Disclaimer: Um, I am now going to a therapist who is trying to convince me that Harry Potter does NOT belong to me.

Spoilers: All four HP books. If you haven't read them…do so.

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While Cornelius Fudge was trying to concentrate on his work, and as Albus Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts where McGonagall pelted him with endless questions, the main worry on both men's mind was slowly coming to.

"Ow…" Harry Potter sat up and rubbed at his head where a very large bump was forming. "Oh, that hurt." The young boy of fifteen glanced around and noticed the world was extremely blurry. "Great. Glasses, glasses," he scanned the ground around him and saw flowers, tiny weird bugs, roots, and ankle-high grass but no sign of the black glasses. Wait…flowers? Roots? Harry shook his head and scooted backwards and heard a soft crunch. "Found my glasses." He muttered wryly, picking up the frames.

Checking them to see that they weren't that badly damaged, he put them on and looked around the small clearing where he had landed after that large explosion.

Harry had been copying down a paragraph from 1,000 Herbs and Fungi when a tinkle of broken glass had sounded off downstairs. He had looked to see men wearing robes of the deepest red surrounding the Dursleys.

Uncle Vernon had spotted him and shouted for him to run for it, that his magical stuff was in their bedroom closet, and that…to take care of himself. That last part had puzzled Harry as he dug through the trunk to grab his broom, wand, and a small bag of money. He had just freed Hedwig from her cage in his room when the door had burst open and four red-robed men had walked in talking in tongue. Then, after that Harry could only recall the explosion and a falling sensation.

Now he was here, wherever here was. And apparently, he was alone. Getting up, Harry winced as a few muscled screamed in pain on his lower back, reaching to check with a hand he felt long scratches and a wet sticky substance.

Grumbling Harry began a slow walk to the enormous trees, larger than the ones in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. Harry smiled grimly at the thought of what everyone would think when he didn't show up on the Hogwarts Express in a month. He could almost image the panicked expression on Hermione and Ron's faces, the glee on Malfoy and Snapes and the worry on Dumbledore and McGonagalls.

As he was musing over the world he had left behind; wherever he was definitely wasn't it he didn't catch the rustle of bushes or the sharp snap of a twig until the spell had missed his ear and burnt a quaffle-sized hole in the tree in front of him.

"What the—ah!" Behind him, stepping out of the foliage were three red- robed men all talking excitedly and pointing their wands at him. Harry groaned and dove into the ferns in front of him not really caring where he landed, just as long as it went father away from the hunting party. Scrambling to his feet, he took off weaving through the dense underbrush of the forest luckily managing to dodge several nasty looking spells as he did. As the voices behind him grew faint, Harry slowed a bit and turned to see if he could still spot the red robes.

Unfortunately that wasn't where his eyes were needed the most. He slammed into a body and was thrown to the ground.

"If you so much as breathe Groundling, I'll allow the BloodSantices to find your body." A familiar feminine voice murmured into his ear. A rustle of clothing and then he felt something being tied around his wrists, although not tying them together. "Get up."

He obeyed the command.

"Turn around slowly."

Turning around, his jaw dropped and he laughed in relief. "Hermione?! Hermi, it's me!"

"What the blazes are you talking about groundling?" the girl whispered, glaring at him. "If you don't shut up we'll both be killed!"

"But Hermione, it's me, Harry." Harry pointed to his scar, and his glasses. "See? Me!"

"Is that your name Groundling? Harry? Very well, come on then." And she bolted into the trees, not checking to see if he followed. Harry frowned, confused but the nearing voices made him continue.

So now Harry found himself running away from probable death with a Hermione look-alike. At first he was confused, now he prayed silently for this dream to end, for he didn't like the feeling of Hermione not knowing who he was and not knowing about their friendship. Mentally, Harry believed that was worse. And as they continued forward, Harry felt a nagging feeling that this girl wasn't at all what she seemed. He hoped that was a good thought.

Soon, they ran out to the edge of a giant gorge overlooking a massive river below. Harry closed his eyes and reminded himself that he had been higher on his broomstick.

"Queasy, Harry?" 'Hermione' called out from somewhere behind him. "Well, move aside."

"Whoa, you're not going to—Hermione?" he eyed the girl cautiously. "I mean, there's another way right?"

"Not to safety there isn't." And with a grin the girl ran towards the edge and dove off.

"Hey!" Harry called after her falling body. "He—huh?"

As she fell, Harry saw her remove the cloak and tuck it into a pouch on her waist. Then, like this happened everyday for her, she spread open her arms and allowed the wind to catch under her wings--wings?

So that's what had been nagging Harry. He was running for his life with bird-girl. Oh this makes sense a tiny voice commented in his head while the girl flew back up to his eye-level.

"Okay, your turn."

Harry laughed at that. "Um, yeah, I have no wings?"

The girl bit her lip and sent him a cross expression. "Have you never seen an Avitaa before?"

"A what?"

"Never mind, just jump off."

"You're kidding."

"Do it." The girl lazily flipped and smirked at him. "Or are you afraid of heights?"

"No, I'm more afraid of plunging to my death."

"As much as I would enjoy that Groundling, that's saved for later." A shout of finding made the girl growl softly under her breath. "Do it now. Or die."

As Harry backed away from the cliff to make his dive he felt a tingling sensation in his wrists and glanced to see the bracelets she had placed on him expanding to cover his entire arms.

He gazed on amazed as patterns of feathers replaced his skin.

"You can stare in wonder later, now jump and allow the air to do its part!"

"Here goes…" Harry jogged to the cliff and without allowing himself second thoughts, dove off.

Falling through the air while still conscious was a feeling new to Harry as every other Quidditch game he fell off, he was either blacked out or too dazed to remember it.

"Spread open your arms!" Harry gritted and tried to, the air was too fast, keeping his arms pinned to his sides. "No, flip feet down and do it you idiot!" Oh. Doing a clumsy flip, Harry righted himself falling and opened his arms.

And felt like he was going through a portkey as the wind caught his wings. Once realizing his wasn't going to go 'splat' on the rocks below Harry felt an instant rush of excitement like he had during Quidditch matches.

"Now flap." The girl was again at his eye-level. Getting the hang of flying, they flew off and parallel to the cliff's face as above them the Red Robes came out into the setting sunlight.

Laughing at their chasers plight, the two went off and flew out of sight.

"So, what's your name?" Harry asked after an hour of flying. The sun had finally gone down and a large harvest moon had risen to take its place.

"Well, you seem to think it's Hermione but since you asked: it's Rain."

"Rain?"

"Yeah, problem?"

"No, not at all. You just reminded me of someone."

"You think I couldn't tell?" Rain shook her head with a chuckle. "Anyways Groundling. When we get to the village, you can relocate your town."

"Town?"

"Un-huh, you know, the place where you Groundlings and Earth-Diggers live."

"What's an Earth-Digger?"

Rain shot him a suspiscious glance. "The ones that aren't in tuned with their inner powers."

"Muggles?"

"I believe that's what you Groundlings call them, yes."

"So Groundlings are Wizards. Why do you call them that?"

"Well, like my race, you can control elements of power. The seven elements."

"Play that by me again? Seven Elements?"

"You must be a squib or something…the seven elements are fire, water, earth, air, mind, soul, and time, although no ones really been able to use that for eons now."

"Ok…ay."

But before Harry could truly comment on that Rain quieted him and slowed the pace. "We're almost there, just over these trees…" and screamed in terror as what was over the trees came into view.

A black, gaping hole was where a village must have been for there were still frames of houses remaining in the ground. Harry could just make out red robes when something struck him blindly. His last thought was of making sure that Rain was alright but the word that he spoke was entirely different.

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And somewhere in a small town outside of London, a teenaged girl woke up from a fretful sleep and heard her name whispered in the darkness of her room. Hermione…

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(Author's Notes) Well, this story came to me at 1:00 five nights ago and I just wanted to see how people would react to it. I didn't expect this! Please let me know if you want more, and I'll try to post something new every two to three days. Or I could write out a couple of longer chapters and post them in about a week. Lemme know which way you want this posted and I'll go for the majority.

Stoneheart: Thank you for that review, and the only way I'll allow you to burn your stories is if I can throw a couple of mine in instead. Believe me, yours are just as good as mine. And maybe you'll get your H/H, the characters are throwing hissy fits. Voldie wants a bigger part and that's throwing everyone into a big whirlwind.

Dash and Stash: I promise more is on the way. (