STILL ALONE

Chapter One: Her Story

Author's Notes: My Harry Potter craze has drove me to the brink of a very unhealthy obsession. The only way to ease that was to write this. I know it's somewhat short, but that's all you'll get out of me when it's only the prologue/first chapter. Future chapters will be at least three times longer, I promise. I'll be seeing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban tomorrow... so things may change.

Disclaimer: I'd love to, but I don't.

"Mum, this is absolutely beautiful. Why haven't you worn it?"

"It's rather old... perhaps about a year older than you and your brother."

"Really? Wow, you've had this for almost seventeen years? But why haven't you worn it? It's beautiful, even after all these years. Very fit for someone like yourself."

She laughed. "That's very flattering, but the meaning behind it holds a lot of memories that I'd prefer to keep away. It may be beautiful, but it's tainted."

"Tainted? What do you mean?"

She sighed as she took the silver diamond bracelet out of her daughter's hands, looping it into four of her fingers as she stroked it with her thumb. "Your father—"

The girl, Kasandra, whom had been asking the questions, immediately turned red from anger. "Malfoy? Malfoy! What does Malfoy have to do with this?" she snapped.

Hermione turned to embrace her daughter. "He's not as horrible as you think, sweetheart. There was a reason why I fell in love with him, and within that reason came out you and your brother. He was—"

"But he left you!" she shouted. "To turn to—"

"Let me finish first, Kasandra," Hermione scolded softly. "The time I spent with him was the best of my life. We went through some horrible and joyful times together, but in the end, he chose the other path because it was his duty. His loyalties lied elsewhere."

"That still doesn't—"

"You have much to learn about your father," she said quietly. "So very much. I've told you many times that he didn't know that I was pregnant with you and your brother when he left me."

"Would it have been different if he had known? Would he still have stayed with you? Helped you take care of us?" Kasandra questioned calmly, though inside, she was nearly exploding. "If his duties and loyalties lied elsewhere, and if he was willing to leave you, I bet you anything that he would've been willing to do the same with us. So regardless, he's still a son of a—"

"Kasandra!"

"He is!" she yelled, ignoring the look of discontentment on her mother's face. "I hate him! I absolutely hate him!"

"What's this all about?" drawled a long, lazy familiar voice from the door. "Kas, are you arguing with Mum about father again?" he sighed.

Kasandra glared over at her twin brother. "Shut up, Draco."

He merely smirked at her aggravated response. Then, just as he opened his mouth to say something again, someone else popped their head in, surprising even Draco himself.

Kasandra's eyes immediately widened at the sight of a person with messy brown hair and glasses. "Hi Uncle Harry!" she said happily as she ran over to him, giving him her biggest smile and hug. "I haven't seen you in months! How'd you get in here?"

Harry grinned as he kissed her light brown hair. "My secret. Now, what's all this fuss about?" he asked. "I could hear you yelling all the way from downstairs."

"Just the usual fight again," Draco answered, earning another glare from his sister. Hermione came up to Harry and gave him a hug.

"The usual fight, huh, Hermione?" He grinned. "Are you ever going to tell them about how this all started?"

Kasandra turned to her mother. "You could at least do that much, Mum, since you keep telling me that I have so much to learn about him. You might as well start from the very beginning."

Hermione sent Harry a quick glare before looking back at her set of twins. "I don't think—"

"Mum, if you don't tell us, then you and I are going to have the same fights over and over again. Make me understand, please, because I really want to see how you see him as not being a horrible guy. I want to know what happened, what he did, and how it all came to be."

Hermione shook her head as she stared at her daughter. "No, not now, Kasi. Not when your Uncle Harry is here. He probably won't stay for long, so go spend some time with him. I'll tell you this story another ti—"

"Actually," Harry added in hopefully, "I have plenty of time." Even he was curious himself as to what had happened before the twins were conceived. Hermione never really did talk about it. She was quite touchy when it came to that subject.

"See!" Kasandra held onto her mother's arm. "Even Uncle Harry wants to know! Come on, Mum, tell us! Please?" she pleaded as she tugged at her sleeve.

Hermione let out an irritable sigh and glared at Harry out of the corner of her eye as she sat down on her bed. He merely smiled warmly back at her, knowing that she had given up.

Kasandra's face instantly beamed. "So you're going to tell us?" she asked happily.

Hermione nodded her head slowly. "Yes, I suppose I have no other choice... come on, all of you, sit down."

All three of them sat.

"I warn you, however, that this will be long... and by long, I don't mean twenty or thirty minutes, I mean hours. Many, many hours," she said bluntly. "So, you still want to hear?"

Kasandra nodded in excitement. "Definitely yes!"

Even Draco, who looked like an exact replica of his father, seemed genuinely interested despite the blank look upon his face.

"Okay..." she sighed. "Okay... you asked for it. But while I'm telling this, I will not allow anyone to leave, that is, with the exception for bathroom breaks."

"That's cruel," Harry whined falsely.

Hermione shot him another glare. "Well, you're making me tell it, so you better be here to listen to it because I'm not going to ever explain this again, you hear?" she said grumpily.

They all nodded.

She sighed. This will not come easy, she thought. Telling the story of the Slytherin that she had fallen in love with meant that she would have to reopen some unhealed wounds, and she didn't want to do that. But she had kept it to herself for long enough. It was about time she shared it with her children.

"Okay..." she breathed in. "As you know, your father and I were enemies since our first year at Hogwarts. Back then, he really was a stupid ferret, always so snobby and full of himself. He had hated me for three reasons: one was because I was a Muggle-born, and as you know, your father was raised to hate Muggles because they were not pure and were seen as weak. The second reason was because I was the Gryffindor know-it-all, and third was because Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley were my best friends. It wasn't until the winter of our sixth year when..."

Kinda stunk, didn't it? Oh well... I guess the chapters can only get better then, right? Leave a review and let me know what you think of it so far! :) I'd appreciate it very much!