Disclaimer: To many of you there at home who have nothing better do with your time then read my fan fictions it may come as a surprise that I do not actually own Harry Potter. Apparently some British women JK something does. Yes, yes sob and boo hoo but it is a sad fact I must face every day and I have come to the realization that crying won't make it better. SO in the mean time I am saving up my money so I can buy the rights to Draco Malfoy of JK Rowling, so I can legally keep him locked in my closet, so until then I suppose I'm violating several federal laws by having him chained to a wall…but…oh well, no jury would convict me…he's just so cute! ::pinches Draco's cheek::
Setting: This story starts during Hermione's fifth year at Hogwarts and Fred and Georges seventh year. Only several events that happen in the fifth book actually happen in this story. Enjoy.
PROLOGUE
Well it started out
Down a dirty road.
Started out
All alone.
And the sun went down
As I crossed the hill.
And the town lit up,
And the world got still.
I'm learnin' to fly,
But I ain't got wings.
Comin' down
Is the hardest thing.
Well the good ol' days
May not return.
And the rocks might melt,
And the sea may burn.
I'm learnin' to fly,
But I ain't got wings.
Comin' down
Is the hardest thing.
Well some say life
Will beat you down,
And break your heart,
Steal your crown.
So it started out
For God-knows-where.
I guess I'll know
When I get there.
I'm learning to fly
Around the clouds.
What goes up
Must come down.
I'm learnin to fly
But I ain't got wings.
Comin' down
Is the hardest thing.
I'm learnin' to fly
Around the clouds.
But what goes up
Must come down.
I'm learnin' to fly.
I'm learnin' to fly.
--Tom Petty
The girl sat in the stiff back chair, her hands clenched tightly in her lap the knuckles white where they gripped her skirt, wrinkling the hideous plaid of the garment. The girl stared straight ahead looking at, but not seeing, the man behind the desk. Her face gone suddenly pale, was dominated by blank golden eyes. Eyes set underneath gracefully arching brows and atop a small nose dusted with freckles a few shades darker then her rosy skin. Skin gone pale and icy with shock
'How can that be!?' The girl thought 'Can this really be true?'
She blinked, snapping out of her reverie, she became suddenly aware of what she was doing to her skirt and quickly unclenched her hands, smoothing the wrinkles out of the molested blue cloth "Wha-" The girl's voice broke and she tried again "What do you mean?" She whispered
The man behind the desk leaned back in the leather chair and folded his large hands over the not so inconsiderable girth of his stomach.
The man n thleaned forward placing both his hands on the desk, the diamond on his thick pinkie winking, and met the girl's golden brown eyes with his own pale watery blue ones. His whispered voice carried the tone of secrecy "You Hermione Granger are a pure blood, not the mudblood you have been disguised as for the last 15 years"
Hermione blinked again, her long thick lashes touching her freckled cheeks and then up again to frame her confused eyes.
"I don't understand. It's not possible that I…that I am a pure blood. The very idea of it is absurd. Both my parents are dentists. Hard working muggles." Hermione's voice started out as a whisper but rose steadily and by the last word she was almost shouting
The man looked around panicked. What if someone had heard?
"Sh!!!" he hissed "If someone hears you it could be the end for both of us"
Hermione's eyes narrowed "And why would that be?"
The man gulped; sweat pearling along his ruddy skin. He had to follow his orders at all costs…if he messed up, his master would be most unpleased.
The man spoke from his seat behind the large desk, placed at the end of an immense room, his back facing towards the man kneeling on the plush red carpet.
"Do you understand the orders?" The voice was little more then a hiss
"Y-y-yes milord" The man stuttered fear choking him, making his tongue thick and clumsy
What this man was telling him to do went against everything he had been taught since the cradle. He would betray his master Voldemort, but while Voldemort was a faceless threat, the man in front of him was very real…and very dangerous. The man spoke again, his silvery hair glinting in the summer sunlight that streamed in through the large picture window that offered a breath taking view of the rolling English country side.
"You will find the girl and tell her only of her parentage. You will not tell her what her parentage means, means to the entire Wizarding world. Am I clear?"
The man nodded his head, to scared to speak
The man behind the desk turned and met the eyes of the kneeling man. His gray eyes hard, cold, and calculating. This time when the man spoke it was in a soft croon, and it scared the kneeling man more then the hiss, chilled his bones and made his stomach shudder.
"And if you fail Mr. Gils, let's just say…you'll regret it"
Mr. Gils gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing
"Yes Mr. Malfoy"
Lucius smiled his smile as icy and cold as his heart. Like the eyes of snake before they strike.
Mr. Gils felt a chill sweep through him at the thought or those frozen grey eyes, emotionless, cruel. Opening his own pale eyes he studied the girl across from him. She had no idea of the power she held, held in that tiny frame. Just thinking about what Lucius Malfoy had told him in that grand study in that huge, dark, intimidating house made him fear this girl.
This Hermione, with her long, curling, reddish brown hair and large golden eyes she hardly looked like the key to the destruction of his master. Mr. Gils shook his head and met Hermione's narrowed eyes. He'd do exactly what Lucius Malfoy had told him to…and pray it wouldn't get him killed
"Why can't anybody else know?" Mr. Gils twisted the diamond ring on his pinkie, a nervous habit he was unaware of doing
"There was a reason you went into hiding, and part of that is your biological parents"
Hermione's breath caught in her throat
If what this man was saying was true…she had parents…parent's that would understand her, not like the people who had raised her. Not like them, she would have people who loved her, who understood her world, people who understood her. She leaned forward clenching her skirt again, a nervous habit that would have made Harry frown, his green eyes showing his disapproval. She immediately slackened her grip at the thought of Harry. She had to be what he needed. He needed composure. She straightened up, and fixed Mr. Gil's with a piercing stare.
"Mr. Gils who are my parents?" Her eyes searched Mr. Gils' face as if hoping for some sign, some hint
Mr. Gils' eyes shifted nervously around the room while he spoke "Your parents are Mr. and Mrs. Bennet"
Hermione's eyes grew wide.
"Do you mean Adrianna and David Bennett the famous aurors?" Hermione's eyes widened and she leaned forward; forgetting her resolve to be what Harry wanted her to be "the ones that were instrumental in capturing hundreds of Voldemort's followers" Mr. Gils cringed at the sound of the Dark Lord's name, a constant reminder of his betrayal "before…well before Harry finally stopped him the first time?"
"Yes, those Bennett's." Mr. Gils said
Hermione's eyes lit up, but then the spark died
"But Mr. Gils…In the books that I read…well…the Bennett's died."
Mr. Gils shifted around uncomfortably in his seat
"Yes they did"
Hermione looked stricken "Voldemort killed them"
Hermione felt her chest constrict and tears begin to well up in her eyes and she squeezed her lids tightly shut. How it hurt to almost be able to escape from that wretched empty house. Only to have her freedom yanked back, like a dog tied to a pole trying vainly to escape the yard, only to have the chain pull it short inches away from freedom.
Hermione reopened her eyes. Staring coldly at Mr. Gils she said "I fail to understand your reasons for telling me this. If they are dead they are dead it shouldn't matter. And telling me this now is just cruel!"
Mr. Gils pulled at the knot of his tie "It only recently came to the Ministry of Magic's attention that you were still alive. We had thought you dead along with you parents, and it was my duty to contact you to inform you of your parentage and of your new guardians."
Hermione stared blankly at Mr. Gils
"Guardian? I have a guardian?" Hermione said blinking rapidly, guardians were things out of a gothic novel, people didn't have guardians in real life.
"Yes indeed my dear. Your mother's sister's family to be exact. She married quite well. Another pure bred family."
Hermione looked puzzled. "You don't mean the Weasleys do you?" she asked hopefully
"No. No. Erm…here let me find the name" Mr. Gils flipped through the papers on his desk as if trying to find the name of her guardian. A name he knew very well. Even thinking about it made him quiver in fear.
"A pure blood family you say?" asked Hermione as sense of foreboding creeping up on her
Mr. Gils looked up distractedly "Yes"
"And it's not the Weasleys?" Asked Hermione dread creeping into her voice
"Yes m'dear I'm quite certain of that. Not the Weasleys"
Hermione bit her lip and crossed her fingers in her lap "It isn't the well…Malfoy family is it sir?"
Mr. Gils looked up, a grin lighting his face. "Yes" he said excitedly "that's the family"
Hermione felt the tiredness she had been trying so hard to work past for the last several weeks rise up, and her mind began to spin, whirling, thoughts and sounds and colors blending, a high pitch cackle, screaming, pleading
'Please take my baby, take her!' the woman's anguished pleas were followed by the sounds of laughter, happy, joyous, low murmurs. Hermione's sight began to blur and then everything seemed to fade into black.
Mr. Gils watched in shock as Hermione toppled off her chair in a dead faint.
OA: Hey it's me! I'm alive! I realize I haven't done any work since the eighth but with school starting up I've been so busy!
Hermione: busy procrastinating you mean
OA: Oh no are we doing this again? ::cowers::
Hermione: Don't worry I'm not going to hit you
OA: Really? ::straightens::
Hermione: No ::hits author with metal pipe::
OA: damn…I should have seen that one coming
Please review, I'm desperate for feed back, also email me or tell me in your review if you would be interested in beta-ing
For readers of Tears of an Innocent: Very excited that you've decided to check out my new story. I'm doing some heavy revision and the new and improved story will be posted sometime next month. There will be new scenes, and all those annoying little typos will be gone.
Until next time
Kiss kiss
Annie