CHAPTER 1:

CONTEMPLATIONS IN COSTA DEL SOL

It was very hot, Hermione reflected as she sipped at her cool drink. Even on another world, a sun-kissed beach resort town was still going to be hot. It was probably just as well: her parents, and to tell the truth, herself, were reassured that, despite the fact that they were on another world where magic and technology existed side by side, she had met a talking mountain lion, a bulky, red-clad man with makeup and a hammy disposition, and one of her best friend's mother figures was an alien entity who was also once a genocidal monster, there were things that were refreshingly mundane and normal.

Shortly after coming back to the Planet, Sirius Black had taken them to Costa del Sol and had bought, using gold he had changed much of his fortune to, a villa once belonging to President Shinra, the late (and unlamented) father of Rufus Shinra, whom Hermione had only met briefly. Rufus had reminded her a little of a grown-up Malfoy, albeit with less haughtiness and more of a collected nature. And he had acted politely enough, though he had to whisk Harry, along with many of those she knew from the Planet, away.

With Rufus' help with the paperwork, Sirius was, before their first day on the Planet was out, the proud owner of the Shinra villa, though he was calling it the Black Shack. Despite being called a villa, it was actually large enough to house those coming over here to the Planet on holiday quite comfortably, for which she was grateful.

Harry and the others were currently over at Midgar, the ruined city that had once towered above all others. They had recently contacted them, and told them that they had found a secret army Shinra had created: Deepground. Thankfully, Deepground were willing to work with Rufus Shinra, in case Sephiroth came back. Sephiroth seemed to inspire the same kind of dread that Voldemort's name did, though ironically, Hermione got the impression that Sirius, Jenova, and Harry, who had encountered both, considered Sephiroth scarier, even though they spoke his name with impunity. In any case, Harry and the others would be back this evening. Sirius had used Apparition to come back earlier.

The Weasley twins were off to the beach, especially once they saw some of the women strutting by wearing skimpy swimsuits. Ron, Neville and Ginny were playing with some kids in a nearby square, playing something like soccer, while Remus Lupin was supervising. Her parents had also left to see the sights, which meant that, at the moment, Hermione was alone in the house with three adults and a child. The adults were Sirius Black, Severus Snape, and Xenophilus Lovegood, with the child being Luna Lovegood, Xenophilus' daughter. Luna had also admitted to Hermione and Sirius, privately, that she was a Jenova hybrid, like Harry or Sephiroth.

Hermione didn't quite know what to make of the girl. She was strange, and kept talking about non-existent creatures. But you also got the impression of a mind that was quite strong and substantial in its own light. Indeed, Hermione was surprised to see an hour earlier the sight of Snape (albeit grudgingly) and Luna having a debate about potions ingredients and their preparation. Plus, unlike Jenova, Luna seemed harmless, perhaps being a gadfly at worst.

Hermione was currently studying the next year's texts. Not as comprehensively as the ones she had studied prior to coming to Hogwarts, but she wanted to be as ahead of the 8-Ball as possible, and she was interested in them. So it was to her surprise when the resonant, nasal tone of Snape said next to her, "A valiant effort, Miss Granger, but in many respects, a futile one."

She looked up sharply at the dark-haired man with the prominent hooked nose and generally sardonic demeanour. Unlike Hogwarts, the man was dressed in Muggle clothing: dark jeans and a dark collared shirt. He still carried the gravitas he had as a Potions Master here.

Stamping down her annoyance at his choice of words, she asked, "In what respects, Professor?"

"Your desire to show to your peers, especially my Snakes, how good you are," Snape said, bluntly. "A desire to learn academically, especially in a useful field, is never futile. But to receive acclaim from your peers is another matter entirely. To many of those in Slytherin, you will remain an uppity Muggleborn, though they would use the term Mudblood."

"Mudblood? Is…is that what they call Muggleborns?" Hermione asked, scandalised.

"Yes, and be thankful you haven't heard it yet," Snape said. "It is a vile, offensive term, equivalent to many racial slurs you've doubtless heard, and yet, many in my House would throw it around casually, because they do not give a damn about your ability and talent as a witch. All they see is an upstart, little better than livestock. One with mud coursing through their veins."

"But…that is…"

"Cruel? Offensive? Of course it is, girl!" Snape sneered. "And it is also widespread! Xenophobia exists amongst all human beings, it is not unique to wizards and witches! Look at Black! He is one of the few exceptions from his family who didn't have a similar attitude. His brother and one of his cousins were amongst the Dark Lord's servants, and another cousin is Malfoy's mother. Is it any wonder they believed he betrayed the Potters so readily? Our people merely thought he was going back to type. And once upon a time, I shared those views. As I fell into them, only one person tried to keep me out of the darkness, and I called her that vile word in a moment of anger, shattering our friendship forever. That friend was a woman you would have loved to have met, Granger. Lily Evans. Harry's mother."

Hermione noted that he didn't say 'Potter'. "You were friends with his mother?"

He nodded. "We grew up in the same town, Cokeworth. Admittedly, I was from one of the poorer parts of town, Spinner's End. I was the first to realise she was a witch. We became friends, and we went to Hogwarts in the same year. She also happened to catch the eye of…Potter." He spat the name out as if it was venomous. "It wasn't until after I had driven her away that she ever deigned to return any of his advances, though he at least became better at them." He glanced at Hermione. "She debatably had the finest mind of any witch of her generation, but that made her even more of a target for the Death Eaters."

"…Are you trying to scare me from doing the best I can, Professor?"

"No." Snape looked at Hermione. "I would be immensely disappointed if you didn't try your best, and indeed, that means more than verbatim regurgitation of your texts. But don't do it for recognition, at least not from your peers at Hogwarts. That is a lost cause, save for perhaps within Ravenclaw: they do admire those who achieve great things outside their House, even if they fume a little at not getting you there. Do it for yourself, and if you still wish to be recognised after you leave Hogwarts, then be prepared to fight for it every step of the way. Blood means more than talent in our world, I am sorry to say."

It was a harsh truth. But Hermione was grateful Snape had been so frank. Eventually, she asked, rather tentatively, "Sir, I'm sorry if this is rude, but I'm curious: what are you, blood status-wise?"

For a moment, she thought she had made a critical error. Snape stiffened, and seemed about to rebuke her angrily, before he calmed himself. "It was rude, Granger, but if it will satisfy your curiosity, I am a Halfblood, like Harry. However, whereas Harry had a Muggleborn mother and a Pureblood father, I had a Pureblood mother…and a Muggle father. And they didn't get on well."

The last had the air of considerable understatement, and Hermione said, "I'm sorry to hear that, sir."

"Your sentiment is automatic, but appreciated all the same," Snape said. "Actually, I used to call myself by the nom de plume of the Half-Blood Prince. Eileen Prince was my mother's name. Because of my blood, and because I came from a poor background, I had to fight my way to get where I am now. And even then, that's not much: I have to teach a load of dunderheads. I want to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, but that damned curse…Dumbledore doesn't want me out of his sight, you see. And if I do manage to take the position, then something fatal might happen. It did to Quirrell."

"Speaking of which, who is our next teacher?"

"Jenova's still the assistant teacher, as far as I am aware, and she is certainly adequate for the position." Hermione felt this was high praise coming from Snape. Then again, considering that Jenova could technically be classified as a Dark Creature herself, she was certainly more than qualified in many regards. "However, Dumbledore has decided to hire Gilderoy Lockhart."

Hermione's eyes widened. "The famous monster hunter? I'd read a couple of his books when I first learned about magic, and saw a couple in Flourish and Blotts'. They were really interesting."

"I'm sure they were, for a mish-mash of plagiarism and fiction," Snape remarked snidely.

"What?"

Snape sighed quietly, before saying, "Lockhart was probably the only person willing to teach this class this year. Dumbledore has noticed…irregularities. He realised that a few of Lockhart's accounts were similar to accounts he knew from a couple of personal friends. He visited them, only to find they could not remember their deeds. And he found evidence of Memory Charms. And truth be told, if you compare some of the times he claimed to perform the deeds he did, he would have had to have been in two places at once. Not completely impossible for a powerful wizard, but you would have to be on par with Dumbledore or Voldemort to do so. And I knew Lockhart when I was at school. He was some years below me, admittedly, but he was determined to make his mark. However, he was little more than a strutting narcissist. He had some small skill, but mostly geared to making himself look good."

Hermione stared at Snape. The man had effectively knocked Lockhart off a pedestal, though she did resolve to read through the books again and note down times and places. For a moment, she wondered whether Snape was having a case of sour grapes, before dismissing it. She could ask Dumbledore later. That being said, there was something to consider. "Why let him teach, then?"

"To expose him. With Jenova as an assistant, there's no fear that you won't get any education, and for all the narcissism in his books, they do have some truth to them, as they were garnered from the life experiences of other monster hunters. But I can tell you that the Homorphus Charm is only a temporary measure against werewolves(1). Wolfsbane Potion is much better, anyway."

Before Hermione could offer an opinion either way, the door to the villa opened, and Harry, Aerith, Remus, and Jenova came through. "Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, going over to him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, except that some crazy woman wants to duel me at the Golden Saucer," Harry said.

Hermione blinked. "Wait, what?"

Jenova chuckled. "Deepground, or rather, their officers, the Tsviets. For a bunch of super-powered sociopaths, they're not too bad. Of course, one of them, Rosso the Crimson, wants to fight Harry. Not to the death: she's a bloodthirsty bitch, but she seems to understand that killing Harry might not go down well with us. They've got some interesting types there."

"So," Sirius said, coming over, "should I expect more guests?"

"Not to sleep here, but three of the Tsviets are coming to Costa del Sol. Rosso the Crimson, Azul the Cerulean, and Shelke the Transparent. Nero the Sable and Weiss the Immaculate are staying at Deepground HQ."

Snape frowned. "Are these people named after colours?"

"I think with Shelke, it was coincidence. Happy accident for Shinra, not so happy for her," Jenova said. "She's having a reunion with Shalua Rui, her sister. It was a bit bumpy at first, but Shelke's getting better after venting a little. Her attitude has gone from 'Cryogenic' to merely 'Frosty'. I think, Snape, that you and I should teach Shelke the ways of the deadpan snark."

Aerith facepalmed. "Please, Jenova, you are not helping the situation."

"Why? I found that I enjoyed teaching at Hogwarts," Jenova said with a broad grin. "And I want to teach more than Defence Against the Dark Arts. They should have 'Deadpan Snarkery' as an optional course at Hogwarts. You'd do well as a teacher in that, Snape."

Snape merely said, "I would rather teach my students, if I have to teach at all, something useful."

"Ooh, see? He's a natural," Jenova said. "What about private tuition?"

"And give up the best insults in my arsenal?" Snape asked archly, apparently getting into the spirit of it.

It was at this point that Sirius came over. "I don't like that red colour on that door," he muttered. "What should I paint it?"

"I see a red door, and I want it painted black," Snape snarked.

Sirius blinked, before looking at Snape. "I can't believe it. Did you just make a Rolling Stones reference? Come on, make another one!"

Snape shrugged, and walked off. "You can't always get what you want."

Sirius and Lupin looked at each other in astonishment, before they began howling with laughter. Severus Snape, of all people, had made snarky references to the Rolling Stones! Hermione shook her head, before she remembered something. Something odd that had occurred earlier today.

"Hey, Harry," she said. "Some strange man came to the front door just before Sirius came back, gave me this scroll, and left."

"What? Did he give a name?"

"No. But I don't think he was a wizard. He was all clad in red, had makeup like…" She realised she had seen it before. "A bit like Kabuki makeup. You know, Japanese theatre. He also had a lot of swords."

Harry, after the scroll was checked over by Sirius and Remus for any traps, opened it up. In bold crimson letters, a message was writ, along with a time and date:

THIS IS AN INVITATION, AND A CHALLENGE TO ONE HARRY GAINSBOROUGH, FORMERLY HARRY JAMES POTTER! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL AT THE GOLDEN SAUCER'S BATTLE SQUARE! DO NOT FRET, FOR YOUR FRIENDS WORTHY OF CHALLENGE AND THOSE OF DEEPGROUND HAVE ALSO BEEN GIVEN INVITATIONS TO FIGHT!

FROM THE GREAT AND MAGNIFICENT GILGAMESH!

Harry blinked as he looked at the invitation. Quietly, he muttered, "What fresh hell is this?"

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

So, the first chapter of Holiday. With Snape being a mentor, of all things, to Hermione. Of course, canon Snape would probably not have done this, but my Snape is actually beginning to give a shit about others, and while he is not impressed with Hermione's verbatim regurgitation of facts, he sees a little of Lily in her (not in that way, obviously), and is trying to let her know how much of a struggle she will have.

Review-answering time, for the prior instalment of the series. Mangahero18: I also liked Final Fantasy X-2, believe it or not. Not that much, but it was enjoyable enough. Deadpool will not be making an appearance…we hope. We have enough madcap fourth wall-breaking with Gilgamesh and Luna…

Kira Akuma: I don't think I can justify Kefka coming in, as much as I enjoy Kefka as a character. At least Gilgamesh has been doing the dimensional walk thing since at least Final Fantasy VIII (before all the remakes and ports, anyway). And if I ever get to the events of Advent Children (it's still looking pretty dicey even getting past this particular instalment), the Terrible Trio will make an appearance…but while they will be calling Jenova 'mother', they will also view her as a traitor, along with Luna and Harry.

Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros: Harry got a new wand shortly afterwards. The phoenix feather core was salvaged, but it needed a new casing, courtesy of Ollivander. I'm not ready to think about the details, though. As for Voldemort being a walking contradiction, keep in mind that he doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself, and I wanted to explore his motives. While he is disgusted by Muggles, he also treats Purebloods with contempt in canon. Indeed, the only person he seems to care for is Bellatrix, and it's not love (though I would say that it is some affection). Therefore, I decided he is consciously a hypocrite, only desiring his own supremacy, and using blood-purity doctrine to get his way. As for what weapons Harry and the others get in the future, well, for anyone other than Harry, I haven't decided. Harry still has Reno's electro-rod.

1. Most fanfics claim that the Homorphus Charm isn't real. I have read at least one fanfic (can't recall which one exactly) where it is real, but it is both extremely painful to the werewolf, and decreases in usefulness the more times it is used. The Harry Potter Wiki states that it's unknown whether it is a real charm, though given that Lockhart takes experiences of other people for his own reputation, it's perfectly possible that it is a real spell. Therefore, I'm assuming the spell is real, has the properties mentioned above, and Lockhart doesn't really know what the hell he is talking about.