The Things We Hide
By Akasha Ravensong
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the potterverse. I just like to play with it and fdestroy.. umm did I say destroy... umm... I meant that I like to change it to suit my own purposes... Yea that's it!

Summary: A recent reviewer asked me for a more detailed summary for this story, so here it is!

The Things We hide is a story about Hermione and Severus. Hermione's parents are going through a divorce and her father kinda looses it and treats Hermione very badly. Hermione realizes that she has been living her life a certain way because she has always been trying to live up to people's expectations of herself, but she's never truely lived for herself. That's about to change.

Throughout this story you see Hermione trying to find her own path and trying to cope with what her father has done to her. Severus ends up being the one person who truely understands what she is going through, even better then she herself does. Hermione ends up opening up to Ginny as well, reaffirming their somewhat shaky friendship. Hermione also befriends Blaise and Draco fairly early on in the story. As a result the whole Slytherin house accepts her as one of their own, and through her they accept Ginny.

The things that each character hides from themselves and from the rest of the world will slowly be revealed. The question is will each character be able to accept those truths as they are revealed, or will the break allow those truths to break them? Is true happiness within thier reach?

Love and Light,
Raven Lynne

"We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile...

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!"

Excerpt from: We wear the mask, by Paul Lawrence Dunbar

Chapter One
Hermione hummed a melody to herself as she foraged through her cabinets looking for a snack. The cabinets were mostly empty, her father hadn't gone grocery shopping in a very long time, and he hadn't given her any money recently to go shopping for anything. Pulling a cup from the cupboard, she filled it with water from the tap, and tried not to make a face at the taste. The water definitely had a funny taste compared to the water she was used to drinking at Hogwarts, or the store-bought distilled water her mother used to buy.

She was getting ready to walk out of the room when her father walked in. She had to struggle to avoid crashing into him and not spilling her water. He wasn't watching where he was going. She turned to leave quietly hoping that he had not noticed her at all, and was almost to the stairs before he remembered that he had seen her.

"Useless girl! He screamed angrily. "Hermione! Get your ass into this Kitchen right now."

Damn, Hermione thought. All well, best get this over with. Her father had been very testy and easily angered lately, and Hermione had been taking the brunt of his anger in meaningless chores and punishments. She walked into the kitchen and plastered a fake smile on her face.

"Explain yourself girl!"

"I'm having a snack Daddy." Hermione gestured to the half eaten granola bar she had found.

"That's not what I'm talking about! Look, look right there." He grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around roughly and pointed to the sink. "Do you see those dishes there! Why aren't they done yet, hmmm?"

"Daddy, they're your dishes from last night after I went to bed. I wasn't going to do them until later today after we had lunch, that way I wouldn't have to do the dishes again until after dinner. Its easier then doing them a million times a day." She answered logically.

"OH you think you're smart do you now?" he snapped, getting his face right up next to hers.

Hermione held her breath so she wouldn't cough, his breath smelled of alcohol; he'd been drinking again. She squirmed. He increased the pressure on her shoulders and she gasped at the sudden pain.

"Well answer me you stupid girl!"

"Daddy, you're hurting me..." she whimpered.

"Oh I'm hurting you am I? Well isn't that just to bad. Maybe next time you'll won't do something stupid and won't deserve to be hurt."

He let her go and backed off a step. "Get those dishes done, NOW!"

Hermione didn't move; her father had never acted like this before. She was scared.

"Well what are you waiting for! MOVE!" He ripped the granola bar out of her hands and shoved it into his own mouth and then spun her around and shoved her into the counter. "If those dishes aren't done in ten minutes you'll be sorry child!"

Only when she was back in her room rubbing bruise-balm potion into her shoulders did she allow herself to cry. Why was this happening to her? What had she done? Her father was never like this. Ever since her mom had decided that she was getting a divorce and walked out on him, her dad had been acting weird. She was spending the summer with her dad this year; her mom was on a trip to America.

Please, she prayed to whatever gods were listening, please let my father get himself back under control. She shivered as she heard the front door slam and the car start as her father walked out of the house on another unexplained drive to who knows where, gone for who knows how long. And soon

Authors Notes: I'm pretty sure that i have a beta reader, adn her name is heather! This chapter is dedicated to Her. And yes for once i really did edit this chapter myself so there! I wanted to get this first chapter up so that people knew i had a new story out. !

Blessed Be,
Raven Lynne