Disclaimer: Well, if I owned this I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have to worry about choosing a university, 'cause I'd be set for life with all the HP profits. Unfortunately, I do have that problem, so I guess I don't own any of this.

A/N: Well, here we go. Launch your rotted vegetables and stones at me, only, please, make them small stones. Pebbles, if you will. I know I've been gone for like, ever, but whatever. Junior year kicked my ass and I was way busy. I'm totally going to be a senior this year! Ahh! Hide me, someone, before real life finds me and holds me down while his friend, the real world, beats me up.

Chapter 12: Sirius and Strategies

Hermione rose what would have been her eye brows at the hyperactive owl in front of her.

"Escape? How on earth do you propose we do that? Not even here a day yet and you've got delusions about leaving!" Hedwig huffed, shaking her brown-feathered head disapprovingly.

"Yeah and how do you know we couldn't just leave on our own?" Sirius added, trying to be helpful.

Hermione smiled (well, as much as one can smile with a beak instead of lips) and let herself dream briefly about being out in the real world again, in her castle, bickering with her surrogate brother Ron and trying to avoid Molly's lectures by hiding in the courtyards. At first she didn't dare think of Harry at all, at first she tried to bring forth memories and delusions of normal castle life. But Harry made his way into her head, and she couldn't help but imagine herself out of the clutches of Voldemort and in her love's arms.

This daydream was spoiled when her eye caught the movement of a fish within the lake, reminding her that she was a phoenix everywhere but here, when the light of the moon touched the waters of the murky lake within the large stone walls of Voldemort's old castle.

Tonight was different, though. Large puffy storm clouds covered the sky overhead, keeping her in bird form. She would remain so as long as the clouds covered the moon, and throughout the morning. Then hopefully the moon would allow her to become human again.

"It's a nice idea, Pig, but I'm afraid it won't be possible." The Princess said, brushing a stray tear from her gold phoenix eye.

Pig twittered up, flapping his tiny wings quickly. "No wonder you're still stuck here, Princess, with an attitude like that! You must have no fear, and if you do, you can do anything!" He chirped while flying in small circles around her head.

Hermione sighed. Pig was somewhat right; she was feeling sorry for herself and being too cautious for her own good. As the future wife (or former future wife) of the Prince of Gryffindor, she should have been more courageous.

"I see what you mean Pig, you're right. But it's not fear that's keeping me from escaping. It's facts. I can't leave here and still become human again. I need the lake, and call me crazy but I don't think anyone will be willing to take the word of a firebird claiming to be a Princess." Hermione said, leaning up against a tall tree.

Hedwig clucked her tongue at Pig and glared slightly. "Do you see now? Even if we flew over the walls and out of here, poor Hermione wouldn't end up with her Prince because of the curse. Even if that wasn't an issue, we don't know where her castle is-"

"I know where the Gryffindor castle is! As the archduke, I-"

"- and certainly she would be caught by Voldemort or that awful woman Bellatrix." Hedwig finished, ignoring Sirius' interruption.

Pig seemed to consider this for a moment, though it was hard to tell if he was thinking or just aimlessly twitting from left to right. "You, Princess, come from Ravenclaw right?"

"Well yes, I-"

"Right, right right! Ravenclaw equals smart, right?" Pig seemed to be getting over-excited again, and less serious.

"No, not necessarily but we are known for being quite scholarly and-"

"That's it, I'm right! So, you equal Ravenclaw." The tiny owl seemed to be attempting to get his thoughts out so fast that they were coming out in blurbs of phrases, instead of complete thoughts.

"That's what I-"

"Right again, yes? Yes! Ravenclaw equals smart, you said right, right? Yes!"

"I-"

"So Hermione equals Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw equals smart, you equal smart!" Pig said. "So a smart Ravenclaw like you could certainly come up with something to get yourself out of here!"

If her feathers weren't already fiery red, she would have blushed from her hairline down to her toes. Pig was right again. She had Rowena Ravenclaw's blood in her, she had spent countless hours studying and reading and in lessons. Princess Hermione hadn't been acting like a Gryffindor royal, but neither had she been acting like a Ravenclaw. Royal and peasant alike would have already formulated some kind of plan, some kind of memorized map of the area surrounding and possible exits.

She looked at her hyper little owl friend and smiled determinedly. Then she glanced at Hedwig, who was looking on with a concerned expression, and nodded. Sirius barked his excitement, because each of the animals could see the plan slowly forming in her mind through the way that she sat up, and the look on her face.

Princess Hermione of Ravenclaw was going to get out of this hellish castle, and she was going to find her Prince Harry, so they could live happily ever after.

The next morning, a tentative outline of her surroundings had been drawn in the soft sand around the lake. There was the central area, which was the castle. Then, an inner moat was placed around it, with a bridge built over it. There was the lake and the land Hermione and the other animals were on, and then a wall. She had been told by Pig that he'd gathered from his crash landing that there was another moat surrounding the outside walls, and a forest beyond that. The forest surrounded the castle, making it difficult to tell one direction from the other.

She'd drawn in the drawbridge in the wall, the only opening in the gates that Hedwig found as she flew around the perimeter. Sirius had mouthed off the 'exact location' of the Gryffindor castle and how to get there from here, though no one really paid him much mind. Hermione had politely thanked him for his effort to help, though she didn't really trust in his directions.

Hermione looked again at the lines in the sand, and sighed. Though now they had a good idea of what was around them, she still didn't have much idea of how to get to Gryffindor and to Harry, despite Sirius' generous directions.

Hedwig and Pig had attempted to help, soaring up into the sky above the walls as Hermione still contemplated from the ground, but they grew tired and all they had seen was more forest. The castle must really have been far out.

The only solution that she could come up with was a map. A map that was probably within Voldemort's castle, hidden in a library or study, and was going to be hard to reach. She would need to do even more planning, just to get it.

The Princess explained her predicament to her friends, and expected to be met with disappointed animals, who expected more of a solid plan and a quick exit from the 'brilliant' Ravenclaw royal. However, Hedwig had reassuringly wrapped a comforting wing around her, and Pig jumped up into the air in a wave of excitement. Sirius, however, had the most peculiar reaction of the three.

"Oh dear Princess Hermione, I am so happy to hear this!" Sirius proclaimed. "For it is wonderful that I, Sirius the archduke, can serve you who I think of as my dear friend!"

"And what useless information can you give her, my liege?" Hedwig asked, rolling her brown eyes.

"This information is hardly useless, and you should be glad that it is I, the archduke, who is here. I can provide something so wonderful, so magnificent, that the Princess will weep with gratitude, and you will realize that I am truly an archduke as I say."

Hedwig snorted and Hermione smiled at the kind dog. "Go ahead, archduke. Please tell me what it is you have."

"I have a map!"

A/N: Gee, I wonder which map he's talking about. –drools like an idiot- Well, there you have it. Another chapter. I don't know when the next one is coming out, so savor it like you would your last meal. ;)

Oh, and I'm thinking of changing my penname to Sunny January (why? I dunno, because Sunny February sounded stupid.). What do you guys think? I'm not entirely sure… Well, give me feedback. Even if it's just –throws rotted fruit-. Though I'd rather a nice long review. Thanks for reading!