Who: Hermione Granger & Alex Udinov What: Magic finding Magic When: 1st day of power swap plot Where: The park Warnings: Low Status: Closed/Gdoc to be continued in comments
Something was off, but Hermione couldn't quite figure out what it was. Her magic was acting up in the strangest way, causing her to nearly singe her wand in the process. It was being very temperamental all of a sudden, too. In an attempt to understand more of what was going on, she headed out into town, careful to keep a check on her emotions. With her magic acting up, it would be important to keep herself steady so that she wouldn't lash out with any accidental magic. It was incredibly rare, if not unheard of, for someone her age to experience accidental magic, but she wasn't going to take any chances. Madison Valley didn't fit in the realm of normal rules as far as she was concerned.
As she walked around, Hermione couldn't really tell just how different things were. She hadn't been paying much attention to the other residents well enough to tell the differences on the surface of things, but every little bit mattered. It wasn't until she got to the park that she noticed her wand, which was hidden in her jacket, was guiding her path. As if it was being called by someone or something. Since it was tucked in her jacket, Hermione was willing to follow along to see where it was taking her. To the big fountain in the middle of the park, it turned out, but that was where the feeling changed.
Curious, she took her wand out from where it was hidden, and as soon as it was free, it soared out of her hands and into the hands of another woman standing just a few feet away.
"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Hermione was more confused than anything else. She walked toward the woman now holding her wand, but didn't reach out to take it back. "Are you a witch?"
~*~
Alex knew something weird was going on. She couldn't quite explain it, but she was feeling oddly...empty. It was like she was missing some part of herself. It was almost sudden. She was feeling unfulfilled and in need of something to make her life feel more...something. She wasn't really sure what that was.
At least she didn't know it until the object flew into her hand unannounced. She wasn't at all expecting that. It was strange how much it felt right now that she was holding it. Even so, she was alarmed and quite confused.
"No?" Alex said, utterly baffled. "Not that I was ever aware of?"
As far as she knew, magic didn't exist in her world.
~*~
Hermione's wand was tied to her magic, so if her wand preferred to be in this other woman's hand, that meant she possessed her magic. "I think something is going on. This explains my magic being off, if it isn't actually my magic." She was mostly just connecting the dots for herself, but she quickly realized that this poor woman had no idea magic even existed, let alone what it would be like to be a witch.
"If you wave your hand like this," Hermione offered, moving her hand in the appropriate manner, "sparks should come out the tip of the wand." Her's had sparked a brilliant blue when she'd first held her wand, and she was anticipating that same result happening again. That would test her theory as to whether or not the other woman had her magic.
"I'm Hermione, by the way. Hermione Granger." It was an odd way to meet someone, but it wasn't so bad, all things considered.
~*~
Alex knew of magic and the fantastical while she was here in Madison Valley. Back home? It was definitely not a thing. If it was a thing, it was very well hidden. So this was all very strange to her. She was suddenly magical herself. This was quite unexpected.
Still, she took the other girl's advice and held the wand the way she instructed. Just as Hermione said, sparks flew out of it. Alex's eyes grew wide, now fascinated by what had just occurred.
"Whoa," she said, feeling a little bit of a rush. "That was pretty cool."
It was more than that, but she couldn't quite put it into words. "I'm Alex Udinov. Nice to meet you Hermione. Um...sorry I seem to have taken your magic."
It was surely not done on purpose.
~*~
Hermione grinned, because even though it was beyond strange, it was still really cool to see the other woman understand how great magic could feel. There weren't many people in Madison Valley who seemed afraid of magic, but the Statute of Secrecy existed for a reason and she didn't want the other woman to be afraid at all. "It's really great," she replied, knowing full well what it felt to be filled with magic like that.
"It's nice to meet you too, and there's no need to apologize," Hermione reassured her. "I think it's got something to do with the town, so it's probably happened to a lot of people. You don't happen to have an affinity for fire, do you?" That could explain what was happening to her, or else there was something much larger at work than just two people swapping abilities.
~*~
"I have to admit, that did give me a bit of a rush," Alex admitted. She wasn't afraid of magic or things that were extraordinary. She was dating a speedster, after all. She just wasn't used to herself having super powers.
"Not usually. I'm actually just an ordinary human," she explained, referring to Hermione's inquiry.
She was more than ordinary as she was an expert shot at sniping, she was highly trained in martial arts, and she was multilingual...at least she used to be.
Her thought process was a little odd at times. Mostly, she thought in English, but Russian was always there, lingering. Apparently not this time. She couldn't think of the proper Russian words to convey what she was feeling. French and German seemed to be escaping her as well. "I think I know what the dome took from me. I am guessing someone in town can now suddenly speak a few more languages."
Maybe that contributed to her feeling of emptiness. She was missing her native language. It really was like losing a limb.
~*~
"So it's something of a jumble," she mused. That was interesting, but it was also lucky for Alex that they'd crossed paths. Otherwise, Hermione might have done some serious damage to her wand trying to make it work without her magic. Alex might have had some trouble as well, so it all worked out for the best.
"You should have a fairly robust lexicon of spells at your fingertips," she offered. "I would just caution you to always use my- well your wand for the duration of this. I'm quite proficient with wandless magic, but it is much more complex and I'm not certain you'd really need it." That was her one caution, for now at least. Hermione did want to ascertain whether or not the other woman would ever use the Unforgiveables. So far, she thought not.
"Being multilingual isn't easy by any means. How many languages did you know?" If she happened to run into someone speaking additional languages, she'd be able to connect the two.
~*~
If the Unforgiveables were bad or evil, Alex would not use anything like that. She could be ruthless at times, but it was always when she was facing an enemy, someone who meant to harm innocent people. She didn't have to be like that in Madison Valley, so she would have no need.
It was strange that, with this magic and the wand, she seemed to understand all of it. She even somehow knew some spells she would never know before. This was really quite fascinating.
"Whatever advice you give, I will listen and take it," she said sincerely. "I really do not want to do anything that might hurt people. I just want to be able to control this."
It was a strange feeling having power like that, but at least she knew this was to be used for good.
"I speak Russian, German, and French. Or I did," she said, answering that query. "Russian is actually my native language. I feel like I lost part of myself with that loss...I guess that is how you must be feeling right now."
~*~
"You'll do just fine," Hermione promised. "I was the top student in my class and I still use magic quite a bit even here." She hoped it wasn't a permanent jumble however, so she refrained from cautioning against getting used to having that kind of power at her fingertips. "Just think of what you want to do and the spell and motions should come to you."
She poked around in her pockets and produced a pencil, which she laid flat on her palm. "Here, try to levitate this a few inches," Hermione instructed, thinking of her favorite levitation spell and how she'd corrected Ron on the pronunciation. "And you're right. I do feel like a part of myself is missing, but there's something else there now, too. Something not quite so intwined with my soul as my magic is, but that's likely because I've had my magic since birth and whatever it is I have now only for a day."
~*~
That is what Russian was like for her. It was no longer her most common language, but it was very much part of her, intwined with her soul to use Hermione's explanation. That was exactly what Alex had been trying to convey when she tried to explain it.
"Hopefully this will last a few days," she said, knowing from experience with this town that it would last exactly that long. She had to admit, though, having the use of magic for a few days was going to be exhilarating.
She could already sense that when she began levitating the pencil. She even someone said a spell out loud with, what she thought was the right pronunciation. "Wow."
Yeah, that was cool.
"What did you actually end up with?" she asked curiously.
Alex had never met this girl before today, yet she felt concerned for her. It really did suck to lose something that was part of the soul.