Hermione sat across the table from the others in the Black Eagle House, her hands folded in her lap. Everyone was staring at her.
"Yep." Caspar said. "Definitely not Edelgard."
"That posture, that expression… her very demeanor speaks so clearly." Ferdinand said.
"Oh please." Dorothea said. "Don't speak about her as if she's not here." She gave Hermione a reassuring smile. "Don't be afraid." She said warmly. "We are all friends here."
Hermione smiled back, somewhat weakly. Her eyes were on Ferdinand's elaborately made uniform. It looked incredibly expensive. She found herself reminded of Draco Malfoy's finery. Ferdinand, and many of the others, seemed to be from rather well off families. She could see that simply from the way they dressed and spoke.
That did make sense. She thought to herself. Edelgard was a Princess, after all. It only made sense that she would surround herself with other nobles. She found herself overwhelmed. She did not yet know all of their names.
There was Hubert, of course, He was standing just behind her, watching the situation unfold with a cold expression. He had done little to steer the conversation in a pleasant direction. He was, Hermione knew, an attendant or Butler of Edelgard's of some kind. He seemed rather attentive of her, and seemed to be taking in her every move. While occasionally the others would stop and speak among themselves, he never did. She imagined his eyes never strayed far from the back of her head.
There was Caspar, the loud blue haired boy who had initially mistaken her for Edelgard. He seemed energetic and lively, but she imagined he was not too bright. There was the tall and buxom Dorothea, who seemed to be rather empathetic and concerned for her well-being. Ferdinand had come over and introduced himself. He did not seem to have a lot of self-restraint, but he didn't seem like a bad person either.
That left the others who had not spoken. The green haired boy was sleeping and had not even looked up at her as she sat down at the table. The purple haired girl, who looked frightened and out of place, looked as if she might bolt at any given moment. And lastly tall, beautiful girl sat passively, hands folded on the table top, considering her with a watchful eye.
"I'm sorry." Hermione said. "This is all… very overwhelming to me as well." She bowed her head. "I cannot even begin to imagine just what has caused this…"
"A freak occurrence to be sure." Ferdinand agreed. "Perhaps you could tell us a little bit about yourself and what were you doing?"
She felt herself freeze up at their questioning stares. She felt a strange compulsion to answer, and to do so honestly. But that deep rooted rule that had been drilled into her head before she had even started at Hogwarts prevented her from doing so.
She did not want to admit to muggles that she was a witch studying magic at Hogwarts. To do so, to near strangers nonetheless, could be grounds to see her expelled.
Dorothea, as if noticing the turmoil in her expression, stepped closer to her. Hermione flinched back a little as her gentle hand touched her shoulder. Dorothea leaned in closer, smiling a little.
"Hermione." She said gently. "If you know anything, anything at all… You need to tell us. We're never going to resolve this unless you're honest with us. We want Edelgard back just as much as you want to go back home. Please. You can trust us. We have no reason to harm you."
Her tone was so soft, and so warm. Hermione felt herself calming down somewhat. Yes… this was a special situation, wasn't it? Her very life was at risk. The Ministry would understand… wouldn't they? Hadn't Harry gotten off just earlier that very same year?
She nodded, biting her lip. "A-alright." She said, steeling herself for the explanation of Hogwarts.
It went far better than she had expected. In the Muggle World her story would probably have been met with quite a lot of skepticism, but the Black Eagles seemed to hang on to her every word. Being a religious organization in a Middle Age type environment they probably heard strange stories like this all the time.
She spoke of Hogwarts, and the school, and her world, while explaining that she wasn't supposed to be discussing any of this with strangers. She stopped suddenly, taking in a deep breath. She had been speaking uninterrupted for what felt like fifteen minutes.
"Oh sweetie..." Dorothea said, as she affectionately squeezed her leg. "We'll get you back to your school. Promise!"
"I would think." Hubert said tersely. "That you would be primarily concerned about your Head of House!"
Dorothea waved him off. "Edelgard will be fine." She said. "Right Hermione?"
"She SHOULD be." Hermione said anxiously, not sure on how to broach the situation about the Ministry and Voldemort to people who had never heard of these things before. "If she went straight to my Headmaster Dumbledore after the accident, he would do anything in his power."
"Edelgard's sensible." Dorothea told her gently. "I think she'll be fine." Hermione nodded at her, and then returned her smile.
"So I think that's it." Hermione said. "I think this might have happened to me… at Hogwarts. So I think we'll have to wait for the teachers to resolve it. Dumbledore is a genius, I'm sure he'll get to the bottom of it eventually."
She paused.
"But there's no telling how long that will be." She said quickly. "And I'm not sure if there's anything I could do to help speed things along. I may just have to sit tight and wait." The Black Eagles all nodded at her. None of them spoke.
The green haired boy yawned.
He sat upright and blinked at Hermione. "An interesting dilemma." He drawled. "I must say your school sounds fascinating… much more interesting than boring old Garreg Mach."
He yawned again. Hermione stared at him, not sure what he was getting at.
"Anyway." The boy said. "You shouldn't give up hope just yet. Are you not a Witch yourself? Perhaps there is something you could do to bring back Edelgard."
Hermione bit her lip. "I am a Witch." She affirmed. "But I haven't my wand or my any other resources… potion ingredients, books and things. Without those I don't know-"
"We have a library." Dorothea said suddenly, clapping her hands together. "Perhaps you could find something useful up there?"
"A library?" Hermione jolted her head towards her. Suddenly her apprehension and reluctance towards the situation gave way to excitement. A whole new library, with whole new books that she had never even HEARD of before…!
"It's worth a try." The Green haired boy said, standing up. "Here, I will help you get acquainted…"
"Yes please!" Hermione chirped happily as she followed him out the door. The other Black Eagles stared after her, amazed.
"I've never seen Edelgard look so happy." Caspar said.
"How many times do I have to tell you?" Dorothea asked. "That isn't Edelgard!"
…
Edelgard did not find herself sleeping for very long. Not wishing to disturb the other girls in her dormitory she got up early and prepared for her day. Hermione, she was annoyed to see, did not seem to own any clothes other than her black robes. It was a school uniform, she imagined, as she forced her leg into a tight black sock. At least it had red trimmings.
She spent quite a bit of time in front of the bathroom mirror fighting Hermione's hair. To her dismay it seemed almost impossibly thick and bushy. It would need quite a lot of work to straighten out, and Edelgard had no idea how Witches went about that. She did the best she could with her fingers, scowling at her expression, before heading back downstairs to the Common Room.
Harry and Ron, she was pleased to see, were already waiting for her.
"Ah." She said. They looked up at her as she approached. She awkwardly stood some distance away from them as they looked at each other. "What now?" She asked.
"We have classes today." Harry told her. "You're free to do as you like, but I think you should stick with us until you get used to the Castle. It's very easy to get lost."
"I can imagine." Edelgard said dryly. The amount of nonsense they had had to deal with on the way up to the Tower was mind boggling.
"But first, breakfast." Ron said, more enthusiastically than he had up until now. "Come on!"
Hermione followed the boys down the stairs. The situation was a bit less awkward than last night.
"What are those?" Edelgard asked, gesturing to the large animal banners lining either side of the Entrance Hall.
"Oh, those are our House insignias." Harry told her.
"Really?" Edelgard asked, intrigued, as she took them all in. She found herself surprised that both the Eagle and the Lion each represented a House, as they did in Garreg Mach. Although the Lion was Red rather than blue, and the Eagle was Blue rathe than Black, the coincidence rather struck her.
There was no Deer House, but there was a bright golden yellow with a Badger. The last was a bright green Snake.
"You have four houses?" Edelgard inquired, as they stepped into the Great Hall. She immediately took notice of the vast spread of food on the tables, and the Great morning Sky overhead, but did not comment.
"Yeah." Harry said. "Gryffindor… that's ours… Ravenclaw… Hufflepuff… and Slytherin."
Edelgard almost stopped in her tracks. Harry gave her a funny look.
"What?"
Slytherin. Those who Slither in the Dark. The names were a little bit TOO similar for her liking.
"I didn't like the sound of that last one." She told him. Ron let out a laugh.
"What is it?" She asked, annoyed.
"Slytherin House has a bit of a reputation…" Harry explained to her. "The Other houses tend to dislike them."
"For good reason, I imagine." Edelgard said dryly. Ron laughed again.
"I'm starting to like you, Edelgard!"
They sat down and Edelgard marveled at the vast array of dishes that lay out before her. Eggs, pancakes, muffins, snacks of all shapes and sizes. She did not even know where to begin.
"So Edelgard." Ron said, as he piled sausages onto a plate. "What's your story?"
She looked up at him. "I'm sorry?"
"What were you doing before you came to Hogwarts?" Harry asked her curiously. Edelgard froze, not at all sure how to answer.
"I… was taking a walk around my Academy." She said stiffly. "And then I found myself in your friend's body."
"That's it?" Ron pressed. "That's all you were doing?"
"Yes." Edelgard said stiffly. For the first time, she began to wonder just how good of an idea it was to share information with these people about her past and background. She had spoken nothing of the specifics of where she had come from, other than that it was a school much like Hogwarts. And she had said even less about herself, although Dumbledore had tried to probe her rather subtly during her discussion with him. She still knew very little about this society, and for all she knew they could turn on her at any given moment.
"Tell us about your school, Edelgard." Harry said. He was being rather pushy. He seemed to want to keep her talking.
Edelgad did not know what to say. She could speak of Rhea, her feelings towards the Church of Seiros, her plans for the future. But she knew deep down in her heart that explaining those things to these people would be a very poor idea.
"It's a means to an end." She said at last. "I enjoy my classes… I enjoy what I do. But sometimes I feel…." She paused. "A little out of place."
She shook her head somewhat, trying to clear her head. "There is…." She said. "A man there. A Teacher who has made me feel like…. Like I can do anything."
She stopped talking, flushing a little. She had perhaps said a little too much. Without any word she dug into her first breakfast at Hogwarts.
…
A/N: I can't believe it almost took a month to update! Where does the time go? I have to say I'm not too happy with this one! I hope people aren't getting bored with it.