A/N: I'm building up to another timeskip. After that, it'll be time for the villains to appear and for our heroes to begin their quest to relight the Crystals. I have a question: who should be possessed by Ultimecia to become Draco's Sorceress? I was thinking Ginny, but maybe one of you has a better idea. Anyone who wants an idea as to my next project, after this and BoH, should look at my opening A/N of ch. 5 of BoH, but those of you with no interest in Resident Evil probably won't care. The Houses really don't matter in this, I just threw them all in Gryffindor so they'd all be in the same place, except Draco, I need to sow a little conflict between him and Harry.
NOTE: I changed a sentence in the last chapter to comply with an idea I had. To spare you having to go back, Hermione's hair no longer has green streaks, but rather the last inch or so is cyan in color. This is because I realized something, Hermione may be half-Esper to reflect Terra, but that doesn't mean Maduin has to be her father. Any FF veteran in the audience will immediately be able to guess who her mother (I changed which parent is the Esper is) is.
Harry Potter and the Power of the Void
Fantasy III: Diamond Dust
After the Welcoming Feast, during which they had all been sorted into Gryffindor except Draco, whose cunning and ambition had landed him in Slytherin, the four who'd ended up fighting the Behemoth went up to Dumbledore's office, only to find Professor McGonagall in his place, taking care of some paperwork in her capacity as Deputy Headmistress. "Uh, Professor, the Headmaster told me to bring my friends up here so we could talk with him."
"Sorry, Mr. Potter, but the Headmaster has been called away on business. I'm sure he'll tell you all about it and converse with you once he returns, but, until then..." she trailed off, her annoyance at the paperwork her boss had saddled her with sapping all of her normal courtesy when faced with confused students. The four took this as their cue to leave and did so.
"Strange...the Headmaster being called away on the first night of school, he probably left right after telling the Prefects to take us up to our Common Rooms," Hermione said, resting her chin in her hand as she thought on the matter.
"I'm sure it wasn't anything good if it was that urgent. Monsters the Ministry can't handle, maybe?" Ron suggested.
"I very much doubt that, Ronald," Luna replied.
"It's certainly weird, but I guess we'll just have to ask when he gets back," Harry said, shrugging.
---
Early the next morning, Hermione woke with a start, shivering violently and able to see her breath. Why am I so c-cold? She thought, cocooning herself in her blankets to try and ward off the chill to no avail, it seemed to be radiating from inside her. She grabbed another blanket and made a beeline for the fireplace in the common room. She plopped down in front of it and, barely registering what she was doing, cast the strongest fire spell she knew to get it roaring. It warmed her a little, but she still felt like there was an iceberg in her chest.
"Hermione?" she heard Harry's voice ask from the base of the boys' stairs. "You okay?"
"F-freezing," was all she could get out through her shivering. Harry didn't say anything, he merely walked over and sat down behind her before pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her.
"Better?" he asked. She nodded a bit, leaning back into his chest and attempting to leech as much of his body heat as she could. "Any idea why you're so cold? It must've dropped at least five degrees as I got closer to you."
She shook her head, "N-no i-idea."
They stayed like that for at least thirty minutes before the cold just suddenly vanished. There was no gradual heat up, it was just one second freezing, the next hot as hell because of the fire. Harry tossed a quick 'Water' at it and looked down at Hermione, "Soooo...that was odd."
"Tell me about it."
"Well, how 'bout you tell me about you? Breakfast isn't for hours, and I'm certainly not going to get back to sleep. Had an...interesting dream," Harry said, barely able to remember said dream, it had been disjointed and hard to understand.
"Well, alright, what would you like to know?" Hermione asked, picking up on the fact that Harry didn't want to discuss his reason for not being able to sleep.
"Starting at the beginning's usually your best bet."
"Not much to tell there. I don't remember my parents, but at least I have something to remember them by," she told him, holding up her left wrist and showing him a wristband fastened there that looked like a thin layer of ice had frosted over her forearm except for the bright, red gem set in it. "I was in a non-magical orphanage until I was seven. It wasn't a great place to grow up, all the kids hated me."
"Why?"
"Not sure, maybe it was my intelligence, my bossiness, or maybe even my hair. I just know that I wasn't liked, so I hid in books until I did my first accidental magic. A group of kids decided to gang up on me, and I ended up freezing them solid. The Ministry took me to a magical orphanage after that, but it was no better. The only difference was that the kids had another reason to not like me, especially the older kids. They couldn't do magic outside of Hogwarts and resented that I could use Elemental magic, which the Ministry can't track. Sure the people running the place were supposed to stop me, but how likely are you to piss off a seven-year-old girl who can set you on fire?"
Harry chuckled at that, "About as likely as Voldemort jumping in through the window naked riding a chocobo. Wait...why does that sound familiar? Oh, right, Sirius, my godfather, did that when he got drunk one night."
"In through the window...naked...riding a chocobo?"
"With a party hat on," at that Hermione let out first a snort, then a chuckle, and then burst into raucous laughter and would've fallen and rolled around if Harry didn't still have his arms around her. "We've never let him live it down. We also don't allow tequila in the house anymore."
Hermione finally calmed herself down and let out a wistful sigh, "It must have been nice, growing up with such an...interesting family. Who else lives with you?"
"My Aunt Cissi, Draco's mother, and Sirius's best friend Remus whose kinda like an Uncle. Aunt Cissi is our voice of reason, and the one who fixes us up after we do something stupid, while Remus is usually helping us. Uncle Sev, the Potions professor, is over quite a bit, too. He knew my mother when they were kids and eventually became good friends with my father and Sirius as well. He's the one that taught me and Draco how to use our gunblades, he and my dad invented them. The Tonks family visits quite a bit, too. Aunt Andi is Draco's mother's sister. She didn't associate much with the family until Sirius took over as head of the Black family, though, their mother had disowned her cause she married a muggleborn, our Uncle Ted. Tonks is their daughter, she's a Metamorphmagus and is probably going to be one of the best damn Aurors around when she gets through training," Harry explained, a nostalgic grin on his face.
"Sounds nice."
"How 'bout you come stay with us?" Harry blurted, his mind not processing that thought before it exited his mouth. "Uh, er, I mean, it'd be better than the orphanage, at least."
"I'd like that."
---
Later that morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Luna were walking across the grounds towards the Forbidden Forest for their first class in monster study. The met up with Draco near Hagrid's cabin and Harry walked over and threw an arm around his shoulder, "How was your first night in the snake pit, buddy?"
"It was alright, there are a few insufferable bastards in there, but I set them straight when they got outta line. Everyone mostly left me alone after that," Draco replied, smirking.
"ATTENTION, BOYS AND GIRLS!" a loud voice called out from the forest. Harry and Draco both recognized it and groaned, it was Sirius. Guess this is what he meant when he said he had a surprise for us once school started.
"What's up with the volume, Sirius, you trying to wake the dead?" Draco asked.
"Maybe, Zombies would make a good first lesson. If that's the case, let's hope none of the stronger ones show up," Sirius replied, a grin on his face as he watched a few faces look at him like 'He's not serious, is he?' "Relax, just joking. Well then, class, welcome to your first Study of Monsters class. These nasty beasties are an occupational hazard of being a wizard, because most of them are attracted to our magical cores. That's not to say they leave the muggles alone, but if they have to chose between one of you and one of them, you're the one its going after. For our first lesson, I've brought in one of the worst kinds of monster, to show you just how important it is that you to pay attention. Hagrid!"
Hagrid wheeled in a massive cage, protected by two layers of paling (magical forcefield), inside was an enormous, putrid, green, creature, its main body was spherical in shape, covered in thick tendrils and eyestalks surrounding a gaping, fang-filled maw, all of which was supported by a group of large, root-like tentacles. "Sirius, please tell me you're gonna get rid of this thing soon, it stinks something awful." (sorry, can't do Hagrid's accent) Hagrid almost had a pleading tone to his voice and the class couldn't argue, even a maggot would cry foul if this stink was within fifty feet of it.
"Okay, Hagrid, I'll dispose of it after I've gone through this class with every year. Now, can anyone tell me what this rancid thing is?"
"That would be a Malboro. It's a type of carnivorous plant-type monster that uses an attack commonly called Bad Breath to subdue its prey and consume them," Hermione replied, shuddering a bit at the thought of this monster consuming someone whole.
"Correct, 20 points to Gryffindor. As ridiculous as it looks and bad as it smells, this thing is not be trifled with. Even the strongest warriors can be felled easily by one of these if they let their guard down (I dare anyone to contradict that). In addition to their 'Bad Breath', they also use their tentacles and regurgitated gastric juices to attack. It's highly recommended that you wait until you've got a few friends to try and kill one, and, for the love of God, don't stand next to each other! In terms of elemental weaknesses, they're plants, so they're weak against...Ms. Lovegood?"
"I'd have to guess fire, Professor."
"You'd be correct, another 20 for Gryffindor. Other than that, a good freeze will make them wilt, as well. The last thing you'll want to watch out for is the second type, known as a Great Malboro, distinguished from this kind by its pigmentation. Mistaking one of these for one of those will get you killed, period, end of story. To recap: avoid its breath, keep your guard up, and don't ever mix up the Great Malboros with the regular variety. Any questions? No? Good. Now, we'll never have much homework in this class. We will, however, have a standing assignment that will last your entire Hogwarts career that will be checked at the end of every term. You will use the knowledge you gain in class to compile a Bestiary of the monsters I show you and I WILL be keeping track. My suggestion: start taking notes and pictures," Sirius lectured, finishing with a grin as several students started scrambling to copy down what their neighbors had written.
The likelihood of what happened during that commotion was such that it was either the result of a freak accident or deliberate sabotage. The Malboro was getting annoyed with these puny humans and inhaled, preparing to release a round of Bad Breath. If the palings had been working correctly, the noxious fumes would've just stayed in the cage and given the Malboro a taste of its own medicine, but, as it was, the crystal that projected them from the top of the cage had been chipped, disrupting the flow of magic around the cage and creating an opening big enough for the gas to slip out and blanket the entire class.
"SHIT! HAGRID, GET MADAM POMFREY AND A LOT OF REMEDIES!" Sirius was able to call before it swept over him. The fumes knocked everyone to the ground, poisoning, blinding, and silencing all of them, confusing some, and sending other into a blind Berserker rage.
---
Hermione watched all this in abject horror until the cloud hit her, sending her reeling as it poisoned, blinded, and silenced her. She watched the Malboro rip its cage to shreds and begin to advance on the students closest to it, one of whom was Harry, having gotten closer so he could get a picture for them. HARRY! she shouted in her mind, and things only got worse as the cold from earlier this morning came back with a vengeance. Hermione felt that iceberg settle into her chest again, only this time it felt like it was nearing absolute zero. Ahh! What the hell? So c-cold... all thought faded away as her vision began to darken, Harry...need to help Harry.
---
Harry watched, mystified, through blurry eyes as Hermione wrapped her arms tightly around herself, just like she'd done this morning with that weird cold. Not now, she needs to get out of here. RUN! Wait, what the...? Harry's train of thought was interrupted as ice began to gather into a large crystal around her. After a moment it shattered, leaving a much changed Hermione in its wake. Her skin was now a pale, icy blue. Her finger and toenails were now claws, her hair deep blue and knee-length, braided with a large, gold ring hanging from it, and her eyes had become a blue so pale it was almost white. A thin layer of opaque ice had formed in place of her clothes, starting in the middle of her back, wrapping around her front in an X pattern, and coming together behind her neck, with a similar garment forming around her waist. In addition to those, her wristband had grown to her elbow, with the gem glowing a bright red.
The Malboro, picking up on the massive increase in her magic and accurately perceiving her as an immediate threat, tried to dose her with Bad Breath once again. She merely scoffed and, with a simple swipe of her hand, a sphere of ice formed around her, deflecting the gas to either side. It dissipated fairly quickly and Hermione raced forward, stopping just short of the creature and forming a large chunk of ice floating just off her palm, which she used to strike the thing multiple times in the 'face' before creating another two and using them in tandem to send it reeling backwards. It let out a strange noise that must've been its equivalent of a growl and lashed out with a sharp tentacle, trying to skewer the young woman. She sidestepped, grabbed it, then conducted some of her magic into it, freezing the tendril solid before wrenching it to the side and shattering it. Energy began to gather at her hand, bright, pulsating blue, and after a few seconds, she swept her arm towards the Malboro and a small circle of ice formed around it. With a swipe of her hand, the small ice spots became a massive ice crystal that encased the monstrous plant. A feral grin split her face as she held up her hand, and, after loud *snap* of her fingers, the ice shattered, shredding the Malboro to bits. "You okay, Harry?" she asked, turning towards him, concern in her transformed eyes. He nodded, not able to do much else. She smiled, "Good to hear." That was followed shortly by her passing out, her new form fading back to her normal one before she'd even hit the ground.
HERMIONE! Harry thought furiously, before darkness claimed him as well.
---
Sometime later, Hermione let out a groan as she awoke, seeing the bright, white, sterile walls and ceiling of the Hospital Wing. "How'd I get here?" she asked aloud, sitting up slightly and holding her head in a hand, trying to shake off the grogginess.
"Lay back down, Ms. Granger, you've suffered multiple debilitating conditions at once shortly followed by a massive exhaustion of your magical core," the Wing's matron explained as she walked over and forced Hermione to lay back down.
"What? Harry...Is he okay?"
"Mr. Potter is fine, as are the rest of the students in the class, all thanks to you some of them report. Said you turned into some sort of other form and destroyed that foul creature before you passed out."
"I did?"
"So they tell me, and I'm inclined to believe them."
"Any particular reason?"
"Well, I imagine you've never had bloodwork done, right?"
"Nope."
"I had to do some tests to make sure the poison had been expunged, and I found something rather strange. It seems that you're...not fully human. I can't figure out what the other half is, but I can say with a reasonable degree of accuracy that you are a half-breed."
Hermione just stared at her in stunned shock for a second; it explained so much, her ability with magic, her hair, and whatever had happened out on the grounds. "Have you told anyone else?"
"Don't worry, Hermione, not a single one of us cares if you're human or Martian. We're your friends, and that's that," Harry's voice announced from the doorway, prompting Madame Pomfrey to take her leave. "I'm sure Draco, Ron, and Luna will agree with me once they wake up. There's no way Tonks will give half a flying fuck, either, once she's attached, you're not escaping her."
"Thanks for that. So...what happened out there, I'm sure you managed to stay awake."
"It was...amazing. You just smirked at the thing after defending against its Bad Breath and then tore it apart, I'll ask Professor McGonagall to see about a getting a pensieve memory outta my head for you. I think that cold and the transformation are somehow connected, too, you shivered and held yourself just like this morning right before you took on that other form."
"I felt it, too, but it was ten times worse."
"Hmm...guess that's another question for Dumbledore when he gets back. Until then, I'll try and help you figure this out, okay?" He leaned over and gave her a reassuring hug.
"Thanks, Harry," she replied, gratefully. She caught a glimpse of her wristband and a thought came unbidden to her mind, What's going on, Mum?
---
A/N: Shorter than the previous two, but it served my purposes. I know some of you are gonna say that an 11-year-old girl, half-Esper Tranced or not, couldn't beat one of the massive FFX Malboros, but: A: It had been without food for awhile, so it wasn't as strong as it could've been, B: The fight won't matter much in the long run outside of introducing Hermione's Trance form, and C: The monsters are gonna get a lot stronger after the timeskip. I will eventually explain Dumbledore's absence, as well as Harry's dream, but all in due time, so don't get your knickers in a twist. The last line was mainly for the moment, rather than indicating Hermione remembers Shiva (if you didn't know by now, why are you reading this story, because you obviously don't know Final Fantasy). Hope you guys like Hermione's Trance form, the next chapter will focus on Ron and Luna, and please leave me some feedback.
-Sypher Kyaeon