Hermione woke up; thinking this day would not be any different from any other days. She would take a shower go to the Great Hall to have breakfast and go to her classes for the day. But today is different from any other day, for tomorrow is her birthday. And it is not every day one becomes seventeen, and is considered an adult in the wizardry world. Yet we must wait for tomorrow to come on its own, for now she was awake and it was not pleasant. Her head was pulsating; it felt as if it was going implode any minute. Her muscles ached, she felt miserable. Hermione got up out of bed and walked over to her wardrobe to retrieve her school uniform. She felt absolutely horrible, but she had potions today and there was no way she could miss it. Professor Snape was liable to take many a point from Gryffindor if she was not present well he might take many if she were present as well. As she put on her shoes and was about to grab her knapsack, she heard a knock on the door.

"Hello Hermione! Are you there?" It was Ron and Harry.

"Just a minute!" she said. When she opened the door, there was Ron and Harry leaning against the wall opposite of her door.

"What took you so long Hermione?" Ron asked.

Hermione replied, "I was feeling sick this morning when I woke up. I had the most awful headache and my muscles were so sore."

Harry had a concerned look upon his face, "Are you okay Hermione? Do you need to visit Madame Pomfrey?"

"No, I don't think so, but thank you for your concern, Harry."

"You are welcome Hermione." Harry said. "You know you are like a sister to me. I just want you to be okay."

"Yeah, Hermione, if you ever need help, you know who to ask!" Ron exclaimed.

"McGonagall?" Hermione only said this to annoy them, and she succeeded. Ron frowned and said, "No silly! Us!"

"Of course I will as you both for help...if I need it. You are the best friends I have around here!" Hermione smilied.

As they walked down the corridors to breakfast, Hermione thought of what she needed to do for the day.

--Well there is Potions first thing this morning, and then I have Ancient Runes, followed by Transfiguration, what a busy day! She thought to herself.

They walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table.

Ah! The morning mail…almost makes me wish that my parent's were not muggles, Hermione thought. All the owls went through out the great hall, when it seemed that one was heading towards her. How odd…she wondered who would send her a letter through an owl? Ron perhaps? Maybe Harry or Ginny? Well I guess I will see.

The owl gently dropped what appeared to be a letter on Hermione's lap.

"Hey Hermione, you have some post!" exclaimed Ron.

"Yes Ron…I never noticed." Sometimes Ron was so unobservant.

She carefully opened the letter and started to read.

To our dearest Hermione,

We hope your 7thyear at Hogwarts has started off well. It's hard to believe we are finally sending you a letter after all these years. We decided to wait until your last year at Hogwarts before we revealed ourselves to you. Oh how to break this…my dear Hermione, you are not a muggleborn. As a matter of fact, this morning you most likely awoke with some pain. Am I right? That is because all that we have done to protect you all these years is about to become undone. When you were a baby we set protective spells on you to keep you safe. And to further protect you we left you with some muggle friends of ours; the Grangers, so sweet and understanding. You may wonder why we left you in the care of muggles…well your mother and I are purebloods. Both of our families were completely serving Lord Voldemort. We both did not care much for that man, but were pressured to join his ranks. We lied to him and said you had died in childbirth. I know this is a lot to take in, but we know you can handle it. Some friends of ours have always complained about that insufferable muggleborn Granger. We have confidence in you. One last thing, we would like to meet you, we wish to see how our dear daughter has grown up. We have already contacted Dumbledore and he has approved our visit to Hogwarts. All we need is for you to say yes. Just send us some post, or tell Dumbledore. We await your reply.

Most affectionately,

Your parents,

Orion Sirius Black

Claudia Valeria Black nee Malfoy