Chapter 1 - Scent on the Wind

"Hermione, darling, tea's ready!" Mrs Granger called.

"Coming mum!" 17 year old Hermione Granger cuddled her coat and her beaded bag closer, drawing in a deep breath as she braced herself with what she was about to do.

She walked downstairs to where her parents sat with their backs to her, keeping the tears from her eyes she pointed her wand at them and, with a breathed "obliviate" she erased herself from the minds of her mother and father.

Silent tears fell from her face as she shut the front door for the last time and found a familiar face.

It was the face of the Crimson Man, she had never heard the words he spoke to her, not even in her dreams, but he often showed up during the day when she was studying. She had first started seeing him by the end of her sixth year at Hogwarts, she had thought he was one of the Weasley children, but that wasn't possible, only Ron and Ginny remained at Hogwarts.

"Hello, again. Are you here to walk me to the Weasleys'? Thank you." He never actually followed her, but she knew he was there.

She apparated to the Burrow where she was greeted by the only Weasley that was aware of what she had done, Ginny.

"Are you okay?" Hermione could only shake her head as she stood in the garden and cried.

"Okay, come on, let's go inside." Ginny led the way inside and up to the bedroom that the two girls were sharing where she let Hermione finish crying on her own.

Hermione had lay down on the bed and cried herself into a light slumber where she dreamt of the Crimson Man.

/

Genesis was getting worried about this. It was the fourth time this week he had seen that strange yet beautiful girl.

His visions of her had begun during the training exercise that he had Sephiroth been doing, he had spun out of one of Sephiroth's attacks and parried, catching sight of her over Sephiroth's shoulder… who also looked behind him to see nothing, Genesis had not even taken advantage of his momentary lapse in concentration, but then, neither had he.

He had seen her multiple times since then, reading, writing and laughing with people he couldn't see. However, when he saw her again last night, she had been walking out of somewhere he could not see.

She had fresh tears falling down her face, she spoken to him, but he couldn't hear what she had said, he followed to make sure no one hurt her, followed her out to the plate where she sat on a bench crying, before she lay down on said bench and cried herself to sleep.

It broke Genesis's heart to hear this girl, who's laughter had filled him with such joy, reduced to a sobbing wreck; he silently vowed to burn the person that had dared to hurt her… wait a minute… where was this sudden anger coming from?

Not knowing what moved him, Genesis knelt in front of her as her sobs subsided and she fell into a light slumber.

Genesis had always tried not to let this girl fill his thoughts, but every time he saw her he tried to reach out to get her attention, his hand always went through her.

This time Genesis simply wanted to secure a stray piece of her mousy brown, lightly bushy, hair behind her exposed ear, he froze in shock as he realised he COULD now touch her, it was strange…

"You're cold," he took off his duster, placed it over her, before scooping her up, and carried her back into the building, ignoring the looks he was getting from everyone around him, and up to the apartment he shared with two others, Angeal and Sephiroth, who were both out on training. Entering his own apartment, he gently placed her onto his bed and, after removing his coat, he covered her over with the duvet.

He sat there watching her sleep for over an hour, she did not stir once, giving Genesis time to take in more about this girl. The way she breathed as she slept, the pale complexion she had, indicating that either she didn't get enough sunlight, or she was sick; Genesis went with the first option of lack of sunshine.

He then studied the memory of her clothes, they weren't strange to him, but neither were they familiar, her pale pink cardigan fit her well as did her beige coloured blouse, clearly this girl was from somewhere like Junon or even a rural area like Zack's Gongaga, or Cloud's Nibelheim.

"That was harsh, Angeal." The other two had come back, Genesis flinched at the sound of the front door slamming, the sound stirred his guest, her hazel eyes opened and she sat up.

"Urgh I am going to KILL Fred and George I swear if they slam one more door… wait hold on, this isn't the Burrow…"

Genesis had bolted out of the door as she had stirred, not wanting to scare the poor girl to death.

"Sshh!" he snapped at the bickering two, though it was playful it was noisy.

"What is it Gen, do you have another headache?" Angeal asked as Sephiroth lowered his arms to look at his other friend.

"No… I...er… found her, the girl from my dreams, she's here." The looks on Sephiroth and Angeal's faces should have made Genesis laugh, but he was concerned, he didn't know how he was going to explain how the girl got here, when he himself didn't know. "She's just woken up, so please be gentle. I don't think she knows where she is."

The two nodded as the door to Genesis's apartment opened and out stepped the girl, she had a stick in her hand, holding it as though she was using it to defend herself with.

"Well she certainly is pretty." Sephiroth stated, drawing the girl's attention to them.

"Who are you?" she held the stick higher, her eyes shining with hostility, "where am I? How did I get here?"

Genesis stepped in to sooth the girl. "It's okay." The girl only moved her eyes and Genesis had to stop as it appeared the girl had telekinetic powers, she had removed Angeal's Buster Sword from his back and Genesis was now staring down the business end. "We're not going to hurt you, please put the sword down."

This time the girl looked directly at him and froze. "You…?" the blade fell to the floor with a clatter, Genesis sent an apologetic look in Angeal's direction. "Who ARE you? Why do I keep dreaming about you?"

"I'll tell you what I can, if you please calm down and stop being hostile. I don't want to hurt you, but you are threatening my friends with a stick…" Genesis looked at the stick; it was an intricately carved stick that was for sure, "what's so special about THAT anyway?"

The girl frowned and looked at her stick, "It's a wand. It does magic." Sephiroth chuckled and looked at her sceptically.

"It does MAGIC?" this time he laughed loudly.

Genesis also began to giggle, but the girl smirked, flicked her wand, and lifted the Buster Sword up off the floor and back onto Angeal's back, Genesis thought she was using her telekinesis again, until she then flicked her wand at Sephiroth who was still laughing and muttered "silencio." Sephiroth then clutched his throat, his voice completely gone. Angeal looked at Sephiroth, Genesis backed away from the girl. "As I said, it does magic. Finite incantatem."

"What… whoa hey! I can talk!" Sephiroth said, he looked at the girl. "Who are you?"

"My name is Hermione Granger, I am seventeen years old and I have no idea where I am or how I got here."

Genesis's eyes lit up, Hermione… "What an unusual name, Hermione...My name is Genesis, the one with the black hair and the big sword is Angeal and the one with the silver hair and the big mouth is Sephiroth."

"I may have a big mouth but I can still whoop your ass from here to the Northern Crater."

"That I'd pay to see!"

"Hey who's side are you on Angeal?!" Genesis whined, a bell like sound rang out beside Genesis, the three turned to see Hermione laughing.

"Oh it seems like I'd forgotten how to smile! What with the war any everything…"

"What war? You don't look like you come from Wutai." Sephiroth interjected. Hermione looked at them and heaved a sigh.

"Okay, let's do swapsies, you tell me where I am and about yourselves and this place, and I'll tell you the same thing in return. Sound fair?"

Genesis walked back over to the other two and they huddled together. "Hold on a minute."

"What do you think?"

"Well she seems harmless enough, but I wouldn't put it past her to be a danger if we got her angry. But I think we can trust her with the information, what do you think Seph?" Angeal turned to Sephiroth who was deep in thought.

"I think Angeal is right. She is trustworthy… but we'll have to make sure." Sephiroth broke away from the trio and approached Hermione who was tall for her age, but still had to look up at Sephiroth.

"Very well, Hermione, we will agree to this. However, you must understand we don't know who you are nor where you come from. So we will swap tales, but we must ask that you keep us and what we tell you a secret, defend this secret with your life, take it to the grave with you if you must, but tell no one of this." Genesis watched as Hermione's eyes softened and a gentle smile graced her fine features.

"Of course and may I ask you three to do the same for me?"

"You can count on it," Angeal replied. Hermione beamed.

"Come and sit down, I'll fix us all a drink," Genesis scurried off to the kitchen, in his dreams he had seen what Hermione liked to drink and how she took it, the other two had come with the years they had been friends.

"Here we go! Try that, Hermione and tell me what you think!" Genesis was eager to get to know this girl, FINALLY someone worth his time!

"Well lets start with you Seph, Gen and I can do ours in one." Angeal offered.

"Very well, hmm, let's see…" Sephiroth told Hermione everything, it was amazing just how comfortable he was around her, mind you, her hands were glowing a little, maybe that was why, maybe she was trying to get them to be comfortable with her.

Genesis watched her all through Sephiroth's recall of what he wanted to tell her, he could see in her eyes that she knew he was hiding things from her, but she never pushed, never overstepped her line.

He wondered how she knew that Seph was hiding things and instantly thought that this girl was Turk material... that made things easy for him, as Turks and SOLDIER were allowed relationships as long as they don't prevent a job well done.

Next came Angeal, he and Genesis explained their shared tale in almost full detail and again Genesis knew she knew they were hiding things, but again she never pushed.

"Wow, you three must be really strong to make it this far. I'd like to know more about this world… it all sounds so exciting!" Hermione giggled at her own enthusiasm.

"Now it is your turn." Sephiroth said gently.

"Of course, but two things first, one could I have another cup of tea, please? And two where is the bathroom?"

Once she was guided to the bathroom in Genesis's apartment, Sephiroth joined Genesis in the kitchen. "You seem to like this one. She never broke eye contact with anyone us as we spoke, but you never took your eye off of her since she sat down."

"I don't know what it is, there's just something about her that sets my soul on fire! Call it what you want but I want to get to know her before I call it anything myself. Ah there she is! And just in time!"

Genesis handed her a fresh cup of tea and they all reconvened back on the sofa, whilst they waited for Hermione to start her tale.

"Where to start? I guess every story has to have a beginning so I'll start there…" she stared at the mug in her hand as she began her story. Had she looked up at all during her telling, she would have seen all three SOLDIER 1st Class men staring at her as she told of heartache, of loss, of anger, of pain, of happiness, of friendship, of loyalty and, finally, of war.

"We are about to embark on a journey to find the Horcruxes that I told you about, thinking about it, it seems like a lost cause, but we have to try otherwise we'll never win… and I will have wiped myself from my parents memory for nothing…" Genesis watched in horror as the dam holding her emotions in broke and she just cried.

Not knowing what drove him; he knelt to the floor and held her close, letting her cry.

"Whoa, everything's floating. Guess she wasn't wrong by her pagan powers are controlled by her emotions." Genesis only heard Sephiroth speaking as though he were under water; the sound of this girl crying was breaking his heart.

"Hey come on, now its going to be okay. Come now, hey I have something for you!" it wasn't really anything for her, but he knew she would go back eventually, she had to, so he went into his room and returned with a materia ball, red in colour, this was a summon, a powerful one at that.

"This is called Phoenix. Keep it around your neck and the three of us will never be far away from you. And I'll be even closer. If you need to talk, any time, anything at all, just put your hand around this and call my name either out loud or in your head and I'll come and see you when you sleep. How does that sound?"

Hermione stopped crying and looked at the materia that Genesis had just put around her neck. "You name your marbles?"

"This isn't a marble; this is how WE do magic, look." Sephiroth knelt beside her and summoned up the blizzard he had in his bracer, letting the ice surround his hand. Hermione gasped.

"The one Genesis has just given to you is what we call a summon materia, the Phoenix inside will grant you revival of all your comrades each time you summon it, but if the glow of the materia gets too low then you must stop using it for a while so that the Phoenix can regain its strength. Do you understand?" Hermione nodded, understanding completely, but she wanted to know more about materia.

When she voiced her opinions they laughed, "you'll just have to wait a little bit. We don't know when you are going to disappear again." Sephiroth joked.

She got up to return the cup to the counter and stopped. "What is it, Hermione?" Genesis asked coming to stand behind her. "Whoa!" Hermione lurched forwards as though she had been pushed. She screamed and clutched her head, falling to her knees, Genesis, Sephiroth and Angeal panicked.

"Hermione!" They called out to her, but the witch in question didn't hear them, her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fell to the side, unconscious she landed in Genesis's arms and simply faded away.

/

Hermione woke with a gasp, startling Ginny. "Whoa, you okay? You were having quite the vivid dream. I could almost make out what you were saying. Then you started thrashing about so I decided to try and wake you."

Hermione sat up and looked out of the window, it was night time, she got out of bed and stopped to pick up something that had just fallen to the floor; it was the Phoenix materia that Genesis had given to her. It was wrapped in a thick metal circle, with a leather strap attached to it.

In an almost dreamlike trance, Hermione walked down stairs and out into the garden, not stopping until she reached the fence around the pond.

She was aware of Ginny and Ron following her, most likely concerned, but she could not take her eyes off the Phoenix materia, its beauty and warmth was a welcome comfort to her, she could hear it singing a song in a tongue that she didn't know.

Taking in a deep breath she opened her eyes with a smile, there was a deliciously sweet smell on the wind, so nice, in fact, that Hermione didn't want to go in, but there were other things to do tonight, so she reluctantly went inside when Ron called out to her to say that Remus had just appeared. Had she have stayed outside for a few seconds longer, she would have seen a black feather falling in the wind.