blanket of cloud, the sky hovering; the winter is long and forgiving

[cleverness]

Although the new year started much more eventfully than Hermione expected, there are reasons to be optimistic to be found among the chaos. Most of all, the fact that several individuals had gone around protecting people from the winter bees with abilities beyond those normally expected of a human, and none of them had been captured, none of them lambasted, none of them so far rooted out for being different. With the Ministry of Magic being a world away, Hermione finds herself wondering more and more if this is the place to try and breach the difference between those with abilities and those without. If transparency and time together can make it possible for people of all backgrounds to coexist peacefully, rather than with the suspicion and wars common in the past.

She hasn't figured out the best way to go about it yet, but it's always on the forefront of her mind, especially as she spends time at her store, taking stock and checking on inventory.

The small poltergeist, to whom Hermione hasn't yet given a name, gives a shriek of excitement as the door opens, wintry wind rushing through the store and driving a small shiver up Hermione's spine. Turning away from her shelves, Hermione smiles warmly, ready to welcome the person who's just stepped inside.

"Hello," she says, surprised to find a young girl. "Welcome to The Lamplight. Is there something I can help you find?"

Comments

[cleverness]

Hermione bites on her lip in thought. She knows that Tara was last in the shop to purchase a crystal for spellcasting — is there a possibility that Tara had found a way out of the city, somehow? But Hermione complies by reaching for her wand and laying it flat on her palm, drawing upon as many memories of Tara as she can, from the sound of her voice to the soft expressions she wore.

"Let me see if I can help. If she's still in the city, my wand should be able to point us her way," Hermione says, before holding out her hand.

"Point me," she instructs the wand, which spins quickly in the center of her palm before slowing to a steady pace. It doesn't stop. Hermione frowns, glancing nervously up to meet Aggie's gaze. "Do you know where she lives? The spell can't find her."

[ghost_holder]

"Dimera, my building," Aggie says, pointing vaguely in its direction. Her expression takes on a mournful cast and she looks at the table top, away from the pointlessly spinning wand.

"None of my magic can do that, so I hoped...I just couldn't find her because my powers are different..."

[cleverness]

There's a chance that Hermione might be able to teach the young woman how to affect her magic, in the same way that the very spell she used was one she designed in her fourth year, and then altered to make more useful than simply acting as a compass. But the biggest concern right now is far from the young girl's prowess with magic. Instead, it's a question of whether or not her friend is here, a dear friend that she had looked to as a mentor as well.

And Hermione doesn't want to raise false hope in that vein.

"She might be gone," she admits softly, reaching out to rub the young girl's arm. "I'm so sorry. I can certainly help you look around the city, if you would like. There's another employee who works here at the shop, he would be happy to mind it while we searched."

She takes a deep breath. "But she might have found a way out of Darrow, your Tara."

[ghost_holder]

"I know." Aggie says, glum even as she leans into the touch. She needs something solid right now, human and alive and present. "I know it happens...That she's not dead or anything. Just went home, if she did."

The 'if' in the statement is, by now, a token gesture. She knows full well that there's no if, even if her heart won't accept it quite so readily.

"But it's still hard."

[cleverness]

"That's right. Chances are, she simply went somewhere else, in the same way that she just happened to appear here when she came," Hermione says with a nod. That much, she believes. The odds of someone being sent back somewhere to immediately die seems relatively slim, unless they really are being used as part of a giant experiment.

But it'd be a waste to get rid of someone like Tara, she thinks, so shortly in.

"You're right, though. It's still hard. And it will... probably continue to be hard," she says, closing her eyes briefly at the thought, wishing that she could ease people's loneliness more easily in this town. "Do you have other people here for you in the city?"

[ghost_holder]

Aggie nods, comforted in the fact that she's not alone, though none of that helps with the initial sting. She has other teachers and other protectors, but no one is a stand in for another. A loss still leaves a hole in her.

"Yeah, my guardian and my friends."

[cleverness]

"That's good," Hermione says with a slight sigh of relief. She shouldn't relax too much, indeed; if one person can disappear, that only means that more still can vanish, and Hermione is no closer to understanding the path out of the city one way or another — either to protect it or travel it.

"I would suggest letting your guardian know, and any mutual friends you have," she says softly. "I... I know it's hard. I've lost a great number of people close to me over my life. But you can always make new friends as well. Certainly, you're always welcome in this shop. Tara came here at times; if you would like, I can show you what she was interested in while here. That way, we keep the memory strong."

[ghost_holder]

Aggie looks around over the store, taking in the crystals and bundles of herbs. It promises magic but it also just smells like home in her mother's kitchen with lots of herbs strung up to dry for protection against demons.

"Please? I'd like that a lot..."

[cleverness]

"Alright, then," Hermione nods, taking heart in the girl's resilience. She'd been through similarly difficult thing as Aggie's age, Hermione remembers, but never without a large support system without her. Never without friends who shared in her experiences. Even though Aggie has other friends here, Hermione thinks her company probably can't hurt.

"Let me take you to see the crystals. Tara seemed to like those most, for storing spells and magic. I've never used that type of magic, myself. Did she teach you anything about it?"

[ghost_holder]

"Not really," Aggie admits. "We talked about them a little but most of what I was learning from her was about control. Controlling my powers, I mean." She flushes a little. "I used to lash out a lot."

It's a gross understatement but she's only known this woman for a few moments and it seems unfair to go on so.

"What kind of magic do you do?"

[cleverness]

"I know some people who have had similar difficulty managing their magic and power in the past," Hermione says, nodding in understanding. "That's why those with magic in my world are required to go to school, starting when they're eleven."

She smiles, pulling her wand out of her purse, and holding it out for the girl to see.

"My magic is hereditary — that means I'm born with it — but I use a wand to help focus my abilities. Wands and incantations help me achieve what I set out to do."

[ghost_holder]

Aggie has to wonder if any of her ancestors had had the powers she had. She knew she'd had descendents with the same powers, at least once a generation, and it had to be pretty strong to go through all members of the family.

"If I'd had children, they may have had my powers," she says, looking quite old for a moment.

"Oh, Draco had one of those."

[cleverness]

Hermione's expression falters briefly at the thought of having children. She wants them, of course — she's always wanted kids, and prefers the idea of having more than one as well, to give them what she herself had only experienced in full after going to Hogwarts. The feeling of having companionship, without doubt. Of course, she doesn't have similar plans to have children while in Darrow.

She can't imagine having them with anyone other than Ron. Her chest grows tight with an ache.

For this young girl, the trouble seems to be greater. Hermione isn't sure why it was used, but she makes note of the tense, deciding not to pursue the topic.

"Draco?" she asks instead, blinking at the mention of the name. "You've met Draco... Malfoy, I assume?"

[ghost_holder]

For her, it's strange to imagine that she should have grown up in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, having children and dying a long time ago, rather than sleeping fitfully for three hundred years.

"Is he blond and always trying to look grumpy, even when he's trying to be nice?" Aggie says, though she's already sure. How many people named Draco can there really be?

[cleverness]

"Blond, yes, but... he tries to be nice?"

Maybe this isn't the right time to be expressing her confusion at the idea of Draco being nice for something that doesn't stand to give him immediate gains. Still, Hermione can't even begin to hide her skepticism, still heavily buried even after so many years away from the man.

Draco with a wand. There's no other possibility. Then again, Hermione supposes he'd be kinder to those with magic.

"He showed you his wand, then? That's rather unusual for him."

[ghost_holder]

"Well, he pretends he's not. But he also didn't have to put me under his shield when the bees came either." Even if she'd been handling it just fine with her own powers, no matter what he'd said. It was the thought that counted.

"So he can't be that bad. At least not as bad as he likes people to think he is."

[cleverness]

"No, I suppose not," concedes Hermione. That much is far easier to admit to. She's pretty sure that many of the people who worked under Voldemort did so under pressure, did so thinking that he was going to be, without doubt, the one to win the war. It explained, in Hermione's opinion, why there were more joined up with his forces who were from Slytherin.

After all, siding with him might have been seen as the ultimate way to protect one's own interests.

And the childhood cruelties that Draco inflicted on others, Hermione can easily see as paling to what he eventually saw while working for Voldemort.

"Have you seen him since at all?" she asks curiously, pulling herself away from her thoughts and keeping her expression carefully neutral.

[ghost_holder]

"Not since the bees." Between the cold and the swarm of bees, Aggie's been staying indoors for the most part, taking care of Goblin and watching out for any bees. It's been a weird couple of days and she thinks, in the future, she'll prefer her New Years celebrations indoors with friends.

[cleverness]

"I see. Well... hopefully the next time the both of you meet, it will be under better circumstances," Hermione says, reaching out to rub the girl's shoulder briefly and offering a faint smile. There's something quiet about her — Hermione wonders if it's only now, in the wake of such a recent disappearance.

"By the way," she adds with a sudden thought. "My name is Hermione. I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier."

[ghost_holder]

"I'm Agatha. Agatha Prenderghast," she says, using her full name again. She doesn't give away just her nickname to just anyone; it's important to her, a sign of trust that she reserves.

"I'm a witch too."

[cleverness]

"Agatha. It's an honor to meet you," Hermione says with a soft smile, reaching her hands out and giving Agatha's a gentle squeeze, trying to be as reassuring as she can be.

"And a good thing that us witches can stick together in the city. I'm very sorry that Tara left Darrow, but... I'm glad that it brought us together."

[ghost_holder]

"Maybe that's why it happened." It's a sad occasion, but things do happen for a reason. She would have met Hermione sooner or later, she thinks, after all there are only so many witches in Darrow. But this has driven them together, given them a bond that wouldn't have occurred any other way.