A lifelong secret

Hey,

For once I actually don't know why I wrote this story. It was something that came to me, I needed to write it. And voila here's the story. It took me some time to make the chapter perfect. Some parts took longer than others, I'm trying to put a few mysteries in the story. This is the first chapter. I hope you're looking forward to the next.

DISCLAIMER: All of this characters belong to J. . I'm just making up my own little story with them. I think she's a genius. So I don't think I'm doing better, I actually love everyone so much that I'm presenting this

Enjoy,

TempeGeller


1. Hermione, Not so much Granger

19th September 1979

The 19th September 1979 was a Wednesday. It was a warm beautiful summer day, the abnormal warmth was not expected. The flowers were blooming in all kind of different colors. Everything around them was in a beautiful peace. It was in that neighborhood the Grangers lived. A man and a woman that weren't yet blessed with a child. The woman Jean Granger dreamed of a child ever since she got married. Her husband Mark was part of a big family, he wanted 5 children.

The family Granger lived in a small house at the edge of town. The house had two floors. Three bedrooms and was ready to invite a child. During the beautiful summer, they didn't know the night would change their life.

The night of 19th of September was not like the day. A storm passed by, the rain was beating against the windows. It was the worst storm they had seen in days. Walking through the rain was a young child. She didn't try to cover her ice blond hair with her jacket. She had tidily wrapped around a small package she had in her arms. Her blue eyes stared around in fear. Every 5 steps she turned around to see, if she hadn't been followed. If you asked anyone, they would describe her as awkward. She didn't belong in this neighborhood. No one would be able to explain what the young girl was doing here.

She didn't look a year over 19 years old. Not exactly an age to walk around alone at night. No one would face the storm, yet she ran through it like it was nothing.

The girl had a pale white skin, red blushing cheeks. Even though that could have been from the cold rain clashing to her cheeks. Her hair was wet. And her skirt missed a big part. From the small package a faint cry came. She slowly rocked it back and forward, whispering something quiet to it. A baby, that was what she was carrying.

She turned around the corner, heading to the house. The Grangers lived on number 15, why she chose that house was a question. Maybe the number 15 meant something to her. Or maybe not. Yet this is how the child ended up at the Granger house. The girl moved her pale hand to the door, knocking it softly. The door opened up. At the sight of the girl, the Grangers wanted to ask her in. Yet she shook her head in fear.
"Do you need any help?" Jean reached for her, but the girl pulled her hand away straight away. Mumbling something beneath her breath.

It took only a minute for the young woman to unwrap the basket. A small baby with long hair appeared from it. The girl was laughing as she was handed to the couple. The Grangers stared at the blond in confusion.

"Hermione." The only word that came from her lips. "Raise Hermione."
Jean had the basket in her hand, ready to hand it back to the woman, while Mark tried to put his arm around the young woman's shoulder. She took a step back. Her eyes full of fear. She mumbled about people trying to kill her. After a few second she turned around, returning in the rain. When a loud thunder sounded, she had disappeared.

"What's going on?" Jean realized what had happened. "Where is she?"

"She's gone." Mark said. He closed the door. "I think she wants us to raise her. To raise Hermione."

"Mark, we have to find her." Jean panicked. "We can't raise someone else's child. She's not our baby. She's her baby."
"I think she was scared." Mark spoke "We will have to raise her. Raise her as our own. Our Hermione. Hermione Granger."


It was almost 16 years since Hermione was left on their doorstep. Fifteen full years had passed, yet Jean Granger wasn't able to forget two frightened blue eyes. She wasn't able to forget the pale white skin as she left the baby in her home. Why could she remember her voice so clearly? It almost was a clear memory. For Mark it was the same. In his nightmare the young woman would always return. The woman who had never given her name.

Hermione had grown up a happy girl. She was smart, talented and beautiful. People would always joke that Hermione didn't look like Jean nor Mark. Only they knew the truth. Hermione was in fact a speaking image of her mother. Her face was shaped in the same way and her cheeks had a soft pink color. The soft brown hair was something completely different from the ice blond that haunted them in their dreams. Her eyes were chocolate brown. They were in fact the only thing that separated her from her mother.

In all of those years, they never regretted taking Hermione in. She was a bright student, getting good points in every class. Yet, she wasn't the most popular girl on the playground. Hermione had a strong will, she knew what she believed in and she didn't mind fighting for it. Another trait she had gotten from her beautiful mother. At least that's what the Granger believed. Her motives from that night looked honorable and strong willed.

Hermione also shared the same expression of fear as her mother. Something both Jean and Mark didn't like. Whenever fear came on Hermione's face they were remained of her mother that left her all these years ago.

Somehow her mother had never come up. Each year around her birthday they thought about telling Hermione. Yet, every year an excuse came up. When she was 12, Hermione had left for school. So they were reminded of the secret they shared. It was something they couldn't tell in their birthday cards. So every year it went untold. This year Hermione would become 16. Part of them wanted to tell the secret of Hermione, but a bigger part of them was unable. What if Hermione would be angry? What if she would stand up in rage?

So on the when Hermione came back from Hogwarts, they stared at her. Would this be the chance to tell her?

"What's wrong Hermione?" Jean stepped towards her. "You look pale."
"It's school." Hermione sat down. "Mom, dad, I don't want you to worry, but someone got murdered. They killed this boy, Cedric Diggory."

"Hermione, how could such a thing happen on school ground?" Jean stepped closer. "Moine?"
"Mom, it didn't happen on school grounds." Hermione turned away. "I wrote to you about this tri-wizard tournament. Well, for the last task they had to find a cup in an enchanted labyrinth. Something went terribly wrong, the cup was a portkey."
"What's a portkey darling?" Jean smiled "I don't think you mentioned it."

"Previous summer we used it to travel to the quidditch games." Hermione mentioned "It transported them to a graveyard, Voldemort killed him. He just…"
"This Cedric boy?" Mark spoke "Voldemort is he the evil wizard who tried to murder your friend and in fact killed his parents."
"Yes."

"Oh my Hermione." Jean sat down and pulled Hermione in a hug. "Hermione, the situation is dangerous with that guy back. Is it save here?"
"I think so…" Hermione looked down. "I don't know."
"I think it's best that you stay at your friend's house over the summer." Mark said. "We are unable to protect you against a magical attack. You'll travel by the fire place."

Hermione smiled, she didn't want to correct her parents. Not this very moment, she just nodded her head in agreement. She would feel much safer with more wizards around. She smiled at her mother, no she didn't want to leave. Yet this was her only option.
"First we need to tell you something Mione." Jean stared at her.
"We're not your real parents." Mark shook his head.

"What?" Hermione put her hands to her head. "I don't understand."

"Hermione, .." Her father turned to her. "It was September, the 19th. Just a bit past 10.."

"I know, you told me the story a million times.." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Mom went in to labor, and she gave birth to me in the car. I know, you went to the hospital to find out I was okay, that is a story you told me a million times."

"We know, sweet heart." Her mother Jean put her hand on her knee. "And all those years, we've lied to you. The thing is, before we got you, we tried to get kids for over years. I mean, IVF. Everything. And .."

"Then you got me.." Hermione whispered "Right, you told.."

"No, that's not true. Hermione, we're not your parents." Her father whispered.

"That's not true, Hermione." Jean took her hand. "Off course we're your mom and dad, but we're not your biological parents."

"I'm adopted?" Hermione turned to her. "So, you just got me.."

"No, not exactly." Her father Mark closed her eyes for a moment. "To the law, you are our biological kid. We said you were our daughter, that your mother gave birth at home. They insisted we'd go to the hospital, but we refused. They would have seen Jean, hadn't given birth to you."

"So who's my mom?" Hermione cried "Didn't she want me?"

"Your mom.." Jean stared at Mark for a moment. "She was really beautiful, not a year over twenty. We thought she was just a child herself, with a child in her arms. She begged us to take you, she said they were coming. For her, that they were going to kill her and you. That she didn't have a choice, that she needed to know you were save. Then she handed me you, she'd just given birth a couple of hours ago. She had wrapped you in a blanket and you were in a basket. She told me, that she want you to name you Hermione. After some of her family, that's when she ran. She kept saying, he's going to kill me. Him."

"Did she leave a letter for me?" Hermione turned to her mother.

"She did, but the ink had faded by the rain that day." Jean replied "She was soaked, cold and coughing all the time. You could see the girl had a fever, I asked her to come in. But she whispered she shouldn't. That we'd be in danger if she did. The poor thing."

"What did she look like?" Hermione stared up. "My real mom.."

"Well, first of all, she had light curly blond hair." Mark said "Her eyes were light blue, and she was very pale. Her cheeks were red, but although that could be the light fever she had. She was wearing blue robes, by the years, I can't forget her eyes."

"I don't have the same eyes." Hermione touched her own cheeks.

"About your father, we know nothing." Jean added "Nothing, she didn't say anything about him. Just that she was in danger, and that he was coming after her."

"Do you have any pictures?" Hermione stared at them. "I mean if I want to find her.."

"Hermione, the chance she's still alive are small.." Jean replied "She was barely alive when we met her. The odds are against her, darling."

"So, you told me about my real mother.." Hermione paused "To only find out at the end of the story, that she's not alive anymore. Why didn't you just not tell me?"

"Because, we thought you had the right to know.." Jean replied "Where you came from. Your mother was brave, she was a kind woman."

"how do you know that?" Hermione stared at her mother Jean.

"Because she was soaked, Hermione." Jean replied "Yet you didn't have a drop on you. You were not cold. You.."

"Where's the basket?" Hermione replied "Can I see it?"

"Sure.." Mark grabbed the basket from behind the counter. "The letter is in there, only there's not much you can make of it. Hermione are you okay?"

"I'm fine dad." Hermione slowly grabbed the basket, and walked to the fireplace. She took a bit of the powder in her hands. Speaking the words of Ron's house was weird right now. She left her parents in a powerful emotion. Yet the emotions in her own body were more powerful. Who was her mother? Did she really love her? Who was her dad? Did he know she existed? Were both of them still alive? With that she disappeared.

"We both knew she was going to take it this way.." Jean replied "I mean we're.."

"I just, try to remember if she ever said her name.." Mark put his hands to his head. "I mean I keep thinking she said her name.."

"She didn't.." Jean touched his shoulders. "She was in no state, she was paranoid. No one that way knows what they are doing. You have to think about Hermione being raised by her.."


As Hermione arrived in the house of the Weasley's, she saw them ready to leave. Mrs. Weasley was carrying around a big bag, while Ron had his back bag ready to leave. She stepped in to something she didn't know anything about. She smiled for just a moment, the basket was in her arms. And next to her a trunk appeared. She was still thinking about her mother, about her father. Yet she needed to push it off her mind.

"I see your parents were worried too…" Mrs. Weasley embraced Hermione. "It's nice to see you, Hermione. I guess you see that we're getting ready to leave."

"Where are you going?" Hermione turned to Mrs. Weasley.

"Well, you see Dumbledore restarted the order of the phoenix. They fought you-know-who when he was gaining power in the day." Mrs. Weasley explained "We're heading to 12 Grimmauld Place. Come on, Weasleys!"

From the stares George, Fred and Ginny appeared. Almost directly they welcomed Hermione. Ginny smiled for just a moment, before they all stepped towards the fire place. Getting ready to travel fast to the address just said. Their luggage traveled next to them. First went Ginny, Ron, George and lastly Fred. After Fred, Hermione followed. She said the address like all of them did. She had no idea why they were meeting at this house, somehow she didn't want to know. When they got there, she could see the familiar face of Sirius Black. Hermione looked at him and gave him a soft smile. That was all she could.
"Well, I guess you choose a room." Sirius smiled "There's enough of them. Be careful for my mom. She doesn't mind her words."

Ron laughed at this words. The idea of an image of Sirius mom around sounded quiet humorous to Ron and maybe it really was. Hermione smiled again as she closed her eyes and listened to everything. In the distance she could hear a voice. Screaming she guessed. Slowly she turned around. She needed to start looking for a room. What was she going to tell Harry about all this? She could keep quiet. She had to tell him.

"Hermione…" Ron stepped next to her. "You can't tell anything about this to Harry. Dumbledore asked us all. I don't know why."

"What will we have to write him?" Hermione turned to him. "What will I tell him? That I'm home?"
"Yes." Ron spoke "If you tell him you're at my place, he'll want to come too. Harry can't know about this. Not anything."

Hermione nodded her head in agreement. The next few weeks turned out different for Hermione. Whenever she was alone she picked the basket in her arms. There was a blanket, a long piece of skirt that was ripped off and a teddy bear. Her mother wanted her to have all of this. Hermione had once been close to this bear. Her mother wanted her to have all this. Her mother, it sounded so weird. Weird, because she wasn't thinking about the people she called parents for all this years. The news about Harry and the dementors pulled her attention from her mother. Harry had used magic in public to save his nephew. Yet, they were going to suspend him from Hogwarts. She was sure that it wasn't possible.

So Hermione did the only thing she knew, she grabbed her books and started to read about the law. There were a lot of things people needed to know. They were allowed one chance, one time to use magic in front of muggles. If that chance had been used, they would be suspended. Harry had not once used magic in front of muggles. Accept the time with the dementors, so he wasn't supposed to be send of Hogwarts. Yet using Dobby as an argument wouldn't work. She had to look for another option. If Harry hadn't done anything, he would have been dead. What were the dementors doing there? Hermione got mad as she moved through the book. When she read the words, she knew it was right. Harry could not been punished. He was protecting his nephew. When a underage wizard need to protect himself, they couldn't be send away. Hermione smiled as she closed the book.

"They can't expel, Harry." Hermione walked next to Ron. "It was self-defense. Magic is allowed in certain situation."
"Well, are they going to believe that…"

Ron paused as the door opened. Harry stepped in the room. He almost seemed mad. Hermione moved her arm around Harry's neck. She was very glad to see him.

"Harry…" Hermione paused "Are you alright?"

Harry didn't say anything, he didn't even nod to Hermione. He was to surprised find both of them here. Hermione looked worried about him.

"We've heard about the dementors attack." Hermione continued. "A hearing at the ministry? They simple can't expel you. You were protecting yourself. It's unfair."
"Well, there's a lot of that going on at the moment." Harry looked around in the room. "So what is this place?"

"It's the headquarters."

"Of the order of the phoenix." Hermione explained " It's a secret society. Dumbledore first started it when they first fought you know who."

"Why didn't you write?" Harry turned to Hermione and Ron. "I had to go whole summer without any news."
"We couldn't tell." Hermione said. "Dumbledore said that…"
"Dumbledore…" Harry turned to them. "Why would he want to keep me in the dark? After all I'm the one who saw you-know-who return. I'm the one who saw Cedric get killed.

"Harry…" Fred and George appeared out of thin air and touched his shoulder. Harry was surprised her turned to George in confusion. Apparently they were using magic. "I thought we heard you. We heard you shouting, do you want to hear something more interesting?"

Fred and George took something from their pockets. It were two ears connected by a thing dread. Fred and George smiled as they stepped towards the stairs. They were followed by Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny who came from the next room. They collected around the stairs. Slowly they moved ear down. The whispers from downstairs became louder. They could recognized the voices.

"If anyone has a right to know, it's Harry." It was the voice of Sirius Black. "If it wasn't for Harry we wouldn't even know Voldemort was back. He's not a child, Molly."

"But he's not an adult either." Molly replied "- He's not James, Sirius. I have the idea, you keep forgetting that. He's just a boy."

"Well, he's not your son."

"He's as good as." Molly reacted. Harry could almost see the pride on her face."Who else has he got?"

" He's got me."

"How touchingly paternal, Black." It was Snape's voice. "Perhaps Potter will grow up

to be a felon, just like his godfather."

"Now, you stay out of this, Snivellus." Sirius' voice sounded mad.

"Can we please return to the meeting?" McGonagall spoke. Harry could almost see McGonagall pushing her glasses back on her pointy nose. "What about?"

"Well, there have been some disappearances." Sirius spoke. "Nothing to serious."

"What about my daughter?" Now it was Minerva McGonagall's voice. "Don't you think it's useful to launch another search party."

"Minerva, she's been.." Crouchshanks jumped at the ear.

"Don't.." Hermione cursed at the cat. They couldn't hear anything anymore. Just small parts of language. They knew that they had searches for Professor McGonagall's daughter.
"I didn't even know she had a daughter…" Ron noticed.

A couple of moments the door flew open, the first one to leave was Minerva McGonagall, still in a bad mood. Her hair was messy, and her eyes were full of pain. They hadn't seen her like that before. She stared up at Hermione, almost like Hermione reminded her of someone she knew before. She stepped in a room and disappeared.

"Poor McGonagall.." Hermione whispered.

"Why poor?" Ron rolled his eyes. "She probably just lost her mind, Hermione."

"Well, something.." Slowly they walked down the stairs. "She lost her daughter."

"You don't know a thing about her." Snape's voice was heard. He was never as outspoken, mostly he seemed like he was thinking about everything. Yet, never a word escaped from his lips. Not about his feelings or about anything else. Snape was a closed book and right now it had opened. He was stepping in front of him, trying to get away as soon as possible.

"Leyla.." Sirius stepped towards them. "I was there, the last time she was seen. Scared to dead, the poor girl. Always, crowding with the wrong people. We were.."

"don't pretend like you knew her at all.." Snape stepped next to her. "If you knew that, you'd know that she was.."

"I bet one of your fellow death eaters killed her.." Sirius replied "Poor Minerva, can't seem to get over the fact that her daughter is gone.."

"I didn't kill Ley…" Snape turned to him. "I can't even believe you would subject such a lie…"

"You were the last one to see her alive!" Sirius yelled "What is everyone supposed to believe?"

"She would be our age, Snivilius. Doesn't it make you ashamed? Taking down someone in the prime of her life, because he asked you. She was your friend!" Sirius replied "I have to admit, we were boy and girlfriend for a long time, right Snivilius?"

"You don't get to call her.." Snape's first became white, his face became a bit more pale. "You!"
With those words he stormed away, following the same route Minerva had before. He stepped through the door, without even looking back.
"What was that?" Ron stepped of the stairs.
"A disagreement, Ron." Sirius smiled "About a friend of mine. Leyla."

"Leyla." Hermione smiled "Professor McGonangall's daughter. Did you look for her?

"We did, for many hours." Sirius replied "But when Leyla didn't want to be found, no one would. She was an extremely smart witch, and she was 19. I saw her at the party, she was talking about being scared for her life. I don't know why."

"Is she still alive?" Hermione turned to Sirius.

"Well, like I said, Leyla's a tuff cookie." Sirius sat down. "Although I don't thinkss he could fight off the dark lord, she was a brilliant witch."

"But couldn't she do it?" Hermione replied "Can't you see how much Professor McGonagall cares about it? I mean it's her daughter for crying out loud! I mean it's logical for a mother to miss her child, I mean you can't.."

"Hermione.." Harry put his hand on her back.

"Searching for her would take people.." Sirius replied "People that can't be doing something else, looking for a girl that's been missing for over 15 years, it's stupid Hermione. And if she's still alive, she doesn't want to be found. That and Minerva's just feeling awful, about being horrible to her child. Sometimes.."

"That's not true.." Albus Dumbledore stepped next to Sirius. "Minerva never was horrible to Leyla. She never truly was..."

"Professor, why don't you look for her?" Hermione looked up at her.

"Hermione." Dumbledore stared at her. "Well, people are always looking for Leyla. But sending out extra people, just to find her is stupid. She would know, and then we wouldn't find her. Would we?"


Question: Who do you think is Hermione's mother/father?

Please tell me in a review!