IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE: Although this is NOT a crossover story, the school I'm describing in France is loosely based on the same model of St Trinians- kids taught all sorts of skills not taught in regular schools. They may not pass GCSE's but they know how to make a bomb. Although what I describe is much more rigid than that, and more educational, that's the background I had in mind.

Thank you so much for reading! Anyway, on with it!:

When Hermione was seven, she stared showing some strange symptoms.

Perhaps symptoms was the wrong phrase to use, but it's the terminology her parents used when they attempted to reach out to others. Their once confident, bookish young daughter, now had become a confident, bookish young girl who odd things constantly happened to.

Firstly, the boy who taunted her at school for her attitude towards school inexplicably found his hair turned pink. The same shade as the dress Hermione was wearing that day.

Then, when her mother refused her ice cream, Hermione had frowned at both her and the freezer, only for the door to fly open, and the ice cream fling out straight to her bowl. A content Hermione had continued as if this was perfectly normal, but her parents had panicked amongst themselves.

It continued. The cat that scratched her disappeared, the book that confused her had dancing pictures, the monkey bars had moved to catch her when she fell.

Yet Mr and Mrs Granger had no idea how to handle- or help! their young daughter. They spoke to as many people as they dared to, without having themselves committed to a mental asylum, but had no luck, and no answers. Hermione on the other hand, just seemed to have more and more happen to her, with absolutely no fear.

On a rare letter that Mrs Granger wrote to her sister, she mentioned one of the occurrences. It was something small, a daisy chain made by Hermione that she could have sworn grew on its own- but she must have been going mad, because that doesn't actually happen! and that was when everything suddenly changed.

Mrs Granger had spoken to her sister only sporadically over the last ten years or so, after she'd opened some bizarre school. It wasn't as if it was the school that was the problem, but the strange things on the curriculum, the amount of time it took, and the odd comments from the French equivalent of OFSTED. Instead of asking awkward questions about what on earth was going on, they'd just fallen out of touch a little. Mrs Granger was hesitant to take her child to a school that appeared to have more explosions than was healthy, and thus, their conversation had been stilted somewhat.

To her surprise then, her sister- named Phoenix, which Mrs Granger always found rather apt, that her sensible name (Jean), had resulted in her sensibleness, whereas her sister was called Phoenix for goodness sakes, and was a little bit mad, appeared less than a week after the letter was sent, her daughter in tow, insisting some rubbish about having Raven and Hermione get to know each other. When Mr Granger stuttered something about a spare room not being tidy, he received a 'Nonsense! I can tidy myself!' from Phoenix, followed by a stream of french complaints that Mrs Granger understood to be about men's odd decisions. Poor Mr Granger must have assumed the French was about him, having never learnt his wife's first language, but shuffled the absurdly heavy bags into the guest rooms all the same.

By the next morning, Phoenix had swept off to the park with both Hermione and Raven, the second breakfast was over.

'Come on Hermione,' Raven had encouraged, having taken an instant dislike to the young girl. 'We'll have such fun! I'll push you on the swings'.

Four hours later, she returned, encouraging the children to play in the back garden whilst she spoke to Mrs Granger.

'Jeanie,', Phoenix started, with a soft look that she recognised usually meant some sensitive news. 'I know what it is that's making Hermione different.'.

That was the beginning. Aunt Phoenix had already explained to Hermione that she was a witch, and after a long conversation with her sister, finally convinced her too. Phoenix herself wasn't a witch- but her eleven year old daughter Raven had just completed her first year at Beauxbatons. It would definitely seem that the women side of the family was the magical one, even if it skipped an generation.

Jean immediately agreed to let Hermione spend the summer with her older sister before Raven went back to school, so she could get used to what was causing her difference. Hermione never understood why her Mum never told her Dad, but she was an instant friend with Raven and couldn't wait to learn more.

Instantly, it was clear that Hermione was going to learn a lot. It was unlikely to be about her powers however. No, instead, the education came from the girls living at the school Aunt Phoenix ran. Most girls were magical, but not all. But nearly every one of them came out of the school career and went into work with a government, in some form of high paid, secretive job.

So whereas it was still a surprise to learn about Hogwarts, and an even larger surprise for her Dad, Hermione had spent at least half of every holiday at home in France since then. And it's a well known fact- Hermione Granger learnt fast.

That's what lead to the games that Raven and Hermione now played. Both had worked for governments due to their intelligence - Raven was quite happy as a spy, as glamorous as she could be, without muggle governments needing to know her fantastic camouflage was a well disguised spell here and there- and Hermione had fled the UK media attention, to flaunt it elsewhere, gathering information abroad to feed back to the government. It wasn't her first choice, but it got her gorgeous places to stay, a fair few parties, and a sense she was still fighting for justice.

That's what prompted the games though. Both loved trying to best each other and try new skills. Hermione knew she'd only got through the recent trial so easy because she'd been willing to try both muggle and wizarding methods, whereas Raven favoured wizarding. It was their way of keeping in touch though, of making sure even though they weren't able to speak face to face without arising suspicion, they could still exchange letters. If one caught wind that the other was in the same country, a message would be sent with a location, and the challenge therein was not to get caught. So far, Hermione was winning- she'd been caught once in Russia, and forced to spell her way out of the situation, whereas Raven's impulsiveness meant she'd been caught four times.

Whether this counted being 'caught' or not was another matter, Hermione mused in the present day, for Raven had set it up so that she would meet the twins, clearly unaware she already knew them. She'd never discussed much of her home life with her, enjoying the escape of the safe haven the French boarding school offered her.

'Well, her letter certainly explains some things. Not enough though', she finally said to the boys. 'Why were you looking for her to work with you in the first place?'

'We needed someone for outside-the-box-thinking. And who better than someone who regularly goes off the grid for money?' Spoke Fred.

'And, let's be honest we do have a soft spot for rule breakers.' George said with a cheeky grin.

'And how on earth did you find her in the first place?' Hermione questioned, frowning slightly.

'It wasn't necessarily a case of finding her-'

'-More she found us'

'Or more specifically-'

'Me,' finished George. He looked somewhat sheepish.

'One at a time please boys, it's been a long night. What do you mean?' Hermione slowly began rubbing her temples. It wasn't the boys that troubled her, but the shift from the persona she'd remained in for several years, to returning to the Hermione she was used to. Secrets from these guys was nearly impossible, which felt a little strange to her.

'George dated her for about a year'. Fred replied, grinning widely. 'They broke up mutually, that neither had enough time to dedicate to the other, especially with her jetsetting off to track down criminals and the like..'

The revelation hit Hermione. She'd known Raven was dating someone she really enjoyed seeing, and knew the breakup was a joint decision, but she'd taken it badly, but it said a lot for their lifestyle that she'd never known it was a Weasley.

'Right. And you wanted her to do what?'

'Help us with products. We supply to the ministry now, so theres that. We're helping with spy kits and auror kits across the board too, so anything we can create or trial that will help is vital. Raven couldn't commit to staying in one place for any long period of time, but she said you might be interested.' George said.

'And wouldn't it be great Granger?' Fred asked. 'You could come back to England. Everyone misses you. You could stay with us at the shop, or Mum wouldn't mind if you stayed at the burrow! We'd pay you what you're getting now, and then some. The business is more successful than we ever dreamed of, and now we want to fight Dark Magic- literally, this time, not just with laughter'.

'Don't belittle the laughter', Hermione retorted instantly. 'Laughter was even more vital in the war than the physical stuff. Sure, Harry had to kill Voldemort in the end, but if people didn't laugh, or have hope- like you gave them with the radio- we'd never have succeeded at all'.

The boys seemed a little stunned by that, with the same face they had when Hermione had complimented their magic one time. Before they had a chance to respond, Hermione began speaking again:

'I'll consider your offer'.

The boys looked delighted. 'BUT,' She emphasised, holding up a hand, stopping them from speaking again. 'It's a consideration only. I'm bored of travelling now and a little stability might do me good. I refuse to commit to a time period. And I have my own flat. You can send a copy of the contract there and I'll look through it and see if I agree to your terms.'.

'Geez Hermione, you don't have to be so formal… Like, its us? It's not terms, its how you want it to be. We're practically family.'

For some reason, Hermione winced at that statement.

'I've not agreed to it yet, so we'll stick to the formality', she said. That, she thought, and I haven't spoken to a friend in a few years, so formal is all I've got. 'I'll send you the address, and let you know within a week'. Deadlines were good for clarity, she thought.

The twins didn't really seem to notice.

'Right, so we'll book a table for the Time Turner on Friday at 7pm. You can join us for dinner, we'll hear your decision, and then we'll have cocktails or whatever beverage you fancy.' Said George.

'How does that sound?' Fred questioned.

Rather than responding, Hermione nodded, putting a quick enchantment on her letter to stick it to her wand, before retuning it once again to her holster. She stood, with a small smile for both of them, and went to leave.

'Oy Granger!' She heard, before she reached the door. She turned to see Fred grinning at her.

'Just an idea, but we don't have to waste a good hotel room. I could always kick the less-blessed-with-looks-twin off of the balcony and we could have a fun night in.' He offered cheekily, waggling his eyebrow suggestively.

The tension broke. Hermione burst out laughing.

She didn't respond to his offer, but continued to laugh as she left the room, a wave to the boys before she did.