Summary: He is the demon of knowledge and he had loved her since the beginning of time. It is a love story that transcends time. The magical world doesn't believe in demons and the magical academic community Hermione works in does not believe in superstitions. But what if there's an element of truth to the stories. Could there be love along the way?

A/N: Inspired by a concept from Piers Anthony's Xanth Series. The idea came from this particular prompt: "The frozen lake had finally cracked open after all these frigid years. But it was not this fact that startled me. Rather, it was the single trail of footsteps that lead out." The use of the demon's name was derived from Gnostic texts. My muse always and remains to be Takeshi Kaneshiro.

A shout out to my favorite reader SereniteRose! Thank you for always leaving a review and thanks for reading this one even though it's not your usual genre. Thanks for leaving a review BloodyAvenger21. I hope you guys and others who will read this enjoy this chapter.

The Dark Lake

A third of the angels fell from grace when they rebelled against their Creator. Abraxas is one of them. He donned his golden armor, armed himself with his golden spear and fought on in a war he didn't particularly feel strongly about but felt he had to fight in to air his grievances. When the Creator's forces, led by Archangel Michael, defeated the dissidents, Abraxas was among those who were thrown off from heaven. He consoled himself that at least the Creator wasn't angry enough to hurl him like lightning the way he did Lucifer, which as he later learned humanity now known as Satan.

He didn't have the delusions of self-grandeur as Lucifer did, nor did he want to bring harm to humanity, the Creator's favored creations. Rather, he wanted to impart knowledge and wisdom. The Creator wanted his creations to remain in child-like ignorance and indeed the fall of mankind from grace came from the temptation of this same said knowledge. He questions how knowledge can bring humanity to its downfall, but as he slept in his frozen lake, he realized that perhaps, just perhaps, the Creator knew how much harm too much knowledge can give these simpletons.

As he felt the air of false happiness, suffering and materialism around him, he grimaced at the realization that the knowledge they acquired did not give them happiness. Rather, it brought greed and an empty sense of hollowness. The newest technology, the most advanced gadget and the newest car. Products, humanity reaped from his rebelliousness. Ammunition the fallen angels used on humanity as seeming countless years passed to lure them away from their simple happiness.

Did he feel sorry? Not really. He believes in choice. Humanity should still have a choice of what and how they should conduct their lives.

The blood of his lover's newest incarnate gave him more than freedom from the curse she put him in. It gave him her knowledge and experience. He realized that the magical world did not progress as fast as the non-magical did as it remained in fear of the world around it, fear that came from the hatred that killed his lover and her family.

He sat down at the edge of his forest and mulled his lover's latest incarnate's life. Hermione Jean Granger, scarred, battle torn and yet still fighting. He found it ironic that they easily dismissed her as muggle born when he, in the knowledge he attained from her blood alone realized that no one is really muggle born. They are and had always been distant descendants of magicals. Some are offsprings of those whom the magical world hid, squibs or non-magicals born to a magical family.

He can't believe her optimism and her drive to continue to survive and thrive in the world that almost spat her out with its bias and prejudice. Her magic is heady, battle formed and aggressive and her soul and being still sang out to him.

He was and still is the demon of forbidden knowledge. It was easy and it would still be easy to gain knowledge from mortals. He knew he would need it as this world is a much different place than the one he was accustomed to. There was a word from his beloved's latest incarnate's country that feels very apt for him to use, 'obsession'. He knew he was obsessed with her from the start and even in a different body, he still is.

As he felt a human approach his forest, he disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Hermione's days had been like what they've always been before; finding her parents through different magical and other methods, eat, work, watch some tele, eat again, then work again, talk to a friend or so and write an owl or so, then eat again before relaxing for the evening by reading a book before sleeping.

The article she wrote about the Frozen Lake Forest was a success and her editors liked it. It even had a substantial covering in the next month's journal. She is also working on her different articles for other publications when she felt that chill she feels whenever something horribly bad would happen. They say it's instinctive, especially for those, who like her, have survived a war.

A normal person would have ignored it. But she is not a normal person, she checked her wards, closed her floo network and had her wand beside her. She was still tensed as she watched the tele, watching news and anything else that caught her fancy, and she was still tensed when she fell asleep.

That night she dreamt. She dreamt that she was and wasn't her, like she was herself but in a different body. She can't really understand but it felt as if it was a memory rather than a dream on some level. She dreamt of a dark lover, of almond eyes, dimples and lean strong arms. She dreamt of being loved, being cherished. His kisses felt like molten lava in their heat and his caresses felt as if she would explode if he didn't… Hermione didn't know what to think of this, because despite the fact that she is in her early twenties she has yet to have a lover.

Her friends had been nagging her about her story state of love life, they would have been at her door if they knew this bit about her.

She woke up, went to the kitchen to get herself some water before she returned to bed and slept. The rest of her night had been peaceful and she didn't dream about the strange dark lover anymore.

Hermione lived in the muggle section of London because it's cheaper than the decidedly smaller but more expensive places within the magical community and because it's more weather proof, has a log fireplace, cable ready and has elevators for when she didn't feel like walking too far. She entered the elevator for one until a man called out. He ran while he was carrying a sizeable box. "Wait!" She quickly punched in the open button for the elevator as he quickly went inside.

"Thanks." The man said. Hermione just nodded. "Floor?" She asked. "Fourth floor please." The man asked. "Oh, it's my floor. I've already punched it in." The man placed his box on the floor. "So you're one of my new neighbors." The man said as he placed his box on the floor. Hermione nodded and smiled and got a good look at him. He has distinct Asian features, tanned and she noticed how his dimple showed when he smiled. "Oh, you're new on my floor. Hermione Granger." Hermione introduced herself extending her hand.

The man took her hand in his and kissed it. Hermione blushed. "Shinji Miyamoto. It is a pleasure to meet you." The man said almost reverently. The elevator quickly reached their floor. Hermione was surprised when she realized that he was moving in next door to hers but shrugged it off, figuring her former neighbors, the Trumans had moved out while she was in Japan.

As she began preparing her lunch, she noted that the man looked somewhat familiar but she couldn't place where she'd seen him before.

'Probably a model in an ad or something…' Hermione mused. 'He has the looks and built for it.' She figured as she lazily chopped vegetables.

Will probably expound about that war in heaven sometime soon...