Epilogue

The girl crumpled to the ground, her breath coming in short grasps. She watched as the men who followed her father left the room without looking back. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down. The girl repeatedly told herself to relax and to take deep breaths. She could still feel the affects of the spell, the pain continued to linger.

Even after eleven years, the cruciartus curse never seemed to get easier.

It's alright, Siran, she said to herself. You'll get through this. You always do. The girl, Siran, was miserable and she had every right to be. Her father's men had been 'punishing' her for disobeying her father and today, they decided to do it in the form of the cruciartus curse. She hated her life, but what could she do?

Ever since she was six years old, Siran had lived in hell. Not the usual teenage hell, her world was filled with things that would make the bravest of men cry. She was tortured weekly for somehow displeasing her father, the only people she knew that were her age were either death eaters or servants, and she was not allowed to go anywhere, unless accompanied by ten death eaters who would all have strict orders not to let anyone near her. There were even bars on her windows to make sure she never tried anything.

She sighed. Siran would expect nothing less for the daughter of Lord Voldemort. She hated herself for her blood, she was living kin with the man who was responsible for the way that the world had become. All Siran had ever known were foggy, starless nights - courtesy of the dementors - and waking up to screams in the middle of the night. The word 'summer' held no meaning for her.

And worst of all, if she ever expressed how she felt, a session like what had just occurred would happen.

Siran despised who she was and often wished that she at least had someone to talk to, someone who understood. She shook her head, that was too much to hope for. Siran had only known one person who was strong enough to shelter her from her father, only one person who had ever truly loved her.

That person was her mother.

Siran had very few memories of the time when she lived with her mother and none of them were substantial ones either. It was as simple as having a tea party with dolls, or picking flowers to make a bouquet. Most of the memories she had were of her and a woman. The woman looked very similar to her but she was the most beautiful person that Siran had ever seen. What she really loved about this mysterious figure, was that she was always smiling, always watching over her, and always full of love.

Siran shook her head in a feebly attempt to clear her thoughts, knowing the direction they would soon take. It did not stop her from remembering that day. The day when her father entered her life.

Over the years she had done her best to forget it, but it was something that haunted her dreams more than any torture session she had been forced to endure. It was not even a full memory. All Siran remembered was the fear of seeing Voldemort for the first time, and the pain and desperation she felt as she watched the kind woman fall to the floor.

After that, the gates of hell opened and locked her in, keeping her trapped inside even now. That was where she had been for the following eleven years. Siran was now seventeen years old and had changed tremendously from the innocent, shy little girl, to the young women that she was now.

She stood up painfully and walked over to her bathroom. She stumbled over to the sink and splashed water into her face. She looked up into the mirror at her reflection.

Had she gotten proper sleep and had never been tortured, she would have been the most beautiful girl in all of England. Even with the sunken eyes and the scars she made every model in the world jealous. Her hair was a deep chocolate color that had soft curls. She had tan skin and was slightly under the average height. Siran's figure was slender but curvy, something death eaters often took advantage of, and her face was gorgeous.

But the thing that really made people stare at her was her eyes. Siran's eyes were a combination of two colors. Around the pupil, there was a ring of soft hazel which was then surrounded by a ring of midnight blue.

Siran heard the door open and her head snapped up. Very cautiously, she entered back into her room to find her servant there.

Jill, the servant, was a very quiet woman. She was about twenty years older than Siran and had been her maid since she had been taken from her mother.

Jill was usually calm and collected but today, she was panicked and frightened.

"Miss Siran," she said hurriedly. "The Dark Lord has called for you. He was furious and has already killed three servants today. Something happened, something bad."

Siran closed her eyes for a moment, composing herself, before she said, "Then we better not keep him waiting."

Jill nodded and started leading the way down the stairs to where her father was waiting. Upon her entrance, Siran was met with an assortment of unexplained painful curses.

It continued for almost half an hour when Siran lost consciousness. She awoke in the middle of the night to find that she was in the medical wing. She propped herself up and looked around, her eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness.

Much to her surprise, she was alone. She got up cautiously, ignoring the pain that erupted all over her body. She searched the room, trying to find a trace of any death eaters or servants. There was none.

For the first time in eleven years, Siran was truly alone. No one was spying on her as she slept, no one was 'escorting' her when she went to an unfamiliar part of the castle, no one was there.

Knowing that it was rash and knowing that she might not survive the consequences, Siran snuck out of the door, careful to cast a disillusionment charm on herself. She stealthily walked through the halls, knowing exactly when to turn. In a few minutes she arrived at the desired location, a statue of a one-eyed witch with a hump on her back.

She had heard two servants talking about a secret passageway that was supposed to be here. Following what one of them said to do, she muttered the incantation. Much to her surprise, the hump opened up to a dark hallway.

Cautiously looking around, and seeing the hall empty, Siran illuminated the tip of her wand and started walking, making sure to close the entrance behind her.

She walked until she came to the fork that the servant had talked about. According to him, turning right would lead to Hogsmede. Siran shook her head, she had no interest of going there. It was too close to the castle anyway. She turned towards the left and started walking.

The underground hallway seemed to go on for miles and Siran was sure that she had been walking for at least forty five minutes before she saw a dim light ahead. She hastened her pace and the late grew. When she had left the passageway, Siran found herself in the middle of what seemed to be an ordinary forest.

Not wanting to turn back, Siran started walking and felt an odd prickling down her spine. She did not even think about where her feet were taking her, they seemed to know all on their own.

By this time, the sun was starting to rise and Siran could see that it was indeed a regular forest. She paused and looked around at the trees. She looked toward the left and saw that there appeared to be a clearing nearby. She followed her instincts and headed in that direction.

She gasped when she entered the clearing. Right before her was a small cabin. Unable to turn away from her curiosity, Siran walked up to it and nervously pushed open the door. The hinges protested and let out a screech. She ignored the noise.

Taking in her surroundings, Siran saw that door opened right into a homey living room and kitchen. A thick layer of dust filled the room and a few chairs were overturned. Her eyes were drawn to something on the floor. She knelt down to pick it up and saw that it was a stuffed rabbit. As soon as her fingers made contact, realization came screaming into her mind.

Flobbers. Mr. Flobbers.

Siran started shaking. She knew this place. She had been here before.

The teenage girl walked into the closest room to her and entered. The dust was just as thick here and Siran had to refrain from coughing. She looked around to see that it was a simple room, the walls were a faded purple color and there was a bed, bookshelf and desk.

Siran saw something on the desk and saw it was an envelope. She opened it and looked inside. Much to her surprise, there was a letter inside. With trembling hands, Siran pulled it out and began to read.

To whoever finds this letter, if anyone does,

I'm going to die tomorrow. I can't escape it. I can't escape from him. By now I have accepted this fact. I may not like it, but I have nonetheless accepted it. The thing that I can't accept is that my daughter will be taken by her father. That is, if he doesn't kill her.

I suppose I should start from the beginning. I fought at the final battle of Hogwarts. I was there the night that the dark one, I watched as my friends each fell to their deaths. But I escaped. By some cruel twisted fate, I ended up being one of the last two standing. The other being Voldemort. Before he could kill me, I sent myself back in time with the hope that I would prevent the future.

But nothing went as I planned.

Somehow, I fell in love with Tom Riddle. I don't know if you know this, but that was his name before he became evil. Voldemort used to be called Tom Riddle and during his seventh year at Hogwarts, we fell in love.

Saying it that way makes it sound so different than it was. We hated each other. He despised me because I was just as smart as he was, if not smarter. I hated him because he grew up and killed everything I loved. The idea of getting along was not very promising. But somehow things changed and he changed. I had made Voldemort good. It sounds impossible, I know, but it happened.

Then I got pregnant.

It was when I had learned this that I realized that my mission was doomed to fail. It is impossible to change fate, something I knew but never really understood. By going back in time, I only did what was destined of me. I did the thing that caused my life to fall apart. I created Voldemort.

I knew that I could never raise my daughter in such a world, knowing what was her father was going to become. I had to protect her, and so I left. I returned back to my original time and raised her for six wonderful years.

I was able to hide her for so long but now, I don't know if we'll escape in time. When I first set up the protection for this house, I made apparition impossible from night time to noon. It seemed like a smart idea at the time and only now do I know how foolish it was. Now that it has condemned me and my daughter.

Voldemort is coming. He is going to kill me and take my daughter. My baby, my Siri.

I guess I'm writing this letter so that someone knows the truth. I want someone to understand why everything happens and I want someone to know that I absolutely hate myself for everything I caused.

It's because of me that countless have died and suffered. I tried to at least make things better for my daughter but now that has backfired as well.

I wish I could tell my Siran how much I love her. I want to tell her to be strong and to remember that I always loved her and will never stop. I want to apologize to her. Her father has probably taken her and put her through more than I can imagine. I want to hold her in my arms and never let go.

But I can't do any of that. All I can do, is let my daughter sleep as I write this note, the only documentation of the truth. One day, when the world is healed, I hope it can forgive me. Until then, I will watch over my daughter from wherever it is that I go.

There is nothing more for me to say. I have tried to protect my daughter, but I failed. I tried to save the world, but I failed. And now, as I try to gain a shred of redemption, I know that I would fail.

My heart goes out to you, whoever you are. I hope that by the time this letter is discovered, the world is once again the way it should be. But if not, I apologize. As sincerely as I possibly can, I tell you that I am sorry. Whoever you are, try to keep you life unscarred for as long as you can. And try to protect whoever you love. But make sure you did a better job than I did. I would not wish this on anyone, not even the man that is going to kill me tomorrow.

And now I say goodbye. Maybe I'll see you, whoever you are, in heaven. If I am lucky enough to go there some day.

Hermione Jean Granger

A/N: i thought about it, and I went with an epilogue. What did you think? Surprisingly, only one person noticed in the chapter before that Hermione sat down to write something (the letter). Oh well, hopefully it was just the one person who wrote it in a review and that everyone else just decided to comment on how I kept messing up with the names.

About that, sorry, I know that about a hundred times I messed up. I called Hermione, Granger instead of Grendell, I called her both a pureblood and a muggleborn, I mixed up Lily and Lisa, I spelled regular words wrong, I had sentences that didn't make sense... my bad. Hopefully you were able to just ignore all of that and focus on the story. If not then I really am sorry, but cut a thirteen year old some slack. How perfect can you expect my grammer and typing skills to be?

Anyway, thank you tremendously to all who reviewed and read. It meant a lot to get all of the encouraging reviews and I really want to say thank you to all of you.

Thanks again.