Hermione Granger and the Peerless Alchemist (A Matou Shinji Series AU Quest)

[alfheimwanderer]

Hermione Granger and the Peerless Alchemist

A/N: Yes, this is another variation on a theme, only this time the POV is none other than that of our favorite bookworm, Miss Hermione Granger! In this Quest - for a quest it is, not a CYOA adventure, because I need something that won't require hours and hours of my time putting together massive chapters (this is not getting chapters on FF.net) - we get to see the impact of Matou Shinji on the Potterverse from outside, starting from the very first year!

As with all things, we begin at the beginning...

You are Hermione Granger, an 11 year old Muggleborn witch.

The year is 1991, and you have just arrived at Platform 9 3/4, where you - like all the other Hogwarts-bound students - will soon board the train that will take you to the castle where you will meet your destiny. Your parents see you off with a hug, pressing a small package into your hands as they part from you. Inside is a book - one of the ones you'd looked at in Diagon Alley, but hadn't had the chance to buy, since there was so much in the way of school supplies to obtain.

Its title was...

[ ] The Tales of Beedle the Bard
[ ] Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed
[ ] Have Yourself a Fiesta in a Bottle!
[ ] Living With Legilimens: Choose Your Minds Wisely
[x] Manual M39h-z

Such a gift is welcome, as you love books. Indeed, you've studied your textbooks, and know them by heart - as any diligent student worth their salt should. It wouldn't do to seem ignorant about this new world you're stepping into, after all, and well, it's magic.

How can anyone not be excited? You've pushed yourself hard enough, in fact, that you have managed to successfully cast a few spells - quite a feat for someone who only picked up a wand a few months ago.

The question is - which spells can you currently cast? (choose up to three; refer to the First year sections of Charms and Defense)

[x] Bluebell Flames, [x] Smokescreen
[x] Levitation Charm

[Daiki]

[x] Manual M39h-z.
[x] Bluebell Flames, Full Body-Bind Curse & Knockback Jinx.

Runes aren't explored in canon, so rune book.

[Desann]

[x] Manual M39h-z
[x] Bluebell Flames, Full Body-Bind Curse, Levitation Charm

[Skull Leader]

Couple of things.

One I am not sure Manual M39h-z is what you think it is Daiki. It is not a rune book like one that teaches actually rune magic. All the book is teaching a secret hand signal communication that DARK wizards used in WWII that was based on Runes. So maybe it could still be an entry piece that preps you in remembering runes but its not teaching you runes in any way.

That said I still wanted to pick this one anyways.

[x] Manual M39h-z

Second thing, these three spells of yours Daiki are a bit too combat focused IMO. Hermione is not a warrior, she is book nerd. I am not sure I can see why she would want to learn three different ways to attack someone. I would prefer a more balanced approach here. Something that is a bit more clever, or cunning than full on DADA attack. Still Hermione should have something in the attack department and the blue bell spell is useful so many be we should replace just one spell here.

[X] Smokescreen, Bluebell Flames, Levitation Charm

Smokescreen to me seems like a underused good spell. It can hide you so its harder for enemies to attack you, or more importantly it gives you cover to retreat. Combine that spell with Bluebell flames and you can really get someone starting to panic about their robes being on fire.

My three come with a balance of them one spell each that primarily Defense, Attack and Utility.

[alfheimwanderer]

All the book is teaching a secret hand signal communication that DARK wizards used in WWII that was based on Runes.

Not WWII, Wizarding War.

I'll resolve this in 12 hours.

[Daiki]

Well, at least the book can serve to pick her interest in runes earlier. Besides the other options are not specifically appealing to me when it comes to what we explored as Shinji. We have delved in potions, curses and occlumency already as Shinji and the horcruxes route isn't something I want. (Unless the tales book is only about giving Hermione a less muggle background by knowing at least something wizard kids would)

I don't mind swapping some spells. Since I have no idea what kind of path Hermione would take, I went with stuff that offers some versatility while betting she would master utility spells such as Alohomora, Reparo and others quick enough that they wouldn't be any issue to ignore. Blue flames allows you to have both fire and a source of light, knockback would be your main way to push back an opponent and full-bind allows to neutralize a target without wounding / damaging them.

But, as I said, I'm not specifically going to fight for some starting spells. I would keep Flipendo though because that's quite useful overall.

[X] Smokescreen, Knockback Jinx & Levitation Charm.

Wingardium + Flipendo seems like fun.

[alfheimwanderer]

Book: [x] Manual M39h-z
Spells: [x] Bluebell Flames, [x] Smokescreen, [x] Levitation Charm

---

To your surprise, your parents had bought you one of the books you had been looking at but had put down, since you hadn't had the money to buy it at the time, and it wasn't on the school list. You'd mentioned it once, after returning from your trip to Diagon Alley with Professor McGonagall, but you'd never really expected them to pay attention to your excited babbling. You talked about books all the time, after all, and while they were supportive enough, most of the time they just smiled and nodded. They were busy, after all, with both of them being dentists, and every once in a while - for your birthday, or for Christmas, they would buy you a book - usually something Shakespearean, or related to it - but outside of that, presents were rare in the Granger household.

So that the fact that they'd not only given you a present before you left for Hogwarts, but had given you a book you'd mentioned to them, was quite touching. You would treasure it, and learn every bit of what the book had to offer, learning how to use Rune Sign Language, whatever that was. Since the Ministry had seen fit to publish a book about it for everyone (and she remembered it hadn't been that expensive), maybe it was something for deaf wizards and witches, kind of like the British Sign Language she'd learned from her favorite aunt, a sign language interpreter who worked for the government in some capacity?

You'd at least learn them as well as your schoolbooks, from which you'd already managed to cast the Smokescreen, Bluebell Flame, and Levitation spells (and hadn't that been an interesting day, when your parents had come home, thinking the house was on fire?)

Still, books - studying those was the easy part. Always had been, really.

Making friends...that was considerably more of a challenge for the girl named Hermione Granger, since she was thought of as weird for her love of books, or a busybody, or bossy because she wanted people to follow the rules and do what the teacher said. It wasn't her fault that other people were lazy and didn't want to do their homework, or wouldn't do the assignments. She just did what she was supposed to - so why did people pick on her for that?

Well...maybe things would be different at Hogwarts, where everyone had magic. Surely in a place like that, even school life would be magical, right?

Glancing over the crowd, with her chest dragging behind her, she notes a number of interesting people.

A girl with...was that purple hair? She didn't know hair could grow that color! boarding the train.

A dark-haired boy who'd just popped into existence...and proceeded to double over, retching.

A well-dressed pair of what were obviously twins her age, who had just stepped through the barrier to the platform.

A golden-haired boy flanked by two larger boys, with an oddly distant expression on his face as he glanced around himself.

A boy looking around uncertainly, clutching his toad tightly, as if afraid it would escape if he let it go.

Who to approach, if anyone?

[ ] The purple-haired girl
[ ] The dark-haired boy - he seems like he needs help
[ ] The twins
[ ] The golden-haired boy and his retinue
[ ] The boy with the toad
[ ] No one. It would be too forward of her

[Skull Leader]

[X] The dark-haired boy - he seems like he needs help

It is either this or the fun of walking up to Draco and confuse him with giving him the Dark Wizard sign language to him. But I suspect that might lead her to Slytherin and really how long can Hermione of all people at like a pureblood before giving herself away. Or how long can see sit in Slytherin and not rail against their intrahouse system?

I think Hermione should not latch onto Sokaris again, and the twins well...she might get along with Phelan but not sure if Hermione would ever get along with Amber for long. Amber requires someone that plays in her field of expectations of manners.

[Daiki]

[x] The dark-haired boy - he seems like he needs help

[alfheimwanderer]

People didn't often think highly of dentists. After all, most tended to visit them only when they absolutely had to (and only after first trying to convince themselves that they didn't need to, that whatever was going on was minor, that a dentist couldn't do anything someone who practiced good dental hygiene couldn't). Hermione though, had grown up with dentists for parents, and they'd instilled in her how a dentist was often the first one to catch someone's symptoms. They considered themselves not purveyors of pain (as children often thought of them), but professionals doing their part on preserving the health of the community.

With knowledge, they told her, as with power, came the responsibility to use that knowledge to make things better. To do otherwise was unjust, unethical, and frankly inhumane. Her father, especially, often was fond of the saying that the only thing needed for evil - or germs - to triumph was for good men to do nothing.

This was a lesson she'd learned when she was small - and one all the more important now that she was a witch.

So when she saw someone doubling over, seeming like he was about to puke, she ran over to him, leaving her things behind.

"Are you OK?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The boy swayed unsteady, seeming not to hear her. She repeated herself and he looked up unsteady, with Hermione noting how his mysterious gray gaze seemed to take in the sight of her as if she was the only person in the world.

She felt her face growing hot.

"Are you OK? Do you need a teacher?" she asked.

The boy shook his head unsteady.

"N-no. Just...just need moment," he said with more than a bit of an accent.

A foreigner then, at Hogwarts? How unusual...she knew from her reading that Hogwarts was free to British citizens/resident, but was rather expensive for those who were not.

She waited, unsure of what she should do as someone else popped into being, a bespectacled blonde with slim and dainty features.

The blonde seemed much steadier on her feet than the dark haired...the oriental boy.

"Ah. Portkey sickness," she said knowingly, looking over at the trembling boy, reaching into the folds of her silver robes and withdrawing a vial, which she unstoppered. "Drink this," she said to the boy, and as he did, he seemed to grow more steady.

"S...thank you," the boy mumbled. "I...my name is Shinji. Matou Shinji."

"You may call me Ana," the blonde replied graciously, dipping into a curtsy. "Ana Spencer." With poise unfitting of her young age, she turned to Hermione. "And you are?"

How does she introduce herself?

[ ] Hermione Granger
[ ] Mione, as she imagines friends might call her
[ ] "Just a girl named Hermione."
[ ] (write-in)

Miss Spencer, seeming to take charge of the group, suggests they all sit together on the train and better get to know each other.

Hermione...

[ ] Agrees, she wants to find out how Miss Spencer fixed the boy
[ ] Agrees, the boy has such dreamy gray eyes...
[ ] Declines, she only came over because Shinji seemed like he needed help
[ ] Declines, she wants to look around and meet more people

[Skull Leader]

[X] Mione, as she imagines friends might call her

Why not...she can hope for friends. Thought this next question makes me ask why not both options on the agree part, sure he has dreamy eyes but cursitiy beckons.

Still have to pick...coin flip time.

[X] Agrees, the boy has such dreamy gray eyes...

Apparently fate continues to mess with Hermione-Shinji in every version.

[Daiki]

[x] Mione, as she imagines friends might call her.
[x] Agrees, she wants to find out how Miss Spencer fixed the boy.

[alfheimwanderer]

Is this the way its going, then? Seems I will likely be in a timezone closer to yours for a while, Daiki.

[Desann]

[x] Hermione Granger
[x] Agrees, she wants to find out how Miss Spencer fixed the boy.

[alfheimwanderer]

[X] Mione, as she imagines friends might call her
[x] Agrees, she wants to find out how Miss Spencer fixed the boy.

---

"Mione," the brunette responded. "My friends call me Mione."

Ana nodded.

"A charming name that. Is it short for Hermione, perhaps?" the blonde inquired, the intelligence in those startlingly green eyes catching her off guard. "A name worthy of a queen if so."

The boy from the east blinked.

"A...queen?" he echoed, frowning. "You...you're royalty?" he asked, visibly startled by the thought by the way he stiffened, almost coming to attention. "Or nobility...?"

Hermione had to admit that she'd never had a boy react to her quite like that before. It was...odd for someone to think of her as being something like a princess, especially such a good looking boy. Though, she didn't think that Miss Spencer had meant to set the boy off like that - she'd been playful, as if she recognized the name from somewhere? Maybe Miss Spencer had read A Winter's Tale or like her, liked books of history and those things that were not quite history, yet not quite myths - stories from the ages when heroes and gods walked the earth.

Though that name...Spencer...

"...you wouldn't be related to Princess Diana, would you?" Hermione asked, turning her attention to the other girl.

The poor Japanese boy boggled as the now-revealed noble curtsied.

"So you've found me out already," Ana murmured, in a tone that the brunette wasn't sure was approving or irritated. "I suppose it was inevitable, given my name, but I must say, you're a sharp one, Mione."

Hermione flushed red at the compliment - one of the first she'd ever received from anyone her own age.

"You're pretty your...I mean, you're pretty smart yourself, princess," the girl replied, stumbling over her words in the presence of royalty. No, wait, Ana Spencer couldn't be a princess. "Or...what is your title?"

"I do not hold one myself, though I may claim the courtesy title of Lady Ana, given my parentage," the blonde answered quietly. "But I don't insist on it among friends. We will be good friends, won't we?"

"Y-yes!" Hermione squeaked.

The Japanese boy's reaction was much quieter, but more profound, with him bowing deeply, as a courtier might.

"As you wish, hime-sama," he murmured quietly, with his actions seeming to win a flicker of approval from the girl who Hermione sure wasn't called hime, though she supposed it was probably some title of respect.

"How odd," Ana mused aloud. "That the first two I meet here would be a girl named for a queen and a young knight-errant from a land far, far away. Japan, was it?"

"Hai."

"Well, young knight, rise and accept this lady's favor," she bade him, taking a handkerchief and dousing it with the contents of another potion, before tying it around the boy's neck.

He stiffened at her touch, but allowed it, with Hermione blinking at this sudden...deed.

"This is..."

"It will keep the sickness from returning, so long as you keep it on you for the journey. That is all - please don't misunderstand," the blonde replied matter of factly. Why the statement made Hermione feel relieved, she didn't really know, but she thought it just showed that Ana had a good heart, as princesses often did in the books. Even if she wasn't really a princess. And even if she seemed quite capable of helping herself - and any would be knights.

With that out of the way, the trio turned to board the train, finding a compartment and settling into it while everyone else was still milling about.

"...I can seal that, if you'd like," Shinji said, after their things had been stowed away.

"Hm?" Hermione asked.

"The door," the boy replied, shaking his head. "In case you wanted not to be disturbed by others."

Ana Spencer just looked at him, with the boy looking away, unable to meet her gaze as his fingers grazed the handkerchief wound about his neck.

"...I mean, I just wanted to return the favor," he mumbled.

"I think I'll leave it to Mione," Ana said lightly. "So, what say you...? Shall we let Sir Shinji seal the door, or shall we see who stumbles upon us?"

[ ] Let him seal the door
[ ] Don't - they might as well meet other people on the ride
[ ] Turn the question back to Ana - since she was the one who was asked, she shouldn't push the responsibility of answering to someone else

Choose something to talk about

[ ] Hogwarts and their thoughts on it
[ ] Their respective backgrounds
[ ] Ana's potion and if she has a favorite subject
[ ] Hobbies, likes and dislikes
[ ] The weather

[ ] (write-in)

[Skull Leader]

[X] Let him seal the door
[X] Hobbies, likes and dislikes

Sealing it might not be the best plan if we want to be social, but consider how private I think these three are each, sealing might be for the best. It gives them time to get to know each other.

[alfheimwanderer]

[X] Let him seal the door
[X] Hobbies, likes and dislikes

---

"Sealing it is fine with me," Hermione replied, deferring to the others. She had no real reason to oppose it, and truthfully, if Matou was going to use some exotic art to seal it, she wanted to see what it was. That...and she'd never been good in large groups of people. She liked to think she wasn't a total failure when it came to one on one situations, but she had no confidence about her ability to make a good impression on a large number of people her age.

'I'm just glad Matou and Spencer seem to like me well enough for now,' she thought.

For now, she just looked on as the Japanese boy took something out of one of his pockets - a small statue of a bird - an owl, she thought. With a wordless gesture from the boy, it took flight, flying over to the door and perching on the door latch assembly, its feet seeming to melt until it coated it entirely.

"...wordless transfiguration?" Miss Spencer asked, blinking at the display. "How unexpected..."

"Merely an artifact," Shinji replied with some humility. "One provided to me by..." he paused, an odd expression crossing his features for a moment. "My benefactor. In Japan."

"Oh? What does it do?" the blonde inquired, her interest piqued.

"Oh, it can fly about and do some basic things for me, like retrieve things," the boy replied. "It can also seal a door against eavesdropping or intrusion."

"...impressive. Is it reusable?"

Shinji nodded.

"Mm...your benefactor must have many such, if he or she was willing to give one up so readily," the blonde murmured.

"She has...a few," the boy admitted. "Using jewels to make interesting things is...a specialty of hers, I guess?"

"Ah, and has she taught you much of her craft?" Ana questioned.

"Unfortunately not," the boy replied. "She is good at...many things, but teaching someone the basics isn't one of them. I hope that learning...tlans...transfiguriation? Transfiguration at Hogwarts will help me make myself useful to her."

"Oh, that's right - why Hogwarts?" Hermione interjected. "Surely there is a magical school in Japan?"

"Mahoutokoro is the name," Miss Spencer supplied, with the bushy-haired brunette blinking at the quick response. Obviously this girl was indeed very well versed in the knowledge of the magical world. Much as Matou seemed to be, if he had a benefactor who could use such interesting magic.

"I...got a letter from Hogwarts?" Shinji offered weakly.

"Hm..." The blonde seemed to peer at the boy, naked curiosity in her eyes. "Were you born in Britain, perhaps?"

The boy was silent for a time before he responded.

"I...don't know?" he said uncertainly. "My mother died when I was young, and I...I didn't really know my father. Didn't have much of a family."

"Oh...I'm sorry," Ana replied, her expression sympathetic, with some shade of pain flashing across her features. "I...didn't know. Wouldn't have mentioned it if I did, since...I lost my parents too, in the war."

"...the war?" Shinji echoed.

"The war against Voldemort," Hermione supplied. "One that lasted eleven years, until it ended with the death of the Potters - and the Dark Lord."

"Huh. You're a Muggleborn, then?" Ana questioned, with Hermione almost jumping out of her seat at the query. How had the other girl seen through her so soon? "Most children who grow up in wizarding families wouldn't usually say his name like that."

"You mean...they're afraid? But...why be afraid of a name?" the brunette asked, puzzled. "He's dead, isn't he? And his followers imprisoned in Azkaban?"

"Yes, but it's not that simple."

"What do you mean?"

"Just because he's dead doesn't mean people have forgotten him and the things he did, or what it cost them," Ana explained. "The Dark Lord was a very powerful man, a symbol of fear that most thought unstoppable. He made a point of hunting down any who dared resist him, with one of the things he did being to track down anyone brave enough to say his name."

"...oh. That sounds...bad," Hermione said lamely.

"It was," Ana replied, taking a deep breath. "He killed my parents."

"...I'm sorry," the brunette whispered. "I had no idea..."

"Well, join the foot in mouth club, I suppose," the blonde said glibly. "Should we move to a safer topic, like hobbies? Matou, what do you like doing?"

"I like reading," Shinji volunteered.

"Anything in particular?"

"Spellbooks," the boy said with satisfaction, though his lips quirked down as he said this. "Even if I can't do most of the spells in them yet."

"I like reading too," Hermione said shyly, offering Matou a smile. Surely anyone who liked books couldn't be too bad of a person. "All sorts of them. I think there's so much we can learn from them..."

"Mm. I like travelling," Ana added after they had finished. "Makes makes me a bit odd, by the standards of most witches, but I do. There's something about seeing new lands and meeting new people that is magical in and of itself. Even returning home for the first time in years is...curious." But the blonde shook her head. "Enough of this wistfulness. What house do you think you'll all end up in? If you know about the houses, that is."

"I do! I read Hogwarts: A History!" Hermione spoke up, excitedly, with Ana chuckling.

"Then by all means, Mione, what house do you think you'll like most?"

[ ] Gryffindor
[ ] Ravenclaw
[ ] Hufflepuf
[ ] Slytherin
[ ] "I'm not sure really. Each house has its good points."

[skulkidcachi90]

[ ] Ravenclaw

[Skull Leader]

[X] "I'm not sure really. Each house has its good points."

I guess I would prefer something other than Ravenclaw again for her. Even if its the best fitting house for her.

Let's try Slytherin...it could go great or horrible. Or both.

[X] Slytherin

[alfheimwanderer]

No strong preferences then?