Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling.
Revised, split up into chapters, and reposted on 2-4-10
The Dool Tree
Chapter 6
Awaking in the morning was a chore for Hermione, if only because she'd forgotten her terrible situation while asleep, and she was terrified anew when she opened her eyes and saw a pair of immature (but very tanned) breasts and a flat stomach looming over her.
"Mornin' Curly-Head," greeted Jenny Hazard, who seemed too chipper for someone who was walking around in nothing but her panties. "'Ave a nice trip to dream-land?"
"Erm..." Hermione muttered, closing her eyes again and hoping the apparition would disappear. She was intimidated at the idea that the other girl visited topless beaches on the Continent to get that nice, even coloration.
"Don't mind Jenny," came a voice in her other ear, and Hermione opened her eyes again to find Mary McDonald, still in her nightgown but happily covered from neck to ankle. "She's a little loony. Harmless, of course, but e'er since she started the reeking green tree joints, you won't find a sensible word out of her."
"Does she...parade around like that every morning?" Hermione asked, feeling uncomfortable indeed. She was a very reserved person and couldn't understand why anybody wouldn't be the same way.
"Sometimes she can't find her knickers, and then it's worse," Mary confessed, "but usually she's got this 'caftan' she wears in the mornings."
"All right," Hermione said, digesting the information, "thanks for telling me."
"I figured someone ought'a, and figured no one else would'a," Mary replied with a nod. "Now you go get cleaned up, and come down to breakfast with me and Lily, yeah? Wouldn' want you to be faced with The Claw, The Perv, or The Bloater. Not to say me and The Captain are altogether 'normal', you understand, but we're at least..." She didn't finish her sentence, shaking her head.
"I see," said Hermione with a nod, feeling thankful for any sort of welcome.
With that, Mary gave a curt military bow and departed, leaving Hermione to ruminate and dress.
Soon Hermione, Mary, and Lily were walking down the stairs to the Great Hall. Mary's attitude was consistent with what Hermione had heretofore seen of her, and Lily was looking better than she had the night prior. In particular, the two girls indigenous to 1976 were enjoying themselves, acting as tourguides of Hogwarts to their new foreign comrade.
"And there's the Fat Friar, whom you might call the patron ghost of the Hufflepuffs," informed Mary. "He's a nice fellow, though we can't figure out for the life of us why he's here."
"Yes we did," Lily interjected, her voice pleasant but determined. "We condemned him to the deadly sin of gluttony and over-indulgence. And the consequent guilt of his hypocrisy is what kept his shade on earth."
"Oh, you're right, Captain," Mary agreed, "I forgot. Though one could argue that it was his barbaric sense of humor that the angels couldn't abide."
"But he's not nearly so bad as Nearly-Headless Nick in that respect," countered Lily, who then explained to Hermione, "That's our patron ghost of Gryffindor. Fat lot of good he does at representing us, though. All he does is whinge."
"I...believe it," Hermione said, biting her words just before she said 'I agree'.
"So tell us about yourself," Lily said, sounding less curious than she tried to be. Hermione had noticed already how the girl's fingers were caressing a folded piece of parchment, wrinkling it and unwrinkling it over and over.
"My parents are dentists...I'm Muggle-born, and proud of it..." Hermione began, starting with territory she'd already covered the night before.
"Oi, that's like our Lily here!" Mary said with a smile.
"I'm...very much into academics, love to read, and I study a lot."
"Lily, Lily, and Lily!" exclaimed Mary, her voice turning brighter. "And I can tell that you're modest, and that's Lily too."
Lily seemed to be ignoring how Mary was stressing the similarities between them, so Hermione took a cue from her to dismiss the claims. "That's all, really. I used to have a Kneazle."
"Lovely!" Lily said, "I prefer dogs."
At this point, they had reached the Great Hall. Mary and Hermione sat down right away, but Lily surreptitiously moved over to the Slytherin table on the opposite side of the room, then came back to join them.
"Go on," Mary said, shoveling a hunk of scrambled eggs on her plate. "Tell us more about you."
"I used to have an organization called S.P.E.W.," Hermione began, wondering if she'd have an audience for her propaganda. "Society for the Promotion of Elfish Warfare."
"You mean the house-elves?" Lily asked, her eyes lighting up with a mixture of suspicion and interest.
"Yes," Hermione replied, not sure what the response would be, but nonetheless continued. "Last year. I was attempting to liberate them, I knit them scarves and hats and things and tried to get them to pick them up. It wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be, because they always managed to avoid them, no matter where I laid them. I think I'd like to work to gain their emancipation when I'm older."
Lily's green eyes were as wide as saucers, and Mary began to laugh.
"This is bloody hilarious. Lily used to talk about the house-elves all the time. She couldn't bloody believe such things existed. She's toned down now, thank goodness, but now I'm afraid you two might just be a force to be reckoned with, you know?"
"I've never met anyone else who was interested," Lily said, her voice soft.
"So," Hermione said, deciding she'd had enough spotlight for the time, "tell me about yourselves."
"Well," Mary began, "I'm from the north of England. Parents are dead, died when I was rather young, and I was put in the English Wizarding Orphanage. That's where I grew up. I'm a half-blood, though honestly I don't think it matters much, and I like Quidditch, I like boys, I like studying war and weapons...my favorite subject is DADA, you know what that is? And I can't abide chocolate, and I've always wanted to visit China and Japan. Your turn, Lily."
The other girl sighed. "I think you've practically covered most of my interests already, Mary, though I would add that I'm a dab hand at potions, and I'm from London area, and I love the cinema."
"Funny, so do I," Hermione said without thinking. "I mean, my parents used to have a practice on Harley Street, and...well, I find that I'm naturally gifted in potions...and though I don't get to go often, I do love movies as well."
"Are you completely serious?" Lily asked, her eyes narrowing. Then she spun around and whispered something in Mary's ear. Hermione caught just one word: "...uncanny!..."
Hermione couldn't put it any better than that. It was uncanny how much she and Harry's mum were...alike.
She finished eating quickly and excused herself to go to the library, feeling awkward at how Lily and Mary were watching her every move.
Mary seemed more amused at the whole similarity thing, but Lily...well, Lily seemed more than a trifle unnerved.
Hermione was rather put-off herself.
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