Hermione had made their clothes herself. Plain seemed the oldest. She had a rather stern face, and combined with her fancy dress, it gave off a somewhat royal impression. Meanwhile, Clumsy had a ruddy and lively face, and wore riding gear. Shy, whose eyes naturally reverted to being downcast, wore a simple parlour maid's outfit, and Genius, whose hair was almost as untidy as Hermione's own, contented herself with a laboratory coat and spectacles.
To her surprise, it was Shy who spoke first.
"Everything that's been bothering you, you can't keep hiding it. We … we can't take much more."
"Yes," Plain agreed. "You need to tell Mother and Father."
"And she needs to go back to the shop, tout suite," added Genius.
Clumsy was so excited, she bumped her cup off the table. Fortunately, only Hermione's cup ever filled with tea, and that only if there was some in the pot in the kitchen downstairs. "You need to keep reading the books, Mistress!"
Hermione took a chance. "Can some of you - I dunno, read through them and make notes while I'm at school?"
Genius shook her head, but said "Well, we could - maybe one of us turns the pages, one of us reads, one of us writes. We could , mind you …"
" … but if they're to be of any use to you, you're going to be so tired at school it won't be funny," Plain finished.
"Yes," Genius continued. "You would use a lot of power to make us pretend to think like a real person. You're better off studying them at home and letting us help with the little, mindless things."
Clumsy gave Hermione a pained look. 'Things like unpacking your tea set and table!" Then in a grumbly, muttering voice, "It's a real bear unpacking ourselves , you know!"
"As if we'd have trusted her with the china!" sniffed Plain
Shy spoke up again. "We do let her start. Clumsy is very strong. And I think Mistress should try. Yes, she'll be very tired. Ummm. Leave her alarm clock out on the table and one of us stays awake until the little hand is on the three and the big hand is on the twelve. That way, she can at least try . One of us can turn pages, and one of us can read and write. Just for half an hour at first."
Plain wondered what the point was. Genius was pondering that when Clumsy asked her if Genius hadn't said Mistress needed to expend her power to get stronger.
"Well," Genius tempered her earlier statement. "So far away is rather dangerous."
"There is a nurse's station there," Clumsy objected.
"And … and she does wish to change!" said Shy, more forcefully than Hermione remembered her ever speaking before. "We're tired of being a nobody." But then she became self-conscious and hid her face in her hands.
Just to test it out, she had Clumsy turn the pages and Genius write notes while Plain and Shy napped, and Hermione waited downstairs. Sure enough, she could tell by a sudden sense of fatigue when they started. Unless distance did some crazy things to her - whatever it was; call it wizardry, if the books were right - a half-hour should be fine. If she was too tired, she'd forgo the curio shop and take the tube straight home to the station near her house.
She let her dolls take notes on the first book for a couple of hours while she wearily chipped away at her homework. Musing that it would be interesting to see what sort of notes she'd end up with, she fell into a dead sleep the minute she lay down
