Chapter 1
Prologue
Normally when a teenager hears the words along the lines of 'We need to talk' they fear the worst. They fear THE talk, the dreaded talk. The talk that all teenagers grimace at, shy away from and even avoid the parents. But those unlucky few that have been dragged down that embarrassing road filled with several eye avoiding answers to the question you already know about.
But if you're, 14 year old, Hermione Granger and you receive this quote from your parents. And when you look into their fear riddled and nervous face, you do dread it but, because of the looks you are getting from them, you immediately know that it isn't THE talk. It's much, much worse.
oOo
Hermione looked up from the book she was reading on magical creatures she had found in her trunk, when she heard the sound of her mothers voice from the open door way. What she saw was both her parents standing there with equal expressions of apprehension.
"Mother, what is it?" she asked softly when she looked at them both in their eyes. Her mother just replied with a soft 'Hermione'. With that soft remark, Hermione put her book down on to the bed side table. And moved over so that her parents could sit either side of her, and they did when she beckoned them over.
Her mother looked at her with a saddened glint to her eyes.
"Hermione there is something your mother and I wish to tell you" she heard her fathers calm, quiet voice next to her and she immediately whipped her head around to look at him, his peculiar and off tone worrying her.
"What ever it is, just know that it's going to be okay" she tried to sound reassuring, but it seemed their emotions had rubbed of on her. So she had to focus on keeping her voice as steady as it could be.
"H-Hermione" her mother started "we love you very much, b-but" and this I where her mothers shoulder violently shook along with her sobs and tears. Hermione reached out and took hold of her mothers' hand, and drew comforting patterns on the back with her thumb. Obviously unable to get any information out of her mums' mouth she turned to look at her father on her other side.
She looked him in the eye, and she thought he saw the questioning in her eyes because he quickly looked down to his hands which he was nervously fidgeting with in his lap. And said in the quietest voice imaginable that;
"Hermione… you're adopted".
She did a quick double take, not believing what her father had just said. To tell the truth Hermione had always had this thought somewhere in her mind, but her teenage stubbornness, had defended her emotions, and shoved it with all its vigour to the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind. The strangest things would trigger these thoughts. Such as a time when, in a strong emotional rage, she had tightened the collar of a boy, who had taken to bullying her in her primary school yard. This resulted in the boy choking. It wasn't until she had gotten home that the first of these thoughts had come to her. She didn't know how she did it, but when she did a flash so quick that when it had gone she didn't quite believe it had been there. But in that flash she has seen the strongest pair of brown, hazel eyes that looked to be lit up by laughter.
Hermione looked at both parents to see that both her mother and father were not looking at her. She took a deep breath,
"Mum…Dad" she accentuated with by looking at both her Mum and Dad "I love you" this was followed by a loud wail from the person who was on her left. She was almost bowled over from a pair of strong arms that had launched around her, as her mother cried into her shoulder, out of relief. A muttering of 'thank you's accompanied by sever hiccups could be heard from her. She turned her head to the right, and gave her Dad a reassuring smile, to which he responded with his own.
oOo
Once her mothers' sobs had reached a tolerable level, with the occasional jump of the shoulders and a sharp intake of breath. She asked the question that both parties, both generations, young and old, had been waiting for.
"Do you know who they were?" By the looks on their faces she surmised that they knew which 'who' she was referring to.
"We only know what your mother was called; we asked the orphanage from where you came from. She said you had been left on the door step. At about 4 months old" Mr Granger said, she had also wondered why there were no pictures of her straight after birth, in the first few months when she was getting acquainted with the world. Her father continued, "there was a letter left with you"
He pulled out, from his back pocket, an envelope that was slightly worn around the edges from the 14 years it had been lingering around the Granger Household. On the front of the envelope, in neatly cursive font was one word 'Hermione'. And she took it with shaky hands.
Her thumb traced over the writing lightly. Almost not wanting it to wear. She could picture someone, with a close resemblance to herself, sitting at a white oak desk, a quill in hand and penning this. Tears would be falling freely over her eyes, down her cheeks and dripping of the edge of her chin. She would put down the quill, and looks through her tear and eyelashes, at a four month old baby, peacefully asleep in a near by crib. Unaware of the times ahead of her.
She opened the envelope gently and slowly unfolded the parchment to find what was written on it, almost immediately her own tears mixed with those of her biological mothers that she could see had showered the parchment.
My dearest Hermione,
I do not know when this shall be given to you, nor when I will see you again. There are dark times ahead of us in this world I live in. Evil has plagued so many things in my life, and probably yours. So in order to protect you from this evil, I have decided it would be best to get you as far away from this as possible.
But this means leaving you with people I do not know, but what I do know is that it will keep you safe for as long as possible.
Know that this pains me a great deal, and while I write you this letter, I am working on a way to rid the world of such evils, so that I can reunite myself with you in the future with safety surrounding us all.
But I have a few words for you that I think will help you in the future, should this horrible time resurface again: protect the ones you car for, fight for the ones you love, and keep them close, because you do not know when you will need their caring touches, their soothing words and their calming presences. And one more thing, my sweet child, fight this evil with those people and you will go far.
Good bye Hermione Amelia Grayne,your Mother, Athena Grayne.
oOo
After finishing the conversation with her parent along with her dinner, Hermione thought it best for a walk, in order to sort through the lingering thoughts of who her other parent was. And along this journey to the nearby neighbourhood park, from where she live in Kent, a lonely dark clad figures in black robes, watches her from afar. The figure walks behind her out of sight as it weaves in and out of the muggle cars, and as she jumps off of the swing, on which she was sitting, to pace back and forth, the figure calls up the image of a large manor house with wooden covering all but one window where a single flame flickers, and Disapparates on the spot to inform his master of the latest developments.