A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry it took me soooo long to get this chapter up! It's a little bit longer than the others though!

Hermione yawned. It was already twelve o'clock in the morning and she hadn't even noticed how late it was. Stretching, she stood up and headed for bed. She had been studying about all sorts of schools and had finally decided upon saying she went to a private school that wasn't too close, but not too far away. Being a 7th year student this coming year or a senior, she had as well planned out her future college career. As far as her family would know, she had already applied to several high class learning institutes and was planning on studying criminal law. She would be a prosecutor of course.
I

t was so ironic it was wonderful! Her parents were known criminals and she was going, or at least pretending to go to college to put criminals like her parents in jail. Certainly that would show them that she was nothing like her real parents.

Yawning once more Hermione sluggishly changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed. Shortly after Hermione had settled into a cozy spot, Crookshanks leapt upon the bed, walked in a few circles and then proceeded to curl up at Hermione's feet.

Tomorrow was the big day. Her parents were getting home first thing in the morning and her relatives were arriving late that evening. All of her father's relatives would be staying at her house for the entire week. Well, all of her father's relatives except for her real father and mother that is.

Anxious and nervous Hermione tossed and turned at couple of dozen times before Crookshanks mewed angrily at her and she finally settled into a fitful sleep. So fitful in fact that she didn't hear the loud tap tap tapping on her second story bedroom window.

"Stupid girl!" a man's voice echoed.

"All you ever do is get in the way!" another voice, a woman's voice, seemed to come from every direction.

A small figure coward in the corner. Rain was pattering on the roof, the power was out and the only light came from the flashes of lightening in the storm that roared outside.

"Get up!" the man shouted at the small girl, no more than four years old.

SMACK the sound seemed to resonate through the almost empty room. Tears welled up in the little girl's brown sugar eyes as a red welt slowly appeared on her cheek. The man, baring his teeth in anger, grabbed the tiny girls arm and jerked her to her feet.

"Now get moving!" growled the man as he grabbed a suit case in each hand and walked out into the storm. The woman looked harshly at the girl before picking up the last suit case and heading outside.

"Come on!" she yelled behind her and the small girl, reluctantly followed her parents outside. As she reached the porch, a bolt of lightening struck somewhere nearby, followed by a roar of thunder. The whole house to shook and little Hermione yelped in terror. Her parents were finished loading the car and had climbed into the front seats.

"Get in!" Her father demanded, but she was unable to move. She was stuck to the spot in fear and couldn't bring herself to step off the safety of the porch and into the rain and thunder and lightening.

Infuriated, Hermione's father began to open the car door, when sirens began to sound in the distance.

"Forget about her! Let's just go!" Her mother said, pulling her father back into the car, a look of fear in her eyes.

"Fine." The man huffed, slamming the door shut and cranking the engine. Quickly he sped out of the driveway and down the road, never looking back.

HONK the loud car horn jerkily awoke Hermione from her sleep. With bleary eyes, Hermione strained to look at the clock on her night stand. In an attempt to better her vision, Hermione rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hands, as she did this however, her hand caught a stray tear in the corner of her eye. Confused, Hermione realized that her cheeks were unusually damp. Had she been crying? She knew that she had been having a dream, but what was she dreaming about...? Hermione stared at her ceiling in thought, before another loud honk broke her train of thought.

"Oh!" Hermione shouted, once again returning her eyes to the clock, it was 11 A.M. Her parents, they were home! Quickly Hermione jumped out of bed, put on the first outfit she found and hurried outside where her parents were now unloading their car.

"Hello Mum, Dad." Hermione said as she gave each of her parents in turn, a hug. "How was the convention?"

"Oh, it was lovely dear." Her mother said with a smile as she headed towards the house.

"We got you a new tooth brush." Her father added as he followed his wife into the house with a suitcase in each hand. Hermione walked in after her dad, shutting the door behind them.

"What time is your family coming dad?" Hermione asked, hoping for later, rather than sooner.

"Oh, we should be expecting them around five, I believe." Mr. Granger answered.

"Hopefully in time for dinner." Mrs. Granger added. Hermione put on a rather convincing smile and headed upstairs to her room. She had every intention of sulking until her relatives arrived before she heard her mother say. "Hermione dear, we've told the family that you attend an all girl school, we didn't think it was a good idea to go telling them all that you were a witch. We don't think they'd quite understand. So, if they start asking you about your school, you'll know what they're talking about."

"Okay, thanks mum." Hermione smiled through her shock, until she reached her bedroom.

"This ruins everything!" Hermione muttered under her breath, anger apparent on her face as she began to rip up sheets of paper and throw them into the trash. What a waste of time! Of course her parents had already come up with a cover story the past four years they attended the reunion without her!

Hermione angrily flopped onto her bed, what was she thinking? She could have spent her time doing something productive like studying or writing to Ron and Harry. Speaking of Ron and Harry, she hadn't heard from them since they'd left for vacation.

"I guess they're having too much fun to even think about writing me..." Hermione sighed.

Five o'clock rolled around faster than Hermione had hoped. She had spent the entire time that she had gotten up until the time five arrived, getting dressed. She had to look nice, not too nice, but simple nice. She was wearing a white button up shirt, a knee length black skirt, some black sandals and her hair was actually fairly tame. After all, she had only brushed it about a dozen times in the past few hours, in her opinion it was much less frizzy than it had been years before.

Hermione now paced back and forth before the front door. She had a big knot in her stomach and she felt very much like she needed to throw up. What if she did throw up? Then maybe she could get away with laying in her room sick the entire time, completely avoiding the entire situation. Then again, what if she threw up in front of her family? That would be the most horrifically embarrassing thing that could ever happen! In the middle of Hermione's self debate, the door bell sounded and Hermione's breath caught in her chest as her heart pounded harder against her ribs. Taking a deep breath, Hermione stood up straight, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and opened the front door.

"Well hello!" Hermione's aunt Chelsea greeted as she came into the entrance. "Haven't grown much over the years have you dear?" She said jokingly, but the joke didn't reach her cold appraising eyes. Hermione only smiled in response.

"Good to see you again Aunt Chelsea, may I take your bags? You and Uncle Tom will be sleeping in the den downstairs and Samantha and Maria will be sleeping in my room." Hermione said as cheerfully as possible.

"Thank you dear." Aunt Chelsea said as she dropped her luggage at Hermione's feet. After Aunt Chelsea entered, her two daughters, Samantha 18 and Maria 15, and her husband Tom came in. They gave Hermione a disapproving look before dropping their bags by her feet and following Chelsea into the kitchen to greet William and Tabitha Granger, Hermione's parents.

"Right, well, I'll just lug all your bags to your rooms, shall I?" Hermione muttered under her breath before grabbing Chelsea and Tom's bags and dragging them down the stairs.

Slowly the entire Granger family arrived. Aunt Susan and Uncle Frank had a little boy named Bradley who was six years old and who at first sight of Hermione proceeded to ask his parents if she "was the bad one" they had warned him about. They immediately shrugged it off as "kids say the craziest things" and Hermione politely smiled the remark off.

Last to arrive was Aunt Michelle and Uncle Bernard with their 1 and a half year old toddler Mark. They didn't arrive until 8:30 that night.

The family arrived in such staggered time variations that everyone just ended up having sandwiches when they arrived. The big formal Granger reunion dinner would be the next day. Hermione was so busy rushing around the house all day, fixing up makeshift beds, gathering blankets, and pretending to be cheerful, that the tap tap tapping at her second story bedroom window went once again completely unnoticed.

A/N: Ron and Harry will be in the next chapter! I promise! I started this story with one idea in my head, but now I think I'm going to take this story in a total different direction. I would however like to ask one of my readers what they think of this idea before I decide to go with it. So, if you're willing to hear my ideas, leave me your e-mail address and I'll ask you what direction you think I should go in, so that I do not to ruin the plot for everyone. I really appreciate y'all reading this! Thanks for reviewing everyone!