Prologue: The Truth Before the Pain

Hermione could feel the stares of the different people as she walked along the platform. She knew she looked totally different from the last time anyone had seen her, but did they have to stare that much? The changes had been a surprise to her as well and the circumstances that led to them would give her nightmares probably for the rest of her life.

~FLASHBACK~

She had been attacked that summer, the summer where she lost all hope and respect for the Light side. Well, respect for Dumbledore and the Order anyway. It had been the day of her 18th birthday. Her parents had been acting weird all summer and she couldn't figure out why. Not that she really cared anymore, only spending the summer before her final year because they begged her too. She and her parents hadn't been close since she got her letter at eleven. They treated her different and she knew that they had never really accepted the fact that she was a witch and would never follow their dreams of what they wanted for her.

What had started everything was the subtle changes that had been happening to her body since the end of the previous school year. Hermione had noticed that her hair was darkening and her eye color had been changing. Not enough to make her worry, but enough to make her take notice. She figured it was a prank by one of the Weasley twins that would wear off after some time. But as the summer passed and her features kept changing, she realized that it was something else entirely.

She did some research and quickly realized that she was under a long term Glamour Charm. Apparently it was wearing off and quickly because by the end of her first month home, her hair was coal black and her eyes were an icy blue flecked with the amber she was familiar with. At first she was worried how she was going to hide the changes from her parents, but then she realized something else. A Glamour Charm could only have been placed on her by another witch or wizard, and since all of her baby pictures had her with her bushy brown hair and amber eyes, her parents couldn't have done it. She wasn't a Granger.

Hermione had cried herself to sleep that night, hurt and betrayed by the two people she trusted most. Still she kept her hopes up that maybe there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this. She kept to her room for a few days, claiming a butt load of summer homework. Her 'parents' had gotten used to her holing up in her room during the summers and merely made sure that she ate and showered enough to be human and healthy before leaving her alone. Anytime she spent with them she made sure to wear a hat and keep her eyes away from their sight.

During the next few weeks she read every book she could on Glamour charms and how long they could be placed on a person. She finally found a book that spoke of time released Glamour Charms in detail. The book even told of a potion that would reveal not only who placed the charm on the person Glamoured, but would also reveal their true parentage. Reading the ingredients list, Hermione saw that she would be able to brew it easily with the supplies she had left over from the previous year.

She worked hard on the potion and was able to finish two days before her 18th birthday. That was another thing that changed. Thanks to her time turner use in 3rd year, she was a year older than everyone. Hermione debated whether or not to actually use the potion, her hope that she was wrong about her parents still holding out. In the end, she couldn't make that hope into a reality enough for her mind to quiet. The changes were too big to be ignored.

The night before her birthday, she waited until her 'parents' had gone to bed for the night before she touched the bottle hidden in her dresser. She had put it there to keep her 'parents' from asking questions. Making sure they were asleep, Hermione slipped the bottle out and uncorked it. She hesitated for a few moments, knowing that when she did this, her life would never be the same again. She took a deep breath, tipped the potion into her mouth, and swallowed.

Hermione Granger felt the potion coursing through her system and quickly sat at her desk to wait for the results. According to the recipe, a mist would leave her body and write the answers to her questions on a piece of parchment. She waited and waited and then the mist began its work.

Hermione stared at the parchment as it wrote down three names under two headings. The first was a name she knew well and trusted. This was the person that cast the Glamour on her. The last two names were the names of her true parents. One she recognized and was very shocked to see. The other she never heard of and would need to research. But that would come after she beat the living tar out of the first name and screamed at the second.

Caster of Glamour Charm on Hermione Elise Black: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

True Paternal Guardian: SIRIUS ORION BLACK

True Maternal Guardian: EMILIA CELESTE MALFOY