Even though he was aware that Dumbledore might be wanting to contact him at some point during the day, Severus was putting his promise to Hermione first, and that meant being at the manor when she met Voldemort for the first time. Connecting his floo connection to his wand, so he would be aware if anyone tried to contact his cottage, Severus left for the manor. When he arrived at the manor, he found Lucius had already contacted The Dark Lord and Hermione was already settled in the front room, awaiting the meeting with her father.

"How are you doing this morning?" Severus asked as he greeted a clearly nervous Hermione.

"I'm coping," Hermione answered. "Do you think he'll mind that I want to stick with the name Hermione? I understand that to him, I'm Hope, but I've been Hermione my entire life and I don't think I want to change my name. Anyway, Draco said I should stick to what I'm comfortable with," she added at breakneck speed, rushing through what she wanted to say because of her nerves.

"You've spoken to Draco?" Severus asked, starting with the last thing Hermione had mentioned.

"He introduced himself this morning," Hermione answered. "He offered to be my friend."

"I hope you took him up on the offer. You're going to need friends, and they don't come much more loyal than Draco. I know he appears and cold and uncaring, but he's got a big heart and when he embraces someone, he'll do anything for them."

"I almost messed it up, but I did accept his offer and we've agreed to start over," Hermione confessed.

"That's good," Severus said with a nod. "And as for your name, I can't see any reason why The Dark Lord will insist on you changing it. Although be warned, he's likely to still call you Hope. After all, it's who you are to him."

"I don't mind if he wants to call me Hope," Hermione said. In fact it was what she expected, and she hoped that hearing him using her birth name would help her bond with a wizard she wasn't even sure if she could trust.

Although it wasn't long before Hermione would find out if she could trust Voldemort, as Lucius entered the room and announced that The Dark Lord had arrived. Not sure what to expect, Hermione rose to her feet to meet the wizard that had fathered her. What she was confronted with was a tall, pale wizard with glaring red eyes and very short dark hair. He wasn't quite the monster Harry had described only a few months previously, but there was still something slightly inhuman about him. There was certainly a dark aura surrounding him, although that shattered when she looked into his eyes and found them swimming with tears.

"Hope," he whispered in a hoarse voice, warily raising his hand towards Hermione.

Hermione wasn't sure what to call the wizard in front of her, but she followed her instincts when it came to reacting to their reunion. Stepping forward she gave Voldemort a subtle nod of her head and before she knew it, she was engulfed in his arms. Voldemort clung onto her tightly, but Hermione didn't feel afraid as all the time he was whispering how much he loved her and she could feel his body shaking with emotion. It was clear that even though the meeting was overwhelming for her, it was so much more potent for Voldemort. She was only just discovering the truth, whereas he was meeting the daughter he'd thought was dead and had mourned for.

"I still can't believe it's you," Voldemort whispered, finally pulling away from Hermione long enough to look at the young witch in his arms.

"I'm not sure I quite believe it myself," Hermione replied.

"Of course, this must be quite the shock for you," Voldemort said solicitously, letting go of Hermione. "Let's sit down."

Hermione found herself settled on the largest sofa in the room with Voldemort warily perching beside her. Both Lucius and Severus waited for a small nod from Voldemort before also taking a seat, Severus on the smaller sofa and Lucius in an armchair beside the fire. Hermione could already tell that neither wizard planned on interfering with the meeting, but just having them present, Severus especially, helped make her feel safe.

"I just want to start by saying that I don't expect you to love me, or even like me, straight away," Voldemort began. "I won't lie to you and tell you the stories you've heard about me are false, because they're not. I am what is usually regarded as a dark wizard and I have done some dark things in the past, and will do more in the future. However, there is another side of me. A side I hope you want to get to know."

"Since you're being honest with me, I would like to do the same," Hermione said bravely, looking Voldemort in the eye even though she wasn't sure how he was going to react to what she had to say. "I don't really think I want to be your daughter, and under other circumstances, I don't even think I would be here. But my life was in danger with the Order, and Severus promised me that you would protect me."

"And I will," Voldemort vowed, hiding his pain at Hermione's declaration that she didn't want to be his daughter. "I'm just sorry I couldn't manage it when you were a baby. I should have known Dumbledore would have tried something."

"Did you know Dumbledore knew I existed?" Hermione asked.

"No," Voldemort admitted.

"Then there was nothing you could have done," Hermione stated. "I'm sure we both want answers to what happened to me in the past, but I don't need apologies for something you couldn't prevent."

"What do you need?" Voldemort questioned.

"I need you to keep me safe," Hermione replied. "And even though I said I didn't want to be your daughter, I'm well aware that I am your daughter, and I want you to know that I accept it. I can't predict how things are going to go between us, but I'm here and this is my life now, so I would like to get to know you."

"I'd like to get to know you too," Voldemort returned, a small smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "And we can take things as slowly as you want. I won't push you into doing anything you're not ready for."

"Thank you," Hermione whispered with a relieved sigh. Even though Lucius had promised her the same thing, it was a relief to hear it from Voldemort himself as she knew that ultimately Lucius would have had no choice but to do as he was ordered.

"I know when you arrived you had none of your things, and while I'm not sure if we're going to be able to get them for you, I'm happy to pay for you to have new clothes and new belongings," Voldemort said. "I am of course assuming you're going to be staying at the manor, but if you're not happy with that, we can make alternative arrangements."

"I think I'm happy to stay here. Besides, isn't this the safest place for me to be?" she checked, glancing over at Lucius.

"No-one can get to you while you're here," Lucius confirmed.

"In that case, I think it's best I stay here," Hermione declared. "If of course, I'm still welcome."

"You can stay as long as you like, Hope," Lucius said with a smile.

"Speaking of Hope. I don't mind if people call me that, but I don't plan on changing my name. I've been Hermione for nearly sixteen years, and that is who I am."

"No-one would ever force you to change your name," Voldemort said. "But I do appreciate you allowing me to call you Hope. I understand that you're attached to your other name, but to me you're still my little Hope."

"Did you name me, or did my mother?" Hermione asked. "And can you tell me about her?"

"I would love to tell you about your mother," Voldemort said with a sad smile. "But before we start getting personal, I think we need to talk business."

"Business?" Hermione frowned, not understanding what Voldemort meant.

"We need to make some decisions on what happens now," Voldemort explained. "The Order know you're missing and they're not going to sit back and do nothing about it. Dumbledore has already applied to the Ministry to have your under-age trace activated, and by this afternoon they'll know where you are."

"Can they come and take me back?" Hermione asked, nervously nibbling at her lower lip. "They could accuse the Malfoys of kidnapping me, and I don't want to get people into trouble."

"They could never make an accusation like that stick," Lucius snorted in derision. "Especially not when you tell the Ministry you're exactly where you want to be."

"Is that what you want me to do?" Hermione asked, turning to look at Voldemort.

"If you're happy with doing that," Voldemort replied with a nod. "In actual fact, as long as you're happy with it, I was going to have you tell the Ministry the truth."

"All of it?" Hermione checked. "About what I heard, and why I'm here?"

"Every last detail," Voldemort confirmed. "We can do it in such a way we don't have to acknowledge that I'm back. Since the Ministry are so keen on denying my presence, let's leave it that way and when I'm ready I'll make sure they know for sure that I'm back. But I thought that you, Severus and Lucius could explain everything else that has happened, and put the pressure back on the Order. But if you would rather do things some other way, we can."

"No, I like the idea of being truthful," Hermione said with a thoughtful nod. Apart from not acknowledging that Voldemort was back, it meant she didn't have to lie and deceive people and that was to her liking.

"That's settled then," Voldemort said. "When the Ministry come calling, which no doubt they will, you tell them the truth. Lucius, I want you to make sure that Hope is with either you, Severus or Narcissa the entire time she's in contact with the Ministry. I want my daughter safe."

"And what do you want me to do about the Order?" Severus asked. "I avoided Dumbledore's questions last night, but we all know they're going to know I played a part in delivering Hermione to you."

"As long as you're confident you'll be able to get away again, you can also tell them the truth," Voldemort said. "You can make it clear that they won't get their hands on Hope again. I will protect her with my life if necessary."

"But won't that mean you lose your job?" Hermione asked with a frown. "Dumbledore won't let you stay on at Hogwarts once he knows you helped me run away."

"I can get another job," Severus assured Hermione with a small smile. "Protecting you is more important."

"Thank you," Hermione whispered, touched by how much the Potions Professor had done for her over the last twenty-four hours.

"I was also thinking that while I was with the Order, I could try and grab some of your things," Severus said. "I can't promise anything though," he added quickly, not wanting to get Hermione's hopes up as until he arrived at Grimmauld Place he would have no idea what the situation was like.

"That would be appreciated, but all I really want is Crookshanks," Hermione said. She felt terrible that with all the drama, she'd forgotten about her precious ginger cat until she was lying in bed unable to sleep due to everything that was whirling around in her head. "He was catching mice when we left headquarters yesterday, and it never occurred to me to grab him."

"I'll do my best to grab him," Severus promised.

"Thank you," Hermione repeated, feeling as though she was doing nothing but thank people just lately.

"You're welcome," Severus returned.

"Do we want to discuss what happens after we've dealt with the Ministry?" Lucius asked. "Even once the truth comes out, there's no guarantee Dumbledore and his cronies will be held accountable for their crimes. You know what a slippery old sod the git is."

"Let's take one thing at a time," Voldemort said. "We can make some more decisions after we see how Dumbledore and the Order are going to proceed. But right now, I would like to get to know my daughter some more. If of course she wants to talk to me."

"I do," Hermione confirmed with an eager nod. "I have so many questions."

"Maybe it's time we should leave you two alone," Lucius volunteered as he and Severus rose to their feet at the same time, both of them on the same wavelength.

However, before either of them left the room they waited for Hermione to give them a nod to let them know that she was happy to be left alone with Voldemort. She was now confident that the dark wizard only had her best interests at heart and she was sure that if it all got too much for her and she needed a break, he would honour her wishes. But for now she wanted nothing more than to talk to the wizard who was her father and find out more about her past.