A/N: Thank you to the Dramione Fanfiction Writer's admins for hosting this really interesting fest. I was given an opportunity to write something I've never tried before and the process has taught me a lot.
Thanks to Tridogmom for being a wonderful beta and all-round cheerleader when I have procrastinated or chewed your ear off about this story.
Thank you for the reviews, I cherish them all.
Finding Granger
Chapter 5 - Unearth the truth
28 November 15:20
"I have to tell you that I'm nervous and the goblins may not let me in." Hermione confessed on their walk through Diagon Alley.
"Goblins are always grouchy. It's not like it's your first time at Gringotts." Draco tried to reassure her.
"No. It's just that last time I went there, I broke into your aunt's vault and escaped on a dragon." To that, Draco stopped abruptly and she almost walked into him.
"That was you on the dragon?" He looked at her in surprise and searched her face for lies or a joke.
"Yes. The poor dragon was blinded and chained up in a squalid cave. I'm glad we freed it."
Draco let out a belly laugh that caught Hermione unaware.
"Typical Granger. You break into one of the most difficult places in the world and escape on a dragon. Then the only thing you recount is about the beast's welfare."
It brought a slight grin to her face, at least he saw the light side of the whole ordeal.
And so they walked into the marble foyer of the bank. Hermione tried to follow Draco's lead and stared ahead of her. Even though she felt eyes staring at them.
Heading for an empty counter, the goblin behind it glowered at her.
"May I help you?" It asked without any pleasantries.
"I would like to access my vault." Hermione stated with her chin up, as if she wasn't nervous at all.
"How dare you walk in here. We should be calling the authorities to send you to Azkaban." The goblin spat out and Hermione almost wanted to walk out of the building.
"This is ridiculous!" Draco shouted which astounded both the goblins and Hermione.
"You're talking to two descendants of the oldest Wizarding families. The Ministry would hear about how you mistreated us. Hermione, give him your key." The blond ordered. Following his lead, she pulled out the antique key from her beaded bag. As it clanked against the counter, the goblin raised his eyebrow at it.
Another goblin came up to the counter and whispered into its ear, who nodded along.
"We shall take the key for inspection first. Wait here."
It's small pointed hand took the key and disappeared into a back room. Once the goblin had taken the key out of sight, Hermione turned to Draco.
"You know I prefer it if next time you didn't act like a privileged arsehole." She said with a tone of annoyance, which only made her companion raise an eyebrow.
"You can thank me later when they let us in the vault."
They waited for a couple of minutes when the goblin finally returned, with a look of displeasure.
"We will escort you to your vault now." It gestured to two goblins who appeared before them, holding out their hands.
"Your wands please."
The pair reluctantly handed the goblins their wands. Clearly Gringotts had increased their security just for them, Hermione thought.
Escorted into the bank and onto one of the rickety carts. Draco, Hermione and the two goblins hurtled deep into the labyrinth of vaults.
Finally, the cart came to a stop at an unnumbered vault. The door was narrow and no taller than Hermione's shoulders, with ornately iron-wrought bars across it. One of the goblins put her key into the door.
"We require your hand to open this door, Madam." He pointed at an indentation on the door. "Only a true blood relative can open this vault." It said with a twisted grin.
Hermione pressed her palm against the door, a sharp prick stabbed her flesh. Hissing from the shock of the pain, the iron bars twisted and shifted. The narrow door swung open.
The goblins looked disappointed as Hermione and Draco crouched down and went inside.
The vault was bare and barely fitted the two of them. A stone pensieve stood to one wall and opposite it was a tall glass cabinet, filled to the brim with glass vials of wispy memories.
Draco examined the pensieve as Hermione scanned the faded labels on the vials.
"The name Granger has been engraved into this pensieve." Draco called putting to her. Turning around, Hermione stared at the rim of the bowl, where they could barely make out her name etched on it.
"Are you sure you're not related to the Dagworth-Grangers?" He asked.
"I'm not sure anymore." Hermione replied.
She was a Fawley and Granger, Hermione concluded. But there remained so many other questions. Why aren't her parents called Fawley? Why did they choose the name Granger instead? It didn't make sense.
Staring back at the vials of memories, she figured they were where the answers might lie.
"Let's take a look into some of these memories. Ever been in a pensieve before?" She asked Draco as she opened the cupboard. The memories glowed faintly at her.
"There's one in the Manor."
Hermione snorted one response. Of course he owned one.
A vial with a yellow glow caught her eye and she took the bottle from the shelf. 'Dinner time' it simply said. It seemed innocuous enough, so she tipped it's contents into the pensieve. Draco's hand rested on her shoulder and they both fell into the swirls of yellow mist.
They landed in a dining room, glass front cabinets lining the walls filled with china and crystal. The room was orderly, except for the large walnut dining table that stretched from one side to another. It's surface laden with large volumes of textbooks and reams of paper. A tall man was hunched over the books, scribbling onto notecards with a pencil.
Although the man was younger, Draco recognised him to be Frank Granger with more hair.
On instinct, Hermione went over to her father and leant over the table, examining his books and notes.
"He's studying dentistry." She said with puzzlement.
"Why would someone put memories of your father studying for a very Muggle profession in a Gringotts vault?" Draco was very confused.
In the far corner, he noticed the dining room door was partially open. A feminine hand poked through, clutching a wand. It flicked silently and he watched the mess of notes and books fly up into the air before stacking themselves into orderly piles.
Frank pulled away in surprise before tutting in reluctance. The door opened and a younger Elizabeth walked into the room. Her wand in her hand, a large casserole dish floated in behind her. Draco heard Hermione's sharp intake of breath as she watched her mom weld her wand.
"It's time for dinner love. You've studied hard enough for today."
With a spin of her wand, the table set itself up for two and candles were lit. Before she could sit on an empty chair Frank pulled her down onto his lap.
"You're going to be the death of me one day for scaring me like that."
The couple shared a passionate kiss and Draco looked away in embarrassment.
"I hope you won't be scared to death, you've promised to share a long life with me."
It was then, Draco noticed a small engagement ring on her hand as the Grangers kissed again in a loving embrace. His heart panged with a yearning he never knew was there. The Grangers had a lot of love and affection for each other. The sort of love he once hoped he could have.
The young couple pulled apart. Frank's thumb tenderly rubbed his wife's cheek.
"I'm the luckiest Squib in the world, to have a witch like you love me this much."
She swatted him on the shoulder with a sweet affection.
"How many times must I say it. I love your heart, which is worth more than the love of a million wizards."
"It can't just be my heart you love." Frank replied as he stood up,carrying his wife with him. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he whisked her out of the room.
"Darling, what about dinner?" Elizabeth worried.
"Dinner can wait. That's what magic is for."
Elizabeth Granger's laugh echoed as her daughter and Draco were pulled out of the pensieve.
Hermione stared blankly at the cloudy pool in the pensieve, stunned. Her parents knew about magic. Even practiced it! Why didn't they ever mention it?
"Do you want to continue?" Draco asked her.
Did she? The memory brought up so many questions that were left unanswered. If there was anything Hermione needed more, it was to answers to questions.
"Let's look at a few more." Turning around to face the cabinet of memories. She scanned all the labels on the bottles. Hogwarts: first day. O.W.L's, Mother's Day. Picking up the vial with that last label. Hermione poured it into the pensieve and they were pulled into the memory.
Hermione recognised where she was at once. It was home. The familiar living room with its bay windows, the fireplace. Only some of the furniture was different, older.
"Lizzie dear. Let me take that when you're in your current condition."
Through the archway connecting the living room with the dining room bustled her grandmother. Only Nana looked younger, her hair not yet grey and dressed in witches robes. She carried a tray of tea into the living room and placed them on the coffee table before taking out her wand to spruce up the cushions.
Hermione smiled fondly at her Nana. It had been years since her death and Hermione missed this woman so much.
"Mummy. You need to stop fussing me around. I'm pregnant, not immobile."
Hermione gasped as her mother came into the room. A large round bump around her belly.
Nana and mum sat down on the sofa, busying themselves with making tea and serving biscuits. Shortbreads were served, just like they always were during Hermione's childhood.
"Lizzie dear. I'm here to not only check up on you." Nana said gently, in a tone that Hermione knew all too well. The tone that she was going to bequeath them with some sage knowledge.
"Don't start again. I've already told you. Frank and I aren't going to stop doing whatever we can to stop -"
"You're not listening to me, love." Nana butted in, more panicked.
"They have already taken the Fawleys. If they would dare torture and murder them, they are most certainly coming after their Squib son!"
"I can't believe you are starting to think like them. Frank is my husband, through better or worse." Elizabeth fires back in a rage.
"It's true though. You know I think of Frank as my own beloved son. I worry about his safety and the future of your family." Nana pleaded whilst clutching her daughter's hand.
Hermione saw the strain of worry across the older woman's face.
"Think of the child inside you!"
Elizabeth looked almost outraged. "I am mummy. We're doing this for a better world for her."
Nana gasped, finally she asked. "It's a girl?"
Hermione stared as her grandmother's hand reached out to rest on her mother's bump. To rest on a growing her.
"We found out last week."
Tears started to cloud Hermione's vision as the two women hugged.
"I have been thinking about Hermione, for a name."
"Oh the god Hermes, bringing good from one world to another. How lovely." Nana sniffed as she lovingly rubbed the belly growing her future granddaughter. They cried and Hermione's heart wrenched at the sight of the two women who loved her most. How much she yearned to embrace them both again.
The room swirled and uncontrollably the memory faded away leaving the two onlookers of this intimate scene with an intense feeling of sadness.
Draco looked at his companion warily once they were pulled out of her ancestor's memory. They have gotten some of the answers they wanted to find since the beginning of the month. But the ominous feeling of what the truth had in store for them, had left him terrified.
Turning around to gaze at the goblins who stood impatiently by the safe door. It was time for them to go.
"Come on Granger. Let's get a drink." He encouraged.
The witch shook her head and pulled another vial from the cupboard, the one in the far corner of the bottom shelf.
"You can go, I need just one more."
Draco sighed, he didn't feel brave like her to watch one more gut wrenching memory. But he couldn't quite abandon her either. Reluctantly, they fell into the third memory.
The sniffles of crying filled Draco's ears before his sight adjusted to the darkness. He knew he was back in the Grangers living room again.
Hermione's parents were lying on the sofa, as if they were asleep. But the discord of her grandmother standing over them, her wand against her daughter's forehead pulling long silver strands of memories to decanter into memory vials.
Tears fell from the older woman's face as she methodically worked. Draco warily watched Hermione kneel down by the coffee table and stare at the vials on the table. A quill labelled them as each one was filled. He recognised how each bottle being filled in this memory, were now sitting in the cabinet within a Gringotts safe.
"I'm so sorry. It's for the best." Nana apologised as she struggled to catch her breath. He didn't want to watch anymore but couldn't tear his eyes away as the old woman's wand pointed towards her family.
"Obliviate." She whispered.
A blinding flash of white light and Draco found himself immobile with shock. Blinking rapidly, his stomach twisted with nausea and horror as Hermione's beloved Nana pack away the memories into a carpet bag. Frank and Elizabeth lay asleep, peacefully unaware of the monumental change in their lives. Condemned to live their lives without any memories of their past, their heritage.
A bitter sob erupted. Pulled into focus, he found Hermione on the floor howling her pain in shuddering cries. On instinct, he pulled her upright and held her by the shoulders as the pensieve lifted them out of the memory and back into the old vault, holding irreplaceable treasures of a past life.
The witch cried against his shoulder, his robes a sponge to soak her tears. Slowly he guided her out of the vault, into the rickety cart and out of Gringotts. Almost numb to the painful truth, all he could do was get them both out and into a safe haven. All whilst maintaining a firm arm around Hermione.