A/N: Italics in this chapter indicate thoughts.

Chapter 1: Keep Calm and Carry a Wand

Hermione cried in her sleep. The nightmares that had plagues her after the war had ended returned with vengeance. Hermione cried in the day. Her tears sinking into the dirty ground of the alley she now called home. For four days Hermione alternated between crying and trying not to panic. Keep calm and carry on became her mantra in the moments when her tears stopped. By Day 3, Hermione was able to make it to 3pm before dissolving into tears. By Day 4, Hermione had had enough of her emotions ruling over her. She still cried, just when it rained and she could pretend she wasn't actually crying, it was only the rain making her face wet.

The morning of Day 5 Hermione awoke with purpose. She had mourned, she had wailed and screamed and punched walls until her knuckles bled. Now it was time to figure out what had happened. Having been blessed with an eidetic memory, Hermione was able to redraw the ritual she had been used in. Without her books, Hermione couldn't fact check herself, but she suspected the Death Eaters had tried to revive Voldemort only to have failed in a spectacular fashion. The runes they had used were a mix of Elder Futhark and Egyptian, which caused a chill to run down Hermione's spine. The bastardization of mixing the runes had created a completely new ritual, calling on magic to bring Hermione to… what she couldn't be certain.

By the end of Day 5, Hermione remembered she had to eat. Tearing down her wards was shockingly easy, and Hermione worried about the strength her magic would have in defending her. She pushed those dark thoughts out of her mind, knowing they wouldn't be helpful. Stealing food from an absentminded busboy catering to troops was easy, getting caught by the woman in the red dress was disturbing.

"Melanie, is that you?" Memories hit Hermione hard. She knew they were false and that Magic itself was somehow writing Hermione into this place. Hermione knew she looked filthy and like she had been held captive for an indeterminate amount of time. There was only so much a scouring charm could be used on skin before they took a layer of the dermis off after all. But the rush of spinning on her heels and being slammed with memories was too much for Hermione's frail body to deal with. She wasn't proud of it, but in that moment, Hermione's resolve weakened, and she fainted.

The next time Hermione woke up she was in a cot with scratchy military issue sheets. A nurse was just walking towards her to take her vitals when she noticed Hermione was awake. A shout alerted the guard on duty to run and get Agent Carter while Hermione took in her surroundings. "No windows," Hermione thought to herself, "must be underground or they're blocked in to stop bombs from destroying the glass." Hermione closed her eyes as Agent Carter, the woman who had called her Melanie, strolled in. Hermione felt a tentative hand stroke her forehead and listened to the conversation around her as she kept her breathing even.

"So, this is the mysterious Agent 13 ½?" The gravelly voice Hermione associated with generals in old war movies brought her to the assumption this was the commander of the military base she was currently being held or treated at.

"How did they find her?" This voice was masculine as well. Upper-class American from the accent and arrogant from what Hermione remembered of tone of voice.

"The troops? They didn't. Useless men. I found her," Agent Carter sounded as if she was trying to keep pain from her voice. Hermione almost wanted to break and comfort the woman, but she remained still. Who knows if these people were actually friend or foe? While the two continued to talk, speculating on if she had been tortured or if she gave the enemy any information (the emphatic NO from Agent Carter put a stop to that line of questioning). Diving into her occlumency shields, Hermione shuffled through the new memories she needed to sort.

Melanie Hermione Carter was the younger cousin/half-sister of Margaret Carter and Michael Carter. As there was barely 9 months between the girls they had grown up together, close as sisters. It wasn't until her mother was on her death bed that she revealed to Hermione that her father wasn't Henry Carter but Harrison Carter. After that, Melanie insisted on going by her middle name, Hermione, and she quickly applied to Girton College at Cambridge. Hermione excelled in her studies and caught the eye of a Mr. J.R.R. Tolkien, who was working as a codebreaker for the government. Hermione became his protégée and climbed the ranks in MI-5 after Tolkien and the government parted ways. Hermione and Peggy had both operated in the same sectors and would use Agent 13 interchangeably so as to keep the enemy confused on their appearance. When Hermione was selected to go deep cover in Europe due to her ability with languages, Hermione was given a new title, Agent 13 ½, and told to try to stay in touch. She did her job well and without any issue for almost three years. She hadn't captured by Hydra, but low-level Nazis who wanted their superiors to notice them. It took her four months to break free and kill her captors before she tried to make her way to the closest military base. Then Peggy found her.

When Hermione woke up again the lights were dimmed and there was someone sitting by her bed reading a book. Judging by the cover, Hermione suspected it to be The Hobbit. Turning her head, Hermione got a good look at the man's face before he noticed her. Scruffy and unkept hair, like a soldier who hadn't seen a bath or a barber in months, framed his face. She knew he had blue eyes but at the moment, in the dim light, they appeared so dark they reminded her of the galaxy. Or maybe that was just the pain meds. Panic started to set in as she wondered where her wand might have gone. She shifted to try to sit up and that's when the man ("Bucky" her memory supplied) noticed she was awake.

"Ma'am, please don't move. Your injuries are quite severe," Bucky tried to get Hermione to lay back down and that's when Hermione felt it. Her wand was somehow strapped to her thigh. Breathing a sigh of relief, Hermione allowed Bucky to get her back on the cot and called for the medic. Five medical professionals scurried out of a side door and into the large room, which reminded Hermione a bit of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, minus the magic and windows. There were five other beds along the wall she was placed at and three other rows of six beds in front of her. The quality of the concrete and cinderblock construction allowed Hermione to draw further conclusions about the space she was in. "Hastily put together with cheaper materials. Spaces seems to be an even rectangle so no fancy reconfiguration. Must have been built from the ground up for this war."

Agent Carter burst through the door with a dark-haired man of average height. His mustache was cleanly trimmed and his hair perfectly quaffed. This man was definitely not a soldier. He eyed Hermione for a while and Hermione got the sense that she was being examined, like a lab rat. Bucky nodded to the two newcomers and the lead Medic got down to updating Agent Carter about Hermione's condition. Hermione swallowed a growl that threatened to escape her throat when the Medic didn't even acknowledge Hermione. Apparently, she was to lie back and think of England. "Wait, wrong expression, Hermione." Bucky let out a strangled cough/laugh sound and Hermione realized her face must have been giving her away. She sent a tired smile his way and watched as his eyes softened. She could look into his eyes forever.

"Thank you, Corpsman, that will be all," Agent Carter dismissed the group of over eager medical professionals. They slunk back to their office; aware they were not to be present for the discussion that was to follow but wanting to know anyway. When the door was finally shut properly, Agent Carter broke her character and threw herself at Hermione, hugging her as if she would turn to dust if she didn't hold tightly to her.

"I'm fine, Peggy." Hermione tried to comfort the other woman but knew the platitude would do nothing to calm the other woman down. In the end, the promise to remain in bed for another three days calmed Peggy enough to allow her to leave Hermione. The look Peggy sent to Bucky gave Hermione the impression he was to be her babysitter. She was right.

Every night for the following three nights Bucky was there. He always had the same book and Hermione always found a way to distract him from his reading. The first night they talked of random getting to know you type questions.

"So, what kind of name is Bucky if you don't mind me asking?" The way Hermione had framed the question allowed her to judge what kind of temperament the Sergeant had.

"Well, it's actually a nickname from my middle name," Bucky answered with an easy smile. His laid-back manner eased Hermione's tension and she knew this guy was going to become special to her. "My full name is James Buchanan Barnes. But my father was also James and only my mother is allowed to call me Jamie."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" The confusion on Bucky's face was cute and Hermione had to stamp down the urge to blush.

"You said "was". Is your father no longer, I mean is he-"

"Dead?" Bucky cut off Hermione's pathetic stumbling around words. Hermione blushed and nodded, realizing there was no delicate way to ask such a sensitive question. "Yeah. It was a car crash. He and his war buddied were out drinking and one of them had just bought a new Ford. They wrapped the car around the tree. I like to think it was quick because he didn't deserve to suffer." Hermione reached out a hand and patted his knee. Bucky covered her hand in appreciation. "What about you? I've heard you referred to by so many names I'd think you were some kind of ghost." Bucky tried to lighten the mood and Hermione took the hint.

"Well, my father and uncle named me Melanie, but my mother named me Hermione, after the Shakespeare character. My father and uncle are the only two that call me Mellie. I detest that nickname and it's probably why I detest all nicknames."

"But it's such a cute nickname for a cute girl," Bucky flirted. Hermione couldn't help it, she blushed again.

"Yeah, well, it's just," Hermione stammered. She stopped, took a deep breath and reminded herself of how strong and independent she was. She did not need to be falling to pieces because a cute man was flirting with her. "No one takes you seriously when your nickname rhymes with a word predominantly used by children." The slight pout and the rawness of her words had Bucky laughing and sympathizing with her. Hermione smacked his knee, as she was still not allowed to sit up.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh at you. I have three sisters and my youngest sister, Elizabeth, refuses all nicknamed for a similar reason. She's at Sarah Lawrence taking classes in Psychology so she can help children who are affected by the war. Then there are Mary and Sarah. They're 11 months apart and we often just call them the twins because they're almost identical. They got married the same day to twin bankers and moved to Manhattan. I'm an uncle thrice over thanks to them." Bucky smiled softly then, as if he was recalling his sisters' children.

"Well, that's very admirable of your sister Elizabeth to be doing something that will most certainly be needed! And I respect Mary and Sarah's choices. It can't be easy starting and raising a family while the country is at war." Hermione's diplomatic response flew over Bucky's head. His thoughts swirled and Hermione decided to change the topic to try to pull him out of his head. "My cousin, Michael, Peggy's older brother, he was stationed in Europe in 1940. All we got was a telegram telling us he had died. At the time, Peggy wasn't sure what she wanted to be doing but that motivated her to join the war effort. Michael had been urging both of us to do so. He didn't know I was already working as a code-breaker at the time." Hermione continued to drabble on about growing up an only child but just up the road from her cousins. She told Bucky about Michael's tree house and how she and Peggy would hide up there to avoid the adults. She told him about losing her mother at 16 and how she had never been more unsure of who she was then at that moment in time. Bucky held her hand as she teared up and explained she goes by Hermione now to honor her mother.

"Well then, I'll just have to call you Hermione." The brilliant smile Hermione sends Bucky after that statement has his heart skipping a beat.

The next night, Bucky still tries to read but Hermione asks for childhood stories about his and Steve. Hermione has ears and the orderlies are bigger gossips than the German socialites she had been infiltrating for information. She knows Peggy is sweet on Steve and the man-child appears to not understand how to deal with a woman who has interest in him. Bucky does most of the talking that night and Hermione falls asleep to his deep timber telling her about the time Bucky had to save Steve when he was cornered in an Alley.

The third and last night marks the 48-hour countdown to Steve, Bucky and the Howling Commandos leaving base to raid Hydra facilities. Hermione wants to go with them, but she's still malnourished, dehydrated and underweight. Even her magic is still finicky. She would be as useless as a Flobberworm. Bucky appears anxious that night so instead of talking, Hermione asks Bucky to read the Hobbit to her.

"Please, Bucky," she resorts to begging with Bucky refuses, "It's my favorite book." The look in her eyes has Bucky caving.

"It's mine too," Bucky replies in a quiet, contemplative voice, before turning to Chapter 9. The timber of his voice as he read to her the escape of the dwarves from the Wood-land elves was so soothing, Hermione didn't make it to Chapter 10.

The next morning, Peggy (dressed and facial expression projecting her to be the indomitable Agent Carter), Captain America and Bucky were all there to help her move to Peggy's quarters on the base. Bucky and Steve, as Hermione was instructed to call Captain America, parted ways with the women as soon as they were at Peggy's quarters. Apparently, they were not allowed in and it would be unseemly for them to be seen emerging from the room if they did follow the women in. Hermione barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. As Hermione didn't have any clothes but the ripped dress and the socks she had been found in, Peggy was lending her an old uniform and shoes and some undergarments. Hermione was aghast at the contraption that was a women's brassiere in the 1940s. She was almost tempted to burn it. "No wonder my mother and grandmother went out to burn their bras in the 1960s!"

Next, Peggy attempted to untangle Hermione's hair. Hermione was about to get a pair of scissors to chop the knotted section out when Peggy somehow worked a miracle.

"How did you do that!" Hermione turned around to stare at Peggy. She wondered if the other woman had magic of her own. Peggy simply rolled her eyes and reminded Hermione that they had grown up together so of course she knows how to untangle her cousin's hair!

"How do you manage your hair on your own?" Peggy asked back, blatant curiosity biting into her words as if Hermione is still a child if she can't manage her own hair. Hermione pouts at her reflection, refusing to answer, and Peggy laughs. They're interrupted when a messenger comes for Peggy about the Howling Commandos mission. It's been moved up and the group is leaving in an hour. Hermione has but a moment alone with Bucky, where he sneaks a kiss for good luck from her, before the team is off and Hermione is left touching her lips where Bucky's had been moments before. If Peggy notices, she's kind enough to not say a word.