.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-Previous Chapter-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Words were not needed at this time. All she needed was him. For him to stay there forever and never leave.

She felt herself calming down, melting into his embrace.

Comprehensive thoughts started to rack her brain, and realisation hit. She was really getting sick of that: realisation. It always seemed to bring shock or pain… or fear.

This realisation was one that contained all three. This person embracing her was Draco Malfoy, her five-year archenemy, the person who loathed and despised her, the person who had wished her dead, the person who practically sold her to Voldemort…

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Veritas

She sat for a while longer. She couldn't quite bring herself to move, even though she knew she had to. She couldn't allow herself to trust him again and then it all come crashing down. She couldn't handle anything else. But, she felt so safe.

She looked up at him. He wore a soft expression that was unreadable, until she shook her head, and his expression turned into one of confusion. She could feel her heart trusting him more and more and she couldn't allow that.

She stood up and he followed. Looking up at him she realised she had never noticed how tall he was, and somewhat intimidating.

"Please… just… just stay away from me." And she turned and walked back up to the castle, tears threatening to fall yet again. She just wanted to be alone.

---

Walking through the lone halls of Hogwarts, she decided to make her way down to the kitchen. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten. Come to think of it, part of the sick feeling she had been carrying around with her must have been hunger. She made her way down to the kitchens, feeling only slightly more confident of her appearance.

After her little encounter with Malfoy, she had gone back to the common room to refresh. The shock she had felt when she looked into the mirror in the bathroom! Her face was covered in light bruises, her eyes had lost some of their colour and her face was extremely pale. No wonder half her classmates had been shocked at seeing her. She looked exactly like she felt.

She was surprised to see no one on her trip down. That was until she walked into the kitchens. Most of the house elves ran away. Dobby, however, came over.

"Miss Hermione! How can Dobby be helping Miss Hermione?" he said, looking up at her expectantly. She looked around at the cowering house elves and could totally understand how they felt, even if they had run away for different reasons. She saw Winky sat over by the fire, blankly staring into it. She looked back at Dobby.

"I was hoping I could grab a sandwich of some kind, and maybe some hot chocolate to take with me?"

"Yes Miss!" and he scuttled away. She walked over to the corner where the house elves were crammed. The closer she got, the more their expressions changed from fear to disgust. She felt now was the right time to apologise. She knelt down so she was at the same height as them.

"Don't worry, I don't have any plans to force freedom on you." They seemed to calm down a bit. "I'm sorry about what I did last year. I just know what it feels like to be stuck somewhere, with no way out. To be stuck in a reality where you are forced to know only what is expected of you. I just wanted to change that for someone, if I couldn't change it myself." She looked round at them expectantly. One house elf walked through the group and stood in front of Hermione. She looked as though she was weighing up her options. Then, suddenly, she jumped up at Hermione and hugged her. Feeling somewhat shocked, she knelt where she was stunned. Before the shock of the gesture had worn off, the house elf had let her go and was walking off. Slowly, one by one, the other house elves smiled at her brightly and walked back to their jobs. She felt a rush of something that felt similar to happiness spread through her.

Making her way over to the fireplace, and sitting down on a large cushion, she realised that they were happy. They might be enslaved, but they were happy here, at Hogwarts. She watched the house elves scuttle around for a while, before Dobby came over with a ham sandwich for her. She thanked him, and ate in silence, still watching the house elves. Once she had finished, Dobby came over with her Hot Chocolate. After thanking him again along with the other house elves, she walked out of the kitchens and back towards her dormitory.

She had walked up the final set of stairs, when she walked straight into him. Practically the only person she felt safe around. Apart from, perhaps, the nurse. But you couldn't exactly fear Madam Pomfrey… right?

"Miss Granger, I was just looking for you. Could I have a word in my office please?" Inwardly groaning, she followed the Headmaster to his office.

Sitting down in the chair opposite Dumbledore, she stared around at the room. She noticed it looked a lot emptier than it had been before. The portraits on the wall were all staring at her curiously. Fawkes, who had been in Dumbledore's office the last few time she had visited, was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm going to be blunt with you, Miss Granger."

She nodded. She had been expecting that, the way he had been acting lately.

"This is going to come as a huge shock to you. I beg of you to let me speak fully. You may have your say when I have finished." She nodded again, albeit reluctantly.

"Very well. No doubt you remember the night your parents died?" She nodded, how the hell could she forget!? "Miss Granger, have you ever heard of the identity spell?" she shook her head, she had always been told there was no such thing. "This spell gives the caster the ability to change his or her looks. Along with other spells such as skin toning and hair dying, the caster can change their appearance enough to look like a different person. The spell makes the changes permanent, until the caster dies.

"During Voldemort's first rise to power, he had very many followers, as I don't doubt you know. You may also know, that Voldemort is extremely experienced in Legilimens. This, of course, gave him a great advantage, as anyone who was not mastered in Occlumency would be weak against him. This gave him power over many of his followers, as Occlumency is not a very popular magical ability; it is very difficult to master.

"Voldemort was able to enter his follower's minds to find the truth. One Death Eater was unfortunate enough to break one of the biggest rules made by Lord Voldemort. You see, he fell in love with a muggle born. Voldemort himself cast the Imperius curse on another muggle, a friend of the muggle woman the Death Eater had fallen in love with, and ordered him to rape and torture her. All this was done to bring the Death Eater back into the pack. One other Death Eater was assigned to watch over this.

"He was ordered to watch, then after this man had killed this woman, the Death Eater would call upon the original Death Eater. Voldemort had hoped that he would be so angry at the muggle, that he would come back to the dark side fully.

"However, he did not succeed. The muggle failed to kill her, for unknown reasons, but was in turn killed himself by the Death Eater Voldemort had assigned. After that day, the traitor was never seen again…

"As I have already stated, the identity spell is destroyed when its receiver dies. What I saw in your house that night, Hermione, was not the man you know to be your father, but the Death Eater, the traitor, who was thought to be dead."

She sat, staring wide eyed at him, shouting 'What!'s in her head.

He paused for a long while, allowing it to sink in. This meant that her father was a Death Eater. That also meant that her mother had been raped and tortured.

This either meant that she was not as muggle born as she thought she was, or that muggle, a friend of her mothers, was in fact her father.

"Hermione, your father loved your mother dearly. He cast the identity spell on himself, and gave himself and your mother a new life. I'm sure you have already realised that the man you considered your father, was not in fact your father. Your biological father, the muggle, was the one who was killed by the Death Eater.

"I had not realised this until I saw him. From speaking to Professor Snape, I found out that the Death Eater, the traitor, had gotten away unharmed, but his ally informed Voldemort of his 'death'. I may be a little rusty on the details, for he told me just after it happened. However, I do not forget a face."

Anger had spread through her like water through fingers. She wasn't sure who she was more angry at; Dumbledore for telling her this, her mother for not, her father for knowing and causing her pain for it, or her biological father for not resisting the Imperius. Even if these thoughts were somewhat ridiculous, she was thinking them.

Why was it that everything had happened to her lately? What on earth had she done to deserve all this? A life of pure hell. A life or torture, dislike and lies. She had always been an… honest person, who worked hard for what she had.

But everything she had, had been taken from her. Her best friends, her confidence, her personality. All were lost at the hands of the damn traitor! And Voldemort! The figure she had called father for years, and the figure the entire world feared above all else.

Dumbledore, Hermione noticed, was watching Hermione with a look of sympathy in his eyes. Unable to speak, she got up, walked to the door and practically ran down the stairs. Picking up her pace so she was running, she ran down the halls of Hogwarts with no destination in mind. She could feel the tears prickling at her eyes, the anger still coursing through her and the shock finally starting to float to the surface.

Shit seems to have an annoyingly accurate timing in making itself apparent. Hermione was finding out, slowly, that when she wanted to be alone, she kept walking into people. But, when she needed people with her, to protect her and to love her, she was alone.

"Miss Granger!" someone called to her. Inwardly groaning she turned and looked around the empty halls of her school in search of the beckoning voice. She saw McGonagall walking towards her and groaned again. This had to be something to do with what had happened this morning.

"Miss Granger, I have your time table." Oh, ok…

"Thank you, Professor." And she smiled and walked away. Weird.

She realised she was on the ground floor, so seeing McGonagall wasn't that big of a deal, really.

She walked out of the castle and into the grounds, still no destination in mind. Thoughts of her timetable took over, and she looked to see what subjects she was missing. Obviously, she had missed Transfiguration this morning. After that she had Charms, Defence and then Double Potions. Groaning inwardly, she looked down at her watch and saw, to her surprise, that it was time for lunch. Therefore everybody would be in the great hall.

She was still too shocked, angry and upset to go to lunch. And, she really wasn't hungry either. The sandwich Dobby had given her was forced down as it was; she had never been a huge fan of sandwiches, and the sick feeling in her stomach wasn't just hunger.

She looked down towards the lake, and marvelled at it's beauty. The sun was high in the sky, and was shining onto the water, leaving it glistening. She then glanced towards Hagrid's hut, and a thought struck her like a bullet.

"Crookshanks!" and she headed towards the giant's hut.

When Hermione had taken Crookshanks home during the summer before forth year, her father had shown great hatred towards him. It was Hermione, of course, who was punished for this and warned to either get rid of the thing, or he would himself. She was given permission to keep him until she went to the Weasleys, which in turn wasn't a long time to wait, but had never dared take him back home.

She had bought up her worry of Crookshanks with Hagrid, one day near the end of term in fourth year. She had told him he wasn't allowed to go home because his father was allergic. Hagrid offered to look after him whilst Hermione was at home, and would give him back when she went to stay with the Weasleys. Hermione would be eternally grateful for this.

More importantly, how on earth had she forgotten him? She had been back at Hogwarts, for, what? Ok, so honestly, she didn't know how long, but it was long enough to go and collect her cat!

Sighing at the guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach, she rapped hard on Hagrid's door. She was more than startled to see it wasn't Hagrid who opened the door. It was Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"Oh! Er... hello. Where's Hagrid?"

"That is none of your business, can I help you?" Slightly put out by the tone of her voice, she went to ask…

"Er, yes. Hagrid was looking after my cat, Crookshanks, over the summer. Could I have him back please?" The professor raised an eyebrow, but turned back and pulled the door to. Hermione stood looking at it, thinking about how rude she was, but before her thoughts could be completed, the door was reopened and the professor reappeared holding her fluffy ginger cat.

"Crookshanks!" and she pulled him into her arms. "Thank you, professor."

She merely smiled and Hermione turned and walk back to the castle, wondering where Hagrid could be and why it was such a secret.

Looking at her watch, Hermione saw she had five minutes to go back to her common room, drop of her cat, collect her bag and get down to the dungeons. Oh, hell, what does it matter if I'm late? And she made her way up to the Gryffindor common room.

Five minutes later she had arrived, unnoticed. She walked quickly up the stairs to her dormitory, put Crookshanks on her bed, checked her bag for her correct books, parchments, ink and anything else she would need for potions, and walked quickly out of the common room.

She'd have to thank Professor McGonagall for collecting all her needed books for her next time she saw her.

Another five minutes later, she was walking up to the door to the dungeons.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. I'm late. I'm going to walk in there, everyone will stare at me like I have grown two more heads and Snape will take numerous amounts of points, give me detention… She suddenly realised she was pacing… fuck it. Fuck 'em all! (((A/N: Sorry, had too, made me laugh. cheeky grin)))

She pushed open the door, ignoring the shocked looks around her, muttered an apology to Snape – who merely nodded – and sat down next to, to her shock, Neville Longbottom.

"Hey Hermione," he whispered.

"Hello Neville," she whispered back and smiled, he smiled back.

"Silence! Ok, today you will be working on a potion you will be brewing of your own free will. This potion will be one that you brewed last year. It can be any of the ones found in the last chapter of Magical Drafts and Potions. Today is the only lesson you will have to research, the rest will be done as homework. You will be working with the person you are sat next to." Snape looked around the room before his eyes stopped and his face turned into, what looked to be, a rather pained smirk. "Yes Malfoy?"

"Who am I working with?"

Hermione wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for him, or to laugh out right. He was sat in the front of the Slytherins by himself. Apparently, he had been disowned by his own house, as they kept sending glares at him, and laughed when he had said this.

"Ah, yes. I guess we do have an odd amount of Slytherins, do we not? Right. Go work with Potter and Weasley." He snapped and turned back to his desk.

Hermione watched in shock and disbelief as Malfoy made his way to set next to Harry, who just happened to be sat one chair from Hermione. Great. Just bloody great.

Trying her hardest to ignore his stares, along with the one's from her two best friends, she turned to Neville.

"Right, any ideas?"

He seemed to pale considerably as Snape made his way through the mass of students, nearing them.

"Neville!?" she snapped, exasperated.

"Sorry" he said, blushing slightly.

"Right. So, any ideas?"

"Well, no."

She sighed. "Right, well lets just pick one that will be easiest to do, but get us a good grade, ok?" He nodded.

She leafed through the book until she came to the 'Fiducio Tribuo'. "This one doesn't look to difficult to brew, ingredients wise, but it takes specific measurements and cooking times. Lots of specific turns and degrees' and stuff. Fiducio Tribuo." she turned to Neville hopefully.

He looked confused. "That means 'to give confidence'. Basically the potion will give the drinker confidence, faith. Reassurance."

"How did you know that?"

How did she know that? She must have seen it in the book… right?

"Erm, well it's written right there, in the description" she said to him, trying to convince herself more than him. Since when did she know Latin?

He shrugged. "Sounds ok to me."

"Good. So, if you make a list of the ingredients we will need, I will mark down what procedures, ok?"

After an hour of writing, her mind was starting to drift. She found herself thinking of what Dumbledore had told her earlier, and her temper flared. Just because he loved her, she got punished. All because he sunk to slow as to become a freakin' Death Eater! I…this… oh my, this is so confusing! Why? How did Snape even know, if there was no one else present? What, did this Death Eater go shouting his mouth off to the others? Heh, when my mother got away? I'd like to see that bought up in a Death Eater meeting. 'Well, I only killed half of those I was supposed too'. Yeah right. So he must have been there. But…

Her thoughts were cut off when Snape walked towards her. He smirked at her, but before he could say anything –

"It was you…" her voice was strong and filled with anger. He looked back at her, confusion replacing his smirk.

"Excuse me? Ten points from Gryffindor for your rudeness."

"It was; it was you. No one else was there. You wouldn't have known any other way!" she cried, standing up. She could feel the class's shocked stares at the back of her head but couldn't care less. Her eyes were starting to sting, and she blinked, releasing the tears.

"What on earth are you talking about? Sit down, Granger. Ten points from Gryffindor and if I need warn you again it will be one hundred!"

"How did it feel? How did it feel watching him rape her? Get some kind of kick out it? How did it feel killing him after he had done his job?" she said, her voice low so that only he could hear. He knew what she was talking about, his face was contorted with anger, and before she knew it, he had his wand pointed right at her.

She laughed, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"Go on, do it." She said staring at him, her voice strong enough that it radiated around the room. She only vaguely saw someone run from the room. Her eyes still locked with his she continued – "Tell me, how did it feel to torture her. A helpless muggle. Think she was beneath you, because she had no magic blood? Tell me, why is it you killed him, but not her? Think you could come back for more?"

From the corner of her eye there was another movement in the room, and a voice. "Hermione…" it said, and she knew Harry was coming to protect her.

The fact that he was coming to her defence angered her even more and she clenched her fist tightly. "Sit down," she said coldly, still glaring at Snape, "I can handle this."

Before she could react, a hand had come down hard across her face.

She stared up at Snape in shock. "Don't talk of what you do not know!" he shouted, his face merely inches from hers.

"I hope you had fun." Her voice neat and deadly. She picked up her school bag and stormed from the room, tears still rolling.

REVIEW!!! Please :D And thanks to all my reviewers, and my beta! EQuasarus! Go check out his profile and read some stories ;)