Sry about the broken 6.0 chapter (now fixed). Here's another one as an apology.
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Chap 6.1
I awoke abruptly as a stinging pain against my forehead brought back my headache. "Ouch!" I opened my eyes only briefly before shutting them to protect against the hail of little stones coming from the river. The proper, sane response of most teenage girls at this point would have been to start running the other direction. I wasn't a normal girl though and the repeated small but painful strikes had me angry and moving before I was even fully awake.
High sprays of water shot into the air as I forged boldly into the river. Soon I was in up to my chest with my shirt soaked-through, water chill against my human skin. My legs shot out in all directions, talons turning everything around me white as they slashed manically through the water.
With all my legs furiously attacking whatever had interrupted my sleep I was left with nothing left holding me up. Erratic leg movements kept me up for a few seconds but then I slipped under. When I came back up I was twenty meters downstream and drenched, but considerably more sane. Fury faded as I realized what I'd risked doing. Until I found someone willing to give arachnid swimming lessons it was a terrible idea to venture into water above my head, especially fast-moving water. Luckily I was quite a bit taller than the average girl. And, without gravity weighing me down, I could stretch out my legs far further than normal and use my talons to keep me from slipping further downstream.
I backed up on onto the bank before my talon anchors stripped through the sandy bottom. 'Just what was it that attacked me?' Whatever it was, it hadn't done much damage. It would be embarrassing if it turned out it was just overly large acorns from the tree above and I took it out of all proportion. All the hostile species I'd encountered must be making me -
"Owe!" The rock wasn't all that large but it got me square in the boob. The sting had me hunching over to protect against further attacks even as my talons bristled. Perhaps I'd been wrong not to opt for an underwire bra while adventuring.
Unlike before, I was thoroughly awake this time and able to trace the trajectory back to the perpetrator. The perpetrator and all his evil little furry friends. A solid dozen of them, all swimming away to the opposite bank before I got three steps into the river. "Come back here and let me eat you!"
Just by looking at them I could tell they were evil and worthy of being eaten. Those long, sleek tails, those little black noses and big whiskers and expressive eyes… 'Dammit, they're too cute to eat. No matter how much they deserve it.'
If I didn't know any better I'd say the band of miscreants was a bunch of otters. Honestly, for all the differences between the worlds it was arguably the similarities that were more astounding. Either the portal I'd accidentally created from misusing the time turner wasn't the first link between the worlds or convergent evolution was more common than I thought.
The sting of the last rock was fading and, with some effort, my ire. It would be nice to blame my anger on my transformation but I'd always had something of a temper. My rather over-dramatic response to their rock throwing likely had more to do with stress and lack of sleep than anything to do with my muddled species. 'And hunger,' I added after both my stomachs loudly growled.
I tensed as an otter broke the river's surface nearby. Instead of dodging a rock however I ended up catching a fish out of the air instead. 'No way… they've learned appeasement?' Otters were smart on Earth, even known to use tools in the wild, but this was on another level. Without being able to speak with them like I did the giant spiders I couldn't verify just how smart they were but they definitely had potential. Arda lacked the rampant magic of the magical world of Earth but it seemed to hold far more diverse societies than the muggle world.
I glanced at the tan-colored river fish. Hardly the largest meal but I was too hungry to be picky. Besides, if I didn't take the deal I was at risk of getting pelted by more rocks. "Thank you," I said begrudgingly. I still wasn't entirely happy with them for interrupting my nap in such a rude and painful manner but it would be pointless to antagonize the territorial otters further. All my strength and speed mattered little if I couldn't swim after them. Besides, the sun was low enough now to not burn my skin; there was no reason to stick to the shade any longer.
I kept a wary eye on the pack as I left but no more rocks were forthcoming. Two swam along eyeing me for a while to make sure I didn't turn around but eventually even they slipped back off downriver. It seemed I'd correctly interpreted their intentions with the rocks and the fish.
I turned my attention to the gift the surprisingly intelligent creatures had given me to leave. Save for some tooth marks behind the head where they'd slain it, it was quite intact. A fine meal for a wolf or bear or other wild creature - less so for me. I might be able to to muster a weak wandless incendio to create a campfire but it would without a doubt cost more energy than I'd gain from the little fish. Eating it raw though… for all my transformations I was still a teenage girl at heart. Admittedly I had fangs and was so carnivorous that lettuce now made me sick but still, it was a fish right out of the river. And sure, plenty of people ate sushi and I could barely get enough of the stuff, but that was carefully prepared and had spices and looked nothing like an actual fish.
My stomachs twisted so hard that I staggered, nearly falling into a pricker bush. Before I could think up any more excuses my instincts took over and my fangs sunk deep into its side with ease. For a moment I wondered if I should have at least taken the time to try and descale it but then I was swallowing a tasty, juicy bite and I just didn't care any longer. Smaller rib bones were crunched and swallowed nearly as easily as the meat. Soon all that remained was the skull and spine and a few odd fins. I tossed them aside, disgust at the blood on my face and hands warring with my satisfaction over the small but tasty meal. Then my elongated tongue made quick work of much of the blood until I at last gained the sense to wash the rest off in the river.
"Damn…" It was disgusting and I'd left a stain on my shirt but I was having trouble regretting the deed. I'd needed the nutrients quite badly, even the bones felt like they were needed. Though, considering all the damage my own bones had taken recently that wasn't so surprising. I healed faster than normal muggles and witches but I still needed a source of calcium to make the repairs.
Since my shirt was still wet from my dunking I was able to get much of the stain out but some of it stuck on stubbornly. I was half-inclined to take my shirt and bra off to give them a thorough scrub in the river but once off I knew I'd be reluctant to put the sopping-wet garments back on. Arda was largely a savage, untamed world, potentially devoid of truly human species, but there were enough humanoid species around to make me wary of going topless even in the failing light.
I set off again in slightly better spirits thanks to my meal, though I was well aware of how messy my appearance was. I tried for a time to comb my hair into something more orderly than a bird's nest but soon gave up. It was clear that without access to a comb, mirror, laundry room, and a small army of hygienic supplies I wasn't going to be meeting the standard of civilized society any time soon. And even then there was my spider half to deal with. After the dip in the river it was a smooth and perfectly dust-free black, but a bit too out there for even wizards and witches to accept.
The wood spiders would accept me, I mused. Wouldn't find me eating a raw fish strange at all. As for the stains, they'd more likely question why I was wearing clothes at all rather than make fun of my disheveled outfit. Would Harry and Ron be so forgiving?
'What would they think?' Melancholia struck as I realized how little I knew about how my old friends thought. I'd hardly noticed at first how much the time turner was separating us and now we were separated by a stretch of years that was difficult to overcome. It might be nice to reconnect with them… but it wasn't only years that kept us apart. Even from the start we hadn't meshed well, only my own desperate loneliness and Harry's politeness kept us together.
Puberty had added further difficulties communicating with the two boys that hadn't been as evident as eleven-year-olds. Ron was a bundle of false-machismo and sexual innuendo towards the girls of the grade, though not towards me. For me he seemed to harbor an unacknowledged crush that caused him to act like more of a jerk than ever. And as for Harry, well, he was annoying as well in his own oblivious way. I could actually see him as attractive if he were a couple years older but the annoying boy seemed to not even realize I was a girl, instead pining after Cho Chang like a lost puppy.
'I really need new friends.' Human friends, that could could keep me from drifting further than from humanity. Exploring Arda was as exciting and wonderful as it was terrifying, but I still wanted to be able to eat at a restaurant without being tossed out for bad table manners. A restaurant I'd have trouble getting in in the first place without casting layered illusions on my hindquarters, but still.
This wasn't the first time I'd resolved to make new friends but this year it had a solid chance of happening. I could already tell that the Triwizard Tournament was going to be a pain but on the plus side it meant dozens of new students at Hogwarts for the length of the year if I'd understood things correctly. Even better, they were all sixth and seventh year students, many of them less than a year older than me. The same was true of Hogwarts sixth years, I supposed, but with the foreigners my first impression wouldn't be as a teensy little eleven-year-old.