Timeline: twelve years before present
The day Kevin was taken away was the last day of the year. The next day would be when everyone is a year older officially, the boys were just taken a day earlier to start the new year in the military the day after when they're all officially fifteen too.
Winter was also when farmers have a vacation. Who can farm in the cold after all? With snow and slush everywhere?
Winter was when they take advantage of resting, but for most people, having no work is tougher that they applied for jobs that involve less labor.
When winter began, Donna was taken by her mother to work at the string factory, where they spin cotton into thread so the weavers next factory over can use them on their looms to produce fabric. Her mother works the looms, by the way. Working from two hours after breakfast, to three hours before dinner, giving Donna time to hunt. Just that, it's sorely meat this time. No mushrooms and no wild edibles in winter.
Her family doesn't mind.
To this day, they think Donna hunts wild game when in reality, she feeds them monster meat, which is a lot more delicious and nutritious than livestock meat. Roasted meat is thus a common sight, and she still sneaks in liver and her potions in her family's meals until they completely healed inside to which she would stop which would be around spring, but she'll keep giving monster meat and forest forages.
Her salary in this factory is 5 silver a month.
Basically, Earth Version of 36 pounds which was Dudley's weekly pocket money considering how he was ridiculously spoiled when most kids only get six a month from their parents and that 'was generous' already. Horrifying. And Vernon's salary in Grunnings is 22000 which was why he can easily spoil Dudley.
One month of winter, different occupation.
First was the String Factory. Next is the Fabric Factory. The poor are allowed to keep extras as long as quotas are met. They use the extras they manage to get, to make their family's clothes...IF and only if, they met the quota of the week. She earns 10 silver for this month of working the looms, but as she cheats with magic as to NOT make a mistake in the looms, the whole worth of the cotton fabric she makes is usually 1 gold a bolt. Her mother would rather sell the extras she usually makes to make it in time for taxes for years, before Donna learned the trade. Thus they get to take home fabric for once.
Final month of the year, is Dyeing. She was made to dye fabric and string into three colors. A specified amount for black, gray and blue was tasked to her.
It stinks, by the way. Good thing she knows the perfect way to mix dyes through magic, so she doesn't need several-times-soaking like most people who had to guess, and trial and error. She secretly taught her mother who had to make red, orange and yellow fabric and they get to keep the extras, which was mostly, two bolts of colored fabrics each, and three each of colored thread spools.
All this, was to give Donna experience in skills a girl should have...other than roasting meat and household chores. Oh, and babysitting Melvin.
And the day after Kevin left?
Using scraps of fabric scrounged from the factories, she was taught how to sew, beginning with types of stitching, to how to actually make clothes by hand.
Only in wealthier towns, can there be a damn sewing machine. So clothes in a poor village like theirs, are atrociously expensive. Even if its simple designs with no fancy decor on them.
Thus the day after Kevin left, she is learning how to make clothes. She spent the thawing of winter making clothes with her mother for their family who outgrew their clothes thanks to eating well.
Before Kevin left, their mother made his clothes so he has something decent to wear in the military off the clock.
Thus for the whole winter, Donna first made Melvin's as he changed the most. With few inches' allowances as he's a growing boy so he's had his things oversized. Her family will take a loooooong while to catch up. Because they were malnourished for years while for Melvin, he grows and quickly heals from it because he began having a full stomach at age 3 and he's now 4. After six outfits for Melvin, it's her father's clothes and their mother's.
She made it in time for Spring for all of her working family members as they all went to work with new clothes on that's clean. How long that cleanliness will last, is up to them.
As the last snow melted, time to till the farms loose, and water it...with hot water. Not only does it warm up the soil so seeds planted won't die from being TOO cold, the hot water will kill the insects and their eggs in the soil and leave it fresh for planting.
This was the hardest part when it's spring, actually. That the firewood stored in the farmhouse sheds are all used to boil a lot of water just for this! And it must be done, at the exact same time by the men who all wore thick padded boots, while the women and children boiled the water.
Water the soil and till, until the farmlands are usable enough to stick a seed in.
This is because during the cold, moist soil stays warmer than dry soil. They waited a bit until the time is right for seed planting. In the right temperature. Then they would make covering to keep cold air out of the soil to let the seeds grow into seedlings. This was the crucial part as Falmuth is in the north where it's so cold. Bitter cold.
For most people.
Donna adapted to the cold and never complained. It helps that she has Thermal Fluctuation Resistance.
Three years later...
Jackson had been the next to go two years after Kevin, and a year passed after that, that Donna is now ten years old.
Her family is now very healthy. Melvin grew up properly. So did she actually, she was a child who heals quick, unlike those older than her whose bodies carry the damages forever.
She grew up a lovely ten year old. She grew her sandy-blonde hair long. Combed back and tied into two low braids.
Nobody in a poor village like hers would have bangs.
Gets in the way of work. The boys have short ponytails while girls kept their hair away in various ways.
She raced through the forest in impressive running speeds and jump heights impossible for a normal human being she took to the trees like a ninja.
Beasts will be sluggish after hibernating.
She could not smoke meat and keep it at home as if people find out her family has so much MEAT, they would ask where they got so much for cheap.
She had no idea how they'll react to monster meat, so she constantly hunts, unable to preserve food. But she can store nuts and manually made peanut butter out of them to make bread in winter more palatable.
Her family noted her experiments that usually turns out well, so they didn't bother asking.
But one day, she found a girl fighting off monsters with great skill with the sword.
But her...features are...interesting, to say the least. They reminded her of that girl in Ravenclaw, but this one's eyes is a bit bigger and this one was a lot prettier.
"It can't be, can it?" Donna frowned as she watched. The girl was incredible. But she looked exhausted and shaky.
Donna jumped down with enough leg power to jump on her kill.
'Who are you?' the girl asked, ready to fight even if she was weakened. From what, Donna can't tell.
'I live not far from here.' Donna told her. 'In a nearby poor village.'
'A village...here? Where is here?'
'You're in Falmuth Country, Baron Arden's territory.' Donna explained. 'Northdale Village is an hour away from here, east from where we are. Its in serious poverty. Are you hurt, sick or worse, poisoned?' the girl pursed her lips as her stomach growled in protest.
'...just hungry.'
'We,, we're with food now.' Donna smiled as she used her magic to make short work of the monster's carcass, leaving the girl dumbstruck.
'Can monsters even be eaten?!' moreover a CHILD can use such advanced magic already? And she claims she's from a poor village? Whaaaat...?
'As long as its not undead or bugs who're mostly carapace!' Donna snorted as she proceeded with food prep the magical way.
And so...
'Normally I don't show I have magic to anyone.' said Donna, giving a large piece of cooked meat and a liver to the girl after cooking them over the fire and storing the rest away in a magic circle. 'I was afraid people would call me a witch here and drive me away.'
'You're not the only magic user in this world.' said the girl with a snort. 'Adventurers, Mercenaries, Mages in Cities. My teacher too.' she said softly.
'Try telling that to a village of uneducated people.' Donna sighed. 'Falmuth is a corrupt, uncaring country. Citizens are merely cash cows. We're worked down to our bones just to fill the fat wallets of the nobles and royals and their banquet tables while leaving us with almost nothing.' she explained. 'If you want to know the true nature of a country, look at the countryside first, the borders of their territories first and slowly get close to the capital. Never at its capital first. The capital is where all the flashy and pretty things are. By looking at two angles, you would know just what kind of ruler the monarchy are to their own country. Most importantly, its citizens.'
'...' the girl looked at the food she got warily.
'Monster meat is safe, very, very nutritious. Anything that moves, is edible, even poisonous species. Just avoid the organs except liver. Monster Liver is more nutritious than livestock liver. However, at your height and weight, eat just a small piece as overdosing is bad.' Donna warned. 'Once a week, that tiny for you.' she pointed at the piece the girl has which is basically, the size of her thumb finger. 'Monster Liver has ten times the amount of nutrients.'
So the girl popped the liver in only after Donna did.
'...yeah...it's really good...better than poultry or this world's beef and pork!' the girl exclaimed, amazed at the taste. 'Then, before we really shouldn't have shopped too much and we're wasting food all along?' she asked, utterly moaning at the waste.
'Not really. Your kills are someone else's blessings if you leave em'.' Donna shrugged. 'But left alone too long AND unprocessed, they'll dissolve into magicules. It's why I take as much as I can and quickly process them or store them in my magic space to stock up on meat. I had to pretend I keep hunting when in reality, I have a lot until I run out. I just spend my hours foraging for mushrooms, fruit and nuts.'
'Heee...then finally, where are you from?' the girl gave her a look. 'You used terminology people of this world will never use. Heck, I doubt they know the value of liver or what nutrients even are and doses to avoid overdosing.' she sassed with a snort. 'And such words cannot come from a girl from an uneducated village.'
Donna knows this girl figured her out like she did the older one back.
'...you believe in Reincarnation?' Donna questioned her. 'I'm British and you're somewhere from Asia. It's why I helped you. Had you been a native soldier in this corrupt country I could care less.'
'Japan. Hinata Sakaguchi. You?'
'Donna Kleine in this world...I used to be a boy named Harry Potter.' Hinata choked hard on her food at her words. 'Reborn as a girl is what's weird.' Donna chuckled. 'But I died young so I don't care much.' she said with a nonchalant shrug. 'By the way, did your teacher teach you how to read and write?' she asked Hinata hopefully.
'She did...I can guess where this is going.' Hinata gave her a dry smile.
'Pretty please? Nobody here can afford school...only the village officials and nurses can read and write. The rest of us, nada, allowed to only know what's required to know in jobs, just occupational skills and how to use money.' Donna sighed. Her words caused Hinata to frown deeply in disgust with her words as the older girl knows they were made this way on purpose. 'Can you teach me and my brothers? Then on the sly we can teach our neighbor kids.'
And thus, Hinata joined the village temporarily for one year, teaching Donna's siblings and herself until they all mastered reading and writing by writing on the soil using sticks. And given what happens to almost all sons in the village, swordsmanship training. Hinata slept in the living room on a hammock Donna crafted for her using vines, and had a very healthy diet that Hinata grew a lot more feminine into her womanly charms. During the day, Donna taught Hinata how to handsew clothes and a magic Hinata can use despite her body type. Holy Magic.
Certainly a lot more comfortable than the wooden bed they slept on. No cushion and no pillow! Just a tattered bedsheet and blanket!
After a year in the Kleine Family, Hinata watched as Andre, Donna's third brother was taken away by soldiers.
'Two years after him it's me next.' said Gilbert miserably. 'We don't even know how the other guys are in Baron Arden's place or the Capital, we don't know which military barracks they're in.'
'I'll take a look for you guys.' Hinata offered. 'I'm a traveler, the kind people usually overlook.' she said to the family's anxious delight. 'You now know how to read and write, so you'll have to wait for my letter.'
With that, Hinata left the Kleines a lot healthier as she gets the full doses of Donna's pharmacy skills.
Donna had to hold back on her family to avoid unwanted questions on them and get them, especially her, unwanted attention from a corrupt country. The most she can do, is strengthen their internal organs and bones full-doses. She can't give them her potions for bones and muscles to maintain their appearances except for her and the kids. They slowly heal from malnutrition by eating monster meat and what she finds in the woods for the sake of being realistic.
She has three Unique Skills being an Otherworlder Reincarnate. Tome of Magic, Survivor and Pharmacist, and in turn Donna knows Hinata's. Usurper and Mathematician.
However, Donna detected something in Hinata when she taught Hinata Holy Magic and survival skills she would need as a traveler. Hinata required belief for it to work and had to go through the Faith route as the Miracle Route is beyond her reach.
Hinata never knew WHEN she gained a curse crystal in her body that maintains a spell called Thought Restraint, which she blasted away with Holy Magic by firing at herself to weaken the crystal's hold on her before Donna could extract it safely for her.
'I just left my teacher and fellow student days before I met you.' said Hinata to Donna, frowning deeply. 'I know sensei's skills...he lied to me.' she clenched her fists.
'Just never see him ever again.' Donna advised with a scowl. 'And never let anyone know where you are.'
Hinata did just that, and traveled after fulfilling her promise to Donna's family. Donna was thus, the second Otherworlder Hinata trusted.
'A letter came from Hinata!' Melvin got the envelope from the courier.
'Let me see.' Donna took the letter from Melvin.
Hinata snuck around in offices as well as files in obvious places to determine the fates of their brothers.
The boys by batch underwent intensive, demanding and unfair training. After a year of physical training, those with promise are sent to the capital while those who were way behind or too weak to withstand training are all killed, deemed useless by Baron Arden, frustrated that the boys in his territory are lacking that it will severely affect his standing in King Edmalis' eyes.
Hinata snidely said in her letter, 'No trainee can be a good soldier when severely underfed. What else does he expect?'
Kevin and Jackson are both alright, shipped to the capital with a few others. They had met Hinata and would tell her how it was like for them.
After brutality in Baron Arden's place, the capital barracks were strict and demanding. But treated a lot better. 'The food sucks though, the meat Donna hunts tastes a lot better.'
They got education, but training will last five years.
Kevin is currently in his third year and Jackson second. They both avoid the wealthier lot as they were bullies. And in an argument, who will the authorities side with? So they avoid the wealthy folk as much as possible. Easy to tell since the poor have hair in low ponytails and cheaper wares!
Once they're officially soldiers, they have a month to visit home, and after that, duty begins where they'll have to work for promotions. They're doing well in classes and training, especially after Hinata gave them the medicine Donna sent them...under the guise it's Hinata's gifts for a friend...who was Donna.
Among the commoners, they were the top students as a result, but seriously declined joining the classes where the nobles are for 'elite training'.
They bluntly told their teachers, 'We'll lose everything, including our lives if we join that so-called Elite Class within the first week, we'd rather stay in our classes even if it meant taking longer to graduate!' so they stayed. They will look after Andre when he gets shipped next.
'I see, so the other two are doing alright.' relief was on the family's face come dinnertime as Donna read the letter to her family who came home from the farms. '...can't say the same for our neighbors' sons.' said Mr. Kleine glumly. 'I dread to know what if, if Donna never chose hunting as her job. Kevin and Jackson will be killed if they never got to eat meat to be strong enough to withstand training!' he shuddered before sighing in relief. 'Andre will be OK too and Gilbert after!'
And that was what mattered to their dwindling family. That their older sons are alright that Gilbert no longer feared anything when his turn comes. Andre at least, had some training and Gilbert himself can continue before it's his turn.
Life went on for the Kleine Family.
As for Hinata, she traveled some more, following Donna's advice in how to know the truth about a country.
She searched for an ideal place to live, until she came across Ruberios.
One village was lucky chance, so she kept exploring...
Ruberios was heaven compared to Falmuth. So she did what she did best by the time she was nineteen as when she left Donna's Village, she was 17.
She rose so fast in rank after graduating from training, but for Donna's sake, 'played the fool' in magic lessons and made herself a 'Holy Magic Genius'...and since losing the Cursed Crystal, she did a lot better with a clear, open mind.
Though she did struggle upon finding out...a certain truth about Ruberios when she was high-ranking enough.