Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Warnings: Violence , Gore and Lemons(Much Later)

Chapter 15

"Daphne?" Hermione exclaimed as she saw her sitting at the front door to her house. She immediately cast a worried glance at Harry. While she knew that he wasn't as biased as Ron was, he didn't really mingle with the Slytherins. It was for this reason that she had kept her friendship with Daphne a secret from him, the only other secret that she kept from him. She was relieved to see that Harry was simply looking at Daphne confusedly, and as he was beginning to turn towards her, no doubt looking to her for an explanation, she walked forward towards Daphne.

"Daphne, are you alright?" Hermione asked taking in her weathered appearance. She was always dressed immaculately, robes perfectly pressed, hair tied up just right, and her expression always showing cold indifference. But Hermione knew for a fact that she needed to do those things, it wasn't about vanity for her, her survival in the Slytherin Dorms depended on it, and so far she had always come out on top. Looking at her now, Hermione had to blink several times before she had recognized her.

As she got closer to her she caught a good look at her face, more specifically her eyes, her ruby orbs that were always so cold and dispassionate were shining with grief and hopelessness, though as she got a look at Hermione it was soon replaced by surprise and shock. Hermione lowered down to Daphne's level, and grabbing her shoulders gently stood up, bringing Daphne up with her.

"Dad, could you please open the door?" Hermione said impatiently.

Dan Granger was utterly confused right now. But seeing his daughter's impatient expression, he hurried with the keys and they all entered the house. Hermione led Daphne up to her room, knowing that it would cause unnecessary problems if she didn't and she knew that Daphne would want some privacy. She came down the stairs to see the three inhabitants of the hall looking at her with varying expressions of expectancy on their faces. Hermione faltered; her mind not able to come up with a suitable excuse that would satisfy both her parent's and more importantly Harry's curiosity.

"Um . . . right. That's Daphne, she is . . . I . . . um . . . I actually don't know . . . I'll just go talk to her." Hermione practically ran all the way back to her room.

Hermione's mind contemplated various scenarios that would lead to Daphne coming to her house unannounced, adding in her dishevelled appearance narrowed down the possibilities but increased the threat that she was under. While she was her friend, and Hermione would do everything to help her, she had to think about her family's safety first. Hearing Perenelle talk about the last war had really opened her eyes to what was expected of the two of them, and she wouldn't jeopardize that. It might sound cold and calculating, the traits of the very house that Daphne belonged to, but it was what was on her mind as she knocked once, feeling silly to be knocking on the door to her own room, and opened the door.

(Break)

Harry watched as Hermione came down from her room, tried saying something to explain the situation that they found themselves in, and then promptly left. Harry didn't know what to think, he had recognized Daphne after Hermione had said her name, and he was frankly worried and surprised by her presence here. The only thing that had stopped him from going ballistic and demanding answers right away was the look that he had caught in Daphne's eyes, although Hermione claiming to be her friend had calmed him down somewhat.

He honestly had no idea that Hermione had any other friends that she was close to other than him and . . . no, she wasn't exactly close to Ron. He just figured that Hermione knew her from one of her Clubs or Daphne might be in her Runes or Arithmancy classes. Figuring that she would tell him eventually and felling tired, he turned towards Hermione's parents.

"Harry, do you know what's going on?" Dan asked as Harry turned towards him.

"Erm no sir, all I know is that Daphne is a . . . classmate of ours at Hogwarts." Harry said, pausing as he considered how to aptly describe their acquaintance.

*Harry, I'm hungry* Hedwig's voice that was decidedly losing its childlike quality sounded in his mind.

Harry was startled slightly, but he turned towards Emma with a sheepish expression.

"Mrs. Granger, would you happen to have some grapes? Hedwig's hungry." Saying that Harry shifted his cloak slightly to uncover Hedwig from where she was hidden.

"Um . . . I thought that Hedwig was your owl Harry? She seems to have . . . shrunk." Emma said as she moved closer to Hedwig. She had always liked birds, and whenever Hedwig came by with a letter she would feed her while she waited for Hermione's response.

"Yeah . . . she is my Familiar now. A Phoenix." Harry said happily.

"Ohh . . . Hermione has told me about them. Aren't they supposed to be rare?" Emma asked as she tentatively brought up her hand to pet Hedwig, and at Harry's nod did so. Hedwig trilled her greeting, and Emma felt as if she was at peace, as if nothing was wrong in the world, all her worries forgotten.

Harry chuckled inwardly at Emma's wide-eyed astonished look. Hedwig's song had almost the same effect on him the first time he had heard it.

"Grapes . . . I'll just go and get the grapes." Emma said and left towards where Harry assumed the kitchen was.

Harry sat down on the couch and fed the grapes to Hedwig, and she eventually fell asleep. He brought out his wand and transfigured for her the nest that he and Hermione had made earlier and gently placed her on it. He looked up at Hermione's parents, who were in the other room, across the hallway in the hall, conversing in low tones.

They were more than 15 meters away from him, and yet, he could still hear their conversation, it was a bit cracked, but what he heard grabbed his attention immediately. He concentrated on trying to hear clearly and he heard the whole conversation.

(Break)

"Honey this has gone on too long." Dan exclaimed, making sure to keep his voice down. "You know that the excuse she gave us has to be a lie."

"I know Dan, but what can we do? You know how Hermione feels about her life as a Witch. When she received the letter from Hogwarts, she was so happy. If we do this now . . . I'm not sure what she would decide on." Emma said, her voice a bit cracked with emotion.

"We gave her a chance these last few years, and what happened? First year, attacked in a girl's bathroom, and another stay in the hospital at the end of the year, and we let her lie to us, figuring that she might think that we would pull her out of school if we knew about it. And Second year attacked by a god-damned snake that had her paralysed for over a month. She was 13 for crying out loud . . ." Dan said. He was having some trouble keeping his voice in check.

"Dan, do you think that I don't care about her? She is my daughter too; all I want is for her to be happy. And the Headmaster assured us that she was safe." Emma said a bit harshly. She glanced back at Harry to make sure that he wasn't aware of their discussion. She was relieved to see him playing with Hedwig, seemingly absorbed.

"And I want her to be safe. Her safety takes precedence over her happiness honey, she has her whole life ahead of her, I'm sure that she will be happier if she was done being a witch." Dan said with a tone of finality.

"Dan, would you listen to yourself! I know that you want to protect her from any harm, but . . . give her one more chance. I'll talk to her, if she tells us the truth; you have to promise me that this topic will never be brought up again." Emma said pleadingly.

"I don't like this honey." Dan said.

"I know that Dan, but it's for Hermione's happiness." Emma said.

"Fine. But this will be her last chance Emma." Dan said reluctantly.

Emma wasn't happy about it but nodded her assent. "I'll talk to her tomorrow."

(Break)

Hermione walked into her room and saw that Daphne had changed into one of her night dresses that she had loaned to her, and was sitting at the window to her room, looking out at the night sky. Hermione saw that while she looked a bit better her eyes hadn't changed even a bit. Hermione breathed to organize her thoughts, and went over to her.

"Daphne what's going on?" Hermione asked softly. She didn't receive any response, and she placed her hand on her shoulders, squeezing it slightly.

"Did something happen?" she tried again after some time.

"Remember I told you that I didn't get along well with m parents, and that was further worsened after I showed them my report on my findings about the Pureblood beliefs?" Daphne said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes." Hermione said, rubbing her shoulders, offering her some comfort.

"Well . . ." and Daphne started telling her everything. About the marriage contract, about how her parents almost forced her to sign it, and how she had to take the necessary actions to avoid it.

Daphne's eyes had teared up slightly, and she was trying valiantly not to start crying outright in front of Hermione. She hadn't planned on telling Hermione about her situation in such detail, but she found that once she started talking, words seemed to spill from her mouth of their own violation.

"So now here I am, alone in the world, and for all intents and purposes an orphan. I have destroyed my life Hermione; I don't even know what I am doing here." Daphne choked out.

Hermione was stunned by the tale that she had listened to for the past half an hour, an her brain still couldn't wrap around the fact that, Daphne's parents would do such a thing to their own flesh and blood. As she processed the last statement made by Daphne, her brain started working again.

"You are not alone Daphne, I'll help you out and we can contact the Headmaster, tell him about your situation, I'm sure that he would be more than happy to help." Hermione said.

"Why don't you rest for a while, would you like something to eat or drink?" Hermione asked gently.

Daphne shook her head negatively, and Hermione led her over to the bed, helped her lay down and after asking her again if there was anything she wanted, turned off the lights to her room, and went downstairs to somehow explain the situation to her parents and Harry. Just as she was about to turn towards the kitchen, she almost ran into Harry.

(Break)

As Harry sat there listening in on the Granger's conversation, he couldn't curb the feeling of anxiousness that was rising rapidly in his stomach. As far as he understood it, Hermione's parents were thinking of withdrawing her from Hogwarts, and cutting-off her contact with the Wizarding world altogether! As he heard Hermione's father give her mother a day to find the answers, he got up and started making her way to the stairs, intent on warning Hermione about what he had heard.

He almost ran into Hermione as she was coming down the stairs, and he immediately motioned her to keep quiet and led her up a couple of stairs. He looked around, and spotting that Hermione's parents were nowhere near, asked "Hermione what have you told your parents about our adventures at school?"

"W-What?" Hermione asked, totally set of-balance by Harry's unexpected question.

"I just heard your parents talking Hermione, they were thinking about withdrawing you from Hogwarts if you didn't tell them the truth. They know Hermione. Dumbledore must have informed your parents about them." Harry spoke silently.

"T-That's not p-possible." Hermione stuttered out, her face rapidly turning pale.

"Believe me, they were talking about it just now. They don't appear to be informed of us turning into Vampires, but they definitely know about the Troll and the Basilisk." Harry said, as he again looked around.

"B-But why didn't they say something to me?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, all I know is that you have to come clean with our parents about what is going on at the school, at least about the Troll and the Basilisk, and they didn't buy our excuse for your changes in appearance, and you have until tomorrow to tell them the truth." Harry said.

"Oh God! What do I do? What do we do?" Hermione asked, her eyes shining with fear and uncertainty.

"You have to tell them Hermione, It's the only way you can continue living as a Witch." Harry said resolutely.

(End Chapter)

A/N:- Thanks for your opinion on my last question, it helped me make my decision. You will come to know of it as you read on . . .

How was the Daphne situation handled? Was it somewhat believable or was it totally bull?

Also on a side note, I will be updating the timeline in the Muggle world to the current times (2011) so if I use any piece of technology in the story that wasn't supposed to be invented in canon time, please don't flame me for it.

Review your thoughts . . . . Please?