Disclaimer : I do not own any of these character.

PROLOGUE

Thunder strike across the overcast sky while rain poured furiously down in sheets of icy water. Nothing could be heard for miles except for the torrents of wind and water brewing in the storm. The streets were emptied of people and all the shops were closed for the night. Everyone was in their warm homes, hiding from the storm. The only soul on the road was a ten years old girl. She has on a plain blue outfit and a pair of black worn-out slippers. The rain has drenched her clothing and plastered her hair to the sides of her face, which held an anguished expression of panic. She looked like a fallen angel.

"Is anybody home? Please, please open the door! Doctor Jack! Doctor Jack!" The little girl cried out frantically. "Hold on mummy…don't leave me…please…" She whispered achingly to herself while hot tears ran down her face. It was the only warmth against her skin because she felt numb all over. The pouring rain and fierce wind were seeping through her clothes, turning her body into ice.

She banged her fists harder against the door, but still nobody answered. Suddenly a light went on inside and a figure walked towards the door. A stooped man holding an oil lamp appeared. "What the…what are you doing here little girl? Go home and stop making all this raucous! It's late! People have to sleep you know!" He roared at her.

Encouraged by the sight of the old man, she frantically explained, "Please sir, may I please speak with Doctor Jack. My mother is sick and in need of his assistant immediately! She's having one of her horrible coughing fits, but this time it's much worst and I don't know what to do..." She gave out a quivering little sob and continued, "I've searched everywhere but the other entire doctor's refused to help. Doctor Jack is my last hope and I cannot leave without him. So please sir, please tell me where to find him."

Her fervent speech went right pass the old man's head as he was more concerned with returning to his comfortable warm bed. Looking annoyingly at the girl in front of him he replied with distaste, "Doctor Jack is not in residence. He left for France a week ago and won't be back until next week. Go somewhere else!" With that he slammed the door in her face.

"NO! NO please!!! Do you know of anyone else who can help me? Please sir!!!!" She cried desperately, but the door remained locked. "OPEN UP!! PLEASE HELP ME!!!" She continued banging futilely on the door until she was out of breath. "Please…please…" Sobbing hopelessly she slid down the steps and leaned her head against the door. She didn't know how long she sat there, with the rain pouring down over her defeated soul, until she realized that if she doesn't get home, she might be too late.

Eleven Years Ago…

"Dad NO! Robert will come back for me. He told me he will. I'm not giving up hope on us. This is our child. I won't get rid of it. This is Robert's heir!"

At her shameless words, the father lost his temper with his only daughter and slapped her clear across her face. Blood dripped from the corner of her quivering lips as she looked up hurtfully at him. It was the first time he had ever hit his daughter and the thought pierced his heart, but it didn't deter him from lashing out his anger at her.

"Emily, listen to yourself! Haven't you disgraced yourself enough?! Cease your theatrics and open up your eyes! If Robert had any intentions of marrying you he would have proposed before he left for Paris!!! He's a conniving liar who has no sense of responsibility and you're telling me you want to bear his bastard into this world?!"

"Oh please don't call it that, and Robert loves me! He left because his father—"

"TOLD HIM TO OR ELSE HE'LL BE DISINHERITED!!!!! He's a spineless bastard whose only real interest in you was your beauty! Now that you're soiled product he has no use for you and it took his father little persuasion to get him running off to Paris ! To him you were only a rich boy's pastime. Are you so naïve as to believe he harbor any affection towards you? Oh My God, I can't believe I've raised such a brainless idiot for a daughter! Where did I go wrong in my teachings? WHERE?!! If your mother was alive…" A horrible coughing fit suddenly overcame him and racked his body horribly.

"Father!" Emily rushed up to help him but he pushed her away. His face was contorted in pain but much more from the memories of his wife than from his physical ailment. Seeing her father like this tore her apart, but she was not willing to give up hope on her future. She knew deep in her heart that Robert loved her. He has told her countless times before that he would give up everything including his inheritance and status to be with her. They've sworn under the stars to be together forever and he wouldn't lie to her. He wouldn't!!!

"I know I can never replace mother in your heart, but I've tried. I've tried so hard!!! For nineteen years I have never once disobeyed you. If you really listen to your heart you would know that I've turned myself inside out to be the image of her, to be everything that you wish me to be!!! But I know that if she was alive she would only want me to be happy! She would love this child just as much as I will!"

"You..." For the first time since he found out about Emily's condition, Emily father was at a lost for words. Tears started rolling down his face too. Both father and daughter stared stubbornly at each other, each with a million pains reflecting in their eyes, and just as many unspeakable words. Suddenly Emily's father shoulders sunk in defeat and he dropped his gaze. She has hit him at his most vulnerable spot. The mentioning of his wife caused his heart to throb and he was consumed with shame at his failure as a father to Emily. He couldn't bear to think of his wife because he has failed in his promise to raise their only child properly.

He sat at the table with his head bent in silence for so long that Emily wondered whether he had finally given up or is thinking of ways to rid her of her child. Finally he looked up at her, and his expression was heartbreaking, but she knew she had won. "You…believe that Robert really loves you, and you're sure he will come back for you?"

"YES! Oh Father !!! Yes yes yes!" Emily exclaimed with joy, realizing that her father had finally relented.

"Three months. You have three months to contact him in Paris and to get his proposal. If you're like your mother your condition will not be noticeable until the fourth month. That is plenty of time for him to return to England and still have time left to prepare for the wedding."

"Father, thank you! Thank you so much for having faith in us and for giving us another chance. He will come back for me, I know he will!"

"Let's get this straight from the beginning. I have NO faith in that scoundrel or his family. I have no doubt to the degree of their arrogance or the reluctance at which they will agree to this marriage. Your only leverage lies in that you are carrying their heir, but even so I doubt you'll be accepted with open arms. The only reason I am agreeing to this is because I love you, and for that I want you to be happy, and I don't want my grandchild to not have a father. Do you understand me?"

"Yes. Father, I love you too!" She wrapped her arms around her father with all the happiness in the world and said with confidence, "I promise, I will be happy, and I hope that overtime you'll learn to be happy for me too."

Emily gave her father a peck on his cheek and happily ran to her room. "I'm going to write Robert a letter right now! You just wait for your son-in-law to be back here faster than lightning and to hold your first grandchild!" She giggled merrily like a girl in love. Then she placed her hands over her flat stomach and whispered gently to her unborn child, "Are you excited honey? Very soon your father will come back for us. Then we'll be a family…"

Emily's father stared at her retreating back with a look of pain on his face, knowing fully well that she had disillusioned herself, but hoping to god that he was wrong. He knew very well that the Granger family had never approved of Robert's acquaintance with Emily since they were much higher in status and wealth than the Johnson's family, and especially because Robert is an only child. However, he was willing to take the chance that they would honor their first grandchild and accept Emily. If it weren't for her happiness and for his future grandchild, he would seek that lecher out and shoot him into a million pieces. He kept that little bit of information to himself because he didn't want to squash Emily's hope. He was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and to give her faith in Robert.

Four Months Later...

Robert never responded. Every day Emily wrote a letter and had it sent out to his address in Paris, thinking that there must be some postal delays or that his address had changed, but after grinding Robert's friends and his personal servants for weeks she found out that the letters were sent and that the 'master' had received them but had not shown any intentions of returning. Emily refused to believe that he had forgotten her. She remained obstinate even after the third month had eclipsed, until she found out that her father had swallowed his pride and confronted the Granger family about the marriage, only to be thrown out like a beggar. That incident stole his strength along with his pride, and his health started to decline. It finally dawned on Emily that Robert wasn't going to come back for her.

Five months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl whom she named Hermione. The baby showed signs of beauty exactly like her mother. That fact filled Emily eyes with tears. "Hello darling," She cooed to the sleeping baby in her arms, and then her voice started to crack achingly. "Hermione, promise mother that when you grow up, you will never love anyone more than he loves you…"

Hermione grew up under her mother and grandfather's love, but when she turned six years old Mr. Johnson suffered a heart attack and passed away. Alone in the world, Emily dismissed the servants and moved with her daughter to the outskirts of England to avoid the Granger's family. They had never inquired about their granddaughter, and she knew that they had forgotten her like a dismissed servant. She never saw Robert again either, and overtime misery marred her beauty, but she didn't mind. She had paid dearly for the price of her beauty, and that was why she wished Hermione to be as plain as possible. Overtime exhaustive work and grief finally took its toll and her health started to deteriorate, but her main concern was Hermione, and so she clung to life as best she can for the sake of her little girl.

Present…

"Mummy ? Mummy!!!!" Ten-years-old Hermione ran to her mother's bedside the moment she walked through the door of her too-quiet house. Although her house was little more than a hut, it had always been warm with her mother's care, but lately it had turned cold and scary with the sound of constant coughing and death looming at its door. She stared down at the pale figure on the bed and her eyes filled up with tears. Her first thought was that she was dead. Her face was chalky white and she wasn't moving. "Mummy, wake up…" She nudged her mother gently while she trembled with little sobs. "Hermione's hungry…Don't you care? Don't you love Hermione anymore? You have to wake up.Mummy? Mummy!!!" Her sobs grew into terrified shouts and she started to shake her mother with all the forces that her little body could muster. Suddenly she felt a response from her mother and she stopped her shaking.

"Hermione."

"Mummy?" She whispered in disbelief and moved closer to her mother. After several tries her mother's eyes finally flickered open and she stared lovingly at her crying daughter. Hope surged up in Hermione. She stopped crying and smiled, thinking that god had finally given her mother back to her. She wiped her tears away hastily, ashamed to let her mother see her crying. "You're awake! Would you like something to drink? You haven't eaten all day. I'll go get you some porridge." She started to move away.

"NO! Hermione, you have to listen to me." Emily gently pulled her daughter back to her side. "Mummy won't be with you much longer."

"NO! You won't! You have to live until you're one-hundred years old. You promised you would love me forever! You can't leave me now!" Hermione started to cry again in denial, although she knew in her heart that her mother was dying.

Emily drew in a deep breath and fought the bouts of cough threatening at her throat. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she wanted more than anything to comfort her daughter, to hold her in her arms and infuse in her enough love to last her a lifetime, but she knew that her time was up, and she had to ensure that Hermione will be all right after she was gone. She shook her daughter gently but firmly and looked deep into her eyes. "Hermione, mummy has to go, do you understand me?" Hermione couldn't answer. She kept sobbing quietly and tried to look away from her mother's beseeching eyes, but finally she nodded.

"Go to the chest by the window, open the third drawer and take out my jewelry box."

Hermione got up and did as she was told. She handed her mother the jewelry box and looked confusedly at her. Her mother took the box and drew out a necklace from it. The necklace was white-gold with a beautiful pink topaz pendant in the shape of a blossom hanging from it, and dangling from the blossom was a white pearl. Although small in size, it was impeccably detailed down to the last leaf.

"Your father had this special made for me, and he said that…that being with me made him feel like every season was spring time. Inside this jewelry box is all the money we have left. After I am gone I want you to go to the city and find a family called the Granger. Ask for your father, Robert. When you see him, show him this and tell him…tell him that the season has changed and ask him whether he still remembers a girl name Emily."

Hermione stared at her mother wide-eyed. This was the first time she has ever mentioned Hermione's father. Every time she asked about her father before, her mother's eyes always misted over and she would say that she loved her enough for both parents. Hermione had long ago stopped asking about him because she knew it hurt her mother to think of him. She never even knew her father's name or what his family was like. The only thing she knew was that he left her mother when her mother was pregnant, because ever since she was born, she didn't have a father. Hearing her mother talk about him now brought the reality of her passing crashing down on Hermione and she had to bite her lips to keep from crying out more violently.

"Mummy…you can't leave me…you can't leave me. I promise I'll be a good girl now. I won't sneak out to go play with the boys anymore and I won't climb trees or swim in lakes or dirty myself and make you worry. I'll learn how to cook and sew and read and…" She scrambled on and on, hoping that being a good girl would keep her mother alive. She swallowed hard and continued with her list.

"Do you re-remember the time I told you I got hurt be-because I fell down the hill? I lied. I was--was in a fight with Pete because he called me a bastard. I don't care anymore!!! I won't ever do it again. I won't I won't!!! I don't need a father. I only need you!!! I only need you…"

"Oh Hermione…" Emily brought her hand up to her daughter's face.

"Afterwards y-you mended my wounds and I pre-pretended it didn't hurt but I was fighting back my tears…what will I do when you're gone? Who would mend my wounds? Who would love Hermione then?"

Hearing her daughter's heart-wrenching confessions made Emily ache with unbearable pain. She abruptly grabbed Hermione in a fierce hug. "My poor daughter…" She sobbed. "Hermione, no matter where mummy is, I'll always love you. Will you remember that darling?" Hermione nodded and clung to her mother. Both of them held on to each other for a long time while they cried. Suddenly Emily gave out another bout of cough and this time there was blood. Her breath became shallow and her body grew limp. Knowing that her time was up, she quickly gasped out her last will to her daughter.

"Also remember this Hermione, when you grow up, never marry someone you don't love…and never…love a person…more than he loves y-y-you…" With that last breath Emily's body went limp and she passed away.

"MUMMY………….!!!"

Outside the rain continued to pour, drumming onto the roof. If her house had caved in at that moment, Hermione wouldn't have felt any less cold or alone.

The day after her mother's death, Hermione used the money in the jewelry box to pay for a very small funeral. She was all alone in this world except for the stranger who was and was not her father. She put the blossom necklace around her neck, tucked it neatly beneath her shirt, strapped her meager belongings onto her back and headed for the center of England city. Night had fallen but still she couldn't find any nearby inn. She spotted a lighted house close by and was walking towards it when a hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed her. The hand belonged to a scrawny man in rags who was trying to steal her sack. Hermione cried out in panic but nobody was nearby and the lighted house was too far away. She struggled to get her sack back but the man was much stronger than she was and he finally jerked it out of her hands. Fear and devastation made her throw herself at his back.

"Get off you stupid little girl!! Get off ME!!!!" He tried to pry himself loose but Hermione hang onto him for dear life.

"Gimme back my bag! Please!! It's all that I have left. I have to go find my father!!!"

"Go find him in hell!!!" The man lost his temper. He used all his force and threw her violently onto the ground. She landed on a thick boulder and hit her head against the rock. Blood trickled down her face. The man's face grew ashen.

"Little girl?" He nudged her with his foot a couple of times, looked around in panic, and then fled.

Hermione could feel the blood flowing freely down her face and she could see stars floating before her eyes. She stayed conscious long enough to see some dark figures with lamp coming towards her before she passed out.