Chapter One

Hermione Granger has always known that she was adopted, it was not something her parents had kept a secret. When she was little girl old enough to understand, already at the age of seven, her parents had sat down with her at their old kitchen table and explained to her that you didn't have to be related by blood to call yourself a family. Now Hermione wouldn't be Hermione if she didn't have a lot of question, but once they were out of the way the issue was no more.

As the years passed and she grew older, Hermione more fully understood the meaning of what her parents had told her that day. It was simply obvious to her that it didn't matter that she and her parents didn't share the same blood, but that did not not make them her parents. They loved each other, cared for each other, and that was more than enough. There were families out there in the world who tries to kill each other, despite being blood related. Blood didn't change things. It might bring on obligations and bonds, but in the end it really didn't matter.

So the girl who had been found by the director on the doorstep of a muggle-orphanage grew up in a light grey house with a white picket fence, thinking she was just another muggleborn witch who got her Hogwarts letter delivered when she was eleven.

The truth was that she had no earthly idea who her biological parents were. For all she knew she could be a muggleborn, which seemed like the most likely option since had been dropped off at a muggle-orphanage, or she could be a half-blood or even a pureblood. Despite being perfectly happy with her life, Hermione couldn't help but be a little curious to find out who she was and where she came from. But every time she would ask her parents about it she got the same response that she always got.

"I'm sorry Darling! The records says parents unknown."

At times the thought of her biological parents made her bitter. Had they really cared so little about her that they didn't care to know her at all? Not only had they left her no information that could someday lead her to them and then they had dumped her on the doorstep in the cover of darkness. In her more mature moments though, she realized that she couldn't judge them. She didn't know them or their reasons, she had no idea what kind of life they had. They might just have been trying to give her the best chance at life.

But lately it had been on her mind a lot more and she had gotten a lot more curious about who her biological parents were. The main reason for the newfound curiosity was the loss of her parents who she had sent off to Australia with no recollection of her whatsoever.

When things had started to quieten down after the battle, she and a ministry official had gone down to Australia to bring them home. But when they finally found them it had proved to be impossible to restore their memories without causing some permanent damage. She had let them be. They had looked so happy in their little house by the beach that she didn't have the heart to take that away from them. She had returned to the Burrow that very same day with a sad smile on her face.

The Burrow was the same lively and merry place as it had always been. Fred had only just survived the battle of Hogwarts. After almost two months in 's he had returned back to normal and ran around the house pranking everyone who dared to enter the house. Harry and Ginny were going strong and had been making the most of the down time since the battle to enjoy each other's company. Ron had grown close to Gabrielle, Fleur's younger sister, her the summer and was spending a lot of time with her at Seashell cottage. Even Molly and Arthur seemed to have grown closer over the last few months.

Everyone had that special someone that they could rely on and share the burden of the war with. Everyone except for her.

It was not that the Weasley's didn't welcome her with open arms, because they did. Both her and Harry had gotten a room of their own at the Burrow. Harry had gotten Bill and Charlie's old room and she had gotten Percy's. The problem was that she didn't feel like she belonged there as much as she used to. Everyone was off in their own little world and had easily fallen back in old patterns, but she hadn't.

Harry and Luna were the only two persons she would even consider to open up to, both of them knew what she was going through. She and Harry had spent several months on the hunt for Horrocruxes, just the two of them, and during that time many secrets had been revealed in the privacy of their tent. Luna and she had gone through the same kind of pain. They had both been at the mercy of Bellatrix Lestrange and her wand and knew the nightmares that haunted them both at night.

When everyone looked for comfort in their significant other, she looked for comfort elsewhere, in finding her biological parents. She imagined that it would bring her something to hold on to, a place where she belonged. And that's how Harry found her, sitting on the couch in the living room of the Burrow with her worn out manila folder that held all the information she had about her past.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously as he walked into the room and took a seat next to her on the couch.

"Where's Ginny?" she was surprised to not see the red haired girl with him, it was certainly a rarity these days.

"She went to see Bill and the kids."

"You didn't want to go with her? To see Teddy?"

"No. I thought I would see how my best friend is doing."

He said it so casually as he slung his arm around her shoulders, like it was the most natural thing in the world, but she could tell by the slight pitch in his voice that he was worried. Hermione smiled lightly at him and let him pull her into his chest. There really was no better comfort when she was upset than her best friends arms, he always made her feel so safe when he held her.

She didn't trust her own voice, positive that it would betray her emotional state, so instead she handed him the picture she had been watching. It was a picture of her and her parents the summer after her fifth year. The three of them had gone to their usual place in France to give her some peace and quiet to rest up and gather her strength after the incident at the ministry and the Department of Mysteries. They had been so happy then, all three of them sported big smiles as they looked into the camera.

"I turn nineteen three weeks after we start school. The age I should be after finishing school. I will inherit everything. The money, the house, the practice… because in the eyes of the law Jean and Mark Granger no longer exist. They died in a car accident coming home from work." tears slipped out of her eyes as she spoke. It hurt to think of her parents as dead.

Harry lay the picture down on the coffee table and gathered her up more tightly in his arms as he made them more comfortable on the couch.

"Are you sure you want to go back to school, Hermione? We can take another year off, people would still gladly hire you whenever you're ready."

No!" she shook her head and her hand grabbed a hold of his shirt tightly. I need to do this Harry. I need something normal back into my life. Everything around me is changing so fast and I don't even know who I am anymore… I might not have died on the battlefield, but something inside of me did. It will never be the same, I can't go back."

"I know." he agreed sadly and she knew that deep down Harry was dealign with the same thing. Ginny might now be a permanent part of his life and he no longer had a death threat hanging over his head, but that is all he has ever known and it is hard to adjust after living your life a certain way for so long.