Written for Cara. It's going to be a two shot or maybe three but the rest will have to wait.

Scavenger Hunt Hogwarts. Task: To write the AU I'm thinking of, you may need a crown, a scepter and a lavish palace.

Word count:1047

"Where are you going kid? It's dangerous at night in the forest." the old man told me.

"I am not a kid. I am twenty one" I said a bit upset that a stranger called me a kid. I was more a grownup than most grownups older than me, of course.

"Girl, you still are a child from my part. I only asked you because you are entering the king's land. And it's forbidden for mere commoners to enter. There are guards all over it. If they find you they will bring you over to the king and he will sentence you to death. He has no mercy." the old man finished with a sigh.

I couldn't believe my ears. But he continued , lost in a trance and didn't seem to see me anymore. He was staring at the horizon line looking a lot more older suddenly.
"King Tom is a cruel man. He loves to torture men and especially women. He takes them and..They never come back. And those who enter the forest...are lost to us forever. He has guards everywhere and nobody escapes. And it's the only way to get out of this. The way you came is closed now. You can enter, but you cannot exit. He is such a cold man with heart if ice. Still I feel only pity for him. Even though I had lost my whole family to him. My wife had tried to escape with my daughters through the forest in the time when he had requested all the young girls to come to the palace for... his pleasure. They were all killed and I, who had been acting as a distraction had been tortured until I almost joined them, but the king considered it was a better punishment for me to live with their deaths." A sole tear streamed do down his face;he whipped it out quickly and turned to look at me.

I didn't know what to say, I was.. I had ...

"Then, how can you feel only pity for him?" I managed to say. I couldn't understand. The king sounded as a horrible man and I also felt sorry for him, but I hadn't lost anything to him yet. I was wondering if he had a been king when I, as child, had left the kingdom. I cannot rember why, but I remember that I left my friend...

"Because I am old enough to rember a different time, girl. Things hadn't always been like , especially the young ones, forget quickly the good times, but we, the older ones do not. We rember that the then prince's cruelty and insanity, if I may add, had started 15 years ago. Why? We do not know. But we know he had been only a child himself back then. A sweet child. Something had changed him and we are morning the innocence loss. Because he had lost it. People nowdays only hate him or despise him. But I feel sorry for him."he finished staring at me, waiting for my reaction.

But I couldn't move. I couldn't even think. Fifteen years. I had been gone for fifteen years. From what I could rember anyway. And it wasn't much. I rembered my best friend back then, my parents' faces and I remember that I had to leave because something had happened, but I cannot rember what exactly. I just know that my parents hadn't come with me. And now, years later I suspected that they had been killed. I don't know why I thought that. Growing up my nanny had always told me that my parents were alright that they couldn't come with me and later to visit me, but they loved me very much. And I believed her. Until I grew up too and I had to leave her. I was no longer that innocent girl. I had many battles since then. I had faced more death and blood than a girl my age should have witnessed. I too, had lost my innocence, but you didn't see me as a coldblooded killer, did you? And I had made the transition from noble to commoner. How did I know that I had been a noble once upon a time? Because that's one a few things I rember clearly. A discussion I had with Tom, by best friend about how we were nobles and he more so than..

I froze. Something stirred my it be? I didn't dare to think what would happen if I was wrong. I couldn't even... I started running into the forest.

"Girl, what are you doing? Come back! Come back! You're too young!" the old man, whose presence I've forgotten, shouted ; I stopped and turned around to look at him

"Don't worry about me! I can fix this! And if I don't come back do not feel sorry or guilty in anyway. You had warned me. It is enough. What's your name?" I asked wanting something to hold too, if I was wrong."

"Miles."

"Well, nice too meet you Miles. I am Hermione de la Flora," I said, not knowing where the last part came from. I must be rembering things from before. I had never known my last name.

At the mention of my name Miles' eyes widened and he whispered"De la Flora?"

"Yes." I smiled."Do one thing for me Miles. Never give up hope." And with this I started running again.

And while I run trough the forest memories long forgotten started playing in mind my mind.

"Your majesty, here's our little daughter." her mother's voice sweet, but distressed.

"What's her name?" a cold man asked at her as she was some kind of disease.

"Hermione, your majesty. Hermione De La Flora." Her father stated proud.

"Hmm. She will be a good companion for the prince. Servant! Bring Tom here!" the king shouted at a servant who was standing near the door.

She was little, but she wasn't stupid. Her parents had explained her well what she was supposed to do. She had to be the Prince's friend.

Tbc