The Truth About Hermione Granger

Hermione sat curled up in a window seat somewhere in one of the towers at Hogwarts Castle. Amelia had headed back to America earlier that day with the rest of her band and Draco could be found nowhere. She didn't really feel like hanging out with Harry and Ron, so she'd gone off to wander the halls and think.

She'd found out that Amelia had wanted the Polyjuice potion for analyzing practice. She'd said that if she could figure out what was in this potion, the ones her uncle would give her as an apprentice would be a snap! But, that is not what she was thinking about right now. She'd also found out that Draco and Amelia had been friends for at least two years and that she had been instrumental in turning him into a spy, but this is also not what she was thinking about.

She was thinking about her parents.

Not Severus Snape and Alyssa King. She was thinking about Richard and Diane Granger. She missed them. It was the first time since their funeral that she had really and truly missed them. She'd thought of them since and even talked about them, but she had never really missed them until right now, staring out the window onto the grounds, watching Hagrid drag a couple of stubborn horses back into the stables.

It was quite unfair now that she thought about it. Why had she had to loose her adoptive parents in order to find her real parents? Well, all right, so she'd only found her father but at least she knew who her real mother WAS! And why had Richard and Diane Granger had to die? They were the best parents she could have asked for! Oh, Snape was great, too, but she'd loved her parents and they'd loved her. Proof of that was the pure fact that they had adopted her. Anybody who adopted a child must truly love children.

Finally, she jumped up from the window and headed down to the dungeons. As she went, she wiped tears from her cheeks and tried to avoid her classmates. Luckily, she only passed a couple of kids and they were busy with something else.

In only a few minutes, she burst into Snape's office, sniffing and wiping at her eyes. She closed the door behind her and almost at once felt her father's strong arms around her.

"Whatever is the matter, poppet?" he asked, holding her to him. "Draco hasn't done anything to you, has he?"

"No," she answered into his chest. "He didn't do anything. I'm just missing my parents."

"Oh, Hermione," he said, settling her into a chair. "My darling. Please don't be sad."

"I can't help it!" she wailed, allowing the tears to fall freely now. "I just got to thinking about them and I just want to see them just ONE more time!"

Without another word, Snape pulled her into his arms and rocked her back and forth as he stroked her hair. "I don't know what to tell you, my dear," he said softly and Hermione thought she heard tears in his own voice. "I wish I knew what I could say to make it all better."

"Say you can bring them back," she whispered.

He said nothing, only wrapped his arms about her tighter and kissed the top of her head.

It was several minutes before Hermione calmed down enough to sit by the fire while her father made her some tea. When he finally brought it to her, she was still sighing softly and sniffing now and then. He made her drink a whole cup before allowing her to lie down on his green velvet couch. Just as he was clearing away the tea cup and pot, there was a slight rap on the door and Hermione heard a click as the door opened.

"Hello, Professor," said Draco as the door clicked shut. "I was hoping Hermione would be down here."

"She is," said her father. Hermione stayed where she was. She could hear her father and Draco speaking in soft whispers, but she refused to be seen. Finally, though, Draco came around the couch and knelt in front of her.

"Hello, Mione," he said, brushing hair out of her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Better now," she said. "I guess I just needed to cry a bit."

He smiled gently. "I'm here if you ever need me," he said.

"I know," she said softly. "Thanks."

He leaned forward to kiss her forehead and when he pulled away, she could see her father standing over them. He cleared his throat and Draco jumped up quickly. "I didn't do anything!" he said quickly.

"Oh wipe that look off your face, Malfoy!" sneered Snape. "I'm not going to kill you for kissing my daughter. I just wanted to tell you that I must step out for a moment. Please don't let me come back to find you two snogging in the corner." With that, he left.

Hermione smiled weakly as she sat up. "He's so funny sometimes," she said.

Draco grinned and sat next to her, pulling her into his arms. "Yes, that's why we all LOVE him," he said.

"Speak for yourself," she answered.

"What, you don't love your father?" asked Draco.

"I love my father dearly," she answered. "But Professor Snape is a little tough to handle."

He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. "You're sure you're all right?" he asked.

"I'm sure," she answered.

They sat there, staring into the fire for a while and soon, Hermione felt herself drifting off to sleep.

* * * * * * * *

"Hermione, poppet, wake up."

Slowly, Hermione yawned and stretched as whoever had been shaking her stepped back. She opened her eyes to see that Draco had gone and her father was standing over her, looking a bit concerned. "Oh," she said, jumping up. "I'm sorry. I must have fallen asleep."

"That was obvious," he said, draping an arm over her shoulders. "Are you all right now?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she answered, only just then noticing how hungry she was. "Did I miss lunch? I'm starving."

"You did," he answered. "But that's all right. I'll fix you something."

She smiled up at him as he led her into his private rooms. She saw that they were all in green velvet with silver highlights. "You like green, do you?" she asked.

"I do," he answered, putting the teakettle over the fire again. "I find it very relaxing and... natural."

She smiled as she sat on a large green velvet sofa. This one was even more comfortable than the black leather one in his office. As she waited for her father to join her, she admired the room. An oak coffee table sat in front of her, polished to a lovely shine so clear she could see her reflection in it. There were lots of paintings, including a large print of Monet's "Water Lillies" on the opposite wall and a smaller, but still quite large copy of "The Scream" to her right. Most of the paintings were impressionistic, Hermione noted, except for one which was obviously a wizard painting. This one was of a young girl, smiling gently as her hair waved in the breeze. She would look out and wave every now and then and Hermione noticed that she had a wonderful smile.

"Here we are," said her father, setting a tray containing tea and biscuits in front of her. "I've got soup on just now. I hope you like vegetable."

"That's fine," she answered, pouring tea for the two of them. "Do you take sugar?"

"No," he answered. "Just plain, thank you."

Hermione quickly added one sugar to her own tea and handed her father a cup. "Who's that?" she asked, indicating the painting of the young girl.

Immediately, Snape stiffened and squeezed his eyes shut. "That," he said, setting down his teacup and facing his daughter. "Is your mother."

Hermione was caught off-guard, but gazed long and hard at the picture. She was absolutely beautiful! She wondered briefly why her grandfather had never shown her a picture of her mother and when she asked her father about it, he didn't have an answer. "She's beautiful," she said finally. "You loved her dearly, didn't you?"

He only nodded curtly. "Her death was the worst thing that's ever happened to me," he said. "But loosing you ran a close second."

She quickly wrapped her arms around her father's neck. "But you've got me now," she said, hugging him tightly.

"Yes, I do," he whispered, returning her hug.

A hiss from the fire interrupted them and Snape turned to see the soup boiling over the top of the pot and into the fire. He jumped up quickly and saved the rest of it soon enough. Hermione hurried to help him and soon, they were both settled at his little table, eating the best vegetable soup Hermione had ever tasted!

* * * * * * * *

"Hermione! Wait up!"

Hermione turned to see Harry and Ron hurrying towards her. They were flushed with excitement and Harry was clutching something in his hands. "What are you two up to?" she asked.

"Look!" exclaimed Harry, shoving a piece of paper in her face. "Look what I got this morning!"

Hermione took the paper and carefully read it over. She was surprised to find that it was a letter from a wizarding University offering him a quidditch scholarship after he graduated from Hogwarts. "Harry, this is wonderful!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around her friend. "I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks, Herm!" he said, returning her hug and retrieving his letter when she pulled away. "I can hardly believe it!"

"Harry gets all the lucky breaks!" teased Ron.

Hermione only laughed at her two friends as the three of them headed down the halls together. It was late afternoon and the whole of Hogwarts seemed out and about. It wasn't long before the three of them ran into Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well, well, well," said Malfoy as Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles behind him. "If it isn't Potter and Weasley... with none other than MY girlfriend!" With that, he possessively slipped an arm around Hermione's shoulders.

"Oh, stop it, Draco!" exclaimed Hermione, twisting free. "Honestly! They're my friends! What did you expect?"

"I'd EXPECT that you'd rather be seen with ME!" he said, pointing a thumb to his chest. "Rather than these two sorry excuses for wizards!"

"Draco that's enough!" she exclaimed, giving him a look. "You don't have to insult my choice of friends, or perhaps you'd like to me point out the obvious flaws with Big and Burly here."

"Like what?" drawled Draco, obviously proud of his superior wit and intellect.

"Oh, gee, I don't know," she said, rolling her eyes. "Like possibly the fact that they don't have a whole brain between them? Or perhaps the fact that they're both uglier than the south side of a north bound warthog? Or maybe I should point out that neither of them could figure which way was up if you had a sign pointing them in the right direction!"

With her every word, Malfoy had gone more and more red and Crabbe and Goyle had begun cracking their knuckles harder and harder. Malfoy was seething, but he had nothing to say, which was what they had been striving for the entire time they'd been at Hogwarts. Finally, with one final smug look at her new beau, Hermione pushed past the three Slytherins and began walking away.

Before she had gone three steps though, she heard chuckling and when she turned around, she was surprised to see Malfoy doubled over in fits of laughter. He followed after her and once he'd caught his breath, he gasped, "you're right, you know. They are awfully stupid!" And with that, he was lost in hilarity once more.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh after that and pretty soon, the only two people who weren't laughing were Crabbe and Goyle, the latter of whom decided it would be a good idea to punch Harry in the nose.

And of course, that started an all out fight between Harry, Ron, Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy could hardly stop laughing at it all and Hermione was forced to pull her friends off the thugs and try to step between them. And even as she succeeded, she was still giggling. "Now stop it!" she said between giggles. "You wouldn't want to get detention, would you?" Without another word, she grabbed Harry's glasses and tapped them with her wand, fixing them for about the millionth time since they'd met.

Finally, Malfoy had gotten hold of himself and was apologizing to Crabbe and Goyle, saying that sometimes, they DID act a bit stupid and could they really blame them for laughing at a very good joke that came from a very pretty girl? They stupidly shook their heads and headed off down the hall with Malfoy, who turned to wave at Hermione and blew her a kiss just before they rounded a corner.

"That's disgusting!" said Ron.

"What's disgusting?" asked Ginny, who'd just shown up behind them.

"Hi, Ginny," said Harry, grinning sheepishly.

"Hello, Harry," she said, smiling cheerily back at him. "What's disgusting?" she repeated, turning back to her brother.

"Malfoy blew Hermione a kiss," answered Ron.

Ginny wrinkled her nose. "Gross!" she said. "No offence, Hermione!"

"None taken," answered Hermione, smirking at them. "He's not really as bad as he seems."

"Well, I'll stick with Harry," said Ginny as Harry slipped an arm around her shoulders. "At least HE doesn't pick on me as I walk past him in the halls!"

"Get your hands off my sister!" demanded Ron, red in the face.

Harry quickly jumped back from Ginny, but she pulled him right back into place and lifted his arm up to her shoulders once again. "I'm a big girl, Ron!" she insisted. "I can take care of myself!"

"Well, I DON'T like it," said Ron, turning on his heals and stalking off down the hall.

"Come on, you two!" laughed Hermione, hurrying after Ron. "Last one to smack Ron's a rotten egg!"

So, off they trotted, all trying to foil the other in attempts to knock some sense into their friend.