~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chapter 1: Adopted? *~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione POV:

I sat on my bed re-reading Hogwarts: A History for what seemed like the millionth time when my mother called me.

"Hermione? Could you come down here for a moment, please?"

"Sure, mom." I carefully set down the book and strolled down the stairs and into the kitchen, where I saw my parents sitting at the table.

"Sit down, 'Mione," my father said quietly. "We need to tell you something." I sat gingerly in a seat across from my parents, suddenly feeling very nervous. Dad was almost never this serious. I looked at my mother for reassurance, only to find that she was staring at the table, her eyes red and hair unkempt.

I waited for someone to speak, but when no one did, I asked, "What is it? What's wrong?" My mind automatically jumped to the worst conclusions. Did someone die? Was everyone okay? As the silence stretched on, my agitation quickly grew. What was wrong?

"Hermione, there's something we haven't told you. Something we should have told you a long time ago." Her mother started quietly. I didn't say a word, but waited for her to continue. "You see, Hermione, you –you were…" She broke down, crying, her sentence unfinished. What was wrong? What did it have to do with me?

"What your mother is trying to say, Hermione," dad said, "Is that you're –you're adopted."

I froze. What? I must have heard wrong. "Sorry?"

"Hermione, you're adopted!" her mother wailed.

I couldn't believe it. How could I be adopted? I looked like them! I was a Granger. I looked like the other Grangers! Didn't I? I looked at the two people who, for fifteen years, I thought were my parents, mentally comparing them to my own appearance. Dad, er… Mr. Granger had strait black hair, and Mrs. Granger had long, strait brown hair, darker than my curly, light brown hair. Both had blue eyes, not brown. Our skin tones didn't match either. No… it can't be true. This was some kind of sick joke! It had to be. I waited for my parents to start laughing and yell, "April fools!" They didn't.

"Well, then who are my real parents?" I asked, forcing myself to be calm, to not cry. Mr. and Mrs. Granger glanced at each other.

"Well, they're pureblood wizards. Their names are Elizabeth and Alastair Harrow. And you have a younger brother named Aiden." Mr. Granger answered. Mrs. Granger looked at me tearfully, as if she was waiting for me to explode and start yelling at her. It was taking all my control not to. I was fifteen! I should have known about this a long time ago!

"Well why are you telling me this now? Why not just continue lying to me, like you have for the last fifteen years?" I said stiffly, not making eye contact with either of the people sitting across from me.

Mrs. Granger flinched. "We're so sorry, Hermione! We love you! We never wanted to hurt you! I wanted you to love me like you would love your real mother! It was so selfish, I'm so, so sorry!" She started crying and I felt a twinge of guilt.

I was tempted to ignore her, to continue hating them and blaming them. But these people were the only parents I had ever known, and they were so strong. It was gut wrenching to see them like this. After a moment of silence, filled only with Mrs. Grangers sobs, I sighed and nodded, smiling weakly at her. "It's alright. Sorry, it's just a lot to take in."

" 'Mione, your real parents want you to come back to live with them. All the paperwork is filled out, so they'll be here at eight to take you to your new home." Mr. Granger said sadly. I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just nodded.

"I'll help you pack," Mrs. Granger sniffed, getting up from her chair. When I rose, she took my hand and led me upstairs.

When we reached the top of the stairs, she stopped and hugged me as hard as she could. "You'll always be a daughter to me, Hermione," she whispered. "Please don't forget me."

Tears came to my eyes as I realized how much I would miss it here. I clung to my mother for a few minutes, tears running down my face, before she pulled away and wiped the tears from her own eyes.

"We should hurry." She whispered to me. I nodded and we proceeded into my room.

We chatted about random things while we put my cloths and various other belongings into my trunk. When we finished, we sat on the bed and looked around in companionable silence.

"Mum?" I asked. She smiled slightly at me calling her 'mum' and turned to me, her head cocked slightly to the side. "Why do I have to go? Can't I stay here?" I didn't want to stay with some complete strangers, whether they were my parents or not.

She smiled sadly at me. "When we adopted you, Mr. and Mrs. Harrow, your parents, said that they would want custody of you again, someday. We knew this day would come, we just didn't know when. We received an owl yesterday, notifying us that they want you back."

"Did you actually write it down? Is it official?"

Mum frowned. "Well… no. But I can't deprive them of the chance to live with their own daughter. To meet her. I can't do that to anybody, 'Mione. I couldn't live with myself for doing something like that."

I sighed. "I'll miss you," I told her. She smiled and hugged me again. We headed back downstairs and spent the remainder of the evening with dad, laughing and teasing each other, just like always.

Five minutes before eight o'clock, we sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace and silently awaiting the arrival of my 'real' parents.

Just as the clock began tolling out the hour, the fire flared up and turned green, and two people stepped out and stood before us.