DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter.

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Chapter 46:

August 12, 1995

(one day ago)

"Hello, Miss Perfect Prefect!"

Hermione slapped Sirius's arm when he met her in the dining room when she came via Floo.

And then, she saw the banner on the wall:

"CONGRATULATIONS, RON AND HERMIONE: GRYFFINDOR PREFECTS!"

"How's Harry?" she asked in a whisper even though it was the only two of them there.

Sirius smiled sadly. "He was half-expecting that he would be named a prefect. But I told him, James was never a prefect but he became Head Boy! He perked up."

She smiled. "Good!"

"And... he asked about his mum, so I had to lie a bit."

She frowned.

"You see, the other day, he heard me and Moony talking to the twins, telling them we were close friends with the head girl and head boy. So, Harry assumed Lily was the Head Girl."

She patted her arm. "It's all right, Siri. No big deal."

"Well, your teen friends are upstairs. I'm sure they'll be delighted to see you."

Hermione quickly ran upstairs, to Ginny's room where she heard Harry and Ron's voices.

"Hey, you lot!" she said as she opened the door.

"Hey, Hermione!" greeted Ginny.

"Mione!" Ron greeted her. He was holding a new broomstick. He noticed where she was looking at. "It's a gift... from Sirius for being made a prefect. Mum and Dad were about to buy me a Cleansweep, but Sirius offered to buy me a Nimbus 2000... And mum and dad instead bought me new school robes."

She smiled. "That's great, Ron." Of course, it was partly true. Sirius bought the broom with the help of Bill, but it was actually Hermione's present. She bought Ginny new textbooks, and it was only fair she bought Ron a gift, too. She and Sirius both paid for Ron's Nimbus.

"Hey, Harry," she greeted her other friend who was sitting on the other bed. She ruffled his hair.

"You're different," her bespectacled friend observed.

"How?" she asked, sitting beside Ginny on the other bed.

"You act more... matured."

She and Ginny exchanged looks and laughed. "Hermione's practically your mum. You wouldn't survive Hogwarts without her," Ginny sniggered.

"Hey!" Ron protested, but Ginny gave him a challenging look.

Harry smiled. "Kinda true. So, congratulations on being a prefect."

"Thanks. And congratulations, too, Ron."

"Guess while you guys are busy patrolling and babysitting little children, I will be focusing on my Occlumency," Harry grinned.

"That's my boy!" she grinned, but Ginny elbowed her. She would have to stop acting like how she acted when Leo was around. Like a mother.

She was just a regular student. A regular teenager.

Thankfully, Ginny would be there to remind her.

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August 13, 1995

(the present)

"Unca Chad!" Leo ran towards Chad Granger, Hermione's "second father". Behind him were Mona and Severus who just came through the fireplace.

Chad opened his arms for Leo and lifted the boy. "Hello, little wizard! How's my favourite nephew?"

"I have books! Grandma bought me Muggle books!" the boy said happily. "And I have a new Quidditch rug! Come on, I'll show you!"

"Hey! Aren't you going to greet me?" came Mona's voice who faked a hurt tone.

Leo giggled and greeted Mona. Chad put him down so that Mona and Leo could hug and kiss each other.

"Hey, Dad," she bantered good-naturedly.

Chad pulled him to a hug. "My teen daughter," he chuckled as she was in her teenage body. "Ready for me to take you shopping?"

"Why are we even doing this, Hermione? Not that I'm complaining," asked Mona who was now carrying Leo in her arms.

"'Cause I have to pretend that I am a normal student. And people should see me shopping for school supplies with my parents, you know."

"But, isn't You-Know-Who back?" asked Chad with a frown.

"Yeah, but the Ministry doesn't believe Dumbledore. The Minister claims our world is safe."

"There's nothing to worry when it comes to your safety," quipped Severus. "I will be there with you, just Disillusioned."

"Oh, my knight-in-shining armour!" she faked an exaggerated tone, causing Chad to laugh. Mona and Severus sat side by side on the couch and both sneered.

"You know, I'm starting to believe that you two," she said to her sister and fiance, "are related by blood. Maybe I'm adopted and Sev is your real sibling. Maybe I am Chad's." She turned to the man who raised her for the second time. "You sure we're not siblings? Or maybe I'm your real daughter."

Chad grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Let's leave the king and queen of sneers and check out Leo's new books and Quidditch rug." He turned to the boy. "Come on, my little wizard!"

Hermione was still laughing with Chard when they went upstairs to Leo's room. She shook her head. Mona and Sev shared the same personality type. Maybe they were rather difficult and complicated for other people, but Hermione loved both of them dearly. Her first childhood was happier because of them.

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"So, how are you?"

Hermione looked up from her tea to meet her sister and second mother's eyes. "I'm fine," she sighed heavily and tried to smile.

"Wow, that was heavy," she smiled a bit.

It was time for the afternoon tea and Leo was with Chad in his room, probably reading or playing with the Quidditch miniatures. Hermione, Sev, Chad, and Mona arrived an hour ago from their shopping for school supplies in Diagon Alley. Their parents arrived in her and Sev's home thirty minutes ago for the family dinner and were in the kitchen with Eileen. Sev went to Hogwarts for a quick staff meeting.

"Sometimes I feel like my mind is about to explode," she admitted. "Everything had been overwhelming. But with Occlumency, I'm good. I'm still sane," she chuckled.

"You know, I may not understand everything that's happening in your world, but I am a good listener," her sister smiled affectionately.

She smiled back and went to her sister's side. Then, she took her hands. "Mona, I don't think I said thank you, for raising me. It must be very hard for all of you to see me like that... to see me grow up again."

Mona scoffed. "Hermione, you're my only sister. No one else is good enough to raise you," she teased.

She rolled her eyes. "Thank goodness, you didn't leave me in an orphanage. Or with Sev."

"No!" Mona almost shrieked. "Are you crazy? You would've called him 'daddy' if he raised you. That would've broken his heart even more."

"Gods, Mona, I was joking!"

Mona sighed and shook her head. "Sorry. It's just that... you didn't see him, his pained look when he brought you to us that night. It was like his whole world crushed. Did he ever tell you he visited us in our clinic from time to time just to ask about you, and how you were?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, he didn't. We were busy talking about the Pensieve memories and planning for the upcoming term."

"Some of our gifts for you on your birthdays and Christmas were from him," smiled Mona. And then, her expression changed. "He was... upset when you became friends with Harry. He visited us the night after you were almost attacked by a troll. And when you turned into a cat because of the Polyjuice incident, he looked very proud and at the same time outraged because you couldn't stop yourself from breaking rules with the Harry Potter..."

"And when I was Petrified?" she asked carefully.

"Oh, the man blamed himself and... begged me to forgive him - not that I blamed him - for not looking after you... And then, your third year happened. I remember him coming to the clinic, telling me you helped a prisoner and a chicken-horse escape. He blamed your headmaster, of course, for giving you such a task... and I was worried that something really bad might happen to you again. But he promised. He kept on promising that he will look after you."

Hermione's vision became blurry for two reasons: one because of Mona's stories about Severus while she was growing up for the second time; and second, because of how Mona was telling her - she was becoming very emotional, too.

"I wanted us to move to Australia and just... start a new life. It pained me, Mum, and Dad, and or course Chad, every time we heard you were risking your life for Harry Potter. But then, Severus will be lonely. He'd rather see you like a child again and wait for over a decade before you remember him... And James Potter was your best friend. Harry is his son. We couldn't do that to you."

Hermione was crying now and she pulled her sister for a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, Mona! I'm sorry for putting you in that kind of situation."

Mona ran her hands on her back and hair. "Hermione, sister or daughter, I love you. Just promise me that you will be careful, all right? For Leo, our little wizard, yeah?"

Hermione pulled away and wiped her eyes, then nodded her head. "Promise me you'll visit him here often?"

Mona rolled her eyes. "Gods, you're asking too much." But she laughed. "Of course, we will spend time with him. Don't you know, Mum and Dad even want to move in here temporarily just to be with him?"

"I think that will be a good idea," she commented.

"Yeah, well let's talk about that over dinner, yeah?"

She frowned, remembering something. "But you haven't told me yet about Sev during my fourth year."

"Well, your fourth-year involves Viktor Krum, so you'll have to ask Sev."

She glared at her sister. "Tell me."

"Ask him, Hermione." Mona quickly stood up and left her in the lounge.

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"How was your meeting at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked when they were in bed that night.

Sev was lying on his back, his arms behind his head and was looking a bit tired. He wasn't wearing a pyjama top, just his silk trousers.

Hermione, on the other hand, favoured a lace velvet Slytherin green camisole and bowknot shorts she ordered by mail. She lied down on her side, facing him.

"Uninteresting," he said. "Umbridge finally joined us and of course, introduced herself... then, Quidditch. It was boring, ask me something else."

Hermione ran a hand on his bare stomach. "Are you in the mood, Sev?"

He turned to her and smirked. "When am I not in the mood when it comes to you?"

She smiled nervously. "I want to ask you something. But it's all right if you won't answer."

He frowned. "Something wrong?"

Gods, he sounds worried. Should I even ask him?

"Stop debating with yourself, Hermione. I refuse to marry a resident of Janus Thickey Ward."

She laughed and snuggled to his side. He wrapped one of his arms around her. "Mona told me earlier about you, as I was growing up for the second time. He told me about your visits in their dental practice... the gifts. And how you ratted me out after breaking rules with Harry and Ron," she sniggered when Sev slapped her bottom.

"What do you want to know, dear?"

"He only told me until my third year. So, how did you feel during my fourth year?"

Sev met her eyes and raised an eyebrow. "You mean when you went to the ball with Viktor Krum and you were the thing he will sorely miss?"

She nodded.

He looked up at the ceiling again, but his arm stayed wrapped around her. "Jealous. I felt jealous that I wanted to hex Krum when I saw the look in his eyes while dancing with you. But the way you interacted with him... it was different."

"I wasn't interested in him," she said. "He even joked if he was unattractive because I didn't swoon when he approached me in the library and when we danced."

"Why?" he asked.

"'cause there's only one wizard who stole my heart and I am relieved to know that I wasn't born in 1979... and he's not nineteen years older than me," she told him rather emotionally.

Severus's look shifted. His eyes were now looking at her fiercely and he moved to hover her body. "Are you telling the truth?" he asked, his eyes searching her brown ones."

She nodded. "I wouldn't lie to you," she whispered.

Sev's eyes went to her lips. "Good." And he claimed her lips, kissing her passionately. It was as if he was conveying different messages - love, gratitude, and relief.

Hermione was too happy to respond eagerly, and a moan escaped her mouth when Sev pressed his hardness against her lower body.

"I love you, Sev," she whispered, looking at his obsidian eyes.

"I love you more, since 1970," he said fiercely and kissed her again.