Chapter 1: Just Off The Grounds

Note from the author: This is my first fanfiction in years and years, but I like posting and updating frequently. In other words, this first chapter will probably stink so be prepared for it to be updated quite often as I continue the story. I love Harry Potter and I love the storyline of Fruits Basket (or Furuba), and I wanted to collide the worlds in a way where I can take the Sohma Curse and cast it on my favorite childhood characters in the wizarding world.

[Disclaimer: I neither own Harry Potter nor Fruits Basket storylines or characters. Those are the property I believe of J. K. Rowling and Natsuki Takaya respectively.]

Wind gently disturbed the branches of the oak trees nearby and at the same time seemed to wake up the morning. Hermione Granger, a short, scrawny bushy-haired twelve-year-old, pushed back the flap of her sleeping bag and forced her eyelids open. She had been dreaming of a warm king-size with 850-thread sheets and a down-filled comforter, four poles around her and a canopy above. In this dream she was rather undisturbed except for her mother, slumbering next to her as she did some nights. Her mother, who had envious thick, dark brown stick-straight hair even when she hadn't combed it in days, tended to sleep hard and long, but she always woke up just in time for work or wherever it was she needed to be. Sometimes Hermione would have to get up and prepare breakfast, but not until after she had stared at her mother's complexion for a good while and taken the chance to soak it all in. In this dream she had prepared her mother some whole-wheat french toast(better for the teeth) and fried eggs, her favorite morning meal, and returned to the elegant bedroom which they had shared last night. To Hermione's dismay, her mother was no longer in the bed, which was now perfectly made up on the side where she had supposedly been sleeping. The bed looked as though only one had been there last night. Hermione set down the tray of food and searched every room, but the house was getting smaller, and the walls were quickly turning into a blue polyester-nylon material. She fell into the bed and closed her eyes, only to open them to see her beautiful mother's smiling face right next to her. She picked up the picture frame and held it to her heart; she was safe in her tent, with her school-books, her luggage, and her dearest photo.

Hermione held the wooden frame to her lips and gently whispered, "I miss you, mum."

Being up rather earlier than she had planned, Hermione rummaged around in the dim light of the sunrise to attempt to find her school robes. It had been about a month since she had began her first year at Hogwarts, and, not being able to afford to live within the dorms of the school quite yet, she had moved just outside of the school grounds, close enough to Hogwarts where she could walk every day and arrive just in time for classes. She had taken a job as an assistant to Madam Pomfrey at the Hospital Wing a few nights a week in order to earn enough money to pay for housing once the late autumn and winter months began to set in. The real reason why she was living inconspicuously was because her mother had recently passed away. Just as she had received her Hogwarts letter confirming that she was a witch, her mom had been the victim of a serious car crash, leaving Hermione a true orphan. Her father had died when she was a baby, and so her mother had been the only close family she had left. Over the summer, Hermione had lived with her father's father, Hugo Granger, but the truth was, she barely knew him, and to live with him any longer would have been a terrible inconvenience, as he also had her aunt, uncle, and cousin living with him. Her mother had left her a small fortune, but she was to inherit this money when she was 18. That being seven years from now, she knew that she would have to make due on her own until then. Camping just off the grounds was a temporary option. Hermione Granger had always received exemplary marks in whatever she did, and so she knew that she would be all right living on her own for a little bit.

Despite good grades and an endless curiosity for knowledge, brushing her bushy hair after a night in a sleeping bag was a task. Strands seemed to weave themselves together while she was unconscious, and the amount of time it took to look presentable seemed to directly correlate with how tired she was. Finally holding up her handheld mirror and satisfying herself somewhat, Hermione grabbed her book bag and unzipped the tent to creep outside. It was a bit foggy, but she could just make out a ray of sunshine through the trees. Shivering, she decided to step back in and grab a dark grey woolen sweater. It was getting chillier outside, which didn't bode well for her financial situation. She knew she could only last so long out in weather like this; she hadn't learned any spells that would be helpful other than maybe a little bit of fire. She imagined accidently lighting a bush and losing all confidence when trying to extinguish it; magic was still new to her and not simple to understand.

Hermione stepped as lightly as she could through the morning woods, but that didn't stop her trail from being loud with crispy leaves and rustling branches. Perhaps arriving at school early would allow for some extra study time in the library. She was sure Madam Pince wouldn't mind. Or else she could possibly find an empty classroom to rehearse melting spells; it wouldn't be difficult at this hour. But it was hard to think of spells just now. The smell of autumn turning into winter reminded Hermione desperately of the strolls that would undoubtedly take place in the evening due to a student's and a dentist's schedules. At the time she wasn't truly fond of them; however, her mother would drag her out almost every day for a calming release of stress, and to be able to walk again with her was something Hermione never dreamed she'd long for. Some of the most profound, relaxing, and trusting conversations had happened in that safe environment on the back roads near their home.

It wasn't long before Hermione realized she was on a slightly different path than she usually took to Hogwarts. The scenery drastically changing did not help her sense of direction at all. Through the trees, a small-looking building appeared that she had never seen before. As Hermione got closer, she realized that the small building was actually an elegant mansion, surrounded by beautiful trees and small rivers running in a few different directions. The landscaping was marvelous; Hermione wondered if maybe whoever lived here was very wealthy. Feeling a little intimidated, she was about to walk away; but something caught her eye at the last moment. A small set of what appeared to be painted animal figurines was lying on the front porch in a sunspot. Nostalgia filled her soul as she briefly reminisced about a very similar set she had painted with her mother, although they were a little less ornate and much more child-friendly. Before she knew it, she was two feet away from the porch, staring at the delicate Chinese writing sketched onto each animal figurine.

"Ah, do you know much about the Chinese Zodiac?"

Hermione jumped a couple feet back from the porch, landing on her rear end in the cold grass. "Oh, I didn't mean to startle you," laughed a tall, fair-skinned man with beautiful but shaggy black hair hanging just above him jawline. He was dressed in dark, striped wizards robes, which seemed to suit his sophisticated yet comical aura. She would have had to say he was handsome, really, with a youthful grin that seemed to cancel out his laugh lines and his full mustache.