Author Notes:
Welcome to my newest Fanfiction! This has been in the works for so long, and I am so happy to finally show it to you. It will be a multi-chapter fic, starting before our lovely heroine starts Hogwarts and will continue long after Hogwarts ends.
As of right now, I do not have an updating schedule, but will just update as I finish the chapters.

I have made a Spotify-playlist under the same name with songs that inspired some of the scenes, situations and feelings. If I have used any songs as inspiration for the particular chapter, they will be posted at the very bottom so as not to spoil the plot.

This fic will contain both swearing, E-rated scenes, character death, adult themes, some serious coming of age and growing up – and much, much more.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, the main plot or places mentioned in this Fanfic. I am merely playing around in an amazing fandom and universe.

Chapter 1

24. December, 1990

If someone were to ask, Mr. and Mrs. Granger would say that they were proud to be perfectly normal, thank you very much. The only nonsense happening in their household were two unruly kids and a grandmother with an over-the-top imagination.

The truth would be quite another, though.

Because inside their large, fenced and heavily warded property, they were anything but ordinary.

"William, will you please come pull your sister down? Otherwise, we'll have to call grandma Rhea and ask if she can get here sooner." Jean Granger called from the master bedroom where she was currently watching her daughter floating freely and happily under the vaulted ceiling. She hated having to call for his help, but she was terribly scared of heights and therefore didn't dare use the stepping-stool.

"But muuum," Hermione and William whined in unison despite them being in two different rooms. William was the first to make his thought known as he shouted the loudest of the two when he entered a moment later.

"-she'll just levitate again! Laughing! How come I get in trouble when I do magic, but when she does, I am the one who has to pull her down from the ceiling?!" The unfairness of the situation was obvious as he had been told to pull his sister down twice that day already, only for her to laugh loudly when after a loud sneeze, she would be right back up.

"You know, you had the exact same magical outbursts whenever you were sick, Wills. She just hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. And you are not allowed to do magic, because you are still a student at Hogwarts, and that means that -"

"-that I can't do magic outside of school… I know." William sighed loudly while turning around to pull his sister down, only to find her sitting on the bed, smiling at them.

The small girl with her long, brown curls, started scrunching up her nose like there was something unpleasant there. She wiggled it a couple of times, only for a loud sneeze to erupt from her, followed by the girl levitating to the ceilings, giggling, once again. When she sneezed a couple of times after one another, only for her floating to change directions each time, her brother could do nothing but laugh.

Their mother shook her head while she laughed lightly to herself at the lightheartedness of the situation, and left the room to call for their grandma. She would know what to do until their father returned from work.

"Roast a teaspoon of fresh ginger before mixing it with the tea leaves? Is that really it?" Jean asked in disbelief as she noted the information into their magical remedies notebook. Being a muggle herself, she had had no experience with magic until William started showing signs at three years old. How the time had flown by. Sure, Alexandre, her husband who was a squib, could do some very limited things like lighting up the room or hovering small objects for short amounts of time, but apart from that and her mother-in-law, Williams spurts of accidental magic was pretty much all she had seen.

Luckily, he had told her quite early on in their relationship that magic existed, what it was and so on, otherwise she would have been scared half to death when William had blown his glass of milk up one day, when he hadn't agreed on lasagna being their dinner.

"Yes, that's it. Ginger and lemon tea isn't enough, when she releases so much energy at each sneeze. Hopefully it'll be over soon." Grandma Rhea answered from the phone.

"Thank you, you really are a lifesaver." Jean said.

"It's really no problem, they both have to find a place where their magic is in harmony. When should I come by later?" She asked, as it had been planned for all of them to celebrate Christmas together this year.

"It's… 1 now, so Alexandre will be back from the practice in about an hour… I think dinner will be served at 6.30 or 7."

"That's fine darling, I'll see you there." She finished, before disconnecting.

….

"So, tell me, what house do you think you'll get into?" Grandma Rhea said, her head resting casually in one hand at the dinner table, eyeing her granddaughter. After finding out that their son had next to no magical abilities, she and his father would have never imagined that he would be the father of not one but two magical children.

"Umm… I'm not sure." Hermione started, fiddling with her napkin that was laying on her lap. "I think I could be either one of them really. But I don't know. I think I could both fit into all of them at once, but then none of them at all…" She looked down feeling a bit shameful at not having a clear idea about where she ought to belong. Or, well, where some dusty old hat felt that she belonged.

Her grandma moved her hand tentatively to her chin, and lifted her head until their eyes met. "Why is that, darling?" She sent Hermione a warm smile that should supposedly encourage her to elaborate. She looked to the side where her brother sat scowling at her, knowing full well that this would end in a full-on rant from her side. She scowled back at him. "Oh, don't mind him. Remember how he obsessed and ranted about being in Ravenclaw? Not exactly wise on his part to be wrong, I must say. So please, go on." Hermione smiled and sent her brother a gloating look.

"Muuum!" He whined looking to his mum for help, "I haven't said anything!"

"I know, darling, but you have been rather rude to Hermione anytime she talks about going to Hogwarts." Their mother sent him a look that could burn houses down and then turned her eyes to Hermione, "But you young lady will watch your attitude. If you two can't behave - and you will, on Christmas eve of all nights - Hermione will be sent to the living room and Wills will go to his room for 30 minutes of quiet time. Are we clear?" She finished and was about to look at each of them in turn when she was interrupted in the movement by William protesting once again.

"But muum, why doesn't she have to go to her room? It's so unfair." His arms were hanging limply down by his side like he had already given up every ounce of happiness in his life.

"Because," Their father chimed in, having had enough of the petty bickering, "she enjoys being in her room. If we send her there, she'll start reading and we won't see her for the rest of the night. When we send her to the living room, she has to listen to us talking about adult stuff which usually bores her half to sleep. Now, let Hermione answer the question if she wants to, in peace, or I will rant for 30 minutes about the kinds of cavities you'll have tomorrow if you don't brush your teeth properly before going to bed tonight." He sent his son a scorching look that made William cross his arms and lean back further in his chair, in defeat. Then he sent his daughter an encouraging smile that made her sit up taller before looking her grandmother squarely in the eyes.

"Like William, I really feel like I could do great things in Ravenclaw. My book loving side definitely wouldn't be sad to go there. But I also feel like I could belong with him in Hufflepuff… I'm honest, and hardworking and I really do believe in fairness. But I'm too… Ambitious? And you've referred to me as a snake on multiple occasions. I might as well be in Slytherin. But then… Gryffindor doesn't sound so bad either. I'm just… What if I don't belong there either? I don't want to throw myself into something that I haven't planned out in my head or made a few lists about. What If I… What if they…" She trailed off, insecurity and the realization that she had ended up pouring her entire heart out onto the dinner table in front of her brother, parents and Grandma hit her hard. Granted, Grandma had asked her directly. But she couldn't possibly have foreseen a mental breakdown happening right in front of her.

The room was in complete silence as everyone waited patiently for her to finish her sentence, though she didn't know how to. Without another word, she pushed her chair back before lifting and folding her napkin, placing it at the table. "Apologies, I have to use the loo." She then silently stood from her chair, and rushed from the room, foregoing the door for the loo on the main floor.

She dashed up the stairs and into her room where she softly closed her door. With a small sob, she dragged herself to her armchair in the corner by the bookshelves.

This was where she was safe. Her books would always keep her safe. She curled up quickly, hugging her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top of them, as she felt the tears pressing on.

A couple of minutes later, she heard soft footsteps going up the stairs and then a light knock on her door. She didn't answer, though she knew that she wouldn't gain anything from it.

A soft knock again, followed by a voice; "Hermione, may I come in?" Her Grandma asked patiently.

"I'd rather you didn't." She answered with a small voice.

Everything was silent for a moment, except for the sound of dishes being removed from the table downstairs. Then she heard the sound of something pushing at the door, again followed by her grandmother's voice; "Will you come to the door so we can talk, then?" She must have sat down on the floor against the door. It certainly wouldn't be the first time she had witnessed it in her short life.

Hermione slowly got up and went to the door, sitting down with her back against the wall and her head leaning against the wooden door.

"What's going on, my love?" Grandma Rhea asked after some time. "What are you scared of?"

Hermione was silent for a moment while she found her courage to voice how she felt. She was good at books and facts and footnotes… This was neither of those.

"What if they don't like me?" She asked with a small voice. It wouldn't be the first time someone didn't like her. In fact, people rarely liked her at all. She had been bullied all through school, being called every bad word between heaven and earth for things she had no control over.

"Why wouldn't they like you?" Grandma questioned. Hermione could also see the raised eyebrow through the door.

"Everything I do is wrong... My teeth are too big and my clothes are all wrong and my hair is too big and I… I'm a weirdo, Grandma." She whispered.

"Because of your magic?"

"I… I'm a nobody. I don't deserve to have my magic. G-give it to dad instead. I don't want it." She sobbed into her knees.

Nothing was said between them for some time, while Hermione cried softly.

"Can I come in now?" Grandma then asked softly, though Hermione could hear the restraint in her voice. Hermione didn't answer, but scooted far enough away from the door so that she could enter. She pulled down the door handle which opened the door just a bit, indicating that she could in fact enter. She heard shuffling at the other side of the door and a few seconds later, Rhea walked into the room, closed the door behind her and sat down beside Hermione, scooping her into her lap.

And Hermione cried, until she could no more.

"Grandpa thought he was a nobody as well…" Rhea suddenly whispered into the little girl's hair. "He thought he was at least, but he did such great things." Hermione looked up at her grandma, and saw her looking at the wall across from them, seemingly deep in thought.

"What happened to Grandpa?" Hermione asked in a low voice. She had never met her grandpa as far as she knew, and it was a commonly known thing within their family, that he wasn't talked about or mentioned at all. It was like he never existed.

Still sitting on her grandma's lap, she felt the shuddering breath from her chest more than she heard it. After a while when she still hadn't answered, Hermione opened her mouth to apologize for bringing it up, but she shut it firmly when Grandma Rhea started talking simultaneously; "Grandpa was… a great wizard. He was so bright and smart that it left everyone baffled. What he could do with a cauldron and some ingredients -" She sighed, " -I've never seen anything like it." Her eyes were shining with affection and admiration.

"But–" Hermione began slowly, her curiosity peaked.

"He disappeared, darling. During the wizarding war. Dark wizards wanted him for his abilities with potions so he had to go into hiding, unfortunately no one has seen him since." Grandma's eyes changed. Before, they had been shining with light and love from times before Hermione could remember, they were now sad and hollow. The light that had been shining was extinguished. Luckily it didn't last very long - the moment her eyes feel back on the small girl in front of her, the light came back. This time it was with a fiery stubbornness that Hermione recognized, as her grandma armoring up to bring on a point that one would have trouble arguing against. from their look of deep-in-thought, and focused on her granddaughter. "So let me tell you this young lady you might feel like a nobody right now because of things people tell you out of spite and other things that they believe to be superior motives. But you are so much more than that. You are bright, funny and kind, but above all else; you are yourself deep into the core, and you shall forever remain that way. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you are anything other than amazing. Not even your brother. I know he can be difficult, but he loves you dearly; sometimes he just has to be reminded of the fact." Grandma gave her a small smile and cuddled her closer, before scotting her off and raising to her feet, holding out her hand for Hermione.

"Now, let's go have dessert and perhaps we can softly encourage the rest of the table into a game of Monopoly?"

…

December 31st 1990

A week later, on the last day of December, Hermione and William found themselves in their garden, flying around on their brooms. Hermione had gotten one for Christmas and William had brought his own one home over the holidays. They had spent the majority of the morning riding around their large garden, while he taught her how to ride it both fast and slow, yet also how to brake properly without falling off. Of course, she already knew the basics seeing as she had had a junior training broom for years, but she had now grown so much that she needed a proper one.

She already knew that she wouldn't be able to get into the quidditch team at school because one couldn't as a first-year student - William on the other hand, had gotten a spot on the Hufflepuff team this year and was ecstatic. She hadn't really been surprised when they had received his owl the day after the try-out, telling them that he had easily made the team.

Her eventually being on a quidditch team, on the other hand? She wasn't so sure about that. For her, riding a broom was more about having fun and getting exercise, and not so much about the competitive scene. She would much rather be reading a book... or five, depending on how long the match would turn out to be.

"- And then when you speed up as much as possible, you'll want to tilt the broom upwards to brake, sort of like stopping while skiing, but vertical. Okay? I'll show you." And then he was off at high speed, and braking hard, doing exactly what he had told her to do.

"Now you try!" He yelled back to her, through the wind that had started to pick up a bit. She could only just make out what he was yelling.

"Okay!" she yelled back, and got on her broom, finding her balance properly, before taking off as fast as she could. The broom was brilliant and she arrived by her brother's side, breaking as he had shown her, nearly as fast as him. "I did it!" She exclaimed happily; cheeks flushed from the cold wind.

"That you did, nene. Come on, I see dad waving at us. We better get going."

"I'll race you!" She teased, and not even looking back at him to see the large grin on his face, she was off - closely followed by her brother.

…

An hour later, after lunch and a quick shower, the two of them found themselves stepping out of the floo in The Leaky Cauldron, one by one.

Hermione silently looked around while her brother came up beside her, taking the room in before them. It was filled to the brim with people at the busy lunch hour.

"There!" Hermione said loudly to her brother, trying to talk over all the noise, while she pointed at the dark-haired woman that they knew to be their grandma, sitting at the bar with another woman. The two children made their way to the bar, sidestepping the other people so as not to be in their way. They were almost there, when a large man came barreling their way snapping a "Get out of my way!" at the children before pushing them in two different directions.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw William taking off the fall on a table so as not to hit his shoulder against it. She instead found herself hitting something less solid than a table. Her mind was set fully on that she would be falling to the floor, seeing as her attention had been on Willliam instead of on herself, and found herself thoroughly surprised when she was still standing up without any injuries.

"What, an idiot." Someone sneered behind her, "Are you alright?" The voice asked again, this time much calmer, and she suddenly realized that someone had a hand on her shoulder and was, in fact, talking to her. She turned around and was met by a couple of concerned gray eyes and a head of platinum white hair.

"Y-yeah, I'm… fine, t-thank you." She stammered out, being completely taken off guard by the person standing before her. She then remembered that she had actually been pushed into the person. "Oh, I'm so sorry, forgive my manners. Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?" She exclaimed, taking in the person before her more thoroughly looking for any signs that she had injured him with her fall.

"No, I'm fine. Nothing happened." He said, a friendly smile on his face. "I'm Draco by the way." He held out his hand for her to shake, which she gladly did.

"I'm Hermione, and that's…" She pointed back towards her brother, but found him missing. When she looked further around, she saw that he had gone to Grandma. She pointed in the direction instead, "- And that's my brother, William." When she looked back at him, she saw that he was frowning and had a very concentrated look on his face.

"Do you know my mum?" He then asked, still looking in the direction of her brother, grandma and the woman who were now looking back at the two of them.

"No? Should I?" She asked, confused.

"Well, your brother's standing with her."

"Oh, that's you mum? No, I don't believe I've met her before. We're here shopping with Grandma." She said, smiling brightly at him and gesturing with her hand in the direction of her two family-members, as she took a small step in their direction. He seemed to catch on quickly, and together they made their way to the two ladies.

"Draco, darling, let me introduce you to an old friend of Grandma Druella's; Rhea Granger." His mother said conversationally politely, her hand fanning out to Grandma. Draco stepped forward and took the hand that Grandma held out to shake his with, yet he picked it up, gave a little bow and kissed the top of her hand lightly; "It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am. My name is Draco Malfoy."

"Oh, such manners. It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Draco. And I can tell you have met my granddaughter, Hermione, already." Draco nodded and smiled politely in acknowledgement. Somehow, he seemed a bit more reserved now, than he had been towards her mere minutes ago. She wondered if this was due to the fact that her grandmother was seen as the head of House Granger, though he couldn't actually know this. He was probably just guessing. "And this is my grandson, William." She smiled kindly at him, then back to her friend, somehow still maintaining attention on the three children present, "And this, my darlings, is Narcissa Malfoy. I went to school with her mother and had the great satisfaction of watching Narcissa and her sisters growing up." Narcissa smiled back at Rhea, though she seemed a bit subdued suddenly, like it wasn't a good thing to be reminded of one's childhood or something like that. This whole exchange, despite the showcasing of proper etiquette, was giving her more questions than answers.

William first kissed her hand in greeting, then Hermione gave a small curtsy, "I'm delighted to make your acquaintance, ma'am."

Narcissa and Grandma shared a quick look, but it seemed that a thousand words were said between them nevertheless. Hermione understood absolutely nothing of this situation. Sometimes adults were scary.

A slow, secret smile grew on Narcissa's lips before she turned fully back to the children at present.

"It's lovely to meet the both of you, as well." She smiled brightly at each of them in turn. "So, what brings you to Diagon Alley on this fine day?"

It was William who answered, obviously not being stuck deep in thought. "Mum and dad didn't want us at home while they prepared for tonight's party, and grandma volunteered to take us out. But I needed some stuff for school anyway, so it's not a big deal."

"And what school do you go to young man?" Narcissa asked William.

"Hogwarts, Ma'am. I'm in my second year." He said proudly, puffing his chest up lightly. Her brother was by no means small yet he definitely wasn't a giant either. She had always thought that puffing his chest made him look like the overstuffed goose they always had for Christmas, but apparently the grownups loved it.

Narcissa's eyes seemed to light up at that. It seemed almost too easy. "How exciting. I bet you're enjoying yourself up there! And what about you, young lady? Have you started school with your brother then?" Her attention was now fully on Hermione, who felt herself standing a bit taller like she normally did when directly asked a question, though she felt a bit like crumbling into a ball so she couldn't be seen. "No, Ma'am, I'll be going this summer. I'm just tagging along today." She smiled politely back at the woman, still standing tall.

Narcissa excitedly clapped her hands and exclaimed; "Oh, how exciting! My Draco starts this summer as well!" Hermione's head whipped to the side towards Draco and found him staring shyly at her.

"You do? Then… maybe we could go shopping for school supplies together, this summer?" She asked him, noting how his eyes widened a bit and he quickly looked at his mother. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself." She took a small step away from him, thinking that she had somehow overstepped. "I'm sure you have lots of friends to do that with. I'm sorry for instigating."

"No, it's alright. There's just going to be a lot going on." Again, he looked to his mum, who in turn answered her; "I'm sure we can think of something. Now you must excuse us, but we have to get going. It was lovely seeing you all though." She lightly kissed Grandma's cheek before they left. She thought she saw Draco lingering a bit while looking at her, but he was gone before she managed to say anything.

….

Later that evening she was sitting by the table playing guess who with her friend Harry, her mother came into the room with a letter that had just arrived by owl. She quickly ripped it open, after apologizing to her friend for the sudden intermission.

"No worries, it gives me more time to figure out if you're hiding Richard or Louise." She laughed out loud at that, and returned to her letter so that they could continue as fast as possible.

"Hermione,

It was lovely meeting you today, I hope you weren't hurt too badly by that guy earlier.

I'm writing because I feel like I need to apologize for behaving so badly, when you suggested we'd go shopping. It could be fun to hang out this summer, but to be frank, I don't know if we'll even be home. Dad says we might be in France till school starts.

I know that is a really bad reply, but I promise to write to you as soon as I know something.

Also, my parents says 'hi'.

Happy New Year
Your friend, Draco Malfoy."

She put the letter down with a large sigh and looked at her friend sitting across from her.

"Who was that from? You look like someone who took one too many bludgers to the face." He scrunched up his nose.

She snorted in a very un-ladylike way. She had never actually taken a bludger to the face, thank Merlin for that. "It's just a new friend that I found today. Also, you have Alice."

"HOW DO YOU DO THAT EVERYTIME?!" He yelled and tore up the picture and threw it in front of him. She laughed out loud once again, not daring to tell him that she by accident had seen the reflection in his glasses a few minutes earlier, when he had cleaned them in the corner of his shirt.