'Dr. Horrible' - hey, that sounds kinda dark and cool...

[drhorriblesblog]

Who: Hermione Granger and Dr. Horrible
When: Sunday, March 28
Where: The ravine
What: God alone knows. ^^;
Rating: PG..?

Comments

[vinewood_wand]

It hadn't taken more than a day to explore the entirety of the little town that was now, apparently, her residence. Hadn't taken more than a couple of hours, really. There were still places she hadn't been inside, hadn't explored completely, but she was getting the gist of her surroundings.

The mystery of the 'why' of this place was infinitely more interesting to her. It kept her from thinking too hard about why she'd left London. It also gave her a reason to get out of the house; she liked Tonks, always had, but she'd been there the day she died, and seeing her alive and playing with Teddy made her insides jump. On an emotional level, she could see it being a wonderful thing; at the same time, her logical mind refused to bend easily to this particular fact. When you said 'goodbye' to someone with the sort of finality that they'd all been forced to say 'goodbye' to their loved ones... it just wasn't right to turn around and have them suddenly be standing there.

Why, then, didn't she have a problem with the fact that Lily and James Potter were apparently both here, as well? Was it simply because she'd never known them? Wasn't that a sort of double standard? The whole situation made her head hurt... which led her out to the ravine. That fellow-- teapot_jones, was that his name?-- had said something about alien technology. And Moira mentioned the machine or device in the ravine. Hermione had never been terribly technologically inclined-- though, with Muggles for parents, she was definitely better off than Ron-- but she wanted to see, with her own eyes, what sort of device could inhibit magical methods of travel.

She walked past the graveyard, and the castle-- was that really a castle? She'd have to ask Harry about it-- and reached the ravine, where she was surprised to find someone else was already there. Though maybe she shouldn't be surprised; Moira had said that there was a man who did research on the effects of the machine.

"Hello," she said. "...Are you the doctor?" She wasn't sure what kind of doctor he might be-- Moira hadn't said, and Hermione had been too overwhelmed to think to ask at the time.

[drhorriblesblog]

Was he the doctor? Technically, he was one of them. But it wasn't a good idea to wave that around while dressed like this.

"The Doctor?" he repeated, brow furrowing, as he climbed the rest of the way up onto level ground and straightened. As much as Billy straightened, which meant he still slouched a bit. "No, uh, that's not me. Actually I- I don't know if the Doctor's been around in a while. That is... I haven't seen him. But you'd know him if you met him. He's - unique. And British. Er, which you are too, I guess?"

Ah yes. There was Billy. Rambling and befuddled and never quite meeting her eyes.

[vinewood_wand]

"Um, yes, I am." And apparently there were a lot of British people knocking about the place. She'd been quite surprised. "And, well-- I suppose she did say that he hadn't been around recently, but I didn't know if a lot of people came out this way..." It wasn't like it was very far away-- that pie shop was not five minutes from here-- but it was rather... desolate. It didn't have a very approachable vibe.

"I suppose it was presumptuous of me to assume," she declared. "I'm Hermione Granger." She didn't feel like she had the right to ask him who he was... but then, he was rather shy. If he didn't offer the information, she'd go fishing for it.

[drhorriblesblog]

"No, I guess they don't." Billy apparently found the trees off to one side fascinating, while his hands, stuffed casually in his pockets, reassured him that all his little vials and packets of samples were still there. "Be kind of a crazy random happenstance. If the only two people who happened to be out here were you and the person you're looking for."

He glanced over almost warily when she introduced herself. "Oh. Um. Billy - I'm Billy." Since she didn't offer a hand, he left his where they were, but he pushed up one side of his mouth in a lopsided half-smile. "Nice to meet you - Hermione, that's, that's an unusual name. I mean, it's nice. You're new?"

[vinewood_wand]

"Billy." She repeated the name, nodding. "It's a pleasure." He seemed... rather awkward. Like he wasn't entirely sure what to do with her, or himself. "Yes, I'm new-- just arrived a few days ago." She tilted her head, studying him. Was she supposed to believe that he was just down in the ravine... for a stroll? "Is there anything interesting down there, then?" she asked casually.

[drhorriblesblog]

"Oh, ah. Rocks. I like... rocks. That is, I collect them. Sort of." He fumbled one of the sample bags out of his pocket, holding it out so she could see. There was nothing visibly interesting about the three dusty grey specimens inside, and after a moment he shrugged uncertainly and replaced it in his pocket. He wasn't about to explain that it wasn't their appearance that interested him. "'S probably not all that interesting to you. Getting too dark now anyway."

[vinewood_wand]

"Rocks..." Hermione stared at him as if he were the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen. Of course! How smart-- if there is something special about the soil, experimenting on it WOULD be the logical thing, wouldn't it? She wondered if Harry had ever tested the soil. She doubted it; between his work here, and caring for Teddy, he probably didn't have time. Plus, he wasn't one for research so much as action. Billy was right, though-- it was getting dark. She decided she would have to come back in the morning to collect samples of her own.

He seemed very shy, and certainly unassuming, but Hermione couldn't help thinking that there was more to this fellow than he was letting on. "Are you a geologist, then?" she asked. "Or is rock-collecting just a hobby?" Tilting her head, she said, "...there must be something interesting in the molecular breakdown of the soil out here, for you to come out and pick up samples." Had to be; they certainly weren't pretty enough to catch the interest of the casual observer.

[drhorriblesblog]

Okay, that was... not the reaction he'd been expecting. Hermione was looking at him as if he'd just said something revelatory, rather than boring. Maybe she was a rock collector?

Then she brought up the molecular breakdown of the soil, and he couldn't help himself: he straightened, eyes darting to her face, showing a new interest he would probably have done better to keep hidden. But... intellectual curiosity. Science. He couldn't help responding!

"Oh, I- no, I, I'm not - a geologist," he stammered, and it was true: geology wasn't among his doctorates. "Just - a hobby. Like you said. There's something about it - but I don't really know what I'm doing. Just curious." Now that was a lie. "You? You sort of sound like you know something about it. Geology."

[vinewood_wand]

Hermione shook her head. "No, not me," she said. "I did well enough in Herbology, but we did more study of the plants and their proper growing conditions than we ever did with the composition of the earth, rocks or otherwise." Even so, she was clever enough to notice that a rock wasn't pretty, or visibly notable in any way, and it made her wonder what he saw in it. "It is interesting, though," she said. "Geology, I mean. I might need to go to the library and research it some-- I love to learn new things." She grinned at him, sensing that he was probably much the same.

"So, do you have a place where you store your samples?" she asked. "A case or a desk or something?" She stopped herself before she commented on the appearance of the sample; it didn't look at all like a display piece.