The Truth About Hermione Granger

Hermione sat across from her mother and next to her father, dirty dishes that had been picked clean of their delicious food only moments before. They had talked long about many things and now, finally, her parents were silent before her. Hermione could understand why her mother had done the things she’d done. Put in the same position, Hermione couldn’t say she wouldn’t have done the same. Finally, she trusted herself to speak.

“So,” she said, unable to think of anything else to ask. “Would that mean that the two of you are still married? I mean, since you’re really NOT dead….”

Her parents looked at one another, uncomfortable looks on their faces. Finally, her mother smiled weakly at Hermione. “We never were married, Hermione,” she said.

Hermione nodded. She’d thought so. She had been given many clues along the way. One is that her mother’s name was not the same as her father’s. Another was that her grandfather had thought that perhaps another man could be her father and she didn’t think that would be as likely had they been married. All in all, she’d figured it out, but just wanted to be sure.

“But, we will be,” added her father. “Won’t we, Alyssa?”

Alyssa smiled at him. “If you insist,” she said.

Hermione grinned. She would like having a father AND a mother.

“But, now,” said her father suddenly. “It’s late. Hermione, you should get to bed. I’ve signed you up for some horseback riding lessons after breakfast. Just something to try. If you don’t like it, you won’t have to continue. And, your mother and I have a lot to talk about.” He looked sternly at Alyssa, who nodded solemnly.

Hermione nodded and stood. “All right,” she said, leaning over to hug her father. “Goodnight, daddy,” she said. “Goodnight, um…” she continued, unsure of how to refer to her mother.

“You can call me mum if you like, Hermione,” she said softly. “Or if you don’t feel comfortable with that, yet, you can call me Alyssa.”

Hermione thought for a moment. “How about mother for now?” she asked.

“That will be fine,” said Alyssa.

“All right, then,” said Hermione, nodding again. “Goodnight, mother.” With that, she left her parents there to talk out whatever things they needed to talk out. She imagined they had a lot to work out. This was a complicated situation. She was beginning to think that her life was some sort of fiction story.

Back in her room, she tried for almost an hour to write letters to Ron, Harry and Draco, but was unsuccessful. This was just something she’d have to tell them all in person. Finally, she gave that up and decided to write a letter to Draco. She missed him. As she sat with Quill in had, scribling off her letter to him, she began to think that maybe she was beginning to love him. It felt completely foreign to her, loving Draco Malfoy. She’d hated him until quite recently. But, now, he seemed so sweet and absolutely lovable. How had he done it? How had he made her even LIKE him? Well, she always HAD thought he was cute. Perhaps the next logical step was to fall in love with him. And how could she NOT? He was so sweet to her!

Oh, she’d thought that already.

She shook her head and looked back to the parchment to see where she’d left off and found that she’d written everything she had just been thinking about Draco, including the part that she’d hated him, but now she was certain she was falling in love.

She grinned and quickly closed the letter, saying she’d see him soon and sorry for rambling so much. Finally, she folded up the letter and sealed it with a sticker of a cat that she thought looked like Crookshanks. She took the letter down to the lobby where she hired an owl to take it to Draco for her.

It was nearly midnight when she finally climbed into bed. She wasn’t sure what time her riding lesson was for, but she was sure her father would make sure she was up in plenty of time. So, she drifted off to sleep and surprisingly, she dreamed about Draco and Crookshanks.

* * * * * * * *

Sometime during the night, Hermione was awoken by voices in her room.

“She’s so beautiful, Severus,” whispered her mother.

“I know,” whispered her father.

“She looks just like my mother!” said Alyssa.

“Amazingly,” said Severus.

“Except that her hair isn’t so bushy.”

“Oh, you should have seen it before she had it straightened,” laughed her father softly.

“Really?” whispered her mother.

Hermione stirred. She was sleepy and wanted to be left alone.

“We’re waking her,” said her mother. “And it’s SO late, Severus. I’m sleepy myself.”

“So am I, actually,” said her father.

“I’ll see you in the morning, then,” said her mother as they left.

“Why don’t you stay here tonight?” asked her father, their voices fading as they crossed the suite. “After all if you’re….” And after that, Hermione heard no more.

She didn’t really want to, either. The thought of Snape sleeping with someone wasn’t very appealing. She was going to have nightmares.

* * * * * * * *

As it turned out, she didn’t have any nightmares that night. She slept calmly and peacefully in the old castle and was awaken by her mothers hugs and kisses. “Good morning, mother,” she said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “Is it morning already?”

“Yes, it is, Hermione, darling,” answered her mother, drawing back the curtains. “Eight o’clock. Breakfast will be served in half an hour and at 9:30 sharp, you have a riding lesson.”

Hermione smiled, imagining she was at home with her parents at Snape castle. It was a nice thought. “I don’t mean to pry or anything, but have you and my father worked things out?” she asked.

“Mostly,” answered her mother. “The only thing left to work out is a date for the wedding. He’s bound to talk me into doing it quickly rather than waiting for awhile. He always WAS able to talk me into most anything.”

Hermione grinned as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and slipped into her slippers. “I’d better get into the shower if I expect to be at breakfast in half an hour,” she said.

“Off you get, then,” said her mother.

Hermione hurried to the shower and in no time at all was clean and dressed and ready for breakfast. She joined her parents in the parlor, where breakfast was already laid out. “You are a bit late, you know,” said her father.

Hermione checked her watch- one of her Christmas presents from Draco. “Only three minutes,” she replied. “And have I got some riding clothes that I don’t know about?”

“They should be arriving soon,” answered her father. “I ordered them just last week.”

Hermione sat down to her breakfast which was scrambled eggs, bacon and silver dollar pancakes. Her absolute favorite. “You’re going to spoil me, daddy,” she said, picking up her fork and starting on her eggs.

He only gave her a funny little half smile. “Isn’t that what daddy’s are for?” he asked.

Hermione grinned and the three of them finished their breakfast in peace. As she tossed the last of her orange juice into her mouth and swallowed, her new riding gear arrived, carried by a very good-looking Irish man. He couldn’t have been older than 25, Hermione was sure. She grinned at him as he handed the package to her father, and he began to smile back, but must have caught her father’s evil glare, for he averted his gaze quickly.

As soon as her father had dropped a couple of galleons into the man’s hand and shoved him out the door- he was again staring at Hermione- he handed the package to her and instructed her to try them on right away. She did, examining her reflection in the mirror before heading out into the parlor. “How do I look?” she asked, giving a little twirl.

“Exquisite,” said her mother, crossing the room to examine her more closely.

Hermione smiled up at her in what she thought was her best smile. “Well,” she said. “I’m going to head out. Just where is this lesson supposed to be?”

“In the courtyard,” said her father. “But you have a half hour before you have to be there.”

“That’s all right,” answered Hermione. “I’d like to have a look around first. See you later!” She then hurried out the door and was all the way at the end of the hall before she realized that she’d forgotten the riding crop back in her room. So, she hurried back to the suite and was about to burst in when she heard her mother sobbing.

“She just seems so distant, Severus,” she said. “Like she doesn’t like me!”

“Nonsense!” said her father. “She just needs some time to warm up to you.”

“But, she won’t even look me in the eye!” wailed her mother.

“Alyssa!” snapped her father. “Do you think she was any different to me when we first discovered that I am her father? Of course not! She was tense and cold for weeks! I don’t think she knew it, but she was! Then, suddenly, one day, she came to my office and there was a glint in her eye and her laugh was real! You just have to give her some time. She’ll warm up to you, I promise.”

Had she really been tense and cold? She hadn’t thought so. She tried to put on a cheery face as she hurried into the room. “I’ve forgotten my riding crop,” she said, heading to her room to retrieve it. But, before she got back out the door, her father stopped her.

“Hermione,” he said.

She stopped, but didn’t turn around. “Yes?” she said.

“You heard all that, didn’t you?” he asked.

Hermione’s shoulders sagged as she turned to face them. “Yes,” she said.

“Oh, Hermione!” gasped her mother. “I’m so sorry!”

“No,” said Hermione, waving a hand in dismissal. “Don’t be. I can only imagine it must be true. Well, the truth is, I don’t feel totally comfortable around you, yet. And my father’s right. It probably WILL take some time, but I’m sure I’ll get over it all quickly enough.”

Her mother nodded. “I understand,” she said, dabbing at her eyes. “I suppose if my mother had turned up out of nowhere and I had never known her before, I’d be a bit off, too. Well,” she added quickly. “Have fun at your lesson, Hermione.”

Hermione nodded and turned to leave once more. And for her mother’s sake, she hoped she could get used to things quickly.

* * * * * * * *

Hermione liked her instructor and her horse almost immediately. Mr. Robert McDurvish was an elderly man with white hair, gray eyes and a wonderful smile. He laughed a lot and knew just how to talk to a teenage girl, making mention of such things as the popular wizarding bands of the day as well as classes he’d taken at Hogwarts and asking which was her favorite.

The horse was a large black stallion named Lt. Dan. He was so big, in fact, that Hermione almost couldn’t see over his back when she stood next to him. Mr. McDurvish told her that he had picked him because he had all the bad habits of horses and he wanted to teach her how to deal with those habits. One was that he took in a deep breath before she tightened the saddle, causing it to be too loose when he let the air out. He showed her how to pretend to have tightened the belt and then when he let the breath out, to pull it tight quickly before he realized what she was doing. Another habit he had was not wanting to take the bit, but Mr. McDurvish showed her just where to tickle his chin to make him open his mouth so she could shove the bit in. Once she actually got on the horse, she realized that there were lots of other things horses liked to do. One in particular is that some horses liked to test their riders to see how much control they demanded. They would take a few extra steps after you pulled on the reigns, just to see if you’d make them do it all over again, or they would try to start trotting when you weren’t paying attention. Mr. McDurvish taught her how to make her horse behave, though, which mostly involved starting back up and making him stop several times until he stopped immediately and keeping tight hold on the reigns and pulling back the instant he started to trot.

All in all, Hermione had a great time and even stayed after her lesson so she could learn to clean out the stall (not something she liked, but a necessary part of horsemanship nonetheless) and exactly how much grain and water a horse needed for the day. Mr. McDurvish told her that if you gave a horse as much as he could eat, he would actually eat himself to death because they don’t know when they’re full. Hermione wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but she decided that she would be better off safe than sorry.

Finally, it was nearly lunchtime and Hermione said goodbye to Mr. McDurvish and Lt. Dan and headed towards the hotel’s restaurant to meet her parents for lunch. She found them already there, waiting for them.

“There you are,” said her father. “Did you have fun at your lesson?”

“I sure did!” exclaimed Hermione, taking her seat between her parents. “I LOVED it!” She then proceeded to tell them everything about her riding lesson.

“It sure sounds like you enjoyed yourself,” said her mother.

“I did!” she said. “Daddy?”

“Yes, poppet?” he replied.

“May I have a horse?” she asked.

He seemed to consider this for a moment. “Perhaps,” he replied. “If you keep up with lessons and prove that you are responsible enough to keep one.”

“But, how will I take lessons while I’m at school?” she asked, seriously hoping she would be able to. She’d had a lot of fun that morning.

“There’s a stable just outside of Hogsmeade to the East,” he answered. “It would take about five minutes to walk there. I will get special permission from Dumbledore for you to take lessons once a week. A few other students head down there on Saturday mornings so I’m sure there won’t be any problem. Just make sure your marks don’t start to slip.”

“Come on, daddy!” she said. “Look at who you’re talking to!”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “Right,” he said.

Their lunch came then and the conversation turned towards what they were going to be doing for the rest of the day. Hermione’s mother wanted to take her shopping in the city, which wasn’t far away and Hermione was happy to accept that invitation. She hoped to get used to this new situation early so she could make the most of having two parents. Her father, on the other hand, planned on resting this afternoon, saying he’d not gotten much sleep the previous night. Hermione tried not to think about WHY he hadn’t gotten much sleep and was finally successful in convincing herself that they had been up all night talking.

She didn’t need to think of the alternative.

Finally, Hermione headed out with her mother and her father headed up to their rooms. She was certain she was in for a fun day, no matter how she felt about this new, strange situation!