"Miss Granger did you hear me?" Dumbledore asked me for the third time. He was a patient man but I still wasn't understanding what he was saying.

"Sir...I'm sorry but you are telling me that Bellatrix Lestrange is looking for me?" I didn't understand. I mean I got it. But why? Because I'm a Slytherin? Why me? There was a whole dorm full of Slytherins.

"Miss Granger, there is no reason to fret. Hogwarts will keep you safe." I was worried about being safe. I probably should have been but I was more intrigued.

"Professor, what does she want from me? How do you know she wants to hurt me?" That was the real question. The older gentlemen had always been partial to Gryffindors. So why was he showing me kindness?

"That is something better left unsaid my dear." The cheeky bastard. Of course he didn't want to tell me. Probably afraid I'd go looking for her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I was sitting in Defense Against the Dark arts when it happened.

Snape was rambling on. It being my last year and the fact that I had already read all of the books on Bowtruckle: An insect-eating, tree-dwelling wooden creature that is hard to spot" He was rambling on to us about the worthy trees when I saw it out of the corner of my eye.

My notebook was slowly coming out of my bag. I looked around and no one was looking. So I let the notebook continue. It opened to a clear page. Then my quill left my hand and wrote the most mysterious note.

Y-o-u a-r-e n-o-t m-u-g-g-l-e-b-o-r-n

All of my breath left me, and my body stilled.. I had been made fun of by all of the students for years for my muggle parents. I knew they weren't my biological parents but I was never told who my true mother and father were.

I looked them up to see and the records were sealed. All I knew was that my mother had been magical and my father had been a slytherin. The teachers knew them. I just didn't know how. Everywhere I looked was a dead end. I'd spent the last two years searching. Finally seeing to my studies this year and assumed I'd figure it out after leaving Hogwarts. At 19 I hoped that they have wondered about me as much as I'd wondered about them.

A crumpled piece of paper hit my shoulder and I turned around to look at Draco. He nodded for me to look back down at the paper.

Sure enough the second line wrote.

You are the chosen one. The Dark Lord's child.

Besides the awful punctuation I realized what he was saying. I immediately got up and snapped my notebook closed, grabbed my bag, and ran out the door.

"MISS GRANGER-" I didn't listen running towards the door.

"Hermione wait!" Draco called out, but I didn't stop to listen.

I heard footsteps behind me and I finally slowed down. Turning around and the bleach blonde boy was standing there with his piercing blue eyes.

I walked up and shoved him.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH A THING. It's not funny Malfoy." Stalking closer to be in his face. He smelt of money and it made me sick. The whole thing felt like a prank. I wasn't about to fall into such a farce.

Malfoy raised up on his feet. I expected him to draw his wand but the teenager just got closer to me to whisper.

"You need to come with me. I'm not lying and you know it. You've always known it. Please trust me." That was super cheesy and way too much to ask.

Before I could make fun of the idiot he started walking.

We went through corridors and I realized he was leading us both back to the slytherin common room.

The slytherin common room is on the last floor of Hogwarts. It's quite the journey to get back to it, however we didn't talk much on our way there. Kids were walking by and professors eyed us curiously. It must have been quite the scandal to see a supposed mudblood with a death eater's son.

Finally we made it to the painting and out of prying eyes. I had a million questions. Draco whispered the words behind the stone and we snuck into the room. Luckily no one was there, and the large fire threw shadowy light across the moss colored room.

The whole place was oddly silent. Slytherin rooms are below sea level and we could usually see through the murky water to see the giant squid or merpeople out the huge windows. However the raindrops hit the water and the fire crackled. There were no first year, just me and Draco.

I was about to ask him a question when he put his finger to his lips in a shushing motion. Draco took out his wand and I put my hand against mine ready to draw it out if need be.

Malfoy started to move a painting.

"Well are you going to help me or not Granger?" I looked at him skeptically but walked over and pulled hard. My fingernails digging into the wood of the frame.

When it clicked into place I walked back and realized what it was.

"How on earth did you come by a vanishing cabinet?" It was beautiful, having been so old it had cracks and the wood was faded. However the woodwork left nothing to be desired. an antique and a very powerful piece of dark magic. It made my fingertips hum in delight. I could feel the buzz behind its power.

"When the dark Lords finds out his daughter is in hogwarts he stops at nothing." He said looking at me in amazement.

"Go on. Open it." I searched his eyes and found no trace of a lie. Was a dragon going to pop out of it ready to singe me and the room, would we both end up suspended, or even worse expelled? This being the last year before graduation I was so close to finishing. I didn't need any trouble, but my track record said much to the contrary.

I reached for the door knob hearing the floorboards creak under my shoes when it flew open.

A woman in black robes with dark brown hair and a blonde streak that looked almost platinum, practically flew out of the door. Immediately her arms wrapped around me.

I hadn't been hugged since the summer and the feeling of the warmth made me want to hug back, but the oddity of the situation was too strong. I stood stiff feeling her stroke my back, but she must have noticed I wasn't reciprocating this touching moment because she let go.

"Oh Hermione, I can't believe we've finally found you, Draco said it was really you, but we've searched for so long. Bella will be so happy when she finds out you're safe. She's been brooding in the house for months waiting for this moment." The woman, who didn't seem like the type who rambled, held my shoulders at arm's length.

"I realize this is a bit of a shock. You don't know me or my family, but you need to know that we are going to protect you." That was the second time today I'd been told I'd be protected and I still didn't understand from what.

"Who are you?" I asked, hoping that someone would start explaining this day that was increasingly getting stranger..

"I'm Narcissa Malfoy. Technically your future sister in law. But we don't have time to talk about that. You only have two hours until your next class and we don't have any time to waste. We need to take you to the Dark Lord."

She went over to Draco and gave the lanky kid a kiss on the forehead.

"Everyone needs to wait a minute. I don't know you," I said pointing to Narcissa. "and I don't trust you." I finished pointing at Malfoy.

"All of this is just a little too much and I don't think you have the right person." I was about to walk away when the doorknob turned again and out came a woman I couldn't look away from.

I recognized her immediately. For months I had been having dreams about her, vivid dreams. We would talk about magic and our past. She would play with my hair and kiss my cheek. I would wake up and miss the warmth of her. She wasn't real, I had been using sleeping potions to keep her away.

"Your-"

"Bellatrix Black, it's a pleasure to finally meet you Hermione." She said. Her black hair fell over her shoulders. The corset hugged her figure and I tried not to stare at her breasts.

"No…..you can't-…." She looked at me like I was an amusingly frightened animal. The woman that I had been fantasizing about couldn't possibly be the murderer that they talked about in the Daily Profit.

"Hermione...I know what you've heard about me, but remember what we've talked about? People misunderstand, I did the things I did because I knew we'd have this moment to meet. I had to be here for it." She put a hand out and walked closer, such like she would approaching a timid horse.

"Please, I'm not like Ron." She said. I had told her in my dreams about Ron….how…

"Oh the Weasley boy who tried to shag her?" Malfoy said in the corner earning a pinch from his mum.

"Shove it Draco or I'll shove it for you," Bellatrix said and shot a glance that reminded me of what I thought the famous Bellatrix Lestrange would look like.

"and you know for a fact that isn't their pronoun." I grew uncomfortable. I had told Bellatrix about my gender dysphoria...She knew everything, and said she had understood. I didn't know...we never shared names..I didn't know.

"I need to leave." I went to go back to my room when I felt the lightest touch from Bellatrix. Almost like a whisper against my skin.

Light flew across my vision.

I blacked out.