Chapter 2

Hermione heard a whispered conversation she couldn't make out and felt light headed and weak.

She could sense she was lying down on the living room couch when it came back to her.

The letter, written to her mother, her mother Hermione thought who wasn't actually her mother, was she.

A letter about her, to keep her safe, written to who was now clearly her adopted mother by Tom M. Riddle.

Tom M. Riddle, I am Lord Voldemort.

This couldn't be real, nothing made sense anymore. With her eyes still closed, she started crying quite hysterically with heavy sobs.

"I am so sorry sweetheart, I understand you're quite confused right now but it will be okay, I promise it will be okay love." Said Jean, trying to reassure Hermione, while petting her hair to calm her down.

"Who am I ?" Hermione managed to say between sobs and hiccups.

Jean and Dan looked at each other, an intense conversation happening between their gazes, before Jean closed her eyes and started talking again: "Well you are Hermione, our Hermione, although you now know we are not your biological parents, we still love you, we raised you as our own and nothing will change that.

As for who you are, you are Hermione Jean Riddle, Tom chose my name for your middle name when he chose me to be your godmother."

Tom, Hermione thought, her Muggle not really mother, called Voldemort Tom and talked about him warmly like an old friend.

Hermione was able to calm herself down enough to ask questions: "Okay, you're my godmother and raised me as your own with Da.. Dan. How can you even know Vol..Tom? Beyond anything else, I thought you didn't know about magic before I got the Hogwarts letter and you never did any, who are you ?"

With a sigh, Jean gathered her thoughts before answering: "Well, we did know about magic of course but had to keep the story straight to protect you as you gathered from Tom's letter. Dan is truly a Muggle, and didn't know anything about it until Tom asked for help, I don't know if you remember the family history of Tom? I'm pretty sure you mentioned researching it after your second year? Anyway, Tom's mother died in childbirth and his father and grandparents on that side were killed while he was around 17 although he didn't know them anyway. His uncle was framed for it, Morfin Gaunt. What you probably couldn't find and what no one knows really, is that Morfin had a daughter, raised the same way he was, a terribly abusive environment, he tried to teach her magic of course, but he was very weak himself and his daughter wasn't much better magically, a lot like Merope.

When Morfin went to Azkaban, she was already 17 and alone so she left.

Her name was Meliora."

Hermione gasped "Grammie? Grammie was a Gaunt?"

Jean continued: "Yes love, my mother was Meliora Gaunt, the daughter of Morfin Gaunt, and Tom's cousin. No one knew she existed, so when she left and eventually married your grandfather, losing the Gaunt name and having me, we were far removed from the wizarding world. I wasn't born with magic, a Squib really, Mother didn't expect me to have magic so it was quite alright."

"How did he find you then?"

"A few years before you were born, Morfin died in Azkaban, which made him Lord Gaunt automatically, although that doesn't give him much of anything, it did give him access to the Gaunt Vault in Gringotts where Marvolo Gaunt had hidden the family tapestry, he found Mother name and mine there and tracked us down."

Jean paused, remembering the sudden appearance of a wizard at her door, a wizard who claimed to be family.

"I knew about magic, in a very abstract way and mostly negative light due to Mother childhood but I knew enough to believe him when he said he was a wizard, and although Mother knew Merope died, she didn't know how, but Tom had taken the tapestry from the Vault and showed us."

"He didn't have any family, the Riddle side has been murdered, his uncle has died in Azkaban and he thought he was completely alone. He was frantic and a bit manic when he found us, but also very happy.

We had long conversations about the Gaunt family, his childhood at Wool's and Hogwarts, and he came back almost every day to learn more about us and tell us about himself.

We became quite close, and eventually when he married and had you, he named me godmother. He knew the war wasn't going well, and felt it was important one of your godparents was in the Muggle world, in case you needed to be hidden away." Jean trailed off, waiting for Hermione's reaction to everything.

She was Voldemort's daughter, her mother was actually her godmother and Voldemort's cousin, Voldemort was close to his Squib cousin, which was mind-blowing in itself and she had no idea how to process everything.

"I don't understand how He can be such a good cousin to you, he's a murderer, a monster, he wants to eradicate muggleborns! He killed Harry's parents! His demented followers tortured and killed for years! He killed Cedric! How can you stand here and tell what a good cousin he is and how nice it was to meet him?!" Hermione shouted, louder and louder with every word, nothing made any sense to her.

Jean looked sad but soldiered on: "Love, remember the letter, not everything is as it appears. Tom doesn't want to eradicate muggleborns, he did have twisted ideals about blood purity when he was 15 and discovered he was the Heir of Slytherin but he grew up. Everything has been very twisted but I swear to you, he's not what you think, not at all and he loves you."

Hermione had calmed down, she trusted her mother, well godmother apparently, but still she felt like she could trust her words. She kept thinking about the letter and everything her Jean had told her.

Coming to a decision, Hermione lifted her eyes and looked up: "I need to meet him."