A/N: Surprise! :) I won't have the time to upload tomorrow, so here's the last chapter of part 2! I'm currently writing chapter 8 of part 3, of which I will upload the first chapter on Sunday. The title will be "Hermione Granger and the Abundance of Dark Wizards".

Thanks to Sue for beta reading!

Have fun!


The rest of the holiday was, compared to the beginning, uneventful.

They spent Christmas day at Nott Manor and two days later Theo took it upon himself to inform all of their friends that Hermione was his cousin. It was nice to see how enthusiastic he was about it.

For Christmas, Cassius and Narcissa had spontaneously composed a photo album for her, with pictures of her mother in every stage of life, and Hermione had to agree: She did look a lot like her, it was almost unsettling, especially when it came to the pictures that showed Cyrelia at around the age Hermione was now. Later pictures often showed her with Narcissa and she had been so beautiful. Hermione couldn't help but wonder, if she would grow up to look like that, too. Her hair that had been bushy in childhood, too, (at least in the photos in which it wasn't styled) had developed into pretty locks, her smile was open and her eyes where that of her brother and daughter.

After receiving the album, Hermione had stayed up late and looked through it again and again and she knew she would treasure it forever.

It was decided that she was to stay with the Malfoys and she was happy with that. They had already claimed Magical Guardianship and changing that now would raise suspicion. She was always welcome at Nott Manor, but Malfoy Manor would remain her home and she was secretly glad about. For the first time in her life, the place she was living in actually felt like home and she dreaded losing that.

The only letdown was that they didn't hear from her father. Lucius told her that it didn't mean anything. An owl took some time to cross continents, but right until their last day away from Hogwarts, there was no reply. Then, when they just got ready for the train, the eagle owl Lucius had sent the letter to Tom Riddle with two weeks ago tapped on the window.

"Of course you're coming back now," Lucius drawled as he offered the bird his arm and it hopped on, looking indignantly at him before holding out his leg, to which two letters were attached.

Lucius looked at them both, put one on a nearby drawer and handed the other to Hermione. "Read it now, you can't take it to Hogwarts."

With a small, nervous nod, she took the enveloped and opened it.

Dear Hermione,

It is rare that I am at a loss for words, but I am very close to that regrettable state right now. I never imagined myself as a father or even felt the desire for children of my own. I was prepared to hear the two of us are related, but I admit that the information that you are in fact my daughter did come as a shock.

First let me tell you that, if I had known about you, I would have looked for you, either myself or with the help of others. I would at least have made sure that you were safe and happy and I am sorry that you had to grow with people like that. I know how it is for a child to be without someone who cares and I would not have allowed that to happen to you.

I am glad you are with Lucius and Narcissa now. I trust them with my life and I know they will take good care of you and, should it become necessary, keep you safe. As will the Notts, I have no doubt.

There is probably next to nothing I can tell you about your mother that you have not already heard from Cassius and Narcissa. She was a fierce woman who was never afraid to stand up to me and call me out, if she felt it was needed. When I think about her, I think of entire nights spent debating one topic or another and the way she never failed to be kind when possible. I fear I somewhat lack in that department and she often called me out on that, too. I am not going to lie to you. Cyrelia was a loyal friend to me, but I did not love her the way you may wish your parents loved each other, and I do not think she felt that way about me. But there was mutual respect and friendship between us and when I heard about her death, I grieved her. She was an exceptional woman and witch, Hermione, and I have no doubt her daughter is as well.

As for me, I don't know, if I have it in me to be a good father or even a decent one for that matter. I don't even know, if I am what you would consider a good man. The only thing I can promise you is that I will make an effort to be a positive presence in your life. I sent a letter to Lucius together with this one and maybe we can arrange a meeting sometime soon. I do want to meet you. Is there a country you would like to travel to? As long as it is not in Europe, I am certain it can be arranged.

I hope this letter reaches you before you go back to Hogwarts. If not, don't reply yourself. I'm sure, Severus will bring it to you so you can read it, but don't keep it with you at Hogwarts, just to be safe. Tell Severus the country you are thinking of and we will speak when we meet.

Enjoy the rest of your school year. Should I tell you to study hard? Is that my fatherly duty now? Well, study hard then.

Your father

Hermione couldn't help but grin at the last sentences. Apparently, Lucius was right, he did have a sense of humour.

She gave him the letter. "He asked for a country where we could meet him in summer. I read about the magical relics found in and around the Sigiriya ruins in Sri Lanka and found that terribly fascinating. But I've never been out of Britain, so I'd be happy with anything, really."

Narcissa laughed. "You are indeed his daughter. He'll love exploring those ruins with you."

"That he will. Good choice, I'll let him know. Come now, or you'll miss the train." With that, Lucius opened the main entrance and walked off towards the apparition spot just out of the grounds.


Back in school, everything went relatively well. Except for the lessons with Lockhart. The only thing they learned was what they taught themselves through books and even Daphne had to admit that Lockhart's books weren't as helpful as those in the library.

Draco's first Quidditch season went well, too. They lost one game against Ravenclaw, but did win the Quidditch Cup in the end, which brought them additional house points so that they were sure to win again.

Noodles was indeed happy to be carried around in her bag. They let him out when they spent time in the boys' dorm or when Milicent and Tracy weren't in the girls' dorm. Hermione got along with Tracy just fine, but she didn't trust her with a secret like that. Once a week, she handed the bag to Snape, who 'took Noodles for a walk' and let him out somewhere outside Hogwarts grounds, so he could hunt. Snape was not exactly happy about that additional duty.

Lockhart didn't even make it until the end of the year. One day, Aurors came into the Great Hall during lunch and arrested him for using Legilimency on others, obliviating them and selling their achievements as his own. Both Snape and McGonagall looked like Christmas had come early as they watched the show unfold; a show that involved Aurors reading the accusations aloud, Lockhart first acting shocked and outraged, then crying, and him losing a hairpiece as he was led away, struggling uselessly. Hermione, at this point, wasn't shocked. She had wondered how he had been able to do what was described in his books and there she had her explanation. He hadn't. Daphne looked the slightest bit disappointed.

Dumbledore left them alone and they didn't hear anything from him until one fine day in the middle of the second-year final exams.

Draco and Hermione were sitting outside, studying. The others had left already and they were, as usual, the last ones to make a final effort to absorb as much information as they possibly could before tomorrow's exams on History of Magic. They sat by the lake behind a large rock, so they were blocked from view and Noodles could enjoy the sun with them.

But then they heard voices and exchanged an annoyed glance. Potter and Weasley. Hermione opened her bag for Noodles to get in just in case.

But they seemed to sit down nearby. At first, Hermione considered leaving, but then she became very still.

"What did Dumbledore want?" Weasley asked.

"It was crazy," Potter sounded bewildered. "First he told me that Voldemort will be back at some point."

"Huh?" Draco's lips formed without a sound and Hermione just shrugged.

"He said he made Horcruxes, that's very dark magic. When you kill someone your soul splits or something and you can put that split part in an object and you can't truly die before those objects are destroyed. He just has to find a new body. Dumbledore said he thinks Voldemort made seven Horcruxes."

What the hell? What was Dumbledore on about now? Even if Horcruxes were real – and Hermione had no idea, if even that was true – that was ridiculous. Draco looked like he was about to burst out laughing and Hermione put her finger on her mouth in warning.

"Wicked!" Weasley commented, word artist that he was.

"Yes. He also thinks that he can't love, I mean, that he's really unable to, because his mother put his father under some love potion and 'he was conceived without love'.

"That's interesting. How does that make sense?" There was a first time for everything and it had taken Hermione two years to agree with Ronald Weasley on anything at all really.

"I don't know. Anyway, he then showed me a memory. He has a Pensieve, with that you can look at memories, and he showed me how he first met Voldemort." There was a pause. "I don't know, I thought it … Doesn't matter, I guess. Voldemort was 11, obviously, and he grew up in a Muggle orphanage. Dumbledore came to tell him he's a wizard, like Hagrid came to me."

Hermione had known that her father had grown up in an orphanage, so at least that sounded like it could be true.

"Dumbledore found out that Voldemort, his name was Tom Riddle then, had been bullied by some children and one day they all went into some cave nearby and the children were never the same again when they came back."

"Sounds like he was a psychopath already."

"That's basically what Dumbledore said." Hermione noticed that Potter didn't sound convinced and she silently congratulated him for having more brains than his side-kick. "Riddle also didn't want Dumbledore to go to Diagon Alley with him and rather went alone. So Dumbledore gave him some money and explained how to get there."

Hermione frowned. Dumbledore had let an 11-year-old, who had learned to depend on himself instead of adults, go to a place that was completely different from all he knew all on his own, just because he hadn't jumped up and down from joy at the possibility to spend time with a stranger. Great job, really. What an excellent teacher.

"Then Dumbledore said that Riddle had stolen a yo-yo, and some other trinkets, from some of the children who bullied him and hid them in his wardrobe. Dumbledore made it look like the wardrobe went up in flames and then forced him to give the stuff back and apologize. That was the whole memory."

"Good to know that he was a bastard from the start." Hermione wanted to punch the Weasel. That was what he was taking from this story? He was even more stupid than she had thought and that meant something. "Does he really think He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will be back?" By now it was a serious struggle to remain silent. What were they – three? She couldn't understand how anyone could be so afraid of just saying a name. Did they not feel stupid when they used "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" or some similar nonsense?"

"Yeah, he does. Probably soon."

"That's scary." Potter apparently agreed silently. Or didn't. It wasn't like they could see them. Then they heard them get up and walk towards the castle.

When they were out of earshot, Hermione let Noodles back out of the bag and turned to Draco, who looked half-amused.

Hermione could see the humour in all this nonsense, but her anger won. "We just heard the story about a psychopath alright. Only he wasn't 11. Who makes a child think that he burns the very few possessions he has just because he stole a bloody yo-yo from children who treated him cruelly?"

"What's a yo-yo anyway?"

"A super-cheap Muggle toy."

"Oh. Why didn't he avada him on the spot? Wasn't it obvious that he would become a mass-murderer?" Draco rolled his eyes.

Hermione huffed out a joyless laugh. "And if it makes you a psychopath to hurt someone who hurt you before, I guess I am one, too."

"What do you mean?" He asked quietly.

She hesitated and looked at Noodles, who had reclaimed his sunbathing spot, instead of Draco when she spoke. "I was six or so when an older boy kept calling me freak and chasing me around on the schoolyard. I was terrified of him. The teachers always looked the other way. They thought I was weird, too, because of accidental magic happening around me. And one day he caught me and gripped my arm very hard. I don't know, if what happened next was really accidental magic; I wanted it to happen. He was thrown against a tree and had a concussion and some bruises."

"Good," Draco just said, no pity for the boy anywhere to be seen.

She shrugged. "My point is, whatever happened in the cave, they obviously weren't seriously hurt and if he gave them a good scare so they would leave him alone, good for him."

"I agree. And stealing a toy is hardly a huge crime for a child. Especially when they have very little." Not that Draco could relate personally.

Hermione nodded in agreement anyway. "What worries me, though, is that Dumbledore claims he'll be back. What is that about?"

"That's definitely weird. We should talk to Severus."

"If we manage to catch him. He's busy with the exams. If not, I don't think a few days will make a huge difference."

"Probably not." He brightened up. "And we have a Portkey for Sri Lanka the day after we get back home. We can tell him, too."

She nodded, a little nervously at the thought of meeting her father for the first time.

"Granger?"

She looked at her friend.

"You do know that this love potion theory is bollocks, right?"

"Of course I do! There are so many people whose parents have never loved each other. According to Dumbledore, half of the population isn't capable of love." If her father didn't like her, it wouldn't be because of the questionable way his mother had conceived him, but solely because of her.


Snape was in fact pretty busy, so they decided to wait until the holidays. Dumbledore telling Potter stories was hardly emergency material.

They focused on their exams and celebrated winning the House Cup – Slytherin's ninth victory in a row.

Then they all went home together, for Hermione's second summer away from the people she had thought of as her parents until half a year ago.

On their second day at home, the Malfoys would travel to Sri Lanka with her, where they would meet Tom Riddle. Her father. They had asked Professor Snape if he wanted to come, but his answer had been a brief no. Hermione tried to imagine him in a country like Sri Lanka, dramatically roaming the beach with billowing black robes.

She hadn't had much contact with her father due to the risk of letters sent to and received from him at Hogwarts, so she would only really get to know him during this holiday.

She wondered what kind of man he really was and how he would see her. If he would like her. She had achieved full marks on all her exams. Would he be proud? Would he even care?

She would know soon, for better or worse.

~End of Part 2~