Chapter 1:
Her throbbing head was the first thing she noticed upon waking. With every pulse of her heart, it sent a stabbing pain directly into her brain. Of course, she instinctively reached for her chakra to heal it only to find something else entirely. The hell? Sitting up quickly, she noted that she was in a medical wing of a…castle? The full moon shone brightly through the large arched windows so she could still see rather easily. Seeing no immediate threats, and noting she woke up unrestrained, she determined it safe enough to investigate where her chakra went. After all, she needed to get back to the frontlines, help Team 7 defeat Kaguya, and…
Wait, didn't they already defeat her? She remembered Sasuke and Naruto then. Sasuke, after everything, why did he want to kill the kages? Take over? Why did he have to fight Naruto, didn't he see that there had been enough fighting? That's why she…
She…
Oh Kami, what had she done?! She placed one hand over her heart, unsure how it still beat after Saskue's chidori pierced her heart. Naruto's rasengan to the back had hurt more. Did someone use a rinnegan to revive her? She didn't think she was an edo tensei, her flesh felt normal.
Looking down at her hands, watching the moonlight weave through them, she stared, transfixed, as she finally noticed these were not her hands. No calluses, no scars, and much too small. She reacted as any good shinobi does to absurd situations.
"Kai!"
Except there was no chakra in her coils to release. There were no coils at all. Instead, she dipped into that strange energy, the one that resided where her chakra pool used to be. The moment she did, memories came rushing back to her. Of a quiet, brilliant, but lonely girl. A girl raised by two dentists who had her when they were nearly forty. A girl applying for university at the age of twelve only to discover she had magic. (AU: Hogwarts starts at 12.) The memories of the last few weeks since coming to Hogwarts came last and clearest until she remembered the troll. It had smashed a sink hard enough to launch a large piece right at her head.
She collapsed back on the hospital wing bed. The good news, she was safe. The bad news, she had no clue who she was anymore and she'd never see anyone from her old world again. Oh, Kami! She really did not want to think about everyone who died in the war, nor everyone she left behind. If she started thinking about Naruto, Kakashi, Tsunade… No! Nononono, no.
Quickly, she compartmentalized, shoved it all in a little box, and locked the key. Practiced the techniques taught to kunoichi to detach from themselves if ever captured. That'll cause her eventual breakdown to be worse but it'll be later. How long does she have until then?
Better, more immediately important question, who is she? Is she Sakura Haruno or Hermione Granger? What if she, Sakura, was possessing the poor girl? She didn't want to become a bodysnatcher like Orochimaru. He needed seals to tether his soul to hosts though and she doubted he regained all the host's memories either.
What if Sakura and Hermione were the same soul and she had reincarnated? There would be similarities between them. Thinking on it, she decided Sakura and Hermione were extremely similar but differed in a few key values. While Sakura's mother pushed her to be a proper lady to find a respectable husband, Hermione's parents valued knowledge and responsibility. This resulted in Hermione growing up to be more serious and diligent than Sakura was at their comparative ages. Actually, remembering how much she was able to learn as Hermione made Sakura feel even worse for wasting so many years chasing after Sasuke in the academy.
Yet, that supreme satisfaction of learning something new felt the same in both lives. Her eye also ticked the same exact way, she sometimes subconsciously stimmed in the same pattern, obsessed over her large forehead/front teeth, learned from medical textbooks for fun…Ok, she's pretty sure she's both Sakura and Hermione. She'd see if she could use a spell to confirm only one soul resides inside this body later.
The name Sakura felt right, however. Although she didn't remember her past life until now, Sakura was who she truly grew up as, all the way to her seventeenth year. Hermione may be thirteen, only four years younger, but nothing aged you like shinobi life. Except war and she'd lived through that too. Even if she died mere minutes after they sealed Kaguya. Technicalities.
She would continue to be Sakura to herself but tell no one. Hermione had already heard whispers about the Department of Mysteries and combined with Sakura's knowledge of the darker sides of humanity she knew staying undiscovered would be a must.
A creaking door alerted her to an approaching presence. Two, judging by their footfalls. She quickly feigned sleep.
"How is the girl Poppy?" said an elderly voice that vaguely reminded her of the Third Hokage and belonging to Albus Dumbledore.
"A mild concussion and a few abrasions were all thankfully. I don't know whether to curse or bless her luck." A voice that must be Madam Pomfrey whispered back.
"She is very fortunate indeed to have young Jasmine and Mr. Weasley come to her aid. After seeing her collapse the troll must have thought her dead. That may have saved her life as it turned to pursue the others. Thankfully they managed to distract it long enough for Minerva to arrive."
By now they stood at the foot of her bed. A long pause ensued before they started walking away.
"How did the troll manage to get through the wards in the first place, Albus?"
"I don't know, Poppy, but I fear this may have been a test. One we failed."
"A test, Albus? Do you mean for the protections on the you know what?"
"Perhaps, but I…" the rest of the old man's words faded away with distance and she found herself frustratingly unable to use chakra to enhance her hearing.
So Jasmine and Weasley saved her life? And a test for what? Jasmine, she'd give credit to, but Ron was the reason she was crying in the bathroom in the first place. She'd see if the boy apologizes unprompted before giving him any credit, Jasmine probably dragged him along while looking for her.
Laying on her back Sakura stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. Planning would be a good way to keep her mind occupied. What were her next steps? Could she get back to Konoha? Maybe. She had no idea about the limitations of magic. Yet a part of her didn't want to get her hopes up. Assuming she managed to reach the correct dimension she'd already been gone for at least twelve years and she had no doubt finding a method of dimension-hopping would take decades of research. If it's possible at all. By then she'd already have made and settled into a life here and everyone back home she knew would be elderly. Assuming they lived long enough to retire. Shinobi rarely did.
Does she want that? To spend her whole second life searching to return to the first only to find nothing to truly return to?
No.
Naruto would never give up. But she's not Naruto, Sakura is too practical. Hermione was ruled even more by logic than Sakura. And she may still refer to herself as Sakura but she knows the two personalities have combined.
Regardless, she's realistic enough to know that she wouldn't be able to avoid setting down roots, roots as deep as any of the ones in Konoha, perhaps even deeper. These precious people will eventually tie her to Earth as much as the Elemental Nations. Unless she dies young again these bonds may grow even stronger than her ones to team seven.
She already cares a great deal for Hermione's parents. Sakura's parents died during Pein's invasion from being crushed by rubble. They were revived only to die once again due to the rubble still crushing them. Nearly all permanent deaths from that attack occurred similarly. She still hasn't fully mourned their loss and didn't want to lose another set of parents so soon.
So she would not live in the past but she would learn from it. She'd learn beyond the curriculum and train her body, as she should have done. She would not let any boys or girls catch her attention. If a troll can get into the school she's not as safe as she thought. Not to mention Sakura would never let herself be weak again. She refused to be saved anymore. Jasmine and Ron might have needed to rescue her this time but that was before she became Sakura again. Shannaro!
o0o
Sakura was not ashamed to have cried herself to sleep the night before, which had not been easy in such an unsecured place. Therefore she had bags under her eyes when Madam Pomfrey woke her by approaching her bed. Grumpily sitting up, she greeted the older witch, "Good morning Madam Pomfrey."
"Good to see you awake dearie. Let me check on that head of yours," she returned before pulling out her wand and firing half a dozen spells at Sakura, who had to resist the urge to dodge or return fire somehow. Then she realized something she'd been overlooking this whole time.
Magic is real! And she'd just experienced what must be diagnostic spells. What could she do with access to healing magic? She needed to be able to heal again.
"What spells were those Madam Pomfrey? I'm guessing diagnostic of some sort, but if so why so many? Why didn't they appear to do anything, shouldn't they light up based on the results? What about-"
"Hermione dear," Madam Pomfrey chided, "don't forget to breathe. Now, the first spell was the general diagnostic spell and the following were diagnostics for brain damage, internal bleeding, bone damage, and eye and hearing loss. One can never be too careful with any sort of head trauma. The results only appear for the caster for patient confidentiality. Here, one more potion to make sure no permanent damage has been done and another for pain."
Sakura downed the potions with a grimace but no complaint. "Say, Madam Pomfrey, how would I go about learning healing spells?"
That earned her a hard stare from the mediwitch. "Well, that depends on how far you wish to go. Aurors learn enough to stabilize a wound or prevent a curse from spreading and no more. If you pass your charm's O.W.L.S. with an EE or higher I don't mind teaching you these basics. Any more though will require years of studying anatomy, biochemistry, and biology before being allowed to treat patients. Any nitwit can cast the bone healing charm if you don't mind the crooked bone. Setting a bone and healing it without any weakness takes a deft hand. And a better mediwitch will know to set the bone, lock it in place, and let skelegrow work its magic so the bone turns out stronger than before. Understand?"
"I see, thank you. When can I go?"
"In a minute. Now, you may experience a headache or light and noise sensitivity over the next few days. I want you to come to see me if you experience any nausea, vomiting, confusion, memory problems, or changes in behavior. Otherwise, you're dismissed, your diagnostics all came back wonderfully. I believe breakfast is starting now. Do take it easy."
"Please, Madam Pomfrey, if a Hogwarts student managed to pass a test you gave them for all the medical background knowledge would you teach them?"
"I suppose this student would be you? I'm sorry but I don't believe it wise to divert your focus away from your lessons Miss Granger." Madam Pomfrey mildly rebuked.
Sakura couldn't help a grin that built into full-blown laughter. "I know Hogwarts doesn't skip years but muggle schools do. Before coming here I was actually in the process of applying to pre-med universities and let's just say I read ahead," she finished with a smirk.
The mediwitch's eyebrows were raised and she looked slightly skeptical but didn't say anything to disparage Sakura. "I suppose I can test you this Sunday. If you do well enough I will test you more and then, maybe, I will teach you."
At this, Sakura's face lit up, until the Madam's next words brought her crashing back down. "Of course, this is after you have the equivalent of an O in Charm's N.E.W.T.s."
This time it was Pomfrey's turn to laugh.
o0o
After returning to her dorm for her morning ablutions, she joined Jasmine and Ron at breakfast. They looked extremely relieved to see her alright, especially Ron, who mumbled an apology. With that out of the way, she thanked them both and they finished breakfast.
The professors thought it odd that Hermione was no longer jumping to answer every question but attributed it to her convalescence. Luckily, DADA didn't require wandwork today, History of Magic never did, and Charms was a continuation on wingardium leviosa so she assisted other students. Sakura was…uncertain about how to use magic and wanted to experiment on her own this afternoon.
And that's exactly what she did. After finding an unused classroom she sat on a desk and meditated, wand in hand. Hermione was not adept at looking inward and internally sensing or manipulating energy. Sakura was an expert. Just like she knew she no longer held chakra she could feel what she assumed to be her magical core. Yet, there was another type of energy in her head.
Why was mental energy still here when as far as she could tell her body produced no excess physical energy? If she had the latter she could combine the two to use chakra, coils, or no coils, she'd find a way. Maybe she could find a way to artificially create physical energy using magic. Then she could combine it with her mental energy to have her chakra back.
Now that she's thinking about it, she should still be able to use yin release jutsu as long as it didn't use any chakra. Thank Kami the mystical palm technique is included in this, it'll just be less effective without physical energy added in to supplement the patient's bodily reserves. Otherwise, she's stuck with a few weak genjutsus. Why had she never asked Kurenai for lessons?
Opening her eyes, Sakura summoned mental energy from her head, down her left hand, and began to glow a soft green. Biting her right thumb, she quickly brought the healing jutsu to the small wound and watched it close. That was a relief. Without physical energy, she'd have to be more careful not to exhaust any patients.
Oddly, when she moved her mental energy to her chest before guiding it to her arm, it almost seemed to gravitate towards her magical core, which in turn shifted slightly. Curious, she let go of the mystical palm jutsu and let her mental energy return to her head. Her magic calmed.
She tried reaching for her magic like should would chakra and frustratingly nothing happened. She tried again, harder. Nothing. It felt like trying to flex a third arm.
Frustrated, she aimed her wand at the nearest chair and cast wingardium leviosa. In a flash almost too quick to catch, foreign mental energy raced up from her arm, attached itself to her mental energy, then dragged them to her magic where the three braided together and finally back out her wand.
The chair floated midair while a stream of her magic and mental energy flowed out of her in a trickle. With a willed command to move the chair, a small pulse of mental energy traveled to her wand and the chair floated to the left.
Grinning like mad, Sakuea pocketed her wand, promising herself to buy a holster as soon as possible. This time she reached for her mental energy and dragged it to her core. At first, she tried to form a scoop to pull out her magic but all the magic attached itself to her mental energy like ferrofluid to a magnet.
Now with a strand of mental energy coated in magic, she brought it to her hand and released it into the air where it erupted into a stream of gold and red sparks. It reminded her of Hermione finding her wand at Olivander's.
For a minute she just stared, trying to put everything together. Her wand had its own form of mental energy. The wand movement and Latin braided her magic and mental energy to form the spell. When she tried expelling a single strand of unmanipulated magic it came out as sparks of light.
If she braided her magic on her own could she perform wandless magic? Sakura was too giddy to try and forced herself to calm down. First, she cast the levitation charm three more times as slowly as she could. Each time her magic and mental energy intertwined itself in the same way.
Confident, she focused on her mental energy, making the ram sign to help her focus. It no longer did anything beyond remind her of Sakura's past but any focusing trick would help. Reaching her core with her mental energy took but a moment. It was trying to weave the magic that began frustrating her. Each strand had to be picked up, woven in place, and then carefully she would leave behind part of her mental energy to stabilize the magic strand before moving on.
Five minutes later, sweat beading on her brow, Sakura managed a haphazard braid and pushed it out her hand at the chair. It wobbled, shook, rose a centimeter off the floor. She willed it higher and the chair slammed into the ceiling, the loud bang making her jump. It immediately fell back down.
Sakura was too busy celebrating though. Wandless magic! She could do wandless magic!
As a kunoichi, she knew the value of tools but she also knew how easily they could be lost or broken. She'd always relied on her fists over kunai and other weapons. There was a satisfaction in feeling a face crunch beneath her fist. Or better yet, a mountain.
Surely she could replicate the feat using magic, yes? Actually, now that she thought about it she remembered a young Hermione, maybe eight years old, camping with her parents when she'd stormed off. Something had made her angry and she punched a tree. The trunk had cracked, causing the tree to slowly fall over. Hermione's parents had run over after hearing the tree fall to find her unhurt except for some scraped knuckles.
She had proof super strength was possible. But, when she recalled the number of broken bones and torn muscles Tsunade-shishou healed when Sakura was first training her strength, she hesitated. Back then she'd had a teacher who knew exactly what to do and when to stop her.
Here she was on her own. No teacher. She'd have to check the library, but Sakura is fairly certain that magicals don't know about mental energy. She's had plenty of instructors tell her to 'focus her intent' but no one and no book had mentioned anything about directly controlling magic.
Could she be the first? She needed access to better resources, perhaps the restricted section of the library might hold answers.
She knew understanding the connection between mental energy and magic would take years but she couldn't wait.
First, she would…
Her stomach growled. Perhaps she should eat dinner first.
o0o
Sitting down next to Jasmine at the Gryffindor table, Sakura began picking out the least fatty portions of chicken and some greens doused in butter and who knows what else. "What I would give for some rice…" she muttered to herself.
Then a plate of rice popped right in front of her, startling the young witch. "Woah!" She exclaimed, wondering where the food came from.
As if reading her mind, Ron spoke up next, "Bloody brilliant house elves are, yeah?" Small bits of food and spittle came out of his mouth as he spoke. Sakura felt herself gag a little. Her food was spared but a piece landed on Jasmine's biscuit. She put it off her plate, smart girl.
"Disgusting Ron!" Jasmine exclaimed. Said boy's face turned almost as red as his hair before he choked down his food and muttered a quick apology. Across the table, one of the Weasley twins let out a snort at his younger brother.
Sakura decided to move on, "What are house elves?"
Fred and George answered her, together. "House-elves, my dear fellow, are these tiny, little creatures…"
"...with big eyes and ears, like they're ready to pick up every bit of gossip in the house." Fred made floppy ears with his hands while George widened his eyes dramatically.
"Exactly! They're like the unsung heroes of the wizarding world, working behind the scenes…"
"..under the stairs, and in the kitchens, basically everywhere you can imagine."
"Right, you are, George! They're like magical servants, but paid in magic through a bond."
"They're not slaves, even though some wizards treat them like they're disposable."
"True that! But if you treat them right, they'll be loyal to you forever."
"They'll do anything for you, from cleaning your socks to cooking your dinner, all with a snap of their fingers." They both ended with a simultaneous snap.
Sakura wasn't sure what to think, an entire species dedicated to servitude? She would need to investigate. She needed to start a list of everything to investigate… She'd figure out where she could speak to some elves first. "Forge, Gred," she began, eliciting smirks, "where can I go to speak to the elves?"
The prettier twin answered first, "Why, does the ickle firstie want to know how to reach the kitchens?"
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Obviously."
"We'll tell you for…"
"...a small favor."
Thinking about it, she figured why not? "I retain the right to refuse all favors until you bring me something reasonable, this isn't that big of a favor."
Jasmine cut in, "I don't know Hermione…"
"Oh, they'll probably just ask her to test a new prank product. Just don't get on their bad side," Ron mumbled. Thankfully without food in his mouth.
"Too late!" One twin shouted.
"No take backsies! One floor down there is a painting with a pear, tickle the pear until it turns into a doorknob." With that, the twins returned to their food.
Sakura was finishing up her meal as well so turned to Jasmine. "Hey Jas, Ron, I'm going to be doing some more self-study tomorrow and I'll be busy all weekend. If you want help on that potions essay you'll have to work on it tonight in the common room."
This drew out groans from the two but they dutifully followed her out.