Wild winds whipped around the house in downtown London. The only light that could be seen illuminating the house was a small lamp, in the attic. A musty smell filled the entire room and a heavy layer of dust was on everything. It seemed like no one had touched the room in years.
Hermione sat on a small box shifting though papers of her family history. She was suprised that not a single member in her family had the great gift she had. Although sometimes she thought of it as a burden. How can I be a witch when not a single person in my family is, she thought to herself. Her family was always extremely proud of her accomplishments in the wizarding world and the fact that she was the brightest witch in her year. She sat quietly, not making any noises because if her parents came home she would be in a heap of trouble. She was told when she was a small child to never go to the attic. Her mother once told her that some secrets are meant to be forgotten. If you are determined to find secrets they may not be what you was looking for and instead of answering questions may create more questions. She just couldn't sit back and not know about her family history. She desperately wanted to know all the secrets of the family.
She took care to put things exactly the way they were when she came in so no one would know she had been up in the attic. She kept digging and digging for secrets she knew must be there. She was about to give up when her eye caught a piece of paper laying on top of a small box in the corner of the room. She slowly walked towards the box praying to God Almighty that it was a little piece of the secrets she knew were still here.
When she picked it up and looked at it she noticed that it was a birth certificate. She almost sat it down thinking it was nothing and then she caught a glimpse of the name on it. It said Hermione Jane Parkinson. She sat there staring at it disbelievingly. How can someone so inconsiderate be her parents and how could they give up their daughter, she thought to herself as she stumbled over a piece of parchment rolled up on the floor that she had dropped. It was a letter and it had Hermione printed in beautiful manuscript on the front of it.
My dear Hermione,
Please forgive me and your mother for giving you up for adoption. We had no other choice. It was a matter of life and death. If we did not succumb to the Dark Lord's wishes he would have killed us both and then we wouldn't ever be able to see our beautiful daughter. The Dark Lord wanted nothing to distract us from our mission so he forced us to give you away. I only hope that in time you can learn to forgive us. Wemade the decision to give you to a respectable muggle family and we wanted you to be brought up away from the war and everything to do with it. I want you to be brought up away from the Dark Lord and maybe you won't realize that you have powers so you can live withought knowing about the world outside of yours to be. Please find it in your heart to forgive us for what we have done. I regret it terribly but I hope when you get old enough you will understand why we did it.
With all my love,
Darius Parkinson
She didn't even know she was crying until tears started dripping from her chin and splashing onto her chest. She was scared and she had no idea what to do. Act as if she hadn't seen it or go to her parents and tell them. If she did go to her parents they would be infuriated that she went snooping. Although she didn't consider it snooping when its your own family history. She finally decided after a few minutes that she wouldn't tell anyone. She didn't want her friends reacting crazy when they found out and she also didn't want people to look at her differently. So she decided to keep it a secret from everyone but Dumbledore. He had to have known that she wasn't muggle born because he knew everything. She decided that she was gonna walk right up to him and demand a metting with him to discuss this whole situation. After having an internal argument with herself, she made her way downstairs.
Even though she was a pureblood she didn't feel any different. People would still see her as the mudblood bookworm. Not even being pureblood could change the fact that she was very smart and spent all her time cooped up in either the library or her room studying. Slowly descending the stairs, she noticed that her parents still weren't home. Every other day they would both go to the bar on 2nd street and stay there until around midnight. They come home drunk, throw up, and pass out leaving her to pick up after them. She was getting sick and tired of being like a slave to them. They always made her cook, clean, and watch the baby. She never got to go out and have fun like a normal kid. The only time she got a break is when she left for Hogwarts. She likes to make her life seem picture perfect and works really hard to excell but the truth is her home life is horrible. She would rather keep it a secret than people asking questions. She puts a smile on every day and pretends like she isn't broken down inside. As she sat down to eat some cereal her parents staggered through the door. They were very drunk but hadn't passed out yet.
"Why isn't this house clean yet." her mother screamed at the top of her lungs. Hermione jumped from her mothers outburst. Never had her mother yelled like that at her.
"Mother the house is clean. I cleaned it spotless. I sweeped, mopped, did the dishes, vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom, and my bedroom." Hermione squealed as she stood up as if to take a stance.
"Well it doesn't look very clean. So get to cleaning it." Her mother slurred as she sat down to catch her breath.
"No. I am tired of you acting as if I am your slave. I do not work for anyone that is going to treat me like that. And besides you people aren't even my real parents. So don't go about bossing me anymore. I am out of here." Hermione yelled as she ran to her room to pack her trunk.
Her father barged into her room without asking. "You are never to talk to your mother like that again." He screamed as he pushed Hermione on the bed.
"You two aren't even my real parents. So what business do you have talking to me like that." Hermione spat. Her voice was filled with rage.
"How did you find that out."
"Well if you don't want someone to find something then don't put it out in clear view for everyone to see." She tried to stand up, but her father pushed her down once again.
"Stop that." She yelled as she tried once more but to no avail.
"What were you doing in the attic anyway."
"I knew you two were never going to tell me the secrets I so desperately seeked. So I went looking for myself. Now get off of me."
By this time her father was on top of her. He yanked off his belt and undid his zipper. Hermione had to endure this several times from her father. Her mother knew about it but always stayed quiet as if she was afraid of what he would do to her. Up until now Hermione wasn't allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, but since she turned seventeen last year she could. She whipped out her wand before he could do any more damage to her mental state.
"Stupefy." She yelled as he tried to slip his hand up her skirt.
She was used to this by now. He had totally ruined her, and she knew she could never tell anyone. Instead she thought it was her fault that he did these things to her. Every night after one of the episodes she would go to the bathroom and slowly cut a line in her flesh. As in rememberance of how many times this had happened to her. When she would cut it would relieve the stress and calm her down. She wanted revenge and she couldn't wait to get it. She wanted to make him suffer something terrible for everytime he touched her in an unfatherly way. Just looking at him disgusted her. She honestly had no idea how anyone could do something like that to a human being made out of their own flesh and blood. Her dad puzzled her and the only reason she could figure out to why he was doing sick things to her is because he was sick. Like those movies where they are totally sick and demented. It scared and disgusted her and she could tell no one. She was brought back from her thoughts when she saw a red substance dripping to the floor from her arm. She was used to the pain, but she couldn't usually handle the blood. So after everytime she would throw up. She cleaned the floor with a flick of her wand and stepped in the shower to rid herself of all the memories of her supposed father.
After a shower she didn't even bother to put on make-up or fix her hair. She just threw it up in a loose bun. (Which actually looked cute.) She packed all her knew clothes and only a few books in her trunk and then apparted to a dark alleyway by The Leaky Cauldron. After she was settled in she wrote a letter to Harry and Ron telling them where she was so that maybe they would come see her. Although she knew they wouldn't because of the Horcruxes they had to find, but she had to at least give it a try. She sent the letter and no longer than an hour later Ron and Harry both apparted into her room. It scared the living daylights out of her but she jumped into their arms and gave them a quick peck on their cheeks. As soon as they caught up on what happened over the summer she said goodnight to them. There were two beds. Since Hermione and Harry were the best of friends, he slept with her.
Although they were best friends he still had feelings for her. She was a very attractive woman even before the change. But he didn't have the heart to break up a great friendship. The thing he liked most about her was that he could tell her anything and her not judge him. He almost thought he was in love. Everytime she laughed or smiled he would get all tingly inside. And he loved that feeling.
Hermione woke up to Harry cuddled up against her. He was so peaceful when he was asleep. She really liked him, but she didn't think he liked her in that way. And she wouldn't let a crush ruin a friendship. She got up very quietly, took a shower, and got dressed. After she finished getting ready she went downstairs to the bar/lobby. She went up to the counter, told him what she wanted, and saw the Daily Prophet. She picked it up and began reading as she waited for her drink.
Front page read:
TWO MUGGLES KILLED BY DEATH EATERS!
Two muggles were killed last night by unknown death eaters, in the safety of their own home. They were killed by the Unforgiveable Killing Curse at 5 o'clock this morning. They were laid in front of the living room wall. The death eaters must have slit their wrists, because on the wall in their blood was: WE WILL GET YOU MUDBLOOD!
After seeing the picture that went with the artice of her parents and the writing on the wall, she couldn't read it anymore. She started silently crying so she wouldn't wake them up. Harry was the first to wake up.
"What's wrong 'Mione." Harry asked as he sat down on the seat next to Hermione's.
She knew that she couldn't keep it a secret because it was everywhere. "My parents died last this morning after I left." she cried as she layed her head down on the bar top.
Harry knew something had to be wrong for her to look so distraught. "It's ok 'Mione. Everything will be ok. You can move in with me after we get out of school. And on the holidays, we can all go to the Burrow. What do you think about that?" After a few minutes of waiting for her to answer, he spoke up again. "Let's go back upstairs and lay down until it's time to go shopping. By the time they made it up stairs Ron was still asleep. They both layed down quietly snuggled up to each other.
Right before they fell in a deep sleep Hermione spoke up. "I love you, Harry."
"I love you to Hermione. More than you will ever know." But she was already asleep when he said it.
All three woke up about two hours later. Since Hermone had already taken a shower she didn't bother to take another one. It only took the boys thirty minutes to be ready and out the door. They went to the brick wall that seperates the muggles from the magic folk. Hermione did the honors and tapped a few bricks with her wand. An archway started forming out of the solid bricks. Diagon Alley was completely packed at this time a year. It was so crowded they could barely make it through the crowd. Hermione turned around to see if there was an easier route, but what she saw gave her shivers. She saw a bleach blonde patch of hair start to turn around and then she saw Draco Malfoy's face. But in that instant it was gone. Was it just her imagination or did she really see him.
She couldn't have saw him because he was on the run with Snape and the rest of the death eaters. So she just let it go.
"Harry, I will go to the book store for all of us while you go and get all of us quills. Ok." She said to Harry and Ron as she walked away from where they were standing.
She slowly made her way up to Diagon Alley towards the book store, because slow was the only spped this crowd allowed her. After she found all the books they needed for thier seventh year and put them on the counter, she went back to find her an enjoyable book to read while at Hogwarts. She went to the very back because that's where they held all the books that she liked. She went to turn a corner and saw that familiar patch of bleach blonde hair. She walked towards him, not afraid, because she was the brightest witch of their year. He turned around and saw her coming, but didn't move. He just stood their. He had became very handsome since he left.
"Draco what on heaven's earth are you doing here." Hermione asked astounded that it was really him.
"I am getting my books for school, Granger. And why did you call me Draco and not Malfoy." He asked, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Because that's your name Draco. I am not childish anymore so I am going to call you by your real name. But why would you be getting your books? I thought you ran away with Snape and the other death eaters after the incident?"
"Oh. Well I think I could deal with that. I ran to the apparation point with the death eaters but I didn't appart to the same place they did. I went to this rundown house I knew of so they wouldn't find me. By this time you should know that me and you are Heads?"
"No, I didn't, but thinks for telling me. I haven't yet recieved the letter. It's probably in my room. So McGonnagall is letting you back in. I realy didn't think you wanted to kill Dumbledore. I just thought that you were ordered to and if you didn't they would have killed you. I can completelyunderstand your point of view. I feel scared and alone all the time and being afraid of the father figure in our lives is something we have in common." She knew there was something different about Draco. Something had changed him over the summer. They were actually having a real conversation.
"I know exactly how you feel Hermione. And yes, she believes me and is letting me back in. I'm not sure she truly trusts me and that is why she made me Head Boy. So you could watch over me. But I must be going Hermione. I don't want any more people to see me than necessary." He said. And with that he was gone.
He left her thinking about what this year will be like. Hopefully she will make a new friend. She didn't want to tell Harry and Ron yet because they would be furious with her. She felt that he needed her and that's what she was going to give him. A person in his life that actually cared.
Hermione left the book store to find Harry and Ron at the Ice Cream Parlor, a few feet away from the book store. She felt a connection with Draco she never felt with anyone before and she couldn't get her mind off of it. Harry's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "Over here 'Mione." Harry said as he jumped up to pull her seat out. They sat and talked for about an hour and then went back to the Leaky Cauldron to pack up their things for the train ride.
After about an hour of packing and a very angry Harry, they went to bed. Harry slept with Hermione again and cuddled up to her. He could get use to being this close. He loved the feel of her skin touching his. He immediately wipped those thoughts from his mind as he fell into a deep sleep.
Hermione was the first to wake up as usual. She took a shower and got dressed before even waking the boys. They both were a little frustrated with having to get up so early. It took them only an hour to get ready. As Harry was taking a shower, Hermione saw the Hogwarts letter. It told her that she had recieved Head Boy and all about Draco. She was kind of glad he got Head Boy. They left as soon as all of them had gotten ready.
"Harry, Ron. This way. If you don't hurry up we will be late. And now it will be hard to find a compartment." Hermione yelled as she passed through the barrier between 9 and 10. The train pulled off as soon as all three made it onto the train.
