A/N: Thank you to my BETA DarklyDreaming and to Jessirose85 for the idea!
Chapter 6:
Previously in Chapter 5: The door opened to a very angry looking Severus Snape.
"Miss Granger, I am in no mood to put up with your ridiculous questions this evening. Anything you are curious about can wait until class on Tuesday, and even then please refrain from speaking."
"But Sir…"
"No, Miss Granger. Go to bed." He stated.
He was about to shut the door when she said, "Sir, it's about Lucius Malfoy." He froze. "I need to talk to you about the situation."
"Did the Headmaster send you?"
"No sir, I came of my own accord." He looked over his shoulder and after a few seconds he nodded and opened the door allowing her entrance. He shut the door forcefully and Hermione jumped slightly at the sound. He walked over to his desk and stood behind it. It was then that she noticed that there were three people sitting at Snape's desk; and not just any three, the Malfoy family themselves, all looked very distraught. Mrs. Malfoy actually looked as if she had been crying.
"I am sorry sir; I didn't realize that you were in a meeting. I could come back later."
She turned and Snape said, "Miss Granger, you came of your own accord to discuss Mr. Malfoy's situation. He is here to discuss the same thing. If you are not here for any reason but that of your own, I tell you to stay. You may get the answers you need." She looked down at her feet before turning around to face the group again. When she did, she nodded and took a few steps to the desk, but then something in her mind made her freeze.
She opened her mouth to say something, but before anything could come out, her sight went black for a moment, and then a vision came into her mind:
A miniature version of herself, she supposed maybe three or four. There was a man pushing her on a muggle swing.
"Does my Mia Bear want to go higher?"
"Higher, Daddy," said the small child.
The man pushed a bit harder causing her to go higher, and the little girl squealed in delight.
Then her vision went black again taking her back to the classroom, and she started to cry.
Snape walked over to the crying girl but before he could say anything she said, "Mia Bear." Almost before he could react, her eyes rolled back in her head and she became limp. Luckily, before she hit the stone floor, Snape caught her. He didn't know what to do; he looked at the three others in the room, all with a look of realization on their face.
"Lucius, what do you think?"
"That's her, that's our Mia."
"Father how can you be sure?"
"I only called her that when we were in the privacy of our own home or simply just us, no one could know that except for the three in this room."
Draco fell silent and Lucius continued, "Severus, maybe we should go someplace more private and comfortable."
Severus nodded and picked up the girl in a cradled position, one arm around her back and the other under her knees. They walked to his private quarters where he set her on the couch. Narcissa went to start water while Lucius conjured a blanket to cover the young Gryffindor. They all sat down around the sitting area, Lucius and Narcissa sitting on one armchair while Draco leaned against the mantle, and Severus naturally took the other armchair next to his friend.
Narcissa got up and sat on the floor next to the couch tucking her feet underneath her. "Lucius, it's her, it's our baby girl." Narcissa said getting all teary eyed.
Lucius followed her actions and sat in front of her next to his daughter, "I know dear, I can hardly believe it myself." Narcissa leaned into her husband's chest to hide her tears; this had to be the best thing that has happened to them in a long time. Everyone tried to stay quiet so not to wake her too suddenly.
She eventually did awaken and when she opened her eyes, she didn't recognize where she was. It wasn't the Gryffindor Common room; even with the dimming embers of the fire, the common room wasn't nearly as dark as the one she was in. She turned her head and jumped up. Next to her was Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy. Draco and Snape were sitting in two matching armchairs on the other side of the coffee table.
There was a sudden pain in her head and she laid back down. "Miss Granger, are you alright?" Snape asked from his chair.
"My head hurts," she said.
"Here take this. It's a headache potion." Snape handed her a small vial filled with a purple liquid, she downed it and sat up, slowly this time.
"Miss Granger do you remember anything?"
Hermione thought for a second, "I remember reading the Prophet this evening while on the train and reading an article about Lucius Malfoy and being quite upset about it. I didn't know why a man that had made my life miserable for the past four years could have that effect on me after all that has happened so I wanted to see you and see if you could clarify anything for me. I entered your office and you were talking to the Malfoys already so I turned to leave, you told me to stay so I did. As I turned around I remember something from my childhood. I was on a swing, I suppose I was the age of three or four, and my father was pushing me, he called me Mia Bear and then it all went black."
"Oh well that explains your eagerness for answers," Severus said with a smirk.
"Isn't the Know-it-all always eager for answers?" Draco asked with his usual venom behind it.
"Draco that's enough," Narcissa snapped. "Um, Miss Granger, my husband and I have something we would like you to know."
Hermione slid to the center of the couch so that the two older Malfoys could join her. "What is it Mrs. Malfoy?"
"Oh please dear, it's Narcissa, or Cissy if you would like. Mrs. Malfoy is my mother in law." Narcissa smiled at the young lady in front of her. "Anyway, did you know that we have a second child?"
"No."
"Well, we do, a young daughter in fact."
"Oh," she didn't know what to say, the people who hate people like her are sharing something quite personal to them. "Narcissa, I appreciate the openness that you are showing, but why are you sharing something so personal with me? I am a mudblood and it's not something shared between our families."
"Don't call yourself something so ugly, Miss Granger," Lucius requested.
"Why not, your son does?"
"Draco, is this true?" Narcissa asked appalled.
"Yes," Draco said looking at his feet, "back in second year, so obviously it was before recent facts came in to play."
Lucius let it drop for now but he and his son were going to have a talk later. "Yes well, despite that, this is something that needs to be told to you."
"Ok, then please continue."
Lucius looked at his wife who nodded, "Our daughter we were forced to give up at a young age, four years old to be exact. She was my little girl despite what Narcissa says; anyway, I put her in a muggle orphanage to protect her. A few months later the threat was over, for a good fourteen years anyway, and I didn't think that she had been adopted in such a short amount of time and I went back for her, but she was gone, never to be heard from again. We were devastated. She was our little girl and we had failed to keep her safe. I have searched for years for our daughter. She would be about your age now, if I had done my job."
"No offense sir. I understand what you are saying, but I don't feel that you did fail her. She might still be alive."
"Oh she is Miss Granger; she is very much alive and well." Severus said.
"I'm confused; I thought that you hadn't heard from her."
"Oh come on Granger, think about it. And please tell me that you are not as thick as your two comrades."
"What my son is trying to say is that we have found her."
"That's great!"
"Yes but she thinks that we hate her. She probably won't want anything to do with us," Draco said.
"I am sure that she would forgive you, and understand, if not right away, then in time when she came to realize that it was for the best. I know that if I was her, I could forgive you. You loved her so much."
"So can you forgive us?" Narcissa asked.
"What?"
"Mia, my dear sweet Mia Bear, can you forgive your family for the things we have put you through, both physically and mentally over the years?"
"I…"
"Hermione, you are the sister that I have spent years helping to look for, and my - well OUR - parents are asking you to forgive them. Do you think that you could do that? You already said that you would. All we are asking is that your 'would' could be a 'could.'"
Hermione didn't know what to say. She was shocked. It all made sense as to why they divulged to her such personal information. They thought that she was their Mia Bear. She stood and ran from the room to Gryffindor tower. She didn't see the tears in Narcissa's eyes nor did she see her lean into her husband for comfort from the rejection from their daughter.