A/N: A lot of confusion from the first two chapters is cleared up here. If anyone still has questions, just review and I'll try to answer them in the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy! Please review! Any constructive criticism and input from you guys would be extremely helpful!
Disclaimer: The usual disclaimer applies. Harry Potter and all characters belong to J. K. Rowling…but how I wish I had made them up!
The Secret
Chapter Three: The Truth; Part Two
She was very warm and comfortable, lying on something nice and soft. Slowly waking, she realized that somehow, she was on the living room couch. She had no clue how she got there.
She stirred, realizing that people were talking quietly around her. Not wanting to face anyone yet, and wanting to hear what was going on, she kept her eyes closed and listened intently to the conversation.
"She gave us quite a scare!" she heard Isabel/her mother say.
"Can you really blame her?" Snape replied quietly and completely void of the usual sarcasm. He continued after a pause, "You know it was quite a bomb that we dropped."
"Yes, that's true," Mikhail/her father agreed. "We were going to tell her before her seventeenth birthday, of course. Now that she knows, however, we should probably unbind her powers and help her learn how to control them."
"Hmm, should be quite interesting," Snape said.
"I don't even want to think about the chaos that'll be caused by releasing her powers. What if she's not ready, or if it is too much for her?" her mother asked worriedly.
::Wow. I'm starting to accept that they are my parents. Something about them does seem awfully familiar, and it's not just from the dreams. Maybe everything is how they say it is. That would explain a few things. Like how they weren't terribly surprised when I received my Hogwarts letter, or at any of the tales I've told them about school. They definitely weren't as surprised as Justin's parents were when they found out he was a wizard. . Hmm. But if all this is right, then Snape really is my Uncle. I wonder what that'll be like. What will everyone think? Although, he certainly isn't acting like the Professor Snape who hates me, always deducting points when I answer questions correctly. I wonder why he does that. I'll have to ask him. He's actually being nice, come to think of it. Maybe they are telling the truth. Hmm…what powers are they talking about?::
These thoughts ran through Hermione's head while the adults continued with their conversation. To attract their attention, she stirred again, loudly this time, and gave a small groan. Very slowly, she opened her eyes to see three very worried faces hovering over her.
"What happened?" she asked softly. "I don't remember moving to the couch."
"You went into a bit of shock and gave us quite a scare," Snape said softly. "You fainted, but I caught you and brought you here until you woke up."
"Oh, ok."
Hermione didn't know how she felt about having Snape catch her and carry her somewhere, even if it did save her from hurting herself by falling to the floor. Whatever it was, it was extremely awkward.
"So everything you told me, it was all true?" she asked hesitantly.
"Yes, Mya. I'm afraid so. Please believe me when I say I desperately didn't wish for this to happen this way! None of us did," her Father answered.
"I…I think I know that you're telling the truth. It kind of makes sense actually. About why you've never been too surprised with the magic stories I tell you, and how you weren't absolutely shocked when I got my letter. I…I've also been having dreams all summer, about the past, I think. They're of you three meeting with Professor Dumbledore in the room with the two tapestries…" she trailed off, unsure of how her parents would take this information.
The adults were looking at each other in surprise.
"It's starting already," her mother said, amazed.
"It must be," her uncle agreed.
::Ooh that still feels really weird, calling Snape my uncle! Wow, I'm definitely going to have to get used to this!:: Hermione thought.
"Very few people have dreams about the past. And no one else knows about that room, besides us four. Oh, and Minerva, that is," he continued, giving a pointed look at her parents.
Hermione saw the look and asked tentatively, "Is there something else that I should know? Something that you're still not telling me?"
Her parents once again looked at each other, contemplating. This time, they nodded at Snape, who smiled grimly and started talking.
"Well," he stopped and took a breath. "It has to do with your family again. You see, instead of both your parents being only children, and your grandparents being dead, you have a couple of aunts and uncles, as well as grandparents and a number of young cousins. Your mother is my younger sister, the youngest of four. Your dad has an older sister, and then all of our parents, who thank God are still alive. And then goodness knows how many cousins, I think somewhere between ten and fifteen."
"Wow," breathed Hermione. Looking at her parents, she said, "I still can't believe you've kept this from me for so long! I mean, for sixteen years, I've been thinking and living one life only to be told that it's completely a lie! You…you…I don't even know!!" Hermione yelled, throwing her hands into the air in exasperation. She then paused for a second, contemplating something. She finally continued, "Wait a second. What does this all have to do with Professor McGonagall?"
"Let me explain. Sixteen years ago, the three of you where forced to go into hiding because of a prophecy that reached the hands of Voldemort. Albus Dumbledore himself was your secret keeper. After some…details," at this Severus paused slightly before continuing, "it was made very clear that you three had to leave our world. At the time, I had already joined Voldemort's inner circle of Death Eaters, but I was not yet a spy for the Light. Because of this, I was not made your secret keeper. Later, I found that it was also for the fear that Voldemort would go through family members trying to find you. Unfortunately, that is what he did, and it was good foresight that I had not been made your secret keeper."
He paused for second, swiping a hand through is hair in an aggravated gesture.
"He killed our brother and sister and their spouses. He would have killed my family as well, along with your cousins, but we were with them vacationing with your grandparents. The only reason we were spared was because we weren't in Britain on the night of the attacks."
"What do you mean your family?" Hermione asked, curious.
"My wife, Rose, and our daughter Lila," he answered softly.
"You're married?" Hermione squeaked in surprise.
Snape looked at her oddly, "Yes, of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Never mind, it just surprised me, that's all."
"Shall I continue?"
"Yes, please. Sorry for interrupting."
"Well, after that attack, my parents and all the children used the Glamourie spell to change their identities, and changed their names as well. This also went for your father's side. Your aunt was not harmed, but your uncle and one of your cousins were killed. So your other grandparents, your aunt and your two cousins also changed names and used Glamourie."
"Still, I don't understand what this has to do with the Professor," Hermione stated, a bit confused by all she was hearing.
"If you had let me finish...my family took the surname of McGuire. My parents have raised and are still raising your cousins. I doubt the littlest ones know of ever being anything other than McGuires. Anyway, before you interrupt again, and don't protest, I could see it in your eyes." He chuckled softly before continuing, "I am your teacher, remember? Your father's parents, along with your aunt and two cousins took on the name of McGonagall. Your grandparents, Winona and Kallister Griffin became Minerva and Kevin McGonagall."
Having finished, Snape sat back and looked expectantly at Hermione, who was sitting in stunned disbelief.
After a few seconds, which felt like a few hours to the adults, she finally managed "What? You're saying that Professor McGonagall, the Head of the Gryffindor house, Assistant Headmaster of Hogwarts, and Transfiguration Professor…you're telling me that that Professor McGonagall is my grandmother?"
She once again squeaked that last part of her sentence and then sat in a daze for another couple of seconds.
"Alright…so far I've believed everything you've told me. I've accepted the fact that I'm not Muggle-born, that mum and dad are actually a witch and a wizard, and that I have a huge family that I never knew about. I've also accepted the fact that two Hogwarts professors are related to me. These professors being the Head of Slytherin and the Potions Master, Severus Snape, and the Head of Gryffindor and the Transfiguration Professor, Minerva McGonagall. Is there anything else that you have forgotten to add or 'accidentally' left out? Because if so, then…well, I don't know. I just want to know everything, ok?" she finished, obviously distressed by all that had been kept from her.
"There is one more thing," her father said gently.
Hermione looked at him, then at her mother.
"It's actually about the prophecy that forced us to come here," he continued. "When you were three or four months old, Professor Trelawney had a genuine vision. She predicted that eleven years into the Dark Lord's reign, a baby girl of Gryffindor and Slytherin blood would be born. She will have tremendous power, enough to save the world from evil's wrath. The Dark Lord would be rendered powerless a few months after the girl's birth. The betrayer of the Light will take the prophecy to the Dark Lord, who will try to destroy the girl's family looking for her. One very close to her is already at the Dark Lord's side..."
On hearing this, Hermione glanced quickly at Snape, whose eyes once again had turned cold. She suddenly felt very sorry for him, and wandered not for the fist time what had made him turn to Voldemort.
Her father hadn't stopped talking, "When he once again finds the Light, she must disappear. If the girl is not sent out of the world of magic, followers of the Dark Mark will use her power to bring the Dark Lord back, for a reign of darkness that no one can break. However, if her magic is bound until she returns to magic, it will take fourteen years for the Dark Lord to return. Her power will be fully mature at the age of 17, when she will defeat the Dark Lord once and for all. The boy-who-lived will aid in his downfall, and the one whom no one suspects will save us all. She went on to predict that the girl will be extremely powerful, with abilities such as mind-reading, complex wand-less magic, self-healing and the Inner Eye. I think that's it."
Turning to his wife, and then to Snape, he asked them, "Did I leave anything out?"
Hermione snorted. "I think that if you left anything out, I don't really want to know right now, ok?"
Her father chuckled before asking her, "Do you have any questions about all of this? Anything you want to talk about? I know this is so much information to digest at once, but the three of us are here to help you digest it all."
"Alright. How did you know that I was the girl in the prediction?"
Her mother answered, "Honestly? It was through the process of elimination. First, we kept a close watch on the babies born in the eleventh year of darkness. Since the prediction was made during the eleventh year, we had to go back and monitor those already born that year. After that, we narrowed them down to the handful who had parents from both Gryffindor and Slytherin. Mind you, it's extremely rare, so there were only a few left. Maybe nine or ten in all."
"And then?"
"Well, we looked at the family members of the children. The only other family with someone on…well, close to Voldemort, was the Malfoy family, actually. By that time, we were pretty sure it was you, because Lucius Malfoy would never 'return' to the Light. Don't think he was ever on our side to begin with. Anyway, once Albus became our secret keeper, we thought we would be able to stay in the world of magic, in hiding. This didn't exactly work out. Several days after the spell was performed, Severus became a spy for the Light. When that happened, it just confirmed that we definitely had to get out of the magical world, so we put our affairs in order, moved into this house, and bound your powers," she finished.
"Wait a minute. You had to bind my powers? I had powers at that age? I thought that witches and wizards don't start to show power until older, definitely not at age one!" Hermione stated in confusion.
"Well, that was one of the last signs that you were the girl in the prediction," her father said. "Your powers were already showing, especially your power of self-healing. When you were six or seven months old and had just started crawling, you knocked your head on one of the coffee tables, here in our new home. You received a nasty gash that was bleeding everywhere. You mother and I were almost insane with worry, trying to get you to respond to us, or the fact that you had cut yourself. You weren't responding to anything, just kept playing with a toy you had found. We don't think you even realized anything had happened. We began trying to clean you up when you started glowing, and as the glow stopped, you had healed yourself. We were completely sure at that point that we had to bind your powers."
"I healed myself? Why didn't it work when I was petrified second year? Wouldn't I try to heal myself then as well?"
"We think it had something to do with the being petrified part that kept you from healing yourself. But we're not exactly sure. Albus couldn't even figure that one out," her uncle answered.
Hermione looked at them for a couple of minutes, processing everything she'd learned in the last hour and a half. Finally, she looked at Severus and asked unsteadily, "Can I ask you a couple of questions?"
"Of course, anything you would like to know," he answered kindly.
"Well, why embarrass me all those times in Potions? Calling me a know-it-all, deducting points all the time, and everything else? You must know that it didn't exactly make me feel better or boost my self-esteem."
"That's a fair enough question. I am the head of Slytherin. There's a huge amount of children in Slytherin whose parents are or where Death Eaters. Imagine what they would tell their parents if I were to be fair to the other houses, especially Gryffindor, our rival house. Very few people know that I had a younger sister who fell in love with a Gryffindor, let alone married him."
"Can I ask you another?"
He replied at once, "Of course."
"Did you join the ranks of Death Eaters before or after Voldemort killed my aunts and uncles?"
Severus took a long time before answering. He looked upset over something and then started talking quietly. "It was before. Contrary to popular belief, I did not join Voldemort for power, or because I am 'evil', though many Hogwarts students would disagree with that statement. You see, I'm a scholar. Doing research on magic and potions is something of a hobby of mine, or an obsession some people say. As a scholar, I had soaked up most of the tomes on magic and potion from the Light side. By that time Voldemort started rising to power. I didn't start studying the Dark Arts so I could use them, rather, to study magic and potions from the point of view of something other than the Light side. By the time Voldemort brought me into his inner circle because of my 'allegiance' to him, I was married to Rose and Lila was almost two. When you were born, she was just about to turn four."
"Oh, ok. When did you become a spy for the Light?"
"It was after the prophecy was made. Somehow, probably through Peter or someone else we trusted, Voldemort learned of the prophecy. He figured out that you were the girl, but you had already been hidden by Albus, maybe even the day before. I didn't know at the time where you were. When I couldn't tell him anything, he tried to get through your family. He managed to kill our sister Cassidy and her husband Sean, and our brother Nathaniel and his wife Zoë. Galadriel, your Aunt Fiona's husband, was also taken, as well as your cousin Mac. When I still wouldn't tell him anything, and when you still hadn't resurfaced, Voldemort had…he had Lila killed, forcing me to watch. It was…it was horrible," he finished quietly, looking quite depressed and defeated.
Hermione was shocked. She didn't know what to say or do. Severus was sitting across from her with his head in his hands, as if remembering all that had happened. "I…I'm so sorry," she said softly, going over and giving him a hug.
He pulled back in surprise before returning the hug, saying, "Thank you Hermione. Right after that, I went to Dumbledore and told him all I had been doing. I wanted out, but he suggested that I help the Light by becoming a spy. So I did. And I've been working with him ever since."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hermione and the four adults stayed up talking until six thirty or so. When they began yawning more than talking, Mikhail looked at the clock and announced that it was bedtime for all. Severus had a room, unbeknownst to Hermione, where he slept when he came for his visits. Before going to sleep, the adults explained the prophecy again and answered more questions. As Hermione walked up the stairs back to her bedroom, picking up her wand on the way past the kitchen, thoughts were flying through her head as she tried, yet once again, to process everything from the past three hours.
The exhausted group made their way to their separate bedrooms and all slept for several hours.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They welcomed breakfast the next day with open arms. For a while, the four of them sat in comfortable silence, still a bit dazed at the events that had occurred early that morning.
Finally, Hermione broke the silence. "I still have more questions," she said with amusement in her voice. "Seems like I always have questions, doesn't it?" she said with a grin.
The adults laughed before she continued, directing the questions at Severus.
"I understand why you've never been completely fair with Gryffindors. But why going the extra mile with Ron, Harry, and I?"
"Well with you, it was because you are my niece. I know you have a tremendous thirst for knowledge; something that I think comes from me. Being extremely hard on you was the only way I could push you to your full potential without giving myself away as a Gryffindor lover," he finished with a smile.
"Oh, ok. What about Harry and Ron then?"
"Hard as it is to believe, I really don't have anything against those two. But Voldemort does, and I am still considered part of his elite circle. Remember that in the prediction, Harry will help with Voldemort's downfall. Naturally, when you know that someone will help defeat your 'lord and master', you don't go running off, giving points to them for everything they do. As for Mr. Weasley, well, let's just say he's friends with the two people who I absolutely cannot be fair to at school, so he just has bad luck." He finished with a grin.
Hermione laughed at this, and asked another question.