Author's Notes: As promised, the next chapter. And on time, too. I know, I'm just as surprised. Alright, so I'm started jury duty on Monday, so I'm not sure if I'll have Chapter 6 up next Wednesday or not.

Chapter 5

Without thinking, Hermione held out an arm so that Hedwig could land. She absently scratched her around the neck, only to stop at the look on Anko's face. Asuma had left after breakfast to attend to his duties and Kakashi had said something about work and that he'd be back that night before handing Hermione some money and leaving. At least, she supposed, he'd thought about how she was supposed to feed herself while he was gone.

Although she was beginning to wonder if he was avoiding being alone with her long enough for her to actually speak to him about anything important. Then again, Hermione hadn't exactly sat Kakashi down to speak to him. She knew she was subconsciously avoiding anything important, but there was only so long she could allow herself to do so.

"Is that an owl summons?" asked Anko.

Hermione shook her head and laughed. "Hedwig here is my friend's messenger owl. The Dragon Clans back home use owls to deliver letters and packages." She gently untied the package and slipped it into her bag. "I'll send a reply in a couple hours, Hedwig. Go find yourself something to eat or a place to sleep for the day."

The owl hooted and affectionately nipped at her fingers before flying off.

"Why owls?"

"You know, I have no idea. But we've used them for millennia."

"Huh. And they understand human speech?"

"Well enough. They understand ideas and so long as you're clear on who the message is to be delivered to, they're incredibly accurate. Harry has no idea where I really am, so Hedwig was probably just told to deliver the letter to me and she managed to find me."

"That is impressive," commented Anko. "How did your people manage that?"

"I have no idea. I've never been all that interested in learning. But you might want to ask Akimichi Natsumi-san. I know she keeps a messenger owl or two." At Anko's nod, she continued. "So, what are we doing?" asked Hermione. At Anko's shrug, Hermione let out a sigh. "I've seen everywhere in the village that I'm allowed to visit, so unless you suggest something, I had no plans for today other than grocery shopping. I swear, that man keeps no food in his apartment. Well, unless you want to help me make a quilt."

"A quilt?"

Hermione shook her head in disgust. "There is only one quilt in the entire apartment and it's so threadbare, I'm surprised it hasn't ripped in half or lost all it's batting yet. Luna and I already have the design figured out and I've got the materials. The only thing left is to cut the pieces, put them together, and sew it up."

"Or we could go get dango," suggested Anko, clearly horrified by the thought of needlework-or possibly by the idea of doing something so feminine. Admittedly, Hermione felt much the same, but she was limited by the lack of available entertainment and the inability to play music all day without breaks.

She shrugged. "Sounds as good as anything else. I think I had some dango during the festival after the Chunin Exams, but I'm not sure."

Anko gaped at her for a moment before all but dragging her to a stand, muttering about how it was a travesty. They ended up sitting at a stand at the edge of the market, a plate of dango before each of them.

"So, what's your clan like?" asked Anko.

Hermione shrugged. "It's a bit more complicated than around here. Back home, it's like we're one people or a huge clan with a bunch of different families, rather than a bunch of clans that live in the same village."

"Alright, that you're going to have to explain."

"So far as we're concerned, if you're a member of the Dragon Clans, you're one of us, you're a member of the same people as everybody else. There are about seventy different Dragon Clans living on the island, so with the way religion is around there, they all banded together and created their own society and government. About five hundred years back they went into hiding completely." It was close enough to the truth that it should be easy to remember. "In the past, they hunted down our women and our children and they killed them. There were hundreds of ways they killed our kind. It was… it was bad. They don't do that sort of thing anymore, but that's because most of them think the stories about the Dragon Clans are just stories."

"What sort of training did your clan give you?"

Hermione shrugged. "The normal training. We have a school up north that all the clans send their children to. Although when a person attends, it's considered entering into a seven year apprenticeship. I finished the first five years of training and have two more to go." She shrugged. "I can't give you any specifics on what sort of jutsu we learn. I was only taught the very basics of self defense with chakra and I've never been taught to fight physically or how to use any weapons. Some of the men are taught how to fight physically as well by their clan when they're children, but most of us are just scholars, not warriors."

"But they teach you how to use your kekkei genkai."

Hermione nodded. "They need to be sure that if any of us marry outside of the clans or decide to go into self exile from them, that we can teach our descendants how to use their kekkei genkai as well. Hell, Kakashi-kun and Maito-san are generations removed from anybody who attended the school and they're just as well trained in the use of our kekkei genkai as anybody who has attended it, better than the graduates in some areas."

Anko let out a whistle. "Impressive." She turned back to her dango for several moments. When she was done eating the dumpling, she asked, "Is self exile common?"

"Yeah. It's what Kakashi-kun and Maito-san's ancestors did. The school takes in maybe twenty to fifty students each year-my year was rather large with forty-and two to six of them will choose self exile in the end." Hermione shrugged. With what the Death Eaters had been doing to the Muggle population, the Aurors had been particularly adamant in their protection of Muggle-Born children, which had resulted in seven surviving to attend Hogwarts instead of the usual one or two. "Since it seems that I'll be moving here permanently after I finish my apprenticeship, I don't suppose you could tell me how things around here work?"

Hermione pulled out her knitting and settled in to listen as Anko explained. They spent a good portion of the morning talking about village politics and the Clan, Shinobi, and Civilian Councils, which essentially ran the day to day business of the village, though in the end, the Hokage had final say on everything. They moved on to the way things worked in the village itself, and finally Anko spoke about what a shinobi's life was really like. The woman was warning Hermione, and she knew it. She understood that Anko was trying to disillusion her before anybody was in this too deep, not understanding that Hermione was already well aware of the reality, though she wasn't sure yet how she'd deal with knowing that Kakashi was out on a mission and in danger without being able to go along with him like she did with Harry and Ron. Even if she barely knew Kakashi at all, she didn't like the idea of him going out on missions and possibly dying, but she understood that he was highly competent and that her presence might actually kill him, rather than save him. It didn't mean that she had to like it, though.

That afternoon, she and Anko went their separate ways after Anko led her to the market and showed her how to haggle properly. At least she'd managed to get enough food for the next week, less if she made more than one meal a day for Kakashi as well.

When she was finally alone in the apartment, Hermione opened the package. There was a relatively short letter-apparently Harry was still chaffing at the limitations Dumbledore had placed upon him and had finally received his OWL results. He'd forwarded copies of his and Ron's results along with Hermione's own sealed results and book list-which Dumbledore had supplied early-since the Ministry and Hogwarts owls weren't capable of delivering to somebody on another continent-let alone another world.

For a moment, she considered writing of her marriage, and then she decided against doing so. She'd tell everybody after Professor McGonagall got back to her. She wrote a letter which spoke of the dueling tournament she and Luna had attended-Hermione decided it was the best way to explain the Chunin Exams-along with a few brief paragraphs about the people she'd met and a transcription of her OWL results. Hermione went outside and a moment later Hedwig landed on her shoulder. She tied the letter to the owl's leg and sent her off.

Hermione had received eleven OWLs. She wasn't sure how she felt about the results, other than that at least she'd be able to pick whatever NEWT level classes she wanted to attend unimpeded. The Exceeds Expectations in Defense had been a bit of a disappointment, but she had received Outstandings in the other ten subjects. She'd need to talk to Kakashi about what books his clan had available. At least, she supposed, she'd only need to take the particularly difficult classes or classes that she thought she might need to survive the war. Or perhaps just classes that covered subjects she wouldn't be able to learn in Konoha. Maybe a combination of all three would be best. She had until September second to decide anyway.

For lack of a better idea, Hermione went back to the apartment and began to work on the quilt. She carefully trimmed down the two cloths for the top so that it matched the bottom and the sides were straight, plus a centimeter on each side. The top was sewn into one large block before anything else. Then she cut out the appliqué mountains and stream following the pattern she and Luna had decided on. If she were sewing the quilt by hand or using a sewing machine, Hermione would have sewn the mountains on before sewing the top together. As she was using magic, she pinned the cloth together and set the needle to work with magic. It took a bit longer than usual because she sewed each seam twice, for added strength. Then she pinned the mountain range and stream onto the quilt and set the needle to sew them on using a satin embroidery stitch in various shades of blue, gray and white thread. Unsurprisingly, by the time to sun set, she'd only finished what she'd prepared. With a mental shrug she packed her sewing away and continued her reading.

That night, Hermione stirred only long enough to notice Kakashi enter the apartment through the window once more and check it was him before rolling over and going back to sleep. He was gone before she awoke in the morning. She found a note that said he'd been changed to the morning shift and that he'd be back around four thirty that afternoon.

Hermione bit her lip for a moment, before making herself an omelet for breakfast. At least she'd have a chance to speak to him this afternoon. Grabbing her banjo and writing materials she set up on the couch. She was feeling inspired and might as well compose a song or two. In the end, she managed to set already written ballads for Ginny's experience with the diary and for the Marauders, betrayed by one the trusted, to music, and started on a song detailing Sirius's false imprisonment, escape, and death. It was surprisingly cathartic and the banjo was the perfect instrument for the songs. She'd present them to Ginny and Harry-perhaps the last two to Remus as well-when she got back to the UK and see what they thought of them then.

About two hours before Kakashi was supposed to be back, she took out her sewing and cut out the tree trunks and the green cloth to make a forest. She pinned the trunks and greenery in place and set the needle to sewing them down, once more with a satin stitch in shades of green and brown. Next would be the field of wild flowers. The last thing she would do before sewing the layers of the quilt together was the appliqué and embroidered animals. Although in all fairness, she still wasn't sure what animals she'd use. She'd found a good, almost invisible thread that she'd use to sew the layers together discretely.

Once the needle was set to sewing, Hermione began to make dinner. She wasn't going to let Kakashi escape this time. They had things they needed to speak about and neither her squeamishness nor his avoidance would get in the way this time.

When she went to the bathroom about an hour after she began cooking, Hermione found herself unsure of what to feel. She changed her underwear and found a pad before washing the blood from her old set of panties. She was still somewhat irregular, which was normal for witches until they either reached their mid-twenties or had their first child according to both Penny and Madam Pomfrey and hadn't known whether or not she was ovulating when she and Kakashi had consummated their marriage. She supposed she knew now. At least the pain killers she took for her cursed wound kept her from feeling the headache she always got during this time of the month.

She resisted the urge to cry to the best of her abilities, instead focusing on cooking, although she did discreetly wipe away a tear or two. Hermione had thought that she didn't really want a child, but the way she felt now was giving her second thoughts.

By the time Kakashi came in through the window, which was apparently customary for him, Hermione was putting the finishing touches on the meal. She'd been regularly waking up at dawn, and eating supper at five instead of six or seven didn't bother her all that much. The sewing had been put away ten minutes prior-she didn't want it to get lost or dirty. While she waited for Kakashi to shower and change-judging by the sound of running water, she set the table.

It had been a bit difficult to decide what to make, considering that people used chopsticks instead of knives and forks in this area of this world, but she'd eventually decided on something that would hopefully be easy enough to eat. And that he would hopefully like. Hermione wasn't comfortable with trying so hard to please Kakashi, but understood that making him a good, tasty dinner would hopefully put him in a good sort of mood for the conversation that evening.

"Supper will be ready in five minutes," Hermione commented when Kakashi left the bedroom. "If you could retrieve the juice from the refrigerator, I would appreciate it."

"Juice?" he asked.

"Honestly? I thought it might be best to avoid anything alcoholic for a little bit. But I did find beer in the back of the fridge when I cleaned it out if you'd prefer that instead."

He nodded his understanding and took a beer and the jug of grape juice from the refrigerator and placed them on the small kitchen table.

"What did you make?"

"Baked ziti and salad," she explained, taking the casserole dish from the oven with over mitts and putting a cookie sheet of snickerdoodles into the oven.

She was honestly surprised to have found the needed cheeses at the market. But it had been easy enough to make her own noodles and tomato sauce with ground mutton, mushrooms, peppers and onions in it from scratch. Hermione set a timer for the cookies and then took the casserole dish to the table, careful to set it on the mats she'd placed there. She placed a salad on the table and poured herself a cup of juice before putting it away and sitting down across from Kakashi.

"What is baked ziti," asked Kakashi, even as he served himself a large ladle full of the vaguely penne shaped noodles.

"Just noodles baked in a cheese and tomato meat sauce," she explained, serving herself. "Which reminds me, I need to tell you what I told Anko-san about the enclave."

He nodded and listened quietly to her quick explanation. He was halfway done with his serving of baked ziti when he commented, "That was a sensible explanation."

Hermione shrugged. "It was the best I could come up with on short notice and I thought refusing to say anything would have made her more suspicious than sticking with the Statute of Secrecy too closely." She paused, "Do you want me to make you something tonight so that you have breakfast or maybe lunch as well waiting for you when you get up?"

Kakashi nodded after a moment of thought. It looked a little silly with his cloth mask hanging around his neck, but she said nothing about that. "Nothing that needs to be reheated for lunch. And no heating charms or other spells on the food."

"No problem," she agreed easily enough. "I don't know what you usually do for food-go out to eat, I assume-but can we talk about a food budget for the rest of the summer? I still have most of the money from playing at the tea house. I was planning on using it to pay for my school books so that Penny didn't have to-apprentices don't make all that much-but I could use it to help with household expenses."

"You don't need to use your money," said Kakashi, almost sounding affronted. (1)

"I didn't mean to offend you; I just wanted to know about a food budget."

She used the timer going off as an excuse to leave the table. She put the cookie tray on top of the counter and turned off the oven before returning to the table.

"I'll set aside four hundred ryo a week for food," suggested Kakashi after a moment of thought. "And I can pay for your school books and supplies."

"I-thank you. I would appreciate that," she agreed. She wasn't sure how much a ryo would be worth in pounds, but the amount he suggested would buy roughly seventy five pounds worth of food. More if she bargained well. It was appropriate considering that the country used a ten day long week and a lunar calendar instead of a seven day week like in the calendar she was used to. "If you're going to pay for my school supplies, you'll need to change your ryo into gold, silver, or jewels so that I can exchange it for the local money. There isn't exactly an exchange rate for ryo in the UK." (2)

"Aa," he said in acknowledgement.

"Alright, I know that my words bothered you, and I'm not sure why," explained Hermione. "I'd appreciate it if you'd explain it to me."

Kakashi blinked at her for a moment, as though she were an alien being before understanding filtered through his visible eye. "Unless the wife is the only person in the household capable of and willing to work, the husband, or another male relative is expected to support the family. I'd forgotten that according to Chihiro-basan, Wizarding women tend to be more independent than even most kunoichi."

"Oh. I didn't mean to call into question your ability to support your-our, family. It's just that among Muggles these days, unless a woman specifically chooses to be a house wife or she's recently given birth, she's expected to contribute to household expenses at the very least," she explained. Men tended to get touchy when they were implied to be lacking in some way, unintentionally or not. "I'm not sure about the Pureblood families, but most Halfblood and Muggle-Born families work the same way as Muggle."

A short nod was the only reply. "I heard you received an owl yesterday."

Hermione smiled. "Harry sent me a letter and forwarded my OWL results and book list for next year to me. I haven't decided which classes to take yet."

"What did you receive?"

"I got eleven OWLs. Ten Outstandings and an Exceeds Expectations in Defense Against the Dark Arts." She shrugged, understanding why her score had been so low. "I'm not the best in a fight. It happens so quickly and I think too much about what to do."

"What did you receive an Outstanding in?"

"Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Herbology, Astronomy, History of Magic, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Healing," she explained.

"What does the healing course cover?"

"The Healing course is essentially a first aid course given by the school's medi-witch; Madam Pomfrey. She was a medic on the front lines of both the war with Grindelwald and with Tom. Worked for the Hitwizards between the wars. I know enough to make you and Maito-san some healing potions before I leave for school if you want. And I can diagnose injuries, heal most cuts and bruises, stitch wounds closed and I know how to heal broken bones once they've been set. I'm learning to set bones and heal internal bleeding, but I wouldn't trust my skills at that yet. I've already decided to take it at the NEWT level-it's too useful not to take, but I haven't decided on anything else yet." (3)

"Do you need any potions supplies?"

"I'll need to get a list of potions to make together before I know. My kit is pretty well stocked-I helped Penny make potions before I left for the summer. I can tell you what I need after you get off work tomorrow-if you're working the same shift?"

"I'm on this shift for the next two days before I go on night shift for three days and then one day on afternoon shift. I have a day off after that," he explained.

From what Hermione understood, the village staggered the days off so that they had roughly the same number of shinobi within the village and particularly in ANBU working at any given time. It was kept irregular to throw off the enemy, which meant that Kakashi might have a day off, and then eighteen days-or almost two weeks-straight of work before he had his next day off, although the village tried to avoid that.

She nodded her understanding. At least she knew what to expect. "I sew using magic-it's quicker than by hand and stronger than machine sewing. If I did that while you were trying to sleep, would it bother you or not?"

"Aa. What are you making?"

At least she knew before she attempted it. "I'm making a new quilt. The quilt on the bed is very well made, but it looks like it might start falling apart at any moment. I can show you what I already have made after supper, if you want. And if you want me to do any mending, just tell me and I'll take care of it."

"Are you ever still?"

Hermione let out a harsh laugh and shook her head. "I haven't been able to stay still in years. I can't. I just-I can't. Not since the basilisk."

"The basilisk? From three years ago? Weren't you just petrified?"

"Yes and no. I was aware. All of us were. I could see and think and smell and hear and feel, the entire time. I can't… I need to move." She shrugged. "I'm not as bad off as some. Colin still has panic attacks and Justin has terrible flashbacks. The last time somebody caught Penny in a body bind, her magic reacted so violently that everybody else in the room needed a visit to the healer by the time they freed her."

"Could you knit or do some sort of needlework without magic while I sleep?"

He had accepted her words so easily, and part of Hermione could not help but wonder why. And then she remembered that he was essentially a career soldier. He likely knew more about torture, and post traumatic stress and all its variations that she did.

"Of course. I might be done with the quilt by then anyway. And that reminds me, I wanted to make new sheets and pillow cases for the bed as well."

He shrugged. "Two or three foot deep snow storms are common in winter and the temperature regularly stays bellow freezing."

"Alright. I can knit an afghan or two while I'm at school and if you want, I can make you some winter wear as well." She shrugged. "I was thinking of taking up crochet-Luna taught me ages ago-and crocheted blankets can be made relatively quickly."

She gathered the plates and put them in the sink before covering the pan of ziti and putting on the counter to cool. She took the cookies off the metal sheet and placed them on two plates. "Desert. They're snickerdoodles. Cinnamon-sugar covered sugar cookies."

He took a bite and then nodded. "They're good. Did you use the money I gave you yesterday for the quilt?" At her shake of the head, he said, "I'll set aside an extra three hundred ryo for bedding and whatever yarn or thread you wanted to get."

She nodded. That would be more than enough for her purposes. "Thank you. I'll get started on that tomorrow." She could have several needles going at once, although unfortunately the nature of the spell meant that only one needle could work on a piece of cloth at a time. The sheets could easily be made in a day or so. "I want to talk to you about our marriage."

Kakashi tilted his head like a curious dog. "What about it?"

"I don't know." She began to babble, "Are we having sex? I'm not even sure if I want to have sex before I return to Scotland. Do you want a child soon or not? What about letters? Because I think I'm going to need to buy an owl if we're to speak regularly. The school owls aren't bred for long distance deliveries and I don't think it would be a good idea to use one from the post office. And-"

"So we'll buy an owl. Neither Gai nor I bothered to keep owls because we had no one to send letters to."

"And the other things."

"I don't think whether or not I want to have a child matters unless you want to have sex," he pointed out. "Unless you use one of those teas that prevent conception."

Hermione shook her head. "It would take longer for the tea to kick in and start working than I'm supposed to stay here for." She was curious about what it would be like without the issues that virginity presented, although until her period was over, she wasn't interested. "Isn't there another form of contraception around here? Like condoms."

Kakashi shook his head. "There are condoms made from sheep intestine."

"Ew. No, just no," she said, crinkling her nose in disgust. "And I repeat, no."

He laughed a bit before sobering. "Do you want a child?"

"I do. But I don't know if I'm ready to have one yet. And all I can think about is what my enemies would do if I had a child." She took a deep, shuddering breath. "All I can think about is how easily they hunted down and murdered entire families during the last war. And being an infant wouldn't protect the child, being pregnant would offer me no protection. All it would do was paint a large target on my back. Larger than the one already on it. Except if I don't survive the war, I'll have left nothing of myself behind."

"Most Jonin have prices on their heads," he pointed out. "If somebody were to attack a Konoha shinobi's civilian family… for that ANBU kills every man, woman, and child in the attacker's immediate family. It has proved an effective deterrent over the decades."

"I heard about that Kumo nin who tried to kidnap the Hyuga heiress."

"That was a politically complicated situation," he admitted, understanding her unvoiced question. "It would have been far simpler had the shinobi tried to kill the girl."

"I understand what you're trying to say." She let out a sigh. "I want a baby so bad, but I'm scared. I-I'm terrified. I don't know how Ron or Harry's parents could have had them during the last war. We had a baby boom during the last three years of the war. All those people having babies because they were afraid that if they didn't, they would never have the opportunity to do so." She shook her head. "There are forty-thirty nine, now-of us in my year, and of that thirty nine, thirteen lost one or both parents during the war."

"You'll be spending much of the year at Hogwarts," he pointed out.

"I know." Hermione had to admit that if she didn't go looking for trouble with Harry and Ron, she would have been able to avoid a good eighty percent of the life threatening danger she'd ended up in over the years. "And I suppose I'll be spending next summer here as well, and I don't see the war spilling over to the village. Ever. Can you give me some time to think about it?"

Kakashi nodded. "You mentioned something about your classes."

"Right, so I've been trying to decide which classes to take. I was thinking about limiting it to the most difficult classes, the most useful, and what I can't learn while I'm here," she explained. "It's not like I'll be trying to find a job, other than as a musician so that shouldn't be taken into consideration."

"You're taking Healing?" He paused, then continued at her nod. "You like Arithmancy and Ancient Runes would be good. As would Care of Magical Creatures. Supernatural beings are more common here, from what I've been told. Do you have any difficulties making potions when you already have the directions in front of you?"

Hermione shook her head, even as she made notes. "I can make any of the healing potions I've seen and I successfully made Polyjuice Potion years ago."

"Polyjuice Potion? There's no point in continuing to take the class then. All it would do is teach you why potions work."

"How do you know this?" she asked.

"Chihiro-basan, my father's younger sister and Gai's mother attended Beaubatons during the late sixties, early seventies. She died seven years ago, during the Kyuubi attack. She received twelve NEWTS."

"I'm sorry for your loss. She sounded like an amazing person." Hermione was rather impressed by the woman's accomplishments. "I have to say, I've never heard of anyone willingly sitting for twelve NEWTS. So I guess there's no point in taking Potions."

"Aa. Defense at the NEWT level concentrates on dueling and casting silently and motionlessly. Between us, Gai and I can teach you how to cast silently, motionless, and wandlessly in the next month," he explained. "Dueling is a useless skill."

After a moment's thought, she nodded. "Thank you. I'll take you up on the offer, but I still want to buy the texts for the class just in case it covers something useful."

He nodded. "I'd suggest taking Transfiguration and Charms. Neither Gai nor I will have the time to teach it to you as well."

"Alright, so Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Healing, Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, and Charms," she said. "I think I'd like to take Herbology as well. No Astronomy. That's just useless. And I can learn anything I'd study in History of Magic from the text, so I might just buy that and read it during my free time instead."

"You were saying something about a quilt."

Hermione nodded. "Give me a minute." She put the last of the dirty plates in the sink and waved her wand, setting it to scrub itself clean and then dry itself with a kitchen towel. It wasn't like there was a dishwasher in the apartment and she had no intention of standing there and washing all the dishes by hand.

She pulled the bag out from behind the couch and pulled out the top, which had most of the trunks and greenery sewed in place. "This is just the top. And I still haven't put in the flowers in the meadow or any of the animals I intended to add."

"How long did this take you?"

"Including settling on a pattern? Three days. I should be done within the week. Let me show you the sewing spell I use." She waved her wand and set the needle to sewing once again. "It can only sew using my skill level and stitches I already know how to make, but it's much easier and more even than hand sewing."

"It rather looks like the Forest of Death."

"Is that anything like the Forbidden Forest next to Hogwarts Castle? Because that's what Luna and I modeled it after. We even including the mountains around the valley and Hogsmeade River. I'm only putting in animals native to the Forbidden Forest like acromantula and unicorns and hippogriffs. Although I'm still trying to decide whether or not to include thestrals. They're cute, but they're death omens so it might be too morbid."

"Thestrals?" He gave her a disbelieving look.

"Hogwarts has a herd of them. They're rather gentle, actually. I rode one across the country during the Department of Mysteries debacle."

"The hazards are different, but the Forest of Death has similar dangers." He paused, in thought. "Will the needle keep working if you're using magic for something else?"

Hermione nodded. "It should."

"I'll give you your first wandless magic lesson then."

The wandless magic lesson was exhausting, but since she already knew how to make balls of fire along with a handful of other techniques wandlessly, it was easier than it would have been otherwise. All she managed to do was figure out how to move objects with her mind, but according to Kakashi that was amazing progress for one lesson and during the next, he'd help her begin with wandless transfiguration.

Kakashi had claimed that silent and motionless casting was mostly mental, and that she could practice it on her own while he was at work, so he would mostly teach her wandless magic during his free time. Given how quickly she'd picked it up during the hour they'd practiced, she was inclined to agree with his assessment.

He'd gone to bed about an hour after starting her lesson, so Hermione had stopped the needle and put her sewing away before heading back to the kitchen and making two simple but large meals for Kakashi's breakfast and lunch, along with using her grandmother's recipe to make flapjack bars using oats, walnuts, dried apricots, and honey along with several other ingredients so that Kakashi had snacks available between meals. She wasn't sure how well it would turn out without brown sugar, but the taste she'd taken of the batter had been rather good. Hermione carefully put his breakfast in the fridge and labeled it before doing the same for the lunch and the flapjacks. She intended to keep a couple of the bars in the house for herself, and hoped he wouldn't take it all.

Once that was done, she washed everything by hand before going to take a sponge bath. She'd wash her hair the next day, she decided, and just brushed the mass of curls out and leaving it loose. Her hair looked ridiculously bushy, but she'd found that her hair faired better when left loose than when braided or put in a bun while she slept.

It was when Hermione went to join Kakashi in bed that she found herself suddenly nervous. It had been so easy before. She'd gone to bed before him and whether or not he'd joined her had been out of her hands entirely. Now, he was in the bed and it was her choice. She was being ridiculous, she knew. It wasn't like she could, or even should go out into the living room and sleep on the couch. With a mental growl, Hermione forced herself to walk over and pull the blanket back so she could slip into the bed. She caught him opening his eyes for a second before Kakashi rolled over, taking Hermione with him so that she was once more against the wall and he on the outside. She gave a mental shrug and snuggled with Crookshanks when the cat crawled onto the bed.

(1) Alright, so an explanation. Naruto's entire world is completely confusing and makes no sense culturally or socially, so I've been going with the flow. However I decided that it would be best to make it far more conservative than modern Japan. Admittedly, kunoichi are more independent than civilian women, but they're still more in keeping with a woman during the 1950s or early 60s than a modern woman. And yes, Hermione actually managed to accidentally offend the ever unflappable Kakashi. She implied that he was incapable of, or unwilling to support his family, which was understandably insulting. And he was probably reminded of his father's dishonor and the way the village treated him before his suicide, although Hermione doesn't know that.

(2) Alright, so money seems a bit odd. A ryo is worth ten yen in the manga. But that doesn't mean that a ryo is worth ten modern yen, hence the relative value of the ryo in my story. In this case, 5.3 ryo to a pound or 2.6 ryo to a dollar.

(3) For some unknown reason, Hermione received eleven OWLs when she was only taking ten subjects, which meant that either she sat for an OWL in Muggle Studies or Divination, or she took an elective which wasn't mentioned in the book. I decided to have Poppy Pomfrey offer an elective course that was outside of the norm. And well, I sort of vilified her in a previous story, so in this one she's completely badass, even if it's subtle.