Hermione stood in her new bedroom, trying to get rid of her nerves. After leaving Hogwarts with Voldemort, Hermione had found herself caught up in a whirlwind family reunion. She and her mother left behind their home in the muggle world and moved into a large house with her father. They also left behind the muggle man her mother had enchanted into thinking they were his family, although Leah did give him a fresh set of memories and sent him off to find happiness elsewhere.
For the last week, Hermione had been spending as much time as she could with her father as she got to know him. Of course she'd grown up knowing who her father was, and having her mother tell her stories about him, but nothing compared to meeting him in the flesh. She'd been looking forward to it for as long as she could remember, and so far it hadn't disappointed. Her father had more than lived up to her expectations.
While connecting with her father had been great, Hermione was less sure about what was to come. Connecting with the Slytherins. In one way Hermione loved her father's idea to get her transferred to Slytherin, it was after all the house she'd wanted to be sorted into in the first place. However, she was nervous about the reception she would get from the others in her year group. For four years they'd been enemies and she wasn't sure the revelation she was Voldemort's daughter would change things that much.
However, Voldemort seemed convinced Hermione would fit right in with the Slytherins. As such he'd arranged for an informal get together for the families she would be having the most contact with over the coming years. In less than ten minutes the first of the Slytherins would be arriving and Hermione would be expected to bond with them. She was just hoping she wouldn't let her father down and she would turn out to be a good Slytherin.
"Hermione," Leah called up the stairs. "Get down here now."
Taking a deep breath, Hermione took one last look at her reflection before she headed off downstairs. She'd no sooner entered the front room where her parents were when the fire lit up and the floo network signalled an incoming visitor. As she could have predicted, the first to arrive were the Malfoys. An imposing Lucius Malfoy stepped from the flames first, followed by his gorgeous wife, Narcissa, and their handsome son, Draco. Hermione had long thought Draco was the hottest boy at Hogwarts, but she'd been very careful not to let anyone notice her interest in the blond Slytherin.
Voldemort greeted the Malfoys, before introducing them to Leah and Hermione. The introductions had barely taken place when the fire lit up again and the Notts arrived. From there on in it was a constant procession of guests. After the Notts, the Crabbes and the Goyles arrived, followed by the Greengrasses and the Parkinsons. The Bullstrodes then appeared and finally Mrs Zabini arrived with her son, Blaise.
"Why don't we move this through to the library," Voldemort suggested. "We can leave the children here to get to know one another."
"Dinner will be served in an hour," Leah said. "I'll send an elf to inform you when it's ready. I'll also send an elf in with refreshments."
"Thank you mother," Hermione replied, wishing her parents weren't leaving her alone with a pile of people who'd hated her for the last four years.
Unfortunately, Hermione's parents didn't pick up on her nerves and they led the way out of the front room. Seconds later an elf appeared and placed a tray of butterbeers on the coffee table.
"Cool," Blaise Zabini declared as he grabbed a drink and threw himself onto one of the chairs. "This is a nice place, Granger. Have you lived here long?"
"About a week," Hermione replied as everyone grabbed their drinks and took a seat.
"Wow, all this must be so strange for you," Daphne Greengrass said, offering Hermione a sympathetic smile. "I mean, I'm assuming you know who your father was, but it still must be mad to suddenly be living as his daughter out in the open."
"It is rather a lot to get my head round," Hermione admitted. "But it's what I've been waiting for my entire life."
"So was all that at the end of term feast pre-planned?" Theo Nott asked. "Because it was awesome."
"I only found out about it the day it happened," Hermione said. "My mother wrote to me and told me Father was coming to get me so be prepared and ready to leave. I didn't think it would turn into such a spectacle."
"I have to agree with Theo, it was pretty impressive," Draco Malfoy remarked with a smirk. "Although the best bit was the looks on Potter and Weasley's faces. Seeing them realise you'd been using them all that time was priceless. I thought Weasley was going to cry."
"They still looked stunned the next day," Millicent Bullstrode laughed. "They looked totally lost without you at their side."
"They'll be well and truly lost next year," Draco said. "Imagine Potter and Weasley having to try and get through school without your help. Do you think they'll manage?"
"Only just," Hermione replied, unable to stop laughing slightly as she thought of the struggle the pair would face without her.
Hermione didn't really have anything against the pair, other than the fact they opposed her father and Harry was responsible for his downfall in the first place. As individuals they were okay people, but Hermione had deliberately made sure she didn't get emotionally involved with them. They might have considered her a friend, but she always knew their friendship wouldn't last so she hadn't allowed herself to get attached to them.
"Did you have glamour charms on your appearance?" Pansy Parkinson suddenly asked. She'd been scrutinising Hermione since they arrived and she'd realised the witch in front of them didn't quite look the same as the one they'd gone to school with.
"No," Hermione replied with a shake of her head.
"But you don't look the same," Pansy stated.
"You look hot," Vincent Crabbe said, before instantly turning bright red as everyone looked at him.
"Thank you Vincent," Hermione said, giving the embarrassed boy a smile. "There were no charms on me, I merely pay more attention to my appearance outside of school. I take the time to tame my hair and I wear clothes that fit me properly, rather than ones that are too big or are designed to hide my figure."
"Why did you do that in the first place?" Theo asked.
"It helped me hide," Hermione answered with a shrug. "However, there's no more hiding for me. This is who I truly am."
"And are you really going to be in Slytherin next year?" Gregory Goyle asked.
"If Father gets his way," Hermione replied. "I don't know if he can switch which house I'm in, but he seems confident he can."
"If there's a way, I'm sure he'll find it," Draco said confidently. "I've heard your father always gets what he wants."
"He does tend to," Hermione said with a nod.
"So what happens if you switch houses?" Pansy asked. "Will you be coming back as Hermione Granger, or reverting to your true name."
"Hermione Granger is my true name," Hermione said. "Granger is my mother's name."
"Excellent, at least we won't have to worry about what to call you," Blaise said with a grin.
"Yeah, we just have to worry about you holding grudges," Theo mumbled.
"Holding grudges?" Hermione frowned. "Why would I hold grudges?"
"Theo's worried about the last four years, and how we've treated you," Draco explained. "Although why he's so worried, I don't know. I'm the one who's called you more names than everyone else here combined."
"You think I'm going to be mad because of the mudblood remarks," Hermione said with a small laugh.
Now she thought about it she realised the Slytherins would have been just as nervous about meeting her as she was about meeting them. After all, everyone she was now talking with had spent the last four years hurling insults her way. And it must be pretty nerve-wrecking to discover you've been insulting The Dark Lord's daughter for the last four years.
"You have every right to be," Daphne said.
"I'm not," Hermione reassured the group and she noticed several of them let out relieved sighs. "You were only treating me as a muggleborn, which is what you thought I was. I'm not mad that you acted as I would have expected. I say we bury the past and start a fresh."
"I'll drink to that," Draco said, raising his bottle of butterbeer. "To Hermione, the new Slytherin Princess."
As everyone raised their bottles and toasted her, Hermione spotted Pansy scowling at events. Clearly she hadn't won over everyone, and Pansy still had a problem with her. The only other person who didn't look overly happy with the toast was Daphne's younger sister, Astoria. Hermione wasn't sure if Astoria was just intimidated by being surrounded by a group of people a couple of years her senior, or if like Pansy she just didn't like the fact Hermione had waltzed in and immediately gained superiority in the group. No matter what their problems were, Hermione wasn't going to let either girl spoil her evening. She had a feeling she was going to make some good friends amongst the Slytherins as finally she could be herself and she didn't have to hide.
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As Hermione spent her summer getting to know the Slytherins and embracing her true identity, her former friends spent the summer trying to come to terms with what had happened. It hadn't helped that the day after the revelation school had ended and Harry and Ron had to go their separate ways. Harry had been forced to return to the Dursleys, at least for a few weeks, while Ron had gone home with his family.
The pair were reunited a few weeks into the holidays, when Arthur Weasley turned up at the Dursleys to take Harry for the rest of the holidays. Harry had assumed they were off to The Burrow, but he got a bit of a shock when Arthur took him to a house hidden in between two muggle houses in London.
"Where are we?" Harry asked as they entered the house.
"This is the Headquarters of The Order of the Phoenix," Arthur answered.
"The what?" Harry frowned.
However, before he got an answer they entered a warm kitchen and Harry was distracted by the sight of his godfather, Sirius Black. After embracing Sirius, and finding out the house they were in belonged to him and was his old family home, Harry realised there were other people present in the kitchen. One of them was their former Defence Professor, Remus Lupin. Harry was also introduced to two Aurors, Kingsley Shackelbolt and Nymphadora Tonks. He also got to meet the real Alastor Moody, not the imposter who had infiltrated Hogwarts the previous year. And finally, several Weasleys were in residence, including Harry's best friend Ron and his little sister, Ginny.
"So what is the Order of the Phoenix?" Harry asked as Molly slid a bowl of stew under his nose and ordered him to eat.
As Harry ate, he was informed about the Order and how Dumbledore had formed it years ago to fight Voldemort. Now Voldemort was back he'd reformed the group, with a few new additions like Tonks.
"And are you back for good, Sirius?" Harry asked, eagerly turning to his godfather.
"I am," Sirius confirmed. "I'll be here all the time."
"Great," Harry grinned, before the smile fell from his face as he remembered Hermione. "And does anyone know what we're going to do about Hermione?"
"Nothing," a voice from the door replied and everyone turned to find Dumbledore entering the room.
"How did it go, Albus?" Arthur asked as the Headmaster took a seat at the table. Quickly Ron explained to Harry that Dumbledore had been meeting with Fudge, concerning Voldemort and what had happened at the end of the previous year.
"Like I feared, there's nothing we can do," Dumbledore replied with a sigh. "We may not like it, but Hermione is entitled to an education. She'll be returning to Hogwarts in September."
"That's not fair," Ron cried. He'd been hoping they'd never have to see the double crossing bitch again.
"My hands are tied," Dumbledore said. "Hermione will be returning to school, although I can guarantee she won't be a prefect or even stand a chance of being Head Girl. She's there because we have to take her."
"And what about her change of house?" Molly asked. "Please say you're letting that horrid little cow leave Gryffindor."
"She'll be resorted," Dumbledore said. "Fudge insisted we consulted the sorting hat, and the hat reckons she's in the wrong house. Whereas Harry chose not to be in Slytherin of his own free will, Hermione ordered the hat not to place her there despite it being where she was best suited and where she wanted to be. Fudge thinks it'll be best to just let her switch houses."
"She's better off with the snakes," Ron hissed. "If she'd stayed in Gryffindor, she would have been hexed within an inch of her life within an hour."
"And that's another thing Fudge was worried about, which prompted him to make the switch," Dumbledore said. "I know this will be hard, and I know she is not to be trusted, but lashing out at her will only get you into trouble. Trust me, the best thing you can do is ignore her."
"As if that's going to happen," Harry snorted. "The bitch betrayed us, and she's going to pay for that."
"Just be careful, Harry," Sirius cautioned. "Hermione is dangerous, she's not to be messed with."
"I agree, Hermione is dangerous," Molly said. "I'm not sure I like the idea of sending four of my children to school with Voldemort's daughter. How do we know they'll be safe?"
"I promise, she won't hurt anyone," Dumbledore said. "And if she does, she'll be out of the place before her feet can touch the ground. Although, I was hoping to speak to you Kingsley. How would you feel about taking the vacant Professor's job? I would feel better knowing I have an Auror on the staff."
"I would be honoured," Kingsley replied. "But what about my job. I can't just walk out of the Ministry. Especially not now You-Know-Who is back."
"I've talked it through with Fudge, and he'll agree to you joining the staff of Hogwarts if you're up for it."
"In that case, you've got yourself a new Professor," Kingsley said with a smile. "And don't worry about the Granger girl, Molly. I'll keep a very close eye on her."
"We all will," Dumbledore said. "She's already proven she can't be trusted. From now on we'll be watching her, and we'll be ready when she makes her next move. Trust me when I say both her and her father are going to regret taking us on. We're going to rid the world of Voldemort and his daughter."
"And what happened about You-Know-Who?" Molly asked. "What are the Ministry going to do about him?"
"Officially nothing," Dumbledore admitted with a grimace. "He's already gotten to them, with some help from Lucius Malfoy, and convinced them that he's no threat."
"No threat?" Harry exploded. "He killed my parents."
"We all know that, but as he so sneakily pointed out, we can't prove it," Dumbledore replied. "The only people who truly know what happened that night aside from Voldemort, are James and Lily."
"And they can't exactly tell us what happened," Sirius snapped. "So what? He's going to get away with it?"
"Of course not," Dumbledore said. "As I said, we're going to get rid of him and his daughter. But officially the Ministry are holding off bringing any charges against him. He's adamant that he's not in charge of the Death Eaters, and all he wants is to live a peaceful life with his daughter."
"What's the unofficial story?" Kingsley asked.
"Fudge is very worried," Dumbledore replied. "If he thought he could manage it, he would arrest him right away. But he's worried that if he makes one false move, Voldemort will take full control. So for now, like it or not, we're going to have to play nice. We all know Voldemort is a threat, and sooner or later he's going to show his hand and we can take him, his daughter and their Death Eaters out for good this time."
Harry nodded along with Dumbledore's words, heartily agreeing with them. He'd wanted to kill Voldemort for murdering his parents, but now he wanted to get rid of Hermione as well. For the last four years she'd played them all for fools, but no more. Now they knew the truth about her, and she was going to regret using them the way she did.