"What were we talking about?… Ah yes, Flamel. I met him in my first year at Beauxbaton. He was nice, liked to rant on a tangent and was easily distracted by his work. But he is brilliant. Hermione, you'll definitely enjoy the masterclass."
"Hey! What about us?" The girls looked over them once.
"What about you?"
"Don't you think we'd enjoy it too? The master's thing."
"Were you invited?"
"There's an invitation?"
"Of course, there's an invitation, Ron. They wouldn't want any Will, Grace or Nancy showing up, would they?" Hermione admonished.
"Who?"
"That's a no-maj saying! Are you a muggleborn?" Hermione paused, and tentatively nodded, "Cool! So what do your parents do?"
"They're a dentist."
"Mm…— that's teeth, right? I learnt about it when I studied Mundane Healing Procedures."
"Yeah, it's teeth. They have their own practice."
"That's awesome. Entrepreneurship must be encouraged!" Tiffany thrust an enthusiastic fist into the air. Hermione allowed the burst of pride to bloom in her chest and she beamed at the older witch.
Her parents were very important to her and were her only company for the first half of her life. She liked talking about them and it felt good that Tiffany could understand the non-magical jargon she used.
"Did you go to a no-maj school?"
"Yes, from ages 5 until 11 then I started at Hogwarts."
"How was the transition?"
"It was okay…"
Harry learnt things about Hermione that he never knew about her. Her school also had a uniform policy, she was in the local newspaper for academic awards and she had only gotten detention one time her dad demanded the teacher apologise after she told him why.
"I also went to a no-no-maj-muggle school." Harry chimed in.
"Really? But you're a Potter? Well, actually it's not that strange. Cool, did you like it?"
"No, not really."
Tiffany narrowed her eyes, scanning the younger boy's face to find something amiss.
"I won't push you to tell but if I smell something fishy, I will investigate. My mother has a lot of connections in a lot of places." She spoke mysteriously and Harry had no doubt that she would.
"What about you, Ron?" He had been mostly quiet the entire time and Harry felt he was embarrassed about the additional company.
"No, no muggle schooling. But my mum did teach us some stuff."
"That actually sounds nice. You must enjoy your family."
"It's okay. The twins are a nightmare and Percy's a git. But my older, older brothers are cool. Bill's a bit of a buzzkill— must be aging."
Harry listened with longing. He wanted siblings to play with, even to hate like the way Ron hates his brothers. Because at the end of the day, they were siblings and they always looked out for each other.
The rest of the ride was spent getting to know Tiffany, what creatures were in the Forbidden Forest - 'Acromantula', Ron shivered - Hagrid and his stone cakes, the kooky divination's teacher, even Snape's hair - 'Grease. The whole thing. His entire head is flammable and should be nowhere near a cauldron'.
Tiffany enjoyed their company. Ron reminded her a bit of her classmates, no filter but genuinely nice, if not, a bit bashful. Harry and Hermione felt like a split of herself. Harry was playful and attentive, Hermione was assertive, intelligent and affectionate.
By the time the train pulled into Hogsmeade, they had formed a budding friendship.
The boys left to guard the compartment while the two girls changed. Hermione almost could not stare at her companion's body. Perfectly toned arms and torso, the bust was a perfect size and her skin was flawless.
The younger witch down. She was thin, with no muscle or curves. Her chest was on the smaller side and she had beauty spots in random places.
Tiffany took a glance at the silent young girl and sighed. She remembered this. The inferiority and the body dysmorphia that came with pre-puberty.
"Hermione. You're young, your body needs time to mature and blossom. You don't need to compare yourself to me or anybody."
"But you look like that— and— and no wonder Ron was taken by you…" She blurted out, blushing furiously at how honest it felt.
"Hermione… if your friend had your body, would you tell them the things you're thinking about right now?" The young witch was quick to respond and shook her head feverishly.
"Why?"
"I—…"
"Is it because you won't over-critic your friend the way you over-critic yourself? Hermione, you're 12. You're intelligent and cute, don't let those insecurities manifest and rot in your thoughts."
"But…" Tiffany encouraged her to speak as she flipped her hair out of her grey vest. "No one finds me attractive."
"Do you find you attractive?" Hermione looked lost, "Do you look in the mirror and think, 'Damn, I look good today' ?"
"Not really. Sometimes when my hair is tame…"
Tiffany straightened up, flicked her hair over her shoulder and posed playfully, her heeled loafers giving her height. Hermione gaped.
"Hermione, you've been with me for 8 hours and this is the first time you've gaped at me. All I changed was my clothes and my aura."
"Beauty is subjective, I could be the most beautiful woman in the world and someone somewhere won't like the way my nose sits on my face, that my hair is not perfectly straight or even that my eyelashes are too wispy. I can't be everyone's ideal but I can be the peak of my own beauty."
"If you want me to give a superficial assessment, you are blessed with a height most men enjoy. You're petite and have very feminine features, pink lips and a cute nose. Your teeth are charming, I know some girls that have a gap and are very attractive, your teeth aren't as outlandish as one might think. You have a head full of beautiful hair when balding is a thing. Hair can be tamed. Literally. You need to train your hair to sit the way you want it to and you must commit to a washing and conditioning regime. Did I miss anything?" By now, Hermione was completely flushed down her neck as she shook her head.
"Hermione, your base is already very pretty. All you need is enhancement and to be honest, most people just grow into it. Maybe what you're missing is maturity. Maybe it's a diet or skin care. As long as you're not doing it because Ron likes it. Or Will, or Grace or Nancy." Tiffany gave the young witch a hug and despite her blushing face, she hugged back.
"Is it wrong for me to want Ron to like me?"
"What? No! There's nothing wrong with wanting your crush to find you attractive but you want them to be attracted to you as you are. What if he liked dumb girls? Would you throw away your textbooks so he'd be attracted to you?" She shook her head,
"Because being smart is a part of who you are. If we did that, we would be dying inside. And the ship would sink, would it not?"
Hermione imagined herself, frustrated. Pretending to be dumb. Pretending to be something she wasn't. She could feel herself crumbling at the thought.
"So let's change things so we find ourselves attractive, and naturally someone who likes us as we are will come."
"I— Is it okay to ask you?" She looked as if she never had any female support before and Tiffany's heart had already adopted her.
"Sure! Now, shoulders back, correct your posture and think, 'I'm so hot right now'— Wait no, that's too sexy for school. 'I look good'. Okay, think that."
When the boys opened the door again, there was a shift. Hermione looked awkward to Harry, he just couldn't put his finger on it. Ron openly gaped at Tiffany, who reached out with a manicured finger and closed his mouth for him.
"My dear Ron, don't drool in the doorway." He was quick to snap back to reality, wiping his mouth only to realise she was joking and blushed.
The trio plus Tiffany made their way to the carriages among the wandering eyes and whispers, the older witches' eyes instantly drawn away. It
"What's wrong?" Hermione looked over in concern.
"What a beautiful herd of thresals," Tiffany murmured.
"What's that?"
"They're known as death omens but in reality, they're gentle beasts that look scary. It's like a pegasus but with bat-like wings, dark and scaly skin and almost a skeletal appearance. Oh! And they're complete carnivores."
"That's nothing like a pegasus!" Harry exclaimed.
"What's a pegasus? A horse with wings. Theresa? A horse with wings. I rest my case."
Harry hadn't seen the threads until the carriage was out of sight and froze. They really were scary, death omen scary.
Tiffany noticed he stopped and slung an arm around him. Harry wasn't fully comfortable but liked Tiffany's smell and let himself trust her this once, at least until the horse demons were not present.
"Haz— can I call you Haz?— Okay, cool. Haz, your teacher's death was not your fault—,"
By now, they were firmly seated in a carriage and it pulled them towards a beautiful castle.
"But I killed him! I turned him to dust!"
"Haz, your teacher was possessed by a Dark Lord who had tried to kill you. Twice. You have every right to defend yourself, because in the end, if he had succeeded, you would not be here. I just got the pleasure of knowing you and it would suck if we never met."
Harry nodded and Tiffany gave him a squeeze then pulled away, spending the rest of the ride taking in Hogwarts.
The castle was magnificent. A fortress of stone walls, strong and guarded, with towers with pointed rooves and long, narrow windows. She felt the saturated presence of magic flowing between the forest and the castle and was in awe. It was no wonder the threads were so healthy. The ambience was similar to the Illvermorny reserve which also housed many mythical creatures.
"It looks better from the lake." Ron piqued.
"I'll take out a boat! Would you like to come?" She extended the invitation, and judged by their hesitation, laughed, "It's okay. I'll probably come out for meditation or alone time then. Are there any creatures in the lake?"
"Giant Squid."
"Mermaids."
"Grindylows."
"How giant is the squid?" Her eyes narrowed in interest.
"Don't know," Ron shrugged, "Only seen a tentacle."
"Hm— I wonder if there's any fish down there? What do they all eat? Maybe each other—," She clamped her mouth shut, taking in the horror on her companion's faces.
'I think Ron's blabbering mouth has infected me.'
Harry, surprisingly, laughed out loud. His joy was infectious as the other three relaxed. It was a bit of a morbid joke but Harry said it was because the faces they pulled were instantaneous.
"Like someone farted and closed all the windows."
"Sounds like a personal memory, Haz." Harry blushed, remembering being younger and fart-bombed by his cousin, then was locked in his cupboard swamped in the smell. Ron has a similar memory with his five older brothers.
The thresals pulled up to the entrance and they slid off the carriage and followed the crowd, Tiffany giving a gentle pat to the thresal that drove them in gratitude. The thresal nudged her affectionately and she gave it a sweet smile then moved on.