Her Strange Situation

CHAPTER ONE

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Let me tell you a story. It's quite interesting, honestly.

It's about a girl.

A girl who you all have come to know and love.

Yes, I'm taking about Hermione.

You see, I know a truth about Hermione that not even she knows.

Hermione is not who she thinks she is. She is different. And… this difference is also very significant to the story of her famous friend Harry Potter and their struggles against the notorious Lord Voldemort.

Now don't get me wrong… this is not a story about Harry and Tom Riddle. JKR already told you that story. This is about something different. This is about an innocent soul whose whole life is a lie. It's rather hard for me to explain in a few sentences so you'll just have to listen to the whole story. And I beg you to please read it all the way till the end. Because if you don't, then you have no idea how much you're missing out on. Now this story is not what actually happened. This is what would have happened… if only, Hermione's parents had told her the truth. Yes, the truth… that's where we'll start our story.

Part 1

Her Loving Muggles

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It was a cloudy morning. The forewarning of a storm was looming in the distance, and the sound of thunder barked away over the small town of Amberly. Hermione sat by her bedroom window watching the growling sky. It felt a jungle cat, getting ready to strike. Then she noticed a rain drop on her window… then another one, and another one. Slowly, more and more rain drops fell and then the clouds burst and the rain started pounding down towards to the ground.

Her sigh was lost in the hammering of downpour as she stepped away from the window and grabbed a candle. Her room was dark; for some unkown reason, the power had been out for a few hours. She made her way through her room, grabbed the trunk from atop her bed and walked out the door with the help of her flickering candle flame.

Her mother was sitting alone in the living room. A few candles were burning around, helping the fireplace illuminate their faces.

"Where's dad?" Hermione asked.

At first her mother did not move, she sat there staring into the flames. But then she slowly turned her head towards her daughter. "He's getting the car ready." She said as she motioned Hermione to sit down.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Hermione asked. Her mother had been unusually quiet for the past few days.

"Oh, nothing dear" her mother said, and then she sighed at Hermione's look of concern. "It's just, you know… your leaving for the whole school year. I get really lonely without you".

Hermione smiled and sat down by her mother's side to give her a hug. "We do this every year Mom, I'll write to you, like I always do. But don't tell me that's the only thing bothering you. There's obviously something else wrong. Tell me. Maybe I can help."

Her mother's eyes wandered back to the flame, and Hermione saw the glistening light in her eyes being washed away as she teared up. She leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

Just then, the front door swung open and the cool moist air of the storm filled the room as it blew out a few candles. Her father walked in through the door and quickly closed his umbrella.

"The car's ready Hermione, we can leave as soon as you're ready." He smiled at his teenage daughter.

"I'm ready, Dad" She said.

"Well then we should leave now, we don't want to miss that train of yours, do we?"

Hermione gave her mom one final hug and got up to grab her trunk to leave.

"No, wait." Her mother blurted out.

"What's wrong Adele?" her father asked.

"Honey, sit down" she said to Hermione.

Hermione obeyed and sat down next to her mother, quickly followed by her father.

"We have to tell her" Mrs. Granger told her husband.

"Do you really think now is the right time?"

"Alfred, I've been thinking about it for weeks now. She's ready."

"Mom, what are you talking about? I'm ready for what?" Hermione was confused.

"Just leave it Hermione, I'll explain later." Her father tried to get Hermione to leave.

"Dad, I'm leaving for the next 10 months. Tell me what's going on?"

Alfred sighed and sat down. He reached out for her hand and clasped in tightly.

"Hermione, when you were a baby. Your parents felt that they couldn't keep you anymore."

"My parents? You mean... you guys, right?" her heart was beating faster than it had ever before.

Her mother slowly shook her head. And Hermione felt the weight of the room collapse on her.

"When you were a baby, they realized that they couldn't support you anymore. So they put you in a home where you could be cared for. And then one day, me and your father found out we couldn't have kids." Her mother's eyes were swelling up. "So we went to that home and saw you. You were still only a baby, and the most beautiful one we had every placed our eyes on."

Her father's grip on her hand tightened.

"So we brought you home."

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Do you know how it feels to apparate?

It hurts… unless you've had a lot of practice, of course.

Your body aches and your heart, mind and soul feel like they are about to explode into dust.

Well, Imagine you were apparating and time suddenly stopped. And you were left wandering through an empty, stretched out world with an immense pain in your heart.

Well, that is exactly how Hermione felt for the rest of that day.

It was supposed to be a day of joy and excitement. Hermione was going to the one place where she felt like she wasn't a freak. She was going to see all her friends and teachers again. There was so much to look forward to. The train ride to Hogwarts, the beautiful food in the great hall, the cozy home-like Gryffindor common room, and not to mention all of her classes.

Actually, not all of her classes. She did have a shared dislike with her friends for the potions master Severus Snape. But apart from that, and the hideous face of Draco and Pansy, she should have been excited out of her mind. But the whole world was just passing by.

It might have been a little better if she had met her friends Harry and Ron in London, but they were nowhere to be found.

Basically, to summarize everything that Hermione remembered from the next few hours, which is not much:

She said goodbye to her father at Kingscross Station, walked through the barrier with her trunk and her cat Crookshanks, and sat alone in a compartment somewhere in the back of the train.

It wasn't until 20 minutes after the train had left London that Harry and Ron found Hermione.

Their pockets were full of junk from the trolley and they were talking about something that Hermione found no particular interest in.

The two boys just walked in, gave her a nice smile with a 'Hey Hermione!" and sat down. A few more minutes of the boys' conversation went by before an awkward silence fell and they finally realized Hermione's mood.

"What's wrong with you, Hermione?" asked Ron.

She wasn't in the mood to hear Ron's philosophical thoughts on the subject, so she didn't answer. Ron, who failed to take the hint, asked again.

This time, Hermione couldn't control herself and for the first time since she'd heard the truth about her adoption… she broke down. She grabbed onto Harry, who was sitting right next to her and started sobbing into his shoulder. Harry looked over at Ron hoping for an explantion.

"Was it something I said?" asked Ron.

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Through sobs and tears, Hermione told her two friends everything that her mother had told her.

This was probably the quietest train ride into Hogwarts they had ever had.

Ron just sat quietly, this news didn't really affect him that much, but he did understand how Hermione was feeling and even tried to comfort her a bit.

But harry on the other hand, knew exactly how she felt. His real parents were dead. Hermione's were probably as good as dead. But the only major difference between their two stories was that Hermione was actually brought up in a home where she was loved. Harry had been raised by the Dursley's who hated the very sight of him. They too had lied about where he came from.

"There's one thing I don't get though Hermione" said Harry.

Hermione showed no acknowledgment of Harry's words. She just sat with her head against the glass staring out the window.

"Did your parents tell you anything about your real parents?"

She raised her head. Up until now, she hadn't even thought of her real parents, which is unusual because that is usually the first thing people think about in this situation.

"Hermione" Ron spoke. "Do you know what this could mean?"

"What?" she said, barely audible.

"It means you might not be a Muggle-Born witch". An unnecessary smile came on to his lips. I mean you're so good at magic and everything, maybe your parents were not Muggles. Maybe you're actually pure-blood or something." Ron smiled at the thought as if it were a great honor to be a pure-blood. Of course, Ron was not a prejudice bastard, but secretly everyone probably did wish they were pure-blood, even though Ron already was.

Hermione did not find that thought so marvelous. From what she'd seen of pure-bloods, they were all scum bags, with a few exceptions, like the Weasley's, Potters, and Sirius Black.

"Do you think it's possible for us to find out who your real parents are?" asked harry.

"Maybe, but… I don't think I want to. Not right now at least."

"So you have absolutely no curiosity as to who you really are."

"Not at the moment. I'll write to my parents tomorrow and ask them to tell me everything they know about them."

"And maybe we can find some documents of wizards who gave up babies for adoption" suggested Ron.

"Ron, I really don't think that my real parents were wizards." She said it a bit more harshly than she had wanted to.

"And why not, may I ask?" He replied.

"Ron, if they were wizards, why would they put me in a Muggle adoption home? Don't you think they'd want me to go to a wizard family so I could have a normal life?"

"Unless... that's exactly what they were trying to do" said harry.

"What do you mean Harry?"

"I mean, think about it… what big thing was going on when we were all born?" asked harry.

"I don't know. Was there like a quidditch world cup going on or something?" said Hermione.

"No! Voldemort was on the rise"

Ron and winced slightly.

"Maybe, they put you in a Muggle home so they could distance you from all of the disturbance in the Wizarding World."

Hermione thought carefully about what harry had suggested. It definitely made sense. Maybe… just maybe, her real parents were actual wizards.

Maybe… they were still alive.

Maybe, they might even be someone she knows.

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Part 2

Her Faceless Ones

The train ride went by without much but thoughts of Hermione's real parents.

Emotions in a time like this are hard to explain.

You see, at first she felt betrayed. She didn't want to believe it.

Then she felt a little mad at her parents. Why didn't they tell her this before? Why would they keep it a secret for so long? If she had known all along it wouldn't have hurt so much.

Then she felt a slight bit curious as to who her real parents are. How different would her life have been if they never gave her up? Would she still have come to Hogwarts? Would she still have met Harry and Ron?

Then, she felt a bit accepting of the situation. This didn't really change anything. I mean, the news was new… but she had been adopted all along. It doesn't make a difference. Her parents still loved her as if she was their own.

And these here were the different ways Hermione felt over the next few days.

And now that I've summarized her emotions, I'll explain everything that actually happened over the next few days.

First thing you should now… *Time Had Started To Fly.*

They were the last few off the train.

They were alone in the last carriage to the castle

They reached Hogwarts a little later than everyone else.

They did not miss the sorting, like she and Harry had the previous year.

For some reason Hermione had memorized every new student's name and house, which is a difficult thing to do.

Slytherin

Chelsie Acker

Monty Hudson

Hilda Livy

Marly Saylor

Raymond Scriven

David Spearing

Gryffindor

Elizabeth Allard

Noah Butler

Anna Kole

Malcolm Pound

Tobin Sappington

Kate Summers

Hufflepuff

Larissa Burrell

Xavier Error

Tanzi Gilbert

Daniel Hyland

Debra Ness

Esther Silvia

Ravenclaw

Serina Davidson

Wendy Gnarge

Jenette Lavigne

Virginia Lynville

Mark Nye

Mathew Sheppard

Then Dumbledore welcomed them to the new school year.

And they left the hall, up some stairs and through the portrait of the fat lady, and into the Gryffindor common room.

Hey, how are you? How was your summer? You've gotten so much taller, you look so different, and you got a haircut… I like it better this way… - a friend.

Wow! When did you get those boobs? - some perv

And then… she was lying in her bed.

A few thoughts later… she fell asleep.

She had a dream. It started off with her sitting in potions class staring at something purple, but she couldn't make out what it was. Then, Snape burst in and started to yell at them for being idiots.

Then the scene suddenly changed. She saw her real parents. They weren't together, and they were both faceless. She heard her father speak. He had quite a stern voice.

He was yelling at two kids in a dark corridor. Hermione moved closer so she could see them better and saw… two of the first year Hufflepuff students. They looked scared. Then she recognized them, it was Daniel Hyland and Xavier Error.

They were just standing there, listening to her father yell about nothing in particular.

Then the scene changed. And her mother was screaming…

She had long dark brownish-red hair.

She was in a room. It was poorly lit. Her mother was running. Everything was black & white.

There was a flash of Green, the only color in the picture. And everything went blank.

She saw… nothing really. It was dark.

But then, there was a red hue in the darkness. And she saw fragments of dusty shapes swimming around.

She opened her eyes to the bright daylight seeping in through the curtains.

She was awake.

Now that I've summarized her arrival in words, lets move on with the actual story.

She sat with Harry and Ron at breakfast that morning, accompanied by Ginny and the Weasley twins.

Things were quite at first, and this was soon pointed out by Ginny. So the three friends quietly explained Hermione's situation to them.

"I don't get something though" said Ron. "If you were adopted, wouldn't the Marauders map show your real name instead of 'Granger'?"

"Well, maybe her real parents name was Granger too" suggested George.

"No, can't have been. The map shows what your parents named you" said Hermione.

"Exactly, and your real parents would have probably given you their own name, not someone else's" said Harry.

"Harry, remember what you said on the train, about the 'you-know-who' thing. Well, I think that maybe my real parents didn't actually give me a name."

"Well, why wouldn't they?" asked Ron.

"I think they might have been on the run from 'you-know-who'. You know, maybe he wanted to kill them or something." Hermione immediately remembered her dream and the flash of green as well. If the dream was somehow true, it meant her mother was dead.

Her friends probably noticed the change of expression on her face because they asked her "what's wrong?"

She told them how she saw her parents in her dream. They all sat quite for a moment thinking about what it could possibly mean.

"Do you remember where they were? Your parents, I mean, did you ask them?"

"No, I didn't actually talk to them. It was like, they weren't aware of me being there, it was as if I was looking through a pensieve." She said.

"Well, Hermione… if you didn't talk to them, then… how did you know they were your parents?" asked Ginny. The others sat around quietly waiting to her to answer.

Hermione thought about it, and honestly, there was no answer, they were right… but for some reason she knew it, they were her parents. But she did know where her father had been standing. It was a Hogwarts corridor. But... Harry broke her train of thought.

"We should get to class Hermione" he said.

As soon as he said this, Hermione had a mini heart attack. She hadn't checked her schedule yet, and hadn't even glanced at her textbooks.

"We have potions, Hermione" said Harry with a sarcastic smile.

They had this class with the Slytherins.

Professor Snape was late. The Gryffindors sat waiting for the potions master, quietly whispering to each other, while the Slytherins were boasting about their extravagant summer holidays.

Snape burst open the door with a swing of his wand and entered. His robe flew behind him as he made his way to the front of the class near a large cage that was covered in a purple sheet.

"Open your textbooks to page 284. We are going to start off this year with a rather complicated potion. It is used in hospitals all over the world, and can be very useful if you now how to appropriately craft it."

The class was listening silently.

"At the end of the day, we will test all of your potions." He said as he rested his eyes on Neville Longbottom.

"And be warned, this potion will be fatal, should you get it wrong"

The whole class was waiting for him to say the name of the potion.

"For those of you who still haven't turned to page 284" He looked right at Hermione who immediately opened her book. "We will be making a Blood-Replenishing Potion"

Hermione raised her hand as soon as she was sure Snape had finished speaking. He looked in her direction with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Ms. Granger" he said in an annoyed tone.

"Sir, you said we would be testing these when we're finished. But, on whom… you said that this potion could be fatal."

Snape's expression changed to a devious smile. "We will be testing them, Ms. Granger, on the house elves that have been employed here at Hogwarts.

She gave a slight gasp. "Sir, you can't do that."

"Unfortunately Ms. Granger, you are correct. So we will be testing your potions on these." He lifted the purple sheet off of the cage. Inside, there were about two dozen creatures. They looked like pale, slimy deformed shell-less lobsters. They had legs sticking out at odd angles and were about six inches long. They also smelled strongly of rotten fish. Sparks flew out of their ends every so often which propelled them forward a few inches.

"Our new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Hagrid has gladly lent us these 'Blast-Ended Skrewts' as he calls them, for our in-class project."

If you've never made a Blood-Replenishing Potion, please understand… it is incredibly hard, well… for a fourth-year anyway. To really show you how hard it is, think about it this way… every Blast-Ended Skrewt died.

It was just like Snape to start off the year by giving everybody a big fat zero.

To make it properly, you had to take exactly 1.5ml of the user's blood and let it dissolve into the mixture without any help.

The Stupid Textbook did not mention the proper amount. All it said was "add 20 drops of the user's blood. Now let it mix." The professor also 'forgot' to mention this until the end of the class while he was yelling at everybody for being 'idiots'.

"He did that on purpose" Harry complained as they left the classroom. "He just loves to torture us… and other things. I bet he never told Hagrid the real reason he wanted those 'Burst-Abundant Screws' or whatever you call them."

"I bet those nasty little things don't even have blood. They're probably filled with green slime or something." said Ron.

"Guys" said Hermione. "I need to talk to you"

The three were sitting by the fireplace in the living room, working on an essay that McGonagall had given them on the first day.

She found this a good time to talk because no one was around, except for a few kids sitting in the other corner of the room.

"In my dream last night, I saw the whole potions class thing. I saw the cage with the purple sheet over it" She said.

"You mean... your dream came true?" asked Harry.

"I think so"

"So you think it was like a vision, instead of a dream?"

"Yes, I do. Harry, I want to find those kids, Xavier and Daniel. They were talking to my dad in the vision. They were inside Hogwarts. My dad was here, and he was yelling at them."

"Did you see what he looked like?" asked Ron.

"No, but I know he was my dad… I just know it."

"You can't be so sure Hermione" he said.

"But, I am"

"Then… was your mom here too?" asked Harry.

"No, she wasn't. She was in someone's home... in a bedroom. And she was screaming, then, there was a flash of green and I woke up."

"That's like the dreams I've had of my mum." said Harry quietly.

So it was agreed unspoken, that Hermione's mom was dead.

But a thought struck Hermione.

These were visions.

Maybe Hermione had seen the future, like she did with the potions class thing.

Maybe... maybe Hermione's mom was still alive, but about to die soon.

"We have to find Xavier and Daniel. They are either going to meet my father tonight, or already met him last night.

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