《Hermione Granger》

"Jeez, I really hated my suit in that clothing!" Raj proclaimed, walking up and picking up the photo with him and Professor Kirkland in it. He wrinkled his nose. "I thought I had burned all the copies of this photo! Opium even got all mad at me."

Hermione's mouth hung open. For the first time in a long while, she was unsure of what to do.

Ripping the picture into the little shreds, Raj glanced at the photo of the five men. "Wow, Yao really is short! I mean, when you put him right in front of good ol' Ivan, you can really see it!" Raj tapped the tall creepy man. "You see this guy here? He's better friends with me than he is with Yao. Yao is also better friends with me than with that guy. I'm better friends with everybody!"

"Wha-"

Raj then ripped that picture into little bits.

Then he turned to look at the pictures of the trio and burst into laughter. "Luddy let his photo get onto the web? And he put a date on that old photo? That was probably Feli, but still... can you believe that he was getting all mad at us about not being careful enough? And I thought the Luddy's bosses got rid of all the Axis photos. Meh. Whatever. I think Kiku kept some? Anyways, Luddy can't blame us now for not being careful enough!" Raj laughed some more, and ripped the WWII photo into little bits.

He seemed to be about to do the same thing to the 2015 photo, before shrugging. "This thing's already on the web. No stopping it now."

Hermione blinked. Raj patted Hermione on the shoulder. "Well, I guess it's time for your first-ever trip to a teacher's office!"

Getting up in a confused daze, Hermione tried to process what had just happened. Raj's ramblings made no sense. Suits? Opium? Luddy?

Raj dragged Hermione to a secluded corner of the restricted section, the two tiptoeing. Glancing around, his gaze finally rested on a tiny corner of the library. He knelt down, with Hermione following his lead.

"What are you looking for?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Just… a little… something," Raj grunted, his hand moving around the corner and disturbing the dust on books. Finally, his gaze lit up.

"A-ha!"

Hemione looked where his hand was. Raj was holding a tiny wooden knob hidden between two books. Grinning, Raj tapped on it with his wand. An tunnel, barely big enough for a grown man to crawl through, appeared.

The Indian teen grinned. "Cool, huh? Li Xiang, Christian, and Tobias built it when they came here. Actually… I think only Li Xiang and Christian did the building. Tobias is such a stuffy sheep-lover. Always 'don't embarrass big brother, Christian!' and 'stop complaining about the food, Li Xiang!' Bleh. Christian is way better, his koala mauled Opium once."

"Who…?"

Raj grinned. "We're not talking about Matthew, Hermione."

Hermione felt utterly bewildered. Matthew? Raj, however, seemed to think his joke was hilarious. He snickered to himself for at least a solid minute while Hermione stared in disbelief. crawled into the trapdoor. Once he was a few feet inside, he beckoned for Hermione to come. However, Hermione's brain was starting to work again, and it told her that maybe following Raj wouldn't be a good idea.

"What, you don't trust me?" Raj pouted. "I thought we were friends! Fellow sock-knitters!"

Hermione pressed her lips together. Her instincts did trust Raj, but her brain didn't. Her instincts also told her following him would bring answers. Deciding that everything was already crazy and she might as well ignore her brain, she followed him inside. Screw it all. She was tired from studying and researching and she was getting sick of all the crazy stuff.

The tunnel was dark and smelled of… Chinese food? It was relatively dry, which made Hermione relieved. The walls pressed tightly against her, making her a little claustrophobic. Up ahead, she could see a faint light that brought some comfort to her. Once she neared it, she saw that it was a drawing of a panda, koala, and sheep.

"That's Li Xiang, Christian, and Tobias' mark," Raj whispered.

"Who are they?"

"Oh, Li Xiang is Yao's baby brother. And Opium's. Tobias and Christian are also Opium's little brothers. They were Gryffindors."

"But if these three made the passage at Hogwarts… and Li Xiang is younger than Yao…"

"It's complicated."

Hermione snorted. "Obviously."

Raj tapped the three animals with his wand, and the door popped open to reveal the Gryffindor common room. The only occupants were Fred and George Weasley, who were examining a book with gleeful smiles on their faces. The fact that a book could make the two gleeful made Hermione nervous about its contents.

Raj hopped right up out of the passageway, but neither twin noticed.

"There's a spell to prevent people from noticing those who go in and out of the tunnel," Raj explained, helping Hermione up.

Huffing, Hermione dusted her clothes off before rubbing her forehead.

"You look confused," Raj said, sounding almost sympathetic.

Hermione nodded mutely.

Raj whooped. "I've done it! I've made history! I've confused Hermione Granger!"

Hermione groaned, putting her face in her hands.

Raj chuckled and pulled out a phone, where he typed some messages.

"I thought technology was against school rules," Hermione said immediately, frowning.

"Who cares. Besides, how else am I gonna quickly contact Yao? All the wizarding things are too much work. SMS is way better."

Raj then made his way out of the Gryffindor common room. Hermione quickly went after him. The two walked through the halls of the school at a rapid pace, though Raj was whistling as if they were having a leisurely stroll. The two got to Professor Kirkland's office, and Raj barged right in. This turned out to be a mistake.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Professor Kirkland, who was sitting on his desk in a rather compromising position with Professor Bonnefoy, roared.

"Oops," Raj muttered, bringing up a brown hand to cover Hermione's eyes. "You guys finish having... ermm... doing whatever you're doing."

Hermione wanted to a) scream b) go crazy c) laugh or d) all of above.

Then there was a patter of feet and an exasperated voice. "I came as soon as I heard! Aiya, this is all your fault, Raj! I told you-" Then the voice stopped. "你们这些蠢外人在干嘛?"

"Honhonhon, big brother Francis needs to spread his love even in other countries-"

"Do you have no sense of decency?"

"We weren't-"

"Why, back in my day-"

"I get that you're an old wanker!"

"How dare you speak that disrespectfully to your elders?"

"You know, you guys could have at least locked the door."

"We. Bloody. Weren't. Doing. Anything!"

"Lies. All lies."

"Wait, mon cher," The French Professor interjected, stopping an argument that had been speeding rapidly downhill at speeds that would have made Mrs. Weasley faint. "Why is the smart girl here?"

"Oh, yeah. She's kinda on the road to finding out about us. She even has a bunch of photos. Can you believe the Axis Trio posted a selfie onto the internet? Morons!"

"They did what?" Yao shrieked. "And… why do you sound so relaxed?:

There was some angry cursing in English and French, and some shuffling. Raj removed his hand from Hermione's eyes. Yao and the two professors all looked ruffled and angry.

"I can't believe they bloody did that!"

Raj shrugged. "Yeah, super stupid. Young nations these days. They also found a photo of Opium's empire and of you guys and the other two Allies. Anyways, what should we do? A memory wipe would take a massive chunk out of her IQ."

Professor Bonnefoy nodded. "We cannot do that. People would notice."

"So we tell her?" Yao suggested. "And hope she doesn't spill?"

"I could cast a spell on her to ensure that she doesn't say anything-"

Raj snorted. "Yeah, because your spells always work out great."

"You bloody-"

"Let's get Lukas to do it," Professor Bonnefoy suggested. "Arthur's spells always crash and burn, sometimes literally."

Yao nodded. "That should work. She'll want to tell the two morons- er, Ron and Harry, though..."

Professor Kirkland scoffed. "They'd screw something up."

Raj shrugged. "You're right. I'm sure she'll see reason once we talk to her."

"Then we allow her to know, and have Lukas cast that spell on her?" Professor Bonnefoy asked.

The other three nodded.

"Hold on a second," Hermione demanded. "What are you people talking about?"

Raj chuckled. "Well, that's the thing, Herms. We're not really people."

"Vampires?"

"God, no," Professor Kirkland said, wrinkling his nose. "But Vlad does make me wonder..."

"We're the personification of nations," Yao said flatly. "I am the personification of China, Raj is the personification of India, Francis is the personification of France, and Opium is the personification of England and the UK."

"Li Xiang, Christian, and Tobias- the three boys that built the tunnel- they're the personifications of Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand, respectively," Raj added.

Hermione was silent for a moment. Then she smacked her head. It was so obvious now, however weird it was. It explained Yao and Raj acting like old men, calling Professor Kirkland Opium, and never really talking about their family. It also explained the military outfits.

Raj/India patted Hermione on the back. "Don't feel bad for not figuring it out. There are virtually no records of us. The photos you amassed were impressive, especially considering your age and limited resources."

Professor Kirkland/England nodded. "Even Dumbledore had a lot of trouble."

"Am I the only one who's wondering why she's not screaming in shock and horror and running away?" Professor Bonnefoy/France muttered under his breath.

To be honest, Hermione didn't know either. Maybe she was still in shock? Deciding to make the most out of the time she had before the shock really set in.

"I have a question."

"Oui?"

"What about all the crimes against humanity many nations have committed? The photo of the Axis Trio..."

Raj sighed. "Our bosses and governments have massive control over our minds. Sometimes they bring our dark side out- alternate versions of ourselves that, put plainly, are big jerks."

Yao/China nodded sadly, his amber eyes growing distant. "No matter how much we want to hold onto some things... well, life is too cruel and mind control is powerful."

Hermione nodded, not really sure what to think. Was the mind control similar to the imperius curse?

"Well," Professor Kirkland said briskly. "I'll put a call in for Lukas- he's the personification of Norway- to come in tomorrow. Also-"

"Don't tell Harry and Ron," Hermione finished. "I know, they'd spill the secret."

"Then we're on the same page. Excellent."

"I have another question. What are you people here for?"

"To look after Harry," Professor Kirkland said. "Yao and Raj are posing as students because they're the only ones who are old enough. For the other younger nations, there are records of them attending magical schools."

"Is something going to happen?" Hermione asked nervously. "Something... worse than what's already going on?"

Raj smiled kindly at Hermione. "Don't worry about it. You're still a kid. We'll figure everything out."

Hermione swallowed, but tried to reassure herself by telling herself that she, Harry, and Ron had been fine for three years with minimal help. Still… she didn't want to lose anyone, not her two stupid best friends, not her new friends Raj and Yao, nobody. But was the world really that nice of a place?

So I totally think the whole evil government-mind-control thing is a thing because look at the characters. They are way too cinnamon-roll-y to do evil stuff like kill innocent people.

And yeah, Raj was way to casual about dropping the bombshell. "Hey, this suit looks ugly! Oh, BTW, nation personifications are totally a thing."