Hey guys! This is a really hastily written chapter, just thought I'd update because the next few days are going to be hectic, moving out of uni etc. Please tell me what you think, especially the Draco/Hermione scene – my favourite so far. A real breath of fresh air in their relationship, I think. Who else was bored of them just taunting each other? Me for one. Please read + review! All feedback welcomed.

2 . Where I Really Belong

The Grangers drove their daughter to the train station the final day of the school holidays, in the new year, in silence. She had barely said a word to them since they had told her the truth about everything. She was sat in the back seat of the family estate car, staring out at the cars passing by, clutching the photo of her real mother in her hands. She had not been able to look at it again since the first time, but having it close-by made her feel better. She had recognised the woman in the photo, and now had a big decision to make – should she talk to him? Should she tell him, the only person who would understand how she was feeling? And if she did, what would she say, and when would she say it? There was no easy way to go about it.

They arrived at the train station early, however Hermione did not feel like sticking around in silence. Over the holidays she had dyed her hair darker, and pierced her lip – her parents had not approved but knew that this rebellion from their daughter was their own fault. She had been upset at finding out that she was adopted, and that her mother had left her on the doorstep of the Grangers house after contacting them weeks before to offer them her baby. The Grangers had willingly accepted – and been surprised when they had read the letter that accompanied the swaddled child on the doorstep, detailing that Hermione would one day become a witch (most likely) and would be summoned by the headmaster of a school called Hogwarts.

Another minute passed, and Hermione was bored of standing next to her car with her parents, her mother crying and her father comforting her. Eventually, she muttered a goodbye, avoided hugs and kisses from both of her parents, and got out her wand to levitate her trunk behind her.

"But Hermione, what if people see you? I thought you weren't allowed to use your magic outside of school, won't you get in trouble?" Her mother mumbled through sobs.

"I'll handle it, Juliette. I don't care if Muggles see me anyway, I'll figure something out. This is who I am, so deal with it." Her distaste for her Muggle parents was clear. She never looked back at them as she whispered a spell and her trunk trundled along behind her, through the doors of the station and onto the Platform 9 ¾ where the Hogwarts Express stood waiting for her and her fellow students.

As the Hogwarts Express began to pull away from the station, Hermione found an empty compartment, ignoring the rushes of students trying to find spaces at the windows to wave to their parents. Standing at the door she looked at them all and laughed at how pathetic they were. Their parents were probably glad to see the back of them all for another term.

"Idiots." Hermione muttered at them.

"Well someone seems rather chirpy today. Got your panties in a bit of a twist, have you Granger? Want me to help you untwist them? Or have you got Pottie and the Weasel on the case?" Draco Malfoy said through chuckles as he made his way along the corridor.

"Not surrounded by your usual boyfriends, Malfoy? Or are they busy bumming without you in one of the compartments? You can hurry up and go and join them, I know you've been away from them all holidays and probably need to get some before we get to Hogwarts." Hermione smirked at Draco's expression, startled at her comeback.

Composing himself, Draco looked the Mudblood up and down, noticing her new look. She had rolled up her pleated skirt so that it rested seductively on her hips, and it followed the contour of her behind very nicely. She had also failed to button her shirt up fully, and her black lace bra was showing through the top, and a small part of her full, rounded breasts were showing. Her hair was darker, a better look for her, and overall, for a Mudblood, she was looking good.

"So, Mudblood, what's the new look about? Trying for Slutty Chic this term, are you?"

Draco smirked at his insult, secretly feeling himself stiffen slightly as he saw a little more of her bra peeking out the top of her shirt as she leaned towards him.

"Actually, haven't you heard, Draco..." He loved hearing her say his name like that, rolling the "r" in his name so that he could see her pink lips pursed for a moment, "I'm adopted, apparently. My birth certificate states that I'm more pureblood than you think. And half-Slytherin as well. If I were to tell you who my real father was, I think you'd be surprised. And if the semi you're sporting at the moment says anything, I think the look I'm going for currently seems to be working."

Now that the corridor had emptied, Draco could feel the electricity between them in the air. He walked towards Hermione, so close that they were almost touching, and he leaned his mouth towards her ear.

"Don't pretend you don't want a piece of this, Granger..." he whispered, sliding his hands down the sides of her breasts, along her waist, and round to her arse, which he cupped and squeezed.

Hermione knew what she was about to do was wrong, but she enjoyed it all the same. Placing her hands on Draco's hard, muscular chest, Hermione pushed her hips towards his, so that the puddle of wetness that had formed from Draco touching her pushed against him down below. Leaning into him, she moved her face up to his, their lips only millimetres apart. She moved her face to his ear, and whispered, "Come and get it."

At this exact moment, the train jolted, Draco and Hermione were separated by this movement, and Ron and Harry exited a compartment a few down. Seeing Draco, Ron instinctively moved for his wand, but Harry held his arm.

"Move along Malfoy."

"Of course, Potter. Anything for my favourite Gryffindor. Watch your back this term, Weasel." And he sauntered out of the carriage to his friends further along, throwing a quick glance at Hermione and smirking at her.

"I need to talk to you, Harry. Now. Ron, go find Luna or something. We don't need you here as well." Hermione said harshly, offending Ron who stormed off.

"What's wrong Hermione? What's happened to you, you look different?" Harry said with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Come in, we need to talk." The compartment door closed.

After a long conversation, Harry sat with his head in his hands across from Hermione, tears in his eyes. What Hermione had just told him had changed everything he had ever thought about his life. She had filled him in on everything she had discovered from the box from her mother – her real mother, that is.

"So, my mother...Lily...is also your mother?"

"Yeah, apparently she had an affair while she was on a mission from the Order of the Phoenix, and then gave me up because she loved your father so much and didn't want him to know about her dirty little secret."

Harry was still waiting for the information to sink in. Hermione was his half-sister? How could his mother have ever cheated on James, the man she had loved so much? He had always idolised his mother, and now all he knew about her had crashed down around him. His mother had given birth to Hermione!

"And who is your father? Your real one, I mean, the one my mum...the one Lily slept with?"

"You know him." Hermione knew this was going to break Harry's heart, but he deserved to know the truth.

"I don't know Hermione, just tell me, for Merlin's sake! I want to know who the bastard is that slept with my mother!" Harry's face had turned red in his anger.

"Apparently...it's Snape. She had been sent on a mission to try and recover what information she could from him, he was Death Eater at the time and Lily was sent to rendezvous with him to try and coax him to the Order's side.."

"SNAPE? BUT HE'S...AND SHE...BUT HE'S VILE! He hated my mother and father! Why? I don't understand!" Harry got to his feet, and snatched the birth certificate from Hermione's hands to read for himself that Snape was her father.

"Look, Harry..." Hermione began to explain.

"How is this even possible? We're in the same year, we're the same age. How can we have the same mother but different fathers? Isn't that kind of impossible?"

"My birthday is September 1979, and yours is July 1980. Thats a 10 month difference, Harry. Lily would have had to conceived you within a month or so of giving birth to me, but according to the birth certificate, that's what happened. I'm sorry okay, but I'm not any happier than you about this!"

There was a loud crack as Harry slapped Hermione around the face, and swung the carriage door open.

"Leave me alone, you..."

"You what, Harry? Mudblood? Cos I'm family now, whether you like it or not." Hermione screamed at him, holding her hand to the red mark on her face that Harry had just created.

Albus Dumbledore had just been summoned to the Great Hall by Professor McGonagall to arrange some travel details for the next trip to Hogsmeade in a few weeks, when Hermione Granger burst through the door of his office, her face bright red and tears streaming down her face.

"Ah, Miss Granger, I see you've learned the truth about your parents over the holidays. I am so sorry, my dear. Please know you are always valued and loved here at Hogwarts, if you need some love and support." Dumbledore took her hand and squeezed it to show his affection – he never had been a man for hugging.

"Professor, I mean...Headmaster...I really need to speak to you. Everything in my life has changed, and I'm so confused! I don't know where I belong anymore!"

Dumbledore reached up to a shelf for the Sorting Hat, and passed it to the teary-eyed girl. "Dear, I have to go and speak to Professor McGonagall for a brief moment, but why don't you have a chat with the Hat, and I'll be back in a few minutes."

With that, he took a sherbet lemon from a bowl on his desk, popped it in his mouth and walked out of his office, closing the door behind him.

"So much for love and support, what's this stupid hat going to tell me except what it already has done, Gryffindor!" Hermione blubbed to herself.

"Well, if you never try me on, you'll never know, will you?" The Hat's said.

Hermione, although being familiar with the wizarding world, could never quite understand how a hat could talk. She had already worn it once, in her first year, as all other students had done, to sort them into the different houses. It had firmly decided she was a Gryffindor, although Hermione remembered it had hesitated for a moment or two. It couldn't hurt to let it have another look could it?

Placing it on her head, Hermione began to think of all the things that had happened to her over the past few years as a Gryffindor. She had thought Harry and Ron were her best friends, but Harry had treated her as if she were nothing on the Hogwarts Express, and she deserved, no...she demanded, to be treated better than that.

"Demanded eh? Starting to get a little bit ambitious are we? Well let me tell you something I've learned over the past few hundred years, little Gryffindor. You can be...whoever you want to be. I noticed a bit of a dark streak in you when you came here, but you were so focussed on being a Gryffindor, or a Ravenclaw, that you supressed that dark side. You can be whoever you want to be."

And with that, Hermione placed the hat on Dumbledore's desk, smirked and sauntered out of the Headmaster's office. The tears from moments ago were still flooding down her face, but this time they were tears of anger. It was her time to be whoever she wanted to be, like the Hat had told her.