Hermione sat there in absolute shock, unable to say anything. For the first time in her entire life; she was speechless.
"B-But, it can't be true! It just can't be!" she cried, tears welling up in her eyes. Hermione Granger had just discovered that she was, to her disbelief and horror, adopted.
"It is, darling," Mrs. Granger said sadly, "The letter that you received an hour ago was from your real mother and father. They wish to see you again, to take you back and make up for lost time. We can only grant their wish." Hermione's sadness immediately turned to anger.
"You're just going to give me up without a fight? I thought you loved me!" she cried, hurt by her 'mother's' words.
"We would fight for you if we could, believe us, but we can't. Mr. and Mrs. Malomfry wish to take you back, and when we took you in, we agreed that if they ever contacted us, we would …" Mr. Granger trailed off on seeing the hurt look on Hermione's face.
"So, that's it then? I'm just supposed to accept the fact that for the past seventeen years, you've lied to me about your being my real parents and now—my real parents have come to take me away? I'm just supposed to accept it, am I?"
"No, Hermione, we realize that it's going to take some time to get your head around the idea, but—"
"Some time? SOME TIME?! You've lied to me! I can't forgive you—ever! As soon as my real parents come, I'm out of here and I never want to see you again!" she screamed as she ran upstairs, sobbing her heart out.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Hermione didn't stop sobbing until she heard Mrs. Granger screaming from downstairs. A sound of something crashing to the floor and Mr. Granger letting out a loud cry caught her attention. She hurried downstairs to see what the trouble was.
"Ah, and I believe that this is our daughter, Hermione Malomfry" Hermione stared at the two figures standing in front of their fireplace. It was obvious that they'd flooed to her household. She watched them, her mouth slightly agape. Her parents were wizards?! She studied the woman, whom she assumed to be her mother; she had curly black hair and brown eyes that could've matched ice. Hermione gulped slightly, she didn't like the look of her mother. She turned her gaze to her father, who had brown floppy hair and blue eyes. He had a stern look on his face, but one look at his daughter for the first time in seventeen years and he smiled slightly and inclined his head to her. These were her parents? She didn't like the look of them at all! They seemed so … serious.
"Hermione, dear, I think maybe you should—" Mrs. Granger began, but Mrs. Malomfry cut her off rather sharply.
"I believe that she is not your daughter any more, Mrs. Granger, therefore, you have no right to call her by her first name! Her name is Hermione Malomfry and you would do well to call her, Miss. Malomfry. Now, Mrs. Granger, go and get Hermione's things, we have somewhere to be and we have absolutely no time in dawdling." Hermione's eyes widened in disbelief, Mrs. Granger looked absolutely astonished and hurt. Mrs. Malomfry was treating Mrs. Granger like some sort of servant, and she was obeying!
"No!" Hermione stated firmly "I will go and get my stuff. Mu—uh, I mean, Mrs. Granger doesn't need to do it."
"Very well" Mrs. Malomfry said snootily, looking around the place, with, what could only be described as, disgust "Hurry up, child, we don't have all day."
Hermione quickly dashed upstairs, willing herself not to cry. Her parents … they were so horrible! She didn't want to leave the people who had brought her up, she couldn't! She sniffled slightly, then jumped on feeling a hand on her shoulder. She whirled around to find Mr. Malomfry watching her with a kind smile on his face.
"I—I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to—"
"Just call me dad, Hermione."
"I—I'm sorry, dad, but I—" and Hermione broke down completely. Mr. Malomfry held her in his arms for the first time, trying to calm her down.
"W-Why? Why did you give me up? Why are you taking me back now?" She whispered, still sniffling, her voice breaking.
"Come on, we'll get you home and explain everything, alright?" he questioned, looking his daughter in the eyes. Hermione nodded slowly. Mr. Malomfry muttered "Wingardium Leviosa" and directed her trunk into the lounge.
"Come on, come on, we don't have all day!" Mrs. Malomfry screeched, looking annoyed, whilst tapping her foot impatiently.
"Yes, yes, alright dear" Mr. Malomfry replied wearily "Ready to go, Hermione?" Hermione nodded and turned to Mr. and Mrs. Granger.
"Thank you for everything, you—"
"Yes, yes, we know you're grateful, let's go!" Mrs. Malomfry yelled, grabbing her daughter roughly by the collar and pulling her into the fireplace.
"Malomfry Mansion!" she yelled and with that said both Hermione and herself disappeared.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Hermione felt like bursting into tears. She'd only been with her parents for less than five minutes and she absolutely hated her mother! She whirled around as soon as her father entered the mansion and screamed at them.
"Tell me now!" she bellowed "Tell me why you got rid of me in the first place and why you're taking me back now of all times!"
"We need you. You're our only hope." Mrs. Malomfry stated calmly.
"Only hope at what?"
"Death Eater" Her father said. Hermione stopped fuming and turned to stare at her parents.
"What?!"
"We've run out of spies for the Dark Lord. We need you to be a spy for him. We heard that you're best friends with Harry Potter and that you know some things about the Order. This is what we need. We need information."
Hermione stared at her mother in disbelief. They were asking her to become a Death Eater? Her?
"I—I can't!" she cried, looking horrified "I'm going to become an Auror and—"
"Nonsense!" Mrs. Malomfry shouted "You will do nothing of the sort! You will become a Death Eater and serve the Dark Lord!"
"B—But—I—I can't!"
"Yes, you can and you will!" Mrs. Malomfry growled "and I'd also advise you to start mixing with the pureblood families. I won't have any of this nonsense about you mixing with half-bloods and mudbloods!" Hermione's jaw dropped, this was like a horrible nightmare, only it was real!
"Why did you get rid of me in the first place?" Hermione demanded.
"We thought the Dark Lord was going to kill you when he discovered that your mother had failed at an important mission. He said that he'd destroy whatever she held dearly and that was you. We put you up for adoption immediately"
"But why did you put me with muggles?" Hermione queried "seeing as you can't stand them"
"It was the least likely place that The Dark Lord was most likely to look."
"Why didn't you come and get me when Harry Potter almost defeated him?" she demanded.
"A few Death Eaters still wanted to see us suffer, so we thought best that you stayed where you were."
"I was so much happier with them" she muttered to herself, unshed tears shining in her eyes.
"Stop it!" Mrs. Malomfry snapped "Stop it right this instant! Tears do not exist in this household, do you hear me? Stop it!" she smacked Hermione sharply around the head, which shut her up.
"Oh, and by the way, you're betrothed" her mother added as Hermione made her way upstairs to her bedroom, being shown by her own personal servant. Hermione dropped the trunk she was holding and turned to stare at her mother, open-mouthed.
"Stop gaping!" her mother snapped "you will meet him and his family tonight, so wear your best clothing. In fact, I'm going to take you to Diagon Alley right now and get you a top-quality dress. Hurry up, child! Now!" Hermione quickly dumped her trunk in her room and hurried after her mother, ready to go to Diagon Alley.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Hermione sighed in relief as she dumped about twenty new dresses onto her bed. Her mother had dragged her into about a dozen different shops, commanded for her to put on almost every single dress in each store, then discard almost every single one afterwards. She wished that she really had been a muggle-born; at least, she'd still have loving parents about her.
Suddenly, shouting could be heard and Hermione peeked outside her door and watched from between the banister, downstairs, where a fight between her mother and father was taking place.
"I think you're being incredibly demanding of her. She's only been here about twelve hours, not even a full day and you're expecting her to just accept all of this? She's been living her life as a muggle-born. She most probably doesn't want all of this right now! She doesn't want to hear that she's betrothed and that she's got to meet him tonight! You've hardly even been kind to the poor girl! All of you done is snap and demand things of her. Have you ever realized that she might want to be shown a bit of love? And to hear that she's got to become a Death Eater and spy for the Dark Lord. To have all of this sprung on her in one day is too much!"
"Don't you dare try putting all of the blame on me!" Mrs. Malomfry screamed "You were the one who told her she had to become a Death Eater!"
"That may be so, but she didn't have to hear about everything else!"
"Anyway, how do we know that she's smart? For all we know, she's as thick as two planks of wood!"
"We heard from the Zabini's that she's the brightest witch in her year! Of course she's smart!"
"Well, at least that's something!" Mrs. Malomfry grumbled "What time is it?"
"Six thirty"
"What? They'll be here in an hour! She needs to be ready on time!" she bellowed "I'd better go and call for her!" she said as she started running up the stairs. Hermione quickly shut her door and threw herself on her bed, tears stinging her eyes. She mustn't cry! She wasn't allowed to!
"Hermione! Start getting ready, child!" Mrs. Malomfry barked "They'll be here in an hour. My word, you sure are lazy! I'll have to whip you into shape."
Hermione bit her lip to stop a snide comment escaping her mouth. Answering back would only get her into worse trouble.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
"There!" Mr. Malomfry said with a sigh as he stood back, admiring his handiwork. He'd just finished styling Hermione's hair, unknown to Mrs. Malomfry; he'd offered to do Hermione's hair instead of her personal servant.
"You look gorgeous, darling" he said with a smile "Simply gorgeous" he said as he kissed his daughter on the cheek. Hermione smiled slightly, it was the first smile that she'd actually managed since she'd been with her new parents.
"I'm sorry about your mother" Mr. Malomfry said sadly "She can be rather demanding of people sometimes. Don't worry, when she's not around, you and I can have a few chats if you want. Get to know each other better" he said with a wink and a smile "That way, the ogress won't have any need to interrupt us." Hermione giggled, but stopped when her mother entered her room.
"Good" was all that she said, before grabbing her arm "They're here, so remember your manners and be flirty with your fiancée."
"W-What?" Hermione asked nervously. Mrs. Malomfry glared at her, which shut Hermione up.
As they entered the room where her fiancée's family was seated, she gasped when she noticed a boy of seventeen with blonde hair gelled back and piercing blue eyes, he had an air of arrogance around him. It was Draco Malfoy!
"M-Mum" Hermione whispered nervously "Is that the family that I'm—"
"Yes, it is." She retorted in annoyance "Now, be quiet while I introduce you."
"But—"
"So sorry to keep you waiting." Hermione quickly hid behind the wall that separated the Malfoy's to her. She couldn't marry into their family! It was completely absurd! Draco Malfoy was her worst enemy! The amount of times she'd slapped him for calling her a mudblood! Oh god, it was just too much to bear!
"This is …" Mrs. Malomfry trailed off on noticing that Hermione wasn't behind her. She scowled angrily.
"Get in here this instant!" Mrs. Malomfry barked angrily. Hermione quivered as she slowly entered the room. Draco gasped in disbelief while Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were staring at her, dumbfounded.
"Granger!" Draco spat, looking furious.
"Malfoy" Hermione retorted coolly.
"Oh, you two know each other?" Mrs. Malomfry said, looking pleased.
"What's the mudblood doing here?" Draco questioned, eyes menacing.
"Hermione is not a mudblood! She just so happens to by my daughter!" Mrs. Malomfry yelled. Draco was so taken aback at being yelled at that he shut up.
"I apologize for my son's outburst, my dear" Lucius said smoothly "He doesn't normally act like this." He said, sending Draco a swift glare.
"I told you why I put her with muggles, Lucius"
Lucius nodded.
"Yes, you did, and I apologize for not telling Draco either." Hermione stood there, feeling rather uncomfortable.
"Well" Mrs. Malomfry said huffily "I guess I'll forgive you Lucius. After all, our children shall by marrying soon, won't they?" Narcissa smiled a true smile.
"Yes, they will"
As they made to sit down, Draco grudgingly pulled out Hermione's seat, but just as she was about to sit down, he purposely pulled it back even further, so she fell on the floor.
"Draco!" Narcissa screamed, looking outraged "Apologize to Hermione!"
"Sorry" he muttered, not really meaning it at all.
Hermione quickly sat on her chair and picked up her glass of water. She was so thirsty. Draco did the same, eyeing her with amusement.
"I'm sure that Draco and Hermione will produce some wonderful children" Lucius was saying conversationally, to which Hermione dropped her glass in horror, while Draco stared at his father in disbelief.
"Hermione, you never told your father or I what house you're in at Hogwarts." Her father had just entered right at that moment and had taken a seat between Hermione and her mother. Draco smirked and snorted into his glass. Hermione blushed bright red.
"I—I'm in Gryffindor" she stuttered. Mrs. Malomfry looked stunned.
"Gryffindor? That's ridiculous!" Hermione felt like sinking down in her chair and disappearing, her day was getting from bad to worse.
"Well, we'll have to do something about that, won't we? Actually, no, we won't. If we want Hermione to become a spy, then she should mix with Harry Potter. It's the only way to extract information from him."
Hermione took a deep breath to stop herself from crying. This was getting too much, way too much for her to handle.
"I think for the next week, before Hermione and Draco go back to school, they should spend a bit more time together. How about Hermione stays with you at Malfoy Manor?" Mr. Malomfry suggested. Hermione closed her eyes in horror as Lucius and Narcissa agreed.
"No way!" Draco exploded "I—I'm not spending the next week with her!"
"You will do as you're told, young man, and that's that!" Lucius snapped. Draco sunk in his seat and sulked.
The next day, Hermione awoke to find her trunk packed and ready to stay at the Malfoy's. Her life was now turning into a nightmare!