The Truth About Hermione Granger

Hermione thought that the sorting took all together too long and there seemed to be more new students this year than ever before. She tried to peek very discreetly at Professor Snape. He seemed to be scanning all the tables for the girls about her age and when he came to the Gryffindor table, she tried to appear happy and excited about the sorting. When she finally looked back, he was staring rigidly at the child now being sorted into Ravenclaw. She could relate to what he was going through.

After the sorting, Dumbledore stood to introduce their new Dark Arts Teacher, who was just entering from behind them all. "And this," he said. "Is Professor Erinlexi Goldwood." A very tall young woman dressed in form-fitting robes, hair pulled up in a loose bun, strode to the front of the hall amidst applause. She turned and before being seated, winked and smirked at the students.

"She's the one who holds the copyright on our Dark Arts Book!" hissed Hermione.

"Are you sure?" asked Harry.

"Positive!" said Hermione. "That's the name! Erinlexi Goldwood, I remember it!"

Harry only shrugged as the feast began.

It seemed like ages, but finally, Dumbledore dismissed them and Hermione had the hideous task of sneaking away from Ron and Harry and heading down to Snape's dungeon offices. When she finally got there, she sat across from his desk to wait.

Before long the door opened, but it was not Snape who came in. It was Draco Malfoy. He stopped suddenly as he realized who else was there. "What are YOU doing here?" he asked. Then his eyes grew wide. "You meant Snape, didn't you?" he asked in surprise, closing the door and sitting in the chair next to her. "Snape's your father!"

"I don't know," she answered. "I hope not. I hope my grandfather has a third option, but he was almost positive that there were only two men in my mother's life. Still, I'd rather not be known as the spawn of Snape."

Draco grinned at her. "I wouldn't mind," he said. "He's not so bad, really."

"Well, no, not to you!" she replied. "You're in his house, but to me, that would be a fate worse than death!"

Draco chuckled, but it wasn't malicious. "I can see your point," he said.

Finally, the door opened again and Snape walked in. He stood there, staring at Hermione and completely ignoring Draco for a few minutes, blinking slowly. Finally, he sighed and closed the door. "And so it is you, Miss Granger," he said, turning to face her.

Hermione said nothing as he sat on the edge of his desk and crossed his arms.

"Mr. Malfoy," he said finally. "Could you excuse us for a moment."

Draco stood to leave. When the door was closed behind him, Snape turned to Hermione. "Shall we get this over with?" he asked.

Hermione only nodded.

Snape reached out and placed a hand on her cheek. Surprisingly, his touch was soft and gentle, his hands were warm. He stared into her eyes and she could have sworn she'd seen a glimmer of hope there. "Reveleous Patri!" he murmured.

One moment, she was staring into Snape's hopeful eyes and the next she was being scooped up out of the chair and into Snape's strong arms. He cried out in joy as he swung her around in the air. "I can't believe it!" he cried. "I don't believe it! I've finally found you! Do you know how long I looked for you? I had given up hope of ever finding you, but oh-!" He set her on her feet quickly. "Now you're here! Now I've got you!"

"Does that mean, sir..." Hermione trailed off.

"Of course I want you!" he cried, hugging her again. "Of course! I'm going to go to the muggle courts and fight for you with everything I've got! They're not keeping you from me any longer!"

"Sir," said Hermione, pushing away from him. "It won't be hard. There's a muggle Paternity test as well. They'll just take a sample of your blood and compare it with mine. I'm sure they'll see that you're my father, sir."

"Oh, listen to you!" he said, taking her face in his hands. "Calling me sir! None of that! You're to call me daddy, you understand?"

Hermione smirked. "If that's what you want, sir," she said. "I mean, daddy."

"Of course, in class, it's still Professor Snape," he said, straightening and giving her his old stern look.

"Of course," she repeated.

Once more, that glimmer of adoration came into his eyes. "You'd better get to your rooms before curfew," he said. "And, if you want to tell your friends, that's fine. I don't mind."

Hermione smiled and nodded. "All right, sir," she said. "I mean, daddy. Goodnight."

"Send Draco in," he said, his old demeanor back already.

Hermione nodded and headed out the door. "He'll see you now," she said.

"So, is he?"

Hermione only gave him an amused look and nodded.

"Lucky you," he said, heading into Snape's office.

Quickly, Hermione made her way through the halls and up to Gryffindor tower, where she found a few kids still sitting around the common room. Harry and Ron were sitting in a corner, watching for her to come in. She hurried over to them. "You guys will not believe what's just happened," she said in stunned surprise.

"What?" asked Harry.

"I've just met my father," she said. "My real father. You should have seen him! He's been looking for me apparently! Just after he did the paternity spell, he jumped up and hugged me and shouted about how he was so happy to finally find me! Then, he told me that I simply MUST call him daddy, so of course I said all right! What else COULD I say? He was so happy to see me! Anyway, he seemed as happy to find me as I was unsettled at who he really WAS!"

"Well," said Ron impatiently. "Who IS he?"

"You'll never believe me, even if I told you," she answered.

"It's Dumbledore, isn't it?" asked Harry.

"No, Harry, not Dumbledore," she said. "That would have been so much better!"

"Hagrid, then?" said Ron, almost hopefully.

"No," said Hermione. "Just shut up a minute and listen! When I tell you who my father is, you're going to flip. Now, I just want you to try and contain yourselves, okay?"

"It's not Lochardt!" said Harry.

"No," said Hermione. She paused as the boys stared at her in anticipation. "It's Snape," she finally told them.

Harry's chin hit his shoes. Ron's eyes grew to twice the size of a quaffle. Both boys just stared at her for the longest time. Finally, Harry broke the silence. "Snape?" he hissed. "You're Hermione Snape?"

"Apparently," she said. She quickly told them about the meeting and Snape's reaction to her.

"You don't look much like him," said Ron.

"No," she said. "And I don't look like my mother, but I look just like my grandmother!" She pulled the little picture of a girl at about age 17, smiling as she pruned the rose bushes, out of her pocket and showed it to the boys. Except for the fact that the girl was wearing a short cotton work dress and had her hair tied at the nape of her neck with a large ribbon, she was indistinguishable from Hermione.

Harry looked from the picture to Hermione several times before finally smiling. "Goodness, Hermione!" he said. "She looks just like you!"

"No," she said. "I look like HER."

"Well, that's what I meant," said Harry, sitting back in his chair.

"So, I take it you're going to be living with Snape during the holidays, huh?" said Ron, sighing.

"Probably," she said, putting the picture away. "He said he's going to try and get custody of me. I don't think my grandparents will have a problem with that, though my granddad might fight him for me. He doesn't like Snape so much."

"Neither do I," said Harry. "He really hugged you?"

"Yes," said Hermione, grinning. "I couldn't believe it! He hugged me and I thought he'd cry! Well, I'm still to call him Professor Snape if there are other students around and he'll probably treat me the same in class, but that's expected. I wouldn't think he'd favor me or anything. He could get into trouble for that."

"I just can't believe it, Hermione!" said Ron. "Snape! Of all people."

"What about Snape?" asked Neville Longbottom from behind them.

"He's Hermione's real dad," said Harry.

"I was adopted," said Hermione.

"NO!" shouted Neville. "NOT SNAPE!!!!!"

"Not Snape what?"

"What did that git do now?"

"Did I hear Snape?"

"What's happened with Snape?"

"All right, all right!" exclaimed Hermione, standing up. "Everyone listen! And don't you all go spouting off all sorts of rumors, please! If you have any questions, just ask me and if anyone asks you something you don't know about the situation, send them to me!" She sighed. "Now, having said all that, just before the end of last term, my parents were killed in a train wreck."

"Oh, no!"

"Hermione, I'm so sorry!"

"That's all right," said Hermione. "I'm fine. I've mourned and gotten over it. Now, listen! As I was going through my parents' personal things, I found my adoption papers. I found my real mother easy enough; she was right on my birth certificate, but my father took some work. My real mother was dead, but I contacted her father and he knew who my father was. I've just been to see him and he did a paternity test spell on me to see if he really was my father." She took a deep breath. "My real father is Professor Severus Snape."

"Oh, dear GOD!"

"No, no NO!"

"Anyone but him!"

"Couldn't you have lied to us?"

"Now stop that!" she said. "Just because he's my biological father doesn't mean I'm any different. I'm still Hermione Granger. I'm still a Gryffindor and that won't change just because I've a different father now."

Most of the students wandered off after that, supposedly to head to their dorms and tell all their friends.

"Well, anyway," sighed Hermione, turning back to Ron and Harry. "I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

"All right, Miss Snape," teased Harry, smirking at her.

"Stop that!" she said, heading up to her room.

She avoided the rest of her dorm mates, most of which were already in bed, and changed into her pajamas as she thought about the night's events. Snape had certainly acted strangely towards her when he found out that she was his daughter. She had never expected him to cry out in joy and hug her! And she certainly never expected him to ask her to call him daddy! Well, Snape never did what you expected him to, unless of course you expected him to yell and give you detention. In that case, he lived right up to your highest expectations.

In any case, the entire day had made her tired, so she snuggled down into her bed and fell asleep almost immediately, dreaming of Snape and Draco and other odd things she never thought she'd be dreaming about.