Hermione woke up when Theo closed the bathroom door and stretched in bed for a few seconds before deciding it was best to get up. Harry was still pacing the room with what she thought looked like the Daily Prophet in his hands. His hair was sticking up in every which direction, and his glasses were barely sitting on his nose. In fact, she was surprised he could even see where he was going.
Slipping her feet into the slippers the room had provided, that looked just like her own, Hermione trudged to the bathroom to take care of more important needs before tackling the day.
When she entered the main room again Harry was sitting back at the table, a glass of juice sat in front of him that he hadn't yet touched and the paper set to the side.
"Hey," he mumbled gruffly, barely looking up to acknowledge her presence.
Hermione smiled somewhat forcefully before making a show of looking around the room. "Where is everyone?" she asked.
"Blonde One and Blonde Two are in class, and Theo is in the bathroom." Harry listed off.
Hermione raised her brows at her younger brother.
"What?" he asked defensively.
"I'm not even sure where to start. Who's Blonde One and who's Blonde Two and...did you just actually call him Theo?"
"Well, that's his name isn't it?"
"I'm aware. I just wasn't sure you were." She replied as she poured a mug of coffee.
"Yes, well, apparently we are a family so I hardly think calling him Nott will be suitable anymore." Harry answered with a roll of his eyes.
"A family? Says who? The Prophet?" Hermione asked as she eyed the paper.
"Says mum," Theo answered as he walked into the room.
"Yep," Harry agreed.
Hermione looked between both of her brothers, brow furrowed in confusion. "I'm lost."
"What was it Harry? '...you might not be brothers, technically, but you may as well be, and damn you Teddy if you don't treat him like one, or I might come back and haunt you myself...' I think is what she said."
"Oh no mine was more like this 'He might not be your brother through a blood bond, but sharing a sister is a big deal, and if you could get along it would make things easier. Build a family together the three of you.' and, well, can't deny the dead can you?"
"It would be rude, even for a half-blood, brother."
Hermione watched on in amazement as her two brothers conversed like old friends and completely ignored the obvious signs of crying both of their faces held. "She wrote to you?" she finally asked when her head cleared enough to realise what was said.
"She wrote to all of us." Theo said as he put his hand on Hermione's shoulder and guided her to face the table beside her bed where two letters sat next to what could only be a rather expensive and old compact mirror.
"She wrote to me?" Hermione whispered though it was mostly to herself.
Theo answered her anyway. "Of course she did. You were her daughter, her first born. You should read them 'Mione." Hermione stood still and stared at the letters from across the room as her two brothers chanced quick glances at one another.
"Maybe I should get to class, Harry," she said. "Draco and Daphne have gone and I'm already late." Hermione rambled nervously.
"No need, McGonagall gave the three of us the day off, or the week. I'm not too sure how long but today definitely. Too many prying eyes and ears. Time to adjust and all." Harry answered.
"But we've already missed so much!" She implored looking purely at Theo since he was the one to spend the week in hospital with her not so long ago.
"And yet you're both further ahead than me. It'll be fine, Mione. One day won't hurt us plus Ginny, Luna, and the ferret are coming back later for tea."
"Really? You can call him Theo," Hermione said pointing to her other brother, "But you can't call Draco by his name?"
"Old habits."
"We've been together since Halloween, Harry, and I can't see that reversing any time soon."
"What makes you so sure?"
"This." Hermione said as she reached up to finger the pearls around her neck.
"So he gave you a necklace."
Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes at Harry before turning to Theo. "You. Educate him on pureblood customs before he ends up engaged to Ginny without meaning to," she instructed before stamping over to her bed.
Had she spared Harry a look, she would have seen his eyes widen at the comment.
"Engaged? Really?" He whispered as she walked away. "They're engaged? There's no ring." It was Theo's turn to sigh this time as he pulled out a chair at the table and sat down to his first 'brotherly' conversation in well, ever.
Hermione paid no mind to her two brothers as she sat on her bed and picked up the envelopes. There were two, and they had both of her names on them, something she wasn't sure was a relief or a burden. She traced the golden script that read 'To My Darling Adaline Alegra Greengrass; Also Known As Hermione Jean Granger' and right in the bottom corner it said 'Read Me First'. She quickly flipped to the second envelope that was near identical except it said 'Read Me Last' in the corner. She snorted just a little at her birth name since Alegra basically meant 'illegitimate daughter' before she spared one last glance at her two brothers who had their heads together with a plate of food in front of them. She looked back at the envelopes and tentatively ripped the first one open.
"My Dearest Daughter,
My sweet baby girl, my little princess. Oh how I miss you. It hurts just writing this. As of today you're coming up on five years old, and I just wish I could be there on the morning of September 19th and watch you open your presents with a look of pure glee just as I knew you would. If you're receiving this letter then it means that you already know the truth.
My name is Robyn Nott (formerly Greengrass); I am your birth mother, and I love you with every fibre of my being. I was fresh out of Hogwarts when I fell pregnant with you, and it was just terrible timing all around. It wasn't your birth father's fault, and it wasn't my husband's fault either. It was just, one of those things, as they say. Society dictated that daughters of the old families were to be pure, born, and bred in every sense of the word. We were to be betrothed from birth, and so I was. Unfortunately, my betrothed turned out to be a death eater. Bad luck for me, but it was my lot, and I had to get on with it. I tried to bring the wedding forward, pass you off as a Nott but my husband wouldn't hear of it - once a bond is in place there's no going back, and I suspect he wanted to live out his last few months of freedom with as many Knockturn Alley whores as he could find. I would apologise for my language, but you should only be getting this once you become of age, and you find out the truth - so long as your Aunt Willow has kept true to her word. She is a good person. Please trust her.
I met your father when we were children. Both of us came from a long line of pureblood families, and our parents attended the same society balls and galas. The Greengrasses kept out of as much of the war and anything dark as they could all whilst keeping their name clean to both sides. I guess you could call us grey. The Potters though were known blood traitors, not as if that was anything I cared about as a girl of course. All I cared about was whether I could have a second slice of cake or a new book. We started Hogwarts together, and by then I knew a little bit more about what being a blood-traitor meant, but I still never cared. Willow and I stuck to each other until the sorting hat tore us apart. She was a Slytherin like the rest of the family, and I was a Ravenclaw. It was a shock but a pleasant one. I was the first Greengrass to not follow the family trend, though I was thankful my robes were blue and bronze. They could have easily been scarlet and gold had I been brave enough.
On that first ride to school James Potter, I'm sure you already know by now that he is your father, was there to reassure me. He wasn't like the other pureblood boys that I knew. He was sweet and kind but funny too. Pureblood boys are trained not to be funny, and let me tell you sweetheart, women want funny. He was sorted into Gryffindor which I'm sure you already know (I'm very interested in where you might go when you get there yourself), and we saw each other a lot. We had many of the same classes together, and we continued to be really good friends. He fell in love with a muggleborn practically the first moment he saw her, and I teased him relentlessly over it. They were made for each other. Lily became a good friend over the years, and finally around the end of sixth year, she gave in and went on a date with him. A year later they were still together.
Right before graduation things ended between them for a few months. Lily was scared with how many people were being lost to war. They were joining The Order of the Phoenix, and she wanted to sever as much emotional connection as she could while James was adamant it meant that the time they did have together was more precious. That Christmas Eve we were both drowning our sorrows in the same pub and, drink after drink, we began to open up about everything to each other. I was barely months away from bonding myself to a known Death Eater for the rest of my life, and I had no out; trust me we tried to find one but the search was fruitless. Willow even tried to use an old blood magic spell she had found, but nothing ever worked; I was stuck.
I mentioned earlier that pureblood girls are supposed to keep themselves pure. Unfortunately that is true. Thankfully knowing who I was having to wed, I never bothered with that aspect. It was mainly something the Slytherin girls did - daughters from the older families, and I wasn't like them. Not anymore. I had numerous boyfriends and fooled around. I enjoyed myself! And thank Circe I did because once I was married that was the end of that. So on that Christmas Eve night I wasn't exactly a virgin and neither was James. We were the last left in the pub and both far too drunk to apparate, fly or floo. So we decided to get rooms. Unfortunately there was only one room left with one bed. It was no big deal as James offered to sleep on the couch. He was such a gentleman sometimes, but I wasn't a hag. I made him sleep in the bed and, well, one thing lead to another, and now here I am writing to our daughter, the fruit of our labour that night. I can't tell you if we used protection that night; we probably didn't. Hogwarts is charmed so that accidental pregnancies don't happen to under-age students, so neither of us had had to worry about using it before. I guess it just slipped our minds, and we had drank a rather large amount of Firewhiskey that evening.
Would it be wrong to tell you that night was one of the better nights of my life? Would it be wrong to say I let myself come out of the depression I had been wallowing in over my coming betrothal and just be a teenager? Would it be so wrong to say I don't regret a thing knowing your father loved another? We talked the next morning, and I told him to go and beg, grovel, and do whatever it took to get Lily to see sense. They really were made for each one another.
It was only a month later that I found out I was pregnant with you, and Merlin, how do I even explain how I felt? Terrified, yet excited. I wanted you. I needed you, but it quickly became apparent I couldn't keep you. I could have told James about you, and he would have done the right thing by us for sure, I have no doubts, but he didn't love me. As you know there is no divorce here like there is in the muggle world, and I just couldn't do that to him. He deserved his happily ever after. When your Aunt Willow and I went into the muggle world, we found out there was an option called 'abortion.' I later researched that. It wasn't pleasant, and there was absolutely no way I was going to do it, however the point was moot. Darling, did you know witches can not abort babies? Something to do with the magic stopping it from being able to happen. It really is rather fascinating if you want to read about it. So after that we looked into adoption and soon found out it was our only choice in keeping you alive. It had to be muggle, of course, as you needed to be hidden, and it needed to be secret. We made a plan, and it went smoothly. My husband was out of the country 'on business' more often than not those days, so it was very easy to execute.
I went into labour on September 18th, and you were born the next day with your Aunt Willow beside us the whole time. Let me tell you sweetheart, you were, and to this day still are, the most beautiful baby I have ever laid my eyes on. Your hair was a wild mess of raven curls, and your eyes were changing right in front of us. You had beautiful porcelain skin and a little hint of pink to your cheeks; I almost named you Snow White right there and then. I had gotten into a lot of muggle things over the eight months before you were born. It seemed only fair that I had some knowledge of the world you were going into.
Willow placed the glamour on you, slowly, so the midwives didn't become alarmed, and as the hours passed, you started to change your colouring. Your eyes turned amber, and your hair became wilder than I imagined. You had freckles, and your hair was now the colour of chocolate and yet, even still you were the most beautiful baby I had seen.
We left on the seventh day. I left a note behind saying to put you up for adoption. Let me tell you, that was the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life.
I went home after a few days and spent those days in Willow's house. I cried for weeks. I sobbed. My breasts ached when you needed to feed, and my arms ached from being too light. You hadn't left me that whole week as we were always together unless Willow was cuddling you instead. You were, you are, so loved. More than you realise.
Eventually I had no choice, but to get on with life. I fell pregnant with your brother pretty quickly, but it wasn't a happy time for me. Daphne was already born, and Willow, as much as she tried, had so much to deal with already. Mothering me was the last thing on her list. Darling, I missed you so much it hurt. Even when Theodore was born I still struggled. Why could I keep him and not you? Why was now okay? Did it mean you would ever think I loved him more? Were you okay? Did your new parents love you as much as I did? They couldn't, but I hoped they did.
When Theodore was but a few weeks old I started going on walks around a few muggle parks. It was something I had been doing all throughout my pregnancy. At the time I wasn't sure what I was doing but now I know I was looking. Looking for you. It was silly, I know, but I couldn't help myself.
I'll never forget September 21st 1980. I walked into one of my favourite parks in a lovely muggle neighbourhood near the Cotswolds. It was like something out of a fairytale; still so full of summer flowers despite the late date. There was a lady there with a short haircut. She had brown hair and kind eyes and was trying to hold a screaming baby while looking in her bag for something. I didn't know what to do. I looked around, but there were no other adults nearby, and all the children were busy enjoying themselves. I hadn't had a lot of experience with muggles except for in the hospital and the few shops I would visit when needed while we were out, but this lady seemed to need a hand. I walked over, with your brother on my chest in a sling and took the baby out of her arms, gave her a warm smile and started to rock the baby - she quieted instantly, and the mother burst into tears. We talked for a while as I helped the mother but then, then I looked at the baby I was holding, and I knew I just knew that she was you. There was something about the eyes. They say eyes never lie; a saying I had never given much thought to until that day. There you were staring up at me. Your birthday had just passed, and you were looking at me with amber eyes instead of the green-blue I remembered them being, but I knew in my heart that it was you, and I cried. I had to pass it off as new mother hormones which really wasn't all that hard since I had a baby strapped to my chest, but that feeling of finding you after nearly a year to the day, that was beautiful. I got to know the lady as Helen, and her daughter as Hermione. We decided then to meet up each week for play dates.
Some would say I made a horrible decision and some would say I grabbed the bull by the horns, but I just wanted to be near you. I just wanted to watch you grow, and if that meant I had to do so from the sidelines, then so be it; rather that than nothing at all. As I write this letter, I have just left you and your mother. Yes four years on and we still meet weekly. I suspect the visits will have to stop soon for fear of you and Theodore knowing too much of one another when you start school, but I can't bring myself to do anything about it at the minute.
Just today another boy pushed Theodore over in the park, our park, and your mother and I watched on while you helped him up and kissed his knee better. That moment, that above all else, is why I come here every week. It was so beautiful; I thought my heart might actually break. You are so precious my dear and oh so loved. I met your father too, and let me tell you, I couldn't have asked for better people to take care of you in my absence. I just wish I could do it myself.
Adaline-Hermione, I have and always will love you from the very core of my being, and I know now that your adoptive parents do too. It took me a few years to realise they could love you the way I do, but I see the way they watch you, and I know you're safe, well, and loved. I shouldn't ask for more, and I shouldn't be greedy, but sometimes I take that extra long hug when we depart for home for the day; sometimes my kisses linger on your forehead as you toddle off in the opposite direction, and I just can't help it.
I've warned both of your brothers that you are to start acting like a family, the three of you. Threats of visits from the dead should help them get their arses in gear but if not, well you always were a motherly type sweetheart, so make sure they honour a dead woman's wishes, please. I know you have very little adoptive family. I grew very close to your mother, and I know it was just the three of you so, please, give them a chance. Give being a family a chance as I'm sure you won't regret it.
I must go now, dear. I don't want to; there is still so much to say, so much to ask, still so much to come, but I have to stop somewhere. I'm sorry I will never be there to see you graduate, see you fall in love and get married. I'm sorry I won't be there when you have your first baby and when you take your N.E.W.T.s. I'm sorry for every single moment that I have missed, more than you will ever know.
I have included a second envelope with a handful of pictures, the only ones I have of you and your brothers. I thought you might like them.
Love you, always and forever,
Robyn Greengrass, Your Mother"
Hermione stared at the words as tears pooled in her eyes before dropping the parchment on the bed and moving to the second envelope.
"Harry, Theo, come over here!" She called through the tears.
"Everything okay?" They called in unison where they were still sat with their heads bent at the table.
"I think we should open this one together." She answered as she waved the last envelope towards them.
"What's in it?" Harry asked.
"Pictures." Hermione replied sadly.
Theo gulped and nodded before walking over, letting Harry follow him.