SUMMARY: When Hermione goes abroad she discovers a whole new face to the world of magic and is thrown into the chaos of a war that has been raging, albeit silently, for ages. On one end stand they who live to merely continue and on the other end stands the whole world. Severus Snape X Hermione Granger.
ERA: Call it AU, I'm completely ignoring Dumbledore's demise and that of Sirius and Lupin as well… Forget every book after HP and the goblet of fire, this fic was inspired by one of the greatest fan fictions I have ever read, go try it!
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, just so all of you know I do realise that someone from Japan would probably have TONS of problems with saying 'Hermione Granger' but let us just forget about that particular detail. And any Japanese words used will be explained at the bottom. Oh, and because I think it's a bit to impersonal I'm forgetting about the custom of calling people by their last name as well : )
PS: I just wish to tell all of you that all of my chapters writing style may differ, this chapter is written in first person perspective but the next could be third person for all I know. Remember, variation's good for the soul right?
Shades of grey
Chapter 01
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Hermione POV
God! I just couldn't believe it even though I knew it was true and I saw the evidence of truth just outside my window. It was a very big window and the view was magnificent. Though the view was magnificent and my apartment was very nice too I knew I had much work left, I still had some major unpacking and decorating business to do.
My apartments existed out of four rooms, a small kitchenette, a bathroom (with sink, shower and toilet), a medium sized bedroom and a pretty big living room all of the rooms separated by shoji doors. Just how I wanted it, a big, big, living room with a comfy couch and an armchair for my late night reading. I loved it, despite the fact it was all still very white but I would remedy that soon.
Though I wanted to get started as soon as possible on decorating my lovely apartment I had an appointment to catch with someone who was going to show me around my new school. I was thrilled, to say the least and as I sat on a hideous orange chair while the metro rattled around me I couldn't help but feel that I was the luckiest girl on the planet.
I, Hermione Granger, got a full scholarship for one of the most famous universities currently in existence, the Hakushiki University of Tokyo, Japan. I got off the metro after fifteen minutes and found myself on a short walk to the university. Strangely enough this university was accessible for non-wizarding folk as much as wizard and witches this was something I found even better as I could now pursue my favourite subjects to my hearts content.
« Hermione Granger? » a voice called and I turned around, startled. I had been following the high stone wall surrounding the main building searching for the entrance. When I had turned around I saw a woman coming towards me from the other end of the street she stopped right in front of me and gave me a smile and bowed politely. « Ohayougozaimasu! » the woman said. Luckily I had learned the usual necessities of the everyday language during the summer holidays so I knew that the woman had just greeted me. I gave her a smile back and a small bow « Ohayougozaimasu. » She grinned.
« I see you've already made yourself familiar with our customs, good. » she gave me another bright grin « Okay, I'm Fukao Dai and I'm the one who's going to show you around the university. » I nodded and got a good look at her. She had the regular dark hair of almost all the natives it was cut pretty short and a little messy. She wore dark rimmed glasses with jeans and a white shirt. « Okay! » the girl said cheerfully « this way! »
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Ariana POV
I opened my eyes slowly and let out a soft groan, tiny streaks of sunlight found their way through my window and the curtains that were supposed to block the bloody light out. I growled moodily and closed my eyes again, grabbing the pillow from under my own head and putting it on top. I needed sleep, seriously. Though I knew that hoping for a few more minutes of blissful sleep was foolish, she'd be banging on my door any minute now, yes, any minute.
When no banging came I blinked a few times, strange, she was late. I sighed and gingerly sat up rubbing the sleep from eyes. Even though she should have been banging on my door -and I was glad she hadn't for once- I knew I should get up. Work to do after all.
Slowly I lifted my feet of the bed and onto the cold stone floor, I shivered from the sudden change of temperature and suppressed the need to dive back in bed, beneath the warm covers. I hesitated a moment- wondering if I could get away with wrapping the blankets around myself- before standing up and grabbing some clothes out of my closet.
When I was finally done with getting dressed in a dark coloured jeans and black blouse with grey top underneath I sat down on the bed again and started to pull on my nice looking but very un-practical shoes. When I was done with those I decided that I was going to sit on my bed for another minute, recuperating from the early exercise. I yawned once, gave my cheek a good rub and stood up from my beloved bed and slid the shoji out of my way.
When I stepped into the deserted hall I heard muffled voices coming from downstairs. I fought the urge to go and have a peek of whom could visit us this early in the morning and instead turned to my immediate right and opened the door to the bathroom. Why my door was shoji and most of the others in the house weren't was really beyond me.
We had a pretty big bathroom with bath, shower and sink, the toilet was downstairs. As I stood before the mirror I took a good look at the damage that I had inflicted upon myself during the night. Yes, my face was screaming 'please let's just stop staying up so late!' but as usual I ignored the silent pleas.
This was all part of my usual morning ritual, splashing ice cold water on my face use some special made cream for… Well for whatever reason. When I was done with brushing my teeth and all the other mundane tasks I looked up at the mirror again and looked as good as new. I gave myself a soft smile, grabbed my glasses (simple black ones) and put them in the pocket of my long summer jacket. There, ready for the day to come and I went downstairs.
To my great surprise I found Trinity sitting at the table in our small kitchen, she had a serious look about her, even more so than usual. It made me a bit nervous, as far as I knew business had been going really well and seeing that I was the one who gathered information and such I should be the one who knew if there was any trouble first.
Trinity's black eyes snapped up to me as I sat down and poured myself a cup of coffee and grabbed one of the three remaining pastries. I liked days when Soleil went to get breakfast, we had western breakfast then, with lots of pastries like pain au chocolat and pain au raisins, truly divine. Trinity stared at me from across the table for a moment before returning to a piece of parchment she appeared so concentrated on.
I ate my breakfast in silence and wondered what in the world could be going on with the dark haired girl opposite of me. When she was finished reading she put down the piece of parchment and gazed outside the grimy window. The bleak light that filtered through the glass didn't reach the table we were sitting at even though it was a rather sunny day. When I finished my pain au chocolat and gulped down the rest of my coffee I stood up and went to the sink.
It was only after I had placed my plate and cup on top of everyone else's dishes and performed a quick charm with my light coloured wand to make them wash themselves and sat back at the table that Trinity decided to speak up. « I just got a letter, » she said and I waited patiently for her to continue when she trailed off. She just sat in silence for a moment, staring off into space until she shook herself out of her reverie. « Uhh… Here, read it. » She then said and threw me the piece of parchment.
As my eyes scanned the letter she stood up and grabbed one of the freshly washed cups and poured herself some coffee. She rubbed her sleek black hair and murmured. « Has he even heard the rumours? » I finished the letter quite quickly even though it was a pretty long parchment and it was covered in writing until the last few millimetres and the handwriting was tiny, not to mention messy. When I was done I sighed and took my glasses out of my pocket and put them on. « Guess I better get started then. »
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Severus POV
I still have to smirk when I remember the shocked faces of my students that day when I told them I was leaving Hogwarts for a still unknown period of time. I think the Gryffindors were about to faint. I gave a content sigh as my eyes scanned my private room for things I might have forgotten.
I was taking quite a bit with me to place in the apartment I had rented. I gave a curt nod to myself when I saw that I had everything with me. A simple charm later all the remaining things flew from their original places to an empty room. Alexandra could do with the rooms as she pleased, my things were carefully stored and locked away.
Alexandra, thinking of her made me smirk as well. I was a bit disappointed that I was going to miss her first few classes, seeing the faces of the students when confronted with the casual and self-assured witch would have proved amusing and Minerva's face. I didn't think she was going to like my replacement, Alexandra was the kind of free witch that Minerva usually disapproved of, especially if she was going to teach young minds, Albus was going to have the time of his life though…
Though I was disappointed in that aspect of my leaving I had an inkling that my journey was going to be pretty amusing. I almost couldn't wait, though I had to. I gave one more look around me before leaving for the Great Hall and my last dinner at Hogwarts.
When I entered the hall I noticed it was in an unusual subdued mood. Though subdued wasn't exactly the word, the students were all having muffled conversations. Ah, yes, the famous (or rather, infamous) Hogwarts Gossiping Mill had been put to good use, I told one class of fourth years and two hours later the whole school knew and it was a pretty big school. But I couldn't care less though and made my way to the Staff table.
Dinner passed rather uneventful though the whole student body seemed to be sneaking subtle glances at me when the tables were cleared and the last crumbs had all but disappeared from our plated students started to leave and I followed soon after going to make sure I'd done everything I should have.
After I had triple checked everything and was finally satisfied I went to my office and just sat there. In front of me lay a tower of seventh year essays on Ashwinder eggs and sixth year essays on the phases of the moon I wondered if I should correct them or leave that particular joy to Alexandra… As form of welcome, yes, a welcome to the hell of teaching dunderheads and reading their idiotic essays.
When I had sat glaring at them for a sufficient amount of time I came to a compromise, mark the first half now and leave the rest for Alexandra, yes, perfect. So I started to mark one stupid essay after another. The knock came after fifteen minutes of marking. As I put down my quill I said a quiet « enter » and the door opened slowly. Draco Malfoy stepped into my office.
I raised my eyebrows slightly, a bit surprised and gestured towards one of the chairs opposite of me. He sat down slowly, keeping his eyes downcast and purposely avoiding my gaze. « Mr. Malfoy, to what do I owe the pleasure? » I said, slightly sarcastic. The young Malfoy gave me a tiny smile that all but disappeared a moment later. « Um, I've heard that your leaving…? » I let out a soft snort and his grey eyes flickered to me, startled. « Yes, well, » I said « I think by now the whole school knows even if they've been living under a rock. » Malfoy gave me a small smile, a mere movement at the corner of his lips. « True then? » I nodded. « I'm taking a holiday. » I gave a soft shrug « I don't now when I'll be back. » he looked disappointed which I found odd « oh » came his sole reply.
I knew that the young Malfoy had become slightly dependant on me over the last year inwardly I sighed wondering how I was going to handle this situation. I felt responsible for the young man who sat opposite of me as I was the one who guided him from the Dark to the Light to put it in cliché terms and because of that he was also banned from Slytherin house common room spending his nights in an old broom closet. Though it had been expanded to fit a bed, small desk and wardrobe. His time between classes had been divided between going to the library, his room or the dungeons, usually helping me out.
« You can keep on using the dungeons, if you wish, Alexandra will have no objection. » I said finally after a long silence. He looked surprised « Alexandra? » he said « your replacement? » I nodded and he looked only a tiny bit relieved
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Alexandra POV
I was feeling tired, really really tired. I was glad I had booked a hotel room before getting on the damn plane how muggles could travel in something like that was beyond me but as there had been no wizarding ships heading to Britain I had had no choice but to come by plane. So now I stood somewhere in London with my trunk not knowing where my hotel actually was. Damn.
Seeing that the sun was beginning her descend I decided I had no time to stroll around London, putting everything on good old reliable luck to find my hotel. I turned around and spotted a victim. It was an old couple, one could see and determined I walked towards them. « Excuse me, » I said, always polite « Do you know where I can find Blakemore hotel? It shouldn't be far from Hyde Park, wherever that is… » I really didn't have a clue about London and Britain in general and I certainly didn't know anything about France and I didn't spoke one bloody word French.
« Nous ne parlons pas l'anglais. » the elderly man said. Oh, crap. I gave them a small -and I hope apologetic- smile. I quickly moved away and soon found my next victim. That victim was a middle-aged woman from Wales apparently who knew about as much as I did, concerning London.
I don't have to say that my mood worsened. I couldn't really help it, I am a grumpy sort of person after all. I was lucky that the next person I asked didn't know the Blakemore hotel but he did know where Hyde park was. I obediently followed his directions and soon found myself at the entrance of the park, it looked forbidding in the dark and even slightly creepy with a peeping swing somewhere.
I sighed and shook my head looking for some kind of life to ask where my bloody hotel was. I got lucky on the first try, this time and after no time at all I was standing in the entrance hall of the hotel. I was happy to be inside, nights in Britain were already becoming quite chilly.
I checked in and quickly went to my room so I could just fall on my bed and sleep. I was going to get up early the next morning and head to Hogwarts because I had an inkling that Severus was going to leave early and I wanted to at least say hi to him and hand him the message Ariana had send me earlier. I fell a sleep when my head hit the pillow.
I woke up early as I had wanted and ate a fast but filling breakfast and left the hotel. I stretched out my left hand (my wand hand) and the purple knightbus appeared before me I got on and paid the pretty young conductor telling him to get me to Hogwarts. I was lucky that it was so early and that there were very few people on the bus. So after a small hour and a half the knightbus left me at the gates of Hogwarts.
I looked up to the castle in the early morning light it had been many years since I had last seen the castle and it had been a short visit then but it had intrigued me nonetheless, I was fascinated by the castle, the magic within as much as its surroundings. That was the reasons why I had accepted Severus' request in the first place after came the fact that I like potions and kids. Though I was a little worried on how I was going to fit in, fitting in was a difficult task for one like me.
I opened the gates silently still immersed into my thoughts but I soon stopped my worried thinking and started to take in the sight of my surroundings. The grass was still wet with dew and a low sheen of mist was still sticking to the ground. The lake's surface rippled as the giant squid moved one of its tentacles lazily. I smiled, hoping I was going to get a chance to investigate that particular beast a bit and send the results of standard test to Anwar for Christmas, for the geek that he really was.
As I came closer to the castle I saw that the big front door was open and students were already out of bed and going to the Great Hall. I suppressed a smile as I saw Severus coming out, I was right on time. My suppressed smile was going to widen when I saw that the students were gaping openly at his back and at my arrival especially when we both stopped in front of each other.
« Sorry Severus, unfortunately I was on to you and came here a few hours early. » was the first thing I said. He sighed and I could see the corners of his lips turn up a bit. « So, hi, Severus, long time no see. » he inclined his head « It has been long. » I gave him a cheeky smile « Ah, here I was hoping for flowers or some kind of 'hello, it's been long I've missed your unmistakable bright presence' » he rolled his eyes at me and my grin widened slightly.
« Well, » he said then, sarcasm dripping of every syllable « what can I do for you? » I grabbed the thick letter that Trinity had send me and handed it to him. « I suggest reading it sooner then later, she seemed positively… irritated and I mean… Really, really » I trailed of and gave him another smile even though he didn't notice. He was opening the letter and pulled out the first parchment I couldn't help but notice that Trinity had written in big capital letters. After he read the first few lines he put the parchment back in.
« Save to say she's not very happy » he said, it in a cool voice and I raised my eyebrows « I'll pray that she doesn't kill you when she sees you… » he glared at me. « Well! » I then said, clapping my hands together « Guess asking for a tour of the school would be stupid and foolish at most? »
He didn't even deign to answer me.
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-Shoji doorsa shōji (障子) is a room divider or door consisting of translucent washi paper over a wooden frame. Shoji doors are often designed to slide open, or fold in half, to conserve space that would be required by a swinging door (Wikipedia)
-HakushikiExtensive knowledge (the university)
-Ohayougozaimasu: 'Good morning'
AUTHOR'S NOTE: If I forgot a translation please tell me so I can correct it and I'm also sorry if there are spelling or grammar errors in the story but just so all of you know, I'm not native English (I'm Dutch) and I'm still waiting until a beta magically appears… (Yes that's a hint…)
Also it's custom in Japan that you bow when you greet someone or when you apologize and so… And they use a suffix after the name and I'm going to explain them here already (but I'll add them in the following chapters as well.) and if I'm wrong please tell me.
-Chan: Usually used by girls, I think and only by close friends or… For example an elderly lady to her grandson or daughter. It can be used to address boys but is uncommon and also used by superiors to address inferiors.
-Kun: Same as the above but instead of girls using it to address each other it's boys now. Or a (male) superior to a (male) inferior and also used by close friends.
-San: Is for both male as female and is a little more formal for people that don't know each other very well or for a boss to an employee or an employee to a boss…
-Sensei: Used to address teachers.
-Sama: Used for people more up on the social ladder, if you get what I mean.
Well that's about it : ) So, thanks for reading and I'm hoping for some reviews…? (Yes, another one of my subtle hints)