Hey everybody! Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows!

So, I've got part of Hermione's family background down. You'll either love or hate me for the mess that I'm going to create 3 AH, but I don't want to spoil anything, let me hear your theories on what's going to go down!

Ps: Fon will have his first shock in the next chapter or the one after that, so look forwards to it~

1) English is my SECOND language, furthermore: my dad is Canadian, in school we used British English, and a good part of the books I've read are in American English.

2) I don't have a Beta currently, however if you'd like to take the job on or want to recommend someone, I'll be all eyes.

3) I don't mind criticism, I'd probably enjoy constructive criticism. However, if you don't like the story, don't read it. Nobody forces you to keep on reading. If I notice that someone is bashing my story or me repeatedly, I'll announce them as a tsundere – what else is somebody supposed to be if they keep on complaining but don't stop reading the story?

4) Pairings are as of right now still open – if you have an idea, I'd love to hear them – especially with an explanation. I'm also open to multiple partners. Hermione's final pairing will not be fem!slash. NOT because I've got something against it, but because I can't personally identify with it and wouldn't know how to write it. Maybe she'll date another girl for a while but nothing that will last. That doesn't mean that I won't try my best to include same gender relationships.

5) If you'd like something to happen or have an idea for a situation, just post it or write to me and I'll take a look. I can't promise that it'll show up, but if it does I'll give credit where it's due.

6) The Vortex will include the khr plot, even if I don't know how far along it will be when Hermione shows up.

7) I will try my best to update regularly, but I won't make any promises. What I can promise, is that I'll do my best to update the chapters of their Arcs within a few days. The Arcs being: Before Hogwarts, Year 1, Year 2, etc.

8) I might, at some point, maybe, post the story on AO3 and/or Wattpad. If that happens or if I decide to start posting anything else there, I will, of course, inform you and tell you my username.

9) Finally, neither ´Harry Potter´ or ´Katekyō Hitman Reborn!´ are owned by me. They belong respectively to J. K. Rowling and Akira Amano. I claim only possible Oc's, anything that does not happen in the stories, and the idea of The Vortex.

Hitsugaya Ren: As I've mentioned before, I'm working on the length. Some might be able to access them, some might be latent, but I'll see where the story takes me on that forte.

Kain Vixenheim: I'm afraid Fon will have to endure a lot of joking because of how he treats Hermione. I'd like to say I'm sorry, but really, I'm not.

IgnisFelicis: Spoilers~

IBO: I'm having far too much fun with that one, and I'll try my best to do it every chapter.

.13: I love that thought, and it gave me a brilliant idea =)

storyreader21: You are a great inspiration and managed to give me a lot of fuel for Hermione's family background. Three Arcobaleno, now that would be interesting. I've already got two down and I'm curious whether or not I can build in a third one… Thank you very much =D


4. The Start of Something

The following weeks passed by quietly for Hermione.

She didn't take notice of her Rooftop Guardian other than a scarce handful of times from the corner of her eyes, Janette and her cronies, as well as any other bullies, left her alone (I wonder if it has something to do with the pinecones?) and most importantly, her parents were back to their normal 8am to 5pm work schedule. Of course there was the fact that a small, red-faced white monkey was stalking her but she chose to (politely) overlook that occurrence.

Everything was quiet, which obviously meant that something just had to blow up into her face. But Hermione expected that outcome.

+x+x+x+x+

"It's the blood", Babushka* Tatiana would explain every time Hermione saw her, in heavily accented English, "Normally the good and the bad comes equally in everything. It is different in our family. All of our blood have areas where the good outweigh the bad by far or where we excel, but for the balance to keep there must be things where the bad outweighs the good. Like your intelligence" she added wisely "will come with its drawbacks. Not always the same, you must understand, as change is part of life. But it will have its price, always. Never forget."

Hermione would keep these words close to her heart, seeing the truth in them every day.

x+x+x+x+

It was the last day before Winter breaks when it happened. Normally she would scold herself for being so unaware, but her parents were gone once again (and wasn't that pe-cu-li-ar? That it happened the day they weren't around?), and wouldn't be back before the early morning hours. Where she any more cynical (she was), Hermione would say that they were in a pre-Christmas-mood (she did).

If it had only been the same six girls as last time, she might have been able to get away. But sadly, Janette did actually have a brain – no matter how small it was (from lack of use, surely), and acquired the help of her older brother Jacob and his friends (they were all around 10ish and big).

When Hermione started school, she had a crush on Jacob. He was cute and had a nice smile. And dimples. Don't forget the dimples. This went on for about a week. Then she found out that Janette was is sister, and any affection for him died out like a popped balloon.

But Hermione wasn't paying attention and was, after school, cornered by a group of eleven children in one of the more secluded spots near the school. She just knew that this wasn't going to end well for someone (probably her but that was another matter that she decided to ignore).

She didn't try to fight them. Not only was she outnumbered, Hermione also had no idea how to throw a punch (I really need to look into those self-defence classes…). There was nothing she could do. Nothing but to endure. Well, no, there was one thing she could do besides trying to protect as much of her body as possible. She could make sure that they didn't see how much they hurt her. Hermione raised her head and glared at them. They would not see the pain she was in, she refused to give those immature brats the satisfaction of seeing her tears.

Carefully making sure that she hasn't stopped glaring, Hermione did her best to blank out. A hit, a shove, words that went over her head but weren't classed as important, and then someone punched her in her gut (god dammit that luck!) and she doubled over, falling down on her knees. Her stomach pulled itself together and her lungs felt constricted as she tried to gasp for air. It took a few tries before she even partly managed to catch a breath and her whole upper body was shaking. She heard jeering and laughing and prepared herself for the next hit, but it never came.


Fon felt uneasy as he made his way back to Watford. He had been gone for a few days to complete a hit for the Triads, Lichi going with him, and therefore left his soon-to-be student without any protectioin. Something he planned to change as soon as possible. He knew that those girls wouldn't just leave things lying as they were, and their silence on that matter worried him slightly. He had been patiently waiting for the fallout. Fon did not want anything to happen to one Hermione Jean Granger while he wasn't around to help her.

And yes, he did look into her family. After all, it would not do for him to step into a hornet's nest without any preparation.

Her father, Dan Granger, had a mostly ordinary family, at least in the recent generation. There was no sign of any living family, the most recent death was his older brother Alexander's nearly eight years ago in a bank robbery (he saved a woman's life). he only thing that really stumped him was the amount of half-siblings and illegitimate children during the 18th and 19th century. Fon took a good look at the mess, but decided that it wouldn't be worth the headache he'd get from trying to figure out her direct blood line. Maybe at some point in the future he could try to unravel who was whose child.

Emma Granger nee Taffet's family history caught his attention for some reason. Her father, Jacques Taffet came from a small family. He was a mechanic, grew up in a French village, and met his wife when the Circus came through a nearby town. He fell in love with her and when they went on, he decided to go with them (Jacques passed away when Hermione was young. It was another family member she would never really get to meet).

Emma's mother, Tatiana Smerti, on the other hand was far more interesting. She was Russian, but grew up in the circus, mostly working with the more dangerous animals, and when she slowly became too old for that she took over the management, a job that she was still doing (Fon had an inkling that it was something she would do until the day she died). Tatiana's father seemed to have ties with the Russian mafia, but that was one of those hornet's nests that he did not want to poke at right now. He wasn't Reborn, after all, and did not feel like dealing with the sort of chaos such actions would cause.

Then there was Sofia Smerti, Emma's older half-sister. She died around the same time as Hermione was born, departing six months after her lover Alexander Granger, the brother of Dan Granger (And wasn't that an unexpected finding?) What really peeked his interest though was the lack of information on Sofia's father. Tatiana never put a name down, and Sofia never truly looked. Fon would love to know who it was, but decided to let things lie.

So, in other words, his almost protégé had a seemingly ordinary family, with maybe a bit more drama than normal (his Storm flames kept on buzzing when he looked at the pictures he found of Tatiana and Sofia) and some secrets that would certainly get solved at a later point, but nothing to be concerned off (famous last words).

Fon's eyes were narrow in anger and the serene smile he often showed was cold and razor sharp, as he looked at the group of brats in front of him.

When the Storm Arcobaleno arrived in Watford a few minutes ago, he noted that Hermione should be on her way home by know or just about to leave school. Fon decided that he might as well meet up with her. It was passed time that they had a chat where he'd inform Hermione of her options (meaning that she'd be informed that Fon was taking her on as his next student). But he did not see her. Fon sped towards the school, hoping she had just been kept late.

And then he saw her, surrounded by a group of insolent children, and Fon caught the tail-end of a punch that landed in her gut, and Hermione doubled over and Fon's flames raged.

He was in front of her in the blink of an eye, catching the outstretched hand that made for his student (not yet, his mind whispered) with ease and leaked a little bit of killing intent.

Under normal circumstances, he would have just scared them away, but Fon felt it was justified if he'd teach them a small lesson for their atrocious behaviours (a few seconds later they lay mostly unconscious on the ground, with bruises littering their bodies and maybe a broken bone on one or two children).

Fon turned around to where Hermione was, still on her knees and looking at him with wide eyes. He smiled at her, secretly proud that she did not show any fear of him. They stared at each other for a few seconds, Lichi coming down and sitting next to Fon when:

"Please teach me" "I plan on taking you on as my student"

Fon looked pleased as he saw the resolve in her eyes and Hermione smiled widely as she registered his words. It was the start of something that has never been seen before.

("No, Reborn, I did not go overboard just because they hurt Hermione. I just found that it would be irresponsible of me to let such juvenile behaviour go without doing anything. It is vital for them to understand that their actions have consequences." "Their actions being hurting Hermione?")


* Russian: Grandmother

This chapter took a bit longer to get into the flow, but here it is…