Consequenses
Amelia yawns as she sluggishly shuffles to the bathroom after her 7am alarm goes off. Some days it sucks to be the woman in the relationship, as even though she pulls the same hours at the clinic, there's only one half of the relationship that's expected to be up first.
"Hoo"
"Me, that's who."
"Hoo."
She yawns, "Me, the woman of the house. We're always expected to have breakfast ready for when the man deigns to actually appear."
"Hoo."
"Didn't I already answer that?"
"Prek"
It dawns on Amelia that she isn't actually talking to herself and she looks up and squeaks when she sees a massive brown owl perched on the towel rail. It's a good thing she's already on the loo, as she's sure she just peed herself.
"What are you doing in here?"
The owl stares at her before waving a leg in her direction.
"How did you get in here?"
Turning it's head upside down, it spreads it's wings.
"Hey, I've just woken up, I'm allowed to seem stupid. Anyway, I can't get the letter from here so let me finish up first."
The owl bobs its head and goes back to watching her. She will swear that she didn't hurry, but the fact that she was out of the loo only a minute after that exchange suggests something else.
Clumsily she unties the letter before reading it twice.
"Dan! Dan! Get up now!"
"Waah? Hunbun, what's going on?"
"There's been an accident and Hermione is stable. They want us to write back so they can take us to see her."
"I'll start cancelling our appointments for the day if you let Anne know. 8:30 or 9?"
"I'll say 9, that way you can actually get dressed."
"Thanks love."
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Minerva is mostly done with her marking, that she had Tilly bring her, when the first of the prefects make their way downstairs.
"Mr Weasley."
"Professor McGonagall, I... wasn't expecting you."
"Clearly. How are the first years doing?"
"They're settling in, with some of the expected friction. But, nothing out of the ordinary."
"Are they getting enough sleep?"
"Mostly, Neville seems to be having some problems."
"How about the girls?"
"I'm not sure, that's the girls responsibility."
"I see, take a seat."
"Ah, I was going to get some studying done in the Library."
"Not this morning you're not. Now sit."
To their credit, one of the female prefects comes running down the stairs a few minutes later, "Professor McGonagall! One of the first years is missing."
"I know." She replies dryly, "Now sit."
Mr Weasley gulps at that news.
As the other prefects dribble in, the owl appears and lands on Minerva shoulder. Taking the letter, she reads it and nods before scribbling a brief letter on a piece of parchment.
"Thank you, could you take this to the Headmaster. And if you see Fawkes, ask him to come and talk to me."
The owl bobs its head before taking off and disappearing in a couple of wingbeats.
"Erm, Professor," one of the assembled prefects ventures, "did that owl seem to be unusually smart?"
"1 point to Gryffindor for stating the obvious."
It takes another half an hour before the last of the prefects make their way down to the common room, and a large number of the rest of the house is loitering to see what's going on. Spotting Oliver Wood she calls him over.
"Mr Wood, a word if you would."
"What can I do professor?"
"Gather your team, you're all in charge of the first and second years while I hold a Prefect meeting. Prefects, follow me to a less public room."
Getting up, she leads the prefects into one of the near by guest suites.
"I want to know what has been happening to Miss Granger."
The sixth year prefect speaks up, "It's just the normal pecking order stuff, she'll snap soon and beat the snot out of the other girls and everything will be fine."
"That's normal pecking order stuff? So you don't remember when I confronted your own bullies in your first year Miss Walker. After the bullying was brought to my attention by one of the prefects at the time."
"Last night she followed Mr Potter to his sleeping accommodations. How was she able to do that?"
One of the boys shuffles uncomfortably, "She's been reading by the fire past curfew, we didn't notice at first and she seemed fine during the day."
"So, a first year has been staying up past my own bed time, and you think it's fine. The same first year that is subject to the normal pecking order stuff."
Mr Weasley speaks up, "I assumed that the female prefects had it under control."
"Mr Weasley, there isn't a boy and girl prefect because it's different jobs. There's a boys and girls prefect because there's different dorms. If it's outside the dorms it's as much your responsibility as any other prefect. Not one of you thought to speak to me or Madam Pomphrey, especially given that Miss Granger was almost killed by a Troll only a few weeks ago.
"Give me your badges, the Quidditch team is going to be doing double duty until I can pick out some new trustworthy lions."
Once she has the badges she turns to leave before looking back, "Oh, by the way there was an accident in the Forbidden Forest last night. Miss Granger is stable, but there have been long term complications. I now need to talk to her parents and take them to see her."
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{Harry} wtb Titania Prime blueprint set.
{Deathdigger} Harry, long time no see. Have you given up putting it together yourself?
{Harry} No mate, I need it for a gift
{Deathdigger} Anyone I know?
{Roofie} Hey guys, what's this about a gift?
{Harry} I'm kinda responsible for a new Tenno, so I figured I'd get her her first frame.
{KittyKavat} New Tenno, this isn't going to be another @LunaLiscious.
{Harry} No, Luna went behind our backs for reasons.
{LunaLiscious} No, The Lotus knew what was going on, she got me my Wisp after all.
{KittyKavat} Space Mom is the best
{Harry} Look, I need a Titania Prime Blueprint set as I don't have time to farm another set.
{LunaLiscious} You know, there's something wrong with the fact we refer to raiding Grineer and Corpus bases for lost Orokin relics as farming.
{Roofie} Well, if they're going to pay us to wage a proxie war on each other we might as well get some benefit.
{LunaLiscious} When you put it that way.
{FireGuy} I've got a set, yours for 150 plat.
{Harry} Ouch, yeah go ahead.
{FireGuy} I've sent you a one time key to our Dojo.
{KittyKavat} Wait, why does she rate a Prime as her starting frame?
{LunaLiscious} Harry shot her accidentally, outside his frame.
{KittyKavat} But still
{LunaLiscious} She didn't have any nanites at the time
{KittyKavat} Oh.
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Harry walks into a room to get some supplies from a locker. When he turns around the archway has disappeared. Looking around for half an hour he fails to find any switches or the archway. Sighing he calls his Mum.
"Mum."
"Harry, are you ok?"
"Not really, the doorway to this room has disappeared."
"Nope, it's still there."
"I've looked, and it isn't."
"Yes it is, you just can't perceive it."
"Mum! How do I get out?"
She smiles over the comm, "Turn off your implants, obviously."
"How do I do that?"
"That's what you need to work out. See you later."
"But Mum!"
"No, if you're going to use a seed you need to know how to control it. The first step of that is being able to control your own implants."
"Isn't there a better way to do this?"
"Sure, if you want to spend the next few decades playing computer games. Remember Umbra?"
"But!"
"Do try to be finished before Hermione's parents arrive."
She hangs up leaving Harry in an empty room. In the end it takes a couple of days for him to disable his implants, followed by a frustrating few hours working out how to reenable them so that he can use the computer systems.
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There's a flare of fire in the Granger living room and suddenly Professor McGonagall is standing in front of a nervous looking couple.
"I'm sorry I'm late Doctors, I had to persuade Fawkes that I knew where we are going and that it's safe."
Amelia stammers, "Hermione, is she ok?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I know she was stable and she's been taken to the best medical facilities I've ever seen. Now, there's a couple of things you need to know before we leave."
Danjell shakes his head, "What's more important than our daughter?"
Minerva sighs, "To start with, they don't speak English there so you'll need to go through a process that will teach you their language in a few hours. They also don't use magic. Finally, time runs faster there so Hermione has been undergoing treatment for at least a day since I sent you the letter. With that said, if you would touch one of Fawkes' tail feathers, he will be able to transport us."
Amelia shares a glance with Danjell before standing up on shaky legs and touching the phoenix. Once Danjell does the same, they're all engulfed in fire and when it dies down their living room has vanished. Instead they're looking at a woman wearing a blue helmet that covers her eyes, and robes that match.
"Good evening, I'm glad to see you've arrived."
Pulling his thoughts together quickly Danjell sketches a bow, "Good Morning? I'm Danjell and this is my wife Amelia. Most people call us Dan and Emma. Can, can we see our daughter now?"
The woman bows back, "I'm The Lotus, and I'm afraid not. While she's finished healing, we haven't finished her new transference pod yet. It should be done in a few hours. But first I need you to get into these pods where you will be given the implants and nanites you need to survive here and not get sick."
Reluctantly and with some chivvying, they both get into the pods. The last thing they hear before they activate is, "Don't worry, I will delay her transfer so that you can see her."