Revelation
Hermione was quite pleased with her work. Umbridge had banned the Quibbler and that meant everyone would read it. Umbridge really had to learn to ignore some stuff otherwise people like Hermione could play her like a little puppet.
Unfortunately, Harry had got another week of detention, but it was worth it to him. He wouldn't complain as long as he could spread the truth. Some Slytherins were rather unhappy about the interview since Harry had named their fathers as Death Eaters.
The only Slytherin who apparently didn't care was Draco Malfoy. He seemed very distracted and anxious days and that showed itself when he and Hermione had a brief wrestling match in the library. Snape had assigned detention to both of them and warned them to either behave themselves or be expelled.
Hermione herself was quite stressed to so she wasn't surprised by his sudden outburst. Harry claimed that while Malfoy had jumped at her first she had been really eager to take him down.
"You kicked him in the nuts." Harry told her.
"Did I? I don't remember doing so." she said shamelessly as she added moonstone dust to her potion. "It happened so fast."
"You were pulling each other's hair so hard that I thought you both might end up bald."
"That happened because I'm really stressed Harry. We are testing the potion today. Please don't overreact when you find out who my parents are, OK?" she demanded.
Harry looked at her disappointedly. "Don't think so low of me. I'm not Ron."
After dinner they went to Snape's office for her detention.
Snape had a pot ready in his private quarters. A batch of potion was sitting next to it.
"The procedure is quite simple. Leave a hair in the pot and pour the potion on it. It shouldn't take us long." Snape instructed her.
He and Harry watched her nervously as she emptied the batch.
In front of their an amazed eyes a tree grew. It was like watching a documentary as the plant grew bigger and bigger until it was three feet tall. Her name appeared on the trunk first and then the tree started to bear fruits, only instead of fruit there were little heads of people growing. Initially they were formless but then their features became more apparent. A leaf next to each head changed its color to black. And Hermione could see golden letters appear on the leaves. Then it hit them. They couldn't believe it no matter how many times they had discussed it.
"The closest fruits to the Trunk are the parents. They are also larger." Severus sighed. "It seems that Madam Longbottom was correct in her assumption."
The color of the branch of Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix lestrange changed to gold. A bit further from Bellatrix Lestrange she could spot Narcissa and Draco Malfoy.
"Why is Draco Malfoy there professor?" Harry.
"Assuming that you're asking about the location I would inform you that children sprout next to their mother on a Heritage Tree but if you pay attention you can see a leaf next to Draco's name that indicates who his father is."
"Hey look Sirius and Lucinda are here too." Hermione said avoiding the fact who her mom and dad were.
"Yes they are." Harry smiled.
"Now comes the big question. How on the earth Lucius managed to sleep with Bellatrix?" Snape asked. "Narcissa and Rodolphus will go mad if they ever find out about this." Snape sighed.
"What should we do, professor?" Harry asked.
"There's nothing you could do. I will inform Lupin and Black. I will have Hermione Black here for our public test tomorrow."
"Professor, I know it sounds insane but I'd like to-" said Hermione.
"Don't even finish that sentence." Snape cut her furiously. "You have no idea what the implications are. You can't imagine how horrible people will be toward you." He huffed in frustration. "You don't want the Dark Lord's attention, do you?"
"Professor even if people don't know, Bellatrix will surely know." she said, "What if she tells You-Know-Who?"
"I highly doubt that. Bellatrix Lestrange hid the truth first time around. She wouldn't wish to expose you to the world." Snape waved his wand and the tree shrank to the size of his pocket. "I'll get rid of it as soon as I can. Wait for me tomorrow, Miss Granger, to give you the hair sample before the test. Make sure that you seem surprised when you see the results."
The next day the fifth years were told to gather up in a tent professor Dumbledore would erect outside the Greenhouse Two for them. Hermione arrived very early before everyone else. She saw Headmaster waiting inside.
"Miss Granger, a word please." The old man smiled warmly at her. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes sir, I'm just a bit anxious." she responded with a dead tone.
Dumbledore eyed her curiously. "You remind me of your mother my dear girl. Be careful, you might get some unexpected reactions. Try and don't overreact."
Hermione knew that he wasn't talking about Lucinda Malfoy or Helen Granger. His eyes twinkled as he saw Draco Malfoy enter the tent. "Ah, Mr Malfoy, come in. Severus and Minerva will be with us here soon."
The moment she saw Draco realisation hit her hard. Why hadn't they considered that last night? She looked at the boy nervously as he was looking at her. They were brothers and sisters therefore as Draco had shown up on her tree, she would show up on his tree as well next to Bellatrix Lestrange."
"I hope you will forgive me, students, but nature calls." Dumbledore excused himself as he left them alone. The moment Dumbledore left Draco approached her hastingly.
"Take it Granger, fast." He gave her a tiny envelope. "Be smart once and use this instead of your real hair."
"What are you up to?" asked Hermione, "Did Snape give this to you?"
"I don't know what Dumbledore's people have been planning to fix this disaster, it sure will blow up in their face if they have used the wrong mother." He said incredibly fast. "This has the right mother so no one will suspect but I don't know who your father is. Father wouldn't tell me." He looked at her desperately.
She couldn't believe herself saying this, "Very well. Thanks, Draco." She smiled forcibly at his sigh of relief.
"See you later cousin." he said uncomfortably as he distanced himself from her.
"Oh, that's technically right because we happen to be cousins from our mothers' side." she shivered at the thought. Snape and McGonagall soon arrived with Dumbledore. Snape took her to a corner.
"Take this and use it, Miss Granger." he said furiously, "Don't argue."
"Professor, what would happen if someone looked at Draco's tree and saw me next to Bellatrix Lestrange?" Hermione asked him innocently.
Snape froze, his face full of rage looking at Hermione's confident face. "You've apparently inherited more than your face from your mother. How long have you known this?"
Hermione was offended by the comparison. She squeezed her eyes in irritation. Snape took a step back. She looked him in the eyes. "Don't worry, professor. The results today might surprise you."
Soon others arrived. Snape instructed them to put some hair into their pots and pour their potions on it. He asked those who couldn't find their potions, because their potion wasn't viable for testing, come and get a batch from him. Soon everyone was watching their Heritage Tree grow. Each tree was unique in shape and color. Harry's seemed asymmetrical as His Paternal branches were filled with faces and leaves. His mother's side displayed Lily Potter alone on a tiny branch. Suddenly the tree collapsed with a booming sound. The faces all disappeared as the tree began to evaporate.
"The tree can only trace those with magical ability, I'm afraid." explained Dumbledore to him, "And yours broke because of the weight of your paternal side."
Draco had a tree similar to Hermione's yesterday in the sense of color and shape. She could see herself next to Bellatrix Lestrange on his tree. Some Slytherins had taken notice as did some Ravenclaws.
Hermione returned to look at her own tree. It's wood was darker than yesterday's tree and the leaves had a pinkish hue. It displayed Bellatrix as her mother and Rodolphus Lestrange as her father.
Snape and Harry were both shocked at her results.
"So it is true." said Ron quietly as he stormed out.
Students took two different approaches regarding Hermione's revealed parentage. There were those who acknowledged the fact while the other group who simply refused to do so. Ignorants, was what Ronald Weasley had called them.
Harry was one of the few Gryffindors whose attitude toward her didn't change at all without ignoring the truth. Neville, on the other hand, was in total denial as were most DA members. They insisted that Snape had done something to her Potion and had become hostile toward the Potions Master.
Ignorants had chosen to believe that Hermione couldn't possibly be a Lestrange in any universe that made sense, and their leader was Neville Longbottom who had decided to punch anyone who would call her anything but Hermione Granger. It proved to be difficult as Snape would constantly call her Miss Lestrange to her irritation. Dumbledore had done that, too. There was no way he could or would punch Headmaster in the nose.
Slytherin had unified with Ravenclaw to call her Lestrange. While Ravenclaws were simply acknowledging a fact, Slytherins were trying to taunt her. Hufflepuffs had decided to call her just Hermione weather they were acknowledging the fact or not.
Her problem was not with other houses though. She had bigger issues at hand than being called Lestrange as Gryffindors were at war over her. Lavender Brown and Ronald Weasley were the leaders of Gryffindor Acknowledgers. Ron kept calling her Lestrange coldly and Lavender had boycotted her in her dorm. McGonagall had to step out in when some requested to transfer Hermione to Slytherin.
"If I hear such a suggestion ever again I will deduct 50 points as I just did from Miss Brown."
Hermione couldn't take it when she saw an article on the front page of the Daily Prophet featuring a picture of her taken in three Broomsticks as she was sitting silently with her fingers locked under her chin. They had probably taken that shot last time they were in Hogsmeade without her noticing.
It did not harbour any hostility toward Hermione. In fact it was quite the opposite. It talked about how Hermione had been a brilliant student and top notch at magic. It said that she had been too powerful for a muggle-born and it made sense that she was from a wizarding family.
"The prophet is pro pureblood supremacy." Luna explained to her, "They are happy that there is one talented muggle-born gone and one talented pureblood has replaced her. Have you received any hate mail?"
"No, actually I haven't." Hermione responded.
"Well, nobody is enough of a crackhead to send hate mail to a Lestrange, so that's not surprising," said Harry.
"Not you too, Harry!" she moaned. "Everyone taken it up to themselves to call me that. Hell, even Umbridge calls me Miss Lestrange." she sighed, "Yesterday I had to sign my potions paper Lestrange because Snape wouldn't accept it otherwise."
Luna smiled. "Well you are Hermione Lestrange. That's the truth. But that doesn't change who you are. You were Hermione Lestrange before you became aware of the fact."
Hermione looked at the girl who had given her the best advice ever and hugged her.
A/N: The secret is out. Thank you for following and your comments. I appreciate them. Next chapter will be posted in 5 days.
