Note: here's a lil update on this one for you all. I honestly cannot stress enough just how grateful I am for all the support, encouragement and kindness you all show me. I have so many messages in my inbox I honestly struggle to keep up but I promise to do my best to reply when I can.

A little explanation for all those who asked about Hermione's age and her being admitted entry to Hogwarts a year early. Hermione's birthday in this has been changed. Her birthday is given in chapter 1. November 19th 1981 is when she was born in this particular fic. Making her ten years old when she is invited to Hogwarts. I haven't changed any of the other students birthdays so they will all be eleven. So she is the youngest in her year when they attend in the September 1991. I hope that clears it up for you and thank you for asking about it.

Enjoy the chapter and as always I send all my love ~ Nell xoxo

Edited 04/01/2025

~ December 21st 1981 ~

~ Sydenham, London ~

The rain battered off the dark pavement all around him. Bouncing up to hit his cream coloured dress robes with icy precision. The cold and wet soaking the silk material that had probably cost more galleons than half the muggles around him received as a monthly wage. His steps were brisk and purposeful as he moved along the busy street, fast approaching Sydenham Hill. His eyes darted every which way as he went, his senses on alert to ensure he wasn't followed or seen. This moment was hard fought and he couldn't risk a mistake. His plans were coming to fruition all around him. Plans that were far too important to risk, ones that had taken months of planning and we wouldn't tolerate having them spoiled now. Not now when he was so close to securing the future. He knew how important it was for him to get the heavily wrapped bundle he clutched tightly under his robes to where it was needed. The future of the world as he knew it, depended on it. A world that had only just begun to recover from what had been a devastating war. Where countless lives had been lost. Generations decimated, thanks to cold hard prejudice and hatred. It was his duty to ensure those prejudices were righted and the world put back to rights and this was all part of it. He had made sure of it.

He was grateful for the dark, dreary streets that shrouded him. The darkness concealing his very presence from everything around him. The heavy rainfall drowning out his footsteps from potential listening ears. Though the weather wasn't exactly necessary. He was confident in his own power, after all, to hold up the disillusionment he had cast around himself.

He could see his destination now as he turned on to the correct street. The large building he was looking for stood proudly in front of him. This street just as busy as all the others had been. Many unsuspecting muggles milling around him in various moods. Children were dotted all about him. Out unsupervised, at what he would deem a far too late time for youngsters to be out. Left to play and entertain themselves in a way he knew none of his kind ever would again. Not after tonight's news anyway. He knew all wizarding families would hold their children tighter when word broke. Not that he cared in any particular way. Childless and unmarried as he was.

As he drew closer to his destination he tightened his grip on the bundle in his arm. Large pale hands reaching in to his pocket to pull out the fifteen inch wand, made form rare elder wood. The wand settled familiarly, if not a little resistant, in the palm of his hand as he cast a silencing charm on the little bundle in his arms. Not wanting any curious gazes to seek him out as he finally walked through the open gate of The Haven. He didn't hesitate or dawdle as he marched straight up to the heavy brown door.

He placed the bundle down on the doorstep content to leave without further fanfare, only hesitating when the blue grey eyes of the child he had saved caught his attention. Eyes scrunched in upset as the barely two month old screamed silently. The silencing charm he had placed on the baby doing its job wonderfully.

He tucked the blanket around the baby more securely, not particularly worried about the child being concerned but with buying himself a minute as he pondered on what he ought to do. He had thought he had done enough when he had altered the child's magical core. He had bound her core and concealed her family Magik but it was clear he could not leave those eyes as they were, not now that he had gotten a good look at them. They were far too noticeable and would be recognised immediately within the magical community for the family they had come from. The family he had just saved this child from. Once she entered the grounds of Hogwarts looking like that the staff at the very least would know with little difficulty, exactly who spawned her and his plans would crumble. He could not risk such a thing. Their future rode on this child remaining ignorant of her heritage.

He pursed his lips and Focused back on the child's face, he pointed his wand. Softly muttering "Verum abscondere faciem taum" under his breath. Picturing brown eyes, a button nose and freckled cheeks in his mind's eye. His magic responding with precision as it always did. He watched silently as the little girls face in front of him morphed into the face of a little girl so very different from her mothers. There would be no recognition now upon her entrance of the wizarding world. A final few spells followed his first to block and hide her from ever being found, his spells making her invisible to any attempt to trace her whereabouts. The little blonde tuffs atop her head lengthened, curling and darkening to a shade that matched the brown of her new eye colour. He shivered involuntary, partly due to the wind and partly because he realised he had taken the inspiration for her features from his sister. A girl he had once loved fiercely but had long since been lost to him. He shook the image free as he straightened. His right hand reaching back inside his robes for the small piece of parchment he had already prepared.

After tucking the letter inside the blankets he had left wrapped around the child, he stood. Pushing the doorbell of the door in front of him and moving silently but quickly to the gate. He remained under his glamour. His presence concealed from the middle aged muggle woman that had come to answer the door. The man watched with a smile as the woman's eyes widened comically when she spotted the silently screaming baby. Not that she needed to be concerned, he thought. The child was fine and the silencing spell would ware off eventually. They should be grateful for the few hours peace that he had granted them before she was screaming loudly once more. He wasn't naïve enough to think she would be an easy child. Her parents weren't ones for abiding by the rules. She wouldn't be either. He almost felt pity for these muggles, unequipped as they were to handle a magical child. But they'd do their best and that was all that really mattered.

"Oh goodness gracious! Eleanor! Eleanor come quick! It's a babe! Left outside." the muggle called in alarm, disbelief colouring her tone. He smirked in silent satisfaction as the letter was read and the baby swept up into gentle arms. He had done right in removing her from her parents he was sure. She would have been raised in the wrong way, taught to be ruthless and cruel instead of kind and forgiving. She'd be raised a soldier. A formidable one and despite her young age she already possessed powerful magic, he hated to think just what it could and would be twisted into if she were left with her birth parents.

'Oh good' he thought. The child was much better off here, just as he had thought she would be before taking her. These people would take care of her. They would raise her right and the fact that they were much kinder than her parents (anyone would be) helped greatly.

He nodded once, watching as the child was carried inside, the door firmly pressed shut. Satisfied that this would be the last he saw of the child before she was of Hogwarts age he made a sharp turn. He swished his wand and with a loud echoing crack he disappeared from the street. As if he had never been there at all, All that was left was a muddy print from soiled shoes that would never be found. The Haven home for girls and the child he had graciously saved left behind without a second thought. Content in the knowledge that for the foreseeable future she was not his problem to deal with. At least for a few years she wasn't. The muggles would have to deal with her. Not that he had any real desire to think much more on the situation. He had more important tasks to oversee now.

~ December 25th 1981~ Location: Azkaban, North Sea ~

Her scream was piercing as she shook and sobbed. Her chains clanging loudly against rough stone as they pulled at her wrists and ankles tightly, skin pealing as it was rubbed raw by the rusting metal that contained her.

Her eyes, now dull and sunken, screamed agony as they flashed at the guard lingering by her cell in warning. The incompetent bald headed fool, stood just out of reach as he taunted her. Safe behind the bars that caged her, his distance stopping any attempt she may have made to punish him for his continuous slights against her.

The cuffs around her ankles and wrists, were coupled with the magic suppressing wards that lined the cells. A cruel measure that denied her the use of her magic. All she could do was scream out her anger and pain.

Scream and cry and sob.

The Daily Prophet article he held up, pressed maliciously against the bars, had her heart crumbling as she looked upon the anguished face of her sister in all but blood and her sisters wife. Their two eldest daughters cradled in their arms. Still babes really but their little faces pained with a grief that she felt herself as she learned of her God child's fate.

It made her feel powerless, her arms straining against her tethers. Every bone in her body demanding that she fix this, that she find her niece. Her panicked bloody hands reaching for the article with a frenzy she felt.

Anguish and heart break coursed through her for the girl that had been as close to her as her sister as they grew.

Devastation For her pseudo nieces.

Desperation. For something.

Anything, that would rid her of the hollow void that seeped within her bones. A hollowness that had nothing to do with the soul sucking Dementors that had so graciously paid her a visit earlier in the day. They had not stayed long. Vile, disgusting creatures that they were fed off ones happiness and she had her entire happiness ripped away from her before she ended up here.

They couldn't feed of off what she did not possess.

She let out a humorous chuckle, unaware that she had gone quiet while her once brilliant mind failed to come up with a way to be of use to her sister and her innocent little nieces.

"Oh no did I upset your feelings?" The disgusting man mock pouted at her. His laughter cruel as he waved the paper. Her families tear stained faces catching in the dim light of the moon outside as it fought its way into her cell through the cracked stone.

"Poor, poor Mrs Malfoy. Oh how I savour seeing you like this. Pitiful little thing you are now, no?" He asked through laughter, tilting his head in faux sympathy. Clearly getting pleasure out of watching her suffer in such a way.

She growled, using the little strength she had to launch herself forward towards the man, despite knowing it was futile. He stepped back in reflexivity. Fear flashing in his leering eyes before he barked a laugh. Realisation dawning on ogre like features that she couldn't get to him as her movement forward caused her to snap backwards, her frail frame being forced into the wall behind her. Shaky legs almost coming out from under her as she hissed in fury. Her anger, red hot.

"Stupid, filthy little creature." she spat back. Doing her best to summon her usual icy indifference but his words had done the damage already. Slithered into and under her skin, her already fragile mind and heart bruising irreparably. His words striking deep, venomously.

His taunting only rubbing salt further into the internal wounds she had already opened herself at her failure. She forced her chin up, years of pureblood training helping her give the illusion of togetherness as she gathered herself as best she could. All emotion eradicated from her face as she turned away from the pathetic man and took a deliberate seat on the grimy, damp covered floor. The weakness in her legs hidden, as they shook with the barely restrained grief she felt.

She had failed. She had failed her sister, her family. She had failed her godchild and her last ditch attempt at gaining information from the only two people she could access had been fouled before she even had a chance to interrogate them. Now she was locked up in this wretched place with no way out. She doubted her spineless husband would be of any use to her family and her baby boy... goodness her baby boy would be left in his father's care. Lucius would teach him all the wrong things.

And Andromeda, her dear sweet sister, watched by the blasted ministry as she was, after the fall of the almighty dark lord, she sneered slightly, would be powerless to interfere. The ministry breathing down her neck at all times, monitoring her every move. More than likely driving her Andy up the wall because Merlin knew her sister had never had any sort of patience. Especially for fools and the ministry were exactly that. Fools that thought with their wallets more often than their brains and it showed.

Not that she would ever find out any of that.

Trapped here as she was.

She sighed, her mind ignoring the man's continued insults and taunts. She let her mind do what it had done best in her childhood. She let it take her away from reality, lost within her own daydreams. She would let the passing seconds and minutes slip into meaningless entities as she existed outside her body for a while.

Resigning herself. Though she couldn't resist the urge to scare the wretch slightly. She laughed coldly, the sound grating like ice in the ears of all around her. Her dark angry eyes turned to look at the guard one last time.

"I never forget a face, let's hope I never have the chance to darken your doorway." she whispered menacingly, ice and a fiery sort of hatred dripping from every syllable. She turned back around. Her chin held up haughtily as she shut herself off completely from the world around her.

Not bothering to wait for a response.

~ December 25th 1982 ~ The Haven, Sydenham, London ~

"Eleanor, I do not know what to do with this" the middle aged nanny cried out in alarm. Wide fearful eyes watching thick prickly vines encircle the tiny screaming baby they had taken in mere days before.

Yet again.

It was the fifth time in not so many days it had happened. The thick vines cutting their access off to the child that desperately needed their care. It was all a bit of a contradiction really. They couldn't understand why it kept happening. How could plants grow out of nothing so quickly? Why did they grow around the baby? How did the plant know where the baby was? Because despite moving her crib countless times the plants still grew. Always growing wherever she was and needing to be cut through bit by bit. Kitchen knives weren't very effective tools in cutting through vines.

Eleanor came in and sighed tiredly. Wordlessly gesturing to the knife that lay upon a side table in a silent prompt for the middle aged nanny to get on with it. The child's desperate wailing beginning to grate on the whole house.

The other children had complained countless times in the last few days. The staff too had taken to bemoaning the loud arrival and Matron Eleanor was the worst. In her mid-forties the woman had little patience for screaming infants. They weren't very useful for very much at all and the dour faced woman had no tolerance for that which wasn't useful to her, she had made it clear on day one the little infant would not be her responsibility and so it had fallen to the only other qualified nanny available to care for her.

The woman dutifully freed the little one from within the confines of her floral prison. Once the vines were cut through, the nanny rushed to the distraught child's side. Her cries of hunger and upset insistent and loud. A stark contrast to a few days ago when the child had screamed her discontent silently.

She picked the child up careful, ever mindful of her head, she began to bounce her gently, in an effort to soothe her. She brought the bottle of warm milk that she had prepared a little while prior to the infants mouth. Tiny lips latching on and sucking greedily. Tears still streaming down dull brown fearful little eyes.

It was a pitiful sight. It tore at the Nanny's heart as she continued to whisper reassurances. She wondered silently what could cause a child so young to act in such a distraught manor. What was so horrifying that it had left a mere two month old child so distraught that sleep was barely existent to the tot and all her waking hours were spent screaming and crying.

She didn't think she had seen the girl smile once yet. Exhausted little cries and pained wailing seamed to be the extent of the girls capabilities and the Nanny had begun to worry about her health. It was perhaps wise to see to it that the little one was checked by a doctor in the coming days.

She paced over to the rocker that sat in the corner of the small make shift nursery. The girl tucked securely against her chest as she fed. Still crying those heart breaking tears. She sat, Matron Eleanor looking on with a scowl.

"I do wish she would stop that awful noise." the other woman sniffed before turning and stalking off now that the child was no longer trapped in a circle of thorns.

The nanny sighed, a deep exhausted sort of breath that had her drawing all the calm she could into weary bones. She began to hum lightly. Though she knew it wouldn't do much to soothe little Hermione but she couldn't just do nothing and she hoped that even if it didn't do much the soft sounds would begin to ease the infants distress even slightly. God knew she didn't have much to give the poor thing so rocking the girl, holding her and humming was all she could offer.

She prayed it would be enough.

It had to be.