[FIC] "Harry Potter and the Final Fantasy" for selena_wolf
Title: Harry Potter and the Final Fantasy
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Final Fantasy (VI, VII, IX)
Rating: PG (for fantasy violence)
Characters: Cast of "Harry Potter", mixed in with Setzer, Celes (VI), Vincent/Yuffie, (VII), and Garnet (IX)
Pairings: Moody/Tonks, Vincent/Yuffie, Setzer/Tina
for
selena__wolfand the request found here
Notes: My second attempt at this, but this request just begged me to write it. Over 6000(!) words--it could have gone longer, but I don't know how much I could fit on one post. I may have diverged from the request very, very slightly, but all the important stuff is in there--particuarly Tonks/Moody and Vincent/Yuffie. I used Tina, the original name for Terra, from the Japanese Version of FFVI. It's one, long, mess, but I hope you like it!
Summary: Hermione has memories of herself as Tina, Harry as Cloud, and Ron has Zidane. Suddenly, they encounter some new friends at school.
**
Hermione had not told the others about her dreams.
In them, she is wrapped in fire, shooting across the skies like a comet. Instead of a wand, she uses a sword. Her spells are ridiculously simple: "Fire!" "Life!" "Ultima!" There is a horrible, laughing harlequin, and he wants to kill her. She fights him, and she wins.
There are people in her dream: people she cares about, people she loves, people she has never met before...or has she?
Hermione never told the others about her dreams. They were just too ridiculous to believe. They were the products of storybooks and television, Hermione convinced herself.
Sitting in Ancient Runes, Hermione noticed a boy sitting next to her. He had been at Hogwarts since she started, in another House-a Slytherin. Why she never took notice him before was a mystery to her. He was pale as marble, with fine, purplish scars across his cheeks, jaw and forehead. His white hair was neatly pulled back in a ponytail. He looked like a kinder, younger Lucius Malfoy. Hermione was not aware that she was staring, until the professor snapped her out of her gazing.
"Miss Granger!" the professor chirped, "I asked a question and your hand wasn’t the first one up! Are you alright?"
The comment got chuckles from the other students. Hermione blushed. The pale Slytherin smiled at her, too. Hermione blushed more.
****
"It’s the darndest thing," Hermione ate her lunch with Harry and Ron, "how can you see a boy every day and not notice him until now?"
Ron and Harry looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"Anyway, Hermione," Ron said, "He’s Slytherin. I’d stay clear if I were you."
"But it’s like we’ve met before!" Hermione insisted. "Like in some other dimension."
"I thought you didn’t believe in Divination," Harry teased her.
"I don’t. It’s all rubbish!" Hermione huffed, "But it’s...it’s as if I’ve lived another life."
Ron almost choked on his biscuit. Harry went pale.
"Guys?" Hermione sensed she had touched a nerve.
Ron looked at Harry intently, "Tell her."
"No! It’s stupid!" Harry said.
"Is it your scar again?" Hermione asked in a panic.
"No, no, it’s not that," Harry waved his hand, then took a deep breath, "I’ve been having...dreams...of another life."
"I’ve been dreaming I was a monkey-man in a flying theatre, working with a band of mercenaries!" Ron said, excited.
Harry stared at Ron, then said to Hermione, "Like I said, stupid."
"Maybe not," Hermione urged him, "Just tell me."
"Well, um," Harry struggled to find the words, "It’s not easy to explain. It’s like...I was a swordsman. And I had a bloody big sword!"
"A blade bigger than a first-year," Ron mumbled with mouthful of biscuit.
"My story, Monkey-boy," Harry glared at him, "Anyway, there’s a city-one half is above and the other half is below, like some big, round sandwich. There’s some magic, but it comes out of this...glowing stuff. There’s all these people...Vincent, Yuffie...yeah, it’s pretty daft." Harry finished hurriedly and dove into his plate with his fork.
"I’d been having dreams, too," Hermione said quietly. The boys looked up, and she described them.
"You think it means anything?" Harry asked.
"We’re probably making too big a deal out of this!" Ron said, "They’re only dreams!"
"Extremely detailed, elaborate dreams," Hermione said. "Maybe Ron’s right. None of the magic matches the real world. Still, maybe we should record them, like in a diary."
"Good idea," Harry nodded. "And keep us informed of your mystery man." Harry winked, before being hit in the forehead by a projectile strawberry, courtesy of Miss Granger.
***
Hermione found her mystery boy, hiding in between the bookcases in the library with another Slytherin. They were doing something obviously against rules, Hermione sniffed to herself.
"I win," the pale boy said brightly.
"You cheated," the other Slytherin hissed like their mascot, "I’m telling..."
"You’ll tell, eh," the pale boy arched an eyebrow, "and get detention for illegal gaming?"
The Slytherin fumed, "I’ll get my ten gold pieces back, Scar-Face, you watch!" The loser stormed away, rudely bumping into Hermione, "Out of my way, Mudblood!"
"Away with you, sore loser," the mysterious boy brushed him off, then looked at Hermione with a strange, unreadable glare. Hermione felt like she was in trouble, even though she wasn’t the one doing wrong.
"You alright? Some people just have no manners," the boy smirked.
"Yeah....fine..." Hermione felt her brain freeze, as if under a Stupify hex.
"Setzer," the boy extended an elegant, thin hand, "You’re a Gryffindor, right. Don’t worry, I won’t hold that against you."
Hermione laughed, then quickly suppressed it-she was in the library. She accepted his hand, "I hope you know that cards are against the rules..."
"I know. Wanna play?"
"What?" Hermione squeaked. This boy had no regards for the rules, not unlike certain friends of hers.
"I said," Setzer leaned in closer to her ear, "Do you want to play?" Setzer’s breath against her skin, his lips just barely touching her ear, it sent shivers down Hermione’s spine.
"Um, no," Hermione stepped back, her face scarlet red, "I...can’t...not...not now..." She tried to compose herself. "Later?" She sheepishly asked.
"Seven, by the Astronomy Tower, tomorrow night. See you then," Setzer flashed a charming smile before running off to another one of his classes.
Hermione could not believe what happened. She made a date with a Slytherin! Why then, she asked silently, did it not seem at all strange?
*****
Hermione had another dream. She and Setzer were playing cards, but some things were different. In real life, Setzer is a 16-year-old boy, but in her dream, he was slightly older. Instead of his school uniform, he was wearing a long, black leather coat, a white silk shirt and black leather trousers. He had multiple gold rings on his fingers and gold bangles on his wrists. His hair was untied and wild. Over his cards, he stared at Hermione with an intense gaze. She blushed, winding a finger around curly, green hair. He revealed his cards-he won.
"Now do I get my prize?" Setzer grinned from ear to ear.
Hermione smiled back, moving from her seat onto Setzer’s lap. His arms wrapped around her lithe torso, as his elegant fingers brushed through her curly locks. They kissed...
...and Hermione woke up. If she recorded this dream, she will need a lock and key on her diary.
******
Two owls came to the window of Tonks’ bedroom. Both owls were not for the young witch, however. One owl pulled at her pink-and-black shag, rousing her from her sleep. The other perched on her bedpost, not daring to awaken the other occupant.
"Al," Tonks nudged, as he unrolled her letter, "you have an owl."
Moody sat up with a start, "They’ve found my location! We must move out, now!"
"Calm down," Tonks sighed, "They’re from Hermione."
"Who?" Moody stared at her with his magiked eye.
"She’s a friend of Harry Potter’s."
"Oh, HIM," Moody rubbed his natural eye, and grabbed the letter from the trembling owl. The terrified bird collapsed onto the floor as Moody read the letter.
"Wot’s it say?" Tonks yawned, reading her own.
"Hmmm..." Moody studied the paper, as if it were potentially booby-trap. "It’s asking if dreams of past lives could be a form of attack."
"Is it?" Tonks asked.
"Of course not!" Moody grumbled, "I ain’t no Divinator, but I’ve heard that some wizards have suppressed memories of past lives. Not that I ever believed in such a thing. What does your letter say?"
Tonks giggled, "Hermione is asking me what courses she needs to be a Metamorph. She wants to turn her hair green."
***
Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room, Ron stumbled across two first-years playing with a cauldron. One was a Japanese girl, anxiously bouncing on her knees. The other was a boy, with long, black hair, and his scarf wrapped around his chin.
Whatever the two little kids were cooking, it was burning Ron’s nostrils, "What the bloody hell are you two cooking?"
The girl bounced up to her feet, "We’re making a monster to fight Volde..."
The long-haired boy tapped her with his wand. The girl stopped, "Oops...I mean You-Know-Who! You fight You-Know-Who with Harry Potter, don’cha, Mr. Weasy?"
"It’s Weasley," Ron said, "and you can’t just make monsters!"
"Oh yes we can!" The little girl proclaimed, "Watch!" She tapped the cauldron with her wand, and the black pot exploded with a ear-shattering *BOOM!* Ron coughed violently, then tried to clear the smoke away with his wand. His stomach sank with the feeling that two little students had blown themselves up to Kingdom Come!
"Kids!" Ron cried out! "Are you alright?" Ron found the girl, passed out on the floor, but he didn’t find the boy. The red-headed wizard heard growling behind him. He turned around, and his freckled face went pale. A large, purple monster with black horns was staring back at him.
"Harry," Ron squeaked, "help!"
***
On the staircases to the dormitories, Harry came across two girls, in need of assistance with their heavy load of books. They were two girls Harry had never seen before.
"We just transfered from Beauxbatons," one of the girls--a slender, pale blonde-happily handed Harry some of her tomes. She spoke with a French accent.
"We are still finding our way around the school," the other girl, a raven-haired brunette, spoke with an Eastern European, possibly Czech or Greek accent. She piled some of her texts onto Harry.
Harry grunted under the weight of the textbooks-he didn’t remember his own books being this heavy. "I’m just happy to help...um..."
"Celes Chere," the blonde, dressed in yellow, answered.
"I am Garnet Alexandros," the brunette followed, also dressed in yellow. They must have been sorted into Hufflepuff, Harry noticed.
"Are all hommes in Hogwarts gentlemen like you?" Celes smiled at Harry. Harry had not felt himself blush since he broke it off with Cho.
"Well, most people here are pretty nice," Harry said, feeling a bit more the knight in shining armor, "a few nutters, but for the most part, we all get along and don’t cause too much trouble."
Contradiction to Harry’s words came in the form of a giant purple beast bursting through the Gryffindor dormitory wall. The beast howled hideously, as Ron and a little girl desperately clung to its back.
"HAAAARRRY!" Ron gripped the horns of the beast, like an American cowboy riding a bucking bull. "HEEELLLP!"
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Harry muttered to the girls apologetically. "Quick, get into your common room! We’ll take care of this!"
The girls did not look a bit frightened. Instead, both witches had their wands drawn.
"That bete is blocking our way upstairs," Celes said, with a steely gaze, "Besides, we are also trained against the dark arts."
"We do not want to hurt the two children on top!" Garnet pointed to the little girl, screaming.
"VINCENT!" The little child squeaked, "You calm down right now!"
"Vincent?!" Harry suddenly had the strangest sense of deja-vu.
The beast spat out a fireball towards Harry and the girls. Before Harry could deflect it, Celes’ wand absorbed the fireball. She then flicked the wand in the beast’s direction, throwing the fireball back into the purple monster’s face. The beast howled, nearly throwing Ron and his co-passenger off.
"Watch out, Ron is still on top of that beast’s head!" Harry shouted. Suddenly, the beast leapt over the railings and plummeted down the stairwell. Ron and the little girl screamed, hanging on for dear life.
"RON!" Harry dumped the load of books against the wall, as he sped down the stairs. The girls followed behind.
Elsewhere, Hermione and Setzer were walking down the corridor, discussing their Ancient Runes class. Runes was second on Hermione’s mind at that moment.
"Setzer," Hermione was afraid to ask the question, but she needed answers, "do you believe in past lives?"
"Thinking of rejoining Divination?" Setzer cocked an eyebrow.
"No, never! It’s just," Hermione felt a little silly. She didn’t want to be perceived as anything remotely silly in front of such an elegant young man. "It’s just...I’ve been having bizarre dreams lately. They’re so vivid, and so persistent. Harry had dreams like this last year, and it was because You-Know-Who was luring him into a trap. I’m just worried that..."
Hermione’s train of thought was interrupted by a loud crash, like a cannonball hitting a stone wall.
"That can’t be good," Hermione sighed. She started running down the corridor, with a confused Setzer following closely behind. They were the only two people running towards the commotion, while the rest of the school seemed to be stampeding in the opposite direction, screaming and shouting.
"Hermione, slow down!" Setzer pushed and shoved past the panicked mob, just to keep up with the Gryffindor. "It could just be someone’s Potions homework backfiring..."
A purple beast, with a red-headed boy and a little Japanese girl as riders, was the cause of the commotion.
"Ron!" Hermione shouted.
"Whoa," Setzer’s eyes were wide-open, "That’s one bad potion..."
The beast barreled down the corridor, growling menacingly.
Hermione grabbed her wand. Setzer was shaking something in his hand. Hermione shot a stupify hex at the beast, but it seemed to do little to slow it down. Setzer threw out some shiny stones at the beast-dice engraved with runes. Suddenly, long daggers of light sliced into the beast.
Ron jumped off to avoid being hit, and pulled the little girl off with him. The beast cried out in agony.
"Don’t hurt Vincent!" The little girl screamed at Setzer.
Ron dusted himself off after a less-than-graceful landing, as Harry finally arrived onto the scene.
"Ron! Are you alright?" Harry panted, out of breath.
"I’m alright," Ron was shaking like a leaf, "I don’t know what happened, Harry. One minute, these kids are messing with a potion, the next..."
The beast recovered from the dice’s spell, and decided to take revenge on its caster. The beast hurled itself at Setzer, as the white-haired boy drew out his deck of cards. He tossed the razor-edged cards at the beast, as they cut into its flesh like daggers. This only further enraged the beast, as it grabbed Setzer by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"Drop him!" Hermione shouted, and spat out another hex. This time, a long, green bolt of lightning poured into the beast. Out of pain, the purple monster dropped Setzer and refocused its rage at the curly-haired witch. The bolt of magic was slowing the beast down, but it still lurched closer and closer to Hermione.
Harry and Ron shot hexes into the beast’s back, trying to distract or even stop the violet juggernaut from reaching their friend. Celes and Garnet joined in, raising their wands and shooting hexes into the monster. Nothing they were throwing at it was working-the beast inched closed to Hermione.
"That girl!" Garnet pointed, "She’s glowing!"
Also his view was partly obstructed by the beast, Harry could see that Hermione was suddenly glowing purple. She was still locked with the monster, wand raised, shooting a massive surge of energy into the beast. Sweat poured down her face, and her eyes burned with a mystic fire. Setzer regained his breath, and stared at Hermione in both horror and amazement.
The beast’s claws were inches from Hermione’s head. Hermione glowed brighter, as her wand’s spell grew more intense. Suddenly, she screamed, and appeared to burst into flames.
"HERMIONE!" A chorus of boy’s voices screamed.
Hermione was not consumed. Instead, in her place, a creature of purple fire floated in mid-air. Her hair whipped around her, and her eyes glowed green like burning emeralds.
"She’s a fairy!" The little Japanese girl gasped.
The fire-woman stared down the beast. From within her, a massive wave of magical energy washed over the beast, knocking it off its feet.
"Run!" Harry and Ron grabbed the girls, as they ducked into a doorway. The whole corridor glowed with a blinding light, and a deafening howl was heard. When the light died down, Harry poked his head out of the doorway.
The beast was nowhere to be seen. Instead, an unconscious, dark-haired boy lay on the stone floor. Setzer crawled next to the fire-girl, also unconscious. The white-haired boy stroked her cheek gently.
"Hermione!" Harry, Ron and the girls came running toward Setzer.
"Vincent?" The little girl shook Vincent’s shoulder vigorously, "Wake up! We’re in big trouble!"
Harry and Ron stared at Hermione in amazement and confusion. Setzer lifted her onto his lap and cradled her, "It’s OK, Tina. I’m here. You’re safe. That beasty is gone."
"Tina?" Harry and Ron asked in unison. The professors finally showed up-Snape and McGonagall and Dumbledore. Harry knew that he and his classmates had some explaining to do, as well as some big questions to ask.
****
"It seems as if Gryffindors have made a game out of stealing ingredients out of my storage room," Snape said dryly, staring at the guilty twosome.
Vincent ate his soup, sitting up in bed, "It was my idea, sir. I wanted to become stronger, in case I had to fight Volde...I mean You-Know-Who. Yuffie insisted that she help."
"That girl almost killed him!" Yuffie, the little girl, pointed at Hermione, still glowing, still wrapped in purple fire, and still out cold.
Ron glared angrily at Yuffie, "Your boyfriend almost killed the rest of us!"
Vincent made a face, "She’s not my girlfriend."
Yuffie stuck her tongue out at Vincent and folded her arms.
"A hundred points deducted from Gryffindor for their reckless behaviour!" Snape said. "But 50 points to Slytherin for Mr. Gabbiani’s assistance in fighting the monster."
Setzer only looked up briefly, nodded to his professor, and then turned his attention to Hermione.
"Well," Dumbledore cleared his throat, "as long as we are awarding points in battling against the monster, we must award 50 points a piece to Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasely, as well as 50 points to Miss Chere and Miss Alexandros. That’s 100 to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, I believe."
Snape looked like he was about to become ill, but he did not dare protest.
"I guess we can award another 50 to Miss Granger," Dumbledore continued.
"What happened to Hermione, Professor?" Harry interrupted. "Why did she turn into this...thing?"
"Tina is not a thing!" Setzer shot an offended glare at Harry.
"Why are you calling her ‘Tina’?" Ron asked.
Setzer suddenly looked embarrassed, "I’m sorry, I meant Hermione. Before the beast attack, she was trying to tell me about her strange dreams, about living a past life."
"What dreams were these, young man?" Dumbledore asked the white-haired boy.
Setzer took a deep breath, "I’m not sure if it’s old memory or a dream, but I remember a girl named Tina. She was a powerful witch, and she could turn herself into a fire-creature, like Hermione did today." He looked wistfully at Hermione, "I think...she was my best friend."
Ron whispered to Harry, "This is just weird."
Harry responded, "I know. I met people named Vincent and Yuffie in my dream, too..."
McGonagall interrupted Harry, "If you can shed any light on the situation, it would be much appreciated, instead of keeping it a secret between your little circle of friends."
"Sorry, Professor," Harry spoke up, "Well, I’ve been having dreams, about a man named Vincent," he pointed to the boy in bed, "who could turn himself into beasts. Yuffie was in them, too."
"Cool!" Yuffie bounced.
"Not so cool for me," Harry frowned. "Bad enough I got to be the Boy-Who-Lived. Now we have to grapple with being heroes in a past life!"
Ron looked over to Garnet and Celes, who were hanging back from the discussion. Garnet was particularly pretty-long hair and a heart-shaped face. Ron waved shyly. Garnet smiled and waved back. Suddenly, Ron had his own deja-vu feeling about Garnet.
"Mr. Weasely," McGonagall asked him, interrupting his flirting, "Anything else to add?"
"I was a monkey-man, protecting a princess named Dagger." Ron blushed.
The other students laughed, except Garnet, who had a shocked look on her face.
"That was my nickname at Beauxbatons!" Garnet gasped. "Well, that is what it would translate from French into English. My papa gave me his magic hunting knife as a good luck charm!"
"Bloody hell!" Ron jumped up, "You look just like her, too-the princess!"
"Do I look familiar to anyone?" Celes asked, confused and slightly annoyed.
"You remind me of my favorite opera star," Setzer smiled.
Celes rolled her eyes, "I’m a witch, not some opera floozy."
"EVERYONE STOP!" Harry shouted. "My head hurts..."
"Your scar, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, not that, sir," Harry said. "I have no idea why this is all happening, and why it’s all happening to me!"
"You??" Setzer stood up in front of Harry, glaring at him. "Don’t you mean ‘us’? You’re not the one lying comatose in bed! You’re not the one who got turned into a beast thing! Quit acting like you’re the only one involved, because you’re not!"
Harry did not appreciate being lectured to by a Slytherin, but he knew Setzer was right. "I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m just so confused."
"You and I both," Setzer’s face softened, "If it’s alright with you and your friends, I’d like to help, in any way I can."
Harry had trouble trusting any Hogwarts student who wore green, "What’s in it for you?"
Setzer looked back at Hermione, "I want to help her. She’s been nice to me. Even students in my own house haven’t been quite so nice. I don’t care if she’s a...what’s that word the other Slytherin students use?"
"Mudblood, and don’t you dare use it. Ever. It’s not a polite word," Harry warned him.
"Whatever, I’ll avoid it. Anyway, I just want to help Tina...I mean Hermione. She’s my friend, too."
Harry was shocked-a Slytherin called muggle-born Hermione "friend." That was only the third most unusual event of the day. Harry somehow sensed that Setzer was being sincere, "Alright, then." The two boys shook hands in agreement.
"I am going to summon Miss Tonks to the school," Dumbledore announced. "I think she can may be of some help."
****
Hermione was back in her dreams again. She was flying through the skies. There was no broom, no magic carpet underneath her. She was as free as a bird. Beside her was a giant zeppelin, a marvel of metal and gas. At its helm was Setzer, his blond hair flying in the wind. He looked at her, smiling, waving. He called out to her, "Tina! Tina!"
"Tina," that same voice summoned her back from her dream. Setzer sat by her bed. It was dark, and there was only one candle to illuminate them.
"Where....what happened," Hermione’s voice sounded strange to her.
"It’s the middle of the night," Setzer whispered. "I’m not supposed to be down here this late, or I’ll have those fifty points deducted back by Snape."
Hermione rubbed her eyes, then screamed at the sight of her glowing, fiery hand. Setzer threw his hand over her mouth to muffle her scream, as not to awaken the sleeping Madam Pomfrey.
"Don’t panic," Setzer said calmly, although Hermione’s burning face was filled with nothing but panic and horror.
"Don’t panic," Setzer repeated, "but something...strange happened to you when you fought against the monster."
"What....," Hermione’s voice trembled, "....happened...to me??"
"You morphed," Setzer said. "The magical power inside you burst out and turned you into an elemental."
"Mirror..." Hermione looked around feverishly, "can I have a mirror?"
Setzer hesitated for a moment, but drew out his polished silver card case. In its reflection, Hermione saw a very alien-looking face-her own.
"I’m a monster!" She squeaked, softly sobbing.
"You’re not a monster," Setzer sat on her bed, embracing her. He let her head rest on his shoulder. Although she appeared to be burning, Hermione did not burn Setzer-not his skin, not his clothes.
"You’re all warm and tingly, though," Setzer whispered into her ear. Hermione wept on his shoulder, her tears soaking into his green button-down shirt. Setzer just held her tightly in his arms, his hand combing through her hair.
"It’s going to be alright, Tina," Setzer whispered. "I’m here. I won’t let anything...I’m sorry, I just called you Tina. It’s..."
"You can call me Tina if you like," Hermione replied.
They held each other for another minute, until Setzer heard Madam Pomfrey stir. He lay Hermione back into her bed, kissed her goodnight, and disappeared into the darkness.
***
The next morning, Vincent and Yuffie stood in Snape’s office, as the Potions-master tried to determine the ingredients of their wayward concoction. Snape scraped, sniffed, even tasted what was left in the children’s cauldron, and his sallow face cringed with disgust.
"This potion wouldn’t even put whiskers on a kitten," Snape looked down his pointed nose at the two students. Yuffie was trembling, but Vincent looked completely calm, almost unconcerned.
"How did you do it?" Snape walked out from behind his chemistry bench and stared down Vincent. "How did you turn into a beast?"
A woman strode into Snape’s office, "That’s what I’m here to find out." Nymphadora Tonks, sporting a jet-black, choppy, asymmetrical shag, approached the teacher and the troublesome students. "Mad-Eye" Moody followed closely behind, his magical false-eye spinning wildly in its orbit.
Snape seemed rather annoyed at the interruption, "This is a school matter, Miss Tonks. There is no need for Aurors to be involved in student pranks."
"No, but there may be a need for a Metamorph," Tonks replied. "Professor Dumbledore felt that my expertise in the subject may be of some use."
"This was not some little parlor trick like changing hairstyles, Miss Tonks," Snape sneered at her. "This...boy," he glared at Vincent, "transformed into something dangerous and potential lethal!"
Mad-Eye was sniffing the cauldron, "What’d they use? Dragon tongue? Ogre bile?"
Snape was fiercely protective of his territory--his lab, and swooped over the grab the cauldron away, "Scraps from dinner-mostly turkey bones and bits of pumpkin seeds."
Mad-Eye laughed loudly, "Ah! Kid’s stuff! Brings back memories of, when I was a second-year, Tony Twiggleplick and I tried to make a potion to rid our mattresses of bed-lice! We used Muggle mothballs and owl droppings!" Mad-Eye guffawed.
Tonks, meanwhile, crouched in front of little Vincent and Yuffie, "Hi, I’m Tonks. You must be first-year students."
Vincent just nodded. Yuffie held out her hand, "I’m Yuffie. This is Vincent. He’s my boyfriend!"
Vincent growled at Yuffie, "I am not your..."
Tonks winked, "It’s OK. I won’t tell. Now, Vincent, can you tell me what happened, when you two were mixing your potion?"
Vincent was silent for a moment, then he spoke softly, "We were mixing in the pulp from the pumpkin juice, then the cauldron started to make a funny gurgling noise."
"Alright," Tonks urged him to continue.
"I knew something was wrong. I didn’t want Yuffie to get hurt." Vincent looked over at his partner-in-crime. "I had to do something. Something to protect her before the potion exploded."
"It made a big BANG and there was a lot of smoke!" Yuffie interjected.
"It hurt," Vincent said, his eyes fixed on the floor. "The noise, the explosion. The smoke burnt my eyes and my nose. But I wanted to protect Yuffie. I imagined myself as being big and strong so I could guard her from the blast. I guess....I just lost control."
Tonks looked at Mad-Eye and Snape, with a look of concern.
"That’s why you can’t be my girlfriend!" Vincent said suddenly to Yuffie. "I’ve got a monster inside me! And even when I try to do good, I always mess things up! I don’t wanna hurt you, too! I’m too scary to be your boyfriend!"
Yuffie looked at Vincent and said, "I’m not afraid of you, Vincent." Yuffie threw her arms around Vincent and gave him a big hug.
Snape rolled his eyes, "Touching."
Mad-Eye coughed, "So, the kid’s a Metamorph. What now?"
Tonks spoke to Vincent, "I’m a Metamorph, too. See?" Tonks’ hair turned from black to platinum-blonde, "That’s not all I can do. I can help you, teach you how to control your talent, and it is a talent. I’m going to go see a girl in the hospital wing, but afterwards, we’re all going to sit down for a chat? OK?"
Vincent nodded his head.
"Good. ‘Till then, chin up, kid. Everything’s gonna be OK," Tonks smiled.
Mad-Eye and Tonks left the office together. The older Auror whispered to the younger, "You heard that? ‘Too scary’ and ‘too dangerous’?"
"Yeah," Tonks gave a peck on Mad-Eye’s scared lips, "Sounds familiar. Didn’t deter me one bit." She gave a quick squeeze on Moody’s bottom, and the older man jumped in his boots.
Once the couple had approached the hospital wing, however, they were in for a surprise. Hermione was nowhere to be found.
"She suddenly flew out the window!" Madam Pomfrey was in a panic.
"I thought brooms weren’t allowed inside," Tonks asked.
"That’s just it, Miss Tonks," Pomfrey said breathlessly, "she wasn’t using one!"
The students inside Hogwarts became distracted by what appeared to be a shooting comet whizzing past the classroom windows. The professors were helpless in controlling their pupils as the students jumped from their desks to get a closer look.
Hermione circled the turrets, dived through the courtyard and soared across the expansive lake. She used to hate flying. She dreaded the broom lessons in first year. She did not much like her ride on Buckbeak in her second year. Yet, without broom or beast, she had never felt so free. At that moment, she did not care about how frightening she looked.
"Hermione!" The young witch heard Harry’s voice calling out after her.
"Tina!" Another voice from not-too-far away was heard.
Harry looked over to his left, and saw a glipse of white hair and green cloth. The other rider resembled Malfoy, except Harry remembered Hermione’s new friend.
"Setzer, go back! I got this!" Harry yelled.
"If you think you can catch her on that toothpick, be my guest!" Setzer smirked, gripping his Falcon and shooting like a bullet. Harry sighed, kicking his Firebolt and chased after them both.
The golden snitch was far smaller and less brilliant than Hermione’s new form, but even that little orb was not as difficult to catch. Hermione was utterly lost in the sensation of flight--she spiraled wildly across the fields, and made hairpin turns. She very nearly collided into the broom-riding students.
Setzer managed to catch up to her, "If you wanted some air, I would have been happy to accompany you."
Harry watched the Slytherin rider, and was at the same time amazed and envious of his skill. For all of Hermione’s wild air antics, she just could not shake Setzer. His broom spiraled, rocketed and dove in near perfect unison with her erratic flightpath. Eventually, Setzer reached over and grabbed Hermione’s arm. His attempt at slowing her down was not effective, as the fire-witch dragged him across the skies.
As the Slytherin was able to slow her down just a bit, Harry reached for his wand and cried out, "Impedimenta!" Suddenly, Hermione came to a sudden stop, as Setzer prevented her from dropping. The Slytherin pulled the immobile witch onto his lap, as he straddled his broom mid-air.
"Sorry, Hermione," Harry caught up with the pair. "Nice flying, Setzer. Ever think of joining the Quiddich team?"
"But who would organize the betting pool?" Setzer shrugged and winked. His attentions soon turned to the girl on his lap.
Harry asked, "Why do you keep calling her Tina?"
Setzer said somberly, "It’s a secret-between her and me. Come on, I think our professors will be very cross at us for leaving school grounds without permission."
Certain professors were cross, but some were more forgiving than others.
"Fifty points for leaving school grounds!" Snape sneered at Harry and Hermione, "But fifty points awarded to Slytherin for Mr. Gabbiani’s efforts in returning the students."
"But sir...!" Harry tried to protest, but Setzer beat him to it.
"Sir, Harry Potter was trying to bring Hermione back, too," Setzer politely stated. "He was not part of the problem..."
"I don’t much care for your impertinence," Snape hissed, "Mr. Gabbiani."
Setzer glared back at the head of his house, "I don’t much care for your hair."
Everyone else in the room-Harry, Hermione, Tonks, Moody, the nurse, McGonagall-struggled to stifle their laughter.
"I take back that fifty points!" Snape’s face turned red, "and..."
"We’ll disregard Miss Granger’s misbehavior," McGonagall interrupted, "on a count that her current condition may have affected her mental status. She does, after all, seem to be confused to her own name. Fifty points returned to Gryffindor, with thanks to Mr. Potter."
Snape looked absolutely livid, as he stormed out the hospital wing door.
Meanwhile, Tonks made Hermione look into a hand-held mirror, "I need you to concentrate, luv. Try to remember what you looked like before."
Hermione could not bear to look at her own burning eyes in the looking glass, "I can’t! I can’t look! I’m hideous!"
Setzer walked over to her, "You’re not hideous! You’re beautiful! Just do as the lady says, alright?"
Harry watched silently, with an unreadable look on his face.
Hermione squinted at the image of herself in the mirror. She tried to remember her face, "I have brown hair...no, green...no, brown...I think, ugh! I’m so confused!"
Harry stepped forward, "Hermione, look at me. Remember when we first met on the train, in that first year? Remember how you fixed my glasses?"
Hermione looked at her friend, and those wire-rimmed glasses. Reparo, a simple charm, patched the broken rims instantly. At that moment, she saw her reflection in Harry’s lenses. They were both kids when they both met, both with untamable hair. His black and spiky, hers a mess of brown curls.
"That’s right, I had brown curls! I hated my hair!" Suddenly, Hermione’s hair went from flames to those old, familiar ringlets. Her skin returned to its natural color. She was human again.
"Congrats, luv," Tonks nodded, "You’ve completed metamorphosis."
Setzer looked saddened, and stared down at the floor.
"Welcome back, Hermione," Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Harry," Hermione smiled, then turned to Setzer, "you, too. Thanks."
Setzer looked up, and forced a smile.
"Hey," Harry walked over to Setzer, "I’ve been thinking. You’re not such a bad bloke, for a Slytherin."
"And you’re not such a pussy for a Gryffindor," Setzer smirked.
"Boys," McGonagall used her warning voice.
"Sorry, Ma’am," the boys said in quick unison.
Harry continued with Setzer, "Well, seeing that you and Hermione are friends, I suppose that you and I could be...um...you know...."
"Friends?" Setzer cocked an eyebrow.
Ron burst into the hospital wing, followed by Celes and Garnet, "Hermione! You’re OK! Hey, I’ve been talking with these girls, and we’ve been thinking of starting the old D.A. up again."
"Ron!" Hermione and Harry moaned.
"What’s the D.A.?" Setzer asked.
Harry sighed, "It was sort of a club to practice Defense of the Dark Arts, against the old teacher’s orders."
"Professor Umbridge was relieved of her position here," McGonagall explained matter-of-factly. "I don’t believe there would be any more hindrance in reforming your little club."
Garnet said, excitedly, "We heard you were fighting this Volde-someone. We want to help, too!"
Celes added, calmly, "You will find that we at Beauxbatons are not so unprepared to fight the Dark Arts as you English."
Vincent and Yuffie came running into the hospital wing. Yuffe flailed her arms wildly, "We wanna help, too! We wanna kick some bad-guy butt!"
Vincent looked at Moody and Tonks, "I wanna learn how to use my powers to help people. I wanna do some good things for a change."
Setzer looked at Hermione, "You want me to become friends with these people?"
Hermione smiled, "Consider it a package deal."
Harry looked at Setzer, "What do you say? You in?"
Setzer rubbed his scarred chin, "I don’t know. Some of my housemates worship Voldemort like some kind of messiah. I probably would have to sleep with the lantern on." Setzer looked at Harry and his scars, then looked into Hermione’s eyes.
Setzer shrugged, "Then again, my housemates are arseholes."
"Mr. Gabbiani!" McGonagall was scandalized.
"Sorry again, Ma’am," Setzer muttered half-heartedly, then with full sincerity, grabbed Harry’s hand and shook it, "My life is a chip in your pile. Ante up!"
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Final Fantasy (VI, VII, IX)
Rating: PG (for fantasy violence)
Characters: Cast of "Harry Potter", mixed in with Setzer, Celes (VI), Vincent/Yuffie, (VII), and Garnet (IX)
Pairings: Moody/Tonks, Vincent/Yuffie, Setzer/Tina
for
selena__wolfand the request found here
Notes: My second attempt at this, but this request just begged me to write it. Over 6000(!) words--it could have gone longer, but I don't know how much I could fit on one post. I may have diverged from the request very, very slightly, but all the important stuff is in there--particuarly Tonks/Moody and Vincent/Yuffie. I used Tina, the original name for Terra, from the Japanese Version of FFVI. It's one, long, mess, but I hope you like it!
Summary: Hermione has memories of herself as Tina, Harry as Cloud, and Ron has Zidane. Suddenly, they encounter some new friends at school.
**
Hermione had not told the others about her dreams.
In them, she is wrapped in fire, shooting across the skies like a comet. Instead of a wand, she uses a sword. Her spells are ridiculously simple: "Fire!" "Life!" "Ultima!" There is a horrible, laughing harlequin, and he wants to kill her. She fights him, and she wins.
There are people in her dream: people she cares about, people she loves, people she has never met before...or has she?
Hermione never told the others about her dreams. They were just too ridiculous to believe. They were the products of storybooks and television, Hermione convinced herself.
Sitting in Ancient Runes, Hermione noticed a boy sitting next to her. He had been at Hogwarts since she started, in another House-a Slytherin. Why she never took notice him before was a mystery to her. He was pale as marble, with fine, purplish scars across his cheeks, jaw and forehead. His white hair was neatly pulled back in a ponytail. He looked like a kinder, younger Lucius Malfoy. Hermione was not aware that she was staring, until the professor snapped her out of her gazing.
"Miss Granger!" the professor chirped, "I asked a question and your hand wasn’t the first one up! Are you alright?"
The comment got chuckles from the other students. Hermione blushed. The pale Slytherin smiled at her, too. Hermione blushed more.
****
"It’s the darndest thing," Hermione ate her lunch with Harry and Ron, "how can you see a boy every day and not notice him until now?"
Ron and Harry looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"Anyway, Hermione," Ron said, "He’s Slytherin. I’d stay clear if I were you."
"But it’s like we’ve met before!" Hermione insisted. "Like in some other dimension."
"I thought you didn’t believe in Divination," Harry teased her.
"I don’t. It’s all rubbish!" Hermione huffed, "But it’s...it’s as if I’ve lived another life."
Ron almost choked on his biscuit. Harry went pale.
"Guys?" Hermione sensed she had touched a nerve.
Ron looked at Harry intently, "Tell her."
"No! It’s stupid!" Harry said.
"Is it your scar again?" Hermione asked in a panic.
"No, no, it’s not that," Harry waved his hand, then took a deep breath, "I’ve been having...dreams...of another life."
"I’ve been dreaming I was a monkey-man in a flying theatre, working with a band of mercenaries!" Ron said, excited.
Harry stared at Ron, then said to Hermione, "Like I said, stupid."
"Maybe not," Hermione urged him, "Just tell me."
"Well, um," Harry struggled to find the words, "It’s not easy to explain. It’s like...I was a swordsman. And I had a bloody big sword!"
"A blade bigger than a first-year," Ron mumbled with mouthful of biscuit.
"My story, Monkey-boy," Harry glared at him, "Anyway, there’s a city-one half is above and the other half is below, like some big, round sandwich. There’s some magic, but it comes out of this...glowing stuff. There’s all these people...Vincent, Yuffie...yeah, it’s pretty daft." Harry finished hurriedly and dove into his plate with his fork.
"I’d been having dreams, too," Hermione said quietly. The boys looked up, and she described them.
"You think it means anything?" Harry asked.
"We’re probably making too big a deal out of this!" Ron said, "They’re only dreams!"
"Extremely detailed, elaborate dreams," Hermione said. "Maybe Ron’s right. None of the magic matches the real world. Still, maybe we should record them, like in a diary."
"Good idea," Harry nodded. "And keep us informed of your mystery man." Harry winked, before being hit in the forehead by a projectile strawberry, courtesy of Miss Granger.
***
Hermione found her mystery boy, hiding in between the bookcases in the library with another Slytherin. They were doing something obviously against rules, Hermione sniffed to herself.
"I win," the pale boy said brightly.
"You cheated," the other Slytherin hissed like their mascot, "I’m telling..."
"You’ll tell, eh," the pale boy arched an eyebrow, "and get detention for illegal gaming?"
The Slytherin fumed, "I’ll get my ten gold pieces back, Scar-Face, you watch!" The loser stormed away, rudely bumping into Hermione, "Out of my way, Mudblood!"
"Away with you, sore loser," the mysterious boy brushed him off, then looked at Hermione with a strange, unreadable glare. Hermione felt like she was in trouble, even though she wasn’t the one doing wrong.
"You alright? Some people just have no manners," the boy smirked.
"Yeah....fine..." Hermione felt her brain freeze, as if under a Stupify hex.
"Setzer," the boy extended an elegant, thin hand, "You’re a Gryffindor, right. Don’t worry, I won’t hold that against you."
Hermione laughed, then quickly suppressed it-she was in the library. She accepted his hand, "I hope you know that cards are against the rules..."
"I know. Wanna play?"
"What?" Hermione squeaked. This boy had no regards for the rules, not unlike certain friends of hers.
"I said," Setzer leaned in closer to her ear, "Do you want to play?" Setzer’s breath against her skin, his lips just barely touching her ear, it sent shivers down Hermione’s spine.
"Um, no," Hermione stepped back, her face scarlet red, "I...can’t...not...not now..." She tried to compose herself. "Later?" She sheepishly asked.
"Seven, by the Astronomy Tower, tomorrow night. See you then," Setzer flashed a charming smile before running off to another one of his classes.
Hermione could not believe what happened. She made a date with a Slytherin! Why then, she asked silently, did it not seem at all strange?
*****
Hermione had another dream. She and Setzer were playing cards, but some things were different. In real life, Setzer is a 16-year-old boy, but in her dream, he was slightly older. Instead of his school uniform, he was wearing a long, black leather coat, a white silk shirt and black leather trousers. He had multiple gold rings on his fingers and gold bangles on his wrists. His hair was untied and wild. Over his cards, he stared at Hermione with an intense gaze. She blushed, winding a finger around curly, green hair. He revealed his cards-he won.
"Now do I get my prize?" Setzer grinned from ear to ear.
Hermione smiled back, moving from her seat onto Setzer’s lap. His arms wrapped around her lithe torso, as his elegant fingers brushed through her curly locks. They kissed...
...and Hermione woke up. If she recorded this dream, she will need a lock and key on her diary.
******
Two owls came to the window of Tonks’ bedroom. Both owls were not for the young witch, however. One owl pulled at her pink-and-black shag, rousing her from her sleep. The other perched on her bedpost, not daring to awaken the other occupant.
"Al," Tonks nudged, as he unrolled her letter, "you have an owl."
Moody sat up with a start, "They’ve found my location! We must move out, now!"
"Calm down," Tonks sighed, "They’re from Hermione."
"Who?" Moody stared at her with his magiked eye.
"She’s a friend of Harry Potter’s."
"Oh, HIM," Moody rubbed his natural eye, and grabbed the letter from the trembling owl. The terrified bird collapsed onto the floor as Moody read the letter.
"Wot’s it say?" Tonks yawned, reading her own.
"Hmmm..." Moody studied the paper, as if it were potentially booby-trap. "It’s asking if dreams of past lives could be a form of attack."
"Is it?" Tonks asked.
"Of course not!" Moody grumbled, "I ain’t no Divinator, but I’ve heard that some wizards have suppressed memories of past lives. Not that I ever believed in such a thing. What does your letter say?"
Tonks giggled, "Hermione is asking me what courses she needs to be a Metamorph. She wants to turn her hair green."
***
Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room, Ron stumbled across two first-years playing with a cauldron. One was a Japanese girl, anxiously bouncing on her knees. The other was a boy, with long, black hair, and his scarf wrapped around his chin.
Whatever the two little kids were cooking, it was burning Ron’s nostrils, "What the bloody hell are you two cooking?"
The girl bounced up to her feet, "We’re making a monster to fight Volde..."
The long-haired boy tapped her with his wand. The girl stopped, "Oops...I mean You-Know-Who! You fight You-Know-Who with Harry Potter, don’cha, Mr. Weasy?"
"It’s Weasley," Ron said, "and you can’t just make monsters!"
"Oh yes we can!" The little girl proclaimed, "Watch!" She tapped the cauldron with her wand, and the black pot exploded with a ear-shattering *BOOM!* Ron coughed violently, then tried to clear the smoke away with his wand. His stomach sank with the feeling that two little students had blown themselves up to Kingdom Come!
"Kids!" Ron cried out! "Are you alright?" Ron found the girl, passed out on the floor, but he didn’t find the boy. The red-headed wizard heard growling behind him. He turned around, and his freckled face went pale. A large, purple monster with black horns was staring back at him.
"Harry," Ron squeaked, "help!"
***
On the staircases to the dormitories, Harry came across two girls, in need of assistance with their heavy load of books. They were two girls Harry had never seen before.
"We just transfered from Beauxbatons," one of the girls--a slender, pale blonde-happily handed Harry some of her tomes. She spoke with a French accent.
"We are still finding our way around the school," the other girl, a raven-haired brunette, spoke with an Eastern European, possibly Czech or Greek accent. She piled some of her texts onto Harry.
Harry grunted under the weight of the textbooks-he didn’t remember his own books being this heavy. "I’m just happy to help...um..."
"Celes Chere," the blonde, dressed in yellow, answered.
"I am Garnet Alexandros," the brunette followed, also dressed in yellow. They must have been sorted into Hufflepuff, Harry noticed.
"Are all hommes in Hogwarts gentlemen like you?" Celes smiled at Harry. Harry had not felt himself blush since he broke it off with Cho.
"Well, most people here are pretty nice," Harry said, feeling a bit more the knight in shining armor, "a few nutters, but for the most part, we all get along and don’t cause too much trouble."
Contradiction to Harry’s words came in the form of a giant purple beast bursting through the Gryffindor dormitory wall. The beast howled hideously, as Ron and a little girl desperately clung to its back.
"HAAAARRRY!" Ron gripped the horns of the beast, like an American cowboy riding a bucking bull. "HEEELLLP!"
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Harry muttered to the girls apologetically. "Quick, get into your common room! We’ll take care of this!"
The girls did not look a bit frightened. Instead, both witches had their wands drawn.
"That bete is blocking our way upstairs," Celes said, with a steely gaze, "Besides, we are also trained against the dark arts."
"We do not want to hurt the two children on top!" Garnet pointed to the little girl, screaming.
"VINCENT!" The little child squeaked, "You calm down right now!"
"Vincent?!" Harry suddenly had the strangest sense of deja-vu.
The beast spat out a fireball towards Harry and the girls. Before Harry could deflect it, Celes’ wand absorbed the fireball. She then flicked the wand in the beast’s direction, throwing the fireball back into the purple monster’s face. The beast howled, nearly throwing Ron and his co-passenger off.
"Watch out, Ron is still on top of that beast’s head!" Harry shouted. Suddenly, the beast leapt over the railings and plummeted down the stairwell. Ron and the little girl screamed, hanging on for dear life.
"RON!" Harry dumped the load of books against the wall, as he sped down the stairs. The girls followed behind.
Elsewhere, Hermione and Setzer were walking down the corridor, discussing their Ancient Runes class. Runes was second on Hermione’s mind at that moment.
"Setzer," Hermione was afraid to ask the question, but she needed answers, "do you believe in past lives?"
"Thinking of rejoining Divination?" Setzer cocked an eyebrow.
"No, never! It’s just," Hermione felt a little silly. She didn’t want to be perceived as anything remotely silly in front of such an elegant young man. "It’s just...I’ve been having bizarre dreams lately. They’re so vivid, and so persistent. Harry had dreams like this last year, and it was because You-Know-Who was luring him into a trap. I’m just worried that..."
Hermione’s train of thought was interrupted by a loud crash, like a cannonball hitting a stone wall.
"That can’t be good," Hermione sighed. She started running down the corridor, with a confused Setzer following closely behind. They were the only two people running towards the commotion, while the rest of the school seemed to be stampeding in the opposite direction, screaming and shouting.
"Hermione, slow down!" Setzer pushed and shoved past the panicked mob, just to keep up with the Gryffindor. "It could just be someone’s Potions homework backfiring..."
A purple beast, with a red-headed boy and a little Japanese girl as riders, was the cause of the commotion.
"Ron!" Hermione shouted.
"Whoa," Setzer’s eyes were wide-open, "That’s one bad potion..."
The beast barreled down the corridor, growling menacingly.
Hermione grabbed her wand. Setzer was shaking something in his hand. Hermione shot a stupify hex at the beast, but it seemed to do little to slow it down. Setzer threw out some shiny stones at the beast-dice engraved with runes. Suddenly, long daggers of light sliced into the beast.
Ron jumped off to avoid being hit, and pulled the little girl off with him. The beast cried out in agony.
"Don’t hurt Vincent!" The little girl screamed at Setzer.
Ron dusted himself off after a less-than-graceful landing, as Harry finally arrived onto the scene.
"Ron! Are you alright?" Harry panted, out of breath.
"I’m alright," Ron was shaking like a leaf, "I don’t know what happened, Harry. One minute, these kids are messing with a potion, the next..."
The beast recovered from the dice’s spell, and decided to take revenge on its caster. The beast hurled itself at Setzer, as the white-haired boy drew out his deck of cards. He tossed the razor-edged cards at the beast, as they cut into its flesh like daggers. This only further enraged the beast, as it grabbed Setzer by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"Drop him!" Hermione shouted, and spat out another hex. This time, a long, green bolt of lightning poured into the beast. Out of pain, the purple monster dropped Setzer and refocused its rage at the curly-haired witch. The bolt of magic was slowing the beast down, but it still lurched closer and closer to Hermione.
Harry and Ron shot hexes into the beast’s back, trying to distract or even stop the violet juggernaut from reaching their friend. Celes and Garnet joined in, raising their wands and shooting hexes into the monster. Nothing they were throwing at it was working-the beast inched closed to Hermione.
"That girl!" Garnet pointed, "She’s glowing!"
Also his view was partly obstructed by the beast, Harry could see that Hermione was suddenly glowing purple. She was still locked with the monster, wand raised, shooting a massive surge of energy into the beast. Sweat poured down her face, and her eyes burned with a mystic fire. Setzer regained his breath, and stared at Hermione in both horror and amazement.
The beast’s claws were inches from Hermione’s head. Hermione glowed brighter, as her wand’s spell grew more intense. Suddenly, she screamed, and appeared to burst into flames.
"HERMIONE!" A chorus of boy’s voices screamed.
Hermione was not consumed. Instead, in her place, a creature of purple fire floated in mid-air. Her hair whipped around her, and her eyes glowed green like burning emeralds.
"She’s a fairy!" The little Japanese girl gasped.
The fire-woman stared down the beast. From within her, a massive wave of magical energy washed over the beast, knocking it off its feet.
"Run!" Harry and Ron grabbed the girls, as they ducked into a doorway. The whole corridor glowed with a blinding light, and a deafening howl was heard. When the light died down, Harry poked his head out of the doorway.
The beast was nowhere to be seen. Instead, an unconscious, dark-haired boy lay on the stone floor. Setzer crawled next to the fire-girl, also unconscious. The white-haired boy stroked her cheek gently.
"Hermione!" Harry, Ron and the girls came running toward Setzer.
"Vincent?" The little girl shook Vincent’s shoulder vigorously, "Wake up! We’re in big trouble!"
Harry and Ron stared at Hermione in amazement and confusion. Setzer lifted her onto his lap and cradled her, "It’s OK, Tina. I’m here. You’re safe. That beasty is gone."
"Tina?" Harry and Ron asked in unison. The professors finally showed up-Snape and McGonagall and Dumbledore. Harry knew that he and his classmates had some explaining to do, as well as some big questions to ask.
****
"It seems as if Gryffindors have made a game out of stealing ingredients out of my storage room," Snape said dryly, staring at the guilty twosome.
Vincent ate his soup, sitting up in bed, "It was my idea, sir. I wanted to become stronger, in case I had to fight Volde...I mean You-Know-Who. Yuffie insisted that she help."
"That girl almost killed him!" Yuffie, the little girl, pointed at Hermione, still glowing, still wrapped in purple fire, and still out cold.
Ron glared angrily at Yuffie, "Your boyfriend almost killed the rest of us!"
Vincent made a face, "She’s not my girlfriend."
Yuffie stuck her tongue out at Vincent and folded her arms.
"A hundred points deducted from Gryffindor for their reckless behaviour!" Snape said. "But 50 points to Slytherin for Mr. Gabbiani’s assistance in fighting the monster."
Setzer only looked up briefly, nodded to his professor, and then turned his attention to Hermione.
"Well," Dumbledore cleared his throat, "as long as we are awarding points in battling against the monster, we must award 50 points a piece to Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasely, as well as 50 points to Miss Chere and Miss Alexandros. That’s 100 to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, I believe."
Snape looked like he was about to become ill, but he did not dare protest.
"I guess we can award another 50 to Miss Granger," Dumbledore continued.
"What happened to Hermione, Professor?" Harry interrupted. "Why did she turn into this...thing?"
"Tina is not a thing!" Setzer shot an offended glare at Harry.
"Why are you calling her ‘Tina’?" Ron asked.
Setzer suddenly looked embarrassed, "I’m sorry, I meant Hermione. Before the beast attack, she was trying to tell me about her strange dreams, about living a past life."
"What dreams were these, young man?" Dumbledore asked the white-haired boy.
Setzer took a deep breath, "I’m not sure if it’s old memory or a dream, but I remember a girl named Tina. She was a powerful witch, and she could turn herself into a fire-creature, like Hermione did today." He looked wistfully at Hermione, "I think...she was my best friend."
Ron whispered to Harry, "This is just weird."
Harry responded, "I know. I met people named Vincent and Yuffie in my dream, too..."
McGonagall interrupted Harry, "If you can shed any light on the situation, it would be much appreciated, instead of keeping it a secret between your little circle of friends."
"Sorry, Professor," Harry spoke up, "Well, I’ve been having dreams, about a man named Vincent," he pointed to the boy in bed, "who could turn himself into beasts. Yuffie was in them, too."
"Cool!" Yuffie bounced.
"Not so cool for me," Harry frowned. "Bad enough I got to be the Boy-Who-Lived. Now we have to grapple with being heroes in a past life!"
Ron looked over to Garnet and Celes, who were hanging back from the discussion. Garnet was particularly pretty-long hair and a heart-shaped face. Ron waved shyly. Garnet smiled and waved back. Suddenly, Ron had his own deja-vu feeling about Garnet.
"Mr. Weasely," McGonagall asked him, interrupting his flirting, "Anything else to add?"
"I was a monkey-man, protecting a princess named Dagger." Ron blushed.
The other students laughed, except Garnet, who had a shocked look on her face.
"That was my nickname at Beauxbatons!" Garnet gasped. "Well, that is what it would translate from French into English. My papa gave me his magic hunting knife as a good luck charm!"
"Bloody hell!" Ron jumped up, "You look just like her, too-the princess!"
"Do I look familiar to anyone?" Celes asked, confused and slightly annoyed.
"You remind me of my favorite opera star," Setzer smiled.
Celes rolled her eyes, "I’m a witch, not some opera floozy."
"EVERYONE STOP!" Harry shouted. "My head hurts..."
"Your scar, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"No, not that, sir," Harry said. "I have no idea why this is all happening, and why it’s all happening to me!"
"You??" Setzer stood up in front of Harry, glaring at him. "Don’t you mean ‘us’? You’re not the one lying comatose in bed! You’re not the one who got turned into a beast thing! Quit acting like you’re the only one involved, because you’re not!"
Harry did not appreciate being lectured to by a Slytherin, but he knew Setzer was right. "I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m just so confused."
"You and I both," Setzer’s face softened, "If it’s alright with you and your friends, I’d like to help, in any way I can."
Harry had trouble trusting any Hogwarts student who wore green, "What’s in it for you?"
Setzer looked back at Hermione, "I want to help her. She’s been nice to me. Even students in my own house haven’t been quite so nice. I don’t care if she’s a...what’s that word the other Slytherin students use?"
"Mudblood, and don’t you dare use it. Ever. It’s not a polite word," Harry warned him.
"Whatever, I’ll avoid it. Anyway, I just want to help Tina...I mean Hermione. She’s my friend, too."
Harry was shocked-a Slytherin called muggle-born Hermione "friend." That was only the third most unusual event of the day. Harry somehow sensed that Setzer was being sincere, "Alright, then." The two boys shook hands in agreement.
"I am going to summon Miss Tonks to the school," Dumbledore announced. "I think she can may be of some help."
****
Hermione was back in her dreams again. She was flying through the skies. There was no broom, no magic carpet underneath her. She was as free as a bird. Beside her was a giant zeppelin, a marvel of metal and gas. At its helm was Setzer, his blond hair flying in the wind. He looked at her, smiling, waving. He called out to her, "Tina! Tina!"
"Tina," that same voice summoned her back from her dream. Setzer sat by her bed. It was dark, and there was only one candle to illuminate them.
"Where....what happened," Hermione’s voice sounded strange to her.
"It’s the middle of the night," Setzer whispered. "I’m not supposed to be down here this late, or I’ll have those fifty points deducted back by Snape."
Hermione rubbed her eyes, then screamed at the sight of her glowing, fiery hand. Setzer threw his hand over her mouth to muffle her scream, as not to awaken the sleeping Madam Pomfrey.
"Don’t panic," Setzer said calmly, although Hermione’s burning face was filled with nothing but panic and horror.
"Don’t panic," Setzer repeated, "but something...strange happened to you when you fought against the monster."
"What....," Hermione’s voice trembled, "....happened...to me??"
"You morphed," Setzer said. "The magical power inside you burst out and turned you into an elemental."
"Mirror..." Hermione looked around feverishly, "can I have a mirror?"
Setzer hesitated for a moment, but drew out his polished silver card case. In its reflection, Hermione saw a very alien-looking face-her own.
"I’m a monster!" She squeaked, softly sobbing.
"You’re not a monster," Setzer sat on her bed, embracing her. He let her head rest on his shoulder. Although she appeared to be burning, Hermione did not burn Setzer-not his skin, not his clothes.
"You’re all warm and tingly, though," Setzer whispered into her ear. Hermione wept on his shoulder, her tears soaking into his green button-down shirt. Setzer just held her tightly in his arms, his hand combing through her hair.
"It’s going to be alright, Tina," Setzer whispered. "I’m here. I won’t let anything...I’m sorry, I just called you Tina. It’s..."
"You can call me Tina if you like," Hermione replied.
They held each other for another minute, until Setzer heard Madam Pomfrey stir. He lay Hermione back into her bed, kissed her goodnight, and disappeared into the darkness.
***
The next morning, Vincent and Yuffie stood in Snape’s office, as the Potions-master tried to determine the ingredients of their wayward concoction. Snape scraped, sniffed, even tasted what was left in the children’s cauldron, and his sallow face cringed with disgust.
"This potion wouldn’t even put whiskers on a kitten," Snape looked down his pointed nose at the two students. Yuffie was trembling, but Vincent looked completely calm, almost unconcerned.
"How did you do it?" Snape walked out from behind his chemistry bench and stared down Vincent. "How did you turn into a beast?"
A woman strode into Snape’s office, "That’s what I’m here to find out." Nymphadora Tonks, sporting a jet-black, choppy, asymmetrical shag, approached the teacher and the troublesome students. "Mad-Eye" Moody followed closely behind, his magical false-eye spinning wildly in its orbit.
Snape seemed rather annoyed at the interruption, "This is a school matter, Miss Tonks. There is no need for Aurors to be involved in student pranks."
"No, but there may be a need for a Metamorph," Tonks replied. "Professor Dumbledore felt that my expertise in the subject may be of some use."
"This was not some little parlor trick like changing hairstyles, Miss Tonks," Snape sneered at her. "This...boy," he glared at Vincent, "transformed into something dangerous and potential lethal!"
Mad-Eye was sniffing the cauldron, "What’d they use? Dragon tongue? Ogre bile?"
Snape was fiercely protective of his territory--his lab, and swooped over the grab the cauldron away, "Scraps from dinner-mostly turkey bones and bits of pumpkin seeds."
Mad-Eye laughed loudly, "Ah! Kid’s stuff! Brings back memories of, when I was a second-year, Tony Twiggleplick and I tried to make a potion to rid our mattresses of bed-lice! We used Muggle mothballs and owl droppings!" Mad-Eye guffawed.
Tonks, meanwhile, crouched in front of little Vincent and Yuffie, "Hi, I’m Tonks. You must be first-year students."
Vincent just nodded. Yuffie held out her hand, "I’m Yuffie. This is Vincent. He’s my boyfriend!"
Vincent growled at Yuffie, "I am not your..."
Tonks winked, "It’s OK. I won’t tell. Now, Vincent, can you tell me what happened, when you two were mixing your potion?"
Vincent was silent for a moment, then he spoke softly, "We were mixing in the pulp from the pumpkin juice, then the cauldron started to make a funny gurgling noise."
"Alright," Tonks urged him to continue.
"I knew something was wrong. I didn’t want Yuffie to get hurt." Vincent looked over at his partner-in-crime. "I had to do something. Something to protect her before the potion exploded."
"It made a big BANG and there was a lot of smoke!" Yuffie interjected.
"It hurt," Vincent said, his eyes fixed on the floor. "The noise, the explosion. The smoke burnt my eyes and my nose. But I wanted to protect Yuffie. I imagined myself as being big and strong so I could guard her from the blast. I guess....I just lost control."
Tonks looked at Mad-Eye and Snape, with a look of concern.
"That’s why you can’t be my girlfriend!" Vincent said suddenly to Yuffie. "I’ve got a monster inside me! And even when I try to do good, I always mess things up! I don’t wanna hurt you, too! I’m too scary to be your boyfriend!"
Yuffie looked at Vincent and said, "I’m not afraid of you, Vincent." Yuffie threw her arms around Vincent and gave him a big hug.
Snape rolled his eyes, "Touching."
Mad-Eye coughed, "So, the kid’s a Metamorph. What now?"
Tonks spoke to Vincent, "I’m a Metamorph, too. See?" Tonks’ hair turned from black to platinum-blonde, "That’s not all I can do. I can help you, teach you how to control your talent, and it is a talent. I’m going to go see a girl in the hospital wing, but afterwards, we’re all going to sit down for a chat? OK?"
Vincent nodded his head.
"Good. ‘Till then, chin up, kid. Everything’s gonna be OK," Tonks smiled.
Mad-Eye and Tonks left the office together. The older Auror whispered to the younger, "You heard that? ‘Too scary’ and ‘too dangerous’?"
"Yeah," Tonks gave a peck on Mad-Eye’s scared lips, "Sounds familiar. Didn’t deter me one bit." She gave a quick squeeze on Moody’s bottom, and the older man jumped in his boots.
Once the couple had approached the hospital wing, however, they were in for a surprise. Hermione was nowhere to be found.
"She suddenly flew out the window!" Madam Pomfrey was in a panic.
"I thought brooms weren’t allowed inside," Tonks asked.
"That’s just it, Miss Tonks," Pomfrey said breathlessly, "she wasn’t using one!"
The students inside Hogwarts became distracted by what appeared to be a shooting comet whizzing past the classroom windows. The professors were helpless in controlling their pupils as the students jumped from their desks to get a closer look.
Hermione circled the turrets, dived through the courtyard and soared across the expansive lake. She used to hate flying. She dreaded the broom lessons in first year. She did not much like her ride on Buckbeak in her second year. Yet, without broom or beast, she had never felt so free. At that moment, she did not care about how frightening she looked.
"Hermione!" The young witch heard Harry’s voice calling out after her.
"Tina!" Another voice from not-too-far away was heard.
Harry looked over to his left, and saw a glipse of white hair and green cloth. The other rider resembled Malfoy, except Harry remembered Hermione’s new friend.
"Setzer, go back! I got this!" Harry yelled.
"If you think you can catch her on that toothpick, be my guest!" Setzer smirked, gripping his Falcon and shooting like a bullet. Harry sighed, kicking his Firebolt and chased after them both.
The golden snitch was far smaller and less brilliant than Hermione’s new form, but even that little orb was not as difficult to catch. Hermione was utterly lost in the sensation of flight--she spiraled wildly across the fields, and made hairpin turns. She very nearly collided into the broom-riding students.
Setzer managed to catch up to her, "If you wanted some air, I would have been happy to accompany you."
Harry watched the Slytherin rider, and was at the same time amazed and envious of his skill. For all of Hermione’s wild air antics, she just could not shake Setzer. His broom spiraled, rocketed and dove in near perfect unison with her erratic flightpath. Eventually, Setzer reached over and grabbed Hermione’s arm. His attempt at slowing her down was not effective, as the fire-witch dragged him across the skies.
As the Slytherin was able to slow her down just a bit, Harry reached for his wand and cried out, "Impedimenta!" Suddenly, Hermione came to a sudden stop, as Setzer prevented her from dropping. The Slytherin pulled the immobile witch onto his lap, as he straddled his broom mid-air.
"Sorry, Hermione," Harry caught up with the pair. "Nice flying, Setzer. Ever think of joining the Quiddich team?"
"But who would organize the betting pool?" Setzer shrugged and winked. His attentions soon turned to the girl on his lap.
Harry asked, "Why do you keep calling her Tina?"
Setzer said somberly, "It’s a secret-between her and me. Come on, I think our professors will be very cross at us for leaving school grounds without permission."
Certain professors were cross, but some were more forgiving than others.
"Fifty points for leaving school grounds!" Snape sneered at Harry and Hermione, "But fifty points awarded to Slytherin for Mr. Gabbiani’s efforts in returning the students."
"But sir...!" Harry tried to protest, but Setzer beat him to it.
"Sir, Harry Potter was trying to bring Hermione back, too," Setzer politely stated. "He was not part of the problem..."
"I don’t much care for your impertinence," Snape hissed, "Mr. Gabbiani."
Setzer glared back at the head of his house, "I don’t much care for your hair."
Everyone else in the room-Harry, Hermione, Tonks, Moody, the nurse, McGonagall-struggled to stifle their laughter.
"I take back that fifty points!" Snape’s face turned red, "and..."
"We’ll disregard Miss Granger’s misbehavior," McGonagall interrupted, "on a count that her current condition may have affected her mental status. She does, after all, seem to be confused to her own name. Fifty points returned to Gryffindor, with thanks to Mr. Potter."
Snape looked absolutely livid, as he stormed out the hospital wing door.
Meanwhile, Tonks made Hermione look into a hand-held mirror, "I need you to concentrate, luv. Try to remember what you looked like before."
Hermione could not bear to look at her own burning eyes in the looking glass, "I can’t! I can’t look! I’m hideous!"
Setzer walked over to her, "You’re not hideous! You’re beautiful! Just do as the lady says, alright?"
Harry watched silently, with an unreadable look on his face.
Hermione squinted at the image of herself in the mirror. She tried to remember her face, "I have brown hair...no, green...no, brown...I think, ugh! I’m so confused!"
Harry stepped forward, "Hermione, look at me. Remember when we first met on the train, in that first year? Remember how you fixed my glasses?"
Hermione looked at her friend, and those wire-rimmed glasses. Reparo, a simple charm, patched the broken rims instantly. At that moment, she saw her reflection in Harry’s lenses. They were both kids when they both met, both with untamable hair. His black and spiky, hers a mess of brown curls.
"That’s right, I had brown curls! I hated my hair!" Suddenly, Hermione’s hair went from flames to those old, familiar ringlets. Her skin returned to its natural color. She was human again.
"Congrats, luv," Tonks nodded, "You’ve completed metamorphosis."
Setzer looked saddened, and stared down at the floor.
"Welcome back, Hermione," Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Harry," Hermione smiled, then turned to Setzer, "you, too. Thanks."
Setzer looked up, and forced a smile.
"Hey," Harry walked over to Setzer, "I’ve been thinking. You’re not such a bad bloke, for a Slytherin."
"And you’re not such a pussy for a Gryffindor," Setzer smirked.
"Boys," McGonagall used her warning voice.
"Sorry, Ma’am," the boys said in quick unison.
Harry continued with Setzer, "Well, seeing that you and Hermione are friends, I suppose that you and I could be...um...you know...."
"Friends?" Setzer cocked an eyebrow.
Ron burst into the hospital wing, followed by Celes and Garnet, "Hermione! You’re OK! Hey, I’ve been talking with these girls, and we’ve been thinking of starting the old D.A. up again."
"Ron!" Hermione and Harry moaned.
"What’s the D.A.?" Setzer asked.
Harry sighed, "It was sort of a club to practice Defense of the Dark Arts, against the old teacher’s orders."
"Professor Umbridge was relieved of her position here," McGonagall explained matter-of-factly. "I don’t believe there would be any more hindrance in reforming your little club."
Garnet said, excitedly, "We heard you were fighting this Volde-someone. We want to help, too!"
Celes added, calmly, "You will find that we at Beauxbatons are not so unprepared to fight the Dark Arts as you English."
Vincent and Yuffie came running into the hospital wing. Yuffe flailed her arms wildly, "We wanna help, too! We wanna kick some bad-guy butt!"
Vincent looked at Moody and Tonks, "I wanna learn how to use my powers to help people. I wanna do some good things for a change."
Setzer looked at Hermione, "You want me to become friends with these people?"
Hermione smiled, "Consider it a package deal."
Harry looked at Setzer, "What do you say? You in?"
Setzer rubbed his scarred chin, "I don’t know. Some of my housemates worship Voldemort like some kind of messiah. I probably would have to sleep with the lantern on." Setzer looked at Harry and his scars, then looked into Hermione’s eyes.
Setzer shrugged, "Then again, my housemates are arseholes."
"Mr. Gabbiani!" McGonagall was scandalized.
"Sorry again, Ma’am," Setzer muttered half-heartedly, then with full sincerity, grabbed Harry’s hand and shook it, "My life is a chip in your pile. Ante up!"