November 10th 2007

Hermione peered at the mysterious UES she had been called in from London for, and waved her wand over the bioluminescence glass looking cube. She tracked the information a quick quill was delivering next to her with expert eyes.

The Unidentified Energy Source that had originally been found in Norway somehow had come to be in the hands of Der Königliche Nachkomme, or the Royal Progeny, the term for the German Wizarding Government in an undisclosed location.

Later it was reported to have been so inexplicable, that King Roland II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha and the leader of the German Wizarding Progeny, personally asked Kingsley for help to identify the enigmatic and baffling little object nick-named amongst the few of the magical experts who had seen it as 'the tesseract'.

Hermione had been called in as a specialist from the Unspeakables in the Ministry to handle the case over 6 hours ago. Kingsley had shaken her hand before she'd left and had told her to take as much time as needed.

And for all of it's mysterious background, it was a brilliant thing. Hermione acknowledged this quickly while reading through the notes next to her head. It was giving off a small amount of gamma radiation, which Hermione knew emitted during nuclear fission in nuclear explosions, making the small cube some sort of self sustaining power source with absolutely no reactant, but emitting energy potentially powerful enough to-

Hermione waved her wand again and muttered a small spell beneath her breath. Her eyes widened.

Well, theoretically it could energize a country. Maybe even several countries for the rest of forever if Hermione could best hypothesize off of the information in front of her. And with that immense power, it was condensed into a small enough surface area to fit in a jacket pocket or a briefcase.

It made absolutely no sense.

Hermione regarded the two nameless wizards on her left side, watching her examination. One of the wizards, a portly middle aged man with salt and peppered hair crossed his arms over his chest. "You can see the problem then, ja?" his heavy German accent asked her.

"This isn't magical," Hermione concluded with a nod. "It gives off no magical signature of its own, although it is years, if not decades above current muggle technology. No one would be able to make this. Not now."

"So then vhere did it come from, hm?" He asked stepping forwards and waving his wand over the cube. "Not from us, no. Not from them, the muggles, no. And it was taken from a cave which has not been opened for over three hundred years." He peered at the blue glow from the object with fascination. "So vhere did it come from?"

Hermione let the new information run through her in shock. The 'tesseract' was over three hundred years old, and with no magical signature. "That's-" Hermione started, shaking her head and pushing a loose curl behind her ear. "-I mean, currently I would say that's impossible."

"Is it?" The last person in the room was an older middle aged man that had an American accent and wore an American auror's uniform. "We live in a world where one could turn a cat into a stove top, but you can't believe in an energy source that's older than your government?"

"That's magic," Hermione emphasized sharply to the American wizard. She didn't care who he was, she was the senior adviser in the Cooperation of European and Asian Unspeakables, arguably the most educated and qualified wizards and witches in the world. She knew what magic could do. "This- this tesseract is not magical. It doesn't run off of anything in our world except miraculously high nuclear fission and its' gama photons."

The American Auror nodded. "You know your science. Good, because that's exactly what I'm talking about. Based off recent tests, just touching the surface of the tesseract emits the same magnitude of energy factored in joules as the yield of Tsar Bomba. The largest nuclear weapon ever tested."

Hermione suddenly leaned away from the surface of the unassuming cube, grateful for the strict teachings from the Unspeakables in never touching an unknown object. "You tested that?"

The Auror nodded. "It had been an accident in transport. His name was Joseph."

"And the body?" Hermione was even afraid to ask.

"Dust. In under a moment," he answered. "That kind of energy doesn't come from the no-mags or the magical community here."

Hermione let that sit with her for a minute and looked to the German wizard before coming back to the American. "So what? It came from..?"

"My hypothesis? Aliens," the American shrugged. "Not of this world, clearly more advanced, non-magical, and older than classic texts."

"And you?" Hermione asked the German Wizard.

The wizard tucked his hands into his pockets. "An ancient civilization long gone from us. Leftover technology in zheir time."

"I wouldn't have believed either if I hadn't seen this today, but-" Hermione watched the glow from inside the tesseract move and shine within the glass looking container. "I'm going to have to take this to my lab to further research this."

"I thought as much," The American sighed. "Here, let me go get the paperwork for another transport for this thing. I'll be back in a minute." He turned and left the room with a swirl of his Auror robes.

"I will let my colleagues know we will be going to London for our security. Please, excuse me," the older wizard nodded kindly and followed the other out the door.

Hermione felt light headed with everything she had just learned, and went to study the strange object once more to sort her numerous questions. "Nearly unlimited power," she mused to herself, "All contained in such a small thing."

She sent a patronus to both Harry and Ron to let them know she'd be unavailable for the next couple of days as she'd be wrapped up in a new case, and then another to Kingsley to let him know she was on her way back.

She watched her Bay Mare patronus disappear into nothing with her messages and mildly missed the small otter that she had known as a student. Her patronus had shifted after the war, right after she had broken things off with Ron and after he and Harry had started Auror training. She had abandoned the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures around the same time after it became clear that her 'status' would only allow her to do so much for others, and she found her true calling in discovering mysterious magical objects and their properties. The upheaval in her emotions and life had surprised her enough one day that it left her with a new patronus.

That had been ten years ago.

She was now 28 with a degree not only from Hogwarts, but with a mastery in Origination of Foreign Magic, Arithmancy, Charms, and much to Harry and Ron's chagrin, History of Magic. Her motivation never wavered, her curiosity never dimmed. Then three years after Hogwarts, Hermione enrolled herself into a proper uni where she majored in Applied Sciences. Although she had never been able to return her parent's memories, she was sure that they would have been proud of her when she graduated in two and a half years at nearly 23.

After learning what she could from Hogwarts, Uni, and various teachers for her mastery, she applied herself to the Department of Mysteries and focused everything that she had into learning everything she wanted with free reign.

Years later, she was here. The top of her peers, the most influential Unspeakable in Britain, and-still single. No children like Harry and Ginny. No spouse like Ron and Leanne Morgan, a hufflepuff girl in their year she'd never been close with. No family as her parents were still happily living their life in Australia. Just her, but at the top of her professional career and she was satisfied with just that.

She still had time for other things if she really wanted it later; at least that's what she told herself.

Hermione watched the dancing lights within the tesseract and levitated the cube from the briefcase with a wordless charm. She made the cube rotate slightly in the air so she could look at the perfect glass formation. She could find no scratches, nicks, or uneven edges the closer she looked.

She pulled the cube closer to her and put the cube just above her head so she could use the room's fluorescent lighting to highlight the edges of the cube. It was as if the bioluminescence glass had just formed that way and it boggled Hermione's mind.

"Where did you come from?" Hermione whispered to herself, studying the cube with intense focus.

Then several things happened at once. The door that had let out the two wizards from earlier slammed open with a ricocheting 'Boom' across the room and Hermione lost focus for a split second. A young man probably five years younger than Hermione burst into the room with a letter tightly held in his fist. "A message for you Miss-!"

But at the same time, Hermione's levitation spell faltered and the cube started to fall from the air right above Hermione's face. Instinct overran her thoughts and she lifted her hands to catch the tesseract before it fell.

As the smooth glass-like surface dropped into both of her outstretched hands, Hermione's eyes widened and fear shot through her.

Before she could move, before the young man could take another step in the room, before Hermione could scream, the tesseract shone like a blue fired beacon in her hands, and energy exploded outwards like a bomb.

Hermione didn't feel the burst of energy vaporize her skin and internal organs, or see the room implode on itself in the next moment, but she did remember seeing the young man's face for a split second in absolute horror before blackness washed over her eyes and she fell backwards into nothing.

November 10th 1940

Hermione was jerked awake by the tip of a heavy object pushing into her chest. Her eyes flew open to a dark sky with bright spotlights from somewhere above weaving around her and she choked on the air she was trying to relearn into breathing. A blaring alarm was ripping through the night and the metal object jerked away from her chest. Hermione took in her surroundings through blurry eyes and hacking coughs. Several deep male voices began yelling at the same time, overlapping one another aggressively.

"Keine Bewegung!" One said very close to her and Hermione tipped her head towards them. Not English, Hermione knew, but what-.

"Hände hoch!" he shouted again and held something in his arms at her.

Hermione raised her hands into the air, recognizing a gun when she saw one. German, they were speaking German.

Hermione put her hands out to the muggle men surrounding her in the dark and yelled back at them with what little German she knew, "Keine Gefahr! Ich bin keine Bedrohung!"

"Unten bleiben!"

Hermione kept her hands in the air and got to her knees from the ground she'd been laying on. Surrounding her lay a castle-like compound with wire fencing and spot lighted watch towers. She was in a muggle military base? Where were the other wizards? The messenger who-

Hermione let the last few seconds come back to her and she felt fear slide down her back.

Dead. She should be dead after touching the tesseract.

"Where am I?" Hermione asked, looking to the men around her.

It was then that she noticed what they were wearing. Unlike the early 2000's muggle military wear of blotted tans and dark greens, the men around her wore black helmets with black belted jackets, trousers, and wellies. And for some reason, when she squinted at the upper right arm, a patch with a red octopus sat where their military alliance sat. Hermione had never heard of any military under the sigil of a red octopus.

"Vhere are you?" A smooth voice with very little German accent repeated her question.

Hermione looked up and was met with a tall dark haired man with laughing brown eyes. "Tsk my dear, no need to play dumb. Welcome to my home, Castle Kaufmann."

"I'm not trying- how exactly did I get here?" Hermione questioned cautiously, not daring to go for her wand with so many eyes on her.

The other soldiers stood apart from the man in front of her, clearly deferential to his power. Their leader. "Well, that was actually a question I was going to ask you," the man smiled. "You see there was an explosion on my grounds, and when my men came to investigate, we find you. Alone, unconscious, and apparently, without a name."

Hermione swallowed. "My name is Hermione, and honestly, I have no idea how I got here."

The man tipped a small smile. "Ah, as with what I have gathered, I can not believe this to be true. As this is my property, and British Spies are not welcome here."

"A British- but I'm not a British spy!" Hermione denied vehemently. "I'm sorry, but I'm lost and in need of a tele-"

"I think not little spy. I have many uses for one such as yourself who can simply wander in," he glanced to the guards. "Take her. Keep her with zhe good doctor."

Guards captured her arms and Hermione dared not to go for her wand now. She didn't even know where here was. "Wait! Wait, what is your name? I gave you mine."

The tall man smiled indulgently at her and crossed his suited arms behind his back. "My name is Johann Schmidt, and you are now my prisoner."

German translations from beginning to end:

Keine Bewegung! - Stop where you are!

Hände hoch! - Raise your hands in the air!

Keine Gefahr! Ich bin keine Bedrohung! - No threat! I am no threat!

Unten bleiben! - Stay down!