Blood and water

4. Family Feuds

Hermione's POV

Within a few days, we received a reply.



Dearest Hermione,

I would be delighted if we could meet, please understand that I did not give you up willingly. I loved you with all of my heart, as did your father, and had he not died, we would not be in this position, but I could not support you, and so with great sadness, had to give you up. I will never in my life be able to forgive myself for that; it is one of my greatest regrets.



I feel that we need to know each other better. So, I have one son, who like you goes to Hogwarts, which is where you may have heard the name Zabini from. But it is with sorrow that I will tell you something- that I sincerely hope will not affect our blossoming relationship, I cannot lose you again, but you need to know.



I frowned at the letter, looking up at my parents; they willed me to continue with sad eyes. I gave them a weak smile and continued.

My son happens to be one of the many slytherins that have hurt you over the years. Blaise. I know you are definitely familiar with his best friend, Draco Malfoy and I cannot apologise enough on the pain you must feel hearing this. You must know that I never accepted this behaviour from him, and punished him many times. He does not know.



I hope to await your reply,

Andrea Zabini



I froze. My mother was implying that one of my enemies, by the name of BLAISE ZABINI was related to me. I had a brother! Unfortunately the one person I was hoping to not be related to, besides Malfoy, is my brother. I scowled, and stared up at my parents. Being the good Gryffindor I am, I replied politely.



Andrea,

I understand, and I forgive you, it must have been an incredibly hard decision to make. I too hope we can meet; I would like to get to know you better.



I will not lie and say this will not effect me, but please do tell Blaise, because if I have to have him as a brother, then please at least let him know. I do not doubt his reaction will be awful, but I am willing to forgive him in the hope that we can be civil.



Love, Hermione Mia



About an hour later, three owls hit the window. I stared in confusion, and immediately recognised Pig, Ron's owl next to two other different owls. I took the letter from Pig first, feeding him a treat.



It was from Harry, and he was replying to my news of the adoption, and telling me that he understood my need to figure it out by myself but said he missed me and was here for me anyway. Ginny had scribbled along the bottom saying she loved me and missed me too and would help me through it. I smiled, I loved my friends so much, but then frowned as I realised there was no word of Ron... a feeling of intense anger shot through me. It was the summer holidays and I had not heard from him once. I missed him dearly, after the kiss during the war, we had declared ourselves a couple, but I had not heard from him since I came home. Tears burned in my eyes, but I blinked them away, focusing on the other letters.

Immediately I recognised the seal on the back of it, and grinned. A letter from Hogwarts... brilliant! I opened it, only to squeal with delight and run to my parents. "MUM, DAD!" They looked up. "I've been accepted back at Hogwarts to redo my final year, and they've named me HEAD GIRL!" They smiled and congratulated me, hugging me and praising me with unwanted kisses. I laughed and then went into the other room to read the last letter.



Hermione,

I told Blaise about his sibling. As expected, he did not take it well. He stormed out of the house in his rage... He came back though, and I told him the story. He wishes to meet you one day in Hogwarts to speak. I promise no harm will come of you. I hope you two can get along, maybe even become friends. He warns that it must be in secret for now. I hope you understand that this is a necessity for both of you as no one knows apart from the professors.



I'm sorry if this has hurt you Hermione, I know it's a lot to take in.



Andrea



I sighed. I would give Blaise one chance to redeem himself into a figure that I could be civil to. One chance. I warned Andrea of this in my next letter and told my parents of the development, excusing myself to bed as I did so.





I wondered what excitement would be waiting for me at my second home, Hogwarts, and winced as I thought of the trouble my new sibling was going to cause me. Soon enough, I fell asleep and slept dreamlessly.