Thank you to those who reviewed my last chapter, it really means a lot. Here's Chapter Two, I hope you enjoy it :)
*Last Time*
"Granger, Hermione," McGonagall called.
Severus heard the name loud and clear and his eyes shot over to the girl in question.
"It can't be," He whispered to himself as Hermione made her way up to the sorting hat, twiddling her thumbs nervously. He couldn't believe his eyes, it was her. It was his Hermione. His little girl. He was struggling to hold back the urge to go and sweep her into his arms, she was the spitting image of Olivia, except for her eyes, her eyes were all him.
As Hermione sat herself on the stool Severus couldn't help but smile, he never thought he'd see the day that his little girl would get sorted at Hogwarts. He just wished that Olivia could be here to share the moment with him.
...
"GRYFFINDOR," The hat shouted amongst the crowd. Hermione smiled and jumped off the stool in delight before skipping over to the Gryffindor table where she was greeted by her fellow house mates.
Severus watched as he made her way over to the Gryffindor table, trying to hide the smile that had erupted on his face. He noticed a locket hanging out of her robes and in that instant he was 100% certain that this was his Hermione.
He'd given her that necklace for her 1st birthday, inside was the song Olivia used to sing to her every night to get her to sleep.
"Just like her mother," He whispered to himself, tears welling up in his eyes before he quickly composed himself and shook his head violently to stop the tears becoming noticeable.
...
"What are you three on about?" Hermione asked, turning her attention away from Ron (who was stuffing his face) and facing the three of them.
"Professor Snape," Harry told her, motioning over to him at the staff table.
Hermione looked over to see what they were on about when her eyes connected with Professor Snapes.
She froze as she looked into his eyes. No, her eyes.
All of a sudden, Hermione felt extremely dizzy and before she knew it she was falling off the bench and into darkness.
Chapter Three
Hermione watched as her parents leaned over her cot and smiled down at her.
"She's so beautiful," Her mother said, stroking Hermiones hair out of her face.
"She looks just like you," Her father commented, "The two most beautiful maidens in the land," He chuckled, placing a chaste kiss on her mothers lips. Hermiones mother laughed at his use of language before staring back down at her daughter.
"We did good, didn't we," She said, never taking her eyes off Hermiones little form.
"We sure did," Her father agreed, "She's our special little ray of sunshine, our special little Hermione."
...
"Sev, did you see that?" Hermiones mother bellowed, jumping up and down for joy.
"See what?" Her father replied, looking at his wife in amusement.
"She did magic, our little girl did magic!" She wailed, picking Hermione up and doing a little jig with her.
Hermione watched as her father laughed at their antics before taking Hermione into his own arms and squeezing her into a tight hug.
"Well done poppet," He praised, "You're going to be the brightest witch Hogwarts has ever seen, mark my words."
...
"Hey Poppet," Her father greeted, lifting her out of her cot and placing a kiss on her cheek, "Did you sleep well?"
"Es," Hermione replied, trying her best to speak like she knew her mother and father could.
"Good," He said, "Do you know what day it is?"
"No," Hermione said.
"It's your birthday," He said excitedly.
"Burday?" Hermione said in bemusement, trying to figure out what her father was on about.
"Bir-th-day," He sounded out.
"Burd day," Hermione sounded out, trying to sound like her father.
"That was better poppet," He told her.
"Daddy, what a burd day?" Hermione asked.
"It means you are 2 years old today and that you get to have presents and a cake," He explained.
"How old daddy?" Hermione asked.
"Much older than you," He chuckled, "I have a present for you." He held a box out in front of Hermione, who grabbed at it eagerly, only to have it moved away.
"Can I see?" Hermione asked.
"What's the magic word?" Her father replied.
"Pwease?" Hermione said, looking up at her father pleading.
"Here you go," He responded, handing her the little box. Hermione tried her hardest to open it but her chubby little fingers couldn't get under the lid.
"Daddy help?" Hermione asked, he raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, "pwease?"
"Here you go," He said as he handed the box back to his daughter. Hermiones eyes widened as she looked at the locket in the box.
"It pwitty," Hermione said.
"Do you want me to open it?" Her father asked, reaching out to take the locket out.
"Es," Hermione replied, watching as her father opened the locket and a song played from it. Hermiones smile brightened as she heard the tune coming from it, "That Mummy song," She giggled.
"Yes it is, You can listen to it whenever you want. Promise me you won't lose it," Her father asked, placing the locket around her neck and charming it so it wouldn't fall off.
"Pwomise Daddy," Hermione said, reaching up to grab one of his finger.
"I love you poppet," He told her.
"Love you Daddy."
...
"Hey there poppet," Hermiones father said, greeting his daughter softly, placing a light kiss onto her forehead. She giggled in joy and reached out her hands towards him.
"Daddy," She gurgled, he took her out of her mothers arm and snuggled her close.
...
"What happened?" Hermione asked, rubbing her eyes wearily.
"You fainted," A voice said from her left.
"Fainted?" Hermione asked, pushing herself up into a sitting position, groaning when she felt her head spin and the room start to go fuzzy around her.
"Lie back down poppet," A calming voice said, as they rested a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down onto the bed.
Hermione complied and lay back down on the bed, she waited for her eyes to focus and then looked around for the owner of the voice. Her breath hitched when she locked eyes with the person in question.
"Daddy?" Hermione whispered, a rapid flow of tears beginning to pour down her face. In a flurry she jumped of the bed and flung herself into Severus' arms, ignoring her pounding headache and dizziness.
Severus couldn't contain the tears as he gathered his daughter up in his arms for the first time in 10 years.
They sat in each others arms for a while, Severus rubbing her back soothingly while Hermione sobbed into his chest and clung onto him like he could disappear at any second.
"I missed you Hermione," Severus told her, wiping his tears as he carried her over to the bed and lay her back down, never taking his hand out of hers as he sat down in the chair to the left of the bed.
"I missed you too Daddy," Hermione whispered, smiling when Severus wiped away the tears from her cheeks and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
"What happened to you poppet?" Severus asked, Hermione looked at him in confusement for a minute.
Why would he want to talk about her life in the hospital wing? Surely he wanted somewhere more private. She thought to herself.
"Hermione?" Severus asked concerned, she'd just been staring at him for the past minute, "Why did you faint?"
Hermione clicked out of her thoughts at his comment, he only wanted to talk about her episode in the great hall at the moment. Honestly, she was rather relieved, she needed to mentally prepare herself for the story of her life and now was definitely not the time for that sort of conversation.
"I - I remember all these memories, it was like they were ... I don't know, flooding maybe, is that the right word? Yeah. Flooding my brain, it was like all the memories I had of you were blocked but when I made eye contact with you they all came flooding back, it's as if they were trapped inside my own mind, then I just fainted," Hermione rambled, not being able to find the words to describe the sensation she just felt.
"is that possible?" She asked, staring up at her father questionably.
"Oh Marls, you amazing woman," Severus whispered sadly.
"Who's Marls?" Hermione asked.
"Marlene Mckinnon," Severus told her, "She was one of your mothers best friends, the night she was robbed of her life was the night I lost you and your mother. It seems Marls cast a triggered obliviate on you."
"Triggered obliviate?" Hermione asked, "From what I've read an obliviate, also known as a Forgetfulness Charm, it is a spell that is used to erase memories from an individual's mind. However, it is the only known charm that removes ones memories permanently unless broken through the use of torture, which will effectively cause brain damage and long term memory loss."
Severus watched as Hermione - who had grown up around muggles and knew nothing about magic until a couple of weeks prior - talked about the obliviate charm as if she'd known what it was her whole life.
"None of the books I've read so far has mentioned that memories from an obliviate could be triggered and returned to the owner, so how is it possible that I have mine back but you claim that Marlene McKinnon obliviated me?" Hermione asked, before she went back over the information she'd just shared and widened her eyes in shock, "You didn't!" She gasped.
"We did," Severus told her, smiling at her ability to retain knowledge and figure our problems quickly.
"You made a new obliviate?" She spluttered, "people have been trying to do that for centuries but even the most powerful of wizards have failed, how did you do it?" Hermione asked, staring at her father in anticipation for his answer.
"It wasn't me," Severus admitted.
"It wasn't you? Who was it then?" Hermione asked.
"Your mum," He admitted.
"Mum made that spell," Hermione said in awe.
"She did," Severus confirmed, "she spent almost a year on that spell and when she completed it she shared it with our close friends in case of an emergency, not only that but your mother and myself have cast a spell on ourselves that allow us to break through any obliviate cast on us," Severus told her, his heart melting as he saw the admiration in his daughters eyes.
"How an earth did you manage that? Will you teach it to me?" asked Hermione.
"Olivia is the brightest witch in three centuries, I don't believe there isn't anything she couldn't do. Of course I will poppet, maybe not for a couple of years, but I will." He told her.
"Really? Mum sounds wicked," Hermione said joyfully, smiling at the fact that she know knew her mums name.
She watched on as her dad hung his head and looked at the floor, his eyes sad and lips pursed into a thin line.
"Daddy?" Hermione said softly squeezing Severus' hand in her own.
"Sorry poppet," He replied, squeezing her hand back and looking up to meet her eyes.
"What happened to mum?" Hermione muttered quietly.
"She -"
Before Severus could explain the sound of the hospital wing doors slamming open interrupted him, quickly he jumped up from his seat and bent down to whisper in Hermiones ear.
"We'll speak later, I have to go but before I do I need to tell you that Dumbledore is not to be trusted."
Hermione nodded and smiled when her dad kissed her softly on the forehead before sneaking off into the shadows.
Just as he disappeared two figures came wondering towards her bed, she watched as Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall made there way to the end of her bed and stood before her.
"Hello Miss Granger," Dumbledore greeted her, his eyes twinkling annoyingly beneath his glasses.
"Headmaster," Hermione said curtly, nodding her head at the Headmaster.
"How are you feeling my girl?" He asked.
"I feel fine Sir, I'm still a little dizzy but that's to be expected," She replied
"Good, good," He chirped, "Would you be able to tell us why you fainted Miss Granger?"
Hermione wanted to gag at the old mans constant happiness, she could see why her father told her not to trust him. Just from this short encounter she could tell he was untrustworthy.
His friendly grandfather persona didn't fool her, the twinkling he constantly had in his eyes was the effect of a charm known as 'ictu oculi' which translated to the phrase 'twinkling eyes' in English.
The charm wasn't well known but Hermione had bought almost every book available in Diagon Alley and knew each and everyone of them almost by heart.
His mannerisms were also too exaggerated and forced, which indicated that he didn't really mean them and, in this case, was only displaying those certain mannerisms because he was trying to earn Hermiones trust.
Well, Hermione thought, Two can play that game
Out of the corner of her eye Hermione saw McGonagall staring at her and a small smile grace her lips, she turned her head to face her head of house and smiled back at her, it was as if she knew what she was up to.
"Of course I can sir," Hermione stated sweetly, "As you know I'm muggleborn and as I was sat there after the sorting ceremony I came to the sudden realisation that this was all in fact real and not some wonderful dream, I guess I just got a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of me actually being able to do magic, I'm sorry if I caused a scene sir, I didn't mean to," Hermione apologised whole heartedly - or so Dumbledore thought.
She's good, McGonagall thought as she watched the girl play Albus Dumbledore so easily.
Luckily for McGonagall she was almost positive that this child was Olivias and if any one knew Olivia then it was her. She could tell by the little flare of Hermiones nostrils that she wasn't telling the truth.
"There's no need to apologise my girl, It happens every now and then, nothing to be ashamed about. I'm glad you're feeling better but me and Professor McGonagall best be off, I look forward to talking to you again Miss Granger," Dumbledore replied, walking away with a smug expression on his face. He really did think that he had just earnt the trust of another viable student to use for his cause.
Professor McGonagall, however, knew better.
"Good evening Miss Granger," McGonagall said to Hermione, winking at her as she walked behind Dumbledore and out of the hospital wing, flicking her wand carelessly to close the doors behind her.
Hermione watched as they retreated out of the Hospital wing and when they were gone she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
As she fell into unconsciousness the only thought on her mind was how she was going to find out her her mother really was, at least this time she had a lead.
Her mum was called Olivia.
Nothing was going to stop her.
Tomorrow she was going to find out who her mother was.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are appreciated, thanks :)
