Orchideous - Harry Potter x Quantum Leap, Hermione + Trudy
Seeing first years sitting in the common room, looking completely overwhelmed, was hardly a new thing. Seeing a girl like her, clearly not as mentally advanced as other eleven year olds, with a pile of spell books in front of her looking lost and overwhelmed was a new thing. There was extremely quiet talk among the older Gryffindors how she, sweet but slow being the impression they'd all gotten on the train, was going to need a lot of help just to keep up.
Hermione had agreed that she was a sweet girl, but had tuned out the rest of the conversations around her, dividing her attention between her Defense Against the Dark Arts books and the girl, feeling a sort of guilty twinge in her stomach whenever she focused on the latter. She looked almost small in her robes (second-hand), and was compulsively fingering her red and gold scarf. Eventually, Hermione found herself completely ignoring her reading and watching the girl.
Eventually, the crowd thinned out, leaving a handful of older students-and the first year Hermione had been watching for the past forty-five minutes. The reading having lost her interest long ago, Hermione tucked the book under her arm and quietly settled into the chair next to the girl. "My name is Hermione Granger," she greeted warmly, extending her hand toward the girl.
The girl looked up, almost surprised. Her eyes, brown and almond-shaped, were shiny; she looked on the verge of tears. She shook Hermione's hand with a stubby-fingered grip. "I'm Trudy Calavicci." Even her voice seemed small, and it took a bit of effort to understand the finer nuances of her speech-effort Hermione had rarely ever had to put into practice when dealing with former schoolmates.
"Are you excited for the term?" Hermione asked, a little haltingly.
Trudy nodded. Hermione noticed she seemed to be eyeing her books with something akin to distrust. If she truly was not right in the head, they were doubtlessly intimidating. That certainly explained how close she seemed to be to tears, and Hermione felt a twinge of sympathy (she didn’t dare call it pity) for her fellow witch. She wanted to reassure her that the work was easy, but that was easy for her to say.
She opted for another route to distract the girl from her worries-"May I see your wand? Just for curiosities' sake."
After a moment of due consideration, Trudy pulled her wand out of her robe's sleeve and extended it to Hermione, handle first. Hermione accepted it and turned it over in her hands, examining it-Ollivander's, twelve-and-a-half inches long, made from willow wood and fairly flexible. The handle was detailed with rose vine arabesque, tiny thorns and all, and the very bottom of the handle indicated the core, unicorn hair. "Is anyone else in your family magic?" she asked, returning the wand to her.
"Just me," Trudy replied, carefully tucking her wand back in her robe sleeve.
"No one in my family is magic, either," Hermione replied. Talking to and understanding Trudy was becoming a little easier. Perhaps all it took was listening? After a moment, another question came to mind. "Would you like to see some magic?"
Trudy's eyes widened and she nodded quickly. "Si," she answered. Her Italian was better than her English.
Hermione smiled and stood. "Wait here a moment." She disappeared into the girls' dormitories for a moment before returning to her seat, her own wand in hand. Trudy was paying rapt attention. Hermione couldn’t be sure if that focused of an audience was flattering or discomforting. Regardless, no turning back now. "Orchideous."
The result was a simple display, two purple and orchid flowers no Muggle could ever hope to grow, but Trudy was thoroughly impressed. "That was so pretty," she complimented sincerely.
"Well, it's not my best," Hermione replied, breaking the flowers off the end of her wand and offering them to Trudy, "but thank you."
"Will I learn to do that?" Trudy asked, carefully laying the flowers on her lap.
"Eventually," Hermione replied. "You're a first year, so you'll start on simple things."
"Can you help me be good like you are?"
The question was so damnably sincere that it almost hurt. "I can give it a try."
-.-.-.-
Title: Orchideous
Author: TheCrazyAlaskan
Fandom / Setting: Crossover - Harry Potter x Quantum Leap
Characters / Pairings: Hermione Granger, Trudy Calavicci
Rating: K
Genre: General, friendship
Warnings / Notes: Crack Pairing Game Prompt No. 584; crack crossover
Oh my God, the shit I think up. This was basically the thing I thought up in response to the prompt. xD I refuse to be ashamed of what I've done.
I put so much research into Trudy's wand. I pulled all of my information regarding core, wood type, length and flexibility from Pottermore; the detailing comes from the later movies, where the wand styles reflected their owners' personalities.
Hermione Granger, Harry Potter © JK Rowling
Trudy Calavicci, Quantum Leap © Don Bellisario