Esther sat in the Ravenclaw common room, trying to focus on the Potions homework she'd been given, but finding herself struggling. She'd never had much of a chance at Potions. Oliver had given her the cauldron with Al Khemi in it on her birthday last year, since she had helped him fight Al and he hardly used it anymore, so she never tried to create a potion. But now, she was supposed to be writing a fifteen foot essay on side effects of a potion that gave you a dreamless sleep.

She looked to the clock for the hundredth time it felt like, and watched as the longer hand creaked to the tenth dash, signifying that it was still only ten minutes passed eleven o' clock. Still plenty of time to attempt at finishing the assignment before being able to sneak off to the kitchens with Ron, Hermione, and Harry. They were going to meet Oliver there, and he was going to take them back to Ni No Kuni.

Ni No Kuni. Her home world. Esther missed it desperately. As much as she loved being at Hogwarts and being able to learn real spells with a wand rather than perform songspells that Harmony taught her on her harp, she missed being at home with her parents in Al Mamoon. She missed the warm desert, the cool oasis, visiting Aaliyah at the palace, playing songs for the Cowlipha, who, from what Esther had heard, was going to ask her to join on as the court musician. All of those things that made up home for her.

She glanced at the clock again, and saw that merely a minute had passed. She groaned in frustration, disturbing a boy called Reginald, who was sitting on the couch reading.

"Excuse me, but do you kindly mind not making noise? Some of us are reading here." Esther gave him a quick glare, before packing up her things and heading to the library, hoping to find books that might help her with her essay.

As she walked, she saw Professor Snape, her rather creepy Potions teacher. His black robes barely moved as he walked slowly through the hall, stopping when he saw Esther.

"Miss Sage." He murmured, and she stopped abruptly. "Tell me, what is a young Ravenclaw such as yourself doing inside on a nice day such as this?"

"I was going to the library, to refresh my mind on the side effects of the potion you wanted us to write an essay on, sir." She told him, a little nervous.

His eyebrows rose. "Tell me this then, Miss Sage. Weren't you taking notes along with the rest of the class when we discussed the potion?" She nodded.

"Yes, sir! But, I thought I could find more and add it in. I'm not much of a hand at Potions, you see, but I don't want my grades to fail."

"I see." He muttered. "You are unlike any other Ravenclaw. A mere show off and an insufferable know it all." Esther was taken back. She'd never heard of a teacher who didn't like a student who tried their very best in a class.

"I-I'm sorry, sir." She told him. "I'll try my best not to show off." Then she scurried away, eager to get away from the greasy haired, hook nosed teacher.

HPOM

"Harry, this is an incredibly dangerous idea." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Hermione, for the hundredth time, we're just going to check it out a bit! See why this Oliver fellow is so excited about this other world." Ron told her, having already agreed to go, but Hermione was still having doubts.

"What if someone sees that we're gone? Umbridge is surely watching out for Harry for the Ministry! She'd notice that he's gone missing!" She told him pointedly as she flipped through the book that sat in her lap. She was still trying to find where she had heard of a pure hearted one.

"We'll be careful." Harry told her. "We'll take the invisibility cloak if we have to." Hermione slammed the book shut, spooking Crookshanks, who had been laying at her feet, as she threw it down in the pile of other books she had been searching through.

"Nothing! I've found nothing on a pure hearted one! Its not in any of these books!" She sighed, then looked to the boys. "Alright. I'll come with you two to this new world, but we better not end up in any sort of trouble this time." Harry grinned, knowing that the chance of them not ending up in trouble was zero in a million.

"Speaking of going to this other world..." Ron looked to the clock. "Its almost noon. We'll have to head down to see Oliver and that girl." Harry nodded, then dashed up to their dorm to get the cloak and the Marauder's Map, just in case.

HPOM

Oliver stood by the kitchen door, dressed in his regular clothes when Harry, Ron, and Hermione came running down, each of them out of their robes and dressed in every day wear.

"Hey," Harry greeted Oliver as they sprinted down. "Are we still waiting on your friend Esther?" Oliver nodded, checking his watch.

"She should be here soon. Its almost noon." That was about when Esther came running down, dressed in her normal wear, her robes over her arm.

"Sorry!" She told them, panting. "Filch stopped me and questioned me for too long! I was lucky I had my robes over my clothes, or else he might've taken me to the headmaster!"

"Yeah, no kidding." Ron commented, eyeing her purple and pink top and pink harem pants, earning Hermione's elbow into his rib.

"Alright!" Oliver said softly. "Everybody ready?" They all nodded, and Oliver formed the Gateway spell with his wand, feeling enthralled to be able to use spells the way he was used to doing it.

Harry watched in awe as the shape Oliver was making formed in midair, and they were all sucked into a bright tube of light. Harry was nearly blinded by the light as a warm wave washed over him and he felt himself being lifted from the wooden floors that covered the hallway, and found his feet sinking into white sand as the light faded away, leaving him and his friends in a vast desert!

Oliver laughed at the the three's expressions, Esther taking in the familiar sights. "Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger." He said, remembering their last names from Defense of the Dark Arts. "Welcome to Ni No Kuni. Specifically, the Shimmering Sands, right outside of Al Mamoon!"

"HELP!" Came the loudest voice Harry, Ron, and Hermione had ever heard from inside of the city. "HELP US! SHE'S BEEN TAKEN!"