Hermione Snape and the Divergence Point

by UsagiManaChan

AU Snape adopts infant Hermione when an incident lands her in St. Mungos. It follows both perspectives up to the Deathly Hallows. How does his impulse decision change the Wizarding World and those in it? Hermione comes of age amid lies and secrecy and Snape must overcome years of trauma. T-Language and implied sex (later) PS New to writing, any feedback is good feedback.

84. July 1994: Part Ten

"She's fine, Severus," Remus said.

"It's been three days!" Severus seethed, staring at the still blank pages before him.

Severus wished that the words didn't instantly vanish into the page. On the first day she failed to write him, he had said some things that he wished he could take back. He was angry…livid. But now, his stomach churned, his heart stopped with every bird that flew through the window. It was far too soon if his partner and co-workers could be believed, but still when he closed his eyes he saw the worst.

Once again, he wondered how the Weasleys let go for a whole ten months when all Severus could see in a span of days was Hermione broken down and bleeding. A tiny fragile thing calling out to him, frightened and alone.

"She's thirteen, Severus," Remus reminded him. "When I was her age I barely wrote my parents once a week. And I wasn't alone. Sure, they wrote me more frequently and I even got a couple howlers for the trouble I got in. But clearly, I survived."

"I already sent her one," he admitted. "I thought at least that would prompt a response. But clearly, she can't be bothered." Or I hope she's just being irresponsible… "And when you were her age, I fail to recall you endangering yourself multiple times a day."

Remus sighed and sat down next to him. "I didn't befriend a dark wizard's target, or track down a fugitive, nor have I been kidnapped by a possessed friend. But my circumstances were unique, and my parents had cause to worry. Did you really send a howler simply because she forgot to write for a few days?"

Another thing he'd come to regret if his worst thoughts came to pass. He just hoped he was wrong. Even if she were safe, he knew when he came to collect Hermione she would look at him with those gigantic brown eyes and unconsciously (at least he thought) guilt him for it. However it was easier to be angry with her than worried.

"Let me make one thing abundantly clear," Severus finally broke his gaze from the book. "Hermione is my daughter and I do not need parenting advice from a childless thirty-four-year-old man who still sleeps with a stuffed owl!"

Remus winced as if he'd been slapped. He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, which didn't open when he finally spoke. "I was asking because I was surprised. There's no need to attack me. Though if I were giving you parenting advice, I'd tell you that sending her a howler would make her stop talking to you entirely."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Severus hissed, glaring at Remus.

Remus narrowed his pale green eyes at him and there was a clear effort to keep the edge from his voice. "It means that you can't be surprised if you wind up pushing her away, and I'm not to blame for it."

"When the hell did I blame you?" he snapped. "All I said was that you are in no position to question my parenting choices. Something that should come as no surprise to you! You've no experience in such matters, nor any right to comment on my parenting!"

Something inside Remus seemed to snap. A flame leapt inside his eyes and he threw his hands into the air. "No right?!" he shouted. "I'm sorry, I thought we were partners! What the hell am I to you?"

Why are you always asking that? Severus slammed his fist against the table. "We have been together for two months! On what deranged planet do you live that new partners are given any parental rights? Are you completely mad?"

"Am I mad?!" Remus shouted. "You're the one that can't seem to decide what this is. You can't just keep pushing everyone away and expect them to come crawling back to you! And, you know what? I—" he huffed. "Forget it!"

"YOU WHAT?!" Severus demanded.

Silence. Remus simply glared at him. What was this? The man was so often quiet, calm, though they had fought before, and neither of them were strangers to raised voices. But the glaring and the silence burned in his mind. Remus was so quick to forgive that Severus never thought…

This whole thing was a mistake, wasn't it?

"Just get your shit together, Severus," he sighed. "I'm sleeping in my office tonight."

"FINE!" he screamed, pointing to the door. "LEAVE!"

Remus didn't so much as pause. He left Severus standing at the table with nothing more than an empty notebook and raging thoughts.

Fuck…he actually left…

I thought things were getting better…

---

"Is it just me or is the moon full again?" Saiyaka asked, looking to the sky.

Hermione nodded thinking about Toshio's comment on their first night. "It's strange, isn't it? Was the moon full in all of the illustrations, Hiro?"

Hiro looked up at the bright, water-coloured moon, thinking as well. "Well, Tsukiyasha is the daughter of the Moon Rabbit, so maybe it's canon?"

"I don't remember either," Kaori tapped her lips. "Hiro and I were so young…"

Anya looked over her shoulder at Tsukiyasha, who worked at tending the fire. "We could always ask her."

Hiro shook his head. "Do you remember the last time we pointed out she was fictional? I–I don't want to do that to her."

Toshio took a photograph of the moon. "Everything that's important is inked, the moon and further out into the forest isn't. It probably doesn't matter."

"I know you're whispering about me!" Tsukiyasha called. "If you want my help navigating the forest, you might want to talk to me."

Hiro sighed. "She does have a point."

They all sat around the fire, Hermione somehow landing between Hiro and Tsukiyasha when Kaori stopped him from sitting next to the strange character. While Tsukiyasha prepared the soup (Hermione didn't know if they could even eat in this world) she couldn't help but stare at the scar on Tsukiyasha's hand left from the arrow. Years of reading manga, Hermione longed to emulate such characters. Even at the heroine's most fragile, she never knew someone like that to have a breakdown. Heroines didn't do that.

She looked at her own hands, she never did something so dramatic, but the self-scoring was something Hermione always put down to people–well, people like her. Real people with something irrevocably wrong with their brains.

Tsukiyasha wasn't a character Hermione knew, but heroines always rose above it all. So seeing her like that, it hurt. She turned back to Hiro wondering if it was even more jarring for him, having grown up with her.

He's more concerned about getting back home, like you should be! Hermione chastised herself.

"The moon's always full?" Tsukiyasha mused after Miyuki brought it up. "I can't say I've noticed. But now that you mention it, I don't remember it looking any other way. I know the moon has eight phases per turn in this world, I don't know what it's like in yours though. But I do think it's never changed. Strange."

Hermione again wondered if it had to do with illustrations, but didn't want to bring it up. Instead she observed and listened as Miyuki enthusiastically described their world to Tsukiyasha, both Togo and Kaori adding in points here and there. Everyone danced around calling it the "real world". Anya occasionally looked up from her soup, eyeing Tsukiyasha each time Kaori laughed.

I have no clue what that's about. Hermione turned to Hiro, normally vocal, but drinking his soup quietly.

"Are you okay, Hiro-kun?" Hermione whispered.

Hiro nodded. "It's just we've been wandering the forest for three days, and it all looks the same to me. I don't even know what we're looking for. But—" he looked up and pointed at the beautiful blue wisps floating into the sky. "This place is beautiful."

Hermione leaned her head against Hiro's shoulder. "It is. I guess if we were going to get trapped, this is the place to do it. But I still intend to keep my promise."

"We'll find a way back," Hiro promised, holding her hand.

"Squeeze in!" Toshio called, adjusting the zoom on his camera. "I want to get a picture of all of us together!"

"There's no way we're all going to fit, Toshio," Saiyaka sighed. "Let it be."

"Oh, ye of little faith," Toshio stuck out his tongue. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The camera floated far above them and Toshio ran into place, the rest of them crowding in around Tsukiyasha, Hiro and Hermione at Sam's prodding.

"You too, Suni," Toshio called. "You're the shortest I want you upfront."

"Me?" the tiny house-elf's ears perked up, and their eyes literally sparkled.

"You heard the man, Suni-chan," Sam directed, though his tone was much softer with them than the others. "Front and centre."

"Suni-chan," Suni smiled, sitting on their knees in front of Hiro, Sayaka and Hermione.

"Manga selfie-time!" Miyuki cheered, throwing her arms around Kaori and Togo.

"Mi-Miyuk-chan!" Togo whined.

"What are you—" Kaori and Anya called.

But the flash interrupted them.

"What the hell was that!" Tsukiyasha summoned her bow.

"It's a camera!" Everyone called. "It's a device that takes portraits!"

Tsukiyasha was convinced, but not before another picture was taken of their panicked faces, all yelling at her, and Toshio's vacant drained expression as he realised his prized possession might have been subject to arrow-damage.

Toshio hugged his camera and Sam threw an arm around him. "Thank God."

"Look at it this way," Sam said. "At least you got one nice picture and one goofy one this time around."

Tsukiyasha straightened her hakama and stood. "We should figure out the watch order. There's enough of us, we don't all need to."

Suni sheepishly raised their hand. "Suni–I can see in the dark."

"Why does the strange little demon speak of themselves in the third person?" Tsukiyasha whispered.

"A long story, and I am standing right here…" Suni muttered. "My name is Suni."

"Suni, why don't you take first watch," Tsukiyasha said, wringing her hands. "I'll take final watch, I'm best suited for those hours."

Hermione looked to her travel weary friends, and saw an exhausted Kaori ready to volunteer. After years of obsessively combing over books and avoiding nightmares of various failures, she was used to very little sleep. It was better her than any of them.

"I'll take the middle watch," she said before Kaori could open her mouth. "I won't sleep until final watch anyway."

"Are you sure, Mi-chan?" Hiro asked, trying to hold back a yawn. "I wouldn't mind volunteering."

"That's sweet, Hiro, but—"

"You need the sleep, Ototo-chan," Kaori said. "Mione-chan, none of us slept last night. Don't you need sleep?"

Hermione shook her head. "I'm fine."

Once everyone turned in, sleeping on the soft forest floor, close to the campfire, Hermione watched Suni hum to themselves quietly while watching the embers fly. They then sighed and turned their gaze back to the forest.

Hermione slipped her hand out of Hiro's, carefully so as not to wake him. She carefully brushed a lock of black hair out of his face and straightened his blanket over him. Hiro's blank expression and still body betrayed nothing of his dreams, she just hoped (though doubted!) that they were pleasant.

"Snape-san," Suni squeaked as they noticed her.

Hermione sat next to them and stared at the embers too. "You can call me by my first name, or anything really. Can I call you Suni-chan?"

Suni nodded. "I think I like that. As house-elves we're afraid of using suffixes other than "sama" and "san", and only with wizards. My grandmother doesn't even use "chan" with me, let alone my friends. Most of them think it's a dumb human thing to express superiority, but I was always kind of jealous of it. Students calling each other things like '-chan' always seemed so close. Not that I'm not close with my friends, but having a way to say 'you are important to me' in a name…I'm rambling."

Hermione shook her head. "I get it, I don't even use them properly because I learned them from manga, but I do miss them when I go home. Hiro still likes when I use 'kun' with him. I think it's for the same reasons. It's nice hearing what you are to someone with just your name."

Suni nodded. "Do British wizards have language restrictions on House-Elves?"

Hermione turned her eyes to the full moon and stars above their meadow. She wondered briefly how she never noticed the impossibility of this world's night sky before turning her thoughts to the subject. She'd never read any such things, but did notice that whenever they speak English instead of Elvish, they always refer to themselves in the third person. "I don't know, but I think they might…" unsure what to do, she bowed. "I'm sorry, Suni-chan."

"I don't know what to do with wizards' apologies, Hermione-chan," Suni admitted.

"Oh, sor–" Hermione shook her head. "What do you want to talk about then, Suni-chan?"

Suni rolled their large brown eyes. "How about why you're not asleep. Don't you humans need eight to ten hours at your age?"

"I couldn't sleep," she admitted, leaning against a great hinoki tree. "I figured I'd stay up till my watch ended. I can check the perimeter if you want to be alone."

"By yourself?" Suni said.

Hermione nodded. "I'm very good at not being sighted. I've been sneaking around since I was old enough to walk."

"I couldn't sleep either," a pleasant voice said from behind Hermione. "I can check too."

"Hiro-kun," Hermione sighed, looking up at him. "Is everything okay?"

"All things considered," he shrugged. "Why don't we check the perimeter together?"

Despite the dire circumstances, the idea of finally being alone with Hiro again made her heart beat faster. When he took her hand, she still felt lighter, and his hazel eyes shining in the moonlight made her knees weak in this or any other world.

"Remember last summer?" Hiro asked as they ventured into the forest, certain to keep an eye out for the campfire.

"It was fun," Hermione reminisced. "But let's hope we don't get lost this time."

Hiro laughed. "Yeah, it's not exactly our world anymore."

There it was, the crooked smile, his prominent canine tooth jutting out as he cocked his head to the side. The wind rustling the trees blew through his black hair and a pleasant blush rose to his cheeks–or sort of with the strange red lines etching across his cheeks.

"Speaking of our world," he hesitated. "Did you think anymore about what you'll do once you graduate?"

Hermione nodded, taking in the stunning hemlocks lining their trail, before turning back to admire Hiro. Not only admiring his appearance, but his optimism and strength, Hermione would kill for his disposition. "If–When we get back, I think I want to apply for the post-secondary program at Mahoutokoro. If I do well enough on the entrance exams they might admit me despite my age. And–" Hermione felt her own cheeks flush. "After a year, we'd both be in the program. I'd–erm–I'd be eighteen once I finish there and plan to start working as an independent investigative journalist in Kyoto."

Hiro smiled and his artist's eyes admired the view. Hermione imagined he could easily paint such a beautiful forest. "I'll finish a year after, then I think I want to start showing my portfolio to established papers. Just until I make a name for myself. I was born in December, so I'll be twenty-one. At twenty in Japan we can do things like vote, drive, drink and…" Hiro fidgeted, leaning against the tree. "And get married. At–erm–what age can you get married in Britain, I mean, you'll be nineteen when I graduate, so I–erm—" Hiro inhaled deeply before standing straight. He then bowed. "Will you marry me when we're adults?!"

Tears sprang to Hermione's eyes. She loved Hiro, and his proximity had a lot to do with her choice to study in Japan, but she kept waiting for him to see she wasn't worth the trouble. Yet here he was proposing. She imagined waking up everyday to that smile, those beautiful hazel eyes, his intoxicating laughter. Her heart swelled and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. A lump formed in her throat as she tried to reply. All she could do was smile and nod.

Hermione threw her arms around Hiro, and he lifted her off the ground. For a moment they forgot where they were and sealed the deal with a kiss. However, the shrill cry of a bird Hermione didn't recognise quickly reminded her of why they were there.

"We should probably go back to camp," Hiro chuckled.

Hermione shook her head and collected herself. "I want to finish the perimeter check before my watch starts. I can turn into a cat and smell the camp if I stray too far."

Hiro looked out into the forest once more before turning back to her. "Okay, I feel like I should be the one to look out though."

Hermione folded her arms over her chest and smirked at this. "Why?"

"Well, because I–" he gestured to himself. "Erm–I don't want to be the guy that leaves his fiancee in danger. And you're–erm–"

Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes. "I will be fine, Hiro! And I'm certain you've noticed most of us are girls."

"You're also younger?" he suggested, the red lines across his cheeks and nose returning.

"By a year!" Hermione rolled her eyes. "And if I'm a cat, I can't cast magic, I can't protect––" she then laughed, placing a hand over her heart. "So, that's how that feels, we can finish the check together."

"Okay, he said, taking her hand.

Hermione was hit with a sudden brainwave. Every time she'd become the cat-human hybrid it was a mistake, but if she could repeat that mistake, she could cast magic and have the heightened senses of a cat. She broke down the process from when she was with Hiro, or when she was chasing down Pettigrew. Trying to figure out where the disconnect was.

"Mi-chan?"

Hermione turned to face Hiro and felt her face flush. She was nervous, that was it, the butterflies Hiro sent fluttering about her body every time he smiled was different than the clawing desperation, but both were pressured to perform. Making her overlook specific details. She picked apart those details, then tried to command her body to do the same, just on purpose.

Crickets, frogs and all manner of creatures sang throughout the forest, and the several scents carried on the wind, no longer masked by the heavy scent of hinoki, Japanese hemlock and wisteria. And the veil of darkness barely bothered her, details in the forest becoming easier to spot. The beauty of it all wasn't lost on her as she smiled at Hiro. "I think it worked."

Hiro smiled and nodded. "I love you."

---

Hermione cast a number of spells to protect the perimeter, before returning to camp. She and Hiro returned hand-in-hand, sitting at the base of a nearby wisteria tree, the periwinkle blossoms in the pale moonlight cementing in Hermione's mind that they were in a manga—or light novel. She tore her eyes from Hiro sitting peacefully among the blossoms in order to turn her now enhanced vision to the forest beyond.

"With your spellwork, I bet we're safe," Hiro sighed, taking her hand.

"I hope so," she leaned her head on his shoulder. "I just wish I knew how this world worked. I'm glad we're not without magic."

"Me too," Hiro said, placing a fallen wisteria blossom at the base of Hermione's ear. "I think wisteria was the author's favourite plant,I remember cat spirits lived in the trees. Looking at you here, I can't help but think of that."

Hermione's ear twitched at the feeling of it, causing it to fall and blush rose to her cheeks once more.

"Wisteria in Hanakotoba means 'won't let you go' and steadfastness. It makes–erm—"

"It's okay," Hermione leaned her head against his shoulder. "That makes me think of us, too. Like we're worlds away and no matter what, we'll stay together—-oh, wow, that was hokey."

Hiro blushed too. "That's why I hesitated." he then yawned. "I think I'll turn in."

Hermione kissed him goodnight. "I'll see you in the morning."

Once Hiro left Hermione took a vial with Kyoko's whisker out of her robes to examine it. She grabbed a sturdy piece of wisteria wood, thinking of cat spirits living within the wood.

"I wonder…"

---

Severus woke up and found himself very alone. In the twilight between sleep and wakefulness he wondered where he was before he remembered their fight.

Was it over? Or was this more like the many passing fights the two shared. He looked over to the bedside table where Remus kept a novel. Where Severus marked his pages with a stretch of ribbon, Remus preferred the spine-breaking technique of leaving his book face down on its page. There were a million little differences like that. He knew that he and Remus were simply not compatible, but some part of Severus was desperate to cling to this strange relationship.

He wished he had Remus's patience at times. Yet, he found himself unable to handle the jibes, the comments–especially that of his parenting. Sometimes Severus felt as though Remus were looking to fight with him.

And once Remus laid down the challenge, Severus couldn't help but aim for the vitals each time. His mind could scream at him to stop and he still wouldn't. Though, he wondered if he truly ever wanted to take back what he said to Remus. He was the one that instigated it, was it truly a crime for Severus to rise to the challenge?

No, that idiot's too good natured, he wasn't throwing down the gauntlet.

As Severus got dressed, he wondered if he needed to apologise or if that landed on Remus. He also wondered if it was better for both of them to just let this thing die. It would certainly be easier.

And then…there was something almost exhilarating when they fought. Severus hated to admit it, but some part of him liked the fighting.

What the fuck is wrong with you, you stupid piece of shit?

No, that's not true. Remus did start this, it was all his fault, not mine!

Looking in the mirror as he splashed cold water on his face, he knew he didn't truly buy that line. For all the jokes made at his expense over his appearance, he had a reason to hate his reflection that had nothing to do with his appearance..

He had more pressing matters to attend to. Severus opened the notebook that connected him with Hermione. Praying to any entity that might have listened, his hopes were dashed as he once again found a blank page. It was getting harder to convince himself that she was simply being inconsiderate. Memories of Hermione limping out of the Chamber of Secrets, bleeding from her head at the base of the stairs, laying helpless in a hospital after being stabbed, or a dementor attack.

He covered his mouth to stifle a sob. It wasn't like it was with other parents, Severus was right there. How could he so thoroughly have failed to protect her? She was always in danger, and those injuries all happened right under his nose. He swore he'd always protect her.

Hardly the first promise you've broken with her, isn't it? You should have left her with the muggles…

No, they had no idea how to raise any child, let alone a little witch. I made the right decision…

Did you?

Severus shut out the voices once again and focused on the blank page. He dipped his quill in the inkpot and began to write.

Are you O.K?

Please answer, Hermione. I—

Severus paused. His first impulse was to apologise for the earlier things he'd wrote. But what good would it do? It might even convince her he was only worried because he felt guilty. She didn't seem to understand that those two feelings were constant companions for him these days. Nor did she need to.

I don't know what is going on, just please write back

Love,

Dad.

He wasn't sure how long he stared at the pages but a very soft knock interrupted his catastrophizing.

The cat leapt from the table and ran to greet the person at the door, and Severus swallowed. What was he supposed to say? Was there anything he could say? Perhaps he could pretend he wasn't home, or didn't hear it. No, he wasn't some heartbroken teenager hiding from the world. He'd have to face this.

"What are you doing here, Remus?" he folded his arms across his chest.

Remus fidgeted with his tattered robe sleeve and averted his gaze. "You never showed up to any meals, and I didn't find you in the library or any of the labs. I–erm–I was worried."

"Oh," Severus looked away for a moment, the guilt slowly returning. His throat tightened and all he could do was push it out. "While I appreciate your concern, I do believe a grown man can spend twenty-four hours in his living quarters without falling off the face of the earth." Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Why'd you say that?! Stupid piece of shit.

Remus stiffened. "I'm glad you haven't 'fallen off the face of the earth'."

Remus bit his lip and his hands formed fists at his sides once more. This time, he made eye-contact, his pale green eyes seeming to stare through him. His intense expression made Severus waver between wanting to admit this whole doomed relationship was a mistake, or apologising.

He did neither of those things, simply letting Remus into his living quarters. "I expect you want to talk about last night."

Remus nodded. "I did."

Silence passed between the two and Severus tried to think of defences for any behaviours Remus might call out. If he could keep his temper in check, maybe he could salvage whatever this was supposed to be.

"Go on, then," he said, "I'm listening."

---

Hermione woke up to gentle flute music playing through the morning breeze. She found the wisteria branch she had been whittling in her left hand and her wand in the right one. When did she fall asleep? She remembered Tsukiyasha relieving her, but Hermione kept working away at her project. At some point she must have reached the point of exhaustion at some point. She followed the sound of the flute and found Tsukiyasha playing a bamboo instrument at the base of the wisteria tree. Small cat spirits danced around her, looking much like miniature versions of their real world counterparts.

Another party watched her with fascination. "Aren't they beautiful?"

Hermione nodded, taking Hiro's hand. "Yeah. Did you get any sleep last night?"

Hiro smiled, once again sending Hermione's heart soaring. "A little. Did you?"

"A little," she agreed.

The two were noticed by the playful kittens, bounding over each other, to meet the new people. That was different from their real world counterparts. Kyoko took a liking to Hermione, but she had to try, and these kitten spirits were happy to receive any attention.

"Hi, little one," she said, scratching behind one's ear.

"Morning," Tsukiyasha stopped playing the flute. "I see the wisteria kittens have taken a liking to you."

"Wis–oh!" Hermione looked down at the cat spirit, realising they were fictional creatures based on real mystical creatures, like many of the minor creatures in Son of Hermes.

"They're friendly little spirits," she nodded. "So, cat demons are a thing in your world too?"

Hiro and Hermione looked at each other nervously. Was it better to let her assume? Hermione knew nothing about this world, and Hiro only remembered snippets. She certainly couldn't say she was an animagus, lest she be overheard by any of her friends. And then the halfway point she was able to reach–did that make her a curiosity? She could hardly imagine she was the first person to figure it out. In fact, there were myths all over the world of animal hybrid people, that must have been their origins.

"No, Neechan simply read too much manga," Saiyaka yawned, coming up to them.

"You're sisters?" Tsukiyasha eyed them with the same suspicion and surprise Hermione and her father got back at home.

I get it, I'm—whatever the hell I am!

"You're the older sister?" Tsukiyasha choked.

Oh, I misjudged…We're manga characters right now, we all pass for locals. Wait, did she just say I look like a child?!

"Actually," nervously cleaned her specs. "We don't know which of us is older. So we just both call each other that to tease each other. A bad habit she picked up from manga and I thought it was cute."

What?! Didn't you call me that first?! And then Hermione saw where she messed up. She didn't know "little sister" was imouto back then and started replying to letters with the same damn name. Idiot.

"What is this manga you spe—"

"Cute!" Miyuki exclaimed, putting her fists up to her own face, as if stopping herself from touching Hermione's ears or tail. "You're just like Aoi in Koneko Mahou Shoujo! You should dye your hair blue! And–"

"Mione-chan, what did you do?" Kaori asked, appearing from nowhere, her hand in Anya's.

Hermione nervously looked away. Once again hating herself for her girlish crush when she was so in love with strange part of her wished for Kaori to gush like Miyuki. "I–erm–remembered being transfigured and it came with some benefits. I can see in the dark and hear nearly everything."

"And she's adorable!" the stark difference from reality struck Hermione once more when Miyuki's eyes transformed into giant, pink, beating hearts. Like Tsukiyasha's enviable proportions, this was a manga trope that was only disturbing to see in real life.

"Miyuki-chan!" Saiyaka cried.

Hermione remembered Saiyaka's crush on Miyuki from ages ago. She wondered if it hurt seeing Miyuki gush over her, when she'd rejected Saiyaka so long ago. She thought it was because she was straight.

It was before I came here, I don't know for sure. Plus Saiyaka was ten and Miyuki was twelve, I'd reject a ten-year-old regardless too.

Then she remembered Miyuki liked to make pet projects out of nerdy girls, Saiyaka included. If they got back in-time for the matsuri Miyuki would have plenty of time to gush over Saiyaka.

I also thought she had a crush on Kaori now. So I'm probably overthinking things again.

"You all read too much manga," Kaori sighed before looking up the forest trail. "We must be getting close to the Yaiba Swamp. It always gets darker around there," she pointed to the tight hatching through the arched trees then her own voice raised an octave. "Are we going to meet Prince Onimaru?! He's probably one of the coolest characters. I remember his illustrations making me think I was straight!"

Anya coughed. "I'm sorry, what?"

Kaori cleared her throat and lifted a single finger to the air. "Everyone gets to have one fictional character that makes them question their sexuality. Onimaru was mine. Hiro's too."

"Oneechan!" Hiro whined, then turned imploringly to Hermione.

"I'm a bi manga-addict, remember?" Hermione smiled. "I'm hardly one to weren't you like four?"

Hiro flushed, the lines filling his entire face.

"And here I was jealous of the priestess and literal moon goddess," Anya muttered.

"Lesbian, Anya," Kaori reminded her. "I'm not leaving my girlfriend for a boy, real or fake."

"Your world is strange," Tsukiyasha remarked.

Our world?! We're in a literal demon forest with geography that makes no sense looking for a demon prince. And at least we have indoor plumbing…though none of us have needed to use the toilet since entering this world...It's weird I'm thinking about that…

"I don't know if it's strange, but it's certainly less amazing than yours," Miyuki said, nearly dancing in among the thick trees. "I could stay here forever."

"Miyuki-chan," Togo Sumi whispered. "There's ice pops in this world."

"I guess living in a manga has its downsides," she sighed with a shrug.

"Light novel!" Kaori corrected.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Tsukiyasha muttered. "But you seem to be capable magicians, so head out before it gets darker. Look out for the jorogumo and frog ninjas."

"Frog what?" Saiyaka whispered.

"I never read about them…" Hermione wondered which creature in reality they were based on.

Hiro put his hand on his chin. "I think they were made up by the author, but I don't remember for sure."

Kaori shook her head. "I remember all of the made up and real yokai in the story. Those are new."

The lot of them ventured into the unknown, Hermione's stomach forming similar knots, and her usually light bare feet became lead. She did not like not knowing what she was doing.

---

The light grew scarce and Hermione was grateful for her new vision. She hated to admit it, but some strange part of her kept doing this to herself because she felt stronger in this body, it was easier to embody the traits she wanted to, and she was needed. Some part of her was still that twelve-year-old girl desperate to be anything other than a burden.

And, if she were honest, she liked the comparisons to Aoi, the Koneko Mahou Shoujo protagonist. If she could model her personality, she would be her.

That's pathetic…

Hermione shook herself from her thoughts. She had been scouting a head, with her vision, but she never went too far. She turned back to see the faintest flicker of light through the tangled brambles and mangroves beyond.

She let out a whistle to let everyone know it was okay. The others caught up, Togo and Tsukiyasha with their bows knocked, while the others had their wand at the ready. While Hermione wondered why Togo chose that instead of her wand, she came to the conclusion that she wasn't the only one indulging in a little fantasy while they were in a man-light novel.

If our magic works here, and hers did back home, I wonder if there's anything we can learn from here.

"You're always thinking," Hiro said, his hazel eyes sparkling, despite the relative dark. "What's on your mind?"

Right now, those eyes, Hermione's heart jumped before regaining focus. Though she still couldn't help but smile. "You almost sound fond of that, you know, it's my least favoured trait back home."

Hiro smiled. "Really? That's a shame. No one likes that?"

Well, maybe Luna… "Let's say it's rarely appreciated. And yet my Dad doesn't think I think enough."

"You don't talk about him much," Hiro noted.

Hermione turned her gaze to the will-o-wisps floating about them. "My relationship with my dad is complicated. He tries, and I'm sure if I were–" she shook her head and sighed. "I don't want to complain about him when we're trapped inside your dad's favourite light novel. This might be a chance to understand him better."

Hiro smiled and took her hand. "Yeah, it looks like he liked all of the cringe otaku things I like."

"As a fellow cringe-inducing otaku–hey!" Hermione stuck her tongue out at him.

"Nah, you're too cute to be cringe," Hiro smiled.

"H-Hiro-kun!" Hermione squeaked, feeling herself turn beat red.

"Look alive, lovebirds," Kaori whispered. "This is the most dangerous part of the swamp."'

They both nodded and returned to their vigilance. Walking deeper into the forest, Hermione kept her eyes out for glinting weapons or giant spider eyes. Which was no easy feat with the many blue orbs floating around the swamp.

Eventually, she did spy something. A small glinting in the tree, too large eyes staring in their direction. Hermione leaned in to whisper to Hiro when she saw Tsukiyasha knocking her bow in a different direction.

Kaori had her wand ready in yet another direction, and Togo's keen archer's eyes seemed to spy something behind them. It was obvious they were surrounded.

The other's quickly whipped out their own wands, ready to go. Hermione moved herself between Hiro and the perimeter of their impromptu circle.

Blue-clad anthropomorphic frog creatures leapt down from the branches, each brandishing–of all things–katana. All had their faces covered. Hermione couldn't pin a motive down on them. Were they—

"Moonshot rain arrow!" Tsukiyasha called out, sending a rain of shimmering silver arrows down on the ninjas in her quadrant before they could do more than look threatening. Hermione watched in horror as the frogs simply vanished, leaving no bodies.

"Moonshot rain arrow," Saiyaka scoffed, deflecting a shuriken that seemingly came from nowhere. "Who wrote this?"

"The writing quality can wait till after we get out of here, Saiya-chan," Hermione said, sounding profoundly less cool than intended when the sentence ended with a yelp as she deflected a katana slash.

"Mi-chan!" Hiro pulled her back as the others advanced.

"Shit!" she squeaked. "Behind you! Levicorpus!"

The frog behind him ready to swing dropped its weapon once it was high in the air, dangling by its ankle. The panicked creature flailed about helplessly.

The battle seemed to be tipped in their favour, Hermione thankful for her keen senses and agility, if she were still herself she might have frozen, but now she could deflect and subdue several frog creatures, keeping an eye out for others as her friends directly engaged with others. Each of them were gifted spell casters, though the quips died as the battle dragged on, feeling more real and dangerous.

How many are there?! Before they were completely surrounded, Hermione could have swore there were only fifteen.

"What do they want?" Hiro called out.

Tsukiyasha leapt over to their side once she'd dealt with hers. Hermione noticed not only could she jump superhuman heights, but the girl now sported rabbit ears and a tail. Right, she's the daughter of the Moon Rabbit.

"No one knows for sure!" she called, dispatching a staggering number of them."They can't speak, and don't seem to want anything."

Saiyaka rolled her eyes and blocked another hit. "Can we criticise the writing now?–ah!"

"Saiya-chan!" Hermione called, aiming at her attack. "Impendi—"

"Exepliar–" Hiro cried.

Kaori and Miyuki similarly joined in, sending several bats out to rush the frog's head, effectively blinding him.

That one frog fell to the ground a mess, flailing slowly like the few Hermione sent to the air.

Exhaustion got the better of them, unable to sweat in the insane heat, Hermione panted harder with each spell, while the others were quickly losing steam, looking as if they had been in a hot spring.

Even the literal heroine seemed to be running ragged. Hermione clasped Hiro's hand and tears sprung to her eyes. I promised to get you home…

In an instant a strange melody played from a flute and within an instant those that remained were engulfed in white flame and vanished.

"What the hell!" they all cried.

A handsome man jumped from the tree branch clad in flowing white robes. He had the proportions of a typical anime pretty boy, but his carelessly tousled black hair was shorter than she expected, and his skin was darker. He stood erect, but didn't say a word.

"Onimaru!" Tsukiyasha called, running to him.

"So we were all saved by the Demon Prince?" Hermione gasped, feeling like a cliche.

"He's really over-powered," Toshio remarked.

"Can I criticise the writing now?!" Saiyaka cried.

Hiro breathlessly chuckled. "Yeah. But there's just one problem…"

"That's not Onimaru," Kaori finished staring wide-eyed at the Demon Prince. "In fact, he looks like our father's old drawings of—-"

"Papa!" the siblings gasped.

---

After a week of silence Severus sent an owl to Yamato explaining that he thought Hermione's silence meant something terrible. He had gotten so used to the instant manner of communication, he forgot that it took a week for a bird to reach the school. It'd been less than eight hours since he sent the letter, and now they had the formal summons to Pettigrew's trail.

"Why do they need until January?" Remus paled and clutched the notice. "It's obvious that he—Merlin."

"The Ministry would be thrilled to drag this on even longer to avoid admitting their catastrophic blunder," Severus sighed. "Lest the world come to know them for the idiots they are."

"How can you be so calm about it?" Remus sat opposite him.

"Oh, I'm far from it," he said looking at the notice himself. "I'm simply thinking about who might be responsible. And—" he looked over to the notebook on the table.

"Your thoughts are elsewhere," Remus looked down at it as well. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried now…"

"In any other situation I would be happy to say 'I told you so'," he admitted. "Being wrong here would have been a relief."

"Well," Remus started before turning to the window. "Is that a raven? I thought it would take a week for birds to reach us."

"It should," Severus leapt to his feet to let the bird in, sure enough holding a pale envelope in its beak. A lump formed in his throat as he unfurled the letter.

Professor Severus Snape,

I am writing concerning your daughter, Hermione (Why else would he be writing?!). She and my grandchildren along with several others have fallen under a curse. We believe they are safe and are working toward getting them back (Getting them back?!). This would be best explained in person given the nature of it (Nature of it? Must you be so bloody vague?!). Please apparate to the coordinates enclosed. A House Elf named Kiki will bring you to my office.

I'm sorry for this.

Yamato Ito.

Severus's heart pounded in his ears and his breath caught somewhere between his throat and his lungs, every muscle tensed and his blood ran cold. This was precisely what he was afraid of. And what the hell does 'we believe they are safe' even fucking mean?!

"Severus, are you okay?" Remus asked, slowly approaching him.

His hands shook as his hands clutched at the letter, he read and reread it, trying to figure out what curse Hermione fell under. Was it students? Or was it something worse…And what the hell was the curse? Was Yamato avoiding telling him the worst through letters? If a student died in Hogwarts, the head of the student's house asked for the parents' presence, but they at least had the decency to tell the them their child was—

No, no, no…I…I would know….I'm her father…if something happened…

Please, an imitation of Hermione's voice chimed in his mind. How many times have I been hurt, nearly killed and you were wholly ignorant? And what was the last thing you said to me again, Daddy?

Severus thought back to their last conversation. It was unremarkable at the time, but now demanding she respond with more than a sentence felt so stupid.

---

How did today go, love?

Same as yesterday, I guess she wrote in response.

Your account of yesterday was woefully devoid of details. At this point I'm certain I've given you more information about your cat than you've given me about your time there this summer.

I write you daily, my life is quite boring actually.

Why do I doubt that? He wrote, attempting to keep his temper in check. I'm a parent, I thrive off of boring. Might you see fit to give me the slightest detail?

Hermione wrote back with a mere two words: I'm busy.

For the love of Merlin, Hermione! You act as if my enquiring after your welfare is some grave intrusion of privacy. Given your track record, I have good reason to worry about details!

Hermione took some time to respond to this, but he had expected that. The child often shut down when called out. What he didn't expect was her response.

Detail: it's humid.

Severus clutched his quill in a tight grasp. The bloody nerve of that girl! Any restraint he had left abandoned him.

What is wrong with you?! I know this is not how I raised you! Need I remind you that you are there with my blessing?! Explain yourself, now! And if you're not too busy I'd like more than one bloody sentence!

He could have handled that better…

---

"Somebody cursed her," he explained, the words having trouble being spoken into reality. He handed the letter to Remus. "It's bad enough they want to explain it in person."

Remus's face drained as he read the letter. "He did say that they believe she's safe. We can't discount that."

Severus took the letter back and read the enclosed coordinates. "I need to go. Explain to Dumbledore I had to leave immediately. There has to be something I can do once I'm there…"

Remus placed his hands on either of Severus's cheeks, looking up at him with a forced smile. "I know you will," he kissed him gently on the lips. "I'll hold the fort. And you'll bring your little girl back."

---

"How?" Kaori whispered, staring at Onimaru.

"Not sure, but this is weird," Hiro nodded.

"Maybe your father just drew pictures of himself that looked like Onimaru?" Saiyaka asked.

Hermione stared at the character, standing stoically, flawless and unbothered. Clinging to his robes was a tiny kitsune child, looking more like Hermione and Tsukiyasha than an actual kitsune.

He saved the child, saved us and is effortlessly standing there…Hermione finished patching up her friends, who all only bore minor slashes. Saiyaka has a point about the writing. I can definitely see O'Malley or Ron doing something like that if they were inclined to make a man–light novel.

Kaori shook her head. "No. Onimaru had narrow yellow eyes, long flowing white hair, pointed ears and was extremely tall rather than average height with small violet moon-shaped horns protruding from his fringe."

"If Miyuki doesn't write a novel, you need to," Anya teased.

"I was trying to be accurate, Anya-chan," Kaori sighed. "My point is that this Onimaru looks nothing like the original. I'd wonder if it was someone like us if he didn't look so much like Papa."

Hiro examined the fake Onimaru with an artist's precision. "Our proportions don't match the drawing style, but his do. I think we're looking at something drawn into the book, but you'd think the artwork wouldn't be a perfect match."

Hermione pondered this. Before she'd been able to socialise, she'd practised her hand at forging writing and illustrations so that they were seamless. If the person in question were dedicated enough to draw an original character into the book in that style, they could.

"It's a fanfiction!" Miyuki cried, leaping to her feet. "This isn't the original book at all. It's something someone made using the world. Maybe Onimaru is the author."

"Wait," Hiro's eyes widened. "So this is something our father did when he was a teenager? You were right, Hermione, we could find out so much about what he used to be like!"

Hermione looked back at Onimaru. He was so stoic, clearly the hero, but unbothered, even by what was supposed to be his lover fawning over him. She'd never pictured Hiro's father as aloof, and what little she was told, he seemed to be warm and kind. This chronically cool man didn't seem to match.

Unless he changed a lot between his teen years and when he had Kaori and Hiro. I can't imagine someone's entire demeanour changing that much…

Miyuki interrupted Hermione's thoughts with the answer. "It depends on how much this Onimaru models Onimaru's persona and how much there is of him in there. "

"When did you become our group's information well?" Saiyaka pouted.

Everyone laughed before falling silent. Hiro brushed a hand through his hair and sighed. "Even if the personality is different, we can probably still find something out about him just by being in something he wrote."

Hermione nodded and smiled, though she felt a pang of jealousy. She wished for a moment she could have been isekai'd into a world her mother made, even if it were a fan-written thing, the chance to know the slightest thing about her. She wanted something, anything, even if she was still angry at her for abandoning her.

Hell, she'd settle for something her father wrote as a teen. She had no idea what he was like. He never talked about his life as a boy, where he came from, or anything from his past. Sure, maybe he was a different person as a kid, but she still longed to know what he was like at her age.

"Mi-chan?" Hiro asked lightly.

Hermione shook her head. "I'm sorry, I think I must have blanked there, what's up?"

"I think we're on the move," he said, offering his hand. "Are you okay?"

Hermione took it and rose to her feet, looking up at him with a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking it looks like our crying child wasn't the missing kitsune girl."

Hiro turned to look at the young nine-tailed girl clinging to Onimaru. "Yeah, I guess not. Do you think it was a Mahoutokoro student?"

Unable to clasp both hands while holding Hiro's, Hermione instead bit her nails on her free hand while she thought. She could definitely see it happening, and thought about it before. But she wasn't sure who to point the finger at anymore. Limiting it to the archery club seemed pointless now. She wished she'd infiltrated the literature or manga club instead. Maybe then she'd have some clue…

"Miyuki-chan!" Hermione called out. "You're in the literature and manga clubs, right?"

Miyuki nodded. "Of course I am. Been trying to get Kaori and Hiro to join for years."

"Not with our grandfather," both let out a small laugh.

"Really?" Hermione looked up at Hiro again. He adored manga and she didn't see Yamato-sama Sensei as someone who would stop Hiro from joining a club.

"Yeah," Hiro shrugged. "He never said anything, but you know, everything we join reflects on him, so when Kaori and I started our boarding years, we vowed to only join athletic and academic clubs. The school paper was as far as we wanted to stray from traditional clubs."

How does the Herald back home or my lack of other club involvement reflect on my father… Guilt knotted Hermione's stomach as she realised she had not once thought about it. Or any of the trouble she got into…and she'd been debating ditching Divination, he'd even suggested it, but...could she do that?

I have to get home before I can think about that…I have to get them home…

"Hermione," Hiro asked. "I think we lost you again. Are you sure you're okay?"

Hermione nodded. "Let's get going before our Tsukiyasha and Onimaru leave us behind."

---

While Severus was used to ghosts, the noble woman floating about took some getting used to. He imagined those cold eyes and pained look was what most muggles pictured when they read about ghosts. The uncanniness added by being extremely young, seventeen or so, he imagined, when she died.

Ghosts of young girls such as this librarian staring at him, and Moaning Myrtle back home, made him uneasy. He might not have given a damn had he never taken in Hermione, but now they served as reminders that it was, indeed, very possible his daughter might fail to see her twentieth birthday.

A reality he was trying to push from his head now, as he sat in Yamato's office, waiting for him to return. The nervous house-elf—was it Kiki?-sat darkly in the corner after apporating him to the school. He recognised the expression.

So your child is missing too, eh? He wondered just how many there were. Currently he counted Yamato's daughter in-law, a man in his forties who stared blankly ahead, a couple also in their forties bickering with each other, and a petite muggle couple averting their gaze from the ghost librarian. Not counting the German and Canadian couple that came with him.

This must have been serious. Muggle-borns' parents were notified two years ago when children were petrified, but they'd only ever let muggles in the school when—

'We believe she is safe," he repeated the line to himself. She can't be—

"What do you think it is?" asked the Black American woman in her forties sitting next to her husband.

"Said it was a curse," her husband replied. "But I don't know why we're here. You don't think Sam—"

Sam, I know that name. One of Hermione's exchange student friends?American, no, Canadian, I remember her teasing him. The German couple...did she know someone…another girl, I think… Ana…Anya?

He knew the muggle couple must have been Saiyaka's (What was that girl's last name again?) parents and the Japanese wizarding couple and the single Japanese father belonged to either Toho-Toshi-Yoshi? Toshio! And Miyuki. He suddenly wished he had known more about her friends.

Minako Yamato looked down, deep in thought as if considering something quite dire. She, like the rest of them, was worried for her children, but there seemed to be some knowledge in her expression. It didn't surprise him to know that Ito Yamato would have taken his own daughter-in-law aside to explain the situation, but he wondered why the muggle woman was still here, if she already knew.

"You're Hermione's father, right?" she whispered, in heavily accented, but understandable English.

He nodded.

"She's alive, they all are. Just not here."

Thanks for the information, I feel so much better! He thought bitterly. If it were anyone else, or any other circumstances he might have said as much, but in this rare instance, he could appreciate she was as worried as he was, and very unlikely able to communicate the details. He knew full-well that if Hiro had gone missing in Hogwarts 'he's still alive' would be all he could muster too. Yet, he was still angry at the woman for not attempting to explain it further.

He didn't have to worry about his waning empathy for Minako Yamato when the headmaster came in with a short, stout balding man in tow. Perhaps an expert in the field. Or a translator?

He then saw there was no need for a translator when each foreign parent was given a rosetta stone shard to clutch in during the meeting. He wondered how they got a hold of so many, but his curiosity was fleeting at best. He pictured curses he was familiar with that would lead to a child being both safe, but missing.

"Ikigawa no Kagome," the tall, white bearded man in a traditional kimono Severus recognised as Yamato gestured to the beautiful young ghost. "Discovered your children in the restricted section of the library. As guarding our heavily cursed objects has fallen to her for the past millennium (the muggle couple gaped at this), I would have her explain what happened."

She floated up and did just that, gesturing to the floating black book in a bubble. "This is a book found in the cursed section of the library. Normally, we wouldn't be inviting anyone outside of the school over, but given the strange nature of your missing children, Headmaster felt it best we explain it. This book is a manga that was made by a student back in the nineteen-seventies. It has the ability to send entities from it out into the world, and absorb people into it. Most will spit out the people absorbed once the story is finished. However, this story has no ending…"

Gasps, whispers and the too familiar sound of a grown man biting back a sob from the middle-aged single Japanese man interrupted her. Severus wondered if the man's missing child was also his only family. A waste of mental energy given the circumstances, he specialised in curses, depending on how the children were trapped, Severus might be able to free her—them.

"Luckily," the short bald man flipped the pages with his wand. "It seems we can follow the path the children are taking, they seem to be faring well, and we will be monitoring them. We will appraise you every day of their status. Ikigawa has closed handed her duties over to them so she can monitor them constantly."

"Excuse me, Headmaster Yamato," the German man bowed. "But couldn't we simply destroy the book?"

"ARE YOU MAD, MAN?!" Severus demanded.

He wasn't the only parent to lash out it seemed, his own voice had been one in a quagmire of others. Some agreeing, some disagreeing.

"You can't just destroy it like that!" the single Japanese father said.

"Those are our children!" the German woman cried. "What the hell?!"

"And I imagine that would deter you from torching their only way home!" Severus snapped. "Have you any bloody idea what your idiot husband is suggesting?!"

"Calm the fuck down," the German man spat.

"As soon as you stop suggesting we murder our fucking children!" Severus's empathy for the idiot was gone. "Do you have any clue how these curses work?!"

"And I suppose you do?!" One of the Japanese fathers neglected the muggle couple he'd been shouting with to snap at him.

"As a matter of fact—"

"Sorry," the Canadian couple said. "Maybe we should—"

It was useless. So were pleas from the staff. He imagined, like himself, many came here desperate for news and intended to not make a scene or potentially get themselves kicked out of the school. Funny how one moron's suggestion tipped the scales for the desperate parents terrified for their children.

Severus continued under the cacophony. "By all means, use a damn chainsaw for something that requires a scalpel, I imagine that should work. And if it doesn't, it's just your child's life on the line. I pity her."

"You son of a bitch!" the German man lifted a clenched fist.

Severus deflected it before it could connect with his face.

The faculty had done little to quell them at this point, but either the instance of an unsheathed wand or a thrown punch made them act. The shouting stopped, each of them having fallen under a silencing spell. Order was restored but not without exchanged glares before the parents returned to their seats.

"You are all acting like the children we're supposed to be saving!" Yamato shouted. "As many of you mentioned, no we will not be destroying the book. So anyone worried about that can rest-assured we're not endangering your children's lives with reckless behaviour, but I did not expect this to descend to complete chaos. My grandchildren are among the trapped, you don't see me looking for a fight. Given the strange circumstances and the uncertainty, I wanted to appraise you of the situation in person. I see now that was a bad idea."

Yamato had the same talent Dumbledore did in turning a room of adults into one filled with ashamed children. Many around him cast their eyes down toward hands folded in their laps. His own shame had more to do with his lack of control rather than the things he said. Though being right was far from worth being extricated from the school.

Idiot, you used to be better at this, and depending on what happens with Pettigrew's return, you'll have to be better at this.

After their dismissal, Severus prepared to leave, ready to scour his resources back home for possible solutions when a voice called for him, taking him by surprise.

"Snape-san!" Minako Yamoto waved her hands over her head.

He paused and turned back trying to piece together what she wanted from him. The tall woman bowed her head before looking up at him.

"Do you actually know that much about curses?" she asked, making eye contact for the first time. The muggle woman's desperate gaze was…unnerving.

"Yes." he answered, hopeful he could bring his daughter home. "What do you need?"

"My children back." Minako Yamato didn't break her gaze, a very familiar fire in her eyes. "I'll speak to my father-in-law. Come with me."

---

Hermione and the others sat around the campfire while the two protagonists checked the perimeter together. She imagined it was very similar to when she and Hiro used it as an excuse to be alone.

Hiro seemed disappointed at Onimaru's lack of conversation with them, but Hermione would be lying if she said she wasn't grateful for moments where those two were absent. It let them talk openly about the fiction they were in without worry about Tsukiyasha impaling her own hand or some other disaster.

"So," Kaori said, drawing their brainstorm in the air with her wand. "We think this story is something my father wrote as a teenager. What else do we know?"

After Hermione taught Hiro the spell, the rest of the group was keen to use it in these brainstorming sessions, to lay everything out as they did on the blackboard and cork boards back home in the Mercury club room.

Was it stupid she missed something as simple as discussing cases there? She pushed the thought from her mind and placed a comforting hand on Hiro's clenched fist. He knew so little about his father and couldn't use information about him to help them. She knew how that pained him.

Hiro's fist loosened and his other hand found its way onto hers. It wasn't much, but it was the best support she could offer while they were trapped in a fictional world.

"It's based on folklore?" Saiyaka volunteered with a raised hand.

Kaori nodded and wrote that beneath the notes Hiro and Kaori each knew from the original light novel.

"Onimaru was replaced with a self-insert character!" Miyuki called. "And by what you've said, it seems the personality wasn't actually his. But I bet the plot is."

"Yeah, Miyuk-chan," Kaori sighed. "Too bad we don't remember much about him."

Hermione thought for a moment about what they did know. By all accounts, he seemed like a nice guy, but 'good dad' didn't really identify story beats. What they did have was a self-styled author and a circle of people incredibly familiar with manga. The forest that made no sense, the personality-less frog ninjas, Onimaru's unrivalled power, the will-they-won't-they between Tsukiyasha and Onimaru. They didn't know enough about the author, and that was something Kaori and Hiro would have to grapple with once they were home.

For now Hermione thought of stories that involved being absorbed into another. A surprisingly popular trope in both western novels and manga. Then she thought of what she read in second year about monsters-of-the-imagination. The human imagination when brought together could bring things into reality. However, the person who read the cursed novel first probably had a strong desire to bring what they read to reality. Stories had a way of taking over. Hermione'd been friends with Miyuki and Luna long enough to be very familiar with that concept.

"What is it?" Hiro asked.

"What if we played out how the story is supposed to play out?" Hermione ventured.

"Yes!" Miyuki exclaimed. "Let's review what we know about the story. A young kitsune went missing…"

They spent most of the night going over potential plot points, both from what they had gotten from Onimaru and Tsukiyasha, but also Kaori and Hiro's memories. They had determined a few things they should do.

Return Inari (the little fox girl) to the Kitsune shrine—Also why did she go missing?

Defeat all of the Monsters: Is this possible?

Find a way to get the protagonist together?

"Quick!" Hermione whispered from the treeline, night vision making her a great look-out. "They're coming!"

Kaori dismissed the words and the rest made themselves look as normal as they could. They all returned around the fire to listen to Onimaru and Tsukiyasha point out the more dangerous portions of the forest.

"Onimaru-sama," Inari tugged at Onimaru's sleeve.

The demon prince set her in his lap and gently patted her head until she fell asleep. It made Hermione think of summers on the school grounds with her father when she was very little. She thought about their fight before she went into the library. Hermione had thirty-one days away from her father, was it a crime to want a little space? Though, she could have handled it better. Looking at the two, pained her. All she did was disappoint him, even if he was an arse. She missed him.

Whatever I'm feeling, Hiro has it worse…She turned to him,who also stared at the pair. His lips pressed together and face drawn. He was only four when his father died. Hiro longed for such a connection, and this strange character made to look like but act nothing like his father only complicated his feelings.

"So," Kaori ventured. "Where did you find her?"

Onimaru stared into the flames. "Inari was abandoned by the river, nearly drowned. She doesn't seem to remember anything."

"Didn't Tsukiyasha say there was a kitsune child missing?" she continued. "Should she be returned to the shrine, maybe?"

Onimaru shook his head. "I found this girl months ago, she doesn't seem to be anyone's, so I've claimed her," he explained, while Inari curled up, sleeping peacefully in his lap. "It's for the best."

Kaori and Hiro exchanged glances, as if the siblings were trying very hard to remember something from a long time ago.

Hermione stared at the blissfully sleeping four-year-old and back to Onimaru. "It's for the best", "I know best" those words made her blood boil. How the fuck could he know?!

"You can't just claim a child!" Hermione cried, before she could stop herself. "She's going to wake up every day wondering where the hell she came from and it'll kill her! What will you do when she grows up with questions you can't answer!"

"Mi-chan," Hiro whispered, gently taking her hand.

Hermione ripped her hand back, not breaking her glare. "Was she abandoned? Was she orphaned? Was she traded out for a fucking head of lettuce? Found in a goddamn rubbish bin filled with cat skeletons?! Not knowing will drive her mad! If you gave a damn about her y-you'd-you'd–you'd—"

"Leave her to roam the wilds on her own?" Onimaru's sigh sounded disinterested, but he narrowed his yellow eyes at her.

Everyone now stared at her dumbfounded.

"N-no!" Hermione squeaked. "I–I–don't kn—I need air!"

"We're already outside," Toshio muttered.

Hermione bounded off into the forest, certain to stay within the perimeter. She then sighed and looked away before collapsing against a tree. She brought her knees to her chest and dug her nails into her arms. Why'd I do that… Why do I always do shit like that?!

"Mi-chan?" Hiro sat next to her.

"H-Hiro-kun!" she squeaked, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Hermione sighed and tried to look unbothered, but failed. However, she did stop sobbing and collected herself enough to face him. She was not going to fall apart, not when Hiro had it worse.

"I'm fine," she shrugged. "I shouldn't have screamed at him like that. I just—" she sighed. "It doesn't matter."

Hiro placed his hands on her knees and smiled. "I wish I remembered earlier, but Inari's canon, so there was no way we could've gotten home by returning her. And–erm–as far as the questions, Inari won't ever have them, she's never going to grow up."

Hermione slapped her forehead. "Of course, Inari's not real. None of this is. I shouldn't have—I'm so, so sorry, Hiro."

"Did you want to talk about it?" he asked, pressing his forehead against hers.

Hermione shook her head.

The two sat in silence for a moment, watching as the deep purple sky shifted to an inky black and dark blue. Hermione wondered how long the two had been sitting out there, but her thoughts were interrupted by Hiro lifting her face and kissing her.

"Let's just stay out here for a bit."

Hermione smiled and nodded.

---

Minako Yamato vouched for Severus's understanding of dark magic, and with adequate proof and a formal apology for his behaviour, he was brought on board to help bring the lost children back. He imagined she would have insisted anyone with a claim to knowledge were brought on board. He didn't know if it saddened him or if he admired the woman's determination to stick around despite being unable to wield magic.

The woman's strange behaviour was low on his list of priorities. He turned back to the cursed volume and used his wand to turn the pages. The pages favoured the two main characters ignoring the children, save when the book seemed to sense something that would qualify as an interesting plot. Hermione seldom got individual attention, but when she was with Hiro, it was happy to follow her.

Watching her find her way through the world came with a myriad of emotions he was not prepared to deal with. Fear with the many threats they found in the forest, worry every time she was alone with Hiro, anger when she was fool enough to accept a marriage proposal at thirteen, and even pride when Hermione determined they needed to finish the story from their side. All with the undercurrent of fear and dread.

When he wasn't monitoring each development, he poured over thick volumes taking surreptitious notes each time he found a suitable procedure. There were still enough holes to keep him from trying any of the methods.

An advantage he had over Kaname and Ikigawa was that he had no other duties to attend to, and with Hermione trapped between the pages he didn't bother pausing for meals or sleep. He'd have time enough for such frivolities after he brought his daughter home.

"Yoshi," Minako whispered, then looked up. "What did you get our children into?"

"So they were right," he asked, looking up from his notes on materialising rituals. "This was your husband's book?"

Minako nodded. "When I met him, he had dropped out of the post-secondary program and moved to Tokyo. He wanted to be a manga artist. I had just graduated high school and we both loved this obscure light novel series, so we hit it off. It wasn't until after Kaori was born that I learned about his past. It's—well, there's a lot. But he did tell me about his old girlfriend, when they were sixteen. She had her issues, and Ito-san was hard on Yoshi, so the two made a way to escape. Or so they thought. Turns out things that make for a great story make for a terrible home. It took weeks to get home, he never said how, and his girlfriend never spoke to him again."

"Weeks," he turned back to the illustrated group of children around a campfire. "And I assume the headmaster doesn't know what brought them back last time. Has anyone contacted the girlfriend?"

Minako shook her head and toyed with the rosetta stone shard in her hand. "Kaname Yuzu, she–erm—she died before I ever met Yoshi. She died here, I went looking for her ghost, but she's not here."

"I suppose he never said what they had to do to get home on their end?" he sighed, wishing he never asked about her husband's involvement in the first place.

"No," she shook her head. "Sorry."

"As am I," he muttered before returning to the cursed volume.

Hermione took the strangely familiar half-cat form once more to keep watch and was yelling at the male protagonist after he announced he claimed the fox-child they thought to return to her home.

"You can't just claim a child!" Hermione cried. "She's going to wake up every day wondering where the hell she came from and it'll kill her! What will you do when she grows up with questions you can't answer!"

"Mi-chan," Hiro took her hand.

Hermione ripped it back, not breaking her glare. "Was she abandoned? Was she orphaned? Was she traded out for a fucking head of lettuce? Found in a goddamn rubbish bin filled with cat skeletons?! Not knowing will drive her mad! If you gave a damn about her y-you'd-you'd–you'd—"

Severus's stomach churned at Hermione's words. Did she truly wake up every morning wondering where she came from? It seemed the more outlandish rumours about her origins still upset her. He never considered she might put stock in them. And then there were the assertions that it would drive her mad, that it would kill her.

He thought of every question he'd shut down, how the mere mention of her mother brought the world to a screeching halt. That was hardly fair. And his little lie during her second year? That was inexcusable. But he'd told so many lies now, how could he come clean?

You can't just claim a child!

But that was exactly what he did. Severus saw the sick little girl and assumed he knew best. The muggles were seventeen, overwhelmed and utterly clueless. He didn't regret his initial decision to remove her from the situation, nor the later one to adopt her. However, he did wish he had come up with a more convincing lie much earlier, both at St Mungo's and to Hermione. Failing to do so left Hermione grappling with questions that apparently drove her mad.

If I'd known I'd be taking her in...How hard could it have been for me to say "she's mine, she's sick and I didn't know what to do?" As for Hermione, how hard could it have been to simply say "Your mother died", or if I didn't want to invent a dead woman, "she left", "after we split up we thought it best I have sole custody"...Any one of those would have stopped the questions and those ridiculous rumours.

This guilt spiral won't bring her home.

Severus returned to his scattered notes and volumes in his own mad search for answers.

---

"Impenditia, Stupedify, Membercinnio, Protego," Hiro recited the spells Hermione ran over with him. "Any ones specifically for frog ninjas?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and giggled. "I don't think so! But if we can liquify a patch of ground and solidify it quick enough, we can catch many targets in the same area."

"I have a bit of trouble with transfiguration," Hiro admitted. "Have you ever done that before?"

Hermione nodded. "Only on one target, and I don't know how long it would have held."

"Oh?" Hiro said. "Who'd you cast it on?"

Hermione bit her lip. On an innocent man that'd been subjected to years of psychological torture, but I swear I thought he was going to kill my friend at the time? How do you explain something like that? "It was a mistake. I–it's hard to explain but I thought he was dangerous at the time. I was wrong."

"Oh?" Hiro mused. "Like a bully?"

If my dad's right about Sirius… "You could say that."

"If he's anything like Inyuama Rie, I wouldn't feel too bad," Hiro took her hand in his.

Maybe that's permission enough to stop thinking about dangling Malfoy in the air too…

That horrified face will stay with you for years, her father's voice reminded her.

Maybe I'm supposed to—no! No! No! I was supposed to be functional here!

"Mi-chan? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she sighed. "You?"

Hiro nodded. "It's still so weird to think Papa wrote this. I–I just wish there were more of his personality in the characters. Or at the very least I wish he left a road map. Mama definitely knows we're missing by now. I just hope she's taking care of herself."

"If she's anything like you and Kaori," Hermione smiled. "I bet she'll be just fine."

"What about your dad?" Hiro asked.

Hermione didn't know how much time had passed anymore, the moon's constant state of fullness made it hard to differentiate. But she once again thought about her father. After the initial disbelief and rage at her disappearance, she wasn't sure what he'd do. Once he'd realised her fate was in the hands of people half a world away, he'd have to grapple with the helplessness. While she imagined he was better off without her, she still knew he'd miss her. All Hermione could really do was hope Remus could take care of him if the despair became too much.

She forced a smile and didn't know if her lie was more to comfort Hiro or herself when she said: "My dad's expertise is in the Dark Arts, I wouldn't be surprised if he was helping find a way to bring us back."

"That would mean Kaname would have to work with someone," Hiro sniggered.

Hermione now pictured the two of them together, both stubborn, cold and chalk full of spite. They'd kill each other within five minutes. Unless Kaname chose to talk about Hermione and then…

"Those two need to be at least two continental landmasses apart at all times."

Hiro howled in laughter and threw an arm around her. "I doubt it'd be that bad."

"You're probably right," she sighed. "It's awfully silly of me to worry about Kaname telling Dad about me when we're stuck here."

"Should I ask him?" Hiro mused.

Hermione looked out to the river, the beauty of the orange sunset no longer stunning, as it was the same every day, lacking in the slight shifts and changes real environments and people underwent. "If you're thinking about asking Kaname about your dad because he taught him, that avenue never worked with me."

"What?" Hiro's face screwed in confusion before relaxing. "If I had questions, my mother or grandfather would tell me. Did you have—" he shook his head. "I was wondering if I should ask permission for your hand."

Hermione shook her head. "He would never approve. You should have seen it when he found out we were dating. 'Then allow me to uncomplicate matters for you, he's too old for you!' Seems to think I shouldn't even be dating."

"Found out?" Hiro knit his eyebrows. "You didn't tell him?"

Hermione bit her lip and looked down. "I suspected he'd react the way he did. But I mean, I suppose it's not really the parents' business if their children are dating, right?"

"Erm," Hiro laughed nervously and ran his free hand through his hair. "Must be a British thing. I–erm—I told my mother as soon as we got home that summer."

"Oh," Hermione averted her gaze. "Did she–was she–erm—was she okay with it?"

Hiro nodded. "Asked if I was certain I wanted to date someone who was gone eleven months of the year, and mentioned it'd be difficult for us, but there was no disapproval, if that's what you're worried about."

"Oh," Hermione's thoughts turned to their prolonged mutual absence from each other's lives.

"But, hey," Hiro smiled down at her and placed his free hand on the small of her back. "Three years and we'll be studying together full-time. And then Kyoto."

"And then Kyoto," he kissed her. "But let's get out of here, I hate this river."

Hermione nodded before casting an alarm spell along the camp's perimeter.

---

"Foreigners and muggles," Kaname muttered under his breath, glaring at the sleeping woman in the corner of the room. "All they'll do is get in the bloody way."

Severus glared at the man, letting him know that he heard and understood it, he slid the other Rosetta stone shard to the stout man. "Kore o toru," he spat.

Kaname did so, perhaps wondering how much Japanese Severus understood and how much he relied on the stone. Though Kaname's comments likely wouldn't cease, but rather be tempered.

The read he had on Kaname told him that it wasn't a general dislike for foreigners or muggles, but rather that he didn't like having to work with a foreigner nor having a muggle in proximity while he worked. While he didn't hold disgusting views, the man was still an arrogant prat that believed Severus and anyone else on board were only in the way.

He told Kaname his findings and passed him a volume on documented cases of humans stuck in fictional worlds along with several excerpts and his own theories on the material. He'd used the enchanted journal he gave to Hermione to confer with Remus, and added what few findings Hogwarts offered as well.

"That might work," Kaname mused. "Bring that little idiot of yours back home in one piece. Along with the rest of Yamato Kaori's following."

"Do not call my daughter an idiot!" he hissed (the irony not lost on him). "Maybe if you looked into the incident yourselves, she and her friends wouldn't have—" that wasn't true. How often had Hermione insisted on sticking her little nose in everyone's business, despite any danger? "You don't have any children do you?"

Kaname stiffened, glaring at him and Severus experienced something he hadn't since he was a teenager. He gleaned the man's thoughts without meaning to.

A five-year-old girl clinging to her mother and wailing, the woman glaring and clutching a trunk, screaming. Clearly, his wife was leaving with his daughter in tow. He saw flashes of the girl's life at the school, a younger Kaname very often seething. The daughter held a familiar glare, similar to one Hermione often bore. An image of a sake bottle being poured down a drain, and an image of a framed photo of the daughter at sixteen or seventeen surrounded by white flowers. A bowl of rice on a shrine with the same photo.

"Kaname Yuzu," "she had her own issues" that's what she said...So Yoshi Yamato's girlfriend was…Kaname's daughter. His dead daughter. Something else bothered him, and he realised that Minako Yamato did not get the whole story. Yuzu Kaname and Yoshi Yamato never spoke to each other because the girl died a year after, and she—

"You son of a bitch," the stout man growled.

"That wasn't intentional," he explained. "Particularly strong emotions can surface…" he sighed, not knowing why it'd been this to trigger it, after eighteen years since he'd last done so unintentionally. "It's best if we both forget about this."

Kaname left the room to retrieve Ito Yamato and Ikigawa, while Severus tried not to think about his own daughter's reckless behaviour and what it could imply.

---

"No trace of the kitsune girl, either?" Hermione asked.

Saiyaka shook her head. "Up and down our stretch of river and nothing. Had to stop Miyuki from heroically diving into the haunted river."

"She might have fallen in!" Miyuki pouted. "We have to find her if we want to go home."

"No luck on your end then?" Togo asked Anya and Kaori.

The girls shook their heads. "At least we have the protections up," Kaori sighed.

"Sam and I also got nothing," Toshio mentioned. "I thought I snapped a pic of fox tracks, but it was just a stray cat."

"No luck with my end either," Suni apparated in a hinoki with a pop. "Searched along the opposite banks with no luck. Maybe our protagonists found her?"

Hermione turned her eyes to the deepening sunset. "You said the Onryo only attacks at night, yeah?"

Hiro nodded. "How long should we wait before looking for to look for them—"

"Not long," Tsukiyasha entered the camp dismissing her bow. "It was a good theory, but we'll have to look more after sunrise."

Onimaru nodded. "But it's because most of us will search better in the daylight, not to avoid the River Onryo. Why did you think she only attacked at night?"

Hiro's face drained and he swallowed. Hermione recognised the fear eating away at him and the disbelief he could have misremembered something so important. Hermione took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He steady his breath and turned to look at her, still uneasy, but growing calmer.

"Maybe we should organise into bigger groups tomorrow to be safe," Hermione suggested.

Kaori nodded before turning to Onimaru and Tsukiyasha "If it's okay, I think we should be in two teams with each of you at the head. You know the world better than we do."

"Wait!" Miyuki shouted, grabbing both siblings by the arm. "Can you excuse us for a moment? It's an off-worlder thing."

The lot of them gathered, aware of the protagonists and child staring at them. They tried to speak in English, but Sam and Hermione found themselves translating concepts more than brainstorming, so they switched back to whispering in Japanese.

"If we need it to end with them getting together, we should keep them together," Miyuki pointed out. "We already covered most of the river. Let's just search as one big group, we'll have the safety of numbers and it gives them the ability to connect more. This is a story so things will happen as they need to, but we have to keep them together."

"I don't think Papa accounted for us being in it," Hiro mentioned. "Won't that mess with things?"

Hermione mused for a moment. "Not if he intended for people to be absorbed. Then that makes us supporting characters!"

Kaori looked from her brother to Hermione and then to Miyuki. "What if he was supposed to occupy Onimaru's role? Then our presence might still interrupt the story."

Miyuki smirked at this. "Even if you're right, Kao-chan, that still makes us supporting characters. And with my knowledge of stories, and you and Hiro, we should be able to get them where they're going."

Hermione nodded. "We can do this. I'm an expert at supporting roles."

---

They all woke up at the crack of dawn, each understanding the parts they had to play. Hermione kept her half-cat form after her watch, that way she could react to Miyuki's plan. One she wasn't happy with.

Hiro nervously looked around the campsite. "Miyuki better know what she's doing."

Hermione nodded. "I hate it too, but we have to trust her. She and Togo should have reached the river by—"

As if on cue, a distressed call rang out. Something easily picked up by Hermione's cat ears, but others would have to strain to hear it.

"Ts-Ts-Tsukiyasha-sama!" Hermione bolted to the tree where the half-demon priestess played her flute. "Did you hear that?!"

She shook her head and closed her eyes. "Wh–"

"Mi-chan," Hiro gasped, running after her. "What is it?"

"Heard a scream. Miyuki-chan and Togo-san, th-th-they went out to the river to l-look for the kitsune girl. Th-they asked me n-not to tell when I heard them leaving!"

"They did what?!" Kaori cried. "Miyuki-chan! I told her not to! What do we do?"

"Miyuki-tan!" Saiyaka threw her arms around Anya with an impressive sob.

It's taking too long for Onimaru to sweep in heroically, maybe Miyuki was wrong. We should—

"You heard them?" Onimaru appeared behind her, with Sam and Toshio in tow.

Hermione nodded before kow-towing. "Please help us, Onimaru-sama, Tsukiyasha-sama."

"Lead the way."

Please don't be in real danger…

---

"Miyuki-chan!" Kaori cried when they finally caught up to them.

Miyuki and Togo both appeared to be completely fine. They were smart enough to keep their wands and stay far enough away from the river.

Thank god, relief washed over Hermione. The worst part of the plan was over. Everyone gathered around torn between relief at their safety and anger at putting themselves in danger. So that's how that feels… Stick to the script.

Act One of Miyuki's script finished, it now fell to them to search the banks as a group. If either of them suggested separating, Hermione as the youngest looking and smallest was assigned the role of convincing them not to.

She didn't fight with Miyuki on that part of the script, but Hermione was happy she didn't have to fling her arms around Onimaru and beg him not to leave. Harry once told Hermione she missed her calling as an actress, but she wasn't evoking sympathy from the man she'd screamed at, no matter how good she was.

And then, he still looked like Hiro's father, she wondered how Hiro and Kaori might have felt watching Hermione cling to him and sob until he comforted her. Even if it was for an act.

Find the kitsune girl, get the main characters together, seal the monster, happy ending, we all go home. Hermione repeated the plan silently to herself before catching a scent similar to Inari's.

"O-O-Onimaru-s-samma?" Hermione said in a calculated cute voice. "I think I smell her. Ts-tsukiyasha-samma should t-take the lead with you. W-we don't know anything about this world."

The heroes reacted predictably, taking the lead, and following her directions. The rest followed faithfully as she'd seen in so many stories.

Hermione reviewed Kaori's description of the sealing spell that featured in the story. It'd be best if Tsukiyasha did it, as in the original, but they each carried one of the heroine's arrows in their sleeves and the incantation just in case.

Hermione's thoughts were interrupted when she spied movement in the distance, nine fluffy white tails darting behind a stone by the water's edge.

"She's like me, Onimaru-samma," Inari squeaked, pointing.

The lot of them slowly approached to see a timid, soaked, white-haired kitsune girl around six or so, shivering against the rock, staring up at them terrified with large red eyes. It took some coaxing, but she was more easily convinced of her safety than Hermione expected.

"Are you Kaede from the fox temple?" Tsukiyasha asked. "Your mother asked me to bring you home."

The girl whimpered and nodded. "Mama told me not to play by the river..I-I-I-" she instead threw her arms around Tsukiyasha.

Step one, finished, Hermione exchanged a relieved look with Hiro who smiled down at her, reassuring her. Looking ahead, the way Onimaru and Tsukiyasha smiled at each other,step two might not have been far behind.

All that's left is...

"Hiro-kun," Hermione breathed, twitching her ear behind them. "How would you describe the river onryo's sound again,"

Hiro turned to her, his warm complexion draining before darting his eyes in the direction Hermione's ear moved. "It was like a strangled gasp, slowly growing louder. At least that was how Papa used to make it sound. Do you hear it?"

Hermione nodded, drawing her wand. "With everything else in the forest, I can't tell how far away it is."

Hiro swallowed, but pushed through, drawing his own wand and addressed the rest of the group. "Hermione thinks she heard the onryo."

Kaori nodded. "Look alive everyone."

Soon the desperate gasping for air along with the heart stopping squelch of waterlogged flesh dragging itself forward became apparent to everyone. This was part of the plan too, but it was still terrifying.

"This way, girls!" Suni hissed, ushering the kistune children further inland and away from the battlefield.

Hermione hoped the arrows would work without a bow, and joined the others in drawing it, along with her wand. She had to remind herself to breathe as the white clad figure crawled toward them at an unnatural speed. Long black hair floated around her, as if grasping forward.

She turned to Hiro, whose face drained as he held his wand with a white-knuckled grip in a shaking hand. Hiro stared down his childhood fear and Hermione turned back to the onryo.

Sayaika, Toshio and Sam formed a defensive line between guarding Miyuki and Togo as they climbed for higher ground with bows Hermione wished she had also thought to bring. Hopefully they would hit, if the heroine couldn't. She ensured the sealing talisman on her own arrow was secure, while she, Hiro and Kaori spread out to confuse the creature, each careful to steer clear of the water's edge.

Or that was the plan, for once it wasn't Hermione who froze. Hiro stayed in the middle, clutching his own, his feet planted in the soil, staring at the fast approaching river woman. If no one acted now he would...

Hermione's cat-like reflexes overrode her usual freezing response and she dove for Hiro, dragging him by the hand out of the raging onryo's path.

"Liquefacio!" Hermione cried, watching the ground swallow the struggling onryo until all that was left was long stringy black hair.

"Miyuki, now!" Kaori called from across the treeline.

Shining arrows flew, ready to strike, but in that instant the onryo rose from the liquified ground, standing upright for the first time, its face still hidden by sopping hair, and off to the side from where she had originally sunk. The launched blessed arrows missed.

Liquefied ground couldn't stop a river spirit, and Miyuki and Togo never had to worry about a moving target.

It'd be great for the heroes of the story to make an appearance!

The plan fell apart, and the group went on the defensive, falling back as she advanced. And in the chaos, Hiro and Hermione found themselves alone in the forest. Running off hand-in-hand, they'd lost the others.

"Shit!" spun around, now cursing the watercolour trees that towered around them, all looking identical.

Hiro whipped his head around, equally frustrated with what they once found beautiful. "Oneechan! Miyuki!"

"Hiro-kun!" Hermione pressed her finger to her lips. "I can probably smell them."

Hiro nodded,his resolve now mixed with fear. Hermione recognised the impulse to freeze warring with the desire to protect his sister. For Hermione, those impulses were still an active war in her mind, no matter how many times she overcame the fear to do what she needed to. At least he had someone with him.

"We'll find them," she squeezed his hand. "It's this way."

They were close, the smell growing stronger as Hermione led Hiro through the forest. She could now hear the rushing of the river. They mustn't have strayed as far as we did, she gripped her wand tightly.

Hermione crouched among the foliage urging Hiro to do the same. They found the onryo crawling along the river's edge, pale water-logged limbs scrambling over each other, her body contorting in strange ways as she moved across the rocks. For some reason, she stopped and snapped to her feet in one jerky motion and looked in their direction.

Hermione let go of Hiro's hand and grabbed the arrow. Hiro grabbed his own and nodded, his face drained. They nodded to each other and turned to the fast approaching creature.

"Impendentia!" Hermione cried, slowing the creature.

"Membercinno!" Hiro shouted, binding her limbs.

The onryo's limbs locked together, near hugging her core. Tendrils of long black hair struggled to reach for them, as if suspended in thick molasses, no longer able to whip around with ease.

Hermione recited the incantation Kaori taught them while holding the arrow before her. A shimmer silver glow emitted from the arrow, dim at first and growing brighter as Hermione continued the incantation. The binds just had to hold until Hermione finished.

The desperate gasping and gurgling from the onryo grew louder and she fixed her eyes on, her black hair whipped at the air with increasing speed and with a strength Hermione never would have expected from her scrawny form, her limbs broke their binds with stunning ease.

Incant faster! Hermione hoped it wouldn't affect the spell.

Hiro watched in frozen horror, hazel eyes near bulging from his head and mouth agape. Even with his wand in hand, he looked defenceless, and like a cat on the prowl, the onryo took this chance, her long black hair reaching to bind him and drag him into the raging river below.

Hermione abandoned the sealing incantation and leapt between Hiro and the onryo, her wand at the ready.

"Kathreftis!" she shrieked.

Just like in Kaname's class, the attack reflected back onto the creature. At great speeds the grasping tendrils of hair flew back to her and bound her entire body. She struggled and garbled gasps that served for screams echoed through the forest.

That won't hold forever…"I-I-I think I can keep her occupied if you can activate one of those arrows," she told Hiro over her shoulder.

"I–" he gulped. "I don't remember…I think I can engage her…"

Hermione looked back at the bound onryo. It wouldn't be long, and Hiro, despite his determination, was facing a life-or-death situation for the first time, and from a fear he had since childhood. Hermione was more experienced, and still froze, or forgot important things. Hiro…she could see he meant it, that protective flame in his eyes, the rare, serious expression on his face. But his inexperience could get him killed. And they didn't have much time.

She took the arrow from Hiro's hand and smiled at him. "Get the others, I'll be faster, better able to engage. If we can get the heroes to finish her, that should send us home. I can smell them, they're nearby."

"Mi-chan," Hiro stared at her. "I can't leave you."

Hermione shook her head. "You can, it'll only be for a bit. I'll see you when you come back with the others."

"But—"

Hermione threw her arms around Hiro's neck and kissed him on the lips before leaning against his chest. "I love you, Hiro."

"I love you, Mi-chan," he abandoned his arguments and took off. Before he was out of her sight he called back to her. "You promised to marry me so I better see you alive when we get back home!"

"You too!" she called back, sure to smile.

I hope I can keep that promise, Hiro… Hermione stole herself and ignored the tears now brimming over as she chanted the incantation once more, eyes focused on the onryo trying to break from her hair.

While Hermione chanted it happened. The light radiating from the arrow cast a silver halo across several surfaces, and it was bright enough to hurt Hermione's eyes. She had only a few more lines when the wispy black tendrils ripped themselves from the onryo's body and threw themselves to Hermione.

Wet, coarse hair wrapped around her ankles and threw her to the ground. Prone and being dragged, Hermione continued the chant, clutching the arrow even more tightly. She just had to finish it before they reached the water.

I can't swim! Hermione pushed the thought from her head. They were all depending on her. She had to do this right.

Their bodies hit the water with a splash and water raged around the two. Hermione used a free hand to cling to rocks as the rushing river slammed her into them. The wind nearly knocked from her. She fought the instinct to take in as much as possible and recited the incantation each time her head could breach the surface.

The onryo fought her, dragging her down while Hermione tried to use her claws to buy herself time, clinging to any soft surface between the rocks. Her heart pounded in her chest and her lungs cried for air, but she finished the incantation!

She let go, despite her terror and let the onryo drag her down. Water rushed into her ears and nostrils, the waves beating her as the hair rope reeled Hermione in at near break neck speed. She had to keep her eyes open, but the instinct to shut them was too strong as silt and water hit them.

Once Hermione felt something solid she opened her eyes to see the river spirit's torso pressed against her.

She's not real, she's not real, she's not real…Hermione stole herself, and mentally counted to three before doing the unthinkable. She plunged the glowing arrowhead into the river spirits abdomen, stabbing her.

The bright light engulfed the spirit and she screamed silently, bubbles leaving her mouth before she vanished.

Hermione didn't have time to think about how she was going to reach the surface, the water rushing into her lungs or the exhaustion threatening to overtake her, as a familiar blinding white light filled her field of vision.

I'll be damned, it worked.