That's what friends are for (closed to George - And ANNIE! [arrival!])

[chosethem]

Really, Mitchell wasn't that surprised that Hermione had a boyfriend. She was Hermione (and didn't she marry Ron? He couldn't remember). But after exchanging messages, he headed to the Black Sheep, he ordered shots and beer, settling into a booth. Poor George. He had shite luck with women (except Nina of course. Whom Mitchell wouldn't bring up).

Comments

[needmoretea]

NO!

This couldn't be happening. That voice couldn't be coming through the radio, taunting Annie and egging Saul on-- he couldn't be trying to drag her toward the Door as she fought him with everything she could muster-- it wasn't her Door-- she bit Saul and managed to get loose, though she was still trapped.

Then, George was pounding on the room door, he and Annie both trying to get it open with no luck, and Saul managed to peel her away, hauling her toward the Door-- Annie screamed for George--

--and stumbled backward as she found herself on a pavement, in what appeared to be a village. Catching her breath, she looked around uncertainly. This wasn't death; she'd seen that before. There was no corridor, no men with sticks and ropes, nothing like that. Just... a street.

What had just happened?

[chosethem]

"It will get more mental sounding before it gets better," Mitchell laughed.

[timeothemonth]

"Downright mad that you might think we should be committed," George added with a sure nod. "Like the hotel knowing you're going to arrive, and it will have a room ready and waiting for you."

[needmoretea]

While Annie wasn't entirely convinced that having them sectioned was a bad idea, with the way they were talking, that they didn't seem too worried helped her relax.

Finally, she had to laugh, and threw her hands up a little. "Sure, why not? A hotel room for a ghost who doesn't sleep-- makes as much sense as anything else."

[chosethem]

"Right," Mitchell said as they walked. "So this place is called Haurvatat and people are from all over. I had coffee with Guinevere." What! He could brag. "And George here is friends - " And friends only alas - "with Hermione Granger, who, it turns out, is real!"

[timeothemonth]

George was nodding his head sagely. "She's helping me with," and he leaned toward Annie to whisper, "the wolf." Before pulling back. "Mitchell is taking dance lessons from a girl he fancies, too." He grinned wide at Mitchell.

[needmoretea]

Annie's laugh was a little more forced then. Either they were winding her up, or they actually had gone mad, and she doubted they'd try to have one over on her right after meeting up. Well, she'd stick with them through their madness, of course, and she straightened a little at the thought. She'd care for them and make sure they didn't hurt themselves (or anyone else, at George's time of the month and making sure Mitchell didn't slip up), and see to it that they were completely cared for. She'd be like their nurse, but without the medical training.

When it occurred to her that they were mentioning friendships and dance lessons, imaginary people aside, Annie exclaimed, "How long have you been here?"

[chosethem]

"I was here a week, then George arrived, then you arrived a week later. They spaced us out like that, really," Mitchell said almost conversationally. "We have to get jobs - they're going to cut off our tabs soon enough, I expect." He was just so glad Annie was here, he was babbling some.

[timeothemonth]

"Jobs, Annie! And we don't mean being Colin Firth's babysitter." He nodded. "Real jobs. Even you!" But then it dawned on George that people might not see Annie.

He hailed a npcman walking along the street and asked him, "excuse me! But - but can you see her?" Pointing to Annie.

The man looked right at Annie then gave George a scowl (and a nod!) before walking away again.

[needmoretea]

A couple of weeks; that wasn't so bad. At least they'd managed to look after themselves for that long, but they had her now, so everything would be all right. Except... jobs. What sorts of jobs might there be for the insane?

She was about to ask why she couldn't be Colin Firth's babysitter, if they were having coffees with Queen Guinevere and wolf-chats with Hermione Granger, when George suddenly accosted some poor man on the street. Oh, dear; being her friends' sort-of-nurse was going to be harder than Annie had thought. "George!" she hissed under her breath. "I'm solid now, remember?"

[chosethem]

Solid?

But that meant ...

Mitchell looked over at George. Annie was from their past. How did that work?!

[timeothemonth]

"Oh God." George mumbled. That meant that he was the one who knew most about what had happened to all three of them.

All the more the mention of what he did to Mitchell, FOR Mitchell, he had to keep secret.

"Ah, yes - yes - I seemed to have ... forgotten?" He gave an unsure grin. "Come on. We're almost at the hotel."

[needmoretea]

"Thanks?" Annie eyed George, taken aback that he'd forget such a big thing in her life. Afterlife. Whatever.

"Oh, jobs-- jobs!" Suddenly, she stopped, grabbing Mitchell's sleeve. "Hugh's going to be expecting me at work! And what about our house? What'll happen to our house if we're all here?"

[chosethem]

"We'll go back, right to where we left from," Mitchell was quick to assure her, grinning. So Annie! "I guess no one even knows we're gone."

[timeothemonth]

"Yup. If I ever get sent back, I'll still be in bed with Nina," George said with a nod. "They say, too, that we're brought here to accomplish something or to learn a lesson. No one seems to know what the lessons are supposed to be though. It's a mystery."

[needmoretea]

Mitchell seemed at ease with that explanation, but Annie wondered how much of it had to do with wherever they were, and how much was the madness. "That makes no sense," she started to say, wondering how they could go back in time after being here, but broke off to wrinkle her nose at George. "Too much information!" she protested. Though, it did occur to her that his comment also meant Nina wasn't here. Yet? Still, poor George; that couldn't be helping his mental state. No wonder he was thinking he'd talked to Hermione Granger.

She blew out a breath at their apparent reason for being here. "Well, I know one thing I've got to learn: no more unsuitable men. I'll make them all, I don't know, take an psychological evaluation or something before I even talk to them." Oh, no-- she shouldn't have mentioned psychological evaluations. That was rather insensitive of her, wasn't it?