process, particularly so since Kreacher refused categorically any help form his new mistress. Not that Chandra actually knew anything about cleaning.
"Thanks, I guess..." replied the other placing the pot on the troll leg umbrella stand, it wasn't like it was actually holding any umbrellas to begin with.
She loved Nissa dearly, she really did, but sometimes she could get so... Nissa. The elf might have been an empath, but sometimes her bluntness could be too much even for the redhead, which was saying something. Chandra tried to ignore her friend's quirks because she knew it was due to the elf"s upbringing. Also, it was incredibly funny when she called Jace an idiot for botching a plan.
"I had thought to give you a present to celebrate transferring to a new house," explained Nissa, completely obvious to the effects her straightforwardness had on others "Hermione taught me it's traditional on this plane, and also that plants are a popular choice. I had thought of something called lava lamp, but apparently they don't have real lava inside. It was a great letdown."
"I appreciate the thought Nissa, honest, but you didn't need to give me anything to decorate the house," said the pyromancer letting her friend in "Can I offer you some tea?"
It soon became apparent that there was more to Dumbledore request of Chandra's presence at school than what was immediately apparent.
By the final dregs of summer the Ministry was still denying the reality of the threat in front of them, and even worse they were publicly denouncing through the Prophet anyone who dared speak up against them, which of course included the pyromancer and the headmaster themselves. Thanks to that defamation campaign –because it was exactly that, lies and mud thrown in their faces and nothing more– Dumbledore lost some of his political positions despite keeping most of his capital intact, while Chandra was ill received by the populace whenever she actually went out, even if she didn't care particularly. The worst consequence still was that the esteemed Minister had convinced himself that the headmaster was out for his job –a silly idea since Dumbledore had apparently refused the position many times in the past– so he manipulated his supporters to pass a law that let him nominate any vacancies in the Hogwarts faculty right after a bill that prohibited hiring werewolves for any job that might even have them somewhat close to children. This in turn meant that professor Lupin was forced to resign from his post and, thanks to the political climate, a Ministry official was appointed as the new Defense professor, one Dolores Umbrige. Despite the paper painting the woman as a shining ray of hope in a failing school system, it wasn't hard to guess that she was actually there only to keep Dumbledore in check, and therefore having Chandra in the school was the headmaster's way to respond: the pyromancer was sure to annoy the new professor with her abrasiveness and general disregard of rules while being relatively safe from retribution thanks to not being a student, distracting the woman and therefore leaving the elderly wizard more room to act undisturbed.
If she had to be a hundred percent honest, being used as a distraction wasn't on top of Chandra's favourite pastimes –it usually involved ending on the wrong end of people's weapons and spells, which wasn't exactly her idea of fun– but the squat woman appeared to be cut from the same mold as Malfoy and his ilk, and she enjoyed messing with the stuck-up, self-entitled types a bit too much.
There was also the fact that being back at school granted her the opportunity to keep teaching people about the Multiverse, which she had come to greatly enjoy. She was, in her free time, drafting up two courses: one for younger students about other planes and who and what called them home, and one for the sixth and seventh years where she went more in depth about the less pleasant aspects of those same planes' history, flora, fauna and inhabitants. She had traumatized enough children the first time around, to mess up again.
Another important event of that summer was escorting Hermione to buy her school supplies in the last week of August.
The bushy haired witch hadn't actually needed an escort, but Kreacher was waxing the parquets and had politely ordered his mistress out of the house for the day, so Chandra found herself some way to enjoyably pass time. Fortunately, her friend had plans that could be accommodated.
Diagon Alley presented itself in all its chaotic glory when the two teens entered from the Leaky Cauldron, and the pyromancer found herself back at the Inventor's Fair, only with less whirring metal contraptions and more magical paraphernalia. Everywhere she looked, someone was trying to grab the passersby's attention to eye-catching wares of the most disparate kind.
"So, where to first Hermione?" asked the redhead tearing her eyes from what she thought was a curiosity shop.
"The bank," said the witch looking all around while absently scratching her phoenix's breast feathers "Aren't you even a little bothered?"
The bird cawed, as if to underline her owner's words.
Chandra, sensing she had lost some detail of the conversation, looked around. A sizable part of the wizards bustling around –and it was obvious who was a wizard and who was of non-magical origin by the diverse clothes– were directing a wide array of looks her way, ranging from distrusting to actual hateful glares.
"Are they bothering you?" she asked calculating in her mind how much troubles she could get into without Jace coming all the way from… wherever he was to personally reprimand her.
She much preferred when the mind mage was stuck on Ixalan and couldn't do anything more than bother her telepathically. At least she could ignore him when he wasn't shouting in her face.
"They should be bothering you!" protested Hermione as they walked towards the vaguely Akroan-looking marble building.
"Nah, you know I don't care," replied the planeswalker waving a dismissive hand, before adding in louder tone "The sheep know all they can do is glare."
Said glares intensified. Some of the smarter ones hurried away, while others looked tempted to go for their wands. She almost wished they would just give her the excuse to show them "deranged and unstable" as their paper had defined her.
"Chandra please, don't instigate them," begged the witch while simultaneously dragging the other girl by the hand "We don't need that kind of attention."
"I must get you one of Jace's capes, you're starting to sound just like him..." replied the pyromancer with a sigh but without resisting.
From what she could remember, Chandra had never been in a bank. One or two treasuries, Baraal's ill-gotten "secret" stash, and even a lost tomb of eldritch horrors from beyond reality, but nothing even remotely resembling what she found in the ornate hall of Gringotts bank. Or rather, who she found: never she would have guessed that there existed a plane where goblins weren't gibbering morons that loved bloody, explosive, smelly and/or shiny things, but there they were, with their quills and neat uniforms, hoarding and guarding the wizards' money while more armored goblins kept watch with their gilded halberds.
On a second thought, she thought gazing all around the ornate hall There isn't that much difference with any other planes I have seen, maybe just a little more civilized. And clean, can't possibly forget that.
Not knowing the local customs but knowing goblins in general, she kept her observations for herself and followed Hermione to a free teller. No need to incite rage in obviously belligerent creatures, after all.
The witch had hoped to grab her money quietly and leave before Chandra could cause a new goblin rebellion by being her usual abrasive self. Of course, since her friend seemed to be a trouble magnet that plan had to be discarded when the teller recognized the planeswaker.
"Miss Potter, we've been waiting for you to come to our bank for a very long time," said the teller while offering a smile with far too many teeth "And time is money."
Hearing those words, Hermione wanted to cry, while two guards closed in on them.