my heart beats way too fast to let regret sit in my lap

[cleverness]

Hermione is accustomed to having the early spring season feel brisk. Even though it's already April, she doesn't step out of the house without first slipping into a thick peacoat, just in case the weather turns tumultuous and decides to change at the drop of a hat. In many ways, Darrow reminds her of the New England region of the United States — the structure of the government, the diversity of the population, and even the weather seems to be somewhat warmer than England.

With a couple of small jars of her bluebell flames in either pocket, Hermione goes about her errands, doing the grocery shopping for the household. Now that Ron is in Darrow, Hermione finds herself buying significantly more food, and also more prone to searching for some treats to light up dinners for him. A good meal puts him in an entirely different sort of mood, and Hermione simply enjoys seeing the smile on his face besides.

Even though she doesn't have much time to spare, the beauty of the crashing waves leads Hermione out to the beach. She sets down her bags, and a strong gust of wind brushes past her skin. Shivering, Hermione tugs one of the jars out from her pocket and surreptitiously tugs out her wand, sending a few more flames blooming in the glass.

That's when she spots it. A flash of orange flame off to the side, drawing her gaze immediately. Eyes wide, she forgets that her own blue flames are on display as she stares at a young man in the near vicinity, some sort of performer or illusionist — or perhaps someone with a little more ability than the average person — practicing forms off to the side.

It's beautiful and powerful, each swing of his arm purposeful, and the lick of the flames practically alive.

Comments

[irisewiththesun]

She pulls a long wooden stick out of her pocket, one that is clearly not any stick - it's well shaped and well cared for. Then she makes some kind of motion with it that changes a bit of the sand between them into water, and Zuko is definitely impressed.

"I've never seen anything like that before," he says, looking down at the dwindling pool of water for a long moment before lifting his gaze to her again. "How much does your magic encompass? I mean, what else can you do?"

[cleverness]

"It's difficult to cover all of the different types of spells I could potentially cast, but there are a few categories that have a heavy focus. The first is Transfiguration, which involves the changing of one substance to another, as I just demonstrated. Then there are Charms, which change the properties of an object. For example," Hermione says, glancing around until she finds a large rock wedged in the sand. She waves her wand, Summoning the rock closer, then casting a Levitation Charm on it.

"If you feel underneath the rock, there's nothing holding it up. Instead, I've changed the properties so that the rock floats," she says with a small smile. "There are also branches of magic which help a person make use of the magical properties of objects around them, be they plants, animals, or brewing them together into a potion."

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko waves a hand beneath the floating rock, and just as she's said, there's nothing but air. He's never met anyone with such a wide range of abilities, and he's got about a million questions, but he doesn't want to bombard her, so he settles on one. "How much training do you get, for all of this?" he asks.

[cleverness]

"I had approximately seven years of formal training," Hermione says with a slight nod, lowering her wand and letting the rock fall back against her palm, closing around it with her fingers. "And have been practicing magic since I was eleven. It's a practice that the community is careful not to instruct children on too early, because the things that they could do could have wide, dangerous implications."

[irisewiththesun]

"That makes sense," Zuko says, even though it doesn't make complete sense, not yet. The need to have training for safety purposes he gets, at least. "You have to make sure they're ready first."

He realizes something, then, and smiles sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I didn't even introduce myself," he says; even though she'd been the one watching him, he'd spoken first. "I'm Zuko."

[cleverness]

"I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger," she clarifies with a smile, wondering if this young man comes from a world where surnames are common. It feels nice to meet someone new with whom she can be open about her abilities, and who seems genuinely interested in learning the nature of them. His own powers are curious to Hermione as well, who always wants to find the logic underneath. There must be rules to firebending, as there are to any other ability.

"It's nice to meet you, Zuko. I hope you don't mind me saying, but your bending is rather fascinating to me. And it was absolutely beautiful, watching you use it just now."