Author's Note: Not your average Time-Travel fanfiction. I've read quite a few and I've not come across one like this. If you do know of one please let me know, I'd be interested to read it. Also, if you are interested in being my BETA for this fic, please leave a message to that effect in a review. Thank you.

*This chapter was hell to write. I'm still not thrilled with it but here it is.

*Thank you to tamahome8, Gabrielle Dashwood, weeksauce, and Smithback for your encouraging reviews.

*We won't be going full lycra body suit, masked superhero in this story, though Hermione will certainly take inspiration from some classic heroes/heroines.*

Royce

Elizabeth and Edward sat close together in the drawing room, clearly involved in a serious discussion.

"She has every right to learn Edward! You said yourself she should be capable of defending herself." Elizabeth's lips were pursed in frustration.

"Yes of course she does! But why can't she learn here? It's entirely unnecessary for her to go so far to learn from some crackpot young fool who we know nothing about!" Edward's voice had risen and in his hands, the letter at the center of the contestation, was in danger of being crushed.

The conversation was interrupted when behind them the fire blazed. Elizabeth's brother Patrick's head materializing within the flames.

"Hello lovelies! I hear there's been quite a stir at the old Potter house today."

Edward rounded on the fireplace, his agitated gaze fixed on his brother in-law.

"Now see here Patrick! I won't have..."

Elizabeth was quick to cut her husband off.

"Patrick. How in the world did you get involved with this? Who is this fellow?"

Patrick chuckled and the flames danced around the early lines of aging at his forehead.

"My dear, Alexandra owled me herself! She asked if I knew anyone. I must admit I was a bit put off by the idea at first but the more I thought about it the more I liked it. I did some asking about in the right circles and there you have it! Alexandra can tell you more then I. She's the one who wrote to him. To be honest, I'm surprised he accepted."

Edward stopped his pacing and ran a hand through his hair.

"Alexandra!"

Edward hadn't even finished his bellowing before Alexandra entered the room. It never ceased to amaze him, fatherhood. Just looking at his daughter's determined face he could feel his reservations crumbling. She was so mature for her age. Sometimes he worried she was a bit too mature, leaving her childhood behind before she'd even experienced it.

"Sphinx, darling. Seems you've caused quite the stir. Perhaps you'd like to explain to your poor befuddled parents."

Patrick's grin was merry and his wink mischievous. Alexandra smiled, she felt a certain camaraderie with her worldly uncle. He reminded her the tiniest bit of Charlie Weasley with his sense of adventure and good natured humor.

Had it not been for him, she wasn't sure that her plan would have progressed as far as it had in such a short time. A carefully worded owl to Patrick and she had the name and contact information of the premier martial arts trainer in the world. She wasn't entirely sure how he'd been able to get the information but she assumed with all his rather interesting connections it hadn't been difficult.

The real challenge had been in convincing the mixed martial arts specialist to take her on as a student. It had taken nearly a year of constant, polite harassment for him to take the young girl seriously. Finally, she had received a letter accepting her proposal. He would take her on as his student on a temporary basis. If for whatever reason he felt like the situation wouldn't work he could dismiss her at any time. She was positive it would never come to that.

The real downside to this news had been that she'd finally had to tell Edward and Elizabeth about her decision. Clearly, they weren't thrilled. Edward in particular took exception to the whole Thailand thing.

"So you see? It really is the best decision I could make!"

Alexandra finished her petition to her parents. She waited anxiously for them to reply. Their approval wasn't necessary of course. She'd do this with or without them, but their support would be beneficial.

"You make an excellent argument darling. I suppose it would be a good idea for you to learn muggle defense. I just can not abide you moving to Thailand. You are still very young, no don't interrupt, and I don't like the things happening over there right now. Perhaps if you can convince your specialist to move to England we can continue this discussion."

Edward finished his speech trying to ignore the outraged look on his baby girl's face.

"Father!"

"Now Alexandra...," Elizabeth interjected, humming thoughtfully.

"Your father makes an excellent point. While we support your decision to pursue this we simply can not permit a five year old to move to Hong Kong, alone, to study with some man we've never met. You may write to your friend and tell him that we'd be happy to pay him for your instruction. We would of course, pay any relocations expenses."

Alexandra could see their logic, though she didn't particularly agree with all of it (extenuating circumstances and all...). If she was honest with herself, it was a bit mad to allow a five year old to move to a foreign country by herself. She supposed she'd overlooked that in her planning.

What really gave her pause was what Elizabeth was offering. She'd always known Harry came from a wealthy family. She'd never realized until now quite how wealthy. She'd basically be hiring her very own employee.

A cough from the fireplace interrupted her chain of thought.

"Actually, relocation won't be necessary. You see, Sphinx's friend is a muggle-born wizard. Did I forget to mention that?"


When Royce Takahashi entered through the Potter family fireplace it was the beginning of a long road for the former Hermione Granger.

Royce was of mixed heritage. His father Japanese, mother Brazilian. He would have been and probably once was an exceptionally handsome young man but a twice broken nose and two particularly nasty scars across his right cheek kept him off the magazine covers.

The twenty-eight year old was renowned for his excellence in three martial disciplines. Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Akido. It was clear from the way he moved, the predator-like confidence he carried that Alexandra had indeed contracted the best.

His dark eyes immediately landed on her and Alexandra checked herself from fidgeting. She couldn't hold in the sigh of relief when he switched his focus to Edward and Elizabeth.

"Edward Potter, this is my wife Elizabeth and daughter Alexandra." Edward stepped forward and offered his hand in welcome, "Pleasure to meet you."

Royce shook the proffered hand and nodded politely to Elizabeth.

Lyra appeared then, tea was served and the discussion moved to Alexandra's training.

"Edward and I have discussed this and we'd like Alexandra to train here in our home. We'll remodel some of the rooms in the west wing, whatever you think is necessary will be provided."

Royce looked less than thrilled but any objection was cut off by Elizabeth's stern voice.

"We understand the inconvenience this may cause for you and are certainly willing to compensate you for it. We simply feel that at such a young age, Alexandra is not ready to be so far from home on such a regular basis."

Elizabeth's tone was polite but allowed for no further argument on the subject.

"Is this arraignment agreeable to you?"

Royce seemed to consider for a moment before nodding his ascent.

"I understand your concerns. We will train here. But I must have final say on her training schedule."

Alexandra held her breath, eyes darting to Elizabeth.

"Perfect. When will you start?"


The remodel of the northern most rooms of the west wing had taken only two days.

It was early in the morning on a Saturday when training began. Alexandra was dutifully waiting for Royce outside the training room doors, quietly considering her last conversation with her parents.

After her training schedule had been decided and Royce had left she had requested private tutoring in some traditional muggle studies. Edward and Elizabeth had at first been reluctant about her not attending a muggle school. They wished for her to be with children her own age. James would be attending Hogwarts soon and they didn't want her to be left without companionship. It was her persistence and well reasoned arguments that won them over.

So it was decided that eight hours of each day would be devoted to training with Royce, six hours would be spent with her muggle science teacher and two hours were set aside for family.

Alexandra had additionally requested that James be included in her training sessions but his interest in Quidditch superseded everything else. So, though he wished to spend time with her, his youthful adoration of the wizards sport blinded him to any other pursuits.

At first, Alexandra had been furious. Hadn't she given up everything? Wasn't she even now spending every waking moment working towards protecting him, his future son and the entire wizarding world? The least the little snot could do would be to learn a bit of muggle defense.

Reason broke through her anger and begrudgingly she admitted to herself that it was probably for the best. The less involved he was with her plan, the less she changed of the past/present, the easier it would be for her to anticipate future events and achieve the end goal.

So caught up in her thoughts, she was startled when the door opened and Royce's disembodied voice beckoned her to enter.

It took her a moment to find him. The rooms were split, one was clearly a practice area as the whole of it was covered in matting, the other she supposed was for when she'd progressed in her studies as it seemed particularly forbidding.

Royce stood off in the corner of the practice area. He wore a black loose uniform type outfit that tied round the waist. Unlike the last time they met his feet and arms were bare and she tried not to openly gawk at the tattoos that adorned them. On both feet were runic symbols curling around his ankles and disappearing under his soles. On his arms more runes were drawn around both his biceps and high on his wrists. Her runes class at Hogwarts came rushing back to her and she recognized velox and fortis her eyes widening with understanding and appreciation.

A wand appeared in his hand without her noticing he'd drawn it. A quick flick of the wrist and she was dressed in similar apparel. As quickly as he'd drawn it out it was gone again.

"This is a gi. You will wear it when we train."

His voice was rough like gravel and held just the hint of some accent.

"Before we begin we must be clear. You requested my help. I would not have accepted such a young student, even one with such an organized mind. My aunt, she is a seer. She touched your letter and she saw. What it was, she would not say, but it was she who convinced me to accept you. I am not pleased with the task of teaching you but I do so because apparently it is important that I do..."

Alexander tried to interject, but he held a hand out to silence her.

"Now that you know my feelings about this arraignment I request three things and I ask that you abide them. One, you will not be late to train. This is not a game and I will not waste my time. Two, you will not attempt to engage me in idle chatter. Three, you will pay close attention, I do not life repeating myself."

Alexander could feel her teeth grinding together. It was hard not to be affronted. Certainly she'd been curious why he'd been so willing to train her. Certainly she dearly needed his help. But damn it if he didn't remind her of Severus Snape that first day of potions. A deep breath later and she narrowed a calculating gaze on him.

"I will acquiesce to your requests."

He nodded, pleased. "Then let's begin."


Four hours later and Alexander regretted ever thinking this was a good idea. Every muscle ached, sweet had soaked through her gi. Her hair stuck to her face and neck.

In the beginning it had been relatively easy. Some stretching and breathing exercises that he'd had her memorize. Then they stepped through a floo that'd been hidden behind a shoji screen, arriving at a long stretch of deserted beach where they ran at a steady pace for an hour. Flooing back, they'd settled into a strength training routine that had her near collapsing after two hours.

Relief settled over her when he ordered her to stop mid push-up and told her to take a 15 minute break. She was still lying, cheek pressed against the mats when he handed her a bottle of something she didn't recognize. It was a bright neon orange and she took it hesitantly.

"It will replenish some of the energy you've lost. Vitamins, minerals and a bit of magical pick me up. Don't look so suspicious." He said, taking a swig from a bottle of his own.

She drank it and wondered why they'd not had something this helpful during the war against Voldemort in her past life. It was remarkable. The exhaustion was gone and the screaming agony in her muscles had faded to a dull ache.

She must had been staring at the bottle's remaining contents rather long, her wonder plain to read on her face.

"It's a Japanese thing." Royce answered her unspoken question.

The break was over before it'd even begun and they started doing what Royce called katas.

"You will learn through repetition and when you are more familiar with technique we will focus on practice scenarios, yes? Okay, begin."

It was around 1:30 in the afternoon when Royce finally dismissed Alexandra for the day. A firm reminder to care for her uniform and he was gone.

Wearily Alexandra made her way down the corridor back to her room. Royce had given her another neon orange drink but this one had seemed to work less effectively than the last. More like the traditional pepper-up potions.

Her parents were out today interviewing potential tutors for her so thankfully she had the rest of the day to herself. Or so she had hoped.

"Sphinx! Merlin, you've been gone for ages! I'm bored!" James was like a tornado. He'd whirled in out of nowhere, enormous book in his hands and nearly bowled her over.

"James, I'm really not..." Any protestations Alexandra may have had were cut off. James's boisterous voice and boundless energy were too much for her to contend with at the moment.

"Come on then! Look what I've found! Will you read it to me?"

Alexandra sighed heavily. She loved that he was so enthusiastic about learning, really Harry could have picked up a thing or two from his father, but she had other things to do and it just wou...With a start she realized what book it was that James was clutching to his chest. Hogwarts, A History.

Her heart clenched painfully in her chest. Hogwarts. A place that had stood for so many things. That had meant so much to her. That was closed to her now. But...but this book had always been her favorite. Her respite in darkness. She knew it well enough she could probably recite whole chapters verbatim.

James sensed her discomfort and realization dawned on him. His eyes widening in horror and upset.

But Alexandra...Hermione was stronger than the grief and despair living within her. She decided to look at this as an opportunity. An opportunity to, in a small way, relive a treasured moment from her past life. A bushy haired know-it-all had read aloud to a red-headed 7th son and the boy-who-lived from Hogwarts, A History, feeling for the first time part of a team, needed.

The frown she had been wearing began to turn. "Right, ok! Let me change my clothes. Meet you in the library?"

Under Alexandra's reassuring smile, James's mood swung back to hyper glee and he was off sprinting to the library, his loud exclamation of joy echoing through the halls.