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Hermione stayed out by the lake for most of the day. She headed inside when she realized it was nearing dinner and she was hungry as she had not eaten lunch. She was very nervous about Friday, she would finally know who her biological parents are.

Chapter 11

Hermione woke up Thursday morning to the bright sun coming through her windows. She had been so consumed in her thoughts the previous day to remember to draw the curtains.

Her room was decorated in soft purples and greens. She had a window seat that looked out onto the lake. Beside that window was a lovely book case that had grown to fit her books; which also included her parent's books and photo albums collected from her childhood home before it was sold.

In one corner was a desk with cubby holes that matched the number of classes she had this year, as well as one for her personal files and papers. It had drawers for her parchment, ink and quills, and other school equipment.

In the other corner, there were two doors. The one on the left, leading to a walk-in closet. Where, the one on the right lead to a beautiful, en-suite bathroom; which had a tub that she could basically swim in.

All in all, her room was paradise. A place where she could call her own and get away from everyone. Everyone that is, except Draco, who had the room up the other flight of stairs, directly beside hers.

Hermione had not seen Draco at all since the hospital wing. She was worried that he wouldn't want to be with of her new appearance. It was almost like he was avoiding her. Plus their relationship was so new.

Yesterday, she had come back to their dorm around 5, thinking he would be there as he usually was right before dinner. He had not been in the common room, so she had walked up the stairs to his room. She knocked on the door, but had gotten no response, so Hermione gently opened the door. Draco had also not been in his room, and the door to his bathroom was open, so she could see he wasn't in there either.

She had went to his desk and left him a not asking him to come see her when he returned. Hermione then went to her room and ordered some dinner for herself; then sat on the window seat and pondered the day's events.

By 11, she decided that he wasn't coming and got ready for bed.

And here she was, 7:30 in the morning, getting ready to go down to the common room. She put on a pair of jeans, that she had to resize to fit, and a long sleeved grey sweater- which was once to big for her, but now fit perfectly. Hermione slipped on her black flats and went down her staircase.

It just happened to be the same time that Draco himself was coming down his own staircase. They met at the bottom.

"Oh, Draco, there you are. I was looking for you yesterday." Hermione said. "I left a note on your desk, did you not get it?"

"I- uh- I did, but it was late and I didn't want to disturb you," he said, avoiding his eyes.

"That hasn't stopped you before, so why now?" She could tell he was lying to her and that hurt.

"'Cause I figured with everything that has happened since Monday, that you would want your– um- space."

She frowned. "But you're my boyfriend right? Of course I would want to be around you."

"I- um- yeah" he looked around, his eyes settling on the clock. "Oh look, time for breakfast, I've got to go. Have fun with Snape."

She caught his arm as he tried to zoom past her. "Draco, please… What's wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?"

"Acting like what?" He asked, with an innocent expression.

"You're acting like I have the plague. Do you not wanna be around me anymore?" She asked, willing the tears that were forming to go away. She saw his eyes soften for a moment, getting her hopes up, only to have them crushed as the look disappeared from his eyes. "Is it the way I look? I'm still me… still Hermione."

Draco yanked his arm from her grasp. "No, you're not! Don't you see you'll never be her?"

Hermione gulped and looked down to avoid his angered sneer. Quietly she spoke, "I am still her, just with a different look. But it looks like you've made up your mind. I'll just get out of your space." She said holding back the tears that were trying to consume her. She willed herself to not look at him again and walked out of their quarters.

Once in the hallways, Hermione broke into a run. She didn't know where she was going, but she just wanted to get away. To, lick her wounds in peace.

She ended up at the base of the Astronomy tower. So she climbed the stairs to the top. Hermione peered over the edge at the grounds below.

'It would be so easy… so easy to just jump off right here…' she thought as she let her tears make tracks along the flesh of her cheeks.

She sat down and leant against the wall of the open archway, her legs dangling off the edge, between the poles of the railing. Hermione sat and watched third year students make their way across the grounds to Hagrid's hut for their Care of Magical Creatures class.

Hermione sighed, 'Why can't everything just be normal? Why can't my parents just be the Granger's? Then at least I would know who they are… or were,' she sobbed at that. No matter what happens to her, they will always be her mummy and daddy. They raised her. They died thinking she was their child. And right now, all she wanted was to go to that house in a little suburb of London and curl up in the embrace of her mother. But she knows that it will never happen again.

'I thought Draco was different…' He had seen past the bookworm and found the girl who just wanted to be loved and accepted. 'I thought he was the only one to understand me... We went through so much at the hands of Voldemort… I would think that my outer looks wouldn't matter. I mean I still have the scars that Hermione had… Why is life so challenging.'

She thought back on the last couple days spent working with Snape in his private lab. She felt horrible about seeing his personal memories, ones that obviously hurt to remember. 'Poor, Professor Snape… I couldn't imagine going through what he went through. Not knowing where his daughter went… I wonder if that's how my biological parents felt when I was taken away? Not only did Snape have to deal with his little girl's kidnapping, but also his true love's death.' Hermione shook her head. 'And people wonder why he's so cold…'

Hermione continued to think and stare out at the grounds for hours. She was startled when she heard footsteps behind her.

"It's a beautiful evening, is it not?" The Headmaster spoke, coming to lean on the railing – which was there to avoid students accidentally falling off.

"Oh! Headmaster! Um, yes it is… Wait did you say evening?" She frowned as she looked around her, noticing the sky had gotten darker. Her tears had stopped hours ago, something she is grateful for.

He smiled gently down at her. "Yes, my dear it is about dinner-time. I suspect you must be hungry after not eating all day."

Hermione blushed slightly as her stomach growled at the thought of food.

"I didn't really notice… Professor, if I may, how did you know I was here?"

"Ah- well I know many things that go on here at Hogwarts. Perhaps almost too much," he winked at her. "But I'll let you in on a little secret. I have a map similar to the one Harry received from the Weasley boy's. I believe it's called the Marauder's Map. Actually, the four boys had inspired me to make one for myself."

Hermione wasn't as surprised as she would've suspected. "I have to admit, it is a rather ingenious piece of work."

"That it is, Miss Granger… That it is…"

"Sir, I'm… I'm scared about tomorrow… What if my biological parents are evil? Or what if they're dead? What if they had given me up 'cause they didn't want me?" Hermione asked worriedly. She had had the sudden urge to get reassurance from the Headmaster, because he is the only beside Snape, Draco and Winky the house-elf who she has talked too, who could actually handle her talking about her fears.

"If they didn't want you, then it's shame on them. If you were my daughter, I would be very honoured to have you. I have a hunch that your parents loved you very much, and were very saddened by your disappearance." He smiled gently down at her.

Hermione couldn't help herself; she got up and hugged the Headmaster. He was slightly shocked, but he enveloped her in his arms. He considered her his granddaughter, as he had watched her since her eleventh birthday. He had personally had visited the Granger household to explain to them what Hermione was, on her birthday.

He hadn't felt a connection to anyone like this since Wrenna, Snape's daughter. That got him thinking… could it be? He was broken from his trance when Hermione pulled back.

Hermione wiped the tears from her face that had escaped. "Sorry about that."

"No need for that. Now, shall we attend dinner?" Dumbledore asked, gesturing towards the door to the stairs.

Her stomach growled again. She looked at him sheepishly, "Yes please."

The two walked to the Great Hall, enjoying the comfortable silence. However, as they approached the hall, the Headmaster left to go through the teacher's passage, while Hermione went to the big doors to the Great Hall.

She took a deep breath and opened the door. She was nervous to say the least. She had taken to eating in her room the past week. Therefore, this was the first time the rest of the school was going to see her. And what's worse is that she had put on her school robe before she went to the Astronomy tower, so she stood out among the black.

The entire room looked to the doors, which opened in the middle of dinner. Hermione ignored the stares and gossip as she made her way to sit at the Gryffindor table, away from everyone else. She glanced down the table to where Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville sat. Neville smiled gently at her and she knew he was still her friend. Ron was completely opposite, he seemed like the only one not looking at her at all, as if he refused too. Harry and Ginny's eyes were filled with pity.

Hermione turned back to her own plate and filled it with all kinds of food. She just concentrated on eating her food and tried to suppress the urge to fight, as her hunger consumed her. She could feel everyone's gaze still on her, even as they started eating their own food, she could feel their not so subtle stares.

Hermione finished her meal and cast one more look down the table to her 'friends,' and noticed that they were goofing off and laughing like she had never been apart of them. She sighed and got up and quickly made her way out of the room. She felt more alone then ever in this big castle. She had made it to the top of the staircase in the Entrance Hall when she heard her name being called.

She turned her head to see who was calling her. She saw a blur of brown running up the stairs to catch up to her. "Hermione! Wait!" Hermione frowned, she recognized that voice. The running blur came to a stop. In front of her was Neville.

"Neville, what are you doing?" Hermione asked confused and just wanting to go to her room and try to forget about the last few days.

"I thought we could, you know, hang out or something..." He said rubbung the back of his neck with his left hand. "You look in need of a friend."

Hermione looked up at him, "Are you sure? Because it seems that everyone who I thought were my friends don't want anything to do with me."

Neville put his hands on her shoulders, "Of course I'm sure, you're still the same Hermione, no matter what you look like." He gently smiled at her.

"Oh Neville" Hermione then threw her arms around him. She let the tears she had been holding back since entering the Great Hall for dinner.

He hugged her back and after a few moments pulled back. He lead her up the stairs to the Room of Requirement, while holding her to his side as she silently cried, offering her silent support.

When they got to the hallway where the RoR was, Neville left Hermione to one side and passed where the door would be three times. The door appeared and Neville pulled Hermione into the room. The room was smaller than what they had been used to with the DA. It was what one would describe as cozy. There was a couch with a fireplace in front of it.

The two sat on the couch and Hermione snuggled up with Neville. They had gotten used to doing this, sometimes Neville was the only who could get through her barriers when she was really down and get her to talk. It seemed like sometimes he was the only one who understood her. He just sat there with his arm around her shoulders and waited for her to start talking.

They spent the night talking about the past week and ended up falling asleep on the couch, the fire roaring quietly in the background.

Tbc...

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