The Tangled World!

Social Awkwardness!

Lilly Moon was beginning to suspect that her relationship with reality was dubious at best.

The only thing she was sure of was that it wasn't like this before she went to Hogwarts.

The odd occurrences seemed unavoidable, though. For one, every time someone referred to her, they never referred to her as being in the same house. The other day, in charms class, the Hufflepuffs all said she was a Slytherin, and the Slytherins all said she was a Hufflepuff. No one seemed to notice this discrepancy, or if they did, they did not find it odd.

Lilly was also unable to remember which house she was in. She didn't remember what the Sorting Hat said to her, or if she was even sorted. She wasn't sure where she slept, only that it was in a bed. She was never knew which house table to sit at during meals, so she just hoped no one noticed that she "didn't belong". She couldn't even tell what colour the trim of her own robes was!

Originally, she wondered if she might be able to deduce her house by looking at her schedule, but that didn't help her either. At first, she assumed that since she had charms with the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, she should be in one of those two houses. Except, she was also in history of magic with the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Thus, her true house remained a mystery.

She really wanted to try and figure this out, but part of her was afraid the she didn't actually exist.

And if she thought too hard about, she might cease to exist.

Lilly decided that she would rather be on the safe side. She'd prefer an enigmatic existence to not existing at all.

Harry knew Hermione was smart, but he didn't think he had an appreciation for how smart she was until he worked with her outside of class.

Harry was no stranger go libraries. His imbecilic cousin seemed to be chronically afraid of learning, making the local library one of the few places he could use as a refuge. But while he had been in the library out of a twisted necessity, Hermione was in her element. She moved from book to book with ease, her mind absorbing the relevant information like a dry sponge under a tap.

The girl's mind was unparalleled. Her ability to connect ideas and extrapolate concepts boggled his mind. And that wasn't even getting into the fact that she. Did. Not. Forget. Anything. Sure, he believed her when she said she memorised the whole reference book, but it was another thing to witness her recall whole sections from the book on demand.

Harry wondered if Hermione had some magical ability that improved her memory and intelligence. He hadn't heard of such a thing, but he wasn't about to write off its existence just because he hadn't heard of it. After all, he was far from an expert on magic, having lived his whole life without it.

Having her as a friend was looking to be a good experience. Harry was smart, but the Dursleys did their damndest to make sure he didn't show it. Being free from them for a whole school year with her as a study partner was sure to help his academics.

Harry turned off the water in his shower and threw on his school robes. The school robes weren't required, since it was still a weekend. He would rather not draw attention to himself by wearing muggle clothing, though, especially not the old rags provided by his relatives.

Harry left the dorm room he shared with Zabini while the other boy showered. Hermione was waiting just outside his room, just as she had the day before. Assuming that this was part of her new routine, he continued walking, Hermione silently falling in lockstep with him.

Harry loaded his plate up with sausages and some toast. Now that he was able to eat what he wanted, he had quickly fallen in love with the meat products he'd been so long denied. To his right, Hermione was loading her plate with her typical grains and fruits. Harry couldn't understand how was able to get enough energy from such light fare.