Part 1

It was warm. The covers soft and silky on her bared skin, it was also quite bright. The sunlight making her frown and then blearily open her eyes. She could hear the faint singing of something… a bird? Maybe. Hermione slowly shook off the grip of her sleep and glanced around the room. It was very pretty, cream walls with a rose wreath border, pale beech wood furnishing, tile flooring and an elegant white desk, with intricate ivy carvings along the legs. Nearby, massive bay windows let the suns light illuminate the room. It was the kind of room little girls dreamed of and deemed "fit for a princess".

After swinging her feet over the edge of the bed, Hermione sunk her feet into the thick, fluffy rug and stood. The covers fell away and Hermione found herself clothed in beautiful white silk nightgown. Further investigation revealed that Hermione's ordinarily, unmanageable hair had been braided into two perfect plaits and was far longer than it should have been, reaching the small of her back instead of cresting her shoulder blades.

"What on earth?" Hermione whispered her eyes furrowed in confusion. Horror struck her suddenly, "My wand!" She cried. Spinning back around to face the bed, Hermione was relieved to see her wand was intact, placed alongside a vase of red roses. Feeling the comforting weight of the 10 ¾ inch vine and dragon heart string wand she moved cautiously towards the windows and peered outside. It looked around noon and just like the room the view outside was like something from a child fantasy. A meadow of the brightest green, with flowers of all manner of colour dotting the clearing. It was wild and slightly overgrown though with the wrought iron fence wrapped in tendrils of ivy and broken in small portions.

She must have been starring for a while because it wasn't until the familiar feeling of Crookshanks winding his way through her ankles did her entrancement break. She picked him up and said "Crookshanks, what are you doing here? Matter of fact where is here because it certainly isn't Hogwarts… oh god the Boys. Where are they! And the Dementors? Am I dead?" The panicked witch began to hyperventilate as the memories flashed through her mind's eye.

The cat in question watched as his witch slipped into a panicked frenzy. When his displeased meows did not register with his witch, Crookshanks took initiative, raised his paw and smacked her nose (careful to sheathe his claws – as unbecoming as hysteria was she was still his witch).

The wake up call administered by her cat reminded the thirteen year old just how ridiculous she was being. Panicking was going to help no one and for all she knew the boys could be just next door. "Thank you Crookshanks, I think I needed that." The cat gave a distinctly unimpressed glare and Hermione relented. "Okay so I did need that." The cat gave a satisfied nod and jumped from her arms onto the tiled floors.

Crookshanks stalked silently towards the door his tail raised in all of its fluffy terror. He did not like this place, something was distinctly off and Crookshanks was a cat of very good judgement.

"Now where are we loco transgredior revelare," the location spell hummed for a few moments. Its faintly orange glow shining brightly for a few seconds before dimming just as rapidly. Hermione frowned at her wand. She had used the spell many times before why was it failing now? Even if she couldn't produce an accurate map of her surroundings the spell should have pinpointed the country she was in at the very least. Hermione repeated the spell with the same results, causing her to snarl with frustration. Hermione gulped in some air and bottled some of her rising panic. "Right I'll just have to find someone, after all insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result." The albert Einstein quote was said with only a hint of hysteria.

With a little trepidation Hermione opened the door and entered the hallway. An unhappy Crookshanks followed after her, watching the shadows with thinly veiled suspicion.

Hermione wandered around the building she'd found herself in for what could have been minutes or hours as anxiety built up within her metaphorical bottle. She'd found thousands rooms, ranging from awe inspiring ballrooms complete with crystal chandeliers and marble staircases to dusty studies wreathed in cobwebs and dirt. The castle, it had to be a castle considering the sheer size of the stone corridors and quantity of rooms was an odd paradox of cleanliness and filth, as if the cleaners had gotten bored of cleaning anything other than the more majestic locations.

Then as the grandfather clocks chimed 5 o'clock and Hermione had walked the enitirety of the first floor she spotted a woman. Relief nearly palatable, Hermione ran forward her bare feet making a pitter patter sound as she ran.

"Miss! Miss!" Hermione called loudly as she came closer.

"Princess what are you doing out of bed! You should still be resting you took a nasty fall." The woman said fluttering closer, a manicured hand resting upon her bosom. Hermione had to take moment just to stare gobsmacked at her. She was elegance embodied, with long, straight black locks plaited into an intricate crown across her head. The clothes she wore were equally elegant though very old in style. She wore a red corset atop a white blouse and skirt similar in colourings reaching well past her ankles and trailing on the floor ever so slightly.

"I um what?" Still in shock at the strangers bizarre (even by wizarding standards) apparel the normally very eloquent girl stuttered horrifically.

"And in your night clothes? By the spirits what are you thinking, princess!" She cried chivvying her along and back towards the dream suite.

"Princess, what are you talking about?" Hermione said, trying to stop the 'guidance' of the surprisingly strong female "and where has Crookshanks gone?" She asked.

"Crookshanks? What is a Crookshanks? Are you playing your games again Princess?" The blond asked her indulgently. Before Hermione realised it they were in front of the room (the first room that is) again. "Now I know you've had a nasty fall so I want you lie down again and I will back in a moment with dinner." Miss Heart told her tucking the twelve year old into bed before Hermione even realised what was happening.

"Um, but Miss what are you talking about I'm not a princess!" Hermione said eyes wide, trying to escape from the covers binding her down as this deluded, albeit very polite woman continued to natter on about nonsense. Princess? Perhaps she'd been mistaken for her charge? "Madam I think you have me confused with someone else, my name is Hermione Granger and," Whatever Hermione had planned on saying was silenced by a raised palm and an alien sensation building up beneath her skin.

"Miss Heart, my dear I don't know why you keep forgetting." She said tutting disapprovingly. "And enough with these silly Hermione games your highness, you really are much too old to be playing pretend anymore."

"Now Princess Aurora, you have a busy day ahead of you tomorrow so you are to go to sleep, do I make myself clear?" Miss Heart told her with a fierce frown.

"I-I Y-Yes Miss Miss Heart." A wave of something folded over Hermione making her unable to answer in any way other than affirmation.

"Very good, your highness, I will see you in the moring bright and early shan't I." Miss Heart told her brightly as she backed out of the room.

"Wait Miss heart!" An image of the boys appeared in her mind's eye and prompted her to continue. "Miss Heart, when I…fell, were there any boys nearby, a read head and boy with black hair?"

Miss Heart frowned again but shook her head. "No dear, no boys, now time to rest." She pulled upon the velvet cord that held the silver curtains back, drenching the world in unnerving darkness. "Good night your highness." She called, though Hermione could no longer see her.

As the door clicked shut behind her, Hermione drew her wand from her the pocket she'd tucked it into and called softly "luminous." A fragile light grew from the wand tip. "Crookshanks?" She called quietly. The cat let a slightly mournful reply jumping up from under the bed and into large canopy bed. Hermione pulled the cat close and cuddled his reassuring warmth in her arms.

Crookshanks wrapped himself around his witch, purring comfortingly as Hermione shook with her bottled up fear and anxiety.

"Crookshanks I don't know what to do! I don't know where we are, this place seems to interfere with my spells and-and I-I don't know if-if I can go home! Oh god my parents when am I going to see them again! I want my daddy and my mum." Her last words were choked out as Hermione finally succumbed to her tears.

Eventually her tears ceased exhaustion took over and so she fell into a deep sleep not to be awakened until the very next day where she would be just as confused and scared as she was before.

A pattern began to emerge as days turned into weeks. At 9 o'clock precisely Miss Heart would push in a silver trolley containing Hermione's breakfast and deny another round of inquisitions. Hermione would eat the bland meal quickly and quietly so that she could ask more questions only for Miss Heart to deny her further.

Once her breakfast was pushed aside, Miss Heart helped her get dressed - and help was required for the clothes Hermione had to wear. Aurora wore clothes that had complicated knots and clips involved and highly impractical accessories. Her hair was then scraped into two distinct ringlets on either side of her head with a silken ribbon tying them together. The look was strange in childishness and Hermione did not like them but despite her vehement objections they remained irremovable. Her dresses were vaguely gothic in the sense they were overflowing with frills and delicate lace, though they were normally an abysmally bright flower pattern that Hermione also hated. Thankfully, Miss Heart did not insist that she wear a corset for fear of suffocating her growing body but the heels made walking a constant struggle. The only part of her outfit she actually liked were the gloves, though she'd been tempted to take a pair of scissors and cut them off at the wrist.

After being dressed she would be taken to the ballroom where Miss Castle would teach (read; force) elegance (which seemed to involve a lot of balancing books on heads), etiquette (she had never studied such an infuriating subject) and other such useless subjects. There were hours upon hours of dull repeated steps of dances much to her displeasure.

Despite her filled, and annoying, schedule Hermione was still permitted 3 hours of independent time each day - during which she was encouraged to sew, crochet or to pursue similarly ladylike activities, suggestions that she promptly ignored.

On some evenings she would wander the castle finding the interesting nooks and crannies the ancient castles as well as identifying which rooms had been neglected. A few times she had succeeded in finding the Keeps Garage (though there were no roads in sight) and had the pleasure of experimenting and fixing a car that seemed to run on magic.

Mostly though, Hermione would hurry down to the Keep's Library and she would spend the evenings teaching herself how to read the language of her new "home". It seemed, from her perspective an odd combination of Japanese and Arabic lettering, which if she hadn't had previous schooling in would have been near impossible to learn without considerable effort on a tutor's part. However due to some influence on her grandmother's part (Grandma Granger was Arabic by birth) and her mother's fascination with the country, Hermione was relatively familiar with both alphabets.

It was within her these hours of independence that Hermione was able to truly understand what had happened to her and she assumed, her best friends. If the texts were to be believed this was not earth but Earthland and within this alternate earth, the castle resided within the kingdom Fiore somewhere along the base of the phoenix mountains.

Hermione did not consider leaving after that discovery and stopped fighting Miss Castle quite so vehemently. Her parents were a whole world away and the castle, along with Miss Heart was safe albeit odd. Crookshanks continued to despise Miss Heart, much to Hermione's annoyance who found the woman lovely, if slightly deluded. The cat refused to allow the woman to even know of his existence, feeding off god knows what and only appearing when she was well away.

"Miss Heart! Miss Heart! You won't believe what I found!" Hermione shouted running through the hall effortlessly despite the red platform heels she wore. The flowers entwined in her hair fared less well and fell straight onto the floor.

"Aurora, stop running you're ruining your hair!" Miss Heart told her putting down the crystal goblet she had been cleaning and immediately tried fixing the… rebellious hair as best she could. "Remember a lady glides, she does not scuttle!" She said scoldingly.

Hermione laughed and spun Miss Heart around. "Oh who cares about hair? You won't believe what I found in the library." She stopped spinning and pulled a small palm sized book from the purse slung haphazardly across her shoulder. "It's called Soul Magic and it's the most incredible thing I've ever come across! It uses the very power of your will to create spells and rituals with breath-taking results, look here," Hermione said opening the book onto a specific page. Said page had a symbolised drawing of an eclipse with distinct crossings of the sun and moon. "This spell allows you to cure curses, like possession and Demonic raising! Of course it requires three people to be committed to a platonic soul bond but I can learn it!"

"My can you now? And how do you know that Princess?" Miss Heart said with a delighted smile. "I'm not surprised your ancestors were famed for their magic were quite famous in their times."

A knot formed in Hermione stomach as she was unpleasantly reminded that Miss Heart still thought she was Princess Aurora. Giving her a slightly less happy smile, Hermione turned to the fifth page of the book. "This spell was apparently the way that they would identify Mages who could use Soul magic, watch. Hear me softly, energy I call you and so you must answer. "

As she recited the spell a golden glow formed around her body and the soft brown of her eyes was overwhelmed by two spinning and very intricate pentagrams, before they faded out. Miss Heart let out a soft gasp and tears welled in her eyes.

"Oh Princess!" She hugged her close. Hermione ignored the uncomfortable sensation her touch created and hugged back.

"So please, please, please I can replace EPE with training!" Hermione pleaded with pout and matching puppy dog eyes.

"EPE?" Miss Heart said with sigh.

"Elegance, Poise and Etiquette, EPE." Still leaning against Miss Heart, her hands clasped together.

"No." Miss Heart told her firmly, ignoring Hermione's disappointed whine. "However, I may consent to waking a little earlier and adding another 2 hours to your day, we'll need to find a place to practice in of course. EPE lessons will still continue from ten till twelve and your independent time will continue as per normal." Miss Heart muttered, her eyes alight with excitement as she mapped out various alterations to her schedule.

With a glance out the large floor to ceiling windows attached to the corridor Hermione raised a question that she hadn't mentioned since arriving in the castle two months ago. "Why don't I practice outside?" Hermione asked. Miss Heart stiffened visibly. Hermione hurried to explain. "I mean, soul magic is all about connecting to your inherent magic right? The forest will be filled with natural magic, to help with that I mean."

"No." Miss Heart said with a note of finality. Turning around Miss Heart starred with an intensity that shook Hermione; she took an involuntary step back. "You are to never leave the Keep, am I clear Princess?"

"I-um. Yes, Miss Heart," Hermione stuttered looking down her feet, her shoulders curling in on herself. "I'm going to go back to my room, the identification spell was tiring." Hermione said excusing herself.

"All right your highness, I will find you somewhere adequate to practice in." Miss Heart said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Hermione quickly walked off, and the moment she was around the corner, broke into a run. Tearing through the hallways until she reached her room. She threw the door open and locked it firmly behind her, then threw herself on her bed rocked herself back an forth. She felt the tendrils of something deep and heavy clinging to her skin as Miss Heart's furious expression filled her vision.

As she breathed in shuddering gulps of air, Crook shanks padded out of his hiding spot and circled his witch, prodding her cheek with his paw. "Maow?"

"Oh Crook shanks, I don't understand what's going on? Why can't I go outside? Why is Miss Heart upset with me? I don't want her to be upset with me?" She cried, with perhaps an unreasonable level of emotion.

The cat looked at her for a few moment before jumping of the bed and digging around his hidey hole. He pulled out a ratty book-bag strap and pulled from within that a thick leather bond journal. Griped firmly within his mouth, the cat dragged it across to the girl and then proceeded to meow imperiously.

"Crook Shanks?" Hermione said, her eyes still watering with her tears. She reached down and picked up both the book and the cat, cuddling him close. "I thought none of my books came with me," She looked at the leather bound book and opened the first page, still puzzled. With a sad smile she saw the date at September first. It was her Hogwarts journal.

It could have been hours or minutes for all Hermione knew, as she lost herself in the memories of her first and second year. The lonely and isolated days before Halloween; how deeply she had missed her parents; the incidents there after; the ranting of prejudiced potion masters; the gushing of the "unsurpassed" Professor Minerva McGonagall. There were various entries on the boys and with a start a thought occurred to her. Looking down at her cat, she whispered in confusion. "I haven't thought of them once Crooks. I've been her two months and I haven't thought of them once, they'll be in Fiore as well. I wonder where they are?" Something was nagging at the back of her mind but she could not pick up what it was. A wave of tiredness shot through her.

"Maow?" Crook Shanks called, even more worried now, his witch's book should have inspired some kind of emotional response. She should have begun worrying about her littermates

"Thank you Crooks, you are such a wonder. It's getting pretty late, I don't want to upset Miss Heart any further." Crook Shanks hissed at the dull response. "Oh I know you don't like her all that much Crooks, but she means well, if you gave her a chance, no? Very well little scrooge, but your opinion doesn't change anything. Goodnight." Then. Promptly fell asleep as if nothing was wring at all.

Just outside the door a spirit with big brown eyes and fluffy brown hair starred pleadingly at the door.