Inspiration and some extra time leads to many updates in a short time.
Enjoy abd as always I'd love to hear what you think!
Chapter 9
Hermione decides to talk to professor Mcgonagall during their first lesson in the new year. So halfway through the lesson she takes a deep breath and dives in.
"I talked to my parents during break. They told me that the day you came to us with the Hogwarts letter they told you I'm adopted. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it wasn't my news to share. It was up to your parents if and when to share this with you."
"I can understand that, but why didn't you tell me you knew when we talked about it?"
"It is something between you and your parents. It is not my place to interfere."
"Really? Just like that? How can you be so indifferent?"
"I'm your teacher miss Granger it's my job to teach. Not to sort out your family matters."
"We're back to miss Granger now huh. Well thank you for your candor professor. I'm glad we cleared things up. Thank you for the advanced lessons I'll see you in class."
"We're not finished here Hermione."
"Yes we are. You made it very clear you're my teacher and nothing more, so we'll stick to the lessons in my curriculum. I'll see you tomorrow professor." With those words Hermione leaves her professor's chambers and runs back to gryffindortower with tears running over her cheeks.
It's Ginny who finds Hermione later that evening sobbing in her bed.
"Hermione? What's going on? Lavender says you've been crying here for hours." Ginny sits down next to Hermione and takes her in her arms. It takes a while but Hermione eventually calms down enough to answer Ginny's questions.
"I'm so frustrated and disappointed with Mcgonagall. She's known and she didn't tell me. I can understand to some degree that she thought is was my parents decision if and when to tell me. I don't blame her for that. But she didn't tell me when I confided in her. When I asked her why, she told me she was just a teacher. That hurt. Because for me she's always been more than just a teacher. She's a mentor, a sort of mother figure while I'm here. That's not how she sees it though and that hurts. It really hurts Ginny!" Hermione starts sobbing again.
"I'm so sorry Hermione. I'd never have thought she would hurt you. Do you want me to talk to her?"
"N-no.. Can you just hold me for a little while?"
"Of course."
The rest of the school year professor Mcgonagall keeps on trying to talk to Hermione but Ginny and the boys have taken it upon themselves to make sure that doesn't happen. Ginny has filled in Harry and Ron on what professor Mcgonagall has said and they don't want Hermione to hurt. So Hermione finishes the school year with always at least one of her friends by her site.
Hermione has asked her parents earlier if she would be allowed to stay with Ginny instead of accompanying them on vacation. Things between them are getting better but they're not good enough to spend three weeks on vacation together. Or at least that's how Hermione sees it. Her parents have agreed and thus she leaves with the Weasleys from platform 9 ¾.
Hermione and Ginny spend their time at the burrow planning. When Hermione's parents are back from their vacation Ginny is spending three weeks with the Grangers and the girls plan on visiting the orphanage Hermione is left as a baby then. The visit has to be planned carefully, Hermione doesn't want her parents to know she is going to search for her birthparents. Things between Hermione and her parents are still too shaky for that. So the girls secretly plan their mission, Ron contributing his five cents every now and then.
The first thursday of Ginny's stay is the day. Thursdays Hermione's parents always work late, this gives them enough time to go to the orphanage and be back home before her parents even know they've been gone.
"You're sure we're going to get there in time?"
"Yes Ginny I checked the bus schedules several times."
"I don't see why we have to take the muggle bus. Why can't we take the knight bus? That would save so much time."
"Yes it would save time, but we might be caught. Either by muggles or a witch or wizard in the bus who knows us and tells on us. Public transport is the safest option."
"Okay okay. Just tell me one more time what I need to say or more importantly what I absolutely can't say."
"Stop it Ginny, you know the plan and you know what you can and can't say so you'll be fine. We'll be fine."
"Alright, let's get this over with." An hour and a half later they are standing in front of the orphanage.
"This is it, this is where my parents found me." Hermione takes a deep breath. Ginny soothingly rubs Hermione's back.
"You ready to face your past?"
"Yeah, let's go." The girls walk up to the door and ring the bell. It takes a few minutes before the door is answered by a older women.
"Hello, what can I do for you?"
"Hello I'm Hermione Granger and my parents adopted me from here. I was hoping to get some information from you."
"I'm not sure if I can provide you with any information, but come on in." The women leads Hermione and Ginny into an office.
"Would you like some tea?" After getting a yes from both girls the woman busies herself making tea.
"Have a seat girls and tell me what information are you looking for?" The woman says while putting tea cups on the desk and sitting in the office chair behind it.
"My parents adopted me from here and I was hoping to get some information about my birth parents. The amount of information my parents have is very little."
"If your parents have only a little information chances are there isn't any more. But I can look for you. Do you have the date and number of you adoption?"
"Yes." Hermione hands the woman the sheet with the information she copied from the folder.
"This is all the information I have." The woman takes the sheet and goes to a file cabinet. After rummaging around for a few minutes she walks over with a folder.
"This is your folder. It doesn't hold any more information that you already have. It is your lucky day though. I was the one who registered you and I still remember that day very clear. It was late at night when the doorbell rang. Outside I found a peculiar woman. She was wearing emerald robes and had her dark hair up in a bun. And even though she was trembling she glared and made me feel like a kid. She reminded me of one of my teachers to be honest. She trusted the baby into my hand and said 'I trust you'll take care of her' and walked away. I looked down at the baby in my arms and when I looked up again she was nowhere to be seen. Like she vanished in thin air." The woman looks up at Hermione and Ginny who are looking at each other in disbelief.
"So that's why we don't have much information. I don't even know if this woman was in any way related to you." Hermione is too stunned to talk so Ginny takes over.
"Thank you very much for your time and the information. We really appreciate it." Ginny leads Hermione out of the orphanage and into a nearby alley.
"Hermione? Are you okay?"
"I.. I… Mcg...Mcgonagall brought me here. Ginny, why didn't she ever tell me she brought me here? She'll know my birth parents, hell she might even be my birth mother."
"Hermione, calm down. Yes, by the sounds of it the woman who brought you here is professor Mcgonagall. We don't know that for sure though, so we should look into that. And even if she brought you here she might not know it's you she brought in. How about this summer we invest some time in coming up with a plan. A plan to figure out if it was indeed professor Mcgonagall that brought you here."
"And if she did?"
"Then we're going to find out what she knows about your birth parents." Hermione nods at that.
"That's a plan. Thank you for taking care of me Ginny, I was kinda losing it for a bit there."
"That's what friends are for Hermione. Come on let's get you home."