Disclaimer: still not mine. I only claim the plot.
When Hermione woke up she was disoriented to say the least. Her room wasn't blue, and judging by her internal clock the sun should be up. Suddenly she remembered. She was in her new house and the sun wasn't up because it was two o'clock in the morning in this new country she called home. Groaning, she realized that sleep would be futile as she had already got her usual eight hours, so she got up. She hadn't really paid attention to the décor in her room as she decorated it with a few spells the day before, so she took a good look around. The room was adequate in size with plush, tan carpet. The walls were painted a soft grey-blue and her bed was done all in white bedding. It was a luxurious queen, four poster bed with filmy drapes around it. She walked into her bathroom, which didn't have a door, she noted and washed her face. Hmm she thought, what to do at this ungodly hour? She thought for a moment and sighed knowing what she would do. She walked into her closet and changed into a black long sleeve top and black running shorts. She laced up her trainers, gathered her messy mane into a ponytail, grabbed her iPod, and slipped out the door.
Her new home was nestled in the woods so she just started running through them not caring where she was going because she knew she would always find home.
"Hermiioonnne!" whined Ron, "I love you and all so don't take this the wrong way, but we are lost."
"Oh honestly Ronald, I have never gotten lost in my life. I always know where I'm headed" she replied. "Okay miss genius, I just think that we should have found our way back by now." He replied huffily.
"Just through that small cluster of trees and we'll be there" Sure enough once through that cluster they had made it back to camp.
"It's scary how she does that" she heard him mumble.
She snapped out of her flashback and stopped for a moment. Once she caught her breath she continued running. Her legs started to burn, but she ignored it. During the war she had been forced to run for her life. Since the end, a mere month ago, she kept up this habit. It was one of those things that made her feel human again. Once her legs stopped burning they would numb, and once that happened she could run for hours on end. Through all the pain that she went through, this was one she repeated. She knew that once it passed she would be invincible and could run forever.
She could only see a hint of sunlight escaping from the tree tops as she collapsed to her knees. She took several deep breaths trying to regain some normalcy in her breathing. Once that was done she looked up and saw herself in some kind of meadow. She found a cushy spot in the grass and sat as the sun rose. It was cresting the tree tops when she realized that she had been there longer than anticipated. She rose to stand but fell down abruptly as her legs were asleep. "Oh for the love of Merlin" she whispered. She would just have to wait for the feeling to come back into her legs before she could find her way home.
She was waiting when she saw a lone figure emerged from the trees.
"Beautiful morning we're having isn't it" he said as he took giant strides towards her.
"Well if you say so" she replied softly. She looked up to see a hand offered to her. She looked at it warily.
"Let me help you up" he said, "that was quite a tumble you just took." She then accepted his proffered hand and noted how cold it was. As she got a good look at him she realized he was huge. He wasn't really tall he was just stocky, and built. He was strikingly pale with dark, curly hair and amber eyes. "So what's made you decide that this morning is totally awful, if you don't mind me asking?" he asked. "well," she started, "honestly I have no comparison." She stated. Suddenly his face split into a huge grin. "You're the new neighbor that just moved in then." She was shocked.
"Ho-Howw do you know that?" she stuttered out.
"Small town princess, small town." He might have continued rambling on, but she didn't catch a word of it.
"Oh honestly Harry stop encouraging him." She told Harry as he was shaking with laughter.
"Hermione you just need to accept the fact that you're a princess." Ron stated.
"You are really dense Ronald. How many times do we need to go over this; I am NOT a princess nor have I ever been. You really need to stop with that term of endearment. The whole order is starting to pick it up." She said in a slightly wobbly tone towards the end. Harry then grabbed her shoulders so she couldn't turn away from him.
"Hermione, it's not a bad nickname, and besides you are the Gryffindor Princess and everybody knows it. A princess is someone who everyone looks up to or wants to be, who is noble and loyal and cares for others. So let them call you a princess because in reality that's what you are.'' Harry then noticed her eyes shining. "Oh bugger, now you know that I'm not normally that mushy, so stop this argument so that I never have to repeat those words."
"Oh Harry," she said laughing, "and here I'd worried that you'd turned into a softie." "Only for my best friend Hermione, only for her."
She then saw a hand waving in front of her face. "You alright there princess, you spaced out on me." The boy-no-man asked.
"Oh yeah I'm sorry. Oh umm nice meeting you…" she drifted off.
"Emmett" he replied in a strong voice.
"nice meeting you Emmett, but I really should be getting back." She said wanting to get away.
"Let me join you…" he drifted off. Cunning, using my line against me she thought.
"Mione" she answered back.
"Let me join you, Mione, I wasn't kidding when I said we were neighbors. Plus it would look bad if our newest member of the town never made it back home." He said with a smile on his face.
"I don't appreciate the insinuation; I am perfectly capable of making it home safely. My friends used to joke that I was the only map they'd ever need." She said, slightly stiff.
"Now princess," he started.
"Mione," she interjected,
"Princess," he continued. He glanced down as he saw her face scrunched up in annoyance; he smiled a little, "what? It seems to be a perfect nickname for you so I'm not changing it now. Anyway I wasn't insinuating that you couldn't find your way home, I'm just saying it would make me feel a whole lot better if you let me run with you."
"Why is that?" she asked innocently. She then saw him glance backwards through the trees, when he turned back his eyed had slightly darkened.
"Wolves" was all he said.
A/N: whew chapter two is done. I worked really hard on that chapter so I hope you all enjoy. R&R and let me know what you think, and where you think this is going.
