Growing Wings

"I've held your hand through all of these

years, and you still have all of me."

- Evanescence, My Immortal

Growing Wings

~~

Hermione sat frozen in her seat. Had she heard her right? Wings??? That wasn't possible! Here she was, this little Gryffindor sixth year, with her back itching like mad, had just been told she was growing wings. She blinked a couple times before realizing that Harry was tracing his index finger over her shoulder blades. She shivered under his touch and winced from the itching intensifying. Realizing this, he quickly drew his hand back and said under his breath, "Sorry."

"Wings? Madame Pomfrey... Are you joking? I can't ... just ... can't grow wings!" said Hermione.

"Oh, but you are dear, how, I don't know. But you are." And Madame Pomfrey quickly grabbed two mirrors and handed one to Hermione. Hermione slowly grabbed it and Madame Pomfrey moved behind her and focused the mirror on her back. Hermione adjusted the mirror in her hand so her could see better, and moved her long, amber brown, wavy hair around the front of her to see better. And there they were.

On one of her shoulders stood a humongous bump in her shoulder, the color of a reddish-purple making it look more grotesque then it would be if they were the color of her skin. She looked more closely and saw what looked like a feather growing out of the shoulder. I'm a freak She thought. How is everyone going to react to me? She put the mirror next to her and put her shirt and robes back on. Harry looked down on the floor uncomfortably.

"Would you still like the itch cream, dear?" Madame Pomfrey said with sympathy.

Hermione shook her head no and got up to leave. "I'll just ... go."

She walked out the door and closed the door to the hospital wing, forgetting about Harry. She snapped it shut and broke out into a run, and let the tears flow freely from her eyes. She ran for a couple minutes and soon slowed down and stopped in the corridor. Soon, she was followed by Harry chasing after her. He caught up to her and placed a hand on her lower back. She almost jumped from his touch.

"Hermione, are you okay?" he asked breathless from running behind her. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and turned away from him so he couldn't see her eyes shining.

"I'm fine, Harry, just a bit of a shock, that's all." She sniffled and started to walk again.

She stopped abruptly and turned to lean against the wall. Harry stood in front of her with a look of concern on his face. She bit her lip to stop her from crying and looked away from Harry.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Hermione?" he asked. He paused for a moment. "Please," he said with a final plea.

She looked up at him and sighed.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you this before Harry, I haven't told anyone. Harry, I was adopted." She said.

"What?"

"Last summer, my real mum sent me an owl. At first, I thought it was you or Ron or someone else playing a joke, but when I asked my mum about it, she told me the truth. My family's come from a whole lot of purebloods. In fact, what my real mum said, 'The purest in wizarding history.'"

"Purer then Malfoy blood?" Harry asked jokingly, but tried to sound serious.

"As pure as that and not as evil. She told me she was forced to leave me by a pack of Death Eaters. They had dropped me on a muggle doorstep and left me there when I was one." She smiled a little before continuing, "See, Harry, we're not so different after all."

"Imagine that," he said. He tried to absorb what she had just told him. He was having difficulty understanding, as there were so many questions he wanted answered. How come she never wrote to us and told us? Why did she seem like she wanted to hide it?

Hermione choked back a sob.

"She never told me that I would be having a ... abnormality sometime soon," she said with her voice breaking.

"Maybe she knew, that'd you'd be growing wings, and she wrote to you to let you know?" Harry asked.

"But why would she have taken so long? Why didn't she get a hold of me earlier? Why all of a sudden, my life is now unraveling itself?" She had let her tears fall again.

"I know the feeling," Harry said quietly, almost to himself.

Hermione pushed her back off the wall and started walking towards the common room.

Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her back into a hug. She was surprised by this but let her body relax and dug her face into his chest. She let out a little sob.

"Shhh... shhh... It's okay, Hermione, everything will turn out fine. Just give it a little time."

He wrapped his arms around her back, being careful not to touch her winglets. Hermione let her hands travel all around his back, and finally rested them on his shoulder blades. No one will be able to touch my shoulders like this anymore. I'm grotesque.

As if he was reading her mind, Harry said "You're beautiful. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

She held on tighter to make sure he was really there.