Annabelle lead Hermione down a long hall and stopped in front of two large white wooden doors with golden handles. She smiled and pushed open the double doors. The two entered a sitting room that was decorated in deep cherry wooden walls with a fire place and nice sitting area with a couch, loveseat and two arm chairs in front of a small fireplace and in the center was a coffee table.
"Now this is your sitting room." said Annabelle. She waved her wand and made two book cases appear along the wall. "You can fill these with any type of books wish from your school books to any types you wish. What's missing. Oh yes a desk and a chair. We can't expect you not to work without one." She waved her wand and a nice cherry wooden desk appeared with a nice comfortable chair and lamp rested at the side of it.
"Granny, you didn't have to do that." said Hermione slightly over whelmed with the sitting room. "What does this door go to?" She asked walking over to the door on the right.
"Open it and find out." said Annabelle.
Hermione turned the handle and pushed open the door revealing a large bedroom. It had a queen size four post wooden bed, large walk in closet with the dresser inside it. A sitting table with a chair and mirror and two large bay windows with a small balcony with a chair and small table.
"This is m-my room." whispered Hermione in awe.
"I hope you like it." said Minerva, who entered the room and sat Hermione's bags of clothing on the bed. "It's called the princess sweet."
"It's amazing." said the young witch. "I wasn't expecting so much."
Annabelle patted Hermione's head gently. "Well, I'll let you get settled Lassy. I'm going to go take a nap before supper. See you after while." Annabelle left the two alone in the room.
"Let's get you settled in." said Minerva as she walked over to the bed and began to pull out clothing from the bags. "Tell me Hermione, what do you think about the wizarding world so far?"
Hermione slowly pulled the under garments from the bag and folded them up neatly. "It's so different then anything I could dream of. I mean Granny just made a desk and chair appear out of nowhere."
Minerva chuckled slightly. "No sweetie, she just magically moved it from one of the unused rooms."
Hermione's mouth formed an "O" and put away her under garments in the dresser. "But still it's so neat. It will take a lot of getting use to the change."
Minerva hung up Hermione's dressed robes in the closet. "Now, you will have a few chores around here. They are to keep your room clean and to keep your clothes kept up. Such as put your clean clothes away and keep your dirty clothes in the hamper. This also includes to keep your bed made in the mornings."
"Yes ma'am." said Hermione. "Anything else?"
"If you are grounded you will wash the dishes and wash your own clothing."
Hermione nodded her head and smiled. She was going to like it at McGonagall Castle. It would take some getting use to but it was better then at the Granger's house.
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Richard entered his office. The room was large with a fireplace, books and shelves covered the walls and a desk sat in front of the large window. He sat down at his desk and opened the folder that his personal house elf Andy had placed there for him to read over once he had returned from work. He opened the folder and smiled at the information. It was adoption papers for Hermione Jean Granger. He was going to give Hermione a month to get use to things and then bring up the thought of adoption the muggle way. Then their was the wizard adoption of blood adoption, it would make Hermione their blood child. He closed the folder and put away locking it safely with his wand.
"No need to get ahead of ourselves here. But we don't need Hermione leaving the wizarding world because some muggle wants her." said Richard to Andy who sat at a small sized desk.
Andy had long pointed ears, big blue eyes, small nose and thin lips. He had long fingers and wore small sized black robes with the McGonagall crest over his heart.
"Yes sirs. Little Miss will take awhile to get use to beings heres." said Andy, who spoke better then his parents.
Richard nodded his head and pulled out his pipe from his desk drawer. He stuffed it with tobacco and lit it. He took several puffs of it to keep it lit.
"Master, Mistress won't bes happy. She says no more pipes." said Andy.
"It's our secret Andy, what Minnie doesn't know want hurt her. Besides after the night I had I think I need one." said the wizard as he took a puff of it and blew it out of his mouth.
Andy shook his head at his master and went back to work organizing Richard's meetings around his auror duties. He was very found of his master but sometimes the Mistress scared him more then anything.
Richard pulled out his pocket watch and saw that it was getting close to supper time. He told Andy it was time to quit for the day. The house elf bowed slightly and exited the office. Richard put out his pipe and put it away and exited his office and made his way to the dinning room.
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The dinning room had long table that sat 16 people with a large chandelier to light the room. The walls had shelves lined with polished sliver, gold plates, bowls and candle sticks. The table was set for four people with a simple meal of roasted chicken, peas, baked new potatoes and a chocolate pie for desert. A bottle of white wine sat in a chilling bucket.
"Oh, wow." said Hermione as she entered the room followed by the adults. "It looks great."
Hermione found her seat because of the potions that sat in front of it. She pulled out the chair and sat down at the table. She waited quietly as Richard sat at the head of the table and Minerva sat at is right and Annabelle at his left leaving her sitting next to Minerva. Hermione shrugged her shoulders slightly at it. She began to fix her plate as they passed the food around to each other.
"I wonder which class at Hogwarts I'm going to be the best at?" asked Hermione as she poured her self some cold sweet tea.
"We'll go to Diagon Alley and get your supplies in a few days. Let's get you settled in first. All right?" said Minerva as she poured herself a glass of wine.
"Ok. I can read a few of the books I have." said Hermione.
"Remind me to show you the library Lassy." said Annabelle.
"Oh you have a library!" said Hermione excitedly. "This chicken is really good." said after taking a bite.
"Of course Lassy we have a library. We'll start our own evening reading at 8:00. How does that sound?"
"Sounds great!" said Hermione and at her food in silence.
Richard's brow frowned at Hermione slightly when he noticed that she was pushing her food around only after a few bites. He took a sip of his wine and watched her carefully.
"Sweetie, try to get a few more bites. All right? Then you can have a piece a pie."
"Ok." said Hermione and ate a few more bites of each thing on her plate.
Richard nodded and went back to his own plate, but kept a watchful eye on the girl. He didn't need her starving herself from not eating right. He looked up at Hermione and smiled when he saw that half her plate was empty. He nodded in approval and she fixed herself a slice of pie.
Minerva couldn't help but feel contentment even though Hermione had just arrived it felt like her family was whole. She had child to feel the castle with laughter and to fret over besides just her classes.
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Severus sat in the teacher's lounge with his legs streached out in front of him and arms crossed over his chest. He sat in the silence wondering how deep his connection ran with Hermione Granger. He was already sweet on her. She had him already wrapped around her little finger. He had given her the bag just to see that bright smile and the shine in her doe like brown eyes.
"What am I going to do when the school year starts? It's going to be hell with the students and then keeping an eye on Hermione while being her professor. How am I going to do it? I'll just find a balance."
"People will think you're crazy as me for talking to yourself Severus." said Albus who stood in the doorway. "But yes my boy you must learn to find a balance with Hermione and you will. Good night," and he left the Potions Master's to his thoughts.
"Noise old coot." said Severus and left the lounge for his private chambers.
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Hermione ran down the hall to her room to get a shower and to get into her pajamas. She wanted to be comfortable for her and Granny's story time. She couldn't believe that she was going to have a book read to her inside of her reading it herself. She took a quick shower and slipped into her pajamas and met Annabelle on the second floor in front of the large double magony doors that lead to the library.
Annabelle slowly approached the bouncing young girl. She chuckled at Hermione's excitement and pushed open the large doors revealing the room. Annabelle motioned for her to enter before her with her cane. Hermione entered the room and her mouth hung open in awe.
The room large with bookcases that lined the entire wall from floor to celing with a second floor with a wooden railings and two desks. The main floor held a nice sitting area with a couch, loveseat and two armchairs in front of a fireplace. Then a coffee table and two end tables with lamps all resting on a wooden floor with a red rug.
"Go find a book Lassy." said Annabelle as she made her way over to the couch.
Hermione beamed at the older woman and ran over to the books cases, and she quickly found them organized by arthor, category, and magical to non magical books. She ran her fingers over the spine lovingly not knowing which book to choose. She smiled and grabbed the history of magic from the shelf. She ran over to the couch.
"This one Anna-I mean Granny." said Hermione quickly correcting herself.
"The History of Magic. Very good book for your education. Let's begin shall we." She opened the large book and quietly read to the young witch.
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Minerva leaned against the door frame of the library watching her mother-in-law read to Hermione and she let a smile cross her face. She felt two strong arms wrap around her slender waist. She leaned into Richard's embrace.
"I haven't seen you smile this much in a very long time my love." whispered Richard as he rested his chin on her shoulder.
"I don't know Richard, it's just something about Hermione that makes the years of trying for a child and loosing two, she makes the pain go away." whispered Minerva. "She's filled that empty hole so quickly. She's special."
He smiled and kissed his wife on the cheek. He knew he had made the correct choice in having the muggle adoption papers drawn up when he did. He could see the connection that the young witch had with everyone. Hermione Granger was indeed very special.
"Let's join them." said Minerva and they walked into the room.
Richard lifted Hermione up and sat her down in his lap. Minerva sat down next to her husband. The family sat on the couch listening to the elderly woman read to the young girl.
Hermione's eyes slowly began to close after 45 mintues of reading. She laid her head against Richard's shoulder and fell asleep. He looked down and smiled at her. He kissed the top of her head. He shifted her slightly and stood up and carried her to her room.
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Minerva pulled back the blankets and Richard gently laid Hermione down in the bed. They each grabbed the covers and pulled them over the sleeping child. They each kissed her on the forehead and walked out of the room. Richard flicked his wand to put several wards to let them know if she was having a nightmare or couldn't sleep at night. They left the bedroom.
"I'm going to retire to my rooms dears." said Annabelle and kissed them each on the forehead and made her way down the hall.
Richard steered Minerva down the hall to their chambers for the night. He was exhausted and knowing his wife she was as well. They didn't know how long of a night was a head of them with Hermione being in a new place.
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Hermione curled up in a ball and her shook with sobs. She threw the covers over her head when she heard someone enter the room. She knew that she'd be in trouble. She was always a bad girl.
"Hermione sweetie, it's all right." said Minerva gently grateful that Richard had placed up the wards around the girl's room. "Will you lower the blankets please?"
Hermione slowly pulled down the blankets and Minerva saw the problem. She had a brown spot where between her legs. She smiled gently at the girl. She had started her menstrual cycle. She knew from the way it looked it had been more then likely her third cycle because it was brown and not bloody like the older girls.
"Are you mad at me for messing up the bed? I've been bad. I'm sorry." cried Hermione.
"Minnie is there anything I can do dear?" asked Richard as he watched Minerva help Hermione to the bathroom.
"No, love. We can handle this." said Minerva and she whispered, "It's a lady problem. I'm sure that vain of a woman didn't help her at all."
"What lady prob-oh right. I see. I'll let you handle it from here. But she's a little young?" asked Richard.
Minerva only shook her head and vanished into the bathroom with Hermione. She returned to enter the closet and returned to the bathroom with a clean pair of knickers.
Richard scratched his head trying to think of what to do to help. He flicked his wand and the sheets were clean of the spot. He nodded his head and left the room not to embarrass her with him being in the room.
Minerva and Hermione exited the bathroom and the older witch smiled at the bed. She helped Hermione back into the bed and pulled the covers over the young woman.
"Please stay with me until I fall asleep." said Hermione.
Minerva nodded her head and got into the bed. She wrapped her arms around Hermione's waist. She closed her eyes grateful it was something that could be easily fixed. She knew each night wasn't going to be this easy and she was ready for challenge.
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