Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Once Upon A Time. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.

Note: Thank you all for the support and positive reviews you've sent to me. It means a lot to see how much my work here is appreciated.

Note: This is a bit of a transitional chapter as I work on the search for Baelfire, but I hope you'll still like the work I've put into this.

Note: Bit of a path planned for Luna that while surprising to her friends, will more than likely not be surprising to some of you. Mwahahahaha.

Chapter Five - Storybrooke Tales

The Hogwarts crowd was far from enjoying themselves in their new surroundings. Sure, there were no longer British emissaries from the ministry hounding their every footstep, but Harry, the cause of their arrival in this strange town, had flashed out of sight before they could even speak to them. Now they had no choice but wait for his eventual return. Whenever that would be.

They'd taken his advice and followed Luna to a little hotel with a big sign denoting it as 'Granny's' and rented a series of rooms. The old woman behind the counter had scowled at them the entire time, but the breakfast made in her diner on the first floor had been superb.

It was on their second morning that Minerva decided she'd had enough of lazing about the hotel. So while the group was all gathered around one of the diner booths with their plates of eggs and pancakes she declared, I'm going to explore the town."

Typically it was Dumbledore that argued against that idea. "Minerva, we need to be here for when young Harry returns."

"Based on his attitude I don't really believe he'd be coming here to see us of his own accord anyway, and I'm tired of staying in once place all day. Who else is with me?"

To Albus' dismay every other hand present was raised. Why couldn't his people just do as they were told! "Very well. I at least will remain here. Where will you all be heading?"

A dreamy look on her face, Luna said, "I think the church looks lovely. I'll explore there."

"The library." McGonagall declared.

"I'll search out an apothecary." Snape added.

"The school." Hermione smiled.

"I want to find more American food." Ron declared while waving his fork in the air, "Their portion sizes are amazing!"

So it went that one by one the others also dropped their destinations and once their food was gone left to attend them, leaving Dumbledore with the bill.

With Luna

Luna danced through the gravestones of the Storybrooke graveyard with a smile as she approached the chapel on the other side. Oh how wonderful it felt to finally be home! England was just too stuffy for her tastes and she was a mite peeved to have been stuck there as long as she was. Oh she missed Hadrian well enough, and she understood his hurry to return to his mother, but the big lug could have at least taken her with him when he left. That curse been a duesey for her as well.

Well, she decided, she'd just need to give him a good bonk on the head when he got back. It was a little sister's job to keep their brothers humble. Even if said little sister wasn't really related to the brother in question. But it didn't really matter in the end. family was what you made of it, not just blood, and Hadrian had made his feelings about her very clear in the past.

She continued her dancing off the hollow ground to the steps of the chapel and carried on inside where she finally stopped at the sight before her. Was that the blue fairy in a mother superior's nun habit? Oh this was just perfect! And who was the little boy lighting candles next to her?

She glided up to them before they noticed her and leaned down close to get a good look at the child. He was thin, a little small, perhaps still in elementary school, and he had the most adorable little freckles dusting his face. "Hello little one."

The child jumped back into the blue fairy's arms and the two stumbled away a couple steps in surprise before settling.

"W-Who are you?" The woman said while clearly gathering power in her hands, "You are not of our congregation or our town. I'd recognize you for sure."

"Really? What's the matter Reul? Do I truly look that different? Ah well…" Luna raised her wand above her head and slowly moved it down. As the instrument passed over her features a silver, glittery, substance seemed to fall away, and in the place Luna had once stood was now a girl about half a foot shorter with more angular features, a pixie blond haircut, startling green eyes, and a pair of translucent wings fluttering behind her back.

The mother superior gasped, dropped the boy at once, and rushed forward to sweep the girl up into her arms, dropping the wand to roll along the floor in the process. "Lyra!"

'Lyra' giggled at the sweet attention and said, "It's actually Luna now. A small change I know, but I actually like that name."

"Luna it is then." Reul set the girl down and started manically running her hands over her features and form, looking for any sign of injury. "Are you hurt? Sick? Tired? When was the last time you ate? Where have you been all this time?!"

Grasping the wandering hands in her own surprisingly tight grip, Luna halted the older fairy in her tracks. "I'm alright. Not sick or injured, and I ate this morning. As to where I've been, well, I was stuck in Hadrian's curse. When he was freed so was I. I just wasn't able to teleport here right away like he was."

The blue fairy scowled, "And he didn't bring you with him? Ooh that reckless boy!"

Rapidly waving her hands to calm her old mentor Luna exclaimed, "It's not like that. He didn't know I was me. But don't worry, I'll give him a good head chop when he gets back."

"Um, excuse me miss, but… is this thing supposed to be sparking?" A childish voice cut in.

The two women looked back at the boy and saw Luna's wand in his hand. It was shooting rainbow colored sparklers into the air. "Oh! You're magical!" Luna clapped ecstatically as Reul stared on with wide eyes. "What's your name, kid?"

The boy shyly walked up to her and handed back her wand. "I'm Henry. Henry Mills."

"Well, Henry," Luna knelt down to be on his level, "do you believe in magic?"

With Hermione

The town was so quaint. The perfect mix of rustic and modern. It was the kind of place she could see herself moving to someday and perhaps working on a novel or opening a bookstore. For a while she'd harbored hopes of gaining a position in the ministry of magic, to perhaps change the way muggleborns were viewed in society, but a few interviews with past graduates had nipped that right in the bud. To a T all of them had found it impossible to find gainful employment and their scores had been top tier on all of their exams. It was becoming ever more clear that the only hope her future held was in the muggle world.

The school was a red brick number meant for kids elementary to junior high. A wing on the other side seemed to hold its high school population. Seeing the teachers with all the young students at recess playing on the jungle gym put a new thought in the young witch's head then, perhaps she could teach in a town like this. It's hard to be called a know it all when its your job to recite facts and information to others.

"Excuse me, miss, are you lost?"

Hermione spun around and beheld a cute older dark haired woman with a short, yet stylish, haircut in a crossing guard vest.

"Oh, no, sorry. I must look a bit strange just standing here. I'm new in town and was just doing some exploring. My name is Hermione Granger." She extended her hand.

The short haired woman smiled and took the hand in her own. "Mary-Margaret, or Snow White if you like. I'm a teacher here." Hermione looked pointedly at the vest and she added, "Since the curse got broken we're a bit short handed. A lot of the staff has been catching up on lost time with their families."

"Y-Yes, the curse. I've heard a bit about that, but I'm still a little in the dark. Could you explain it more, Ms. Margaret?"

"Of course. I need to keep working this crossing but I can explain it all the while." So for the next fifteen minutes Snow White redirected cars down the correct paths and explained the intricacies of her people's curse. Where it came from, the events leading up to its casting, and how they ended up in this world. Finishing with, "So yes, we were stuck here living lives that weren't our own and only once my daughter ended the curse did our memories return." Seeing the downcast look on her guest's face she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing." Hermione was starting to sniffle.

"Come now, that's not nothing. I'm an educator, I can tell." Snow rubbed the British girl's shoulder comfortingly, "You can talk to me."

The bushy haired girl stared at the older woman and couldn't believe how calming her gaze and very presence was. She couldn't have been dishonest to this woman if she'd tried. "It's just… my best friend, Harry. It seems he was affected by your curse too. I wanted to believe it was a fluke, that if we could get him back to England he'd go back to being the boy I knew. The one I…. really cared about. But if what you say is true then Harry never really existed. He was only a manifestation of the curse you were all under."

"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry. Do you know who Harry really was? I can help you find him."

Hermione shrugged miserably. "All I know is that he said his real name was Hadrian."

Snow went very still. "Hadrian? Are you sure?"

"Yes. Do you know him?"

Snow sighed and waved another teacher over to take her place before leading the younger girl over to a bench beside the playground. "Tall man, scar over his eye, and a penchant for trenchcoats?"

Hermione nodded.

"That's my big brother down to a T."

The witch blinked at that. "Big… brother?"

Snow smiled wanly at the other girl. "Yup. Your best friend sounds like my older step-brother, the Black Prince. Let me tell you a story…"

With Minerva

'A library in a clock tower,' Minerva thought to herself as she walked in the front doors, 'marvelous.' She decided she'd make a point to tell Madam Pince about this when she returned to Hogwarts. Her aged friend would certainly get a kick out of it.

The inner area was well lit, full of cherry wood shelves, and the large windows created an open feeling far removed from the wizarding school's cold stone ambiance. In spite of her loyalty to the Scottish castle, the deputy headmistress was self aware enough to realize she far preferred this design in the end. Hogwarts could definitely be a bit too stuffy.

She was just admiring the fantasy section (it was a guilty pleasure of hers to read muggle ideas for magic) when a learned female voice spoke up behind her, "Can I help you miss?"

McGonagall turned around and beheld a cute woman, perhaps in her mid twenties, with chestnut hair wearing a yellow blazer. "Oh, perhaps. Are you the librarian?"

"Yes indeed. Please, call me Belle."

"Well, Ms. Belle, I was just meandering a bit but I was hoping to find some history books about the town." Fantasy was well and good but she had come here for a purpose after all.

Belle's face lit up at that request, "Oh, of course. Right this way." She set off down the aisles and the Brit was quick to follow her rapidly moving heels. "While Storybrooke hasn't been around overly long our citizenry provides a fantastic mosaic of history and legend to browse. I've been compiling their stories for a few weeks now."

Minerva stumbled a bit at that, "Ah, yes, I had heard that your town was made up of… fairy tale characters." She tried to play her words as diplomatically as possible, but it was impossible to keep out all of her disbelief.

Belle smiled as they reached a smaller shelf full of thick leather bound tomes. "It's true. I'd also heard that you are a witch intent on meeting with our resident Black Prince." At the older woman's surprised blink she clarified, "It's a small town. News travels quickly, and it's hard to hide a group of new people in a settlement that hasn't seen visitors in almost two decades."

The witch blushed a bit at that, "I suppose it is pretty obvious at that. So these are all, what, tales of your people's lives?"

"Yes." Belle pulled the final book from the bottom shelf and held it up to her visitor, "And this details our vaunted Black Prince and the events that led up to our curse. I hope you enjoy it."

The shorter woman moved to head back to her desk but was held up by the scotswoman's final question. "You seem oddly positive about the prince. Everyone else we've talked to about young Hadrian has been either terrified of or angry at him. Why are you different?"

Belle thought about her answer for a bit before saying, "Probably because I knew him before, when I was staying with his father. Hadrian would visit on occasion and he was just the sweetest little boy." She sighed, "Then war came, as it always does, and he became what he had to to defend his mother. He did the necessary jobs, the hard ones, that build a reputation, and he became hard inside to deal with it. I don't see Hadrian like everyone else in this town does because unlike them I try to understand him."

"No one else looks at things from his point of view?"

"Well perhaps his girlfriends."

Minerva jerked back at that statement. Girlfriends? Plural? "I surely misheard you, but it seemed like you claimed Hadrian was dating more than one woman."

"No, you heard me right. Why? Is that not common where you are from?"

"N-No." McGonagall shook her head to clear off the shock. "I'm sorry, but your Hadrian was a student of mine before your curse was lifted and it is… strange for me to hear of the lad engaging in such activities. Who are his…. girlfriends, if you don't mind me asking."

Belle crooked a finger and led the older woman back toward her desk where she pulled out a magically updating town register. It had been a gift from Regina, one of many, as a sign of her attempting to make apologies for how she'd been treated. She opened a particular page and started scrolling through names tapping three with her index finger twice. When she was done a trio of faces became projected above the glowing tome.

"This is incredible." Minerva gasped with delight.

"Yes, our mayor does make good gifts." Belle noted, "As long as you make sure they aren't cursed or poisoned first. Anyway, these are the girls. Ruby works at Granny's, Maleficent is the mayor's chief aid and assistant, and Emma is the sheriff, though she's out of town at the moment."

"Yes, I saw her disappear with Hadrian." Minerva mused before looking the helpful librarian in the eyes once more. "Thank you, Ms. Belle, you've been an excellent help."

"That is my job." The younger woman chirped happily. "If you need anything else while you're here feel free to ask." So saying she went back to working on her index sheets and the witch wandered back to the shelf with the stories.

Minerva decided three things then. First, she needed to at least skim these shelves to figure out which fairy tale characters her group would be dealing with. Second, she was definitely checking out the fantasy section because she was desperate for a new series. Third, she would need to look up these… girlfriends. Hadrian may not be Harry anymore (no matter what Albus insisted, she'd already learned enough to figure that out), but Lily and James would be cursing her in their graves if she didn't at least make sure they were good enough for the man that had been their son. She couldn't do much else for her fallen students, but she could do that.

Across the street Cora stared through the large clocktower windows at the stoic scotswoman meandering amongst the shelves. These English witches and wizards were quite fascinating. But their interest in her grandson was more than a little bit annoying. She decided she'd keep a much closer eye on them from here on out. Especially the bearded one stuck at the diner. He practically radiated trouble…


Next Time:

-Harry, Emma, and Gold meet their target.

-Minerva meets the girlfriends.

-Hermione and Snow have a heart to heart.