Kapitel 49: Chapter 49
Unlike its muggle counterpart, magical Japan was not under any of the various treaties and policies that the United States imposed on Japan. World War II really had very little effect on the Eastern Territories. After the turn of the century, none of the western magical governments dared to look east. Grindelwald pushed his hardest against the Russians,confident of his victory over the by then 'quantity over quality' warlocks, but he dared not even approach China.
The magical world in China was not as out of order as the wizarding world. There was no 'hiding in plain sight' as the Wizards practised. Tall underground towers (well if they were overground it would have been a tower) dotted the country in a loose grid pattern. They were the Towers of Ignorance, Enormous anchor points that enshrouded the land in a matrix of mass proportions, one that made it impossible for the ordinary people to notice anything magical. There was no need of obliviators. Why obliviate when you can prevent the memory from happening in the first place? Even the Great Wall had a few, conveniently ignored by the Mongol horde who as fate would have it, did not have access to sorcery of any sorts.
All this meant that Eastern Territory had magically trained armed forces which had existed from long long ago. The navy, which was the Dragon Boats or airships of the land were an integral part of this. After the fiasco with rogue ninja, Japan had commissioned her own navy, with ships supplied by the immortal emperor. And unlike the wooden sail less junks they so resembled, the Dragon Boats were impressive vessels, that were still used more than occasionally in space. Magic was truly wonderful.
XXX
Hermione Granger was a Gryffindor. One of the most dedicated, rational and knowledge oriented individuals in perhaps all of history had been sorted into Gryffindor. Fate truly had a horrific sense of humour at times. The girl had wanted the red and gold, thanks in no part to the documented reputation of Dumbledore, and she had been granted that desire. But after a mere two weeks in class, she was quickly starting to become disillusioned.
When Hermione had first heard of the magical world, she was sceptical. When she was presented proof, she was ecstatic. A whole new world, filled with new things to learn, new things to know, a world away from the current one, which she somewhat despised. True, the books were great, but it had no meaning for her. For Hermione was a creature of pride. She revelled in the knowledge that she knew more than others, that she was better than them. But that was irrelevant when she discovered that her impressive knowledge only served to distance her away from her peers. They mocked her and she did not take it well. She withdrew into a shell. A rose cursed to never bloom.
The cruellest of creatures is the human child. Ignorant of consequences, they destroy lives.
And then the letter came. It was an opportunity. She did not hesitate. Her eleven year old brain had not comprehended the enormity of that decision at the time. Like a mouse, eager to escape her cage, she had pounced on her own escape. Her parents recognized and allowed this, for they wanted their daughter happy after all. But deep down, they knew that she was already lost to them, that they were just two middle class dentists, whose daughter had left them behind...
And now, Hermione wondered if it was not the old world but her that was at fault. She had not realized that the same thought processes that drove her into isolation in primary school would repeat its terrible history here also. And now, she was paying. Many a night were spent crying to sleep, a sorrow that only the truth could produce, that she was not liked. At all.
It was not like she was friendless from the very beginning. But when seawater is harder than your friend's spine, it quickly became meaningless.
It was at times like these that she prayed that someone would rescue her from the rut, that somebody out there would save her from this unseen hell, with flaming mockery and brimstone words. So what if she was a lot more grown up than the average eleven year old? She was allowed her share of the not too uncommon romantic fantasies. Sure, her physiology did not allow for the formation of...in depth dreams, but the whole story tale comes true type daydream had a certain charm to it. And given the fact that she had read those kind of books so very long ago, she literally dreamed about it.
But alas, her very imaginative scenarios about rescue, rescuer and love (of which she had no real clue about either) were doomed to die a tragic, tragic death, from starvation. Logic had asserted itself and two weeks after school had begun, she had closed up, again.
That is not to say that she and her careless tormentors ignored each other. No, she had hidden away her emotions and her dreams. She had turned into a machine, one which continued to be mocked. And it was the fact that it was her "family" as McGonogall had so offhandedly mentioned house mates as being, that were doing this that rankled. It was one thing when known bigots crushed her spirit. But when the "light" acted like the "dark", sad things happen.
Of course, what had been done against the poor girl were less than that she had suffered from primary school. But the stress and the pain, the dreams and crumbled expectations, they all gathered together and began to chip away at the normality of Hermione's psyche.
If she had any real distraction, or a sympathetic ear, if not a friend, she might have left this downward spiral of depressing logic that made sense to her and actually survived with her sanity somewhat intact. Alas, for in this world, she found that without some great and wondrous figure around to occupy the wasted time of the populace, a person to torment is quite the handy catch. And so they did it, all those shiny examples of pride and courage, a whole battalion of red and gold wearing demons who sought entertainment through the misery of others. Or at least her.
After a certain indeterminate point, when the realization that she was going to be forever alone finally sunk in, Hermione finally snapped. Dual personality syndrome doesn't just pop out of thin air after all. Especially not when the original personality committed seppuku.
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