Room 308, Saturday morning

[smartestone]

The good thing about being Hermione is that there's never a lack of things to do. There is always more to read. Currently she's going through her Potions book, taking detailed notes and being a little horrified that she can practically hear Snape's voice in the back of her head when she reads.

She's kept the windows closed lately, so she's almost startled when she hears something pecking at the glass. She smiles when she sees Hedwig, though, opening the window to let her in. The snowy owl is carrying a package, and Hermione's quick to untie it from her foot so that she can move around freely.

Hermione pushes her glass of water towards Hedwig, busying herself with opening the package. There's a note attached, and the fact that anyone actually bothered to write her for once is a bit stunning. Even better is the fact that parts of the letter are written in different handwriting.


Dear Hermione,

None of us are exactly sure when Christmas is over there, so we're acting a little early, probably. Hopefully you're not already past it. We still have about three weeks ourselves. The teaachers are all being very hard on us already and preparing us for O.W.L.'s. You would love it.

There's a lot going on that we can't talk about right now, but things are going well and we're all learning a lot. Mum says you're doing all right there and that you need to get out more. We've tried to explain, but you know her. Fred and George say hello, too, but we're not telling them we're writing this or the parchment might end up jinxed.

We're hoping that you're going to be able to come back for the holidays, whenever they are. It's not the same without you.

Also you can't open your present until your Christmas, and if you have any for us, you should probably send them along.

Love,
Ginny, Harry & Ron
(95.12.2)


Hermione's smiling when she finishes the letter, looking at the wrapped package. Ron or Harry would have ripped into it already, probably before reading the letter, but she can wait. She'd thought they would have been well into January by now. Just when she thought she should give up on trying to solve the mystery that was the time difference, she's back to wondering about it again.

Either way, she's going to be in a pretty good mood today.

[Post and door are open. Why not?]

Comments

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Chad was on his way outside with his guitar to enjoy the nice perk in the weather, and passed by an open door on his way out. And he couldn't do that without offering a wave and a "G'morning" to the person inside.

[smartestone]

"Hello," Hermione says back, letting Hedwig hop onto her hand and heading towards the window.

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"You have a pet owl?" Chad asked, intrigued by the bird.

[smartestone]

"No, though that would be convenient," she says. "She belonds to a friend of mine. She was just dropping off some mail."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"She's gorgeous," Chad said, rather wishing he had an owl, or any sort of bird, really, that could deliver mail to him. "What's her name?"

[smartestone]

"Hedwig," she says, as Hedwig flaps her wings a little, forcing Hermione to hold her out a little. "I'm Hermione, by the way."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Awww, she'd foiled his plans to follow that up smoothly by asking her name. Oh, well. This just streamlined the processes. "Nice to meet you, Hedwig," he nodded to the owl, then to her, "Hermione. I'm Chad. I think we have history together."

[smartestone]

"I think so," she says. "I'm usually more focused on trying to get my notes down on everything the professor is saying than on the people around me." She might look like she feels a little bad about that, but she does have two notebooks full of class notes to show for it.

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"There's a lot of notes to take in that one," he nodded. Chad himself had one notebook almost filled for it, but that was mostly because his handwriting was so big.

[smartestone]

"I have to admit that I'm dreading the exam," she says, and her eyes go wide. "I probably should have already started studying for it."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"I'm not worried about it," Chad said, getting a little comfortable by leaning on the doorframe; he tested it with a tentative push first, though. Thank God this place was built so solidly. "If I worried, then I know I'd fail."

[smartestone]

"That's a philosophy I haven't heard before," she says. "Something like a self-fulfilling prophecy?"

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Chad regarded Hermione with a little bit of surprise in his arched eyebrow, because, yeah, this was kind of creepy. Wasn't he just talking (a lot, actually) to Ranma about this only last night? Weirrrd.

Once the surrealness of it passed, he nodded. "Exactly."

[smartestone]

"It makes sense," she says. "I couldn't do things that way, though. I'd go mad."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, doesn't work for everyone, I guess."

[smartestone]

She nods. "I find if I apply myself from the beginning to end and learn everything I possibly can in all that time, I tend to do very well."

Sick thing is, she's not being facetious.

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"How...traditional," Chad's head tilted just a bit, also not being facetious, just...observing.

[smartestone]

"I try," she says, and when Hedwig flaps her wings again, Hermione tells her, "All right, all right."

She opens up the window and tells Chad, "Anxious to get home, apparently."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"England?" Chad guessed, by her accent, and the assumption that her friends would be from the same place.

[smartestone]

She nods as she watches Hedwig take off through the window. "Home for her will be Scotland for the rest of the school year, though."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

"Why Scotland?"

[smartestone]

"It's where my friend is going to school," she says. "It's a boarding school thing."

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Chad nodded. Boarding school in Scotland would be pretty sweet; Chad should find a way to get to Europe one day, really. Probably Scotland, because now he was thinking he would look pretty damn good in a kilt.

"I see," Chad said, then, straightening himself from where he leaned on the doorframe, he lifted his guitar case slightly. "Well, I was goin' out to enjoy the weather, so I guess I'll get back to that. Nice meetin' you, Hermione."

[smartestone]

"You, too," she says, giving him a smile.

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Chad lifted his hand in a good-bye, wave-less wave and started back down the hall. "Have a good one."