A/N- Well my lovelies here is you next chapter. I know that this one may seem pointless and boring, but every story has that boring part (at least in my opinion it does). Also sorry about the lack of Hermione and Draco. Next chapter I promise there will be some action. Just can't tell you whom.

Now to answer to the very perceptive reviewer, I am trying something different. And our dear Blaise needs someone will drive him crazy. Especially a certain Blonde lady, don't you think? lol.

Thanks to everyone that reads my story. So once again and for always.

Enjoy.

Dec. 20th

Journal,

Well last night was certainly a night to remember. I couldn't believe how drunk I got, and how drunk the rest of us got. It was a fun time, and a night that I am sure a lot of wishes they could forget. I on the other hand completely and totally wished that I would forget the "incident" that happened with McLaggen. But unfortunately it seems like I haven't forgotten about the incident. And I don't think that I am likely to forget about it! And it seems like everybody else in the group has forgotten about the whole night. Like why am I the only one with this curse?

Yes journal, I consider it a curse of gigantic portions. Like really, talking to Harry, Ginny, and everybody else that was in Gryffindor they conveniently forgot the whole night. But did I? Nope not a chance.

Now the thing that I do remember quite clearly is Hermione being tossed over Malfoy's shoulders, and whisked away from the whole ordeal. Now I wonder what the hell is going on between the two of them. Not only because of last night, but because the past couple of months they have quite subtly been giving each other knowing smirks, knowing smiles, and the sexual tension between the two of them make me think that what I have with Lav, is nothing. It makes me and every other guy in this castle quite jealous, and envious.

Not that I am a little wary of Hermione and Malfoy, but I want Hermione to be happy. When we didn't realize that we were suited for each other, I felt bad. I truly love Hermione, I do. But if we went by what friends and my family wanted, we wouldn't have been very happy together. And that though made the both of us very uncomfortable and sad.

I wish her the best of luck with him, and I hope it works out some way, some how. Now I better leave you journal before Lav comes and yells at about why I am still not packed for today. We are going to the Burrow for Christmas, and unfortunately Hermione won't be joining us. I hope that everything goes okay with her. For the reason why she said she wasn't coming was vague.

She'll tell us eventually, I know that she will.

Thanks again

Ron

Hermione stood on the platform and waved good-bye to her friends. She smiled when Harry mouthed "Write" and gave a small chuckle when Ron's head banged against the window so he could give his byes as well. She let her hand fall to her side when she saw the caboost of the train go whirling by her.

She turned towards the stairs, and let the smile on her face fall. She hated that she had to stay away from her second family, and even from her parents, the Grangers. But since that letter, how could she face them when she read the second one? It was hard for her to think about what the letter would say. Would it say what happened? Would it tell her if Draco was actually her betroth? She just wanted it to tell her why. Why for everything and why her 'family', either then Blaise, wanted her dead.

Her thoughts then came to fall on Harry. She now, in a sense, knew how he felt. How someone he didn't even know wanted him dead. She smiled then at how Voldemort was dead, and he was finally gone from their lives. That how Harry could live his life the way he wanted too. Also how Harry was free to love Ginny, and not have to worry about Voldemort using Ginny as a way to get to Harry.

Hermione looked around the area, and realized that she was now at the stairs leading into the castle. She paused to think about the first time, and every other time, she had walked up these very stairs. She had walked up these stairs as Hermione Jean Granger. And some how come next year, she would be walking up these stairs with a different name. Oh she knew and had a gut feeling that come January 1st her name would no longer exist. Hermione Granger would disappear, and Maria Zabini-Craig would walk up instead.

This scared her.

A name is something that you live by. It is a name that you are suppose to live with forever. And Hermione hated the fact that her name would no longer grace people mouths. She sighed, thinking that it she shouldn't have the 'poor done by' attitude. But for once she felt that she deserved to have the attitude, deserved to have the pity party for herself.

Hermione eventually reached the head room.

"Fuzzy Bears." She said to the portrait.

"You know Dumbledore picks the weirdest passwords for you guys."

Hermione smiled at the portrait. It was a portrait of a little girl with long black hair sitting in a meadow. It had a small brooke trailing in the corner, with trees and flowers in every which direction. The girl's name was Taylor and she loved to sit in the swing that would forever go back and forth. Taylor had once told Hermione that the painter had thought it funny that, unlike other magical portraits, she would be stuck by herself. Living in only a meadow, and other head persons for company. Hermione thought it sad that this girl would never know the company of other portraits, and always be lonely.

"I know he does, but that is the head master for you." Hermione smiled when Taylor giggled.

"I'm going to miss calling you Hermione."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Now why would you say that?"

"My uncle, the painter, told me that a girl named Hermione would be gone on December 25th 1997." Taylor smiled whimsically. "I thought it odd of course. But I was so very happy to meet you Hermione. So very happy."

"Who was your uncle?"

"Oh I never told you?" Taylor giggled a child like giggle. "Well I guess I should tell you the story first, that is if you have time?"

Hermione sighed. "I do. There's not that many people left at Hogwart's this Christmas time." She then conjured a chair, and sat down for the tale. Hermione watched then as Taylor moved closer to the front of the portrait, and watch as Taylor dipped her feet in the brooke.

"It all started on a day like this. Sunny, not a cloud in sight. My Uncle Belmont, the painter, decided that I need to go outside and enjoy the fresh air. Now the thing in this time, 1605, we didn't have all the healing spells that you have today, and even we were too proud to go ask a muggle doctor or midwife. I'm sure that if we went to go ask them I would have lived longer than I did. But the fact is that my family, even I, were too proud as purebloods to ask for a muggles help."

"Now on this day Uncle Belmont asked my father if he could take me outside to paint me in a portrait that he felt would reflect who I was and would have been if I wasn't so sick. My father reluctantly allowed me to go. I was so happy that day. So happy that I was allowed to leave the walls that I only knew. Allowed to step outside in the fresh air, that I had been denied for so very long. My family saw this and it was then that they knew that keeping me inside was a mistake. A mistake that they would live with for the rest of their lives."

Hermione watch as Taylor stood up, and gave a little twirl. She watched as the little girl smiled in pure delight.

"My uncle brought me to this spot. He told me that I had to stay still for a while. Well a while was actually an hour. I watched as he painted me with love in his eyes, and a sadness that I never knew. It was a joyful day, and it was then that the reality of my sickness kicked in. I was going to die. I hated that. So I stood like he told me too. Once he looked up for the final time, he said to me 'Go child. Dance. Play. Be gay.' And I did. I allowed myself to play for the first time. I allowed myself to dance in circles till I fell to the ground. I was allowed to be the real me."

"It wasn't until we got back to the castle that I found out about you. My uncle took me aside and told me that in thousands of years from now a girl would be born from my blood. A girl that would be the smartest to ever grace the halls of Hogwart's...."

"So your saying that I came from you? That you are my great-great-great...well however many greats Grandmother?"

Taylor smiled. "Yes, Hermione. You belong to my family, and I am so very proud of you. But let me finish."

"Sorry." Hermione mumbled.

"Quite alright dear." Taylor looked up to the sky, and then back to Hermione. "Now where was I? Oh yes. Well basically I was told that you would be born of mine and Zabini blood. That you would go through heart ships, and pain. You would find your love, and forever love him. It was all so unreal and yet I believed my Uncle Belmont. After that day I found out that I was to married to another pureblood, Parkinson, and a year later I gave birth to my son. I was so happy that day. I hated his father and yet I loved the boy that he gave me." Hermione heard Taylor's voice start to shake. "I found out that I had a week to live, that me giving birth to my son was something that should have never happened. My family looked at me with such sadness and then at my boy with such hatred. I was never suppose to have children Hermione. The healers back then said that me having a child was going to kill me. That I should at the beginning get rid of the child."

Hermione felt a tear slip past both her eyes. She continued to listen.

"I refused and told them that I would rather die then give up the boy that grew within me. They let it go. My uncle Belmont was the only one their for me. He was the one that said 'No matter what, your son will know who you are. I'll make sure of it.' I realized that the portrait he drew of me was the only photo of me. I cried. I would forever be 12 years old. It was a exactly a week after my son's birth that I died. And my soul traveled to this portrait to where I would live forever. I watched each family member be born and each member die."

Hermione raised a hand to wipe the tears that flowed freely down her cheeks. "What's your full name Taylor?"

Taylor turned to walk back to her swing. She sat on it, and leaned against the ancient rope. "Taylor was a nickname my uncle gave me, Hermione. My given name is Elizabeth Anne Aurora Parkinson nee Craig."

Hermione's hand flew to her mouth. "You watched me the whole time, knowing who I was?"

Taylor nodded. "And it was hard watching you, even Blaise walk by me each year. I loved watching the two of you grow, and the two of you become friends. I wanted to tell you sooner Hermione. You have to believe that."

Hermione nodded. "I think I do. I always wondered why the Head portrait changed this year. Now I know why. But how did you get Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall to agree?"

Taylor laughed. "I basically told them that Dumbledore promised me when he became headmaster that I would be able to live here for this year. I also told them that if they didn't listen to that I would get Peeves to bugger them."

Hermione laughed. "That would get Snape going."

"It certainly did. But it is time Hermione. Go inside and open the letter."

"I will," Hermione looked up and smiled "Grandmother."

Taylor opened the door, and watched Hermione disappear from her sight. She closed it and sighed.

"You did the right thing Taylor."

"I know Albus. It was hard."

Albus stepped out from his place and stood in front of the portrait. "She is a strong girl." He watched as Taylor only nodded her head. "Though I am surprised Ms. Granger never asked about your illness. I never did either. What did you have my dear?"

Taylor looked at him with sadness in her eyes. "Leukemia. I died of a muggle disease, Leukemia."

"I don't know what to say Taylor."

Taylor looked at the never ending sunshine. "Don't. Don't say anything." She turned and smiled. "Sometimes that is the best thing."

"Then I won't." Albus bowed and walked away.

Taylor let the tear that was being held fall freely. She walked to her swing and sat down, letting the momentum push her. She then remembered the last words that her dear Uncle Belmont said to her that day she died.

Live.

********

Hermione walked to her trunk and opened the lid. She reached her hand in and pulled out the letter that was hidden underneath her muggle clothes. She lifted the letter out and flipped it over to the back. She saw that the seal that refused to come undone at the time she she found out was cracked. She smirked at the irony.

She carefully pulled apart the seal and pulled out the parchments inside. She then walked over to her bed, and started to read the first one.

My dearest Maria,

When you read this I will have been long gone. I just, firstly, want to let you know that your mother and I love you very much. It brought us so much pain that you had to leave our side, and that we would have to live without knowing your smile, and your laugh. That we would have to live without knowing who you are. It pains us very much.

By know you have met one of my relatives and you know now that you are indeed a relative of the Craig's and the Parkinson's. Yes that means any Pansy Parkinson is a cousin of yours and I can only hope that the two of you get along.

Hermione snorted at this. If only this man knew the truth about her and Parkinson.

Now I am going to tell you the why, but not the how. Your mother and I flipped a coin. I lost. So I get to tell you the why. Why you had to get adopted and why you are only finding out now.

Voldemort at the time had just risen to power, and you mother had just married me. I never cared for Voldemort, nor his ways. I loved all beings, and believed very firmly about equal rights. Wherever it be pure, half, or muggleborn blood. I believed that we are all equal in that sense. Cause when it comes down to it Maria. We are all human, and I hope that you turn out like this. Despite our blood, we all have eyes, ears, mouths and hearts. We are all humans. This was something Tom never thought of or believed. So I dismissed his crazed ideas.

But I didn't know at the time that Tom was very much interested in having me join his Death Eaters. I didn't know when I meet your mother, nor when we had you. It wasn't until a year after you were born, and Voldemort killed the Potter's. James was a good person, and Lily was also. It killed me and even your mother that he killed them. It also made us realize that if we refuse to join him, then he could do the same to us. Also leaving you without a family to live with. Just like Harry.

And if your wondering, I was friends with Lily Potter. You had play dates with Harry when he was born, and you absolutely abhorred him. You hated the fact that he got all the attention whenever we went to visit. You used to steal all the toys around him, even used to steal his bottles. But I am getting the look from your mother. So I better get back to the story.

But to make a long story short. It was either we joined or die. And we refused to join. It was at before we were going to walk into the adoption centre that we came up with this plan. We placed the appearance spell on you and walked through the doors.

Were so very sorry Maria. So very sorry that we put you through this. So very sorry that the parents that I know you love are not your birth. But this is my selfishness talking. I love you as well. So whatever your name is now Maria, I am truly very sorry.

Always

Daddy

Hermione placed the parchments down for a minute. She took a deep breathe and let the frustrated scream pass through her lips. She screamed for Voldemort doing this to her and to Harry. For making it so that she couldn't know who her true family was. For making her go through this all at seventeen. For just being the jerk that he was.

Once Hermione felt she had calmed down a bit she picked back up the parchments. She placed her father's letter on the bed beside her, and started to read her mother's.

Maria,

By now you have read your father's letter, and let me tell you that the man is exasperating! Can't do one simple letter without trailing off on another subject. But I love the man and only Merlin knows why.

So I get to tell you the how. Well once we reached the muggle adoption centre, we came across the Granger's. We wanted to give you the best possible home, and one look at the Granger's kind faces and soft voices we knew that they were the ones. I held you in my arms, and looked down at your small form. Yes, you were small even at two years old and I am sorry for that Maria. But we sat down and talked to them and told them everything. About our world, and about what would happen to you. They accepted it without question Maria. It made us happy. It made us sad.

Your father and I hugged you for the last time, and we knew it was the last time that we would ever get to see you. Kissed you and regrettably oblivated your memories of us. We watched as Mrs. Granger took you into her arms, and feel in complete love with you. Now we never told them to keep your name, and watched as you were walked out of the centre.

Now I would love to be able to tell you why I was disowned by my family, except my mama. But mama told me that she wanted to tell you that story. So you will have to wait darling. I am sorry once again.

I am sorry for leaving you and not knowing you as well. I am sorry for everything that you will go through. Also for confusing you about who you are. I am sorry Maria. I really am.

Love

Mama

Hermione fell back on the bed. "Well that just explains it all, doesn't it?"

She sighed and sat back up. She folded the parchments up carefully, and placed them back into the envelope. As she was placing them into the envelope she felt something brush against her fingers. She pulled it out and watched in fascination as the bracelet. She looked silver chain and frowned at the small piece of paper attached to it. She flipped it over and read the numbers.

"1...2...3" Hermione then felt the tug of the portkey. "Damn!"