Chapter 10

Semester was passing by quickly and Harry noticed that soon it would be Christmas day. His classes were great and he was doing fine. In his mid semester report he saw that he had an Outstanding in Defense, an Exceeds Expectations in Charms and Transfiguration, and an Acceptable in Potions, Herbology and Astronomy. He was quite proud of his grades, although Potions was a surprise to him as Professor Snape did not like him.

When the holidays started, Harry invited his friends to come over. He sent a letter to Neville, Daphne, Tonks and Weasleys, of which three replied yes. Unfortunately, Ginny could not go as their family was suspicious of him being in Slytherin and Ron by now loathed him.

Harry entered an apartment in the train and sat there. Neville, Tonks, Hermione and Daphne soon joined him.

"I cannot believe that Professor Snape gave me a mere Exceeds Expectations in Potions! He gave an Outstanding to Draco Malfoy!"

"Don't worry Hermione, we all know that your knowledge of Potions is vast. You would get an Outstanding in OWL Potions so don't worry"

"Thanks Daph"

"So how are the rest of grades?" asked Harry "Do you have your strongest academic areas as of yet?"

"Well, I am good at everything but I think my strongest area is Transfiguration" answered the bushy haired girl

"Mine is Charms."

"I am good in Herbology."

"My best one is Defense" replied Tonks

"Mine too. Professor Quirell said that I am one of the best in the year, sharing the position with Draco Malfoy."

Soon the trolley came with food and the group took some of it. After eating one of the first chocolate frogs, he found a card with Dumbledore face on there. He read the description and put it into his bag.

In the evening, the train approached Kings Cross station. They saw their parents, who took their arms and the group soon apparated to their homes

"Harry! It is nice to see you! How was semester?"

Harry told about his semester. He told about the troll and how it attacked Hermione. Harry also complained about Professor Snape and his mom told him that she would send a letter to her former friend.

On Christmas Eve Lily Evans invited the parents of Harry's friends to dinner. While the kids were playing and talking, Lily was meeting the adults.

"Welcome back Dan, Emma. How is your dentist practice?"

"It is going well, Lily"

Lily then greeted Tonks family. Then she saw another couple, which she did not know.

"I am Richard Greengrass and this is my wife Athena. We are parents of Daphne, who is a friend of Harry."

"Nice to meet you. I heard that Harry, Daphne and Hermione defeated a troll." They continued their conversation and soon all adults sat at the table, which included two Marauders, Lily Potter, Ted and Andromeda Tonks, Grangers, Greengrass family and Augusta Longbottom.

Meanwhile the kids were discussing their year once again. Harry looked at one bottle and saw "Heritage Potion" written on it.

"Hey Hermione, look, mom made the potion. Now you need to put your blood in it and it will show your family within two generations."

"That's great! Now I can know if Snape is related to me although I hope that he is not"

Harry took and opened the bottle and Hermione put some of her blood in there. The mixture glowed and then a small family tree appeared above the bottle.

"Let's see" said Hermione as she started tracing her family starting from her name as the rest of the group watched. "Here is my name and here are my parents. She then looked closer and saw that each of her parents had a sibling, of which one of them had a child.

"My mom's brother is" she paled "Severus Snape! How is that possible?"

There was a silence in the room for a while after which Harry broke it. "Hermione, it is possible that your mother is a squib and a sister to our git of a Professor.

"It is possible. I will ask Professor Snape if he had any sisters." She then looked at her father line. "I see that he has a brother who married Merope Riddle and has a daughter Merope as well. I did not know that I have a cousin."

"Maybe your father and Uncle are on bad terms. But know we know that you have interesting heritage"

The kids soon came to the table and Harry told the results of the test to his mum. She was surprised and then told the Grangers about what she found. Dan Granger confirmed that he had a brother with whom he was on bad terms. Emma Granger told that she did have a brother, who occasionally showed up at her home and was named Severus but she did not know that he was a wizard.

The dinner was excellent, after which the company split and went to their homes. Harry had a lot of information to process as he just learned that his friend was a half blood and that she was related to a git. He wondered how such wonderful girl could be a nice to Snape. With those thoughts he fell asleep.

A/N Merope Riddle, Hermione's Uncle and Merope Granger are OC. Hermione's Uncle will not be a part of plot really, he will be just mentioned a couple times. Hermione's cousin is a witch and will be a minor character. Hermione's Aunt... she will have a bigger role. I think it is clear who her parents are, at least her father [of Merope Riddle] but I would like to hear what you think. Hermione's cousin would be joining Hogwarts in Harry's 2nd year.