This is completely AU. No Hogwarts! It was a Prompt from a Harmione Discord Server. 'High Fantasy, Lord of the Rings, Princess and Dragons Style' story. I decided to write a complete world with magic, royal kingdoms, and fantastic beasts. This is a WIP.
The Witch & The Lost Boy
Harry knocked on the door of the cottage a bit hesitant. He had been pacing outside for quite a while, trying to decide if he should approach or not. However, the sun had lowered and was now touching the tops of the trees. It would be dark soon, and seeing how being lost in the woods was bad enough. Being lost in the woods at night absolutely terrified the young Lord.
He finally approached the small cottage in the woods he had stumbled upon, and decided to ask for help. All the while, tales his Father and Uncles told him before bed played through his mind. Tales of Witches in the woods that ate small mischievous children, and fairies that would steal your hands and feet and put them back on backwards.
Harry shuddered at the thought. He had a hard enough time getting the right shoe on the proper foot as is. He didn't want to think how terrible it would be to always be confused as to which foot was right or left, and being made fun of by his friends.
Round and round his thoughts turned in his head, till he was shaking where he stood, wondering if perhaps he should have stayed in the woods after all. But too late, the door was opening, and Harry looked up in horror as a hooded figure stepped out.
"What's this? A little lost boy?" The voice was feminine and low. It seemed he was to be eaten by a witch tonight. A ghastly end to his life, the young boy thought dejectedly.
The robed figure knelt down while pulling back her hood. Harry blinked in surprise.
"Where are your warts." He asked, confused.
"I beg your pardon?" The woman sputtered. A hand going up to her face, feeling around, as if afraid she might find some bumps.
"I thought Witches had warts, and were ugly. You're much too pretty to be a Witch." Harry accused.
He was starting to feel a bit put out. This was all very confusing after all. Witches had warts, and old wrinkled skin in all the stories. Everyone knew that. Or maybe she wasn't a Witch, Harry thought as he looked her over, inspecting what he could see of the strange lady.
She was older than him, but seeing as how Harry was only 10, everyone was older than him. She seemed a bit younger than his mother though. With no lines around her mouth or around her eyes yet. She had big bright dark brown eyes, with wild chocolate curls to match. Her skin was tan, with two dark freckles under her left eye.
"Well aren't you a charmer." The woman replied sarcastically to Harry before sighing and rolling her eyes.
"Come on, get in here, dark is nearly here and it will be getting cold soon enough."
Harry shuffled into the cottage warily, looking all around in suspicion and awe. He couldn't help but be a bit disappointed upon noting it was a perfectly respectable home, cozy even. Though it seemed much larger on the inside than it has appeared from outside. There were a terribly frightening amount of books. Stowed away in rows along bookcases, and stacked up against the walls. One pile seemed to be working as a table of sorts next to a squashy looking couch. With a tea set on it and everything.
"What's this, did you hurt yourself?" The witch bent down once more, a frown on her face.
Harry followed her gaze down to his knees, where his trousers had been ripped from a fall he took earlier in the forest. To his surprise, one of his knee's was bleeding.
"Well come on little lost boy, lets clean you up before we send you home."
The pretty woman took his hand and led him into another room. This room had a large desk up against a big arched window, with papers scattered all across it. Against one wall were shelves that reached from floor to ceiling, with hundreds of vails and pots lined up neatly across them. Bushels of dry herbs hung from the ceiling, and something that looked suspiciously like a cauldron in the middle of the room.
Harry sat on the chair she pulled out for him. "How did you know I was lost?" He asked in suspicion.
The woman laughed at that, before casting a glance his way over her shoulder as she rummaged around in drawers. Pulling out this and that.
"Well, seeing as how I live in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, and visitors are few and far between. But even if that wasn't the case, I am a Witch. More specifically, I am the Witch of Lost Things."
Harry's eyes widened in surprise as she admitted to being a mistress of the dark arts openly.
"And all this." He pointed at the vials and herbs she had gathered along with a cloth and water in a bucket near him. "Is this to season me up before you cook me?"
"What?" She laughed again. Her laugh was like the small tinkling bells Lady Longbottom had in the trees outside her home. Delicate and airy.
"Papa and Uncle Sirius said Witches eat children." He replied, matter of fact. What kind of Witch didn't know that after all?
"Sun and Stars above, but what kind of adults do you have in your life, to be telling you such stories." The witch asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile.
"Well, if you don't eat children, then what is it you do?" Harry asked stubbornly.
"One would think you were disappointed that you weren't going to be eaten." She muttered as she started using the things she brought to clean up his knee. Harry winced as she washed away the dirt and grime.
"I told you, I am the Witch of Lost Things. Eating children is not my domain, and sounds terribly tedious and messy. I don't even have an oven big enough for such a task."
Harry nearly jumped out of his chair in excitement as he connected the dots. Lost things!
"My dog, Shadow! He got lost last spring and never came back home. Could you use your magic to find him?" He asked excitedly.
With a 'tsk', the Witch shook her head.
"I told you, I am the Witch of Lost Things, not the Witch of Found Things. I help things, creatures, and even at times humans. I help them lose what they no longer want or need."
Harry mulled over that for a bit while she worked. Why would anyone want to lose anything after all? He lost things all the time. It was really very inconvenient, and usually got him in trouble as well.
"There we go, all set." The Witch patted the bandage she just wrapped around his knee, making sure it was tucked and secure.
"Well let's see about getting you back home, yes? The sun will be up soon."
"The sun?" Harry replied in confusion. The sun was just setting when she invited him in though.
"Now helping people find their way isn't usually my thing, but I think for you we can make an exception. It will come at a price though."
Harry looked up at the pretty Witch, swallowing a lump in his throat. It seemed that's one thing the stories got right. A Witch's help always came at a price, everything needed to be balanced for them. It was the way their magic worked.
She led him to the front door, before bending down to her knees. She ran a hand through his hair, a warm smile on her lips.
"You have a secret kiss right there, at the corner of your mouth. A hidden kiss. (1) I will be taking that as my fee." She ran a finger over his cheek, her eyes kind as she looked down at Harry.
"Is that a fair enough trade?"
Harry felt his cheeks heating up, to his embarrassment. He had never been kissed before. Well, he had gotten kisses on his cheeks from his Mother and her friends. And had a near miss with Ron's crazy little sister, who always tried to steal a kiss from Harry, and was always trying to hug him.
He supposed, as far as first kisses went, this wouldn't be so bad. And she said it was a hidden kiss. So he couldn't really miss what he never knew he had could he? With a hesitant nod, he approved of the deal.
Without any warning, she bent forward and kissed him, right at the corner of his mouth. He felt a shock of warmth where her lips made contact. Her curls brushed against his cheek and shoulder. She smelled of Lily-of-the-valley and sunshine. Then it was done, she pulled back from him smiling that warm bright smile of hers.
"Now be a good boy and make sure to stay on the path. It will get you home. Don't you dare stray though, not even I can help you if you stray off the path."
She stood up and opened the front door, just as Harry was about to mention how there had been no path, that's why he had gotten lost. Except there was a path. A path leading from her doorway, and into the woods. A path lit by the rays of dawn, to his confusion.
"What-?" Harry muttered, before looking back up to the pretty strange Witch with a frown. He hadn't seen her do anything, not even wave a wand or staff like in the stories. This Witch didn't seem to like to follow the rules of how things ought to go apparently. It was very frustrating.
She merely laughed at the lost boy's clear displeasure before pushing him over the threshold gently.
"Go on now. You have been gone all night, your family will be worried enough about you at this point to be more relieved then angry when you return to them."
Harry took a few steps forward before turning back.
"Your name. You never told me your name." He asked of the Witch.
"My name is Hermione."
"Harry, of House Potter" Harry replied with a bow.
The Witch, Hermione, blinked in surprise at the young Lord. She let out another tinkling laugh as she told him it was nice to meet him, and waved him on his way. She had been right as well, about his family. They had been so relieved by his return from the dark forbidden forest, that he received no punishment for his disappearance.
1. Peter pan reference. lol.
Note: Like I mentioned above, this is a WIP. I will come back to it after finished 'Show Me', and updating C&K. PLEASE REVIEW, I absolutely live of my reviews.