Secrets

Chapter 4

I own nothing! J.K.Rowling owns everything!

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After telling the aurors to pack up (Harry's orders), Hermione had apparated to her house, a small flat a few minutes walk from Diagon Alley. It wasn't much, it had a kitchenette attached to a living room, a loo and a bedroom. There wasn't really anything Hermione could complain about, it had all the necessities to survive. Surviving seemed to be the only thing she ever cared about anymore. She had wanted to survive whilst on the run with Harry and Ron. She had wanted to survive the Battle of Hogwarts... but then her life had come crashing down on her and all she wanted to do was survive this latest chapter.

Splashing water onto her face, Hermione looked at herself in the mirror. She focused on her eyes and could see the scene that had changed her life playing over and over.

------------------------ **FLASHBACK**

Hermione was watching the battle between Harry and Voldemort play out. She was standing behind Harry, her fingers crossed in the muggle fashion - praying that Harry would win. A crowd surrounded the two main players of the battle, they all watched the two spells Voldemort and Harry had cast meet each other in the middle as the Elder Wand flew out of Voldemort's hand and soar towards Harry. In that moment Hermione knew that Harry had won, and it seemed that Voldemort knew it too. Voldemort's eyes grew wide in fear, his mouth opened slightly in defeat. Hermione watched as Voldemort's eyes searched the crowds and landed on her. Hermione released a small gasp of surprise as Voldemort's image flickered to what he had been before turning into the monstrous snake-like person he was now.

She saw Tom Riddle as he had been when she had known him well. It all came rushing back in that moment. All of her earliest memories. Opening her eyes to see her doting Mother and Father look down on her, from above her crib. Being caught as she tried to walk, but fell instead - even at an early age she had been ambitious. Talking with her father in what she thought was perfect english, but had in fact been the craziest version of baby talk ever - a mixture of goo-goos and gaa-gaas, as well as various hisses.

Hermione snapped back to what was happening before her, and watched in anguish and slight horror as she saw Voldemort's (now back to the snake-like figure) mouth open. "I'm sorry, Darling." He mouthed to Hermione, just as his spell backfired and he surrendered to his fate - with a slight hint of relief in his eyes. Voldemort fell backwards, arms splayed, the slit pupils of scarlet rolling upwards. His snake-like face was now vacant and unknowing.

"DADDY!" Hermione whispered/screamed as she collapsed, tears rolling down her face. Her sobs were drowned out by the cheers from the roaring crowd. They all went to surround and hug Harry, while Hermione just rocked herself backwards and forwards.

"Hermione, dear, are you alright?" Molly Weasley asked from behind. Hermione used her palms to wipe away her tears and pull herself together.

Hermione turned around and gave a small smile, she lied as she said, "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just so glad that it's over," She chocked over her next words, "And that he's dead."

The two women went to the great hall to mourn the dead and help the injured. As they stopped over Fred, Molly broke down into tears, again, and Hermione noticed that they had put Voldemort's body far way from everyone else. She started to tear up, she was mourning the father she remembered snippets of. Everyone around her thought that she was tearing up over Fred, but she was not. She had already shed those tears.

She slipped away and walked towards the body of her father, and sunk to the ground, positioning herself so that she was out of sight from the others, behind a massive pile of rubble. She touched her father's cheek and burst into tears again.

"I'm sorry, Daddy." She whispered through the sobs. "I'm sorry I didn't see you sooner, the real you. The one underneath this snake-like facade. Maybe if I had seen you from before, I would have been able to guide you back to the light, and I could have still had my father. Now I don't have any fathers, I don't have you or my muggle dad. I'm not going to be able to undo the memory spell I cast." She paused. "I'm going to miss the Daddy I knew you as."

She stood up, but she paused about halfway to standing, after noticing a small shed tear on Voldemort's face. Looking around quickly, she got out a small test tube from her enchanted bag and captured the tear. And turned quickly, to sprint to the Headmasters' office, aiming for the pensieve.

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