Room 308, Tuesday afternoon

[smartestone]

Hermione's received another letter from Hogwarts, and Pigwidgeon is apparently trying to drown himself in a glass of juice while she reads- occasionally looking up to make sure he isn't drowning himself.


Dear Hermione,

Everything happening here is something I can't really talk about. Well, except that Umbridge, the Hogwarts High Inquisitor, has been going around and checking on everyone's classes. She sacked Trelawney. Yes, I am saying this knowing Umbridge might see it. The old bat.

Without that, there's not much more to tell you. Your package for the house elves was received, and the box was left in the common room for them, and the twins took the food to the kitchen and I assume they didn't steal it all for themselves. Though I think I should tell you, the knitted socks seem to be a smash. A couple of people are looing at them strangely, though, which might be because they're apparently not socks. I asked how they knew that and they wouldn't tell me. Anyway, if you can send more, the twins have requested a batch. I'm not going to ask why.

I'll talk to you soon.

Love,
Ginny


Hermione isn't sure she wants to know.

[Openish. Will be out for a little while, back afterwards.]

Comments

[the_merriest]

Rikku giggles at the undersized owl. Cute little thing. "Is he gonna be okay?"

Owl post just seems so cool.

[smartestone]

"He'll be fine," she says, looking up to check on Pig again. "He's just enthusiastic."

[the_merriest]

Rikku grins at the thought. "Might be 'cause he's tiny. I know how it goes. You get lots of energy and just have to bounce around to get it all out!"

She eyes the owl again. "Okay, I can usually drink without falling in. You know what I mean."

[smartestone]

Hermione smiles a little. "He'll usually just fill up before heading out again. It's a long trip."

[the_merriest]

"Oh, that's right, you're from far away from here." She nods at the owl. "Plus he's gotta go through time. Do you know how long it takes him? You could time it."

She thinks for a moment. "Where you're from ... is it anywhere near San Diego? It was really nice and sunny there. And it still had the ocean, but it smelled different."

[smartestone]

"Not even close," she says. "San Diego is west of here, I'm east across the ocean. It's not very sunny there, either. And I have no idea how long it takes him. Usually it's only a matter of says, but Pig is small."

[the_merriest]

"It's not sunny there?" Rikku frowns. "I'm sorry. Is it North, then? Jude said up North was snowy and cold. But then snow's pretty, so that's okay, too."

"How does he do it, then? Doesn't he have to stop along the way? If it's an ocean -- do they have owl travel centers?" She stops. Owl post makes her head hurt.

[smartestone]

"There is some sun. The climate's just a bit different than here," she says. "I've never really looked into how they travel, especially given the fact that he has to move through time, but they must manage somehow. The time is a bit different between home and here anyway." And now Hermione needs to look into this.

[the_merriest]

Rikku considers. "Is there some kind of a vortex? I mean, can you write into the past because of Fandom, or could you write into the past any time with owls? Maybe owls are, like, really intelligent multidimensional type beings and they move in different time frames."

She looks again at the tiny hyperactive bird that is trying not to drown in a juice glass. "Uh, maybe not."

[smartestone]

Hermione gets up to pluck Pig out of the glass. "Like I said," she says, "he's enthusiastic. I'm not sure. I've done a bit of research into the time difference, but I haven't been able to find out yet what it exactly is between here and there. I still look sometimes to find new information, just out of curiosity."

[the_merriest]

"Considering the people here from the past - or even future, I guess - I bet it's a Fandom thing." Rikku chews her lip some more. "Maybe there's a bubble around the island that kind of keeps it from interacting with the outside world, and you can pass through it either way, but the bubble doesn't really exist in either timespace. Kind of outside of time."

[smartestone]

"I tend to think we're probably in just some sort of outside dimension," Hermione muses, letting Pig hop around on the table to dry off. "It would explain all the people from my world that aren't from my time."

[the_merriest]

Rikku nods. "I wonder if that's why things are so odd here. Maybe different dimensions have different logic to them. Like physics and all that. And these aren't the same as ours, so it all just seems weird."

[smartestone]

"I like it, though," Hermione says. "It's not that different from what I'm used to. And that's quite a change from the Muggle world in itself. Is it very different for you?"

[the_merriest]

"It really is," she says. "Not because of the dimension thing, I don't think. It's more everything else. Your dead stay dead. There are machina - I mean machines - everywhere, and plenty of books about them. And no one's said anything mean about me being an Al Bhed."

She lapses into silence, not sure how to explain it really.

[smartestone]

"Good change, or bad?" she wonders. The last thing sounds bad, yes.

[the_merriest]

Rikku hugs her knees. "There's hope here. I mean, we had hope, but we kind of had cracks of hope that you stick to and keep smiling 'cause it's all you've got. Maybe someone can beat Sin. Maybe we'll win the game this year. Maybe that guy's kids made it to the Farplane and aren't roaming around as fiends."

She shakes her head. "Things were starting to change, back home I mean, but you can't undo a thousand years in three months. You just can't."

[smartestone]

"You'll get there," she says. "I'm sure of it." She's not really, but she'd rather stay optimistic.

[the_merriest]

Rikku smiles. "I hope so. I mean, the Al Bhed thing is changing, kinda. And we beat Sin. We just don't know where to go from here."

"Kinda why I'm here." She shrugs. "What about you?"

[smartestone]

"I'm here because it's supposed to be normal. I'm very glad it isn't," she says.

[the_merriest]

Rikku chuckles at that. "I kinda like the weirdness, too. Although not so much you being a lichen-thing. I'm glad you're better."

[smartestone]

"So am I," she says, and wow does she mean it. "Thank you."