Author's Notes: James Birdsong, drew1998, decadenceofmysoul: Thank you all for the kind reviews

Later that morning, Hermione, along with Harry and the Weasley's used the Floo Network to transport to Diagon Alley.

The group appeared in the crowded alley but Hermione looked around not seeing Harry.

"Where's Harry?" she asked and everyone looked around, not seeing him.

"Goodness. Where is he? Right, Fred and George you go find him, Ron take Hermione to her parents. We'll take Ginny to Ollivander's so she can get her wand and then everyone come back here, yes?" Molly asked everyone.

They all murmured in agreement and separated.

Hermione met up with her parents and told Ron she'd met up with them soon.

"Wow, Hermione this is extraordinary." Jean said in awe.

"Wait until I show you the shops! We can start with Flourish and Blotts!"

Much to Hermione's disappointment they didn't start at Flourish and Blotts.

She ended up showing and explaining everything to them but she was very happy to do so.

By the time they made it to the crowded bookshop they found the Weasley's and began getting their books.

Hermione's parents staying by the entrance of the store to chat with Arthur who kept asking them endless questions about muggles and the muggle world.

She and Ron were still wondering where Harry went off to but by the time she got her books he walked into the crowded shop, covered in dust.

"Oh, Harry. Thank goodness. We'd hoped you'd only gone one grate too far." Molly said relieved, wiping the dust off of his sweater.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart!" was heard and Hermione turned around.

The crowd clapped as the middle aged red haired man walked in with a grin.

"Mum fancies him." Ron joked which earned a scold from Molly.

"Excuse me, little girl. This is for the Daily Prophet." a photographer shoved by Ginny to get his photo but then Lockhart spotted Harry's scar.

"It can't be. Harry Potter?" he asked, getting everyone's attention.

"Harry Potter! Excuse me, madam." the photographer grabbed and ushered in next to Lockhart who put his arm around him.

"Nice big smile, Harry, together you and I make the front page." he told him who didn't smile.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, what an extraordinary moment this is. When young Harry stepped into Flourish and Blotts this morning to purchase my autobiography "Magical Me"

Hermione frowned, seeing all of the ladies and girls clapping with glee.

Then looking to see how uncomfortable Harry was under the spotlight.

"Which, incidentally, is currently celebrating its 27th week atop the Daily Prophet bestseller list. He had no idea that he would be in fact be leaving with my entire collected works, free of charge." Lockhart said, handing him a stack of books.

That earned more applause and another photo before he pushed Harry aside back to the Weasley's.

"Now you give me those, and I'll get them signed, all of you wait outside. That's it." Molly offered gleefully as Lockhart stood in front of her.

Hermione grabbed some more books as she followed Ron and Harry back towards the front but Draco Malfoy came walking down the stairs to block their path.

"I bet you loved that didn't you Potter? Famous Harry Potter, can't even go to a bookshop without making the front page" he sneered.

"Leave him alone." Ginny said, stepping up to glare at him.

"Oh, look Potter, you got yourself a girlfriend." he smirked but the silver end of a cane tapped his shoulder.

He stepped aside to reveal his father, Lucius Malfoy, a tall man with long blonde hair stepped forward and grinned.

"Now, now, Draco. Let's play nicely. Lucius Malfoy. We meet at last." he shook his hand.

"Forgive me…" he pulled him forwards and used the snake head of his cane to move his bangs, revealing his scar.

"Your scar is legend. As of course the wizard who gave it to you." he hinted.

"Voldemort killed my parents…" he said and stepped back to his friends.

Hermione watching on silently.

"He was nothing more than a murderer." he stated.

"Mm, you must be very brave to mention his name." Lucius complimented dryly.

"Fear of a name only increases fear that thing itself." Hermione spoke up.

"And you must be… Ms. Lestrange. The pleasure is all mine." he said, looking to Draco next to her.

She frowned.

Ron went wide eyed.

"No, that's Granger father." Draco scoffed.

"Lestrange? I'm Hermione Granger" Hermione frowned.

Lucius chuckled then looked between her and her parents who were still talking with Arthur.

"Ah, it seems the ministry hasn't told you. Pity, just another mistake of theirs to clean up it seems." he said.

"What are you talking about?" she asked confused.

"Those… muggles over there adopted you, yes?" he asked knowingly.

"Wait, you're adopted?" Ron asked her.

"They're my parents but yes I am. Why does that matter?" she asked with a frown.

He just smiled faintly but Arthur came walking up.

"Well, it seems the Ministry has failed to inform you that you are the child of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. A pity you weren't sorted in Slytherin. If your mother knew about your sorting and that you were raised by muggles… the things she would do." he revealed casually.

"What is this? Lucius what are you doing?" Arthur demanded angrily.

"Fixing another mistake that the Ministry has made it seems, Arthur, which seems to par the course these days. My apologies. Come, Draco." he said and strolled out with his son.

"Bellatrix Lestrange! She's one of the most crazed Death Eaters! Voldemort's most loyal follower. She tortured Neville's parents into insanity!" Ron explained to Hermione's deaf ears. She only hearing muffled sounds echo in her ears.

"What do you mean Death Eater?" Harry asked him but Hermione didn't pay attention to them.

She stumbled backwards to lean against the banister.

Clenching her books tightly.

Malfoy had to be lying!

Surely!

She wasn't a pureblood.

Or a dark wizard.

Or evil.

She wasn't like him or Draco.

She was muggleborn!

And proud to be one.

"Hermione, luv…?" she heard Jean say and looked up to her concerned parents.

Her mum clenching her shoulder but tears formed in her eyes.

"I'm fine…" she said but shoved past them and ran out of the shop.

"Hermione!" Richard shouted while he and Jean ran after her.

Hermione ran to a side alley and slid down against the wall to cry.

Breathing heavily and began to sob.

This couldn't be true.

"Hermione, it's okay." she heard Jean say, her parents crouching down next to her.

She shook her head no and sniffed, wiping her nose.

"It's not mum. Bellatrix Lestrange is evil! Truly evil! She's…" she said but stopped herself while the tears streamed down her cheeks.

Having not told her parents about the first Wizarding War.

"Hermione, Mr. Weasley has told us about this Dark Lord. While I'm not pleased that you decided to keep this from us now and we will discuss this at a later time but right now I need you to hear that none of this changes anything. You are our daughter and we love you. This Bellatrix Lestrange forfeited the right to be your mother when she decided to do these crimes. Okay? You are our daughter. Our wonderful, beautiful, kind, and smart daughter who wouldn't hurt anyone." Richard comforted her.

Hugging her at the end.

She sniffed and managed to nod and rubbed her red, puffy eyes.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for not telling you everything. I was afraid you would pull me out of school." she said as she got up.

Her parents frowned.

"We would never do that luv. Watching you grow up, make friends and seeing you excel at school is everything parents could ask for." Jean said and hugged her tightly.

"Thanks mum."

One week later, Hermione was walking towards the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross, carrying her luggage.

Wearing a pair of jeans and sweater on the cool September 1st day.

Walking past some first years she saw the Weasleys a few cars ahead of her.

She smiled and began to walk up towards them but stopped.

Remembering that they of course knew who she was now.

Hermione Lestrange.

Was Hermione even her real name or the one her parents gave her?

She wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

Frowning, she chose not to join them.

Knowing they wouldn't like her anymore.

She stepped up into the car and put her luggage away after pulling out her potions book.

Eventually finding an empty cabin, she closed the door behind her.

Sitting down by the window and began reading the book in her lap.

Always getting ahead of her schoolwork.

After all this year would be just like the beginning of last year.

Lonely.

She began to get lost in the words but she heard the door slide open and looked up.

Surprised to see a taller Neville standing in the doorway.

"Neville… hi." she said awkwardly.

"Hi, Hermione. The rest of the cabins are full." he said and sat down across from her.

"Neville, I don't think you want to sit here. You don't know that…" she began but he interrupted her.

"I know Hermione. Word uh, gets around." he said awkwardly.

"Neville, please I'm so sorry. I didn't know I promise you. If you don't want to be my friend. I understand…" she apologized profusely.

"What! I still want to be your friend. It's okay Hermione. It wasn't you. Why wouldn't I want to be your friend?" he asked sadly.

"I, it's just… what my mum did. Or my birth mum did." she said but he once again interrupted her.

"Hermione please. It's okay. You were my first friend here. You helped me find Trevor. And besides I wouldn't have passed potions without your help." he said, joking at the end.

She smiled slightly.

"You would have been fine Neville. You're smart. Snape is just biased against Gryffindors." she joked but they were then joined by Fred, George and Ginny.

"You were the one that lost him Fred."

"I most certainly was not. He was right behind us with Harry on the platform!" George stated.

Ginny sitting next to Neville.

"Where's Ron and Harry?" Hermione asked them.

"We don't know Granger. They were right behind us..."

"Until they weren't." Fred joked.

"Strange." she frowned.

"Granger, or is it Lestrange now?" George asked without a hint of anger, trying to lighten the mood.

"I prefer Granger. But you guys don't mind who my mother is?" she asked surprised.

They chuckled.

"No, besides your with us in Gryffindor so you can't be that bad. But If you worried about our dear brother don't be. He may be daft sometimes but he'll come around." Fred said which she smiled at it.

"Metaphorically that is Granger, considering our dear brother can't even get our of bed on the first day of school." George joked.

"Thank you, truly. Now Ginny you have to tell me about your wand…!"

The train arrived to Hogsmeade and Hermione changed into her Gryffindor uniform.

Wearing it proudly as she walked into the Great Hall but stopped.

Seeing some of the students of the different houses look at her.

Whispering amongst each other.

Knowing that the secret must have spread and that everyone knew by now.

She did her best to ignore them and sat down between Ginny and Neville at the Gryffindor table.

Looking around to see Harry and Ron still not at the sorting feast.

The feast itself going on as normal.

Although she wasn't pleased when Dumbledore announced that Lockhart would be the new DADA professor.

But she was overjoyed when Ginny was sorted into Gryffindor.

The only people cheering louder than her were Fred and George.

Ushering her to sit down next to her.

Happy to have a friend who was a girl.

But before Hermione went back to the common room, Dumbledore asked her to see him in his office.

She had a pretty good idea why she was summoned.

She walked up the stairs and into the center of the large room but stopped, seeing the large phoenix perched.

Having never seen one before.

"Lemon drop? Ms. Granger?" Dumbledore asked, getting her attention as he walked around from his desk.

"No thank you sir. I'm still rather full from the feast." she said politely.

"Of course. I assume you know why you're here." he asked and she took a deep beath.

"The woman who gave birth to me." she said and he nodded.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, your Uncle, shouldn't have told you that but what's done is done. It was with the best intentions of the ministry to separate you from her. To give you a chance at your own life." he explained.

"But why wasn't I told when I arrived at Hogwarts sir?" she asked.

"It was the ministries intentions to not allow you to end up like her. May I show you something…?" he asked and reached for a portrait on his desk.

She took it which was a magical photo.

Seeing the moving portrait of Bellatrix Black in her sixth year in a black dress with other students.

And her long braid flowing down to her waist.

Then gazing over to a professor she didn't know behind the small group of students she didn't recognize.

"That is Professor Slughorn. He was our potions professor and head of Slytherin House. He used to have these gatherings with some of our finest and smartest students. Your mother being one of them." he explained.

"She was?" she couldn't help but ask and he nodded.

"She, like yourself was the top of her class. The brightest witch of her age and a fierce seeker for Slytherin." he added while she still looked down at the photo.

Seeing the teenaged version of her mother's cold expression.

"What was she like, as a person sir before Voldemort?" she asked.

"Well, like I said Ms., she was intelligent, Rebellious, passionate. A talented seeker and witch One of the best students I've ever had. In fact, you and her have many similarities." he revealed, shocking her.

"I don't think we do." she frowned.

"Oh, two bright witches who have gotten in more trouble than most despite being on top of their classes and otherwise well behaves students?" he asked with a smile.

She looked down at the photo, unable to come up with an argument.

"But, unlike yourself Hermione, she was a believer in pureblood supremacy which more often than not got her into the wrong type of trouble I'm afraid House Black was one of Voldemort's most loyal followers. The most Noble and Ancient house of Black and Ms. Black sadly became one of the Dark Lord's most loyal followers. Along with your father, and Uncle who was killed in an auror raid but your mother was caught after her involvement with the Longbottom's and is now locked away in Azkaban." he said and Hermione heard the regret in his voice.

"Where she belongs." she said, raising her chin up to him.

"Quite, Well keep that portrait. Now lets try to have a quieter school year this time, Ms. Lestrange?" he asked, she hearing the amusement in his voice at the end but she frowned at Lestrange.

"Yes, sir." she nodded.

"Now, if you'll excuse me Ms. It seems I have another matter to attend to." Hermione walked back to her room, unaware of the trouble Harry and Ron got into.

She flopped into her poster bed, pushing a strain of her messy curly long hair behind her ear and placed the portrait on her end table.

Sinking her head into the pillow… staring at her mother's face, long braid of black curls and what looked like her similar dark grey eyes staring right back.

So I know in the books Lucius Malfoy is just a taller version of Draco but I decided to stay with Jason Issacs's portrayal as Lucius because well who doesn't love it?