Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize.

A/N: I'm so sorry that this chapter came so late, but I didn't have lots of time. Well, I really hope that you'll like it; this chapter is a little shock (for me, too!). But don't worry I think that this story will have a happy end! But I don't want to spoil anything!

To Angel of the North: Thank you for beta reading; you are very stern, but I love the way you correct my chapters!

To Erin: Thank you to you too! I really need someone that corrects all my mistakes! Thank you, girl!

Bitter Surprises

It was the 23rd of December and Hermione and John had been in London since the day before, and were presently waiting at King's Cross for Lilian to arrive.

Hermione told John that she couldn't remember if it was platform nine or ten that Lilian would arrive at, so they waited by the information desk, hoping they'd see her among all the waiting parents.

The little girl arrived from nowhere with a heavy trolley. John stared at the huge pile of trunks and at the cage that contained her cat ("A cat in a school? What sort of crazy English school is it?").

When Lilian saw her mother, she ran over and hugged her.

"Mom, mom! I'm so glad you're here. I missed you so much."

Hermione hugged her back "I missed you, too, honey."

"Hey Lilian, why don't you give a hug to your daddy, too?" John said smiling.

'Because he's nowhere in sight,' she was going to say, but she didn't want to ruin her holiday with her mum, so she just hugged him.

"How's your cat doing?" Hermione asked trying to distract them, that after the cold hug of Lilian were glancing at each other.

"She's OK. But one boy in my same year is angry with me 'cause he thinks she has eaten his rat. I tried to explain that that's what cats do, isn't it?"

"First cats, now rats," almost yelled John "what sort of crazy-ass English school is this?"

"It's quite old-fashioned, actually. Lots of English schools allow it." Hermione smiled as she got in the car.

John drove till they reached huge house they rented in central London, while Lilian stared out at the city in excitement.

"Wow, this is so beautiful! And, look mom, there's Diagon Alley!" she said, looking out of a window. Hermione stared.

She reached her and drew the curtains, to the consternation of Lilian and John.

"I don't like the position of this window," she said in a desperate attempt to justify her comment.

John tried to spy through the curtains, but he didn't see anything, in fact, as a Muggle, he wasn't supposed to see anything.

She shrugged, and turned to Lilian. "Your room's upstairs. Why don't you go and take a look? It's big and very nice."

Lilian nodded and, with a big smile, she climbed the stairs.

"We'll spend a wonderful holiday together," said John embracing her.

She freed herself as rapidly as she could and nodded with something that looked like the shadow of a smile, and then she disappeared in the kitchen.

No one knew why it was that since they'd arrived in London Hermione had been so nervous. At first John had put it down to seeing Lilian again, and returning to the UK, but now he wasn't so sure, especially when she deflected Lilian by asking what her friends were doing.

"What will your friends do for Christmas?" she asked Lilian at dinner.

"Alex will go to his grandparents – the Weasleys, mom – with Professor Potter and Professor Weasley. Professor Weasley is his uncle," she added quickly, seeing John's look "And Professor Potter is Professor Weasley's best friend. He said there would be a big party, with all his uncles, aunts and cousins. He also invited me, but I want to spend all my time with you, mom." That she stressed the 'mom' didn't escape anyone's attention.

Hermione smiled.

"And Josh is going to his house. It's near here, just a bit out of London, could we go over there sometime?" she said, chewing a big piece of roast beef.

Hermione sighed in relief, so she hadn't invited anyone.

As if Lilian could read her mind, she added, "I invited Hagrid to see us, do you mind?" She looked at John as she spoke, whose face contorted into a smile, of course he minded "No darling, I'll be happy to see him again," he lied.

'Liar!' thought Lilian and Hermione.

"Now it's better if you go to bed, honey; tomorrow we'll go to see your grandparents."

"Cool. Night then." She kissed her mother, and headed to her room.

"Good Night." Hermione turned to cleaning up the kitchen, while John watched TV. Both were tired though, and went to bed not long after.

The next day they went to visit Hermione's parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger greeted Lilian and Hermione warmly, offering and receiving hugs, while John got no more than a frosty nod. Lilian didn't notice, she was more interested in seeing the house for the first time, but Hermione frowned, silently willing them to accept John and knowing it was futile. They knew Ron, they knew he was Lilian's Dad, and they knew they liked him. They'd never wanted her to leave Hogwarts as she had done, and they certainly didn't like John. She watched as they fussed over Lilian, indulging their granddaughter with hugs and kisses.

"Oh! Look at my little granddaughter. She's grown so much. Isn't she gorgeous, darling?" Mrs. Granger asked to her husband, who nodded with a big smile.

"Grandma, come on. It's the tenth time you say that," said Lilian. She smiled as she said it, enjoying the fuss, but trying to escape the kisses.

"Do you want to come to Christmas Dinner tomorrow, just the five of us?" Hermione settled down to her first cup of proper English tea.

"Of course we will. You don't look so well though, are you sure everything's OK?" Asked Mrs. Weasley with a concerned look at her daughter.

"Mum, I'm fine. It's just jet-lag." The excuse would have worked, had

Hermione not spoken a bit too quickly.

John told them she was fine, and the Grangers, who'd been ignoring him studiously, were forced to notice him. "Is everything all right with you too, John?"

He looked at her and spoke "I was wondering why you had 'Granger' written next to your door-bell instead of 'Smith'."

Everybody froze except Mrs. Granger who said, "My dear, it's just because this is my house and Granger is my surname."

"Well, but why there isn't also Smith on it?"

"Because it fell off." cut Mrs. Granger.

Mrs. Granger and John exchanged some nasty looks.

Hermione sat up and went straight to her mum. "I'll help you in the kitchen, mum," she said.

"Thank you," she whispered when they reached the kitchen.

"Hermione, I don't approve of this, you know. It's going to slip eventually."

Hermione nodded miserably.

"Well, about tomorrow," said Mrs. Granger, raising her voice, "I think I'll bring the pudding, OK? And we must come back for four p.m."

"Why?" asked Hermione casually, making some more tea.

"Because Harry and Ron usually come to see us at Christmas," she said happily.

Hermione stared at her, speechless.

At that very moment Lilian yelled from the living room, "Mom, can I take a candy from your handbag?"

"Sure, honey," she yelled back, but still staring at her mum. She was going to say something like 'Why have they been coming here all these years?' or something like that, when the conversation from the living room caught their attention.

"What's this?"

"A letter from the hospital."

"It's still closed, what the hell-"

"Herm- hem – Audrey-" her father called.

Hermione and her mother entered the living room.

"What?" asked Hermione with a smile.

"Lilian's found this, honey. Why didn't you open it? Maybe it's something important," John said, handing her the letter.

"Oh! I just forgot it. Don't worry; it's just some tests they had done after I fainted at work that time. Look, I'm fine now?" she said, smiling reassuringly.

But everybody was concerned.

"Open it, honey," her mum urged her.

Everybody nodded and Hermione sighed. She broke the envelope and pulled out the letter.

"Read it, darling," her dad said.

She cleared her throat and read:

"Dear Ms Smith,

Following your failure to attend the clinic, I regret to inform you that it is imperative that you attend the oncology clinic in this hospital at the earliest possible opportunity in order to discuss your test results.
Without this discussion, I cannot give you any sort of prognosis, although I would like to stress the urgency of this letter. We need to decide on your course of action immediately. I am sorry to give you this by letter, but your failure to attend has left me with no option. I will be available to answer any questions, at your convenience, on the number below.

H R Steinberg
Registrar
St Mary's Hospital."

How can the world turn upside down so quickly?

"What's Oncology Mom?" Hermione heard Lilian's voice echoing in her head.

"Cancer, sweetheart." she heard herself answer. Was it really her voice?

Then nobody could speak for a while. Four pairs of eyes were pointed at Hermione. Hers were blank; she was staring at the letter, but wasn't looking at anything, really.

It was like watching a movie; nothing seemed real.

Then John's voice broke the silence.

"You selfish bitch. You've had that letter how long? those appointments cost money, you know. You're going to expect me to pay for them, and then watch you die, just because you wouldn't open the fcking letter, and leave me with your weird, good-for-nothing daughter.£ He paused for breath, everyone staring at him.

"How dare you-" started Mrs. Granger, but was cut off by Lilian.

"Get-out-of-this-house," she said very slowly.

John stared at her. "Don't use that tone with me, little girl. Anyway, that's exactly what I was going to do. I'm going back to my family and I'm going to give the house back, you can collect your things or lose them," he said with a very evil look.

"And you're dismissed, Audrey," he said and now an evil smirk spread across his face.

What happened then was very quick: the wand, the spell, the slap.

Lilian took out her wand and pointed it at John, with all her force she cried 'Wingardium Leviosa!' and John rose up to the ceiling. Then Mr. Granger opened the door and Lilian threw him out in the middle of the street. He stood up, looking terrified of Lilian who was standing in the living room and staring at him. Then he ran away.

Hermione looked at the scene with her mouth wide opened. She took a step towards Lilian and smack…

Lilian looked at her mum with a red imprint on her cheek.

"What did you do that for?" she asked, fighting back the tears.

Hermione spoke very slowly, like she was dreaming.

"Underage witches are not allowed to use magic outside of school. And using a levitation charm on your ex-stepfather does not count as self-defence."

Hermione frowned at her father. "And as for you, opening the door like that. What if the neighbours had seen?"

But the letter from the Ministry of Magic never came and nobody saw anything.

"Mom," said Lilian with a firm voice. "You won't die."

Hermione looked at her with a shadow of smile on her miserable face.

"We can use magic for curing you. You-"

"No," said Hermione "I'm not going to use any king of magic. I swore I wouldn't use it anymore."

"What?" asked Lilian.

"What?" said Mrs. Granger. "Are you going to die just because you don't want to use magic anymore?" she asked, crying.

Hermione nodded with a strange expression on her face, a mixture of sadness and confusion.

"Y-you're a witch?" asked Lilian in disbelief.

But her mother never answered her question. She just got up and went upstairs to her old bedroom.