Disclaimer: How many times do I have to tell you this?...oka...i do not own HP! Happy?


A/N: This chapter was beta-ed by rid.me.of.this.ennui. Thank you for a wornderful work you've done:-)


Hermione tried to open her eyes very slowly at start. Feeling like she had been run over by a hippogriff prevent her from moving further. And then suddenly she realized that she was no longer in Professor McGonagall's office, but...in the Hospital Wing?

"What the...?" she tried getting up, but lightning like pain in her right hand made her drop back onto her pillows. She turned, rolling over onto her right side, her left hand gripping her right wrist in an attempt to lessen the pain.

"Good mornimg child," a familiar voice called from behind her. The middle aged woman came around to Hermione's side and the girl had little problem reconizing her as a younger Poppy Pomfrey.

Hermione gulped. So it hadn't all been a nightmare after all; everyone really was gone and she really had gone back in time to save them. Back to, it seemed, a time when Madam Pomfrey acted as the matron in Hogwarts infirmary.

"Don't hold your hand so tightly, dear," the nurse told her," elsewise I wont be able to heal it properly."

Gently the older woman pried the girl's hand from its slippery death grip on her other wrist, both hands coated in blood. "Now, what a mess! Scourgify!"

The spell did as it was meant to, quickly vanishing the red mess, but the sticky liqiud was just as fast.

"Strange," muttered the witch, "The bleeding should have stopped by now..."

"Problem Poppy?" Another familiar voice: this one belonging to Albus Dumbledore.

"Oh, Headmaster, I don't understand. The blood should have clotted by now."

The old man made a gesture with his hand. "If you would allow me?"

"Yes, of course. I'll just be in my office if you need me."

He nodded his approval and turned to the stranger on the bed.

Hermione met his gaaze. It was different, odd even, seeing the old man without the twinkle that usually glittered from his eyes. It was a strange absence, but not one she could not condone. He must have been under an awful amount of pressure now, during this first war with Voldemort.

Unlike her, he didn't know that Harry Potter would rid the world of the bastard for six-teen years or so. At this point, Dumbledore hadn't even heard the prophecy.

A softly trilled note called Hermione's attention to the bird that sat on the old man's shoulder.

Alright, so bird was a relative term.

The Headmaster's familiar, his phoenix Fawkes, sat upon his shoulder, regarding Hermione most curiously. Then, in a blink of the creature's beetle black eyes, he had landed on Hermione's bed and dipped his head to inspect her bleeding wrist. Apparently finding what he was looking for, another soft note was emmited from his beak before his crystal tears flowed onto the wound, healing the damaged skin.

Headmaster didn't say a word.

And as the phoenix's tears healed the wound, they washed away the second out-pouring of blood from her veins.

Hermione looked at her newly healed wrist as best she could with Fawkes sitting in front of it. Ruffling his feathers, the bird moved to give her a better view, and Hermione stared in disbelief at the golden tattoo on her arm. It was a small phoenix, wings outstretched, just as it should have been.

Merlin...It really worked...I did it!

Still in awe, she looked to the Headmaster.

"Miss..." he began, staring her straight in the eyes.

Legilimency.. she thought. No doubt about that. Tricky, old man, but not as easy as you thought it was going to be is it? All right, review time. Snape said...

She forced herself to relax despite the tension in her body and imagined creating a wall in her mind, brick by brick. She thought quickly, what to give him? Her known name would be risky, he knew her in the future, but her real name would be less so.

She had just returned to Headquarters from her father's funeral. Though he had died several weeks previously in a plane crash, Frank Ganger's body had just recently been found.

She had gone alone; she hadn't wanted Harry or Ron to accompany her, it was much too dangerous for either to leave teh safety of Grimmuald Place.

A voice starlted her back into reality.

"Hey, Granger, you okay?" asked one Draco Malfoy.

Now that Snape had been exposed as the spy he was, he no longer had any connections to Voldemort or his Death Eaters, Dumbledore had chosen the young Malfoy as the next spy for the Order.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." He nodded and turned back to the kitchen, limping a little on his left leg.

Hermione watched him until he was out of sight and headed towards the sitting room, where she could hear the boys' voices drifting from.

"Hermione..." began Harry, "How-" and he faltered.He had lost his own parents, yes, but that had been when he was a babe and he had no personal memories of them. Hermione had grown up with her father's constant presence. He tried again.

"H-How is your mother?"

Hermione sighed and sat down on the couch, staring at her hands. "She went home after the service, I didn't have much of a chance to talk to her."

"What?"

The word was a malovlent whisper issued from the dark corner next to the hearth. Seconds later Professor Sanpe's face could be distinguished from the shadows.

"Isolent chit! I was exposed as a spy saving your mother from McNair! Sending her back to the house she was attacked in is equivalent to signing her death warrant. They will attack her again once they find her."

Hermione sighed once more. Snape's reasoning was not unfounded, but it was wrong nonetheless.

"They'll be looking for Callista Granger, but they won't find her..."

"Yes, that would be your mother's name."

"Explain it to us 'Mione?" Harry asked, concern for her sanity in his bright reen eyes.

"I spoke with my grandfather at the funeral today, and... and I told him everything."

"Everything?" asked Ron. "Everything as in..."

"Everything. About magic, about Voldemort," Ron and the professor winced at her casual address of the Dark Lord, only Harry had no reaction."About the war, and about Mum's situation. He came up with a solution.

"My grandfather... he... he was forced to change his name after he ran away from his home."

"He ran away? From where?" Harry asked.

"La Terra Corsa."

"Corsica?" Snape muttered. "Interesting..."

"Yes. He was born into a respected family in Bastia, but never really shared their views or lifestyle; kind of like Sirius, Harry." The boy's eyes lit up at the mention of his godfather. "Anyway, his family was involved in a few of the independence groups, the ones known to practice extortion and other intimidatory tactics... 'The Fighters for the Freedom of Corsica.'

"Since my grandfather didn't care much for their methods, his family threatened him with death. So he ran.

"When he reached England he changed his name from Alessandro Grimaldi to Alexander Granger. And when he ran, he took his wife and his young son with him. Thus Franco Grimaldi became Frank Granger, my father."

The room stared blankly at her.

Ron was the first to find his voice.

"Have you always known?"

"No," she answered. "Just since Father's death. My grandfather is changing his papers to formally become Alessandro Grimaldi again, thereby changing my mother's name as well. And after Grandfather's death I am to change my name as well, entering the right of succession and become heir to all that is my family's"

"Grimaldi." She finished her name for the Headmaster. "Hermione Grimaldi."

She decided to play innocent.

"And you are...?"

"Forgive me, I must seem very rude; I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." He offered her his hand to shake. Hermione absently noted that it was a muggle custom. "Now, Miss Grimaldi, may I inquire as to what brings you to Hogwarts?"

Hermione offered her newly healed hand in return; making sure the phoenix was displayed. "I was under the impression that you were looking for someone to fill the Defense Against the Dark Arts position…"

Just as she had hoped, the magical tattoo had caught the Headmaster's attention and he pulled the sleeve of his right hand up for Hermione to see his matching one.

The twinkle that had been absent during their discussion returned to the man's blue eyes as he smiled at her.

"And, by the looks of it, I believe I've just found one…."


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