They collided and fliers were sent flying in all directions.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry" Hermione rushed to pick up all the fliers and returned then to the bear.

The bear simply remained quiet.

"You must be one of those high school students suckered into wearing a bear costume in the hot summer eh? I sympathize with you but I must say my life is more depressing. Care to hear about it bear?"

The bear simply remained quiet. Hermione took it as a cue to go on.

"So just yesterday I was having the time of my life and then my "parents" told me I'm not their child and that my real parents left me when I was a baby. Then they go on to say I'm an adult and that I should know. Isn't that ridiculous bear? I mean, some secrets should remain a secret. Otherwise there'd be no peace in this world. Knowing the truth hurts sometimes and I hate knowing what I know now. And what's up with Menos? That's a hideous name and I refuse to accept this."

At the sound of Menos, the bear seemed to twitch a bit. However, Hermione did not notice. She was too busy pouring her heart out to a random bear.

"I mean, now that I'm set on finding these Menos people, what if it turns out they've been dead for a while. Then I would be here wasting time finding dead people. Even worse, what if they hate me and tell me that they really did mean to abandon me? I wouldn't be able to take that…"

Hermione went on for another ten minutes or so and the bear simply remained quiet. He was honestly a very good audience.

"I feel so much better now bear. Thank you for listening." Hermione turned to walk away when a thought went through her. She turned around and asked "By the way, I didn't quite catch your name bear" but the bear was nowhere to be seen. Hermione paused for a bit but then shrugged and went on her way to the library.

…..

'Holy bludgers," was what course through Hermione's mind as she read page after page about the Menos. Apparently she was from a long line of powerful dark witches and wizards that went as far back as the Blacks. Not one witch or wizard had ever strayed from the dark side.

Hermione understood now why her parents had to go into hiding all those years ago when the dark lord lost control of the world. The Menos were immense supporters of the Dark Lord and always had been. However, they had not showed up again when the Dark Lord reappeared. That puzzled Hermione greatly. 'They're most likely dead by now. I just wish there was some way to be certain…"

She continued reading about her family for another hour before stumbling on useful information. No the book had no mention of a current address but it did mention a close affinity between the Malfoys and the Menos.

With that in mind, Hermione's thoughts wandered to the youngest Malfoy and wondered whether he would be willing to tell her anything regarding the Menos. After the war, everyone alive had become a lot closer except for Draco. He was still bitter regarding his father's untimely death and refused to talk to anyone.

News had it though that Narcissa had decided to start over with Draco in muggle London. 'He must have loved that decision,' Hermione snickered. Draco the ultimate muggle-hater living in the muggle world. It was funny just thinking of it.

Hermione was once again lost in thought as she walked back to her apartment and before she knew it, she had collided with a soft body.

"Oof" she grunted as she landed on her bottom. When she looked up she realized she had bumped into the bear once again.

"You!" she exclaimed happily. For some odd reason she felt very merry to see the bear again.

"What's up bear?" She really wanted to hear the bear speak but he remained silent. Instead, he stretched out a paw to help Hermione up. When she was up she thought she saw the bear staring at her but she classified that thought as odd and threw it in the garbage. The bear slowly turned to leave but Hermione was faster. She grabbed the bear paw and asked "want to walk me home bear?"

The bear stopped moving and turned slowly towards Hermione. With a slight nod they were off. Hermione went on and on about the most random subjects and the bear occasionally nodded.

They were crossing the intersection two blocks from her house when an irrational car ran straight towards them. Hermione was turned the other direction talking to the bear but the bear saw it. With a strong yank, he pulled her backwards safely into his chest.

Hermione blinked twice but didn't care to move away from the furry bear. She was breathing hard at the near-accident. "Thank you bear" she whispered softly for just the bear to hear. It was really bugging her now that she didn't even know the bear's name but she shoved the thought away. It made it mysterious and fun.

They continued their walk to Hermione's apartment in silence and when they finally arrived Hermione was tickled by the idea of removing the bear's head. She made a move to yank the head off but the bear was quicker. It ducked and smacked Hermione on the head playfully. Hermione was enraged that he saw through her and tried again to pull off the bear head. He was super fast for a bear and evaded her moves easily. Finally, she gave up trying to find out who he was. She bid the bear goodnight and walked into her apartment. What she didn't expect was seeing Harry and Ron sitting on her bed...