Hermione was exhausted. It was her fifth day in the feudal era, and she had to admit it was very interesting to experience, and the people there were very nice. If only it wasn't for the fact that she hadn't really slept for four nights. Her nightmares kept plaguing her, and together with missing her friends and being afraid to never see them again it didn't make a good mix; she felt like a wreck. She tended to be somewhat fine during the day, but all the depressing thoughts came at night. After her first night here, she also masked her scent, not wanting to disturb Kagome and Inuyasha again. During the day she didn't mask it since he probably would have noticed it. She wasn't even sure if he didn't suspect something because he sometimes looked at her strangely.

The last few days she had heard a lot of stories and had helped with making some medicine, meaning she was washing, drying or grounding herbs. Since she wasn't allowed to walk a lot there were almost always people keeping her company and telling her stories or just talking to her. A good thing was that she recognised a lot of the herbs, even if not by the same name.

At some point she had thought: "It looks like I am stuck here for the moment. I should make the best out of it until I can go back. I think I should be able to plant the herbal ingredients that aren't too common here with a bit of magic and the supplies I have in my bag. And maybe I can ask the people in the village about other ingredients, they could be known under other names… perhaps even dismissed as useless."

She was sitting outside of the village on a hilltop with Kagome, and they were tying up bundles of dried herbs. Inuyasha was sitting above them on a tree, bored out of his mind because he didn't have a demon to defeat. The two women worked silently beside each other.

Hermione was rubbing her eyes tiredly when the sky darkened suddenly, and there was blue fire before them. Without thinking, her battle instincts kicked in and she threw up a shield around herself and her new friends, and then she used a strong 'aguamenti' to try to put out the strange fire.

"Hey, what was that for?!" came a voice out of the middle of the fire in the air.

The sky cleared again, the fire disappeared and before them stood a very wet little boy with a fox tail and pointy ears.

"Shippo! You are back from training! I am so happy to see you! But why did you do that? You frightened Hermione," Kagome said to Shippo and then turned curiously to Hermione, "What exactly did you do? I never saw something like this."

"Well, bloody hell, I think the cat is out of the bag know", Hermione said while running her fingers through her hair shakily, still trying to calm herself down.

"Hermione! No cursing! Especially in front of children!"

"Sorry."

"Feh, the cat was never in the bag to begin with. You practically ooze of power. Heck, I'm surprised no demon in the area has come yet to try and absorb your powers," Inuyasha said.

"You mean to say that my magic is like a bright beacon of light that draws demons to it like moths?"

He had to stop and think for a bit.

"Yes, kind of. But do you have to make it sound so complicated?"

Hermione ignored his question and asked instead: "How can I hide or mask them? Is there a way for me to learn it?"

"Yes, I am still learning that as well as learning how to control my spiritual powers. I do it through meditation. Miroku and Kaede are teaching me. We could also ask Sesshomaru, when he comes to visit Rin. He is very good at hiding his aura," Kagome replied.

"What the hell, Kagome! Why would you ask the ice prick?!"

"Inuyasha, sit boy."

To the surprise of Hermione Inuyasha was slammed to the ground by an invisible force.

"Kagome, why are you doing this to me," Inuyasha whined from the floor.

"No cursing in front of children!" Kagome answered, while glaring at him.

"Kagome, who is that?" asked Shippo a bit shyly, motioning towards Hermione.

"Ah yes, sorry, I forgot to introduce you. Shippo, this is Hermione. She is from my time and came through the well five days ago. Hermione, this is Shippo. He is the little fox demon that travelled with us. I told you about him. He was training in the fox village, so we haven't seen him for a while."

They bowed and greeted each other.

"Now, returning to my question at the beginning. I assume you would prefer to explain what you just did to everybody at once. So, why don't we go back to the village, invite everyone over, and you can tell us over dinner?"

"Sounds okay to me," Hermione said a bit overwhelmed.

She realised that she was still clutching her wand and put it pack in its holster. She took her cane and stood up with some difficulty. Then they made their way to the village.

HxS

While Kagome had cooked with the help of Hermione, Inuyasha and Shippo had gone and fetched Kaede, Rin, Sango and her family. They were now sitting around the fireplace in Kagome and Inuyasha's hut. The soup still wasn't finished, so Hermione decided to tell them now.

"Soo…, since everybody here seems to know about it I will tell you. The power you can feel is actually magic. I was born with it and went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn to control it. In my world I am called a witch, and males are called wizards. We use the so-called wands to channel the magic, and we are able to perform an array of spells. The Magical World is hidden from muggles, non-magical folks, since the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, this meaning that revealing magic to them is against the law and punishable by imprisonment. M…", she spewed out one information after another because she was nervous until Inuyasha stopped her.

"Wait, wait, wait! So, you are telling us you are a witch. Do you want to steal Kagome's soul and put it in a clay body as well?!"

Hermione was confused by that comment: "What?"

"Don't mind him. We had a run-in with a demon witch called Urasue at the start of our travels. She tried to steal my soul and resurrect Lady Kaede's older Sister and Inuyasha's ex-lover Kikyo, who I am also the incarnation of."

Hermione blinked a few times, shocked to hear that.

"No, I am definitely not that kind of witch. In my world I am considered to be on the light side. We don't do such things."

After having cleared that and seeing that they accepted her, she relaxed a little and decided it was her turn to tell them about some of her adventures and things in her world. She tried to keep it light and funny, and left out the whole Voldemort story. That was perhaps something for another time. She told them about her better schooldays and the friends she made there. They were surprised to hear she and her friends had fought a troll in their first year and were amazed by her explanation of quidditch.

When it was getting late, they bid each other good night and went to bed. Hermione was feeling somehow lighter and she thought that talking with her new friends had helped her not to feel so alone anymore. She hoped her nightmares would spare her that night.

AN: I am not sure about the rating, should I change it to an M? (torture scene)

Thank you for your support! I hope you continue liking the story! I am always thankful for your feedback. If everything works as planed I will post another chapter tomorrow. So, look forward to it!

This story is now betaed by Pyo-Kiyo, I am very grateful for her help.

Thanks, and enjoy.