A/N: Thank you all for your reviews, favorites, and alerts; I really appreciate knowing people like my writing! Here's the next chapter.

A Visitor

Upon hearing the crack of apparation, Hermione sat up so fast her head spun. She pulled out her wand and slid the curtain open whilst her mind frantically ran through a list of people who would intrude like this whether they were friend or foe.

The list vanished though when she saw her unexpected guest and knew without a doubt that she had never seen him before in her life. His face was partially turned away from her so she could not make out many features. All she could tell was that he looked like he was in his late thirties or early forties and had chestnut brown hair. He was tall and appeared fit to Hermione. She found it odd how he had yet to look at the girl who had her wand pointed steadily at him, but instead was looking around the room with interest.

"I haven't been here in awhile." She heard him mutter almost too quietly to discern even in the still room. Hermione did not lower her wand, but loosened the tight grip she had on it since she was nearly sure this man meant her no harm. Perhaps he was visiting a friend staying there and had apparated into the wrong room. She cleared her throat slightly and spoke.

"Excuse me sir, but you are in my room. Would you care to tell me what you're doing here?"

The man turned to face Hermione and he looked stunned to see her. Now that Hermione could see his face she noticed that he had an olive complexion and bright brown eyes so dark they were nearly black. He had strong features, but his good looks were marred slightly by a look of pain that seemed to be permanently etched on his face.

"Mia figlia." he whispered in disbelief.

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. What did that mean? It sounded Italian, but the only language she knew besides English was Latin.

"Sorry? I'm afraid I don't understand." She said in confusion.

The man smiled slightly and raised one of his dark eyebrows.

"Don't you?" Hermione nearly protested at his words as she felt they were some sort of insult to her intelligence, but he silenced her with a wave of his hand.

"Did your… parents… tell you something today Hermione? Was it some sort of grand secret that changed your life forever?"

He must have seen the angry look on her face for he carried on swiftly.

"I have not come here to taunt you if that's what you are thinking." Hermione cut him off with her own words.

"At the moment my main concerns are who the bloody hell you are and how you managed to find me."

She expected at least a hint of shock from him since she was not one to curse at adults, but he merely appeared amused and let out a low chuckle.

"Ah, figlia have you looked in the mirror recently?"

Hermione blanched. She had not expected that response from him and could not stop herself from anxiously peering around the room for a mirror. After all, she knew more changes to her appearance were likely to come and one may have cropped up since her talk with her parents. The man noticed her predicament and silently passed a conjured one to her.

Her appearance had been altered even further than the last time she had checked. Before, the only difference had been in her eyes. Now she not only had unfamiliar blue orbs staring at her, but her hair and lips had changed. She silently thanked Merlin that her face itself was the same. You could still tell it was Hermione Granger… well except for the plumper lips and straighter hair.

Oh who was she kidding!? Upon first glance the things people noticed about her were her eyes and inevitably her bushy curly locks. Who would notice this new Hermione at first? Better question was who would believe her reasoning (that she could not even fully comprehend at the moment) and not attribute her changes to some vain need?

Instantly, endless nights in her dormitory with Parvati and Lavender started going through her head.

Hermione you would look gorgeous if you would just use a little of this in your hair…

… it works! I took this potion three times a day and now they're bigger!

How can you not care?! This is an amazing spell! No split ends for a month, who wouldn't want that?

All those times she had refused their beauty advice and now she had to return to school looking like this!

The combined force of everything that happened during her day built up too far and Hermione burst.

Well not literally, but her anger did come forth in that moment.

There also happened to be only one person in the room to receive it.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME!!?" Hermione shrieked. She was panting and only vaguely aware that her wand had bright red sparks coming out of it.

"The spells your mother placed on you are wearing off. I'm certain it has something to do with my proximity to you, but how much I am not sure." He said this so casually that it only proved to make Hermione angrier. However she attempted to speak in a calm voice that came out as more of a hiss.

"Just how much do you know of this whole thing?"

"Enough. We have much to discuss, but I'd prefer to do it somewhere more secure. You never know who could be listening in a place like this."

Alarms immediately went off in Hermione's head. No way could she just pop off to some unknown place with a perfect stranger. Her time with Harry had lead her to become less trusting of people. What with Pettigrew, Quirell, and the imposter Moody she had plenty examples of a little trust leading to an awful ending.

"Sorry, but anything you have to say will be said here. I refuse to go anywhere with you until I can trust you. Don't even consider forcing me, I know enough hexes that would put you in the hospital for weeks."

Threatening someone without a second thought, good job Gryffindor. Shut up you slimy Slytherin!

Ignoring the voices in her head Hermione gave the man a steely look. All the while she was thinking how ridiculous it was that she had been in his presence this long and still did not know his name.

He did not look the slightest bit concerned with her threat and simply cast a wary eye around the room. He lifted his wand that lay limp in his hand after he conjured the mirror and cast some spells on the room for protection.

"I think it would be for the best if you asked questions and I answered them. Many times I find that telling a story with the listener in silence can leave gaping holes and unsatisfied people on both ends."

Was he referring to the story the Grangers had given her? Did that mean he had met them?

"Do you know of the conversation I had earlier today?"

"Will a simple yes suffice or will you want the reason behind it as well?" Okay, now she was sure he was taunting her.

"Reasoning would be much appreciated." she said stiffly.

"As you wish, yes I do know of the conversation you had with the Grangers, around breakfast time I believe. I know this because approximately," he paused to look at his watch though Hermione had a feeling that was more for show than anything. "An hour ago I paid them a visit. They only looked mildly shocked to see me which I did not find too surprising, but I did find it disappointing. I find the element of surprise can make things quite exciting.

Anyways, with little explanation on my part, I heard the same story you had by looking over their memories. Their story left much to be desired and had I not known the rest of it through my own resources I probably would have been angry at the lack of details. I was not angry, but I was disappointed when I found that you had left only moments before my arrival. Who knows though, this could be for the best. I imagine it would have been quite awkward at times explaining this in front of them, figlia."

"There's that word again! What does it mean? What are you calling me?" She asked with pure confusion lacing her voice and showing all over her face. The man gave a small smile at her expression. It didn't really seem to belong there.

"Not familiar with Italian are we? Non ti preoccupare; presto risolveremo quel problema. Figlia means daughter and pardon me for stating the obvious, but I call you that because I am your father."

He paused as if he was waiting for this to sink in then spoke with a very blasé tone.

"Next question."

x HNL x

Malfoy Manor was empty except for the servants and two teenage boys: Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy.

One was lounging on the couch with his head behind his hands and the other was wearing a hole in the floor.

"If you don't stop your pacing Zabini, Mother may have your head for ruining her finest French rug."

Blaise paused for a moment to consider this before resuming his walk.

"Aunt Cissa loves me too much to kill me. She might kill you though, if you ruined her rug."

"She only loves you because she has yet to see the insufferable prat you really are." Draco said in a lazy tone. Blaise just shook his head and gave Draco a weak smile. Although many would bristle at the young Malfoy's words, Blaise knew he was just trying to get a reaction from his friend.

"Nice try Draco, but I'm still a bit preoccupied."

Draco sighed and cast a wary eye on the source of Blaise's worry.

An hour earlier, an owl had brought a letter addressed to Blaise. He had opened it carelessly, fully expecting it to be a letter from his mother saying she would be gone awhile on another shopping trip. Blaise was shocked, of course, when he instead found a letter from his father.

The letter was short and to the point which was one of the things that worried Blaise. Edmond Zabini was rather elaborate and his letters usually screamed of good breeding. A two sentence letter either indicated that he was mad at Blaise or something was wrong.

Blaise did not have an excellent relationship with his father; something that most of the Slytherins seemed to share. They only talked about once every two weeks, but somehow, Edmond always managed to make it not awkward. Blaise was thankful for that because unlike Draco, who had recently stopped caring what his father thought of him, he always longed for a close relationship with a parent.

A close relationship with his mother was out of the question since she found no need to get close to anyone unless they had a mysterious death coming their way. So, naturally Blaise migrated towards his father even if he hit a road block in their relationship once in awhile.

"He finally seemed to start liking me. Do you think he's going to disown me? "

Draco rolled his eyes. He had to stop this now before Blaise started to hyperventilate.

"Really Blaise, the letter has literally ten words. It's not normal to analyze it this much. In fact, only a-" Blaise cut him off.

"Don't say it."

"Ah, because you know I'm right?" Draco questioned with his ever present smirk.

"No, because I know you are a bloody git and you can shove your response up your-"

Blaise froze when a large silver eagle descended into the room. With a sigh, he started walking towards the fireplace before the bird even gave its message. As the emerald flames roared to life the Patronus spoke three words.

"It is time."

~TBC~

A/N: Hmm, I'm not very happy with this chapter… oh well. So sorry for the long wait, but my computer had an awful virus and the Best Buy people weren't very fast with service. Anyways, I hope to have the next chapter out within a week or a week and a half at most. It shouldn't take that long, unless another evil virus comes my way. Until next time! xxxxxxx

Translations:

Mia figlia. – My daughter.

Non ti preoccupare; presto risolveremo quel problema – Don'tworry; soon we will solve that problem.

If you actually speak Italian, I'm really sorry if I messed up the little Italian I had in this chapter. I don't think I did… think being the key word. =P