Chapter 4
{Tuesday 13/8/1991}{10:00}{Granger Household}
Hermione was starting to get nervous. She couldn’t believe that it had been two weeks since her trip to Diagon Alley and that she only had just over two weeks until she started at Hogwarts. To help deal with all these nerves, Hermione did something that she had been thinking about for a while; she wrote a letter to the Goblins at Gringotts asking about her family tree.
That was two days ago.
“Hermione dear, you have a package.” Mrs Granger called.
With that, Hermione rushed down the stairs. She had been expecting a letter maybe, with a copy of a family tree in it, not a package. When she got to the kitchen, she saw a large box sitting on the table, an owl next to it with a letter attached to its leg.
“Thank you.” Hermione said to the owl, taking the letter before it flew back out of the door.
Opening the letter, Hermione read it out loud.
“Dear Miss Black,
We here at Gringotts are pleased that we can assist you in the discovery of your family.
Before you open the package, a warning; this is not like a family tree you would expect to see. It is not simply a piece of paper, detailing the births and deaths of your ancestors. This family tree is physical and changes with the events of each family member – for example, the image of the family member will change as they age.
We suggest that you keep your family tree in a safe space, away from prying eyes. We do not suggest that you take it to Hogwarts with you in case it falls into the wrong hands.
We hope you enjoy learning more about your family.
Best wishes,
The Gringotts Goblins’
“When did you ask for that sweetie?” Mrs Granger asked, looking confused and a little of something else that Hermione couldn’t figure out.
“Two days ago.” Hermione said “I need something to do before I go to Hogwarts, and I thought that finding out about my family would be just the thing. I also wanted to know if I would have any family at Hogwarts.”
At this, Mrs Granger gave Hermione a warm smile. “Well, how about I make us some tea and we’ll sit and look at it together?”
“Okay.”
~~~~~
Soon enough, Hermione and her mum were sat with their tea, the box with the family tree sat in front of them.
“Are you ready Hermione? One hundred percent sure that you want to do this?” Mrs Granger questioned.
“I’m sure. I’d like to know more about my family.” Hermione said, a smile working its way onto her face as she moved forward and carefully opened the box.
At first, it just looked like an ordinary box, but after a few seconds small branches started to poke out from the box. Over the course of a few minutes the branches grew and grew, splitting off. Eventually faces started to appear on them, birthdates going all the way back to the 1800’s.
Once the tree had finally stopped growing, Hermione noticed a familiar face.
“That’s the boy I met in Diagon Alley!” she excitedly told her mother, pointing at the young face of Draco Malfoy “That must be his parents – Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy Nee Black.
“Yes, Narcissa, she’s your father’s cousin.” Mrs Granger supplied, happy to just let Hermione marvel at the tree that had grown in their living room.
“So, those are my parents?” Hermione asked, pointing at the two young faces of Regulus Black and Aurora Malfoy.
“Yes. As far as I am aware, they were together through most of Hogwarts; it wasn’t long after they had graduated that they had you. They didn’t even get a chance to marry before your mother died.”
“How is it that you know so much about my parents?” Hermione asked Mrs Granger.
“Do you remember, when you got your Hogwarts letter, I told you that your father and I are what the magical world call Squibs?” Mrs Granger asked Hermione, getting a nod of confirmation back “Well, normally in the Wizarding world, when a family does have a Squib, which is very rare, they give them to a muggle orphanage or a muggle family that they happen to know. Thankfully, your father and I, came from good families – who weren’t ashamed to have Squibs among them so, we grew up in the Wizarding world with muggle tutors so that we would have a chance at a normal life. I was friends with your parents throughout my childhood – they were some of the most wonderful people that I ever knew. Eventually, the war we were living through started to become more and more dangerous so, my family and I had to go into hiding – that would have been your parents third year at Hogwarts I believe. We lost contact soon after and didn’t hear anything until Andromeda, your father’s cousin, turned up with you in her arms.”
Hermione didn’t know how to respond to her mother, so instead sought out the name Andromeda on the family tree.
“So, she’s my cousin?” Hermione asked, looking at the picture of a middle-aged woman.
“Yes, although I always thought that with the age difference, she could be more of an aunt. She has a daughter, Nymphadora, she’s a few years older than you. If you like, I could find their address and you could write?”
“I’ll think about it.” Hermione said, turning back to the family tree and studying it.
~~~~~
“Mum?”
“Yes sweetie?”
“Does it – does it bother you …” Hermione started, not quite able to get her sentence out.
“Does what bother me?”
“Does it bother you that I want to know more about my family?” Hermione asked, looking down at her feet.
“Oh, well, they’re your family sweetheart. It’s understandable that you want to know more about them and figure out who you are.” Mrs Granger answered, avoiding looking into Hermione’s eyes as she stirred a pot on the stove.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Hermione replied quietly, thinking that she already got the answer, but her mother just didn’t want to say it.
“I’m going to be honest sweetie, okay? There will always be a small, selfish part of me that is bothered. Not because I don’t think you deserve to know who your family are or who you are but, it just reminds me of all the years your father and I have been waiting for this to happen. The years we’ve spent trying to keep you safe and out of harm’s way.” Mrs Granger started to explain “I am so happy that you’re finding your family and I will support you all the way, but it will always make me a bit sad that you know now what’s out there for you, other than this family.”
“You’re still my mum and dad is still my dad. You raised me, you are my family – even if I now have a bigger family that I can get to know, you are still my mum and dad.” Hermione told her mum, accepting the hug that Mrs Granger squeezed her into. “I’m going to go and do some reading now.” She said, leaving the uncomfortable feeling she had in the kitchen, and making her way up to her room.
~~~~~
The conversation with her mother had left Hermione with a feeling if needing to do something. So, in the absence of schoolwork – and having already read her set texts – she decided that now would be the perfect time to pack her trunk.
Originally, when Mr and Mrs Granger had taken Hermione to buy her trunk, the plan had been to buy a simple, reasonably priced trunk and leave as quickly as possible because luggage sellers were the same magical or muggle, they just want your money. However, they hadn’t even walked in the door and Hermione had spotted the trunk she wanted. She didn’t even need the salesperson to talk her into it, she just walked straight up to it and brought it.
The trunk was not simple, nor was it reasonably priced.
It had several different compartments, not that you would know looking at it. It started with a clothing compartment, where she was able to hang up any clothes that easily crease and put the rest folded away, in drawers. The next was a small compartment for shoes. Shoes! Obviously there was a compartment for necessary things like toiletries and her school things such as her wand and her quill and ink etcetera. The compartment that made Hermione the most excited, and want the trunk in the first place, was for books. Just a whole space for all the books she could think of, so of course all of her literature was coming to Hogwarts with her.
By the time Hermione was halfway through packing her trunk, Mrs Granger called her down for dinner. Sighing, Hermione decided that she would leave the rest of her packing for another day.
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