I do not own Harry Potter, that is JK Rowling's fantastic work.
Severus held out his arm for Hermione, and she simply looked at him in confusion. Severus sighed.
"Hold my arm, Ms. Granger, and try not to fall, will you? This may be shocking to you," he drawled.
Hermione grabbed his arm tightly and Severus tried not to wince before apparating to Prince Manor. Hermione, as predicted, fell, but luckily, Severus was there to catch her.
"Daft girl, can you not follow instructions?" Severus snapped.
"Technically, sir, you never told me not to fall, you just told me to try to not fall," Hermione said cautiously.
Severus only smirked in response. He walked Hermione up towards the front door and ushered her in. Hermione gasped and Severus smirked, again.
"Lucinda?" he called.
Lucinda appeared with a pop. "Yes sir?"
"Please prepare dinner. Hermione and I will be eating in about an hour. I'm going to give her a tour of the manor and show her room and mine," He turned to Hermione, "This is Lucinda, one of two of my house elves. If you ever need her, please simply call her name and she will do whatever you ask of her. However, I must insist that you do not treat them like slaves. They are here to help yes, and although they are technically enslaved, they do receive 1 sickle a week for their work. They each get 1 day off as well. You are your own person and can do everything yourself. They deserve your respect and you will ask them questions with your manners, and will respond and thank them appropriately. They have their roles and you have yours. Please do not abuse their helpfulness, because believe me, I will know."
"So, they aren't enslaved?" Hermione asked cautiously.
"No. They are free to leave of their own free will, and as I said before they do get paid. Many wizarding families who own house elves do not, and the house elves…are treated rather poorly. I do not approve of this, and refused to own house elves. However, Lucinda and Bart and their ancestors have lived in my family for centuries. They are very loyal to my family and were grief stricken at the thought of being freed, so I kept them on but insisted that I pay them."
"I'm glad they aren't enslaved sir. I hate things like that, where animals are kept to do their master's bidding and are treated terribly. I read a book once where there were a bunch of creatures that were kept under this one man's control, and I was furious. That was the only book that I ever flew across the room. Are you absolutely positive they aren't enslaved?"
"No, mistress, we are not enslaved. Sir wanted to pay us and Bart and Lucinda were very unhappy but we accepted because we knew that that was what Master Severus wanted, so we obeyed because we're good house elves."
Hermione smiled. "Good, but whenever I see a house elf I'm going to try to pay it because they all deserve paying if they're serving someone. Speaking of paying, what are sickles? I'm assuming a sickle is a type of money? Are there other forms of money? Are they coins? Are they-"
"Silence child!" Severus snapped, then felt guilty as Hermione lowered her gaze and shifted back. "Hermione, I'm not angry with you, however, your insane amount of questions needs to come to a close. Now, I'm not asking you to never ask questions, no, that's not how your mind can be broadened, but merely asking you to allow a person to answer your first question and seeing if they answer your many questions. Understand?"
Hermione nodded.
"Good," Severus stated. "Now to answer your question, a sickle is a form of money, and it is not the only one. Here, I'll explain wizarding things as we explore the house, alright?"
"First things first, every witch or wizard has a wand that chooses them. In a few days, since it is August, we will go to Diagon Alley and get all your things for school. We will get your Hogwarts letter in the morning when I take you to visit Hogwarts and explore my chambers there. You will have permission to access my chambers whenever you need, simply tell the password. You will also be able to sleep there if you don't want to return to your common room or it is after curfew."
"Diagon Alley is where we will go to get all of your school things. As your legal guardian, I will be paying for it all. There are three types of money that we use, called Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. Galleons are gold, and are the highest form of currency, followed by silver sickles, and bronze knuts. These all will be used to buy things in Diagon Alley, and you will receive a small allowance to put in your Gringotts's Account for when you come of age. Gringotts is the wizarding bank and run by goblins."
"The wizarding world is very unique. I advise you to read all about it and learn. Since you were raised by muggles, people who can't do magic, I shall give you several books on them. One of which including Hogwarts, A History which I hope that you will find very interesting..."
At this point, Severus had showed Hermione the kitchens, sitting room, living room, ball room and the dining rooms, both formal and informal. He explained the uses for each, but had told Hermione that she was allowed to go anywhere she wanted, as long as she cleaned up after herself. Severus had decided that the best place to go after this was to take Hermione up to her new room. He hoped that the size of her room wouldn't spoil her too much and that she was going to remain the humble girl she had seemed to be.
After climbing the main staircase and pulling her from admiring the view of the formal living room from the banister, Severus led the curious young girl down the hall. He stopped in front of a set of double doors. These double doors were meant to lead into his first guest room, but as he was certain that Hermione was his daughter, he thought it should go to her. The small 10-almost-11-year-old girl looked nervous, but also excited. He hoped that she wouldn't be frivolous, and silently hoped that she was going to be a bookworm like him, due to the large number of books in her old room. Severus turned himself to Hermione.
"Hermione, this is your room. It is very large and you will have plenty of space to do as you wish. I can also make additions to the room as you wish, as long as they aren't pink. I refuse to have pink in my home. Once you enter, I will make the room to how you wish, including colors, placement of the bed and surrounding furniture. You will have your own bathroom, and there is one smaller side room that I can make whatever you want. Aside from that, any additions you want are possible, as long as I make sure that they will work. Your room has a balcony, and I will put charms up to make sure that you won't fall over the edge, but it has a lovely view of the backyard and the gardens. Frankly, I've always been jealous of this room, it is wonderful."
Hermione was smiling now, and Severus took that as his cue to open the double doors. Hermione rushed in before gasping and stopping 5 feet into the room. There was a queen sized 4 poster bed made of oak with white chiffon curtains tied to the bed posts. The chiffon was laid over the top of the bed, enveloping the bed in its own little cocoon. To the right of the bed was an oak nightstand, with a silver lap and a white shade. There was an oak chest of drawers to the left, and an oak dresser across the room from it. There was a vanity and mirror set next to the walk-in closet with a matching chair and cushions that created a white accent on the dark wood. The carpet was a very soft light grey color, and in between the closet and the bed was a set of French doors leading to the balcony, which was made of white and grey marble. The extra room was on the opposite side of the closet, with the bathroom next to the extra room.
"I want a library," Hermione breathed.
"A library? But you've already got one downstairs. I haven't shown it to you yet, but you've got one. Unless you want a personal library for your comfort when you don't feel like leaving your room, and by the state of your reaction, I doubt you'll leave for a while," Severus stated while trying to suppress a smile.
"Oh please? If it wouldn't be too much trouble? I love books and my family, well my old family judged me for it, especially my mother. I could never stop reading."
Severus sighed. "Hermione, before I answer, I think that there is something you need to know. You are my daughter; you got your bookworm traits from me. I was exactly like you when I was younger, and I'd be happy to make you a personal library. However, I cannot know for sure if you are my daughter until I make a potion that will show the family tree, but I will do that tonight to be sure."
Severus pointed his wand at the library-to-be and said some words Hermione didn't understand, but Hermione remained focused on him.
"Where's my mom?"
Severus snapped his head around. He looked at the ceiling for a minute trying to compose his emotions before answering.
"Your mother was killed by a man I thought was my friend and companion. Everyone thinks your mother was killed by the Dark Lord, but in reality, she was set up to die by someone. She had an arranged marriage with someone who tortured me at Hogwarts, but since she didn't love him, we met in secret, once a week. One thing led to another, and the next think I knew is that she was expecting. Lily, your mother, wouldn't meet with me after that. I think that she assumed I would abandon her, and so she saved herself from heartbreak, but I never would have. You see, I did not, and still don't, like children. So, she assumed the worst in me, and pretended that you were James Potter's child. I don't know what happened after that."
"There is another thing as well. Unfortunately, this man doesn't know that you exist, so unless I go through the motions to adopt you or tell him, you will have to go to school as Hermione Granger, a muggleborn. I'm still deciding, but you have a say in it as well. You don't have to decide now, but I want you to be thinking about it, alright?"
Hermine nodded, looking slightly taken aback.
There was a pause. And soon he felt tiny arms come around his stomach, giving him a hug.
"I understand sir. I'm sorry, sir. Who betrayed you?"
"A man who paints himself in good light, yet remain a manipulative, mind reading old coot. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts."