Part 2 of the Enchanté: Hermione's New Life with Non-Humans series: This installment of the series will follow Hermione as the owner of Enchanté...and highlight the differences that having an actual witch (instead of an ordinary human) in charge of the place would probably make...for the rest of the main story route (chapters 2-8) of the game/visual novel. A word of warning, however...this fic is still a work in progress, so updates might arrive a bit slower than normal.
Enchanté: Hermione's Family of Non-Humans
The day after the witch, demon lord, fallen angel, headless knight, and firewolf decided to become housemates and live together in the former café...the one that they all now not-quite-jokingly referred to as Enchanté: Hermione's Home for Non-Humans...was an eventful one.
After all, early that morning, the non-humans had already gathered downstairs at a table when they saw a completely different side of their new magical friend and landlady than usual. In fact, Hermione looked more like a stereotypical wicked witch villainess than anything else when she stumbled down from the third floor: half asleep, still in her pajamas and robe, and with her lively hair only half-heartedly tied-up in a loose bun style. She then plopped down on a stool at the bar and laid her head down on the cool smooth counter top with a sigh.
Il, in particular, was speechless at the sight of their female friend in such a state because his otome games...the angel's foremost window into the human world...had never displayed the harsh reality of the effect of a hard morning on a beautiful heroine before. Meanwhile, Canus, whose only consistent female comparison could be the never-changing and ever-youthful Fairy Queen, was not even certain that the person in front of them was the same Hermione as the one who had bid them all goodnight so cheerfully on the previous evening before she disappeared up the stairs in order to explore the third floor.
Ignis, however, could not resist the urge to make a comment. "Now that is a sight that would scare even the toughest of beasts, make them wet their pants, and then drive them back into their caves!"
Even to that rude quip, however, he only received a grunt in reply from the woman in question.
Misyr, who...as usual...had just returned that morning from his own world, had already been forewarned by the others that Hermione had continued to move around upstairs the entire previous night. Apparently, the occasional crash, bang, and/or curse continued to sound out into the early hours as she organized the office space that Souan had neglected for years and while she also sorted through the man's personal belongings. Even though she had politely turned down every offer of assistance that her non-human friends had made during that time, those noises had only ceased just a short time earlier.
Consequently, the demon realized that the witch had stayed up all night and had simply not received enough rest...especially for a human...and took pity on her. Therefore, with just a cheerfully casual greeting of "Good Morning, Magical Princess!" he moved behind the bar. Even though the woman did not lift her head and only managed a feeble wave of her hand in acknowledgment, he still knew exactly what she needed.
Because his hands moved expertly in conjunction with his magic, he was soon able to present Hermione with a steaming mug of caffeinated goodness. The smell of it alone enticed the witch to finally raise her head and take a sip. After that, she eagerly drank more and the hot liquid of life quickly worked its own kind of magic on her exhausted system. In fact, in testament to its restorative power, only a short amount of time passed before the woman had apparently regained the majority of her humanity along with her ability to speak.
"Thank you. You're my hero!" Hermione smiled in a tired, but still warm, way up at the demon behind the counter. "I think I'll be okay now. "
"Not a morning person, then, huh?" Misyr smirked in response.
"Not after an all-nighter," she confirmed with another smile that was also directed at the non-humans at the other table who were relieved to finally be able to recognize their witch again. "Sorry again about the noise last night, Boys. I hope that I didn't disturb you too much. After all, even with magic, I'm used to working through the night when I have to because once I start a job, I just don't like to stop until it's completed. I've always been like that, though. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, you can say. It used to drive Harry and Ron crazy – especially back in our Hogwarts days. I did it, however. I finished everything I set out to do last night. I was able to go through all of Souan's business records and personal belongings, as well."
Hermione paused as she thought of a few particular surprises that she had found along the way, but her attention was soon drawn back to the present by the eyes that were still trained on her.
"By the way," she consequently added in a gentler tone, "I laid out all of Souan's things in the spare bedroom on the third floor. I will happily keep his books, of course. After all, he did have quite an impressive collection of mythology and folklore references...for some reason," she paused to smile at the evidence in the form of the non-humans assembled in front of her before she continued, "but I don't really have a need for his clothes and other personal items. I would hate for them to go to waste, though – especially if there is anything that you guys would like to have. Therefore, please feel free to go up any time today and take whatever you want. After all, you were his closest friends, and knew him best, so I can't imagine that he would mind. I will just donate whatever is left after you've all had a chance to look for yourselves."
With that offer, she smiled all around at them and thanked Misyr once more for the life-bringing coffee. Then she excused herself to go back upstairs to get dressed...after she promised that they could all make breakfast together again once she returned.
As Hermione walked past the firewolf, though, the playful smack that she landed on the back of his head in retaliation for his earlier comment proved even further that she was indeed back to her normal self. Afterwards, her joyful giggle in response to his typical-but-not-really-angry shout of "What the hell?" made the others laugh in return, as well.
In that light-hearted moment, Misyr could not help but to muse about the obvious truth of one of Souan's favorite sayings.
"Good days always start with good coffee and good friends!"
In fact, the demon actually wondered if they might even have the start of a great day on their hands.
...
A short time later an obviously rejuvenated, casually dressed, and neatly pony-tailed Hermione practically bounced down the stairs to rejoin them.
"How about some pancakes today?" she asked cheerfully.
When the others agreed, she insisted on taking everyone...even Il, who was apparently not allowed into the kitchen by himself due to some previous unnamed mishap...to teach them how to make the common Western breakfast staple item themselves. That learning experience, however, soon devolved into an impromptu and messy pancake-making competition that included lots of both trash talk and laughter.
Afterwards, when everyone's entries were on the table...along with a variety of toppings...the group had an informal taste testing event to sample everything. Much to Il's surprise, however...especially since he was usually considered to be a domestic disaster...the angel was declared the unanimous winner of the cooking contest. In fact, under Hermione's careful instruction, his creations had turned out to be as light and fluffy as the feathers in his wings.
Hermione, Misyr, and Canus were next in the order of ranking. Since his creations were deemed completely inedible, though, Ignis ended in the position of dead last. With a faint smile, Hermione picked up one of the somehow rock-hard items and weighed it in her hand.
"Hmm..." she mused aloud. "I think these would make good projectiles against those cave-dwelling beasts that you were talking about earlier."
At first, the firewolf scowled at her obvious jibe. Then, however, he picked up one of the failed cakes himself and his sour look actually turned into a self-deprecating grin as he realized just how bad his work had really turned out to be.
"You're right!" he exclaimed. "These would make good weapons."
That admission on his part was surprising enough. However, when everyone else at the table devolved into laughter at his expense, Ignis actually joined in, as well.
Definitely a great day! the demon mused to himself as he watched the group in front of him enjoy themselves. It had really been such a long time since everyone had been so very cheerful together...even before Souan had passed.
Apparently, the demon continued to ponder the issue, Hermione's presence simply makes a huge difference in our group dynamics.
After all, when Souan was in charge, the café's atmosphere had mainly been subdued. That was the way he liked it. It had not been a problem, either, because the Regulars had all welcomed the peace and quiet, too - especially as a contrast to the personal issues that plagued them in their own worlds.
However, Hermione had held true to her promise. She really made the place feel less like a business and more like a real home for them. As a result...even though it was a bit louder and a lot livelier...it was also easy to laugh there and be who they really wanted to be. That was especially important to Misyr...for many reasons. Consequently, he was relieved to see that Enchanté, a place they had always loved, was quickly becoming an even more comfortable and familiar refuge for them all. In fact, he could not wait to see what other changes the future had in store for him...for them...in their favorite sanctuary.
...
Just a little while later, though, after Hermione had easily cleaned up the breakfast mess with magic, the residents of Enchanté found it necessary to separate for a while. The witch headed back upstairs to continue converting the third floor into a place that suited her specific needs for her living quarters...and also to call her friends back in England. Il went back to his games, of course. Canus headed out to start the repairs to the neglected garden. Ignis, however, decided that it would be a good time to go back and tend to his duties in his home world, so he used the Gate to return to Bestia.
That was when Misyr, who had been left to his own devices, also made his way up to the third floor. There, he could hear Hermione chatting happily away on her phone in Souan's old room – which she had apparently claimed for her own sleeping arrangements. Consequently, he made his way to the spare room instead, where he took a moment to survey his old friend's neatly laid-out belongings before he chose to secure one of Souan's favorite cardigans for himself.
After just a quick peek into the newly organized office that had never looked so impressive and neat under Souan's casual-at-best attention, Misyr was careful not to disturb Hermione as he made his way back down the stairs. Once he reached the second floor room that had become his by default...even though he knew that he would unfortunately never be able to use it overnight...he hung the sweater up in the wardrobe. As he gazed at it, and thought about the many times he had seen his friend wear the item of clothing, he realized that it would be nice to don it himself occasionally in Souan's honor and memory when he was out and about in the town in his fully human form.
Procuring such a momento of his long term friend was not something he would have thought of for himself, though. Therefore, he was quite thankful that Hermione had made the suggestion.
In reality, he was already very grateful to the witch for many reasons. Not the least of those was the fact that she had obviously made Enchanté come alive again...perhaps even more so than it had ever been before.