Hermione didn't rise until the middle of the morning on her second morning at the manor. The previous day she'd been up at the crack of dawn, worrying about her first meeting with Voldemort. But now she'd met her father and knew where she stood with him, she was slightly more relaxed. Plus she'd slept better than her first night at the manor now she was sure that she was in the right place and that she was wanted where she was.
By the time Hermione had used the bathroom, a house elf had appeared with a light breakfast for her. To be honest, Hermione still wasn't happy with the idea of being waited on by house elves, but rather selfishly she thought, she wasn't going to press the matter. The truth was, she had more important things to worry about than House Elves and their status in the wizarding world. Besides, all the elves she'd encountered so far at the manor seemed content and in good health.
After breakfast, Hermione left her bedroom, wondering what the day had in store for her. The previous day she'd known that she was going to meet Voldemort, and even though she expected to see him again today, she had no idea what sort of visit it would be. Would it be another chance to talk about the past and get to know each other a bit better, or would all they have time for was dealing with whatever move the Order made next?
Totally caught up in her own thoughts, Hermione paid very little attention to where she was going, and as such she ended up slightly lost. Even though Draco had given her a tour of the manor the previous day, it was still a huge house and Hermione suspected she could spend the entire summer with the Malfoys and still get lost in their vast house. Hoping to find a room she could remember from the previous days tour, Hermione peered into several rooms until finally she stuck her head into what was clearly a bedroom. In fact, given the green and black decorations and a few pictures dotted around she was fairly sure it was Draco's bedroom.
"Hermione," Draco called, suddenly appearing from what Hermione suspected was the en-suite bathroom.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry, I got lost," Hermione said apologetically.
"You'll get used to the place eventually," Draco replied. "It's a nice day so I was going to go for a fly, do you want to join me?"
"I don't fly," Hermione answered with a shake of her head.
"Why not?" Draco asked, opening a cupboard and pulling out what looked to be a brand new broomstick.
"I just don't like it," Hermione shrugged. "It's unnatural, and quite honestly, rather scary."
"What you need is someone with some serious skills to show you the ropes," Draco said with a smirk. "And of course a decent broomstick. Those pieces of rubbish we had to use in first year would put anyone off flying."
"And I suppose you're just the person to teach me, are you?" Hermione asked with a slight chuckle.
"I am very impressive on a broomstick," Draco boasted. "Trust me, Hermione. By the end of the day, you'll be flying around as though you were born to do it."
"I'm not sure about that," Hermione muttered. "And I'm not really sure about flying myself, but I would like to watch you fly. You can show me how good you are."
"Who am I to say no to a bit of showing off," Draco laughed as the pair left his bedroom.
From Draco's bedroom, which he informed Hermione was actually in his own personal wing of the manor, the pair travelled down towards the main staircase. Approaching from a different angle than they had the previous day, Hermione paused at a railing that overlooked the front hallway. It offered a spectacular view of the entrance hallway, which was actually far larger than Hermione had realised the previous day. In fact now she was slightly more settled, she was realising that the manor was even more stunning and beautiful than she'd ever imagined.
"This is the perfect spot for spying," Draco said with a chuckle, pausing alongside Hermione. "From here you can see everyone who arrives via the front door."
As if on cue a chiming sound echoed around the house and one of the house elves, appeared in the front hallway. Opening the door, the elf stood for a couple of minutes before pulling the door back and allowing the guests into the house. The Minister for Magic was the first person over the threshold, followed by Kingsley, but Hermione was rather taken aback when they were followed into the manor by her parents, Richard and Jean Granger.
"Who are those people with the Minister?" Draco whispered as the elf escorted them towards the main living room.
"The tall wizard with the vibrant bright purple robes is Kingsley Shackelbolt," Hermione said.
"The Auror and secret member of the Order?" Draco checked, and Hermione nodded her head in confirmation. "And who are the other two? They don't look like magical people."
"They're not," Hermione replied, just as Lucius strode through the hall below them and towards the living room. "They're my parents. Or should I say my adoptive parents."
"Oh," Draco muttered. "Do you think they've come to take you home?"
"Dumbledore's likely sent them," Hermione said. "But I'm not going with them," she added forcefully, turning to look at Draco, who could see the passion blazing in her brown eyes. "I'm safe here and here is where I'm going to stay."
"Don't worry, father won't let them take you away," Draco assured her as an elf suddenly appeared at their side and informed Hermione she was needed in the living room. "Come on, I'll walk down with you," he offered.
Grateful for the blond wizard's support, Hermione headed down the stairs with Draco at her side. At the door to the living room, he assured her that everything would be alright, before she took a deep breath and entered the room.
"Hermione," her mother, Jean, cried, rushing over to her daughter and embracing her.
Hermione was rather taken aback by the show of affection as while she knew her parents loved her, they weren't overly affectionate. They rarely hugged, and certainly not in front of people they didn't know.
"Are you okay?" Richard asked, his expression filled with concern.
"I'm perfectly fine," Hermione assured her parents. "Which I told you yesterday, Minister," she added pointedly, glancing over to where Fudge sat in an armchair, Kingsley standing behind him.
"I informed your parents that, but they insisted that we come to see you as you're apparently here without their permission," Fudge replied.
"I'm sorry I couldn't inform you where I was going," Hermione said to her parents as she settled them on the large sofa. Instead of joining them on the safa, even though there was plenty of room, she turned and settled herself on the smaller sofa next to Lucius. "But I'm sure that by the time we're finished here, everyone will agree that I'm in the right place."
"Is this where you tell me what's really going on?" Fudge asked.
"Did you not ask Dumbledore what was going on?" Hermione questioned, even though she already knew through Severus that the headmaster had avoided telling the Ministry the truth, even though he'd been unable to do the same with the Order and they now knew what was going on.
"He claimed not to know what you were talking about," Fudge said. "And I dislike being used as a puppet, Miss Granger. So I suggest you tell us the truth, so we can sort this mess."
"First, I think I should tell you that I wasn't staying at the Weasleys house," Hermione began.
"But that's where we gave you permission to go," Richard argued. "Molly and Arthur assured us that they would take care of you over the summer."
"They were, just not at The Burrow," Hermione replied. "Instead I was staying at the headquarters of The Order of the Phoenix." From Fudge's annoyed scowl, Hermione could tell he'd heard of the group and knew exactly who and what they were. "And before you ask Minister, I can't give you an address because it was protected by a Fidelius charm. Dumbledore is the only one who can give out the address, either verbally or writing it down."
"I understand how the charm works," Fudge said quietly. "So it was this place you left from two days ago?"
"It was," Hermione confirmed with a nod of her head. "And now I'm going to tell you why. I was in the library, unbeknown to me hidden from view of the door, when Molly and Sirius entered the room."
"Sirius? Sirius Black?" Fudge interrupted. "Are you saying you've been in contact with a wanted felon who mysteriously escaped from Azkaban, Miss Granger?"
"A criminal?" Jean gasped, clinging onto her husband. "My God, Richard, she could have been in serious trouble."
"Sirius is at headquarters," Hermione confirmed.
"I'm sure you can take into account Minister that Miss Granger is an under-age witch, staying with people she thought she could trust," Lucius said in a low voice. "She was assured by people she trusted that Black was innocent of the charges against him. She was in no position to turn him into the Ministry, even if she'd wanted to. As she's already explained, it's not like she can give you the address of the Order. All she could have really told you is that he's definitely in the country, which thanks to her, you now know."
"I suppose we can overlook the matter just this once," Fudge conceded with a slight sigh. "But Miss Granger, in future you let the Ministry know if you're in the presence of a wanted criminal."
"I will do, Minister," Hermione said softly. "Do you want me to carry on with what happened before I left the Order?"
"Yes please," Fudge said with a nod of his head.
"As I was saying, I was in the library when Molly and Sirius came in. They were talking about me, so I kept quiet to hear what they were saying. Molly was telling Sirius that I'm not who everyone thinks I am. She told him that I was the daughter of The Dark Lord."
"Impossible," Fudge gasped as Hermione's parents exchanged guilty looks, leaving Hermione to wonder just how much they knew about her past.
"They seemed sure enough," Hermione said with a slight shrug. "They were also pretty clear on the fact that they, along with Dumbledore and other people in the Order, had kidnapped me as a child. Sirius wasn't happy that I was in their lives, so he and Molly planned to get rid of me."
"How?" Jean demanded on a harsh sob. "How they were going to do that?"
"They talked about me having an accident of some sort," Hermione answered. "Their meaning was pretty clear. They were going to kill me."
"Minister Fudge, I want these people arrested immediately," Richard exploded, his face turning red with anger. "My daughter could have been killed if she hadn't been lucky enough to overhear this conversation."
"Or lucky enough to get away," Fudge mused. "And how did you do that, Miss Granger? How did you go from this hidden headquarters to Malfoy Manor? Dumbledore was adamant yesterday that you're not friends with Lucius's son."
"Professor Snape helped me," Hermione replied. "I didn't know who I could trust in the Order, but I hoped Professor Snape would at least be able to tell me if I was The Dark Lord's daughter. He couldn't really help me, but he knew someone..." trailing off, Hermione turned to Lucius in panic, worried that she'd dropped him in it and landed him in trouble.
"Severus knew I could help him," Lucius finished, flashing Hermione a quick reassuring smile. "As you are aware, Cornelius, I have a past with The Dark Lord. Despite the circumstances of my loyalties towards him, I did once know a lot about his life. I knew enough to know that he'd once had a daughter – Hope, who had died at St Mungo's when she was just a baby. A few tests revealed that Hermione here is indeed Hope. I'm sure she can provide you with some DNA and the Ministry can run their own tests to confirm this."
"We can," Fudge replied, sounding slightly dazed and disbelieving. "But I also suppose there's an easier way to solve this problem," he added, turning to the Grangers. "Mr and Mrs Granger, do you have anything to add to this story?"
"Please tell me the truth," Hermione pleaded, getting to her feet and crossing to join her parents on the large sofa. "I won't be mad at you, I just need to know the truth."
"I can't tell you who your father is," Richard replied softly. "But I can confirm you're not our biological daughter. And I know, we haven't always shown you how much we love you, but we do, Hermione. You mean the world to us, and we couldn't love you more if you were our flesh and blood."
"I've always known you've loved me," Hermione informed her parents. "But you can prove it by telling us the truth. All of it."
"It actually starts with my father," Richard explained. "He's a squib. He left the wizarding world once he was old enough to do so, and his only contact with the magical community was an old friend who'd he'd grown up living near to. Over the years, I'd met my father's friend a few times and I knew bits and pieces about the wizarding world, but I wasn't really too curious as I didn't have magic."
"This friend of your father's, was it Albus Dumbledore?" Lucius asked.
"It was," Richard confirmed with a nod. "I hadn't actually seen Dumbledore for years when out of the blue my father asked if Jean and I could do him a favour. We met with Dumbledore at my father's house and he explained that there was a child in his world that was in danger. He must have known from my father and Jean and I couldn't have children, and he begged us to take the baby and raise her as our own."
"He promised us it was for the best," Jean whispered. "He said it was a matter of life and death, and without us an innocent baby would suffer. What else were we supposed to do, Hermione? We couldn't let a baby suffer, especially as we wanted one so badly."
"It's not your fault, Mum," Hermione assured her mother, taking hold of her hand. "You had no reason not to believe Dumbledore. In your shoes, most people would have done the same thing and taken me in."
"Is that what happened?" Fudge asked. "You agreed to take the baby, and Dumbledore just handed her over?"
"It was about a week later when he brought us Hermione," Richard said. "He also took care of all the paperwork, making it all legal. All he asked was that we kept her in our world and never told her about the wizarding world."
"So what happened?" Hermione asked with a frown. "Sirius mentioned that I wasn't supposed to be in the wizarding world. Why did Dumbledore snatch me, hide me in the muggle world, and then allow me to go to Hogwarts?"
"It was because your magic became too hard to control," Jean answered. "When we first took you in, you didn't settle at all. Of course we thought it was because you'd been neglected, or even abused, before you came to us. I now know it was because you'd been stolen from your parents. Anyway, whenever you got upset something in the house tended to break. We had light bulbs popping, glasses shattering, mirrors cracking."
"We contacted Dumbledore and he promised us that it was just your magic accidentally manifesting itself, but it would settle down as you settled in with us and grew up," Richard continued.
"But it didn't," Hermione whispered as memories of her childhood flitted through her mind.
She recalled the time a girl at school had called her an ugly frizzy haired bookworm, and then the girls chair leg had snapped, sending her falling to the floor. Then there was the time she didn't want to go and see her grandparents up in Scotland, and the car had mysteriously gotten a puncture. There was also dozens of other incidents, and Hermione wondered why she hadn't put the pieces together sooner. Because she could now clearly see that every time she'd gotten angry or upset before she started Hogwarts that something around her broke.
"It didn't," Richard confirmed. "Every time you were angry or upset, something ended up broken. By the time you were eight, Dumbledore had already decided that the only way forward was to have you learn to accept and control your magic. He promised us that the danger you'd been in as a baby had been dealt with, and that you would be safe at Hogwarts. He'd also promised us that you would be safe with the Weasleys, which is why we've always been so willing to let you spend so much time with them."
"You weren't to know," Hermione assured her parents as she hugged them both. "But now do you see why I have to stay here? Lucius can make sure I'm safe, and that no-one can hurt me."
"I can," Lucius confirmed to the muggle couple. "Your daughter could not be in a safer place than the manor."
"I can see that," Richard said with a nod. "But what about Dumbledore and this Order of his? Are they going to get away with what they've done to Hermione, both when she was a baby and now?"
"I do expect there will be an investigation," Lucius said, turning his piercing gaze on Fudge. "The Ministry won't let these allegations go without investigation, will they, Cornelius?"
"Of course not," Fudge spluttered. "I'll get right onto it."
"If you need to speak to Hermione, you know where to find her," Lucius said as he rose to his feet, indicating the meeting was over. "Mr and Mrs Granger, if you would like, you could stay for lunch and spend some time with your daughter."
"That would be very nice, thank you," Richard said.
"I'll show you out Minister," Lucius offered, gesturing to the doorway and all but pushing Fudge and Kingsley out of the front room.
Mouthing her thanks to Lucius, Hermione turned back to her parents. Since she didn't know what was going to happen next, she didn't know when she would next see her mother and father again, so she was going to make the most of the time they had. Despite everything, Richard and Jean had raised her and even though they weren't close and they hadn't always shown how much they cared, Hermione still loved her parents and she knew that they loved her.
