Chapter 2:

Hermione did not know what to say to this revelation. Sirius Black was her father. She was not a Muggleborn after all. She had actually met her biological father, and hadn't particularly liked or disliked him. She wondered how much Azkaban had changed his personality. What was apparent was that he cared greatly for Harry, and had been a devoted godfather. Would he have loved and cared for her as much, if he had known the truth?

Had he known the truth? Had her mother told him that she was pregnant? If so, did she tell him that she had given Hermione away?

There was no way to know.

Kingsley and Alastor looked on helplessly as Hermione put her head in her hands, seeing Sirius' face as he fell into the veil in her mind. The Grangers rushed to her, embracing their daughter as she started to cry.

After returning from the Ministry, Hermione had spent the day in her room. A few hours to process her paternity wasn't too much to ask, was it? In the end, she needed to talk to someone who knew her birth-father, but could understand her too. Hermione asked her parents if she could have Harry Potter over for dinner the next day. She needed to get a handle on this before returning to school.

Hermione's owl, a gift from her parents whom she had named Alysse, had returned with Harry's reply. It was short riddled with curiosity and affirming his attendance.

When Harry arrived the next evening, Hermione pulled him in a long, tight hug. From her stiff frame it was obvious that something was wrong.

"Hermione, what is going on?" he asked as he rubbed her back soothingly.

"Oh Harry, I don't know where to start! Come upstairs to my room, and I will try to explain."

She guided him upstairs, holding his hand, and needing the comforting contact as she thought over all the changes this holiday break had brought about. She was adopted. She was not a Muggleborn. Her birth-mother had disappeared without a trace. Sirius Black was her father. How to put it all into words?

She sat down on her bed, Harry beside her. She clutched his hand and took a deep breath.

"My mother has a degenerative kidney disease that has been making her very ill, although not terminally at this stage. She's on a dialysis regime and is waiting for an organ transplant. I knew about it last term, and I repeatedly offered to be tested to see if I could be a donor for her. That way she would not have to wait on the public list, and would be treated before the disease could spread to her other kidney. She refused, initially saying I was too young and that her disease was not advanced enough for me to take such a drastic and life changing decision on her behalf."

Harry squeezed her hand, "I wish you had told me when you found out, so that I could have supported you these last few months. I'm glad that you are telling me now, though."

"I needed to deal with it myself, especially until I saw my mother with my own eyes and could see what changes the disease has caused in her. I know now she is more easily tired, and weaker, but that she is very determined and I can see how my father supports her as much as possible… but that is only the beginning."

"It gets worse than your mother being sick?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Worse is a relative term here. I said it was only the beginning. When I came home for the holidays, my parents told me that not only did they not want me to try to donate, but that I could never have donated my organs in the first place… because I am adopted."

"Adopted?"

Hermione sighed. "I asked them for all the details. They gave me the paperwork and told me all they knew, which was virtually nothing. My mother was 15, gave me up without giving her name, and then disappeared."

"How could she just disappear? I mean, the adoption system is so complex, you hear that all the time! They can't just take an unknown woman's baby away from her forever."

"I wondered about that. I have thought about it over the past few weeks. The only answer I can think of is that she may have been a witch and somehow Confunded the administrator or something to ignore her name…"

"That seems plausible."

Hermione nodded her head absently, while thinking of where to pick up her story from. "Well, I went to the adoption agency and they said they had really no more information. Both they and the home for pregnant young girls did not know who she was. I was at a dead endwith researching in the Muggle world. I decided to switch tactics and see if I could learn anything about tracing parentage in the Wizarding world. I went to the Wizarding library in London and did some research. I found a text about medieval paternity tests. Back then, if a wizard wanted to know if a child was truly his, he could cast a spell on the child to reveal their true paternity."

"That's fantastic! Did you try it? What did you find out? Who is your father?"

"Back up, Harry. It involves invoking Nature with blood, which makes it a somewhat Dark spell. I had to get some help."

"Who did you ask?"

"I wrote to Kingsley and Alastor, since they are both Aurors and would know the law, and if there was any way to do the spell without getting in serious trouble. I had to prove that I was adopted and looking for the truth about my parents. They got permission to perform the spell for me, since my blood donation would be willing, making the spell less Dark in its nature."

"Ok, I'm following."

"Harry…" her eyes teared up.

"Shh, you can tell me anything. Anything at all."

Hermione clung to her friend, she leaned her head against his shoulder, unable to look him in the face.

"Sirius. Sirius Black."

Harry's grip on her tightened. "Oh Hermione!" What could he say to her? "This is wonderful and tragic…I don't know what to say."

"Well, on the con side, my father is dead. But on the pro side, at least I had the chance to know him."

Harry pulled away from her, but still held her hands. "Hermione, I know you weren't close with him, but really, Sirius was a great guy. He had a terrible fate, and it wasn't fair. But really, truly, he was great. He was the father I didn't have growing up. I know he would have been so proud and so happy to have you for his daughter. He cared about you, but he would have loved you with all his heart if he knew you were his."

"I don't know if my mother even told him she was pregnant. Like I said, she was only 15."

"You know…you're a year older than me…that means that they would have been together in his last year at Hogwarts. Maybe that will give you a place to start looking for her."

Hermione blinked. In all the stress of her situation, she hadn't put that together. She gave her best friend a tight smile. "Good thinking Harry!"

Harry gave her a huge grin. "Now it's true—you really are family!" He hugged her again. Hermione thought about it. Harry had always been like the brother she did not have. To know that in some other universe, they could have been raised together as siblings made her smile. There was a silver lining to this whole situation.

During Harry's visit he told Hermione virtually everything he knew about Sirius, including his less than saintly behaviour with Severus Snape. Hermione hated bullies, and hated even more that her father would have behaved that way. They could only guess at his motivation. Hermione also learned that during the summer at Grimmauld place back before 5th year; Sirius had told Harry much about his family. Harry had inherited the house, which he was determined to hand over to Hermione.

"He was your father. If he'd known, he would have given it to you. I'm wealthy enough from my parents, I don't need it."

"Harry, my parents are still alive and they are very comfortable. I can't just take your house!"

Harry thought about it for a while. "We could share it."

Hermione just stared at him. "Harry you can't give me half the house, either. And, well, I have a home."

Harry locked eyes with her. "Hermione, you're practically my sister. You won't want to live with your parents forever. And there are things in that house, from the family tapestry to the portraits, which may give you more answers about your family. And that is just the crap we know about! It's a beautiful house that has been abandoned and fallen into despair. But you and I…we could change that. We're in our last year at Hogwarts, Voldemort is gone. We're free to move ahead with our lives. This may be the place where we can get our start…together."

"Maybe you're right. When all is said and done, I'm going to want to know as much about the Blacks and my mother. The house could be a huge part of that. And you're right; I'd love for us to be together after school."

"We'll change it all up tomorrow! You and I—we'll take a brother-sister trip to Diagon Alley, go to Gringotts, do all those annoying things that brothers and sisters do…like pulling each other's hair, fighting over who is the favourite…"

Hermione grinned. "You're getting ahead of yourself—we still need to tell my parents that we're sort of siblings."

Harry looked nervous at that. "Um, I don't know if that is a great idea, Hermione…"

"Relax, they've always liked you, and they're very welcoming. Let's go down to dinner (wouldn't it be breakfast at this point?) and we can talk about it with them." Hermione stood and linked her arm with Harry's. Her spirits were lifted for the first time in months, since she had heard of her mother's illness. Finally, something was going right.

The Grangers had been warm and gracious to Harry as he and Hermione explained their complex relationship. They had been wonderful, and let him know that to them, family was family. If Harry and Hermione saw each other as siblings, especially now, after all their years of loyalty to each other and their friendship, on top of their kinship through Sirius, then they were more than happy to treat Harry like a son. They made it clear that if he did not want to stay on at the Burrow or Grimmauld Place during the holidays or after graduation, he was welcome at the Granger's home. Hermione had then shown Harry the spare room beside her bedroom, the one her parents had always hoped would be for a second child, but unfortunately had not been occupied by anyone other than guests. Harry was moved.

The next day, Harry and Hermione went to Diagon Alley to do some post-holiday shopping and visit Gringotts. They headed to the bank first, where Harry asked a Goblin financial counsellor to advise him on how to change the property deed on his house to include Hermione's name. The Goblin was able to help them then and there. In addition, Harry asked that half of all the wealth from his Black inheritance be put into Hermione's account,to which she protested heavily, but was overruled by her 'brother'.

The Goblin had asked what the pair wanted to do with the items transferred from the Black vaults to Harry's.

"I don't know what you mean, sir," Harry answered.

"The non-monetary items. There is a listing here, Mr. Potter." The Goblin handed a scroll to Harry, indicating that personal belongings had passed on to Harry as well upon Sirius' demise.

"We'll look it over and decide later, thank you." Hermione took the scroll from Harry and placed it in her bag. She read faster than he did, anyway. They could discuss it later.

Harry and Hermione had left the bank and wandered down Diagon Alley for a while. They stopped to pick up some books Hermione needed for school, some spare supplies, and even a quick peek in the Quidditch supply store for Harry, who purchased new gloves and some sort of handle attachment whose purpose Hermione did not quite catch. They headed along to Fortescue's, where Harry pulled a classic brother prank on Hermione: complaining that his ice cream had an odd smell, and then pushing it into her face when she leaned in to check it. Raised as an only child, she had not yet learned to be wary of pranks. She would know be on her toes with Harry as she was with the Weasley twins.

"Hermione, I know it is still a bit awkward, but what do you want to tell Ron? I mean, if we live together, he's going to assume something is up…um, which could also cause problems with me and Ginny."

Hermione sighed. She and Ron had tried going out when school started up. Their personalities clashed too much, they didn't have enough common interests, and eventually Hermione found out that Ron had been trash talking her as a "cold fish" and hitting on other girls. She had cut things off without a huge scene, for which Ron was grateful. She had pointed out that they would never have lasted, but as best friends, she thought he would have at least respected her. The hurt had caused a serious rift in their friendship, with neither knowing how to fix it, and both trying to leave Harry out of it.

"There is nothing else to tell him but the truth. Things like this never seem to stay hidden. We'll just get it out there, and hope that time fixes things between all of us. I guess now I just have to figure out how I want him to find out."

"Hermione, I think you should tell him before school starts. If he finds out with all the other students, he'll be hurt. Don't push him further away."

Hermione shrugged. Ron's feelings were no longer a high priority for her. "I suppose I could write him a letter."

"That's a little cold, Herms."

"It's the best I can do right now." And it was. Harry was her confidant, and she had already gone through the ordeal of telling him. Ron could get the news from her in writing, ahead of school. It at least showed some effort.

Ron had actually written to Harry that day, asking about his friend's abrupt departure from the Burrow on Tuesday, and expressing his hope that Hermione was alright. It was the first time that he had really relayed much interest in Hermione's actions of late, and it thawed her out somewhat. Harry and Hermione wrote him back together. She explained all that she had gone through with her mother's illness, finding out she was adopted and then searching for her parents. Ron had written back immediately, surprising them both with a request to come and join them to offer his support.

Hermione was caught off guard. Ron's behaviour to her in the last term had not shown much care for her, and that had been when really she had needed him the most. She was still hurt and angry, but also curious about his sudden change of heart. Her parents suggested that she let him come.

When Ron arrived, he had told them that his parents had heard about his behaviour and instead of yelling; they had sat him down for a few heart to heart talks. He had made a common mistake: assuming that all girls his age that he dated would fawn over him or do things to raise his sexual interest. He was young, and should not have tried dating his best friend, nor should he have expected her to treat him in a dramatically different way just because they were dating. He apologized to Hermione, for the errors in his earlier behaviour and for not being supportive when she needed it. He had come to try to rectify things and bring the Trio back together. Hermione was glad to see him, and felt much better knowing that Ron and Harry would stand beside her as she found out more about her origins.

Ron had used his strategic thinking to present Hermione with another avenue for research: Remus Lupin. He pointed out that the pair had been best friends, they attended Hogwarts together, and Remus may know who Sirius had been seeing around the time Hermione was conceived. The Trio decided that asking Remus for help would be a good plan of action. Harry had suggested that over the Easter holidays, they look for clues at the Black home at Grimmauld Place. In the meantime, it may also be beneficial to have Kreacher keep an eye out for clues. Harry summoned Kreacher to explain things, including that Hermione was now the mistress of the house, that she was not a Muggleborn at all, and that while Sirius' daughter, they still did not know who her mother had been. Kreacher's attitude changed instantly—he could not believe there was still a Black to serve. He stopped calling Hermione "filthy Mudblood" and began kissing her hand and sobbing, "Young Miss Black! Oh, Young Miss Black!" Hermione was not entirely comfortable with being called Miss Black, but figured it was better than being called a Mudblood, any day.