"You know that you don't have to do this," Ginny reminded her as they waited for Harry, who was on stage, to reintroduce her to the public. But Hermione shook her head, telling her she had to get it over with now. They were at the Ministry's ball, three days after she revealed to Ginny her little secret about Caden's father, and three days after Caden caused her to faint in the store because of his father.

Hermione never did find out what made Caden say that to her face. She had given him a good description of his father, well enough for him not to point out every man with black hair that passed them. But Caden had never mentioned anything about his thoughts on the subject of his father. Hermione originally presumed he might have had a dream about him, but Caden had given her this look that told her otherwise. In the end, Hermione decided that she must have told him how much his father loved the color green, and Caden must have said that in order for the shopping to be done sooner. A part of Hermione secretly doubted that idea.

Caden, who never spoke about the incident and pretended it never happened, was peering out through the curtains. Hermione could tell he was anxious about getting out from behind the stage and head over to the buffet table. It smelled so wonderful behind the curtains. Hermione felt her stomach groan in longing as well.

The Ministry's ball was hosted in a large ballroom within the Ministry's walls. It was decorated with floating candles and dozens of balloons that would burst into purple fireworks once they reached the ceiling. Streamers danced around in the air, and the music that had been playing sounded absolutely wonderful.

Everyone was dressed formally, even Hagrid, who Hermione saw through the curtain moments ago, was wearing a new, better looking, tie. Caden was wearing his new green dress robes that fitted him comfortably. Hermione was wearing that green dress Caden told her to buy. At first she thought it made her look a bit too showy. But after coming down the stairs and causing everyone in the Burrow to gasp, she knew it was just right. So even though her son manipulated her, Hermione had to admit his taste was excellent.

As Harry's speech began to come to a close, Hermione felt the butterflies return to her stomach. Caden seemed to sense his mother discomfort and went over to her. He held her hand and smiled up at her.

"Don't worry, Mama, everything will be alright. Just tell them the truth about Daddy and they'll understand." He made everything seem so simple. Hermione gave him a weak smile and ruffled his hair.

Harry's speech was no finished and she was more nervous than ever. "Although many of you would consider this honor to be the highlight of my week, I am here with news to prove to you that that is not true. Shortly after receiving news of this opportunity, I had received even greater news. Ladies and gentleman, I am here to tell you that during the course of this week, I was reacquainted with one of my long-lost friends. After convincing her to tell us her story, I give you Hermione Granger, back from the dead." Harry emphasized the last few words in that sentence.

There was a sudden gasp as Hermione slowly came out from behind the curtain. She came up to the podium where Harry was giving his speech. He gave her a hug and whispered into her ear that it will be alright. She nodded to him as he left the stage.

Hermione turned to the audience, and gave them a small smile. No one responded. It was almost as though she could hear crickets in the background. She felt her face go red and looked down at the piece of parchment that contained her speech Harry had left on the stand.

"Umm, first things first," She told the crowd nervously. "I would like everyone to know that before I begin my tale, I was not harmed in any way by my captor. Although, afterwards, I'm having trouble to say that is true."

She took a deep breath and began her tale. She told everyone of the day Harry, Ron, and herself been assigned to take on a rather large group of Death Eaters. She told them about Harry being flung into several buildings before she threw a rock at the back of the Death Eater's head, and then afterwards how she thought the body had disappeared. She described Roland to them and how he took her away.

Hermione told them of the room he kept her in, Binky, and her hunger strike. She stole a glance at Harry who looked, almost disappointed. Roland had been right about him. She told them how Roland would not leave until she had clean her plate, and of the several heat arguments they had, until he decided to have lunch with her and gave her some of his books to read, and then finally telling her his name.

She carefully explained how they became friends. Hermione told her of her first Christmas there, and how Roland had been kind even to make her cookies and give her a blanket. She told the crowd how much she began to look forward to be able to see him every few days. Then, Hermione explained the day when he arrived to her room tired and wounded, apparently beaten because he began to ignore his duties. She told them of their first kiss and how Roland was forced to make their time together limited the following year. Ron, Hermione noticed out of the corner of her eye, began to tense up.

But she continued anyways. Hermione told them when she had to explain to Roland she was pregnant. She told them how happy he became and tried to spend most of his free time, which began to annoy her, trying to make her comfortable, some how forgetting the fact that the others were beginning to act towards his strange behavior.

"Roland and I were going to try to get together that afternoon to try and decided on baby names," She said to the crowd sadly. "He suddenly showed up, bursting in without warning, and handed me my wand back. He told me that I had to leave, and that it was no longer safe here. He explained to me that the Dark Lord had finally figured out where I had been and he was coming. I was confused and speechless as Roland quickly told me how to use my wand to make the bricks move. It was then I realized that he wasn't coming with me, and I wanted to stay."

Hermione paused for a moment and looked down at what she had written, although she had not even used the parchment throughout the entire speech. She took another deep breath and continued, "Roland gave me this sharp look and told me straightly that I was to leave and he was to stay. He pulled out from his cloak a blue teddy bear and asked if I would give it to the baby once it was born. I was about to protest, telling him that he could give it to the baby himself, when the door suddenly appeared and You-Know-Who came in with his followers."

"He hissed at Roland and looked at me disgusted as he pushed me down to the ground. Roland went to catch me, but You-Know-Who kicked him down to the ground. He told Roland that he was a disgraced to the Death Eaters, first the fact that he went against his orders and didn't kill, and then he fell for me. He told Roland that he wanted our baby to serve under him, and in return, Roland might be reconsidered.

"I'll never forget the words that came out of Roland's mouth, as they were the one of the most shocking that ever reached my ears. He slowly got up off the ground and told You-Know-Who with a murderous look, 'I will not give our child to you. Nor will our child have to face the beatings you gave me when I was in your service, Father.'"

As the sounds of the gasps reached her ears, Hermione quickly looked over at Caden, who was once again peaking out of the curtains. To her surprised, Caden did not even seem to hear the fact he was Voldemort's grandson. In fact, he did not even seem to be listening at all. His eyes were eagerly scanning the crowd for something. She looked away from her son, slightly confused.

"You-Know-Who," Hermione said quickly, as the images flooded back into her mind, "then struck Roland in the face. He growled a bunch of dark curses I had never heard of at Roland. I was watching on the ground beside the bed in horror as Roland screamed in pain and his body rolled uncontrollably across the floor. I had never been so terrified in my life, watching him suffer like that and I knew in the back of my mind there was nothing I could do without harming the baby. You-Know-Who never lifted one of the curses until Roland lying at his feet motionless. He kicked his body and ordered two of his followers to dispose of him. He spat at me and told me I would be seeing him in an hour or so.

"I was able to escape before he came back for me. I only took the blanket Roland had given me and the teddy bear as well. I had no idea where to go, but I was constantly moving. When it came time for the baby to be born, I went to a muggle hospital and had my son, Caden. I was then able to find a small cottage in the middle of a large forest soon afterwards. I stayed there with Caden for four years, until I heard about You-Know-Who's downfall."

Hermione finished her tale and was met with absolute silence. She felt the butterflies return to her stomach as she stood there, awkwardly. Suddenly, she heard the sound of two hands slapping against one another. She looked out into the audience and saw that Remus had stood up and was now applauding her. Soon others follow and then the whole audience was out of their seats.

Harry came back to her and hugged her, telling her she did a fantastic job. She gave him a weak smile and nodded before leaving the stage and heading behind the curtain. Hermione's face fell when she saw that Caden was not where she had originally thought. In fact, he was not even backstage.

Frantically, she searched around for him, while receiving regards along the way. Caden was finally found on the other side of the room, nibbling a biscuit with his hands behind his back. He was swaying innocently back and forth as his eyes darted around the ballroom.

Hermione approached him with her eyebrows raised. "Caden, are you alright? You're acting odd."

He looked down passed the biscuit. "I'm fine, Mama." He told her, but then quickly asked. "So all those stories you told me, about Roland, they were really about you and Daddy?"

"Some of them," She answered as she ruffled his black hair.

"So, Daddy was really Roland the whole time?"

Hermione nodded. Caden's face became unreadable to Hermione soon afterwards. She crossed her arms and became frustrated with the fact that she could no longer read her son plainly. Sighing, she told him that she was going out for some air. Caden nodded, and his eyes went back to scanning the room.

She left the ballroom and found herself in a somewhat large garden. There was a cobblestone pathway that twisted behind a well-trimmed rose bush. Hermione followed the path until she found a black park bench in front of a water fountain of some wizard who would occasionally get bored standing there and watered the bushes around him from his place at the fountain.

Hermione let out a huge sigh as she sat down on the bench. She closed her eyes as she listened to the sounds around her, trying to relax after practically pouring her whole life story to over five hundred people, maybe even more. She was too tired to think about it.

She must have been extremely tired, as she did not notice the cloaked figure that stood no less than three feet behind her. It was not until it spoke did she jump up from the bench and turned around, quickly withdrawing her wand.

"Evening, Ms. Granger."