A Little Treat
06-11-2009, 06:57 PM (This post was last modified: 02-19-2019, 09:02 AM by Bob Schroeck.)
06-11-2009, 06:57 PM (This post was last modified: 02-19-2019, 09:02 AM by Bob Schroeck.)
The following was in the "discards" section of my Harry Potter development file. And for the life of me I cannot remember writing it, nor can I remember where I wanted to go with it. But it's interesting enough, even in its incomplete state, that I thought people might like to see it and long wistfully for a might-have-been.
Hermione blinked. What had happened to Hogwarts? She turned in
place, carefully studying the unfamiliar locale in which she'd
found herself, searching for threats or unwelcome surprises.
The scan only left her confused. She was standing alone in the
courtyard of what appeared to be a Japanese Shinto temple,
nestled amidst a grove of cherry trees. Their sweet fragrance
filled the air, and underfoot she could see a few loose petals
which had already fallen.
"It's lovely, isn't it?" a voice said unexpectedly from behind
her. Startled, Hermione spun about, whipping her wand out from
her sleeve. She came face-to-face with a girl her age or perhaps
a little bit younger.
The first thing Hermione noticed was that the girl was unarmed,
and seeing that she sheepishly lowered her wand -- but did not
yet move to put it away. That accomplished, she studied the girl
before her.
She was Asian, that much Hermione was certain, but from where in
Asia, she couldn't be sure. (Given the temple, though, Hermione
was willing to bet Japan.) Something in the cast of her features
-- aside from the entirely improbable blue eyes -- struck
Hermione as subtly and profoundly different from Cho Chang's
Chinese elegance, but she was no less beautiful than the
Hufflepuff, a beauty which seemed only emphasized by the shy
smile she wore. She wore her short, slightly wavy hair in a
pageboy-like style, and it was a black so dark its highlights
almost seemed to gleam a dark blue. Behind her bangs shone a
tiara-like headband of golden metal that dipped down to hold an
oval, aqua gem in the center of her forehead; it was framed
neatly with an almost perfect heart formed by the curls of her
bangs.
Her clothing was... the only word that came to Hermione's mind
was "eccentric". It looked like nothing more than a white
spandex maillot trimmed with a deep blue sailor collar and a tiny
ruffle of the same color around her hips that might have been
pretending to be a skirt. To either side, Hermione could spy
the loops and ends of what could only have been a huge bow in a
much paler blue; a smaller bow of the same color spread out
across her modest bust from under a blue, heart-shaped gem which
appeared to clasp the ends of the sailor collar.
Knee-high boots of the deep blue trimmed with the pale blue and
white opera-length gloves that ended in three padded bands of the
same dark blue completed the outfit.
In her plain school robes, Hermione suddenly felt inexplicably
underdressed.
The Asian girl slowly turned about, her shy smile broadening in
obvious joy as she took in their surroundings. "I've always
loved this place," she continued.
"Is..." Hermione croaked. She stopped and cleared her throat
before trying again. "Is this your home?"
"Oh, no." The girl had completed her circle and was now facing
Hermione again. "A dear friend of mine lived here once. But I
spent almost every afternoon here with her and our friends."
Hermione bit her lip, then went forward anyway. "Excuse me,
but... who are you, and where are we?"
The other girl sketched a slight curtsey, saying, "You can call me
Mercury. And we are in a dream."
And that's it. Sorry...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Hermione blinked. What had happened to Hogwarts? She turned in
place, carefully studying the unfamiliar locale in which she'd
found herself, searching for threats or unwelcome surprises.
The scan only left her confused. She was standing alone in the
courtyard of what appeared to be a Japanese Shinto temple,
nestled amidst a grove of cherry trees. Their sweet fragrance
filled the air, and underfoot she could see a few loose petals
which had already fallen.
"It's lovely, isn't it?" a voice said unexpectedly from behind
her. Startled, Hermione spun about, whipping her wand out from
her sleeve. She came face-to-face with a girl her age or perhaps
a little bit younger.
The first thing Hermione noticed was that the girl was unarmed,
and seeing that she sheepishly lowered her wand -- but did not
yet move to put it away. That accomplished, she studied the girl
before her.
She was Asian, that much Hermione was certain, but from where in
Asia, she couldn't be sure. (Given the temple, though, Hermione
was willing to bet Japan.) Something in the cast of her features
-- aside from the entirely improbable blue eyes -- struck
Hermione as subtly and profoundly different from Cho Chang's
Chinese elegance, but she was no less beautiful than the
Hufflepuff, a beauty which seemed only emphasized by the shy
smile she wore. She wore her short, slightly wavy hair in a
pageboy-like style, and it was a black so dark its highlights
almost seemed to gleam a dark blue. Behind her bangs shone a
tiara-like headband of golden metal that dipped down to hold an
oval, aqua gem in the center of her forehead; it was framed
neatly with an almost perfect heart formed by the curls of her
bangs.
Her clothing was... the only word that came to Hermione's mind
was "eccentric". It looked like nothing more than a white
spandex maillot trimmed with a deep blue sailor collar and a tiny
ruffle of the same color around her hips that might have been
pretending to be a skirt. To either side, Hermione could spy
the loops and ends of what could only have been a huge bow in a
much paler blue; a smaller bow of the same color spread out
across her modest bust from under a blue, heart-shaped gem which
appeared to clasp the ends of the sailor collar.
Knee-high boots of the deep blue trimmed with the pale blue and
white opera-length gloves that ended in three padded bands of the
same dark blue completed the outfit.
In her plain school robes, Hermione suddenly felt inexplicably
underdressed.
The Asian girl slowly turned about, her shy smile broadening in
obvious joy as she took in their surroundings. "I've always
loved this place," she continued.
"Is..." Hermione croaked. She stopped and cleared her throat
before trying again. "Is this your home?"
"Oh, no." The girl had completed her circle and was now facing
Hermione again. "A dear friend of mine lived here once. But I
spent almost every afternoon here with her and our friends."
Hermione bit her lip, then went forward anyway. "Excuse me,
but... who are you, and where are we?"
The other girl sketched a slight curtsey, saying, "You can call me
Mercury. And we are in a dream."
And that's it. Sorry...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
