Camp Chippewa, a week before summer's end:
"Okay, Campers!" Becky was calling out jauntily, as the man with the clipboard took notes and made ominous 'hmm'-ing noises.
And they hadn't even had to bribe him.
Becky's smiles were met with glares and looks of disgust from all but the Addams cousins, who were hiding behind the bleachers. Eddie, Edgar, Ellen, and Emily were poking a CD player with their wands, lazily pretending to try ad stop magic from doing anything to it, while Vendetta cursed it. Harcourt, Pugsley, and Wednesday were sitting with Joel, blocking his view of the music player getting cursed. The boy had introduced Pugsley to Schizo's and Serial Killers earlier that day, and after picking his pocket for an unopened package, had gone on to trade the other boy for ones that he wanted.
"Look at this one! I have that Zodiac guy! Now I'm only missing Jack the Ripper!"
While Pugsley looked on with interest, Harcourt opened up a package himself, and Wednesday snorted. She'd been less fond of the Glicker boy since the wedding.
"Oh look, Wednesday, I have Becky."
"Huh?"
"Shut up, Pugsley."
"You're mean, Wednesday."
Wednesday scoffed and rolled her eyes, then leaned over Harcourt to look at his card. "The Black Widow. Has three dead husbands, at least. All rich. Last seen just a few months ago."
"I'll trade you," Pugsley offered. Harcourt threw it at his head.
"When Debbie dies, make sure to put it in a scrap book," Wednesday muttered. She was in a fairly bad mood that morning. Apparently her cabin mates had decided she was 'one of them now.'
Harcourt patted her arm absently. "Just imagine all the hexes you could u-"
"Addams!" Came a familiar hiss above them. Pugsley, Wednesday, and Harcourt looked up at Hermione Granger's bushy head leaning over the bleachers. "Wednesday, you're being called up!"
Wednesday raised an eyebrow, but raised a hand for Granger to help her up anyway. Might as well.
When Becky saw Wednesday, she immediately perked up. "Oh, goody! Thank you Hermione! Wednesday, sweetie, you're going to be Pocahontas in the end of Camp play!"
"What? " Wednesday asked flatly. Becky nodded. "No." And with that, Wednesday stalked back to her cabin, dragging Hermione with her.
Break.
Hermione and Wednesday were in the woods later that week, both hiding in the same tree. After the incident where they'd been caught on the payphone, they weren't taking any chances. Wednesday had Confunded anyone that passed, and Hermione looked like she wanted to do the same. After the third person passed, Wednesday asked her about that.
"If you want to curse someone, Granger, just curse them."
Hermione gave her a helpless look. "Oh, but I can't. I'm apprenticed as a Good Witch – no personal gain. I refuse to break that!"
Wednesday gave her a Look. "I was under the impression you were smart, Granger. Do it with the intention of protecting me."
Hermione slapped her forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," she muttered.
"No, you're not. You're just not that creative. So who are you apprenticed to?"
And thus began a fairly civil – well, not friendship, but Wednesday decided that the curly-headed girl was worth knowing, and Hermione decided that maybe Wednesday wasn't quite as bad as she had previously thought.
Break.
"Happy, happy Turkey Day, hunger pains will go away, when you hear the Pilgrims say, it's Happy Turkey Day. Happy, happy Turkey Day, let's all eat the Indian way, as Bastille and Cape Cod Bay, it's Happy Turkey Day!"
Hermione wanted to wretch. The inspector man or whatever he was was gone now – and Becky was worse than ever before. Not that the Campers were making it easy on her. It was the last day of Camp, and they'd all be free to go home tomorrow. She'd be free to go back to her parents until the end of September, when Paige would pick her up and take her to Magic School and then to the Manor.
If only it was today.
But it wasn't, so Hermione put her nose back into her tome on spell-crafting. She'd told her Aunt and Uncle that it was for a fantasy role-playing game, as well as anyone else that asked. Just her Aunt and Uncle, in other words.
"Look at you! Oh, Amanda, you look perfect! You're just the prettiest Pilgrim I've ever seen! Oh, I' e got to take a picture of this!"
Kill me now, Hermione thought to herself, before concentrating on her book again. 'Be sure to word your spells properly, and keeping a rhythm that others can detect when they read it, if they do. Magic often takes thing literally, so . . . '
"Here they are! We caught them by the pay phone! " Came a boy's voice in her ear. Ow.Did he have to yell? Really? She looked up to glare at him. Apparently the Addams had been running an FBI check on their new Aunt. If only she could run one on hers, and have the woman convicted. Hermione would have gone back to her book right then, if not for the fact that Becky started going loopy when Wednesday refused to be in the pageant, asking the campers if they thought that the girl should just die for not fitting into her world view.
No-one answered her. Becky asked again. Nothing. Finally, Wednesday elbowed the blonde into the water, where Becky's expensive hiking boots were caught in the mud and plant life, she fell over, and became stuck in the mud, her head barely above the water's surface.
No one made a move to help her. In fact, most of them just shrugged and went off to get food, play, or go to their cabins. The incompetence of another wasn't their problem. Hermione, herself, just walked over to the Addams and handed them her Aunt's mobile phone, snake-skin cover and all. She'd gotten the Runespore hide casing for her aunt as a Christmas present. The phone was bulky and Becky didn't use the thing often – thus why Hermione had been made to carry it all bloody summer.
"Here is Becky's phone, you can use it to do whatever it was you were doing on the payphone. Please don't break it. Now, I am going to make sure I've packed everything. Please don't experiment on that, and give it back when you're done."
She didn't once see the gleam in Wednesday's idea when Vendetta cursed the thing after her back was turned. The spell had been mostly absorbed, and the only side effect was a small crackling sound barely lasting a half-second.
Break.
Hermione smiled at the Charmed one in front of her. "Hello, Paige! Here, I want you to meet some . . . well, I suppose you could call them friends, of mine. Two of them went to Hogwarts with me, but they aren't that bad. They already know about Wiccan magic – apparently their Grandmama dabbles in it. I need to get Becky's phone back from Wednesday, at any rate. Wednesday! Harr-Harcourt!"
Paige smiled as she watched her and her sisters' wild-haired apprentice run over to a large group of other children. They didn't look normal, in fact they looked like a pretty dark group of misfits, but hey, they made the kid happy, didn't they? Besides, Paige hadn't exactly been the nicest-looking teenager, and look how she'd turned out!
"Paige, these are the people I was telling you about. Emily Strange, Eddie Munster, Edgar and Ellen Alp, Vendetta Frump, and Wednesday, Harcourt, and Pugsley Addams."
"Addams?"
"Yes, Miss Halliwell, Addams. Why?"
Paige turned to the large boy that had spoken. "Oh, nothing, I just remember reading about your family when we – that is, my sisters and me - were learning about witches and wizards before we apprenticed Hermione. Your able to use lots of different magic, but no one knows how, apparently."
The smallest boy in the lot stepped forward, smiling and showing fang-like teeth. "It's a family trait!"
Paige nodded. He looked like a vampire, or a werewolf in human form from a mid-century horror film, but at the same time, seemed like a good kid. Better than some of the 'good' kids she'd met in her life.
"Wednesday, I need Becky's phone. Well, actually, I suppose it's mine now . . . Once Becky found out I'd lent it to you, she didn't want it anymore."
The girl with braids, and a widow's peak to match the little boy's, smirked. "Of course, Hermione. Thank you, it solved two problems, actually."
"Really? What was the other?"
"How to make magic work with technology. That's Runespoor hide, right?"
"Ye-es . . . " Hermione looked nervous at the look on Wednesday's face, and Paige put a hand on her shoulder, ready to orb out if she had to.
"Good. We're going to test it with dragon hide – it seems like this absorbs magic - " I know that, Hermione thought, but didn't say anything. That was why Runespoor skin was so desirable. It absorbed small spells. " - But doesn't affect the technology. So, we're going to try dragon hide, bec - "
" - Because dragon hide is the second most magically resistant and deflective substance on the planet, followed by Acromantula silk, and preceded by Basilisk skin."
Wednesday gave a wicked smirk. "Exactly. I do believe that there may yet be hope for you, Granger." And with that, she turned away, walking with her brother and cousins to an old-fashioned black hearse. Only Harcourt remained behind.
He nodded to her slightly. "I hope your year will be pleasurable, Granger. As it is, you may want to keep tabs on Hogwarts."
Hermione opened her mouth to ask why, but he left too quickly. Did those Addamses all take lessons from Houdini or something?
Hmm. Now that she thought about it, she wouldn't be surprised if he was a relative of theirs.
Two weeks later, firmly in the middle of dealing with nice safe demons, she was very glad she hadn't attended Hogwarts this year after Harcourt sent her a copy of The Daily Prophet. The castle was green now, with what looked like pink glitter on it and the Whomping Willow looked as if it had been severely pruned back. Minister Fudge was in the foreground wearing what looked like fur from a mangey dog and even Snape was grinning at him.
"I want to know, but not badly enough to go find out." She murmurred, passing the paper and it's gaudy front page to Piper, Paige and Phoebe.