Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated names, things, spells, places etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, Raincoast Books, Bloomsbury and her publishers, I guess. The name O'Keefe and the name Calvin were borrowed from The A Wrinkle in Time books, by Madeleine L'Engle, which are awesome books. The name Carlton was borrowed from Vanessa Carlton. And, the name Ella is borrowed from a book I adore, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. They're making a movie out of the book, with Mia from Princess Diaries (Anne Hathway). I own Amethyst Carlton, Emmie Carlton O'Keefe, Victoria Carlton O'Keefe, Jonathan Carlton O'Keefe and Calvin O'Keefe (but not the name!). I own some of the plot, me thinks. Amanda Marshall owns herself and Everybody's Got A Story. This is the longest Disclaimer I've ever written! Yahoo for me!

Anyhoo, Enjoy!

The Real Me

Last time.

"Who is it?" Dumbledore asked. "It's me professor, Severus." Everyone in the room immediately paled. "Just a minute." Dumbledore answered. Amethyst and Emmie whispered some words at the same time, and when Hermione looked done, she wasn't there. "I'm Invisible without the cloak.. Cool!" she thought. She looked around and the only person she could see was Professor Dumbledore. "Come in", he said and the door opened. Severus Snape walked in and Hermione looked at her real father.

Chapter 12

Snape walked briskly to Dumbledore's desk, with his usual sour face on. He began to speak immediately, "Do you know anything about 3 laughing children, who are not students here, running into the Great Hall, and then out? Do you know who they are? Apparently they also caused a disturbance in Hogesmade." Hermione had no time to marvel at how he knew they were at Hogesmade. She did have enough time to silently curse Snape, they didn't cause the disturbance, they stopped it! Well, she wasn't silent enough.

"Did you hear that?" Snape asked Dumbledore, looking around the office. "Hear what?" Dumbledore said mildly. "I swore I heard someone say 'slimy git'" Snape replied, still looking around suspiciously. Hermione could sense Emmie trying to keep from laughing, next to her. Then she heard Emmie giggle. Unfortunately, Snape heard it too. "Who's there" he asked the air and then turned to Dumbledore, saying, "You had to have heard that." Dumbledore wasn't sure what to say, torn between telling him the truth, and making the man believe he was hearing things. He decided on the former. "I did hear that." He told him. Hermione felt Amethyst stiffen on the other side of her. This would probably lead to Amethyst having to face Snape, very soon.

"Well, what was it? It sounded like someone laughing to me." Snape said, eyes narrowed. Dumbledore decided to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. "It was someone laughing", he confirmed. "Well who was it?" Snape snapped back, "Who's here?" Hermione saw Dumbledore nod every so slightly. Hermione looked around, saw the people around her, and looked down and saw her body again. They were no longer invisible. As Hermione was still marveling at the fact, when she heard Dumbledore say, "Turn around, Severus" and felt both her mother and aunt squirm beside her. She looked up as Snape slowly turned around looked at them, and then turned back around. Emmie giggled and got up and gave the man a huge hug, much to Hermione's disgust, hugging Snape! Then she mentally reminded herself, this mans your father! She almost screamed in disgust at the thought. Emmie's voice brought her back to reality.

"Oh, its so good to see you, Sevie-poo!!!" Emmie gushed. Snape inwardly grimaced at the use of his nickname, but rather asked instead in a voice that was so quiet, that it was almost inaudible to Emmie, "Were my eyes playing tricks on me, or is Amethyst sitting behind us?" he asked. Emmie turned him around in response, grabbed Amethyst and positioned them so they were facing she ushered everyone out of the room, and yelled, "Make up!" over her shoulder.

The former fiancées looked at each other for awhile, as if having a staring contest. Without breaking eye contact, the two went and sat on the couch. Silence remained until Amethyst broke it, "Look, I know I hurt every one by running away after Lily and James died, especially you. And I know everyone thought I disappeared because I couldn't take the shock of my best friends dying. That, was only part of the reason.", she said her voice getting quieter and quieter, "I -I was with child." She said. Upon seeing the blank look on his face she added, "Pregnant."

He looked at her in shock and squeaked out in voice different then his own, "Pardon?" "I was pregnant, and now our child is 15." Amethyst said slowly and clearly. "And you never told me?" he asked in disbelief. Amethyst replied in a small voice, "It was for her own safety. I mean, me being a Carlton, and you a Snape and a Death Eater and a double agent. And we were forbidden to be together, I mean she'd be dead if it became public." "Oh", Severus said, "What's her name?" "Ella" she told him, and he smiled. "I knew I would get no say in it, you'd name her you favourite name. Well, can I meet her? I mean she is my daughter." He asked eagerly.

Amethyst paused, thinking and then said, "You've already met her, you have actually known her longer than I have." "Huh?" he said, sounding very much like the person Amethyst used to know and love. "She's in her 5th year, here at Hogwarts. She's one of your students. And she's in Gryffindor." Snape groaned at this statement, she wasn't a Slytherin. And if she was in Gryffindor, that meant that he had probably been mean to her. He thought over whose fit the clues his ex-fiancée was giving him, and then said, "I don't have an Ella Carlton in my class."

"I gave her up for adoption. A nice muggle family, the Grangers. The name she was registered under was Hermione Granger." Amethyst told him, preparing herself for his reaction. "You're telling me that know-it-all Granger is my daughter?" he asked, voice calm. Amethyst wasn't fooled, he was shaking inside. "Yes, I am. I know you and her have had some differences in the past, but to bad, you to are going to put them inside. She's your own flesh and blood!" Amethyst told him, her temper flaring. Severus noticed this and nodded, he was not going to upset her, he had learned his lesson from the last time he got her really angry. He still shuddered remembering what she did to him. At his nod, Emmie burst into the room, and hugged them both, tears pouring down her cheeks. "I knew you guys would make up, but it took you long enough!" she told them through tears, and turned around sobbing loudly. Calvin smiled at them both and gave Severus a nod, before trying to calm Emmie down. Dumbledore smiled knowingly, and then excused himself.

Amethyst's and Severus's attention were know on the 3 teenagers in the room. They were all close in age, but they looked different, very much so, in appearance. The boy had black hair with blonde highlights, and dark green eyes. The older of the 2 girls had red hair and gold eyes. The last had black hair, darker than Amethyst's, but lighter then Severus's shade of hair. She had amethyst eyes not unlike Amethyst's eyes, but this girl's were darker. This was his daughter.

The five looked at each other in silence, not sure what to say. Finally, Victoria, with her diplomatic senses, said, "Hello, I'm Victoria Carlton O'Keefe, and this is my brother Jonathan. Nice to meet you." She held out her hand, for him to shake, but instead he got up and gave her a hug, much to everyone's shock. Then he hugged Jonathan. The two backed away towards their parents, waiting for the father and daughter to be reunited.

Hermione was still marveling at the fact that Snape hugged someone, when she realized everyone was staring at her, waiting for her to say something. Instead of saying anything, she turned and strode out of the room, leaving a shocked bunch of people.

*******

As soon as Hermione was out of the office, she ran as fast as she could, towards the place where she had read the letter that told her some shocking details. The library, her safe haven. She ignored all the stares she was getting, and went into the corner where she was barely visible. She came here a lot, to escape from her "perfect life". She pulled her cd player out of her bag, stuck a cd in and pressed play, waiting for the music to wash over her body, and make her feel better. Music worked with her the same way bubble baths worked with others. Hermione began to sing softly,

"La la la la la la la

Ohhh...yeah.

Huh You walk up to me and say

Feel like I know you baby

And then take a sip of your cherry coke now

Now who drinks a cherry coke

Maybe you're nervous

I see that bead of sweat dancing on your cheek

Your words are like cheap champagne.

I get the point but it's much too sweet.

I'm so tried of the dance

This carousel of superficial conversation

Gets me nowhere So you can see my bra, underneath my shirt

Watch the wind, underneath my skirt

But that ain't the picture, it's just a part

Everybody's got a story that could break your heart

See my eyes, don't see what I see.

Touch my tongue, don't know what tastes good to me.

It's the human condition that keeps us apart

Everybody's got a story that could break your heart

Yeah, everybody's got a story that could break your heart

Na na na na na na Now who could read the mind of the red-headed girl next door

Or the taxi driver who just dropped you off

Or the classmate that you ignore

Don't assume everything on the surface is what you see

Cause that classmate just lost her mother.

And that taxi driver's got a PHD.

I'm so tired of the fear

That weighs us down with wrong assumptions

Of broken hearts, a natural function So you can see my bra, underneath my shirt

Watch the wind, underneath my skirt

But that ain't the picture, it's just a part

Everybody's got a story that could break your heart

See my eyes, don't see what I see.

Touch my tongue, don't know what tastes good to me.

It's the human condition that keeps us apart

And everybody's got a story that could break your heart

See my bra, underneath my shirt

Watch the wind, underneath my skirt

But that ain't the picture, it's just a part

Everybody's got a story that could break your heart

La la la la la la.... So dig deep

Deeper than the image that you see

Dig deep

Lift the veil and let your true self breathe

Dig deep

Show the world the beauty underneath See my bra, underneath my shirt

Watch the wind, underneath my skirt

But that ain't the picture, it's just a part

Everybody's got a story that could break your heart

See my eyes, don't see what I see.

Touch my tongue, don't know what tastes good to me.

It's the human condition that keeps us apart

And everybody's got a story that could break your heart

See my bra, underneath my shirt

Watch the wind, underneath my skirt

But that ain't the picture, it's just a part

Everybody's got a story that could break your heart

See my eyes, don't see what I see.

Touch my tongue, don't know what tastes good to me.

It's the human condition that keeps us apart

And everybody's got a story that could break your heart

La la la la la la..."

Hermione finished singing. She was lucky this time, no one but herself had heard her. She slowly got up, reluctant to leave, but she knew they were probably looking for her. She didn't want to leave. Just sit here in the corner and cry over all her troubles. And sing of course. Most of Hermione's world revolved around singing. Then, Hermione remembered an important detail. "Oh my god, those people who want to offer me a contract are going to be here on Saturday! Okay, Hermione, think. Today is Wednesday, well its almost over but-" her panic thought were interrupted by a person waving a hand in front of her, and saying, "Earth to E!". Hermione looked up to see Vickie.

"Come", she told Hermione, "We are going to bed. You must be exhausted." "Now that you mention it, yah." Hermione said and followed her to a portrait that she had never seen before. It was of a young woman in a black gown. She had very dark black eyes and hair, and was deathly pale. She was hauntingly beautiful though. Victoria noticed her staring and said, "That is Godric Gryffindor's youngest daughter. Her name was Ella.", when Victoria said 'Ella', the portrait swung open. Hermione didn't get a chance to look around, as Victoria lead her to a door straight away.

"This is your room. Good night." Victoria told her, and with that she left. Hermione opened the door, and if she had been more awake, she would have been stunned by the elegant room. She found that someone had brought some of her stuff for her. She quickly changed into her pajamas, and collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep soon after.

End of Chapter 12

A/N: OH MY GOD! 75 REVIEWS! Thanks for everyone who reviewed, you're the best. Thanks to:

jaceMia: Imaginative and Interesting? Thank you, you complement me too much!

Hpz26: Thank you! You like my plot, that's good, I was beginning to think no one did!

Arime Setta: I would have yelled back too, but Hermione doesn't know her that well. Thanks.

Zaeria: I didn't do Snape's reaction very well, sorry. But thanks for the review!

KawaiinessPnay: I'm glad you are still reviewing, thanks! I think she will..

Draco'sGoodGirl721: No problem, I was glad to, it's a really good story. Check your email about beta-ing. That's your favourite song? Cool!

Silveretta: Check your email too. Thanks for the review. No problem. Cho Chang: Hope you liked this song, and she totally rules! Go Avril! Thank yah.

Oriencor: You're on my thank you list again! Thanks for another review, well 2 actually!

Fang-gurlie: You think I'm talented! Thank you! Well, I didn't end it very well today, sorry.

I'll TRY to post soon, no promises though.

Thanks for reading please review!

-Eliza