Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter.

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High in the branches of an old oak tree sat a large cat, basking in the warmth of the early summer sunshine. The dappled light filtered through the canopy, highlighting the different shades of brown in its tabby coat. In the distance was the faint murmur of passing traffic. Cocooned beneath the oak tree's canopy the cat chose to focus on the more immediate sounds. A blackbird singing to its mate. The faintest rustle of the leaves in the almost-still air. Insects buzzing.

Suddenly alert, closed eyes cracking to focused slits, its tail flicking and ears twitching - something caught its attention. Rising cautiously from the branch, creeping down the tree with silent motions and stalking over roots, the cat searched to discover the source of the disturbance. Something was different. Something wasn't meant to be. Something was causing an unfamiliar tickle in its whiskers. Magic.

Not far from the base of the tree, a shallow puddle shimmered strangely. The cat crept towards it. The tingling in its whiskers grew stronger and it sneezed. It was an oddly clear puddle. There was no sense of danger, just the overwhelming feeling of something curious. Eyes narrowed in a decidedly un-catlike manner, it stretched one paw out towards the water. A single claw dipped in. With a splash, Hermione Granger landed in a puddle not far from the base of an oak tree.

The young witch groaned. "What in Merlin's name?"

She looked around warily. There weren't many things that could knock an animagus back into human form. None of them were inherently friendly. She stood up to examine the puddle that seemed to have caused her transformation. It was murky with disturbed mud and utterly unremarkable. There was no longer any sense of magic around it. She flicked her wand from it's holster and cast a series of diagnostic charms. Nothing. It was just a puddle. There didn't even seem to be any spell residue that could explain the odd shimmer that had so intrigued her when in cat form. Just to be sure, she transformed again into the bushy brown tabby. No strange shimmer or sparkle to be found. No tingling whiskers. No magical residue. There was, however, something wrong with the tree. To her human eyes, it had looked the same but the cat looked at the world a little differently. She couldn't find the branch she had been sunning herself on. Something was definitely wrong.

Her first thought was to return home to Grimmauld Place and search the library for anything it contained about odd puddles and disappearing tree branches. Harry might have an idea. Maybe there was something he learned in Auror training that she had never come across. Although explaining to him that she saw a strange, obviously magical puddle and couldn't restrain her cat form's curiosity enough to scan it with her wand before touching it would be embarrassing. At least it didn't hurt her, only knocked her human. Still, she was going to be laughed at for months…

Turning sharply on her heel, she apparated onto the top step of Number 12 – and bounced straight off the wards. Landing in a heap on the other side of the square Hermione suddenly understood that something a lot worse that a disappearing tree branch had occurred when she touched the puddle. Harry would never key her out of the wards.

Shortly after the end of the war, Hermione had travelled to Australia to find her parents and, hopefully, undo the memory charms that she had used to make them leave in the first place. Unfortunately, she soon discovered that she was too late. Just a month previously her parents had been travelling to Sydney on business when they were involved in an horrific car crash. Her father had died instantly, though her mother had clung to life for a few more days before finally succumbing to her injuries. Hermione returned to England, devastated, and Harry had immediately claimed her as his unofficially adopted sister and insisted that she come and live with him in the house he inherited from his godfather. They had lived together ever since - although she had spent most of the previous year at Hogwarts, finally taking her seventh year classes, while Harry was accepted straight into Auror training. Defeating a Dark Lord had some perks, after all.

Something was seriously wrong if the wards at Grimmauld Place didn't recognise her.

Turning on her heel again, Hermione apparated once more. This time, she appeared in an alley not far from the muggle entrance to The Leaky Cauldron. Despite her gut telling her that something really bad was happening, she refused to panic. Since she couldn't get home to Harry, she headed straight to her other best friend.

Ron hadn't lasted two months in Auror training. Despite turning over a new leaf and losing his lazy attitude to studying, the trauma of war left him unable to cope with the heavy course load while still mourning the loss of a brother. Instead, he moved in with George above Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and was proving to be an asset to the business in ways that none of the family could have predicted.

Her failed apparition to Grimmauld Place had made her cautious, however. Hermione chose not to use her family pass and apparate directly into the WWW staff room. She would go through Diagon Alley and enter the shop like everybody else. Entering from muggle London would give her a few extra minutes to straighten everything out in her head and figure out what she would say to Ron. George might be a better help, he knew all sorts of obscure magic – hopefully he was in a good frame of mind today and would be willing to talk.

As she walked the handful of streets towards the Cauldron, a part of her mind noted the almost unnatural lack of traffic on the roads but dismissed it as irrelevant. There was probably some roadworks further up keeping the traffic at bay. With a confident stride that in no way conveyed how she was feeling at that moment, she pushed open the door to the Leaky Cauldron and everything within her began screaming at the wrongness of the pub, despite there being nothing other than the usual hustle and bustle of a late afternoon in summer.

Almost immediately, Hermione had noticed the odd presence of Tom the barman. The toothless old man had retired after the war, but perhaps he was helping Hannah out for the day. It had happened a few times when she had to visit the midwife at St Mungos. Poor Hannah had been captured by Death Eaters and when she was finally tracked down and released months after the final battle they found her with more than a few scars and a baby in her belly. She wouldn't, or couldn't, tell them who the father was. There were several low ranking Death Eaters and Snatchers that had been hiding out in the old house where Hannah and a couple of Muggle girls had been kept, but others had visited during the war. Hannah had bravely accepted her 'little miracle' and refused to even consider other options, though she mourned the loss of her final year at Hogwarts. With incredible resilience, she had used the rather large sum of galleons awarded to those who had been personally tortured by Death Eaters to buy the Cauldron with plans to remodel it in a style much closer to The Three Broomsticks. Hermione had used her own compensation to help fund a home for war orphans.

A closer look at the pub made the sinking feeling in Hermione's stomach increase exponentially. All of Hannah's recent improvements to the décor were gone. She couldn't believe it had taken so long to notice, but she had only been through the pub a couple of times since the more drastic changes began and the sight of Tom at the bar again had distracted her. Looking once more at the old landlord, her eyes drifted to the man he was serving and the panic was back at full force. The truth she had unconsciously known since her arrival in muggle London was now jumping out at her, shouting down a megaphone and waving flags in her face.

Sat with his back to the wall at the end of the bar, two beady eyes fixed on her with a cautious stare, was a very much alive Alastor Moody.

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A/N - I hope you liked it! Please review and let me know what you think! I don't have a Beta yet, so feel free to point out any spelling mistakes or typos, too :)