The fact that spending her nights in the Forbidden Forest was preferable to her day job was a testament to just how terrible her day job was.
Working in the Department of Magical Creatures was just as tedious as expected, but much less rewarding. Rarely were her ideas considered, hell, it was a miracle if they were even passed.
Yet she kept pushing along. At first, she chalked it up to lack of seniority, but as she climbed the ranks of the department, she realized that wasn't true at all. The system in itself was corrupt. It allowed for stagnancy and lack of change.
Frustrations pilling up, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
In tribute to Remus Lupin, she decided to work on improving the Wolfsbane potion. As one of the last times they talked, they discussed its efficacy. As he stressed to reiterate his gratitude for the current product, he did manage to express certain faults with potion: occasional loss of self, wolffish influence on said self, etc.
Being more than proficient in potions but exceptional at Arithmancy, she first used calculations to aid in her potions making. After weeks of careful deducting, she came to the possible conclusion that a lengthier, yet more potent version of the potion required the gathering, preparing, and brewing of the potion to all be done on full moons.
She set to work right away, taking a month and half of unused vacation time and sick leave to focus solely on the potion. She was currently on day number three of that time- which happened to be a full moon. As she had been planning for a while, she already knew where to go and how to collect them.
Luckily some ingredients just sat at the edge of the forest, easy to spot and collect. Others were more elusive and required a deeper trek and more tedious collecting ritual. No wonder this potion was so expensive.
The journey was so bad. She hadn't brought much- well, she hadn't carried much- she brought her beaded bag which carried her food, shelter, tools, and other miscellaneous items (some as old as when she had first used the bag during the war). So there was no real physical stress, she also enjoyed the view. Some would say it looked ominous, Hermione would say it looked hauntingly beautiful.
At the moment, she had her beaded bag hanging from wrist and her wand which was still casting a light Lumos between her teeth as she measured the amount of Aconite she could put in a jar. Satisfied with the amount, she put the full jar back in her beaded bag, held her wand and went on searching for the next ingredient.
She blew a stray curl from her face, this bun will just not hold.
She should've taken up Angelina's offer of giving her a protective style, but frankly, Hermione did not have 6 hours to waste not working. Though, in retrospect, she did kind of need it. She was working herself to the bone...
Even now on her vacation time, she was working. She sighed. Potion first, work on your obsessive habits later.
As she walked, she made a mental map of where she needed to stop and turn to go back, but as she kept walking, the Forbidden Forest lost its usual vegetation and almost started looking like... a different forest?
When she noticed the moon had suddenly vanished from its previous spot, she made the decision to turn around and head back. Though, the more she walked, the less she recognized. For once- just once, can something go as planned?
At last, she spotted something different, blue toned lights coming from the distance. Hagrid perhaps, come to help me?
The thought only reassured her safety so she confidently strode out, Lumos in full blaze, when she realized- these people were not Hagrid.
They quickly surrounded her. But she too was quick and she extinguished Lumos and pointed her wand at them in self-defense. That seemed to confuse some and humor others.
Damn, they're muggles.
She wanted to obey the Statue of Secrecy, to put her wand down and even try to barter and deescalate the situation, but she understood- by the look in their eyes- this was life or death right now. She had no time for frivolous Statues, so she held her wand at them with an even tighter grip.
With Lumos gone she was heavily shrouded by the shadows, the soldiers were far enough that their lanterns would not expose her too much. So she used that to her advantage, stepping deeper into the shadows.
They spoke to her in a foreign language that sounded Germanic but not quite. There goes my chance of negotiation... Unless she used a translation charm, though, due to the predicted length of use, her magical energy would drain and she wouldn't have enough strength left for a battle.
How did German muggles get to Wizarding Scotland? Or how could she even end up in a Germanic speaking area? Had she stepped into magical clearing that could instantly transport her to another country? If so, how? Was she inside a different pocket of time? Again, if so, how?
She stilled her body, eyes darting to keep an eye on all possible exits and opponents. The thought of apparating returned to her but she quickly noticed more people in the trees. And if they were in the goddamn trees, there could be more wherever she did manage to apparate.
She studied her opponent as the lack of auditory information made the visual her focus. They looked... kind of like soldiers, they definitely acted like them. There must be a war going on; that's why they're so hostile. She cursed herself for not being more up to date with muggle affairs. Ever since the war, the Wizarding World had practically consumed her... ever since I'd lost my parents more likely.
She mentally shook herself to focus and noticed most held swords, which was favorable due to her upper hand in far distance conflicts. However, some had shotguns at the ready as well.
Fuck.
The longer she stayed silent, the more aggressive they became; seemingly demanding her identity and reason for being there. Hermione deemed it an understandable response. They had not shot her down already, which meant they weren't out for blood, but out to protect themselves.
Knowing this, she decided to take a chance.
She whispered the translation spell for German as it was the closest from what she's heard.
She brought her wand down to her side, but was no less tense, "My name is Hermione Granger, I've gotten lost and this has all just been a big misunderstanding."
She waited a moment for a response before continuing, "Did you understand me?"
A hooded man stepped out of the shadows and more into the lantern-illuminated light. He was short, for a man of his age, and yet, he still managed to be taller than her.
Maybe my height could make me seem less of a threat to them?
But with the way the sea of people parted for him in respect and the wariness they had in response to her. She thought it was unlikely.
Now was not the time to respect their lack of height biases, Hermione.
"Aye, we understand you well enough," his eyes narrowed dangerously. Another hooded person popped out from behind with much less animosity and much more curiosity. From appearance alone, their gender wasn't apparent; they presented much more androgynous than any of the other soldiers she'd seen.
They had a crazed grin, but the glint in their goggle-covered eyes was no less dangerous than the man before them, "Let's say you were telling the truth, and you were lost; where are you from? Did you come from outside the walls? Have you been here the whole time? Is that why you speak so oddly? If so, how have you survived the Titans duri-"
"-Oi," he interrupted, "we don't have time for this." With his eyes still on her, he glared, "If you really are lost, you wouldn't mind a nice, restrained walk in our custody- would you?"
Hermione waited a beat before nodding, "I'll be your prisoner," she said, cutting to the chase, "under one condition." She waited a breath for an objection, but with none she continued, "You'll have to confiscate my possessions- I understand that, but please don't play with or abuse them."
It was risky- announcing their importance with such urgency- but with their reactions so far, she chanced that they would at least be honorable enough to honor that.
The man looked to a taller blonde who seemed to be considering the option. He nodded once and the hooded man walked over to restrain her.
She stopped them before he could fully make his way over, "After you take this," she motioned to her wand, "We won't be able to understand each other anymore." She made sure the look on her face made clear that she was telling the truth.
He narrowed his eyes at her but nodded in understanding.
She gave them everything she had but they still searched her afterwards. They tied her wrists together- a bit too tight for her liking, but she could manage. She was then walked over to a train of horses where she was pushed to walk next to a horse towards the front.
She walked in silence, warily watching the soldier that was not-so-subtly watching her. They were studying Hermione as if she was a specimen under a microscope. It gave her the creeps. What was so fascinating about her? She understood that her actions would be very odd to a muggle, but was it enough to elicit this much visual attention?
The soldier then started asking her question sounding sentences, which was of no use since Hermione couldn't understand a damn thing.
It got to a point where she decided to use the little German she did know.
"W-was?" She said, putting some hesitancy into her pronunciation to really "demonstrate" her ignorance.
The soldier asked another question to which Hermione shrugged in response. She began speaking in her native language to really drive the point home, "I really don't understand anything you're saying to me."
The goggled soldier gasped in surprise. Had they never heard someone speak English before?
The short, hooded man from before spoke to the goggled soldier resulting in an "ahhh" of understanding. The soldier fished around in a bag on her side where they pulled out Hermione's wand.
Even though she knew exactly where it was, her heart still ached from the separation.
The soldier then carefully placed her wand in Hermione's wrist restrained hands. Hermione eyed the hooded man from before and could see him gripping the handles of his swords. They were still at the ready if she decided to pull something. Which she wouldn't... not now at least.
She nodded to them in thanks, then spoke the translation spell.
"Can you understand me better now?"
They nodded, "Why do you need a stick to speak with us?" They had cocked their head to the side in confusion. It would've been a very endearing gesture had she not been their prisoner.
She debated on what to say. Should she lie to avoid shit with the Ministry or should she tell the truth to avoid shit with them: these soldiers ready maim- or kill if need be. There was no telling on how long she'd be staying there and she needed allies right now, not enemies. And lying was not going to gain her any allies.
So she made her decision, "It's called a wand and I use it for more than just translating." It wasn't just the goggled soldier that looked at her curiously- now, it was the whole lot of them.
"I'm a..." she thought about whether using the word "witch" would instantly bring about a negative response, but it was too late now. Apparating was always an option, especially since she already had her wand.
"I'm a witch. I use this wand as a sort of vessel for channeling my innate magical power."
She heard a few puffs of air preceding a gaggle of laughter from behind. She smiled to herself, better they laugh at me than shoot me on sight for heresy.
"Oh. My. Gods. Pleeeaase tell me you're telling the truth. How did you get them, were you born with magic or trained to get it? Did it hurt... like really bad-" Hermione thought of her scars and the hardships she had to face just to be able to prove she was worthy of magic- yeah, you know what, it did hurt.
As the soldier began to shake her by the shoulders, rapidly asking more questions, she cut them off with a quick flick of her wand. Colovaria, she thought.
It was a harmless spell and would be very effective in proving her truth.
Suddenly, the soldier's Forest Green cloak turned into a glowing highlighter yellow. Have to make it obvious. The soldier cooed with awe, their eyes bright with wonder. If only she could see magic that way again. What she would give to forget the horrors that awaited that bright excited child.
As the soldier began examining their own cloak, she noticed there were no more laughs.
She turned to see faces fixed with emotions ranging from revulsion to awe. If she looked closer she could see that most were around her age.
More kids to fight grown people's wars. Merlin, it just sucks to be anywhere, doesn't it?
And as if he were Merlin himself, the short man appeared by her side to pluck the wand straight from her fingers. In a not-so-hot moment for her, she let out an involuntary whimper. I mean, it was as if the baby she'd just birthed was taken away from her. Pathetic, she scolded herself. You're better than this; c'mon, chin up, back straight.
She watched as he examined the wand, then promptly handed it back to the now Highlighter yellow clad soldier. Now how did he expect for me to turn it back to green?
She internally rolled her eyes. It was their problem now.
In a bout of understandable curiosity, the goggled soldier pointed the wand at themselves in an attempt to revert their cloak from yellow to green. Their pronunciation got very close, but it wouldn't matter either way if they were muggles.
She smirked and made sure the hooded man saw as the soldier handed Hermione's wand back to her. She stared at the precious stick of wood and slowly pointed it at the soldier's cloak.
Hermione didn't need a translator to know what they were asking for. So she quickly cast another Colovaria; and after carefully eyeing the others' cloaks, deemed it to be perfect and hesitantly handed her wand back to them.
They took one last look at the thing before placing it into their bag. Bye bye, wand.
For the majority of the rest of the walk, she was silent. Others made what sounded like small talk or orders around her, but she couldn't be fully sure.
As dawn passed and the light of the sun stretched over their heads, the forest began to thin and the tall trees turned into thick shrubs. The warmth of her trench coat began to weigh on her and her feet ached in her combat boots. Merlin, how much longer?
Finally they came to a clearing on a hill where on the other side sat an absolutely gigantic wall and a little town right beneath it. "Holy shit," she sighed. If that was where they were heading, they had a lot more to go and her feet began to ache even more at the thought. However, instead of trekking further, the group began to mount their horses. Thank Merlin! But then where would she ride?
Her question was answered when the short, hooded man took her by her waist- and with a surprising amount of strength- planted her on the saddle in front of him. Without a word of warning, the horse began to move at full gallop and she leaned forward to hold on to the horse's neck.
As they neared the town, she realized it was desolate and demolished. Who could've done this? Had it been the people she was currently riding with... or their enemy instead?
The group was nearly at the wall when a man- presumably the blonde leader from earlier began to shout orders. When people began to stand up on their horses, she got worried. When they began to fly up- with the use of wires, which she'd make sure to ask about later- she became inconsolable. I'm gonna have to go up there with them, aren't I. Bugger that, I'd rather-
"Euhhhhhaahhhhhhh!"
She could faintly hear him scoff in disgust, which instantly made her want to drop kick him off a cliff. But she held her tongue till they reached the top where she was forced to sit next to their blonde leader and their surrounding officers.
So there she sat- scared shitless at the top of a gigantic wall. She was way too high for her liking. Even worse than the height itself were the lack of railings, bars, anything in case of an accident. More like in case of an accident involving me.
Merlin, they should've just blindfolded me.
But because they hadn't, anything that they did was up for analysis.
They all had things to do and it seemed like an operation of some kind. Everyone was seen to be dispersing to certain fixed locations. Except for another man next to the blonde and in the distance, a soldier holding their sword up to gain the attention of said leader. He must've found something- or had a better plan. Whatever it was, it must've been big to disobey orders like that.
They seemed frightened as they ran up to their leader. They're so pretty. Before speaking, their eyes flickered to her nervously- they're so... so blue. She'd of course seen blue eyes before- she'd been seeing them on Ron for nearly a decade- but none of them had looked like theirs. No, never had blue eyes reminded her of the sea like these had.
Memories of her and her parents at Plage des Grands Sables came to mind, causing her to melt with euphoric bliss. She smiled. It'd be a shame if that soldier died today. She'd like to look into their eyes again, if only just to see her parents in that untainted memory.
After their conversation, the leader gave them a single nod. In dismissal? Approval? With no understanding of the language she didn't know. But before the soldier turned to leave, they flashed her a look of fond confusion, though after, it was filled with firm determination. Why had they given me that look- wait, am I still smiling?
She was.
Too embarrassed, she looked away as they jumped off the wall and onto the other side.
If she didn't know any better, she'd say it was a go for suicide. For her sake, she hoped not.
She stared up at the two men who'd shifted their attention from the young soldier to watching the other wall. From where she sat, she could see a huge hole in the middle of the wall.
Had someone invaded their city? But then why do something now; this must've been demolished at least a couple years ago.
Were they the invaders, because what were less than 500 soldiers going to do in an empty city?
No time for unanswerable questions Hermione, think of things you can answer, like who are the leaders.
Well, with the way the hierarchy was set so far, she would guess the blonde was the Commanding Officer and the brunette next to him, his second in command, though- that could've been the short man as well.
After a few moments of tense conversation between the two men... her "guards" at the moment, there was a large explosion at the other wall across from them. It was an odd looking explosion- if it even was that, but what else could it be?
But yellow lightning...? From an explosive...? This seemed far beyond the capabilities of muggles.
She sighed, she could be patient, she could wait for those answers. And it seemed like she'd be getting them sooner or later, because no one seemed worried. In fact, they seemed to be incredibly relieved more than anything else.
She craned her neck to see the damage that'd been done to the wall, but she had found none. Though, a certain section did look a bit more odd compared to rest. That was the section that had just a second ago been a gaping hole in the middle of the wall!
How could people who ride horses into battle fix an infrastructure problem, that large, in one second?
If these weren't muggles and they weren't wizards... then what were they?
She heard the now familiar zip of wires- someone was coming. She was a bit startled to see the same soldier from before- oh, they're blond.
Didn't notice, did ya? Probably cause you were too busy mooning at their-
She needed to focus, focus on the situation at hand... and not the pretty soldier that's eyes remind her of her-
Ugh, snap out of it.
They were speaking urgently, and the two men's responses deemed that whatever that soldier had found had been very disturbing.
Though they seemed young, their words held a lot of weight with the two men. They must've been a damn good soldier or a person of high social standing to be on such speaking terms with these senior officers.
The blond commander was now calling for reinforcements. Something other than the fixed hole in the wall must've happened. Something bad if she were to guess.
They gathered around the blonds, and after a while, a couple of them started demanding things from the younger of the two. After a beat, they answered in a way that seemed like- they were giving orders. Maybe they were the commander's kid? But her thoughts were interrupted as the group went their separate ways.
With nothing new coming in to stimulate and distract her, she began to tense. All this waiting under a very obviously volatile situation was making her itch. Should she be doing something? She felt like she should be doing something.
Finally, a flare went off and the group regathered at the wall only to start shouting at each other. It seemed like infighting. Uh oh.
Then a second flare went up, a red one. After a few words from blond numero uno, blond number two- who was much more confident- gave their orders and the group dispersed with shouts of affirmation once again.
If only I had my wand so I could understand. But was it worth breaking the little trust they had in her now? No, not now at least.
She was shaken from her thoughts by the sound of commotion going on on the side of the wall.
What-
Another explosion interrupted her thoughts. And unlike the first explosion, this response seemed to be full of fear and worry. What was going on? It was making her itchy with unwanted memories; even her head was beginning to pound, the stress of explosions from a different war weighing her down.
But ever the hero, she instantly thought of how she could aid in the situation. Her hands shook as she fought the will to fight.
Right now, I am just a prisoner. I do not need to fight.
How that was supposed to be reassuring, she didn't know.
But was there even something she could do? And would helping them without knowing their motivations only succeed in bringing upon more evil onto the world? And anyways, they seemed to be alone on that wall, why be scared of one explosion and not the other? They sounded exactly the same to her- looked the same too. Again, what kind of bombs- or whatever they were- create lightning like that? Either this is a different world or muggles have just weaponized orange lightning.
But she had no more time to dwell on possible muggle technologies because a wave of similar explosions set off in the distance.
From the direction they came from.
The response this time was even more fearful.
I need my wand, I need my wand or I'm going to die, I need my wand or we're all going to die-
The ball of tension in her body pulsed until she knew: I can't keep playing prisoner like this.
She wandlessly broke off her restraints and despite the protests and physical attempts to subdue her, she summoned her wand ready to fight off anyone, if need be, to survive.
She was existing off pure adrenaline. The mantra of live, live, live kept repeating in her mind till it was all she heard. She hadn't even realized it's physical effects. She looked crazed and feral; even her hair had escaped her bun, frizzing and crackling with magical energy. Gone were her dark brown eyes- now they glowed, flickering between a warm amber to a striking gold.
She hadn't even realized that soldiers began backing away in caution.
With only a second to determine her true enemies, she found them, the source of everyone's fear was...
A fucking Monkey?!
In the distance, the huge ape-like beast contorted it's body like that of a pitcher's- she didn't even have the time to question why or what it was bloody doing there- and oh shit, it's gonna throw something, it's gonna throw a bloody fucking bomb at us and kill us all, it's-
Mind distorted with fear and adrenaline, with not a care at all that she was standing on top of a 50 meter wall, she rushed to edge; thinking of the best possible spell to ward off a bomb- but with no time and the projectile coming closer, she shouted the first thing that came to mind, "PROTEGO MAXIMA!"
Her urgency, her fear, her need to protect- the emotional weight of her words fueled its potency and the oncoming- oh my, was it just a rock?- rock shattered at first contact with her shield. But like Newton said, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," and her body was blown off the wall.
Author's Note:
The main AOT Protagonists Ages are aged up three years. EX: Armin, Mikasa, and Eren are 18. Levi, Hange, and Erwin stay the same. Hermione is 20 in this.
The topic of gender is seen through the lense of whoever's POV. Hermione may not be the best interpreter for gender as she's from the 90's- she's better at understanding sexual orientations.
Comments and criticisms keep me motivated, so do that if you can. I will also take requests for headcanons within the Universe.
I have not yet made up my mind on other ships other than Armin x Hermione, but I will not accept Historia with anyone other than Ymir- so feel free to tell me which other ships you want to see within this universe.