Disclaimer- I don't own anything except the Ocs in here.

Their flight to America had been pretty ordinary except for the fact that her Aunt Susan had been pretty tensed throughout the whole flight. It was almost like she thought that they were going to die on the airplane, it didn't help that her Aunt had been muttering something about Lightening and her. Sometimes, Hermione wonder if she was the only sane one in her family. Yes, compare to her Aunt Jenna obsession with cats and her Uncle Michael love for all things dangerous, she was the sanest one.

In fact the whole way towards their new house in New York had been with no trouble to the surprise of her Aunt. Hermione wonders why Aunt Susan is being so tensed now that they were America. Sometimes, she swears that her Aunt would be glancing at the strangers around them anxiously even to an old lady walking her dog. It was strange not to see her Aunt behaving like this but she suppose living in a new country can be like this.

Thinking about a new country, she hadn't talked to her Aunt about whether she could still go to Hogwarts or not. She hoped that she would allow her to continue her education at Hogwarts.

"Aunt Susan, we haven't talked about schooling yet." Hermione said as she handed her adopted mother's vase to her aunt.

Susan pursed her lips and gently put the vase on top of the table before looking at her niece. She licked her lips and the brown-haired girl held her breath as she waited till she heard her Aunt's answer.

"As much as I prefer to have you stay with me the whole year, I can't do that to you." Susan answered truthfully. "You are still going to go to Hogwarts but I expect you to write letters to me at least once a week."

The brown-haired girl grinned at her Aunt and gave her a huge hug. It shocked her Aunt but after a few seconds, the older woman started to hug her back. Reluctantly, Hermione softly let go of the hug to look at her father's sister. Aunt Susan was the youngest aunt that she had from both sides as she was thirty-four years old but yet she looked barely past twenty-five.

Aunt Susan was like her second mother, she understood her better than her own mother. She felt guilty that she was now considering Susan to be her mother even through her adopted parents had died. Was it wrong? Yet it felt so right that her Aunt Susan was acting like a mother to her. Even when her parents were alive, Susan acted like her mother. It felt so confusing and she wished that her parents were here to help her understand.

Aunt Susan gave her a soft smile and ruffled her hair before gently kissing her on the forehead. The loving look on Susan's face reminded Hermione that she wasn't alone and that she doesn't have to deal with all her problems by herself. It was good to see that she could rely on her but was it too soon? Her mother had died barely two weeks ago and she was now acting like things was normal. Why wasn't she mourning them like her Aunt? She should be screaming and crying but she wasn't. It was odd and no one had called her out for it, not even Uncle Thomas, who was the grumpiest of all her relatives.

"Aunt Susan?"

"Yes?" Susan asked, turning her head to look at her.

"Is it strange that I am not crying like the others? I mean shouldn't I be crying and screaming to have my parents back?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

The woman sighed. Looking at her with such sad eyes, her Aunt answered. "Everyone has their own ways of mourning, when your great-grandfather died. My Mother had been quiet for the longest time and was always reading the bible even quoting it from time to time."

"Like now?"

"Yes but Hermione I don't mind if you quote the bible but whatever you do, don't ever lecture me about it." Aunt Susan said wearily. "Goodness knows that Uncle Thomas and Mother had already did that to me."

"Why?"

Susan chuckled bitterly and answered, "I wasn't the perfect child to them. I did things that went against their morals and well I did things that I am not proud of but after I met…"

"After you met…?"

The brown-haired woman smiled sadly. "I dated many guys but only one guy made me want to change myself. He was some random surfer man that I met in a beach in America but the summer that I spent with him had been the best of my life."

"What was his name?"

"Eric." Susan said softly. "His name was Eric and he had been the sweetest guys that I ever met. Completely different from all the males that I dated."

"How so?"

"He was just different." Susan answered wistfully. "Never once did he think that I was worthless, he complimented me and generally made me want to be a better person." She smiled sadly. "It had been so easy to fall for him."

"If you still love him then why don't you see him again? Do you know if he's married or not?"

"It isn't that easy, Hermione." Her Aunt answered. "Things change, I change and the last time I saw him, we had a huge disagreement."

"What was it about?"

The sadness in her Aunt's eyes made her feel guilty for asking her. It was so obvious that the older woman still loved him, which was confusing in her opinion. Then again, she had never been in love before. Was this how being in love like? If so then she certainly didn't want to fall in love with any boy.

"I can't tell you." Susan said softly. "One day, I will be able to tell you but not today."

Hermione sighed. She had been hoping to hear the reason but apparently, it was one of those things where her Aunt will have to tell her when she's older. Well, she was certainly old enough! She was nearly sixteen for goodness sakes! When was she old enough to know the whole story? When she's fifty! She counted till ten and reminded herself that she didn't want to know the whole story anyway.

But still…it was just so frustrating! She never heard the story of her Aunt's love life. It was one filled of mystery; some of her older cousins had told that their Aunt had dated strange men before. To hear one of them from her mouth was one of joy and curiosity. For some strange reason, Aunt Susan had stared at her with such sadness.

"Aunt Susan, do you miss him?"

Susan smiled sadly and answered, "Yes. I miss him so very much but I had moved on with my life."

"You don't date."

"There hasn't been a man that had reached my standards," Susan explained. "The guys that I dated before him were assholes! When I met Eric, he made me have higher standards for men."

Hermione shrugged and looked at the clock before asking her Aunt if it was all right for her to go the park. She needed to clear her head from the talk that she had with Aunt Susan because if they continue talking, she might be getting ideas and she didn't want that o happen.

"Get back home before seven!" Aunt Susan said. "And don't trust any strangers."

The brunette witch arched her eyebrows at her but didn't question her. The strange expression on her face terrified her for so many reasons but the main one was the sorrowful look as if she thought that she would die if she met any strangers.

Susan watched in silence as Hermione left the house before slumping against the wall. It had been nearly fifteen years since she last saw him and why now of all times had he shown up? He knew that she didn't want him near Hermione not after that incident.

But was she truly right in not telling Hermione the truth about her heritage? The girl deserves to know the truth about her father at least but…telling her about her father meant that she would have to tell her of her mother. Susan didn't have the courage to tell her the truth.

Susan smiled bitterly, remembering the closest when she came to telling Hermione the truth. The day Hermione's Professor came and told her and her sister and her husband that she was a witch.

"I will tell Hermione the truth but can I really do it knowing that she might hate me?" Susan asked out loud to the photos of her sister. It was silly to say it out loud but it lifted a huge weight off her chest.

Hermione pursed her lips as she read her book before closing it. Closing her eyes, the brunette witch started to reminisce about her parents' words. They say that her biological mother was closer to her than she thought but she honestly couldn't figure out who it was. She clenched her hands and started to wonder about her biological father.

They knew more about her mother than her biological father but why? They seemed very close to her biological mother so how can they not know anything about her own father? It was strange surely her biological mother would have talked a lot about him. Maybe he had been a bad man? It would make sense on why her parents wouldn't know anything about him.

She sighed in frustration and banged her head against the bench. Why did she care about them anyways? They practically abandon her that can be certain. Give her the best chance! What if her best chance would have been with her? So many questions that can never be answered by them.

"Why the bloody hell do I care about them?" Hermione said frustration.

"You know talking to yourself is the first sign that you are going crazy."

Hermione twisted her head to look at the source of the voice. It was teenage boy that might have been a year older than she is and he was pretty handsome that much can be certain. The black hair and dark eyes along with his leather jacket made him look mysterious.

"I am not crazy!" Hermione retorted to him.

The boy snorted and said dryly. "I didn't say that you are crazy but it is the first sign that you're crazy."

Hermione flushed in embarrassment before glaring at him. "Didn't your parents teach you that you should never talk to strangers!"

"Don't have any." The boy retorted back. "So I wouldn't know."

The brunette girl bit her lips from apologizing to him. She shouldn't apologize to the boy because of the fact that he was an orphan! Harry had better manners than him.

"You are not going to apologize?"

"Why should I? You were rude to me."

The boy lips curled into a smile and Hermione was surprised to see how it made his face look younger. He took a seat beside her and the brunette witch resisted the urge to shout at him. The boy picked a flower and Hermione was taken back when she saw the flower wither away. Was that magic? If he were a wizard than why would he do it in front of her? He didn't know if she had magic so why do it in front of her? American wizards were strange.

"You are an interesting girl." The boy said. "Not many girls talked back to me or tried to get a rise out of me!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him and said. "I am not trying to get a rise out of you and I certainly think your manners are appalling."

"Appalling huh? Then I have to say your behavior to me is quite rude too!"

The brunette witch eyebrows twitched at his words and clenched her hand into a fist. Not once in her life had she met a boy that made her this angry before in her entire life. He was infuriating and while he may be handsome, he was quite rude to her.

"You are the one to talk!"

The boy glared at her and Hermione smirked at him. His glare was scary but her pride would never allow her to flinch under his glare. She slumped against her seat and sighed. It was barely four days since her parents' funeral and now here she was arguing with the boy. They would have been furious at her behavior even if she pointed out that he had been rude.

"I am sorry for my manners. I am going through a lot of things now."

The black-haired boy arched his eyebrows at her and lazily said. "You are forgiven." He sighed and asked. "So what is going on with your life that is making you behavior like this?"

Hermione glared at him and retorted. "And why the hell should I tell you?"

"Why shouldn't you? For all you know I might want to listen to your pathetic sorrowful story through I really don't want to."

Hermione gritted her teeth at him and said. "And I am not going to bother you with my pathetic sorrowful story bastard!"

The boy sighed at her and said. "I was just kidding, tell me the story. It can't be as bad as the ones that I knew."

Hermione arched her eyebrows at him and he gestured for her to tell the story of her parents' death. He was very quiet as she told him of the story of how she learnt of their deaths. Not once had he interrupted her or pity her like her relatives. He had been understanding and quiet.

"The worst thing was that they wrote a letter telling me that I was adopted!" Hermione said, curling her hand into a fist.

"I wouldn't know how that would feel!" The boy said, shrugging his shoulders. "I lost my mom when I was young so I barely remember her."

Hermione didn't know why he curled his lips in amusement at her. He was a pretty nice guy if she ignored his rudeness, which was quite hard to do. It was a pity that he had found ways to annoy her or she would have asked him for a drink.

"There you are, Nico! I have been searching for you everywhere!"

The two teens turned around and Hermione frowned at the newcomer while the boy called Nico sighed at him. He looked oddly familiar to her especially with the dark brown hair and that small scar on his cheek. Chris had that scar from accident hitting the edge of the sharp edge of a table but that might be coincidence.

The brown-haired boy stared at her with curiosity before looking back at Nico and than to her. He grinned at her and Hermione blushed before looking down at her trembling hands. No boy had ever looked her way and she knew that he would be the first and last boy to do so.

"So, Nico are you going to introduce me to your new friend?"

"She isn't my friend!" Nico stated. "I simply heard her talking and started to have a small discussion that had led into an argument."

That snapped Hermione out of her embarrassment. She glared at the black-haired boy and snapped. "You were rude to me!"

"I wasn't!"

"You were! I mean what kind of senseless idiot says I don't want to hear your sorrowful story!"

"I heard it, didn't I!"

"Yes, right after I called you a bastard!"

The brown-haired boy chuckled at them and said to Hermione, "You are the first girl that I know that called Nico a bastard! I like you! What is your name?"

Hermione tilted her head at him and answered, "My name is Hermione Granger."

The brown-haired boy's eyes widen and he chuckled before laughing out loud to the frustration of Hermione. Nico arched his eyebrows at him and Hermione gave a similar expression to him.

"It has been nearly what seven years since I last saw you Hermione." The boy said, grinning at her. "And might I say that you have grown to be a lot more prettier since you left for England. Really princess you wouldn't give me a letter every once in a while?"

Hermione's eyes widen and she gaped at him before recovering her wits. "You got to be kidding me, Chris? I thought that your family moved to Colorado that's what I heard from Mom and Dad."

"They did! I chose to stay in New York with my Grandmother."

Nico raised his eyebrows at them and asked, "How in Hades do you two know each other? You sound British while Chris is well…"

"Princess here went to same primary school as me! She was my best friend in that hellhole and she is bloody smart! Didn't I tell you that?"

"I must have been pretending to be listening to your rambling again." Nico muttered as the two old friends caught up about each other's life.

Nico didn't like the look on Chris face as he talked to Hermione. It was the same look that he had when he had a crush on Iris, who had used him to have a relationship with his half-brother. He honestly didn't care about who Chris liked but he didn't want his friend to be heartbroken. Again. The guy had been his first friend in Camp and had stuck by him through thick and thin.

Besides, what would he see in that girl? She was annoying and had been very rude to him but he will admit that she was pretty for her age. If she hadn't been so rude and hadn't lost her parents than he might have flirted with her. However he has a girlfriend, albeit annoying but she was nice unlike this girl.

"I am sorry about your parents so you're staying with your Aunt Susan?"

Hermione nodded and said. "Yes but she had been acting quite strange for quite sometime now."

"Strange how?"

Nico picked up the book beside the girl, knowing that their conversation might last for hours. The book that she was reading surprised him, it was a book about science but it seemed for someone in college not in high school. He silently wished that Emily would read books like this but the girl was more interested in make-up than this type of things.

He sighed and shook his head at his thoughts, firmly reminding himself that he had been with Emily for nearly two years now and that he wouldn't change her for the whole world. Oh, whom was he kidding! He wished that she were less suspicious about his friendship with other girls.

"And it doesn't help that she had been acting paranoid when we were at the airport. It was like she had been expecting for some kind of attack!"

Nico glanced at Chris and silently nodded his head at the silent question that he was asking. They can't be sure that Hermione was a half-blood but the behavior that Hermione was talking about, reminded Nico of the parents that knew what their child truly was. Today was the day that Chiron allowed them to go to the city and now they find another potential half-blood. Why oh why them? The sooner they get this over the faster he will go to camp

Chris looked at Nico and sighed at the annoyed expression on his friend's face before giving a huge grin to Hermione. His best friend had grown to be a very pretty girl and he wondered if she was single. No, there was a huge chance that Hermione might be a half-blood and that she might be his half-sister. He shudders at the thought of Hermione being his half-sister.

"Hey, Hermione mind if Nico and I have dinner with you and your Aunt?"

Hermione arched her eyebrows at him and Chris smiled nervously at her. She shook her head at him and said, "Why not? I am sure that Aunt Susan will be happy to see you but you are explaining to her why I am bringing your asshole of a friend into the house."

Nico gritted his teeth at her and snarled, "I am not an asshole!"

"Could have fooled me!"

Chris rubbed his forehead and wonder if it had been a good idea to ask her to bring Nico with them. He grinned as he thought of a way to sabotage Nico's relationship with Emily. The girl was truly not suited for him and he didn't think Hermione was suited for him but that might be his heart saying that because of the little crush that he had on her when they were younger and that he still have.

He just hoped that Nico could survive a whole dinner without doing a smartass comment.

Susan arched her eyebrows at the sight of two boys beside Hermione and waited to hear the explanation from her. One of the boys were oddly familiar to her while the other made her want to feed him till she thought that he was healthy. But first before she does that, she needed to hear the explanation.

Hermione smiled nervously and said, "Aunt Susan, do you remember Chris as in my best friend from America?"

"How could I not? The two of you were never apart!"

Nico curled his lips in amusement as he watched his best friend and the brunette girl blushed. He had never seen Chris look like a tomato and if he dare say so himself. The older woman looked at the two of them in confusion before it dawn at her who the boy was.

"Might ask who the other boy is than?"

"He is my best-friend from the summer camp that I go to." Chris explained. "I ask Hermione if it is alright that I could bring him along."

"I see." Susan said, giving them a smile. "Well isn't it good thing that I made dinner for more than me and Hermione."

Hermione blinked her eyes at her, surprise that her Aunt wasn't angry with her for not telling her earlier. It was strange but she was eternally grateful for the young woman for being very understanding.

Susan looked at the two boys and then to the brown-haired girl, smiling at the three of them before walking towards the kitchen. Hermione had the strangest feeling that her Aunt knew something that she didn't but she must be overthinking it.

She looked at Chris and then to his friend Nico, both of them were looking at her with curiosity. Hermione raised her eyebrows and sighed, giving them a small smile to the surprise of the black-haired boy.

"Follow me, I will take you to the dining room." Hermione said, gesturing at the two boys to follow her.

Chris smiled at her while Nico simply gave her a curt nod, causing the brunette witch to shrug her shoulders at them. As she walked towards the living room, Hermione would tell Chris about how she was doing in boarding school, which caused the boy to smile at her.

Nico was looking at the house in interest as the pair of them talked. He couldn't help but noticed the difference between this Hermione and the girl in the photograph, who looked truly happy while the girl, in front of him, seemed to have strained smile, oh that may be because she didn't like him.

He shook his head at his thoughts and concentrated on the conversation between Hermione and Chris.

"So is your grandmother still spouting quotes from the bible?" Chris asked, grinning at the brunette girl. "Honestly, I think the first time I met her, she was spouting quotes from the bible to me."

Nico rolled his eyes at his best friend and went to the bookcase, ready to take a book out and read it. He arched his eyebrow at the title of the book, Pride and Prejudice. It seemed someone in this family liked reading classical books, most likely the girl's aunt.

He had never really read the book and had no plans to.

"So, Hermione tell me about your school." Chris said.

"There's nothing to say except it is a boarding school so I won't be able to see Aunt Susan as much as I want." Hermione said. She took a seat in the chair and put her hands on her face. "I am honestly worried about Aunt Susan, she hadn't been acting kind of strange ever since I told her that my parents informed me that I am adopted."

"I am surprised that you hadn't noticed it earlier."

Hermione smiled sadly at this and curled her hand into a fist. She felt like crying at the reminder that she hadn't noticed it. No, she had known but she had been denying it for such a long time. Because if she had admitted it to herself then she would start thinking that her parents had abandon her. She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling uncomfortable with the expression on Chris' face.

She felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. She looked up and was surprised to see her Aunt Susan smiling down at her. There was understanding in her eyes and Hermione wonders how long had her Aunt had been listening in to her conversation. Probably long enough.

"Hermione, I may not know who your parents are but I know that they didn't abandon you." Aunt Susan said. "They wanted to give you, the best chance that you got."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at her Aunt Susan, who laughed nervously at the brunette witch. It was coincidence that her Aunt said the same thing as her mother had said or was it? For the past few weeks, Hermione had the feeling that her Aunt Susan was hiding something from her.

The question now is what?

"So tell me about yourself Nico." Aunt Susan said as she passed the pasta to the dark-haired boy.

Nico was taken back by the question. He was ready to open his mouth to say that it wasn't his damn business when he felt someone's foot stomping his foot. He let out a cry of pain and tried to find the culprit. He narrowed his eyes at Chris, who was whistling.

That little dirty bastard.

"There isn't much that can be said about me except that I live with my cousin and his fiancée." Nico said, smiling at the kind woman tightly. Oh how he wished to glare at Chris for what he had done. "And I am home-school."

"Really?" Hermione asked, looking suspiciously at the boy.

Nico looked at Chris for help but the bastard seemed to be interested in eating his carrots. What the hell did he do to deserve this? Oh wait, he did inform his best-friend ex-girlfriend, where his hiding spot was and he did inform his sister that it was Chris that did the prank.

But of course he did that for payback for the times that he tattles him out to Emily.

"Yes."

"So, Hermione do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Chris asked, smiling at the brunette girl.

Hermione shook her head and said. "No, not really. Thank goodness I did my holiday homework before I came here."

"That's good because I was wondering if you could come with me and Nico to the museum."

"WHAT!"

Everyone stared at Nico, who flushed red in embarrassment. He glared at his best friend, wondering why his best friend would decide to do this in the last minute and wasn't the plan to ask the Aunt Susan the truth, not bring the girl to a museum.

Chris smiled sheepishly at his friend, who was glaring at him. He had just realized that he couldn't really go and ask Hermione's Aunt if her niece was a half-blood without sounding like a lunatic.

Besides, it wasn't like this was the first time that he had done this and Nico owed him one. Didn't the boy know just how scary it was to lie to his girlfriend? Of course not because that girl showed another face when she was with him.

He really hoped that Hermione could help him break those two apart. The girl didn't look like it but she could be very devious when she wanted to be and she would help him, after all they were friends.

Anyways, he wanted to spend more time with his best friend.

Author Note: Please review.