Chapter Seven
Change Looms
Sunset and Hermione settled into a weekly routine of sorts. On weekday mornings, the two would go to school while Emma and Dan went to work the clinic. After school, they would return home together and prepare lunch before doing their homework, except on Fridays when Sunset had her Aikido practice, leaving Hermione to return home on her own and do her homework before fixing lunch in time for Sunset to teleport home.
In the afternoon, Sunset would jog to the nearby park to practice Parkour, except on Fridays where she would do her homework at that time and Saturdays when she took a break from her exercise. Hermione would usually read a good book. Occasionally she would accompany Sunset on her practice instead, having been informed by Sunset that physical health and fitness had a noticeable impact on magical power and mental focus.
For an hour every day, Sunset taught Hermione magic. The lessons ranged from theory of all kinds, over practice and learning new spells, to creating spells from scratch. The latter was a tricky matter, but with Sunset's help and a thorough understanding of the basic rules of magic, even that challenge couldn't stand in Hermione's way for long.
Finally, on the Saturday before the last week of school, there came a time Hermione had been anticipating for a long while. For the last week, Sunset had been teaching Hermione thaumic phase theory, the science behind teleportation. They had isolated a destination, a vacant house a few streets away, and Sunset had been teleporting the two of them there and back at the end of every one of their lessons for the last two weeks, enabling Hermione to watch the spell form and get used to the sensation.
Now the time had come. With a final, encouraging smile, Sunset vanished in a flash of light, not bothering to mask her own teleport, both starting point and destination were warded, after all. Taking a deep breath, Hermione focused and began crafting the spell. She first focused in on herself, marking what she wanted to teleport. With that firmly set into the spell, she next focused on the destination, feeling the magic find the route there on its own.
With the fundamentals in place, she began setting her safeties. Power supply, destination clearance, ward check, pattern safety and half a dozen others found their place in the forming spell, making sure she would arrive safely where she wanted, or not teleport at all. After ten seconds of carefully crafting the spell, she marshaled her power and pushed it into the spell, focusing her intent.
The world around her flashed a pale green and she found herself in the living room of the vacant house, just as she had intended. She started as two arms wrapped around her from behind, enclosing her in a proud hug, she only relaxed when she saw red and blonde hair draping over her shoulder. 《Good job sis, I knew you could do it.》
After having done so for months, Hermione didn't even think about answering in Equestrian. She just did. 《Thanks sis, couldn't have done it without you.》
Still mid hug, Sunset teleported them back, just as Emma and Dan returned home. They ate out to celebrate this milestone.
With exams over and grades not coming until Friday, school was a relaxed affair for this last week. They spent the lessons watching movies, playing games and generally doing anything but actually learning something.
While some of the games got a little tedious for the two, the week passed quickly all the same. Before long, Friday was there and grades were being given out.
And Hermione was panicking.
《Oh dear, Sunset, what if I failed, I don't know if all my answers were correct? What if I wasn't good enough-》She was cut off when Sunset leaned over and pressed a finger over her lips.
《Shhh. It's all right, you did great, I know you did. And let's be honest, even if you did fail, what good would it do to fret over it now?》
《I guess, but-》She cut off again, this time when the teacher placed the sheet with her grades on her table.
Sunset smirked, she might not have managed to calm Hermione completely, but she had managed to distract her long enough for there to no longer be any reason to panic. 《There you go, straight As except for one C in PE. How very surprising.》
Sunset stopped her snark when she saw her own grade sheet being placed on her table. Of course, no one had questioned why she didn't have any grades from any point before the winter break. Hermione leaned over, looking at the sheet. 《You did well yourself. Straight As except for a single C in home EC. For someone who arrived from a different dimension half a year ago, that's pretty good.》
As the two shared a laugh, Miss Pritchard returned to the front of the classroom. "Now, before anything, I would like to congratulate Miss Granger and Miss Shimmer for tying as best in class."
To the polite applause of their peers, the two young witches shared a high-five, laughing as they did. Unseen by the class, a spark of magic passed between them as they had both subconsciously sent a bit of magic into their hand. Their eyes widened for a second, but they were quick to hide their surprise, seeing how this was clearly a matter of magic and not to be discussed here.
Class let out soon after and Sunset and Hermione slipped onto the roof of the school. Once Sunset had set up a simple privacy charm, Hermione spoke up. 《What was that?》
Sunset herself seemed deep in thought, looking at her sister with a gentle smile. 《A thaumo-harmonic connection. It occasionally happens with some Equestrian channeling methods. So far, nopony knows exactly why it happens, but we know that a deep bond of trust is one of the requirements.》 Their eyes met for a moment. 《I'm honored.》
《Wow. So what was that I felt there? Was that your magic?》
《My reservoirs, yes. Mind you, this wasn't a true link, it was just a spark. A longer link can form a true connection, sharing much more than just a glimpse into the other's magic. It's not telepathy in the usual sense of the word. It can't transmit thoughts, but you can sense emotions and, to a degree, intent.》
Hermione looked at Sunset for a moment longer, then her hand lit up a pale green and she offered it to her sister. Lighting up her own hand, Sunset took it, and the moment they touched, the spark jumped once again, but this time they didn't break the contact. They simply stood there, at the edge of the roof, looking over the small town and exploring the connection that had formed between them.
They didn't speak. They didn't send thoughts. They didn't need to. Both of them knew what the other meant, and that they were both enjoying the sensation. They stood there for a few moments longer, enjoying the view, before Sunset teleported them home.
The start of the holidays was much like any other weekend, only Sunset and Hermione replaced their study for school with matters of science and magic. Soaking up knowledge like sponges did water.
On top of that, Sunset began teaching Hermione the basics of Arithmancy. With her primary schooling now complete, Sunset figured she was ready to understand the basics without much issue. The material was complex, but Hermione managed to keep up.
With so much time on their hands, the two continued their training. Sunset had visited the local library to borrow some instructional books on Aikido, so she could train without the course at school. At the same time, the two kept up their Parkour practice. Sunset was getting good at it and Hermione was catching up as well.
It was about a week after the end of school that something truly remarkable happened.
Sunset slept in.
It was only when a confused Hermione on the way back from the bathroom was looking into her room, that she woke up.
With a groan, Sunset pushed herself off the bed. 《Guess I was awake too late last night. Ah well.》She shook her head, her hair falling into form easily.
Hermione stared at her for a few seconds. "Oh come on!" she called out finally. "That's so unfair."
"Huh?"
"Your hair. You shake it once and everything falls into place. Meanwhile I'm stuck with this bushy mess." She gestured to her head in exasperation.
"Oh. That's my innate magic. Without it my hair would be just as messy. I think I could enchant something to get you the same effect."
A second later, a slight disturbance of the air was the only sign that Hermione had been in the room.
Sunset chuckled. 《Oh. The joys of teleportation.》
With a barely visible flash of light, Hermione returned, a crimson hair ribbon in her hand. 《Would that work?》
《Sure. I can use that.》With a sly smirk, Sunset took the ribbon and held it for a moment. Her hands began glowing a pale teal. The light then flowed onto the ribbon, coating it completely. After a few more seconds, the light seemed to seep into the material.
Almost instinctively, Hermione cast an aura sight spell, lighting up her eyes with magic as she watched the enchantment form. A mere few seconds later, the light faded and the ribbon looked as inert as before.
Taking it back, Hermione tied it into her hair, marveling as it fell into smooth waves behind her. With a grateful smile, she enclosed Sunset in a hug. 《Thanks sis, you have no idea how much that was bothering me.》
About one and a half weeks after the end of school, the Granger household enjoyed a relaxed morning. Dan and Hermione were only just getting up, preparing themselves for the day, while Emma and Sunset were preparing breakfast.
A noise from the front door announced the arrival of the mail.
"Sunset dear," Emma called from the other end of the kitchen, "could you go fetch the mail please?"
"Sure thing." With a happy bounce in her step, Sunset made her way to the front door. Lying on the floor was the stack of mail, three letters from various companies, a thin package for Dan and a card from Emma's sister lying on top of two larger letters.
Curious, Sunset picked up the pack and separated out the two big letters. They were made of yellow-ish parchment, not stamped and addressed in emerald-green ink. Intrigued she picked out one of them and read the address.
Ms. S. Shimmer
The second bedroom on the right
150 Ryde Park Road
Rednal
West Midlands