For the first two weeks, Hermione basked in her parent's attention and care after the awful year she had. They both assured her that even when they were separated and changed their names – Dowson and Granger- they would forever be there for her and love her.

They even offered allowing her to change her name to include her biological father's, but she had to refuse. She did want to have her father's name, but unfortunately it was more complicated than just wanting it. Her father -Severus Snape- was a spy, and being connected to him made her a target, more of a target she was now that everybody considered her a muggle-born.

Even if they considered her father's status as a half-blood, it wouldn't do much for Hermione, as she was the result of a union between a half-blood and a muggle, not much better than a muggle-born.

Another problem laid in the SNAPE part. Apparently, now that father had a magical heir and he was a respected potion master, his real name wasn't Snape anymore and it should be Prince, according to Andromeda. Again because of being a spy and the possibility that Voldemort could come back, father didn't want to make himself more of a target by becoming a Lord and having more money. Being a half-blood in his ranks would be hard, but if he was confirmed being a Lord, he would be killed and Hermione had to marry one of those inner circle sons so they could get their hands on the money.

-she shuddered when she heard Andromeda was considering the possibility that Voldemort may enjoy ordering Hermione and Draco to marry. Andromeda didn't know that he was sort of her brother magically, she just said that because Cissa was her sister and Andy was Hermione's godmother- and Severus was draco's godfather- it would be awkward. She didn't know it would be beyond awkward, and that stupid dark lord knew and would enjoy it.

"your father not only saved Potter in his first year, but now all people know he has done it again this year. He can not pull the "I have a life debt to his father" card so many times, because this time if definitely fits the bill. Mister Voldy sure wants a spy, but he wants power and money more, he has lost many of his wealthy followers and needs money, even if it isn't much. and if Severus can not be the spy because of his injuries-"

Andromeda told her, that even if Ted told his father he would recover finally, it was not a given. Had he been a strong healthy 33 years old that was the case, but he was an underweight stressed overworked man, who had gone through a rough childhood and a rough period of being spy.

So while they hoped for the best, it would be possible that he never recovered fully, that at least one of his symptoms remained.

And Voldemort didn't need a crippled spy anymore.

Hermione didn't think her godmother told Severus this. She feared he would succumb to depression and wont try as hard as he could to get better.

So it was with this knowledge that she opted to spend most of her summer days with her father.

"no you infuriating woman! You can not come with me to help me take a shower!" she heard father yelling at the top of his lungs – as loud as he could anyway.

"don't be such a baby Severus! I was a nurse during war and have given birth to a child myself! I am old enough to have diapered you if you don't agree on me being as old as your mother! I bloody have seen all you men have to offer way before you could have said Lumos!"

Yep, another great start to a day at Tonks residence. Father was being stubborn again, and andromeda was having none of that. There was a great risk he could slip and injure himself further.

The Tonks house was a nice normal muggle house, with bits of magic thrown in it. It had wards, floo and magically enhanced kitchen appliances and some weather charms to control the temperature, the walls were extended so all of them could have a room for themselves.

"don't you tempt me Severus or I will come and strip you myself!"

Nymphadora snickered next to her.

Well , she wanted to be called Tonks, but her father did that thing with his eyebrow and sneered until she mumbled Dora was fine.

"its more action/comedy I've seen in years! I swear mom loves it to have someone to take care of again" she whispered.

Hermione wasn't certain if Andy- as she asked her to call her- saw father as a little shitty bad-tempered brother or a sort of son, but both were fine with her.

Dora was a bit older than Hermione, but fun to be around. She recently completed her primary Auror training, and Andy wanted her out of ministry. She said she could do much more than becoming a stuck-up auror who most of the times terrorized people rather than protecting them. There was no love lost between father and Moody too.

"don't you see how incompetent stupid arses didn't even bother taking care of a Basilisk in a school for 50 years?"

She did have a point.

Dora started to call father uncle Sev, which made his left eye to do a funny move. Hermione didn't know if Dora really cared about his opinion or not, but watching father act like his old self and be like that-will-be-50-points was good.

Now she was trying and failing to focus on her last parts of summer home-work. Dora was sitting next to the bathroom to hear her mother and uncle Sev quarrels, with a bowl of popcorn. She had changed her hair into a bright neon green bob in honor her father. Of course father only stared at her hair, muttered about how much more he had to suffer for his sins, and then pinched his nose.

On another note, she had received another letter from Draco, which simply said " pretend we are talking for real".

The prat. She guessed both father and Narcissa knew, and left it at making them talk to each other civilly, even in one sentence letter.

" if only you could pretend you are an actual gentlemen and start with something like hello, and end the letter like a proper human being." She sent it back with his stuck-up owl.

Back to her essay, where was she?

When she finally was satisfied with her herbology essay and rolled the parchment, her father and Andy emerged from the bathroom too.

Father was still weak, couldn't walk around more than five minutes, and his asthma wasn't that good, at least he had improved enough He could now use simple spells without feeling exhausted.

but it was loads better than the feast.

She had seen him touching the Hogwart insignia in his pocket many times a day, and her heart went for him. Why this little token was so much important for him? Had he not have seen any support, any positive feedback that this single thing his students did in his favor moved him so much?

"Hallo uncle mine!" said Dora. "nice bath?"

Father glared. "shut it Dora. I can not take points, however I do know ways to make your life harder"

Dora laughed " whatever uncle Sev"

Father's left eye twitched.

It really was funny.

Seeing father was wavering, and Andy was tired, she stood up and offered her help. Dora already had made herself taller and muscular to help father, but Hermione loved to be helpful too.

"alright" said Severus.

When the group of three made themselves to Severus's room, Dora left immediately, sensing Severus was too tired to deal with her shenanigans.

Hermione kind of felt she liked having her as a sort of sister, having a sibling could be fun.

If that sibling was not draco spoilt Malfoy. Why father donated magic to Draco? Why it couldn't be nice, funny, caring Nymphadora?

Whatever.

Hermione wanted to leave too, when Father motioned her to stay.

"Hermione, I.."

"Father, I.."

His eyes widened. He still wasn't used to being called father.

"its alright sir, I mean professor, I can call you whatever you like, Its ok. I can even call you Sev.."

He cut her off.

" no, that's. Father is fine. More than fine. Even"

He gulped. "dad is ok too"

Hermione blushed. She had called her dad – adoptive dad- dad, but thought maybe Father wouldn't like being called dad. Now he said he wanted to?

What was the harm? She had called him dad right before he collapsed in the chamber.

"I thank you sir, I mean Dad?" and winced.

He closed his eyes, one hand in his hair. He then inhaled " I am mocking it up aren't I?"

"what? Of course not Sir, Dad..Its oh"

She could sense his shyness, awkwardness. Her adoptive dad had years to adopt the idea of being a father and he still stuttered when he wanted to explain about the separation. Her poor magical dad didn't have that luxury , with only months to get along with the idea. Hermione didn't think he had many people to rely on, or many friends. He blushed when one complimented him, and fell silent in case of being shown affection. Why a brave, intelligent, accomplished person like him acted like that, or saw himself less than he was, she didn't understand.

Yet-

She could remember those days without Harry and Ron. Even if Harry was being an ass, he was still her stupid friend. She had been lonely, and she had been isolated. She didn't know what to do to make friends. She only wanted to impress people, her teachers and classmates so maybe, maybe someone noticed her.

Even when Neville noticed her and sat with her in potions, she was so incapable of following a conversation that wasn't about bloody school that even made socially inept Neville to distance himself from her.

Had it been the case for her poor father? Lonely, not hugged enough, not understood enough?

Well now She would be there for him.

"oh come on!" she went and hugged the awkward man who was laying on the bed. At first he was stiff, but slowly he melted. His arms came and circled her, rested on her back.

" Hermione, I …I wanted you to know"

He was struggling.

"ok dad, take your time"

He chuckled.

"just how pathetic I am that my teenage daughter has to encourage me"

She buried her head further in his chest.

"no dad"

Why saying dad was getting easier and easier.

"don't you dare, don't you dare speak ill of my brilliant father, who single handedly killed a basilisk, re-invented the un-petrifying potion and saved the whole school. the man you are calling pathetic told me that even if I wasn't there and he didn't have a personal reason to be there, he would have risked it to do the right thing. He is brave, he is intelligent and totally awesome"

"do you.. do you really-"

Mean it? She could guess.

"course dad. You are the best" and hugged him tighter.

He chuckled again " I don't even know what to say, but you miss, are the brightest witch of this age. Far be it from me to contradict you"

"but this is… you do know that i..lo..i love you don't you? "

"yep"

"so can you understand that it is from loving you that I tell you ,you can not take all of the subjects?"

She carefully detached herself from him, he rubbed her chest mindlessly. She noticed with a pang of guilt. He was still sore.

"sorry I"

He waved her off. " I rather liked the hug" then reached for the envelope on the desk near his bed she had not noticed at all.

"this came this morning" and handed her the letter.

It was from her head of house.

"why?"

She had already talked with prof McGonagall and she agreed. She even said she could use a time turner.

Maybe he was going to talk about the muggle studies? She could get it, for a muggle raised witch it was probably useless, but she was curious about how magical folk saw muggles.

"I don't tell this to bother you, or hinder you. I know you can handle a time turner fine, but Hermione you will overwork yourself. Many of these subjects are not that much important for carious reasons, as it is quite hypocritical of me to tell you a subject is not important while there are many who believe potions to be out-dated. Muggle studies will not help you, you already know all of it has to offer and the way they talk about muggles is alike …is like they are less than squibs and you see how they treat squibs in school, with Mr Filch for example. And let me not start on divination, it only measures your patience in how much time it takes for you to want to murder the professor, and magical creatures is a waste too. Arithmancy taught here is mediocre at best and doesn't touch the more advanced equations needed for spell creation or curse breaking and runes is the best of them. If you could take healing, curse breaking or wards was far better. Even dueling is much better than these."

He continued " I made the mistake of taking them all, of course without a time turner as no-one would believe a Slytherin to be able to be responsible but that's not the point. I know you are an overachiever, its not necessarily bad, but if..if you are even a little bit like me, it would hurt you. Divination needs one to have an inner talent, and magical creatures aren't pets so we can care for them. The method of master Scamander is far superior to the one that Kettle-burn who is the subject's professor. He was when I was a student"

She considered outright refusing him, but he did have a point. but all of them? No muggle studies, or creatures too? If divination really needed a certain talent, she didn't want to study that if she didn't have it." so you think I don't have the inner part? and what is kettle-burn like?"

He sighed " I don't want to say it like I am a blood purist, God knows I am a half-blood, even if I was in his inner circle, I was never one of them. Some of the things they say"

He paused.

"some of their theories are not that far off the point. Divination is something that runs in certain blood families. Blacks for example have a talent for astronomy and in some generations they have metamorphmagus. Longbottoms had a knack for herbology and so on. My family had a talent for potions and mental arts- I will say more on this on another occasion."

He stopped rubbing his chest. " kettle-burn will retire this year, and with Albus penchant for choosing defense teachers, I think he will choose the most ridiculous choice ever, when I was still included in the head's meetings, it was choice between Hagrid and a centaur, both were unacceptable then, and I suppose neither of them managed to change their efficiency levels much in the past weeks"

"it is also possible he choses a man named Remus Lupin for either defense or Creatures. He wanted to put him there instead of Lockhart but the headmaster and the board didn't see eye to eye then"

His voice grave.

"so you have a history with this man dad?"

He laughs bitterly " you can say that. I don't think that he wont know you are..that you are my daughter the moment he sees you."

Hermione's eyebrows went up " dad?"

"well, we were sort of enemies in school. I predict he will have it in for you not unlike the way I had it in for potter. It is just- he was a friend of Potter's father, and when he hears how it's been for Potter, since I have no doubt the boy won't lose a second whining about his evil potions professor he may try his hand at retaliation"

Hermione didn't quite understand what he was going on about. Retaliation? What did it have to do with her?

"unfortunately, your fallout with Potter makes you vulnerable to some form of attacks, and even if I was able to protect you fully, neither my spy status or my physical health now allow me to interfere much. Many of you-know-who supporters are not happy with you saving the brat who lived neck on many occasions, and the other side wont like you abandoning him much better. They will never see it as you being justified in your anger. The golden boy will not be ever guilty in their eyes. And furthermore, in case of Lupin- he is, he will see it. He will see it as my fault and he will take it out on you. You are.. your know-it-all behavior is all mine. The over-achiever act, the overall , just know that he wont be pleasant"

She thought about what her father told her. If she really didn't have a talent for divination, and there was no hope for care of magical creatures, she may drop them. She should first see the professor's name, maybe ask McGonagall? Muggle studies she could read the books herself , maybe she could borrow Andy's or her dad's. it should have changed much, should it? Arithmancy seemed interesting enough if it was indeed used in spell creation and curse breaking in advanced levels. If there really was bad history between this Lupin and her dad, and with Harry and hers relationship like this, it was in the realm of possibilities to be just like father said.

So arithmancy and runes yes. Just read muggle studies reference and drop divination.

"will you teach me about creatures then? I have never seen myself as a magizoologist or anything, but it seems helpful to know about them. After all it was with this knowledge you managed to save us from Basilisk " and she waited for his response. She would drop divination, but care of creatures seemed too valuable a skill to miss.

" are you getting Slytherin lessons from Andromeda?"

She smirked – trying to copy his signature – and patted his hand " oh father mine, it must be my latent heritage coming to me, you see professor, you may not be aware but I am the daughter of the slytherin head of house who has been named the ultimate slytherin unanimously by the whole school"

He glared at her, but it was not much heat in his glares now " cheeky brat"

"grumpy old man" she shot back, and then moved quickly out of his reach and the stinging hex – she knew it was far less powerful than he could do, maybe just a pinch- and laughed.

"fine daughter. Have it your way" and his serious act was ruined by him yawning in exhaustion. Hermione found out she felt abit guilty making him tired, but she felt loads better, and he would too. He was voicing his concerns now, and directly. He told her he loved her just like a Gryffindor would – that must have taken a lot from him- and had given her advice, what more she wanted?

"night old man" but she saw he fell sleep while she was thinking. She smiled at his sleeping form and turned off the lights, and shut the curtains.

She was skipping to go back to her essay when her ears caught some words that she was certain wasn't meant for her.

" we really have to go mom. the papers are getting worse. I know Severus will be alright here in our house, but what about outside? They didn't give up on him being a death-eater, or that he must have been in it with that stupid heir. A lot of nerves are …I mean if anyone cursed him…"

Andromeda sighed. " well where exactly? Your father wanted to go to one of eastern countries to look for a cure there but we can not leave him and Hermione like this. We still have not found an elf, and if both me and your dad are busy with research, who can take care of him?"

She heard Dora next " well, the weasley's are going to go to Egypt the day after tomorrow. I guess Molly and Arthur can-"

Andromeda stopped her daughter " no. Severus will not agree, and they might want to accept it because they see themselves indebted to Severus. They are going on a vacation and I will not- Hermione Jean Prince that's not the way to eavesdrop" and she was at the door in a second.

She blushed.

"next time, don't get caught" Andy said with huff.

"you might as well join us. Is Severus sleep?"

She nodded.

"then let us begin"