Chapter 1
The Fire
"No!" Hermione woke with a start. That was the fourth night she had had that dream. Her 17th birthday was tomorrow and she'd join her friends with sagging eyes and messy hair.
She hated the dream. The fire and the beautiful woman bursting into flames. It chilled her straight to the bone. She felt connected to this woman somehow.
"Oy. I need to sleep!" She told herself. She lay back down and drifted off to sleep.
"Happy Birthday!" Hermione awoke with six people on her bed. Her mom and father were on her left and Kai, Nikki, Nia and Benji were on the right side of her bed.
"Give me another hour of sleep!" Hermione rolled over and tried to cover her head but Benji took the blanket and uncovered her so she'd wake up.
"Benji! Please…Sleep!" She begged him.
Benji took her hands and pulled her out of bed. He stood her up and took something out of his pocket.
It was a small black velvet jewelry box. Benji handed the box to her with a goofy smile on his face.
"Benji…Wh-?" Hermione was speechless. So instead of trying to find something to say, she just opened the box.
"Oh, Benji! It's beautiful!" She pulled out a white gold necklace with little orange jewels shaped like flames dangling from the chain.
"Thank you!" Hermione immediately gave Benji a hug and kiss on the cheek in appreciation for her dearest friend.
"My turn!" Kai yelled. She handed Hermione a big box with flamed wrapping paper. Hermione immediately tore into it and pulled out a black hoodie with flames and a black pair of Jnco Jeans with flames on the straps hanging from her belt loop to a loop near the backs of her knees.
"Thanks Kai! I love them!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Ok. My turn!" Nikki interrupted. She thrust a bag into Hermione's arms just after Hermione set down Kai's gifts. Hermione opened the bag to see black bracelets and CD's. She squealed as she read the titles of the CD's. My Chemical Romance-Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, Fall Out Boy, and A.F.I- Sing the Sorrow.
Hermione had changed since sixth year. Her, Ron, and Harry split up after the last Order meeting when Harry and Ron would not let Hermione help look for Voldemort's Horcruxes. Hermione had made fine points that she was a strong witch but Harry and Ron wouldn't listen. So Hermione left, she sent no letters to anyone in the wizarding world.
Hermione started to take advantage of her free time during the summer. She hung out with her childhood friends who had introduced her to Benji, Nikki, Rock, Metal (music) and the color black. Hermione immediately grew a love for Gothic type music, clothes, accessories, etc. Now she was a full on Goth. Black, Red/Purple streaked hair, long black nails, Blackout contacts (which made her look like a demon), one tattoo of an Egyptian Ankh (cross with loop at the top) with a black rose looped around it. She had three lip piercings, tongue ring, four eyebrow piercings on the left and three on the right. She wore nothing but black all day, all night.
Hermione loved her friends. They treated her better than Ron and Harry ever did, yet, they did not know she was a witch.
The last to give her a birthday gift was Nia. She handed Hermione a card. Hermione smiled, knowing that Nia must not have had the money to buy her something good like the other three.
She opened the card and in it she saw a note:
Hey Hermione,
Sorry, I couldn't get you an appropriate gift. I only had five dollars left out of my check. Ha! Well, um, Happy Birthday! I just want you to know you're my best friend and I love you. I know that we're going to miss you so much when you leave for "Boarding School." Just don't forget about us when you get there.
Love
SugarKisses
A.K.A. Nia
"Aw, thanks 'Sugarkisses!" Hermione exclaimed. The card had caused her to cry, so the four hugged her tightly.
"Well, I hate to break this up, but there's breakfast on the table, I made your favorite Hermione, and we have somewhere to go today," interrupted Hermione's mom. Her dad had left to get prepared for the day's festivities.
"Ok! I'm so hungry," said Benji.
"You're always hungry, Benji!" Exclaimed Nikki, who always found ways to bicker endlessly with him.
"Stop! Before you start, let's eat!" Nia said with a devilish grin on her face. Everyone laughed and headed downstairs toward the kitchen.
Hermione's mother and father were acting mysteriously after they had taken her friends home after the My Chemical Romance concert. It was their gift for Hermione.
"Mom? Dad? What's wrong? What's going on?" Hermione asked as they sat down in the living room.
"Hermione, um, we have something very important to tell you, honey," her father said.
"We wanted to wait until you were of age, but when your headmaster sent us and owl a while back about how you would be of age on your seventeenth birthday in the wizarding world, we decided to tell you then," her mom started.
"Hermione, this is very hard for me to say, you know I love you, but you aren't my daughter," her father said.
"What? What do you mean?" Hermione asked, wide eyed.
"Dear, what we need to tell you is that your real father was, well…he was a vampire. I didn't know at the time, I was in love! But when I found out about him, Dumbledore visited me…He helped keep it a secret. He said a spell to protect you and me from the vampire. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I just didn't know how to tell you!" She burst into tears.
"No, this is a lie! It's not possible, I cant be a vampire…I cant!" Hermione screamed and ran up the stairs.
"Hermione! Come back here!" Mr. Granger yelled.
"No! Not until you guys stop lying to me!"
"We aren't finished! There is still something else we must tell you! Something Dumbledore said!" Mr. Granger told her.
"What is it?" Hermione said at the foot of the stairs.
"Come here and sit," Mr. Granger ordered.
"When Dumbledore said you needed to know by the time you came of age, he also explained that your vampiric abilities would show. He said we must keep an eye on you to see any changes. He also said that by midnight all of them would come into place. You can't ignore it," he said.
"This isn't happening! It's all just a dream. Like those fire dreams I've had! I just got to wake myself up somehow!" Hermione slapped herself twice on each cheek, and then pinched herself; she finally stopped the physical harm to ask her mother something.
"What happened to him?"
"I don't know sweetie," her mother answered, between sobs.
"I need some time to think about this. I'm going to my room. Good night," Hermione said and went to her bedroom. She lay on her bed. 'How could this happen? Why me?' she thought. She lay on her bed crying and beating her pillows. She finally fell asleep, thinking about the woman named Akini bursting into fire.
Meanwhile…
Downstairs Mr. And Mrs. Granger were discussing the problem, never coming to a conclusion.
"We shouldn't have told her! She hates us!" Mrs. Granger said.
"It was better now than she notice the difference when she woke up in the morning! What if she went through this at school not knowing? If she asked and we told her then she would definitely hate us!" Mr. Granger replied.
"You're right, but what's going to happen now? Is she going to be the same girl or is she going to change? That's what I'm afraid will happen." Mrs. Granger said.
"Let's not worry until morning and see what'll happen, ok dear? Let us sleep it away now," He said.
"Ok. I am tired." She sniffled and managed a weak smile before turning and heading to their bedroom.
Hope you enjoyed! R&R! I need to know what you all think!
Amanda