✷ ✷ ✷ ɐılnɾ ✷ ✷ ✷ (hurlyburly) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-04-29 11:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | hermione granger, julia wicker |
Who: Hermione & Hermione-Lite Julia
What: Discussing magic.
Where: The cruise ship library.
When: Backdated to after this.
Warnings: None?
The idea of creating a pensieve was actually pretty appealing to Hermione. She also knew the dangers associated with creating one, and she needed to make sure that she could trust the people that she was helping. This place was still very new to her, and she didn’t know who anyone was save for the few people from her world. And while she hadn’t exactly told Ron what it was she was doing, she had asked his opinion. He said she could trust the people on the shop. If Ron thought she could trust them then she trusted them. Hermione really wasn’t trying to be offensive to Julia. Ron had said her lecturing tendencies were just part of her charm. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that one still. Either way, she hoped that meeting face to face with Julia would put to rest some of the awkwardness that had ensued between the two of them. The library, she figured, was as good of a place as any to meet up to talk about everything. She spent most of her time there anyway. Hermione had already pulled out a few books before Julia arrived. She figured if she was going to help then she needed to be as prepared as she could for what was to come. --- Julia had a cigarette before meeting up at the library. If her supply of tobacco hadn’t been so limited, she might have been tempted to take up chain smoking. She’d quit a few times before, but regularly came back to it. Smoking reminded her to breathe, to take a moment, and sometimes she needed that more than the nicotine. Instead of being dressed in her normal black high waisted pants and t-shirt, Julia slipped on a neutral colored shawl which conveniently hid the seven pointed star hedgewitch tattoos on the inside of her arm from wrist to elbow. Looking like the muggle beatnik version of a death eater was probably not likely to instill a lot of trust. Julia still hadn’t convinced Hermione to even help. “Thank you for suggesting this,” Julia started with. Her eyes looked tired, her voice sounded tired. Everything about Julia looked like a thin veneer of tired and sad covering up something much more pissed off. “I understand I didn’t make the best first impression.” She could humble herself. She was a hedge. Julia was almost used to it. -- Hermione looked up from her research when she heard a voice. Her head tilted a little and she nodded. “I think in cases like these it’s important to have these conversations face to face. It’s a bit hard to read what someone means when you can’t see their face.” And she really wanted Julia to understand she wasn’t trying to be insensitive towards her. Hermione was unapologetically who she was. She leaned forward a little and closed her book. “I’m used to not making a great first impression with people. I’m told that people get used to me, though,” she said with a little smile. “I want you to understand that I wasn’t meaning to lecture you. I just wanted to make sure we all really understood what we were doing. It’s not often that I hand out this sort of information to just anyone.” Hermione hoped she wasn’t offending her further. “Why don’t you sit down? We can get to know each other and talk about what I can do to help you,” she said motioning to the chair near her. “Because I really would like to help.” -- She remembered to breathe. Julia wasn’t ready to return Hermione’s smile yet. Offering help was a positive step forward but actually helping was something else. She took a seat and crossed her arms over her stomach defensively. “I am not even sure if I can assist with creating the pensieve. Magic on my world is different. We don’t use wands, for one.” Julia straightened up and placed her hands over the library table, making a series of beautiful gestures without even speaking. Under her hands was a tiny storm cloud that thundered and rained before slowly dissipating back into the ether. “...But I am good with languages and runes if there’s any assistance you require on that front. What I wanted to know is if it’s possible and if we can use it to help my friend who is taking a big risk for everyone else.” Her words softened as she continued to speak. Julia was nothing if not sincere. --- “I’ve mastered wandless magic, so it’s sort of the same thing. Potentially,” she said as she watched Julia’s magic intently. It wasn’t often that she was able to see something like this. While wandless magic was something that happened in her world, there weren’t many people who actually practiced it. “It’s not an easy thing to do.” So, she understood that Julia had to really know what she was doing. Hermione shrugged ever so slightly. “It should be possible, but I won’t know until I do a bit more research. I don’t know what the ship offers, and if it will have everything we need. I’ll need to collect information and then we can work on making the pensieve.” She hoped that that was good enough. “I’ve never actually made a pensieve before. But I do know what we will need. Runes are important to making the pensieve.” Hermione wasn’t so sure about this big risk, but she understood at the same time. Saving friends was something she truly understood. “I’ll do my best to help.” -- “Potentially,” Julia agreed. Potentially it might have been very different. But seeing as Julia had no knowledge of how to construct a pensieve, and all of her methods were far more invasive, the best she could do was make herself available from the sidelines. “I think Remus would help you, if you wanted someone from your world. He’s a friend to the people from mine. I told him who it was for and why.” At least the defensiveness and undercurrent of anger was starting to fade, but it left Julia looking like she regularly did: exhausted and sad. “I appreciate your help, Hermione. How long do you think it’ll take you to construct something like this? Is there anything I can do in the meantime to assist?” --- Hermione nodded at her. “I can ask Professor Lupin. He’d be a wonderful asset to this endeavor. Between the two of us, I don’t think we will have many issues.” If there was anyone that could help her, she knew that Professor Lupin would be one of the few who could really help. She trusted his judgement. “If I can talk to Professor Lupin within the next few days, I’d say we probably need a week or two. I need to talk to him about the logistics of everything and then we can get started.” Hermione shrugged a bit. “I’m sure it’s not as quickly as you’d like, but I want to make sure that we do this right. I don’t want anything to happen to anyone that shouldn’t.” Hermione suspected that it wouldn’t be too difficult for her to do, but she didn’t want to risk anything. Hermione waved to the books in front of her. “For now, I’m just researching. You’re more than welcome to make some notes if you’d like. Once I talk to Remus we will need to collect some precious stones. I’m not sure how easy that will be given we’re on a ship.” -- Julia stared at the books. Books on magic existed on her world, but were usually hoarded by institutions like Brakebills or the Library. Books to a hedgewitch were rare, valuable things. Hermione offered Julia a chance to look at books on magic and Julia immediately found herself in a seat, opening and paging through whatever it had to offer. “I guess we’ll find out,” she mumbled. Her eyes poured over the pages, looking for information not just relevant to Hermione, but to her own interests. Julia wondered if there were gaps in her magical knowledge really as large as they felt, or if there was some other force driving her. She couldn’t say. Sinking into the book, silence radiated from Julia, interrupted by the occasional turning page. — Library silence was something Hermione felt comfortable with. It was her go to place whenever she could. Being in this place made her feel out of place and uncertain of more things than she’d like to admit, but the library offered a familiarity that made being here feel less off kilter. But she couldn’t help but wonder about where Julia was from and what she had meant before about magic. She sat in silence for as long as she could before the questions started tumbling from her mouth. “Can I ask you about your world? I can’t imagine being in a place that didn’t readily hand over the tools needed to learn magic. I had my fair share of obstacles, but I’m not sure what I would have done had I not been able to study.” Hermione didn’t want to pry, but she also couldn’t help her curiosity. — Julia paused without finishing the sentence and looked up at Hermione. Sighing, she rubbed her forehead briefly as though trying to will away every difficult thought and memory gnawing at her. “Knowledge is power. Literally. And on my world, it’s only given to those who are deemed worthy or have connections or don’t have incredibly shitty luck.” She debated how much to say. Julia closed the book, while metaphorically opening her own. “I was supposed to go to the school on my world but someone thought putting more difficult obstacles in my path would make me stronger. Or… they didn’t really give a fuck.I guess it doesn’t matter now. What do you want to know about my world?” -- Hermione’s nose scrunched a little as she thought over what Julia said. It was the same everywhere in a sense. Knowledge was always power, but at least she had had the ability to obtain it and hone her skills. She wasn’t sure what she would have done had that opportunity not been given to her. Hermione knew that, on some level, their differences were vast and yet not different at all. She knew what it felt like to be different or an outcast, but she didn’t know the full extent of Julia’s life. “So, what you’re saying is that someone else changed the course of your future without your knowledge?” Her head tilted and her brows furrowed. She didn’t like that. At all. “I suppose that’s some of what I wanted to know. I’m not quite sure I understand only allowing those deemed worthy of magic.” Her fingers slowly moved over the texts in front of her and she sighed. “Although, I know that if certain people in my world had their way, I would have never seen the light of day. Let alone have ever practiced magic.” She looked up at Julia and shrugged. “I don’t know what I would have done. If I didn’t have Harry or Ron, I can’t imagine what my life would be like. “ — Julia shrugged. “Maybe you don’t give yourself enough credit.” Her eyes were locked onto the pages of the book as if she were only half paying attention. In truth, Julia prided herself on her ability to multitask. And while she would have preferred the book to talking about her past, she did feel a little guilty about everything she’d thrown at Hermione over the net. She hadn’t completely deserved that. “You would have figured it out,” Julia added. She did not say what something like that would have cost her. “And it’s been ten years since I read the books, but I’m pretty sure Harry and Ron were the ones that needed you.” Julia returned her focus to the page. |