A/N: First off, I want to say thank you so much for the lovely reviews. Second, I would like to apologize for the late update. I'm not going into details, but my youngest sister was in a horrible car crash this last week, and this event threw my entire family for a loop, and into complete disarray for a moment. She was hurt, but she will recover. This week hasn't been normal, and that meant that unfortunately, several non-crucial things in my life got dropped temporarily. She is out of the worst of it though as of today, so several of my worries are gone, and I am going to be taking back on some of my non-crucial responsibilities. And I send all of you my love and prayers that you never have to experience anything like this with your families.

Chapter Two

After the hullabaloo at breakfast, Hermione was just relieved to be in the dungeons for potions, even if it was with most of Slytherin house. At least down there, she knew that no one would make such a fuss over her birthday. In her heart of hearts, she knew that her housemates meant well, but considering everything that had happened in the last couple of years, she wasn't really in the mood to celebrate her birthday. She had told Ginny and Neville that much a week earlier.

"I don't want to do anything. I'm not in the mood for a big party, or any surprises. I've had enough surprises to last me a lifetime. I just want that day to be like any other day, just a normal September 19th."

Fortunately, her friends had listened to her, and apologized when she'd come in the great hall and there was still a giant party waiting for her. She sighed, and was reveling in the quiet, when all of a sudden there were three voices arguing in the hall.

"It's not possible. The only people present in the house when we were born were my mother and father, and it's not like they would have done anything." Nott was saying.

Parkinson threw her hands up in the air as the three entered the classroom. "I'm telling you. You wouldn't have even gotten the bloody thing if she were really dead."

"Pansy, I hate to point this out," Malfoy said. "My parents were at the funeral. There was a body, a casket, and my father helped lower it into the ground."

"Not to mention, my father made me visit her grave every year." Nott said bitterly. "He cared more about her death than mums."

Hermione tried her best to drown out the conversation, and started pulling out her potions ingredients.

"Well, clearly someone was lying. Whoever went into the ground wasn't your sister, Theo." Parkinson said with a finality.

At that Hermione dropped her scales. Despite her best efforts to ignore them, that juicy tidbit had been just too much.

The three Slytherins turned around at the noise. "Eavesdropping much, Granger?" Parkinson asked with a mean tone. "Didn't your parents ever teach you that it's rude to listen to other people's conversations?"

Hermione leaned down and picked up her scales from the ground where she had dropped them. Coming back up, she answered with a slightly red face, "Well, if you lot hadn't been speaking so loudly, I wouldn't have heard anything."

Pansy glared at the brunette. "Well, then hear this Miss Goody Two Shoes, keep your obnoxious head out of our business." She then tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder into Hermione's face.

"Don't worry. I have no interest in you lot. I just want to have a quiet year. I'm more than happy to ignore the lot of you." Hermione said primly.

Before any of the three Slytherins could retort, the rest of the class started shuffling in. Ginny came rushing through the door, with barely a minute to spare, and took the seat next to Hermione.

"I'm so, so, so, sorry about this morning again." Ginny apologized profusely. "I really had no idea what they were planning today."

Hermione waved her hand in the air. As Professor Slughorn began the class, Hermione whispered to her, "It's fine. It's sweet that they all care. But I'm spending lunch in the library today to avoid any more potential celebrations."

Ginny snorted. "If it's any consolation, the Slytherins look absolutely miserable in the back."

Hermione turned to look at them. Despite having overheard part of their conversation, she hadn't paid attention to the faces of the trio, and Ginny was right, they looked downright terrible. Noticing Hermione looking at them, Parkinson stuck her tongue out her, and Hermione turned her head back to the front quickly. "I might know why. Apparently Nott's dead sister might actually be alive."

"What?" Ginny exclaimed loudly, forgetting that she was in class momentarily. She quickly muttered an apology to Slughorn, and hissed at Hermione. "Are you kidding me?"

Hermione shook her head. "I didn't catch the whole conversation, but that was the gist of what I heard."

Ginny looked at her wide-eyed. "I didn't even know that Nott had a sister."

"I guess she died at birth. Or at least that's what everyone believed." Hermione whispered with a shrug. "It makes sense why they don't look so happy today. I mean, could you imagine thinking one thing your whole life, then finding out that it's not true. I mean how could you know who to trust?"

Ginny looked down at their table. "It would be pretty terrible I suppose."

"Anyways, you should be paying attention. You barely got this far in school, don't forget that part of this is remedial for both years, so you need this part of class more than me." Hermione pointed out. "Harry and Ron aren't here this year, so this means that I'll get a break, so I don't want to have to be doing all your homework this year."

Ginny glared at her until she saw Hermione's mischievous smile. "You're a bit mean sometimes you know."

Hermione chuckled. "I didn't win a war by being nice."

The rest of potions passed with no major incident, as did the rest of the day. Hermione made Ginny swear to secrecy, which the red-haired girl agreed to, albeit reluctantly, to keep the Slytherins secret. After dinner Hermione spent the rest of her evening in the library, hidden in a corner with Oliver Twist. The novel felt oddly comforting to her that evening.

As she was walking back to the common room, she felt like she was being watched. Hermione pulled her wand out of her pocket. "Whoever's there, show yourself. Now!"

A little elf appeared from behind one of the suits of armor. Hermione lowered her wand quickly, and tucked it back into her pocket. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was an elf. I thought it was another student."

"Mistress doesn't need to apologize. Mipsy just wanted to see Miss Hermione." The elf said.

Hermione knelt down to the elf's level, a kind look on her face. "Are you one of the elves who works here in the castle?"

Mipsy shook her head. "I belong to my mistress."

"Oh, and who is that?" Hermione asked, making a mental note to find whoever Mipsy said, and talk to them about SPEW.

"I can't say." Mipsy said with tears in her eyes.

Hermione wasn't really sure what to say next. She pulled a Kleenex out of her bag, and offered it to the elf. "Here you go." She said softly. "I'm sorry for making you cry."

Mipsy sniffled, but took the tissue. "Thank yous." She said quietly. "I should be going. I have things to do. I just wanted to see you." With that, Mipsy disappeared with a quick pop, leaving Hermione behind, and very confused. She stood back up, and made her way back to the common room quickly.

Making her way through the common room, ignoring the chorus of happy birthdays that came through, Hermione ran up the stairs to the seventh and eighth year girl dorms. She was about to throw her bag on her bed, when she stopped dead in her tracks. Her bed was turned down, her pyjamas laid out, and a glass of water on the bedside table. She looked over to Ginny's bed. "Did you do this?" She asked.

Ginny shook her head. "No, it was like this when I came up here, I thought you'd come up and done this before you went to the library."

"No." Hermione took her wand out of her pocket and waved it over her bed, checking for any dark magic. Ginny scrambled to the foot of hers, watching Hermione.

"Anything?" Ginny asked.

Hermione shook her head, frowning. "Nothing." She turned to look at her friend. "It's perfectly fine. But who would do this?"

Ginny shrugged and climbed back under her covers. "Dunno, maybe one of the elves wanted to do something nice for your birthday." Seeing Hermione's perplexed face, she sighed. "Hermione, stop worrying. The war is over, not everyone is out to get you. Just accept the fact that it's a kind gesture and go to bed."

Hermione nodded, and gently placed her bag next to her bed, grabbed her pyjamas and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.