Ancestry In Magic

Hermione woke up early the next morning feeling emotionally drained, and stared up at the canopy of her bed, the letter in her robe long forgotten. She glanced at the alarm clock by her bed and realised that she'd slept in late again. It was 10:32am. She crawled out of bed, shoved her feet into her boot-slippers, tugged her kimono around herself and padded down the stairs. Her parents were nowhere to be seen. She wandered into the kitchen and found a note on the island, in the centre of the room. She picked it up and read it:

Good morning,

Your father and I decided to let you sleep in. We knew you'd feel drained and exhausted, so thought it best that you got some rest. We've gone out to get some presents for your Grandmother's birthday (it's in two days remember), we should be home in a couple hours.

Mum & Dad

P.S I wrote this at 9:56am, just in case you were wondering how long we've been gone.

A sense of calm and peace washed over her, she had a few hours to brace herself for the barrage of questions about how yesterday had gone. Her stomach let out a long grumble and she chuckled. 'Okay Okay, I'll feed you now!' she thought.

She wandered over to the fridge and opened it, hoping for inspiration as to what to have for breakfast. There was a large bowl of fruit salad that wafted beautiful smells in her direction, she grabbed the bowl and a pot of Greek yoghurt and wandered over to the kitchen island. She scooped herself a bowl of fruit and smothered it in the yoghurt, then put the rest back in the fridge. Grabbing a spoon, she wandered with her breakfast out into the conservatory to bask in the morning sun, munching as she went. As she sat and satiated her hunger, her mind meandered back to the events of the previous day. It'd been emotionally draining, but it had been nice to say a proper goodbye, and Albus' pre-written speech had made her think about the state of the world she lived in.

She dropped her spoon into her bowl with a sharp clang, as she remembered the letter tucked away in the pocket of her robes. She dashed back into the kitchen, popped the bowl in the sink, and sprinted up the stairs to her bedroom. Within seconds she had the letter in her hands. 'Well mum and dad are out, so I'm not likely to get disturbed, maybe now is the best time to open it?' she thought to herself. She gently untucked the flap, and the letter sprang to life in front of her, she wandered over to her bed to get comfortable before Dumbledore's soft tones permeated the silence.

"My dear Miss Granger, if you're listening to this, it means I am dead. I'll keep this short, as I'm sure you're very busy. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you are beneath them just because you're Muggleborn. Some of the greatest witches and wizards have been Muggleborn. Harry will need you over the next few months, as I am sending him on a mission to hunt for Horcruxes. I'll let him explain further. I would prefer it if you didn't go with him, but rather stayed and continued your education, and simply helped via Owls. I have a peculiar feeling that you remaining at Hogwarts is of utmost importance. I understand that you'll want to make your own decisions, but please consider what I have told you. Also, I know you feel inferior to the Pureblood students, maybe a look at your family tree may help show you were you get your magic from! I hope you're well, and that you achieve your dreams Miss Granger, show the world just what the 'Brightest Witch of her Age' can do! Stay safe dear child, and good luck."

With that the letter shredded itself. Hermione sat feeling rather perplexed. What was with all the talk of her feeling inferior? She'd never let on to anyone her feelings... had she? It disturbed her that the professor had known her innermost feelings, and she found herself lost deep in thought, the only thing that brought her out was her parents walking through the front door calling her name.

"It's okay, I'm up. I'll be down in a second!" She hollered down to her parents. Quickly tidying the mess, the letter had left on the carpet, she wandered down to join them in the living room.

"We've bought your Grandmother several things for her birthday. We've bought; a gift set of rhubarb and pomegranate body lotions; a new koala charm for her charm bracelet; and two orchids for her bungalow." Miranda looked over at her daughter. "Will you be giving any of them to her specifically from you?"

"No, it's okay. I was thinking of heading into Bristol tomorrow anyway, as I wanted to visit the library anyway." She snuggled up into the armchair she was perched on, and absentmindedly watched her mum started to wrap up the presents, and got lost in her thoughts. She suddenly remembered something Ginny had asked her in one of her letters. "Mum, Ginny wants to take me to a Wizarding Nightclub next time I go over to hers. I was wondering if that would be okay with you and dad?"

"I don't like the idea of it, you should be spending all your free time on studying up for your exams next year!" Andrew scowled.

"Dad! I have spent every waking minute whilst at Hogwarts reading far beyond my textbooks, and well into mastery level books and knowledge. I'm hardly going to learn anything new reading the same textbooks I already have for the umpteenth time." Hermione exclaimed in frustration. She was starting to feel truly sick and tired of her parent's manic obsession with her grades, especially when she knew she could easily pass her NEWTS a year early, and if anything, Hogwarts was holding her back.

Deciding for once in his life to not cause an argument, Andrew relented. "Fine, but you aren't allowed to drink under any circumstances. You can have virgin cocktails instead, or whatever it is that you magicals drink!" He glared, before stalking out of the room.

Hermione spent much of the day watching tv, helping make dinner, and reading. When she finally started to fall asleep, her parents had already gone to bed. She staggered up the stairs still lost in thought. She couldn't put her finger on what it was that had made her feel so emotionally drained, but she knew it was something to do with the letter from Dumbledore. She recited it in her head, and analysed each sentence, looking for the catalyst for her emotional emptiness. Unable to focus due to her sheer exhaustion, she collapsed on her bed and dozed off.

Hermione wandered through Bristol City Centre. Although the Granger home was in Bath, she couldn't resist the amazing shops that could be found scattered all over the city. She decided her first port of call should be for her Grandmother's birthday present. Her mum's mum was an eclectic and unusual, but was also a remarkably cold woman. Hermione wanted to find a present that suited her without appearing particularly affectionate.

As she reached the entrance to St. Nick's Market, she noticed a shimmer of blonde hair, from the corner of her eye. Her heart immediately caught in her throat and she hid behind a jewellery stand and peaked out. To her surprise it wasn't who she thought it was. Instead of the Slytherin Prince and her personal tormentor, she actually found herself staring at his mother. 'What on earth is Narcissa Malfoy doing in muggle Bristol?!' The pretentious and snooty Pureblood witch wouldn't be seen dead in the middle of a bunch of muggles, after all they might dirty her clothes. 'More to the point, what on earth was she bloody wearing?!' As opposed to her standard expensive wizarding robes, she was actually in black faded bootcut jeans and an emerald blouse. Shifting from her hiding spot, she snuck around to get a better view, hiding behind a pillar. Narcissa was stood in the corner of the room, talking to a woman who was selling humungous crystals. Amethyst, rose quartz, and tigers' eye, to name but a few.

Finding this all far too bizarre, Hermione walked through to the divide between the two large buildings, and wandered to a large counter selling cakes and coffee. She bought an 'Australian Crunch' and a pot of Earl Grey tea. Whilst she silenced her rumbling stomach, she pondered on what to get for her Grandmother. There was a fantastic shop that sold old fashioned sweets in jars, the kind her Grandmother would have eaten them as a child. It seemed like the perfect gift, something cheap, simple and not even remotely personal. So, once her tea was drunk and her food eaten, she strolled over to 'Treasure Island Sweets' and begun to browse.

She knew her Grandmother quite liked Flying Saucers and Sherbet Lemons, so she grabbed a pack of each. Whilst browsing, she noticed a packet of Milk Duds. She was astounded, the shop really did have everything! Hermione remembered that on the two occasions that she'd met her Aunt Lydia, that she'd given a packet of Milk Duds to her! Hermione immediately grabbed a packet and payed for her goodies. Now that she thought about it, it would be a rather wasted trip if she only bought a few sweets, not that her parents would approve of them anyway! She wandered back to the jewellery counter in the first building, and bought a pair of Elephant earrings that came from South Africa. They would be a perfect way to keep her aunt always with her. With her purchases stashed in her handbag, she headed towards Bristol Central Library.

Something had been bugging her about her letter from Dumbledore the previous day, it wasn't until she'd hopped on the train from Bath to Bristol that she realised what it was. Where did she get her magic from or rather who? Given her parents were Muggleborn, she could at least work out her family tree and then work from there. It was time to do some research.

Twenty minutes later and she was sat at a computer mapping out her genealogy. However, no matter how hard she searched, using both the BMD* and family tree websites, she could only seem to go back 4 generations. Her family hadn't just appeared out of nowhere, so where was all the documentation? By the time she had exhausted all the library resources, it was half five, and she knew her parents would start to get irate if she didn't get home soon. Thankfully she knew of an emergency Floo Fireplace located in the pub just down the street.

Her parents had given her permission to have their fireplace hooked up to the floo network so her friends could visit more easily, after all they could ensure she was still studying and not fooling around if her friends came there. Ten minutes later she was stood in her living room, much to the surprise of her parents. No sooner had the green flames behind her disappeared, the doorbell rang. Miranda Granger went back to answer it, and from the living room Hermione could hear a large commotion starting in the hallway. She peaked her head around the door and found her mother collapsed on the floor in sobs being held by her Grandmother's sister Evie; Miranda's aunt.

"Hermione, go and get your father, do it quickly." Used to the briskness in her great aunt's shrill voice, she rolled her eyes and wandered into the kitchen to find her father. By the time she'd managed to drag him to his wife, she was already seated on the sofa in the living room.

"Once Miranda has recovered from shock, we need to go to Bristol Royal Infirmary, Valerie has had a stroke, she's currently in the I.C.U, apparently it wasn't caught in time, they don't think there's much they can do. I came over as soon as possible. I would have called but you know I can never seem to work this blasted new technology! Stupid bloody thing!" She cursed, as she chucked the Nokia she had been waving about, back into her handbag.

Hermione was in shock. It wasn't that she particularly cared for her Grandmother, in fact truth be told, she couldn't care less, but with the stress and confusion of the last fortnight, this new disaster pushed her over the edge. The last thing she remembered was watching her parents faces turn various shade of grey before everything went black...

Updated with alterations due to the previous plot going completely off course.

A/N!

So it's another cliffy! I already had this half written when I put the last chapter up for validation, but it got rejected and then it wouldn't resubmit the edits I made. Bizarre!?

So I got this finished today and fingers crossed there's no issues with this one!

Disclaimer: I do not own Milk Duds, they belong to Hersheys's!
All of the places in Bristol that are mentioned do actually exist (I should know I was born there! :P ) Treasure Island Sweets is literally amazing!

I don't own any of the characters, I only own the plot... there will be OC's that I DO own later on :)

Australian crunch is basically flapjack with desiccated coconut and biscuit bits in it, that's then half dipped in chocolate. It was a treat I grew up with.

BMD stands for Births, Marriages and Deaths. It's like a large register online that shows you names of the B's, M's and D's in a county/area with dates. It's cool for finding family!

Again, I want to thank Joey for being my muse, and his never-ending support of the Death Eater Regime ;) He's practically my BETA!

Reviews are my bread and butter, so they're appreciated as they help give me inspiration to get a new chapter up quicker :3 I should warn you this is a long-haul novel. I can see it hitting over 50-60 chapters. And I'm already thinking about a sequel xD

Anyhoo, thanks for reading, you lovely things! Watching the number of 'reads' rising makes my heart soar!

Az

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