Hogwarts
Pomona made the quick journey toward the room they left Hastume in last night to collect her for breakfast before heading to the alley. The staff had met for a little while longer that night and Minerva and Albus had deemed it a good idea for both her and Severus to accompany the new student to get their supplies. She was rather looking forward to their outing, the girl just has an aura to her that makes Pomona sure this year will be interesting. Oh how she hopes she gets her in her house.
She only has to wait a moment after knocking before the door is thrown open wide to the sight of a smiling, manic looking Mei who lunges forward, grabbing Pomona arm and pulling her into the room. The first thing she noticed was there were books everywhere. How did she even get them? They hadn't yet given her a tour or showed her the library.
"Where did you get all these?" she asked gesturing to the stacks of books on... she squints, runes?
Mei, buzzing with energy responds, "I just asked the castle every time I got stuck on my baby and it sent a new book! Look, I finished it!" With that, she shoves a digital display screen in Ms. Sprout's face. Not sure what she was looking at (never having seen technology before), Pomona was still reeling that the school transported her books when she asked. Another quick glance confirmed there were in fact titles from the restricted section in the pile. A chill ran down her spine when she suddenly remembered the interest the Twins showed her the night before. There's no way they won't figure this out.
Coming back to herself, "what is this.. Exactly?" While it kinda resembled a Tempus with the date and time shown, it also had a picture in the background of a strange-looking group of teenagers in front of a big H-shaped building. That and it was being held in her hand so she doesn't think it's magic
"My phone! I was able to connect to a satellite and got access to this version of the internet. The Non-magicals here have done a lot in tech and medical advancements even compared to my reality! It's still of course not as refined or advanced as back home but the IDEASSS. Like did you know they created a device that pumps CO2 into the ground, speeding up the natural process of turning it into rocks and possibly creating NET Zero carbon emissions from factories at the same time?? That's so useful" *
Pomona did not. In fact most of that went right over her head. Satellites and the internet? Not deterred by the look of confusion due to it being commonplace wherever she goes, Mei continued. "I could not handle the idea that tech wasn't usable around strong magical locations. I haven't been around it long but I know an energy source when I see one. The waves are much more powerful than the typical power sources of non-magical and it acts a bit like nuclear energy, where it permeates everything it flows across, which is part of why you can't use non-magical technology with how it's currently built!"
Spinning around and walking towards one of the open books on the table, Mei sets her 'phone' display down and points to a rune sequence carved into the lower bottom left corner of the shiny metal. "I used a combination of these runes to create a force field like shield that encompases the structure the runes are carved onto, as well as whatever is housed in the structures internals. This rune here is typically put on houses to keep the wards regulated to just inside the house or properties. The series of runes I have here acts as a magic sensor, regulators, and block allowing it to sense the amount of ambient magic in the air, regulate the amount that would damage the components, and then block the excessive amount from permeating the structure!!
"I had to beef up the capacitors quite a bit so the device wasn't so finicky, and it is still running off its own battery with no way to charge it yet. The stress of the magical energy around it runs the battery down faster too, so I think tonight I'll try to create an additional box with a rune sequence to trap magical energy to make a renewable battery source. What do you think?" She turns to Pomona, who, while totally completely bewildered, also looked very intrigued.
"You.. ehm," Clears her throat, "You got muggle mechanics working in the school?!" She needs to sit down, this child is blowing her mind. "How long have you spent working on this since we dropped you off at 8.30 last night?"
"I slept for about 5 hours last night, but I finished about 20minutes before you got here since I had to read so much." Mei had picked her phone back up and after a few clicks handed it over to Pomona. Flappy Bird? "Just click and get the bird through the gaps. Where do we go for school supplies? What currency do wizards use? Is it the same currency in different countries' magical communities? Is there a banking system?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes," this game is far more challenging than it first appeared, she has yet to get past 4! "We'll head to Diagon Alley after breakfast, and stop at Gringotts bank to withdraw from the school fund. Different currencies per country but the same banking system so it's easy to exchange for what's used locally or even for muggle pounds. Do you have any other of these games? What else can this be used for?" It would be nice to sit and play on this at night or during breaks grading. Noticing the time display in the top right corner, she realized it was time to head to breakfast so there's enough time to eat. "Let's continue talking on our way to the great hall, lots to do today!"
Yes, she's definitely a favorite, Mei thinks as she follows her out of the room. As they walk, Mei shows her all the controls and explains how it can be used for pictures, music, reading, writing, games, and a couple different methods of communicating. Pomona found herself growing more excited listening to the girl explain the device, already thinking of all the ways she'd be able to use something like this. She couldn't wait to tell Irma.
"Do all muggles have these?" How far have they advanced while we've kept relatively stagnated the last 100 years? There were, of course, new spells released every year, but never too many and the ones that were are often specialized or obscure. Runes have been going out of fashion the last decade, but if Hatsume Mei, a 15 year old who had 1 night with some odd 15 books, was able to create a bridge between one the biggest separations of our communities. That's huge. That's a turning point.
"I'd say yes for the most part. The Non Magicals here aren't quite as advanced as what I'm used to back home but they'll get there fast at the rate they're heading. That's not to say that they aren't high quality, but I plan to create my own line built specifically for compatibility with magic in mind."Mei turns a blindingly bright smile towards the professor, "You can have the first produced unit Master Sprout! I really appreciate you listening and being interested in what I'm doing, a lot of people seem to run for the hills the first chance they get around me."
The professor lets out a jolly sounding laugh, "I think you'll find Ms. Hatsume, that being quirky and bizarre is rather commonplace with Wix, we rarely fit the molds of logic and sense. And you young miss, will fit right in with some of the students here at Hogwarts." Catching sight of the twins up ahead, " In fact, how about to go and walk the rest of the way with Sirs Fred and George Weasley up there. I need to run to the green houses and see if there's anything I'll need to pick up while we're out and about." As Hatsume runs down the hall, she can't help but think that even if she gets placed in a different house, Pomona Sprout was going to take her under her wing and watch her flourish.
~~~~~
Mei ran towards the twins, happier than she can remember being in a long time. Getting into UA, making incredible babies, and being around all the other inventors had been incredible and thrilling and self fulfilling. However, when she saw the pure wonder in Ms. Sprouts face and then the actual interest and care in not only what she had built but for Mei herself too, a part of her chest warmed that she wasn't used to. She has always been odd even by weird quirk standards. She knows her tendencies of explosions and mania have made potential friends keep her at an arm's distance. She doesn't mean to be so anti-social, she does want friends. Tech is just easier to talk to.. 10 million-kun is pretty nice too when he visits.
Maybe there's more to her being sent here than a mere accident. Her device was supposed to send an object to where it belonged. 'Belonged' just had yet to be defined further. That in mind she finally called out when she got close enough, "F&G! Wait up!"
Near matching grins turned to face her. The twin on her right had a smile that raised slightly further on one side and their eyes crinkled just a bit differently than the brother on the left whose smile was more evenly stretched with his eyebrows raised just a bit higher. Both twins dipped low, and the one on the right started, " Fair morning, Pink Haired Stranger!" The twin on the left picked up as they rose from their dip, "would you be so kind as to accompany me, Fred," "and me, George!" "To our table for breakfast?" There's a moment's pause before all 3 are loudly laughing.
"I, Hatsume Mei, would love to join you," she responded with a huge smile as she followed them down the last bit of hallway stretch before the hall entryway. Taking in all the differences she could find between them. From behind, Fred had more patches of lighter colored reds on the back of his head, while George had them on the top. George's earlobes are also interestingly smaller than Freds.
They lead her to the middle of the table where the students in red had been last night. Most of the kids seemed to be in their personal clothes since it was the weekend. That reason alone drew her attention to the small scruffy black haired boy just a little ways down the table, who was wearing the white button down and black slacks of his school's uniform. Noticing where her attention was, George called out for Harry to come over. Oh goodness, he is so adorably small.
Knowing the questions would start coming soon, she figured it wouldn't hurt to stick to the truth. After all, dimension travel is very different from time travel, and her reality isn't very relevant here. As the kid named 'Harry' sat across from her, the twins turned back as well, having called over a couple others from different parts of the table. Mentally thanking Ms. Sprout for her impromptu pep talk in the hall, Mei gives the newcomers the best smile she could manage through the social anxiety nerves. How she can be fine in front of thousands of people at the sports festival, but be a wreck trying to make friends with a group of magical teenagers will forever allude her.