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A NEW FAMILY
Monday 28th August, 1944
Fallen leaves rustled on the streets of Hogsmeade as the wind swept the across the cobbled ground. People were dressed in scarves, hats and coats on that particularly cold August morning. In the window of the Hogshead, a girl could be seen, absentmindedly cleaning a table. It was clear to anyone that watched her, that she was not paying attention to the task at hand. This girl was Hermione Granger…or rather, Hermione Dumbledore.
FLASHBACK:
Tuesday 14th April, 1994
When she had stepped out of the Room of Requirement, she was disappointed to see that she'd just ended up in the same hallway again. Curious to see how that happened she turned around, only to find the door gone. She had expected to find herself at her parent's house. She had always relied on either her parents or Harry or Ron when she was upset, and seen as Harry and Ron were the cause of her distress, she would have thought that the Room of Requirement would have taken her home. She had sighed and had turned to go back to her dorms when a sudden bout of dizziness hat hit her and she fainted.
When she had opened her eyes she found herself looking into the face of none other than Albus Dumbledore. And so she did the only thing she thought was appropriate. She screamed. After all, how could this be Albus Dumbledore if Dumbledore was dead? Was this some kind of sick joke? It couldn't be. Then Dumbledore has asked her how she had appeared in Hogwarts. She couldn't have apparated. Confused, Hermione had stated that she had been there the whole time. And when Hermione had asked him how he had become alive again, he had proceeded to tell her that he wasn't and never had been dead. Needless to say, that confused Hermione even more.
When she had calmed down she had proceeded to tell the red-haired, younger looking Dumbledore about her situation. The he told her something that made her faint once more.
She was in the year 1994.
She and Dumbledore had the decided that Hermione should make up a cover story, and pretend that she was Dumbledore's niece, Hermione Dumbledore. Albus had contacted his brother Aberforth a while later, asking him to give Hermione a place to stay and to pretend to be her father for the time being. He had been swift to decline; the feud between the two brothers was strong. But after a lot of pleading, and a visit by Hermione to Aberforth, the wizard had accepted. He had taken quite a liking to Hermione and within a month's time of them living together, Aberforth had already began to think of her as his own daughter.
END OF FLASHBACK.
"Hermione!"
Hermione broke away from her thoughts and looked up. Above all the heads at the busy Hogshead, Hermione could see Aberforth beckoning her. Folding the rag she was using to clean the table, she tucked it into her apron and pushed her way through all the customers and made her way to the bar.
"Yes dad?" She said to Aberforth, keeping up the father-daughter charade. They could never be too careful.
"I need to talk to you upstairs," He said, giving her a meaningful glance.
Hermione nodded and followed him up the stairs, into the small two-bedroom flat, in which they lived. Aberforth went to the kitchen, and Hermione was surprised to see Albus sitting at the table.
"Professor Dumbledore!" She exclaimed.
"Hello, my dear," Albus replied, his blue eyes twinkling happily.
"What do you want Albus?" Aberforth asked rudely. "We haven't got all day."
Hermione sighed. Professor Dumbledore had explained to Hermione why Aberforth hated him so much, and Hermione had found the tale extremely sad. She had tried more than once to convince Aberforth to be more polite to Albus, but she had made little progress.
Dumbledore sighed. "Calm down Aberforth, I will be gone soon enough. I only came to inform Hermione that everything has been sorted with the Ministry, and that there are now records of your birth into our family, and I have recorded the scores for your O.W.L's. Very impressive might I say."
Hermione felt the blood rushing to her cheeks at the praise.
"I have taken the liberty of purchasing all of your school books, and anything else you might need. School begins on September the fourth and the students will arrive around six o'clock. As you are in walking distance from the school, Aberforth will bring you in the morning, so we can go through a few trivial matters."
Hermione nodded.
"I would also like to know if you wouldn't mind me changing your hair colour to a slightly darker shade, so that it matches with Aberforth's. It wouldn't do for you to come to Hogwarts and have people ask why you don't look like your father, or your uncle."
"Of course not Professor," Hermione said. In truth, she would like to change her appearance a little, never having done anything like that before. While all the other girls in her year had been worried about their looks and boys, Hermione had been focused on her school work.
Dumbledore nodded and examined her hair with a "Hmmmm" before waving his wand. He then transfigured a biscuit to a mirror and handed it to Hermione. He had changed her hair colour from a light brown to a very dark brown, making it look almost black.
Hermione smiled when she caught sight of her reflection. She liked it.
"I also came to give you this," Dumbledore said.
In his hand he held a clear potions bottle, not larger than two inches, filled with a yellow liquid.
"What is that, Professor?" Hermione asked.
She noticed that Aberforth was also looking at the vial with reluctant curiosity.
"It is a potion called the "Sang potion", Hermione." Dumbledore said.
Aberforth drew in a deep breath. "Albus…you can not be serious."
"Oh but I am Aberforth. Any student could cast a blood-testing spell and find out she is not pureblood of half-blood. What would we do then?" Albus said, his voice grave.
"Hermione," Aberforth began, "The Sang potion allows the drinker to take the blood line of whoever made it. As Albus made it, you would take blood line of us, the Dumbledore's, and would officially be a Dumbledore, as well as a pureblood."
"I see," Hermione said quietly. She knew she had no other choice than to take the potion, because as Dumbledore had said, if someone casted a blood testing spell on her, they could easily find out that she was not pureblood. She was also reluctant because she had worked so hard to prove to everyone that muggle-borns were just as good as purebloods, but now she would actually have to become a pureblood.
"Will you take it Hermione?" Aberforth asked her, watching her face intently. He did not want to make the girl do anything she did not want to do. He was beginning to think of her as his actual daughter, and that scared him a little. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I doubt that anyone would cast a blood testing spell anyway."
"Yes," Hermione said, smiling up at the two men. "I'll do it."
Nodding, Dumbledore pulled the stopped out from the bottle, and then handed the bottle to Hermione. She took the vial and raised it to her lips, swallowing quickly.
"Well now Hermione," Aberforth said, grinning happily, despite his brother's presence in the room, "You are officially my daughter."
Hermione laughed and then hugged him. She then turned to Dumbledore.
"Thank you Professor," She said seriously. "For everything."
Dumbledore also let a smile grace his face.
"Please…call me Uncle Albus."