Note: heyyy so I did that thing again as a writer where an idea for a story lodges itself into one's brain and refuses to budge despite the MULTIPLE works in progress you have yet to finish... and I really wish I could be sorry for that but honestly this story! This story has my mind buzzing, my heart pumping hard and my anxiety screaming!!!!. It is another Hermione centric/purebloodHermione fic but I would like to just warn you all, I have changed many a thing and most of my characters if not all will likely be rather ooc, the changes I've made are big ones and I'm not gonna divulge them all at this moment in time, I want ya'lls genuine reactions... I'm excited though. I can tell you though that this will be a Hermione/Nymphadora fic because there really isn't nearly enough of them.

A word of warning for triggers though, this story touches on some subjects readers may struggle with. There will be talk and brief descriptions of the following, child abuse, child abduction, torture, murder, etc. Nothing too graphic but as always I will always put a trigger warning at the beginning of each chapter where necessary. This chapter does contain mention of child abduction and the irreparable harm it brings to a family. So please read with caution if you may struggle with this.

A little bit of house keeping, I don't know how many of you have read the updated intro to my fic I need you but they say I'll never know you but unfortunately I have decided to pause the updates on that fic for now. Don't worry I won't abandon it, I just feel its a little too rushed, I will begin editing and rewriting that fic in the new year so there should be updates no later than the beginning of February. The last thing I want to do is disappoint anyone but as a creator I am extremely unhappy with the pacing of the fic so hope to fix that. (The story will most likely end up longer with more chapters) although I hope the chance to read the beginning of this fic counts towards a peace offering.

On a lighter note, I get to spend Christmas with my mamma this year, and I am super excited for it. So I wish to wish all those that celebrate a day filled with love and happiness. For those that don't celebrate I send you my love also, stay safe this winter and as always if anyone needs a listening ear, I'm always willing to listen.

I meant to post this on one of my earlier fics but if anyone wishes to contact me I have a public twitter account that you can reach me on Nell Black is the account name and the twitter handle is @NellBla77596599 feel free to pop me a message and I'll do my best to respond.

Sending you all my love.

You guys heal me everyday.

Nell xoxo

Disclaimer: all characters, creatures, places etc. recognisable from the Harry Potter franchise are the property of JK Rowling, I do not own them unfortunately and do not benefit financial from the consumption of my written works.

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Prologue - Torn

I would like to begin this story with the proverbial, Once Upon a Time...

But that would be an awful illusion to set at this point in this story. For too many, this was no fairy tale of princesses in towers nor of queen's in castles. There was no Prince Charming nor white Knight coming to save the day. No, not here. Though one could accurately say that like our beloved fairy-tale this story here has it's own healthy dose of good versus evil.

A distinction that upon first glance seems startlingly obvious to even the most simplistic of minds, however the truth in such a statement is not for me to decide dear reader. Me as I sit upon the reading stool, your curious eyes feasting upon my every word. I shall let you decide such a thing for yourselves. Where shall you draw the line of good and evil? Is there no hope for a middle ground I hear you ask. Well that again is not for me to decide. My only task is to dutifully bring this story to you...

And as all tales must, ours too has it's start, and as mundane as it may seem upon first glance ours may very well start here...

~December 22nd 1981, Wiltshire, London~

She sat up, confused. Her mind foggy and head heavy. Unsure as to what had woke her. Her heart was pounding, her entire body tense. Everything within her screamed that something was wrong but she couldn't think through the haze that clung to her mind. Dread had began sinking into her stomach as she furiously shook her head, clearing it finally as she strained to hear anything through the eerie quiet that surrounded her. She glanced at the old grandfather clock that stood in the corner of the room, opposite the bed. The antique piece was something she had inherited from her father upon his passing the previous year. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she realised that even the insistent tic...tic...tic... of the clock hands was strangely absent, despite the clock hands still moving. 1 AM: flashing brightly to indicate the new hour.

With dread tightening in her stomach, she didn't think twice before grabbing her wand and dashing to the door. Heading for the one place she needed to be the most. Dashing along the hall, straight to her children's nursery, where her three little ones should lay in slumber.

As she neared its entrance she was startled by the sudden return of sound. Two piercing cries rung loud and insistent through the partially open door. A door she knew to be closed earlier, as it was every night after she had tucked her little one's in for the night. Her hand tightened on her wand. The other clutching her chest in silent prayer to Morgana that her babies were okay as she rushed forward and through the door. Stopping abruptly in shock as the blood in her body froze in all consuming horror. Lying dead on the floor, in the middle of the room was her children's Nanny Elf - Liza. Her eyes wide and glassy, blood seeping steadily but slowly from the Elf's eyes and ears. Though upsetting in itself, this was not the cause of her sickened horror.

The room held two cots and a third smaller cradle. The cots at either side of the room held her two eldest babies. The eldest at three years old, stood in hers, looking up at her with an anguished expression. Tears streaming down her flushed face. Her second eldest at almost two years old, also stood, her little arms gripping the cot sides desperately as she stared back, her little face screwed up and agonised cries falling from her lips, as if she had been screaming for hours. She couldn't help but let out her own agonised scream when her gaze swept frantically over her youngest child's cradle. Where her darling girl of not even two months should have lay, now stood an empty bed. Both child and blankets gone. As if her little one had not just lay in it hours prior. All that remained was a lilac coloured plush dragon in the centre of the cradle. A cherished favourite bought for her youngest by her baby's godmother. The cradle itself stood abandoned and alone.

Her eyes filled, her heart breaking as she summoned the teddy to her. Clutching it to herself in grief. The reality of what she was seeing, or wasn't seeing rather in the room, destroying her from the inside out. Her baby was gone. Her little one stolen from her and their adored nanny Elf murdered in front of her other children. Her baby had been snatched from her and she had slept right through it all. She had failed to protect her, she had failed her family. She wailed, heartbroken.

With no real idea of just what to do or were to start she forced herself up, off her knees. Summoning her patronus through her grief in only the way an extremely skilled witch or wizard could, she sent message to her wife to call for the aurors. Gently grabbing hold of her other two babies, shielding them from the awful sight of their Nanny Elf, she left the room.

Doing her best to soothe them, despite her own devastation. Though she knew that her eldest daughters broken, whispered words would haunt her forever as the three year old clutched her and sobbed. Head buried against her breast. "my baby Ria gone mama, a bad man took her" forced out from cracked little lips repeatedly. The broken voice of her eldest daughter shattering her heart further.

As the night wore on, filled with aurors and no success in finding her youngest, the two parents grieved hopelessly. Having exhausted every tracking spell themselves, their families and the ministry knew. Their baby was gone, the only thing they knew for certain was that whoever had took her had cast a powerful silencing and sleep charm on their bedroom so that they wouldn't wake while their child was stolen. No rhyme or reason could they fathom, nor was one ever found.

As days turned into weeks, then months, then years, the hole left behind in their hearts that night, never healed. Their baby being taken had broken something within them that was irrevocably permanent.

No spell nor potion could take their pain and despite throwing all their remaining love at their two eldest girls, they knew that only one thing could ever heal their broken hearts.

And that was the one thing that was out of their reach.

Their baby girl.