Hey guys.

I'm co-writing this story with britbeing18: /u/2736227/ :) She came to me with this idea, so we're turning it into a bit story XD

Anyway, here's Chapter One! I hope it's better than the last chapter one XD

Chapter One – Secrets

Hermione's life was turned upside down by a letter – a measly piece of parchment, brought in by an owl that interrupted dinner in the Granger's household.

Hermione had wondered about the look that passed between her two parents as they'd picked it up. She'd internally questioned the fear they displayed on their faces.

Her mother had sent her up to her room, and Hermione was reluctant to leave, but the look on her mother's face had told her not to argue.

She couldn't figure out who the letter was from or what it was about – it wasn't a Hogwarts owl, it wasn't an owl that belonged to any of the Weasley's and it wasn't Harry's new owl Athena. The only people that would have any reason to write to her parents would be someone from Hogwarts, but it didn't have the school's seal either.

Hermione waited for her parents to call her down, as she knew they would. In the meantime, she read another book, the most recent book she'd found in the Black's Family Library; The Purest of Pureblood. The book hadn't really held much interest to her, but it was one of the few she hadn't read yet, and she couldn't go to Diagon Alley unless she wanted to be bombarded with paparazzi.

So she sucked it up, and read the book. Every Pureblood family was mentioned – The Potters, The Longbottoms, The Malfoys, The Blacks and so many others that she'd never even heard of.

She spent about an hour reading, trying not to think about what her parents were talking about – what was in that letter. It didn't work well, but her irritation was lifted slightly when she heard her mother call her.

"Hermione?" Hermione lifted her head from the pages, eyes wide. "Hermione, please come into the living room, we need to talk!"

Hermione snapped the book shut and threw it onto her pillow. Slowly, she pulled herself up off of the bed, grabbing a jumper on the way out; she was getting rather cold.

Her Mum and Dad were sitting together on the loveseat, red eyed with tears still eminent on their faces.

"Mum? Dad? Are you okay?"

She feared the worst. Had someone died? Had someone been hurt?

Was he back?

Hermione cast the last thought from her mind; he was long gone. All of his horcruxes had been destroyed, and his followers had been captured with minimal resistance; they'd lost all hope that he'd ever return.

Her father waved a hand towards the arm chair across from the loveseat and she sat down awkwardly on the edge.

There was a long, stretched out silence before her father started talking.

"The letter we received was from a couple we met a long time age, named Eric and Lisa Livenstein.

"We met them whilst your mother was in labour, in hospital." Her father took in a deep, shaky breath. "Lisa was also in labour, in the bed next to your mother. She was a witch from a very powerful family, and from what she told us, Voldywart—"

"Voldemort." Hermione interrupted automatically. He glanced up at her and smiled slightly before continuing.

"Voldemort was after her first born daughter."

Hermione nodded. She knew the Livenstein family were incredibly powerful. She was surprised they hadn't been recruited by Death Eaters, but no Livenstein was captured by Aurors, or named by another Death Eater.

Hermione knew, though, that they wouldn't follow him; she'd read their section in The Purest of Pureblood and knew they liked anyone with real, raw power – no matter what their blood consisted of – and to them, even with a man as powerful as Voldemort, they wouldn't follow him if he willingly murdered those with great potential.

But she let her father continue his story. He was hesitant, and her mother had started crying again, but she stayed silent.

"Lisa was in a MuggleHospitalso that her child's name would not be registered in the Wizarding World where… Voldemort would find it.

"But she still had the issue of hiding her child where he couldn't find her."

Hermione's eyes widened.

She thought she was catching on, but she hoped to Godric that she was wrong. She squeezed her eyes shut, hiding the tears as her father admitted what she believed.

"Your mother—my beautiful Janette—gave birth to a still born son."

A sob ripped through Hermione's chest. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't.

She was Muggleborn! She'd been picked on for it her whole life in the Wizarding World! She'd fought against a man who tried to kill her because of it!

But her own parents, or the people she'd thought were her parents, were telling her otherwise.

Her fathers' heart was slowly disintegrating as he watched the girl he'd raised as his own sob into her hands. He wanted to keep her with him always, curled up in his arms like she had when she was a baby, but the time had come, and he had to let her go. He'd lied to her, and Hermione was not the kind of girl who would take something so lightly. "She had to; otherwise, he'd have taken her daughter from her. She never told us what for, just that she'd been in terrible danger."

Janette carried on the story, having pulled herself together as much as she could. Her husband was breaking with each word he said, and it hurt her to watch that happen.

It hurt her to see it happen to Hermione too – the girl she considered her own – and watch her slowly lose trust in everything she'd known.

"When she realized I'd had a stillborn, she gave us the option – take you, raise you as our own, protect you as much as was possible. We agreed. She needed someone; she looked so sick, so ill as soon when she'd seen that she'd given birth to a daughter. We agreed and she modified the nurses memories into thinking she'd had the stillborn son and I'd had you." Her mother whispered the words, but to Hermione, they screamed, shook and smashed everything in her world. With those words, Hermione's life changed completely as she broke down, running from the lounge and back to her bedroom.

She spent a few hours sobbing, hugging the small bear she'd had for as long as she could remember. She exhausted herself so much that she fell into a deep sleep, surrounded by the mystery faces of her real parents.

Well... we hope you like it :D

REVIEW AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT :D

Auralee & Britanny xx