I hope this isn't confusing. But, it is long. So, bear with me, now, on with the show!

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Chapter Three: Hermione's Past

Earlier this year…..

            "Come in Hermione," said the voice of Albus Dumbledore.

            "You wanted to see me professor?" I asked, wondering why I had been called into his office before the start of the term feast.

            He looked at me very concerned, almost as if what he was about to say was going to hurt me. He paused for a long moment, sighed and began to speak.

            "I realize that this is your last year here my dear. And you are about to turn seventeen?"

            "Yes, you remembered my birthday? I didn't realize you knew it!" I said happily.

            He smiled slightly. "Yes, I remembered, I could never forget, since I was there…"

            I blinked, looking at him in disbelief. Did he just say he was there? "I am sorry professor. Did you just say, you were there?"

            He nodded and looked at me, his eyes very tired. "I am sorry I have waited so long to tell you this my dear, but it was brought up to me in the most horrible way, endangering us all. It seems he has found out that you are alive."

            Now, I was confused, but nothing, could have prepared me for what I was about to hear.

            "Hermione, you were adopted…..."

            "WHAT?"

            "Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Granger were your adopted parents…."

            "No, it can't be, I… I…. they would have told me!"

            He looked down at his hands; I could see a tear starting to form at his right eye. "I am so sorry Hermione. I just couldn't tell you until now. Not until you were ready to know the whole truth about your heritage. Now, you must hear me out my child. It is important you know what is about to happen to you in the course of the next few months."

            I slumped in my seat, tears filling my eyes. "It's true. Then…..then who are my real parents?"

            He looked at me and began to speak.

            "You are not a muggle born witch Hermione. You are in fact a pure blood witch, born from two of the oldest families in our world. One, I know very well. For, it happens, to be, my own…."

            I almost fell out of my chair. But, I let him continue….

            "You may have come across her in your studies, she was a Head Girl too in her year. My granddaughter, Adora Dumbledore, was the daughter of my son, Allen Dumbledore and Diana Wiggle.

When Adora was born, my son and his wife were very happy, and so was I. She grew up rather quickly and before I knew it, she was in her seventh year of Hogwarts and Head Girl, just like you. My, you look so much like her. She had bushy hair too when she was young, but like yours it became very long and very beautiful. You are almost a spitting image of her now, more than ever."

            I sobbed quietly. Hearing about my real mother was very odd, and very heartbreaking.

            "She also knew Harry's parents as well, James and Lily. She was two years ahead of them, but they never really followed the same circle of friends, thought they were in Gryffindor. She graduated with top honors, even through the beginnings of Voldemort's evil reign against our world. He had terrorized and killed many families, including my son and his wife, leaving Adora with I as her only family. He was destroying pure bloodlines as well as muggle borns. I really did not see the method of his plans until the day I lost my son. He was destroying the most ancient lines of the heirs. He destroyed Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and almost destroyed Gryffindor, he knew just as I did that the balance of good an evil in our world would shift. So, he began his terrible plan. That is why he destroyed so many families. He was hunting for a mark, the birthmark that was passed down from the heirs them selves. Something simple that would show up on their eighteenth birthday. In the Gryffindor line, it is a rune, a birthmark in the shape of the an ancient rune."

He drew the rune for her, it looked like the letter H, but it had to slanted lines in the middle. She had seen the rune in her books before. And she knew what it meant.

            "The rune of peace?" she said, looking at it on the paper.

            "It will show up on your hand, very small on the right hand. Hermione, you are the last heir to Gryffindor, and I am your great grandfather. That you know now."

            He paused again, I guessed to let all what he just told me sink in. That everything that I had known had been a lie. That I was actually a pure blood witch, not just a muggle born. I looked at him sadly. "How could you not tell me? How?"

            "Because, you are not supposed to be living. You are supposed to be dead. Because of what you could do to our world. You and Harry."

            "What does Harry have to do with this?"

            "Everything, because he is a descendant of Gryffindor as well, but, not of relation to you. Gryffindor blood was passed through many lines, so the man that you love Hermione is of no direct relation to you, I have made many checks on that. He followed the lines until he came to your mother and her husband, David Crow. Voldemort killed your father and I took your mother into hiding, when she was pregnant with you. She died giving birth to you. I was there when you arrived. When you came, I knew you were the one. The one that I have read in scrolls and books, not Harry. Harry may have defeated Voldemort with his mother's magic, but you are the one that will destroy him. You are the protector of Harry. You are the one Hermione that will destroy the evil and bring peace. Harry couldn't be, because his mother was muggle born. It had to be a pure blood heir, and child from the joining of the heirs."

            Hermione gasped. "You mean…"

            Dumbledore pulled out a scroll, a heritage of the lines of the Heirs.

            "You are the product of all three heirs. You mother was Gryffindor, your grandmother, Diana Wiggle, was a Ravenclaw, and your father, David, was a Hufflepuff. That is why when your mark appears; it will not be just the symbol of Gryffindor, like Harry's. It will be of a Phoenix, the symbol of the Order created by the union of the heirs against Slytherin. Voldemort knew of this. He was after every trace of the heir's blood lines, because he knew that the one was coming. The child was supposed to be born in the year of the Great Eclipse, when the earth would have a double eclipse. The year you were born, and Harry. Voldemort traced two births that year, you and Harry. I pronounced you dead, that the child was still born. That is why I had to hide you. That is why I sent you to the most unknown place in the world to him, the muggle world. But, you came here now, unknown to the whole world and only known as Hermione Granger. But, in reality, your name, your birthright, was Hermione Crow, heir of the Order of the Phoenix."

            Finally, I understood. And in a way, it helped me forgive him for lying to me all this time. I knew now why he did it. I would not have been ready for this any sooner.

            "So, in one years time, it will show up?"

            "Yes, and that is why I am telling you now. Like I told Harry. Voldemort knows that next year will be the year of the Mark. He will began to hunt again. He will especially be after Harry. You will have to help us guard him. I know you will be able too, even though you may not know it yet. This next year is going to be a very busy one for you Hermione. You are going to change. You will begin to feel things you have never felt before, powers you never had. I will watch you carefully for the next year Hermione, and if you have any questions, any at all, I am prepared to answer them, no matter what."

            I looked at him. So many raced through my head, but I decided that they were meant for another time. I couldn't handle it, not anymore that day. I left his office, but visited through the year.

            Now, at the end of my term, at the end of this day, I think about all that I have learned. My powers have grown so much that I barely need a wand to perform magic anymore. I am an Animagus, I can Apparate, and I can even control the elements. I have grown in mind and soul. I still think of my muggle parents, for they were my parents all my life. I have read about my other parents, seen pictures and scrolls they had written. But it wasn't the same. I am supposed to be the savior of the wizarding world, and I have no idea who I truly am.

            I have had all year to get used to the idea of being someone else, but I still have not had enough time to deal with all of it. And my time was cut short when Voldemort attacked today. He was after Harry and me. He only knows half the story though. He only knows that I am an heir of Gryffindor, and not the one of all three. Now, he has Harry, and Harry is dying because of the battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore. I don't blame Dumbledore, he fought so well…….

(Flashback)

            "YOU WILL NOT TAKE THIS SCHOOL!" thundered Albus as he pointed his wand at a line of death eaters. He stunned and wounded a lot of the men, but more were coming. The other teachers, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and many others were on the ground dead. Even some of the students who were not able to make it to the castle lay motionless and dead. Then Voldemort then came into view. I could see the horrible face, the twisted features that reminded me of a snake. He had an orb of green encircling him, like a shield. He faced Dumbledore and spoke on a loud hiss. "Where are the boy and the other heir?"

            Then it hit me as I watched for the towers where we were hidden. He didn't know who I was! He didn't even know what I was!

            "You will not touch neither of them! They are protected in these walls as long as I live!"

            Voldemort smiled. "That can be arranged…"

            Without warning, Voldemort hit Albus with a flash of red, making him clutch his chest. Voldemort laughed.

            "You are out of the your precious castle old fool. You let yourself come to my domain. Did you honestly think you still had the strength to defeat me? I, who have been reborn and have watched you whither slowly away? One more blast and I will kill you. Now…" he looked up at the towers where Harry and I were, "Harry Potter! If you want to watch him die, then remain where you are. If you want to live and have him live as well, bring the other heir and come to me, now!"

            Harry, who had been watching like me, turned and grabbed my shoulders. "Stay Hermione! I am going to go and fight him."

            "No, he will kill you!" I cried out, trying to reason with him.

            "I defeated him once, I will finish it now!"

            He disappeared. He must have his invisibility cloak on him, I thought. I watched as he appeared on the field minutes later beside Dumbledore, wand pointing at Voldemort. "Let him go Voldemort and fight me!"

            Voldemort sprang. It had been a trap all along as four death eaters became visible from the spell Voldemort used on them. But this distraction, gave Dumbledore relief from his hold and he grabbed Harry, trying to put a protection barrier around them. But Voldemort saw this and shot another spell at him, but missed and in Dumbledore effort to block Harry, had put him in the path of the shot. Harry screamed to the air and slumped to the ground, motionless. I felt a scream escape my lips. I saw Dumbledore holding onto Harry as long as he could before all the death eaters hit him over and over with the Cruciatus Curse and rip the motionless Harry from his grasp, taking him to a port key that Voldemort had used to invade. They all disappeared as Voldemort pointed his wand at the sky, saying a few words and his mark appeared about the castle, showing his work.

            Then he was gone, taking my love and my happiness. The only person who understood my struggle. I watched sadly as Dumbledore stood and walked back to the castle. I watched as the student who were hiding run out to the grounds with Madam Promfrey, trying to find hope and life in the bodies around. I allowed myself to Apparate to the lake, far from the death and destruction.

 (End Flashback)

            And that is where I am at now. I am here, looking onto the water, trying to come to my decision. Decide how I am going to do it.

            How I am going to save my world, save Harry and save myself…..

            It takes me a while, but I know I am ready.

            I stand now and turned to the castle, heading toward my fears, and my greatest sacrifice that I will ever make…..

            I am so alone…

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I hope this wasn't TOO long. I will continue this story if I get 10 total reviews, so if you like, PLEASE R & R. We will see if this story lives…..

            (I hope I didn't confuse you…..)