Hermione's Little Secret

HEY EVERYONE! Yep, another chapter, and this time I'll check it before logging off! LOL.


Thanks to everyone for reading/reviewing and leaving such supportive words of encouragement. After resting my hands for a couple of days, I feel a bit better, thank you.

Ok, enough about real life lol, here goes!


Marti



Lilah flipped the pages of her comic book with a disgusted sigh. She had read the stupid thing at least five times since she’d gotten here. She wanted to ask her father to take her to the store, a real store, not a magic one, where she could get some more comics. This place was so boring. Maybe if she was a student it’d be different, but as it was, she didn’t have anything to do, and the only person she could play with was her half-sister’s little half-brother. ‘I thought we had the rights to weird families in America. I want pizza and French fries, not ‘chips’, but real deep fried potatoes with ketchup and hot sauce. Or a good Michigan, with onions and mustard. No, I’m here with stupid pumpkin juice, and fry ups, whatever the heck they are.’

She tossed the comic to the side and stood up, stretching. She considered getting her soccer ball out and heading outside, but she didn’t want to risk seeing her grandmother or father. She loved her grandmother, but really, how many times would she have to wear a corset? And what the heck was a corset anyway? It sounded like a torture device. Maybe her father had one in his office. That mean looking headmaster probably did.

Lilah got one of her few remaining Mountain Dews ™ from her father’s little fridge and headed into her bedroom. There had to be something she could do. She kicked her way through the pile of dirty clothes, knocked over the haphazard stack of books at the foot of her bed and sat down staring at her room. At home, she’d have been able to go outside and find some of her friends, go visit their houses and play on their game systems.

Here she couldn’t even use hers! Her first night in the castle, she’d hunted for an hour for the outlet for her travel television and her game cube ™ before finding out from her father that there was no electricity there. The magic around the building messed with non-magic items. She could listen to her CD player on the way to school in the morning and on the way home, but once she got past the gates, it stopped playing.

She drank her soda slowly, knowing that it wouldn’t be til Christmas when her father ordered new drinks from the States for them. She missed her friends and hoped her father would reconsider sending her back to her mother. A girl needed her mother, didn’t she? Who was going to teach her about boys and feminine stuff and bras? Not her father. He blushed the one time she had said the word ‘bra’ while shopping for swimsuits earlier this year.

The window over her father’s desk opened and the owl he used for sending lettered flew in, did a circle above her head and landed gracefully on the bare desk. It dropped the letter in it’s clutches down to the desktop and ‘who’d’ at her. Lilah put her drink down and went to the desk. She petted the owl absently as she looked at the writing on the envelope, her heart skipping a beat as she recognized her mother’s handwriting. She grabbed it up and ripped it open.



Draco,
How surprising to hear from you so soon after getting you and that child out of my life, especially since I asked you never to contact me again. Well, no matter. I have started my new life with Christopher and I am expecting our first child this spring. Your daughter has no place in my new life; she didn’t have one in the old life. She is your daughter, your freak of nature, your responsibility. I told you this when you left. I want nothing to do with the two of you anymore.

That child scared the hell out of me, and everyone else! She belongs in your world. I only hope you can train her the right way before she kills someone.

I repeat, do not contact me again, and don’t allow that girl to either!


Alicia Camden-Carrington



Lilah dropped the single sheet of paper on her father’s desk, tears streaming down her face as she thought over her mother’s harsh words. Her own mother had been scared of her, hadn’t wanted her around. She didn’t want her own daughter now! With a sob, she turned and ran to the door of the quarters, threw the door open and ran out into the corridor, not bothering to close the heavy oak door behind her. Rushing blindly through the crush of students leaving the Slytherin common room, pushing through them as she ran, she ascended the stairs into the Front hall. Behind her, portraits flew off the walls to crash to the stone floors as she ran by. She passed her grandmother and Adrianna as she pushed open the main entrance and headed outside.

Without looking exactly where she was going, she ran towards the forest, seeking the quiet and solitude of the wooded area. She ignored the yells of students and RJ, her eyes burning as the wind cooled the tears on her cheeks. Her sneakered feet traversed the unstable land of the woods as she entered deeper and deeper, until exhausted, she fell in a heap near a downed tree. Wailing, she curled herself up into a ball and continued crying at the injustices and unfairness in her young life.

“That girl has the worst manners thanks to her horrible mother.” Narcissa shook her head as she allowed Adrianna to show her to the Slytherin common room.

“She was crying.”

“Lilah’s been crying almost non-stop since your father took her from America. Her mother refused to take custody of her. If she wasn’t a Muggle I’d have hexed her into a shrub. Actually, I still would, but Draco refuses to allow me to.” Narcissa frowned darkly as she remembered her former daughter-in-law. She had looked down at everyone, and thought Draco’s magic was wrong, that it needed to be hidden. Narcissa was a pure-blooded witch, but she hadn’t been as prejudiced as her husband and sister.

She had never been a full supporter of the Dark Lord, knowing that Muggle-born witches and wizards were necessary to the continuation of the magical world. Narcissa knew better than to think that only full blooded magical beings were enough to continue their culture.

“Ma’am, she looked really upset. I’m going to see where she’s going.” Adrianna left her new-found grandmother in the middle of the hall and ran after her half-sister. She dodged the large portrait that came off the wall, scaring a group of Gryffindors as she left through the entrance. She watched the smaller, faster girl racing toward the Forbidden Forest. She yelled to Lilah, but either the girl didn’t hear or she refused to heed her. Adrianna watched RJ running towards Lilah.

“No! RJ, go get Mum and Draco!” Just what she needed, her little brother to get lost in the forest along with her new little sister. She shook her head to clear it for a moment, trying to get used to the idea of a sister. She watched her red-headed brother turn toward Hagrid’s hut instead. Ok, Hagrid was definitely the best choice to find Lilah, actually. She’d have to go get her mother and head of house.

“That stubborn chit! Hadn’t Draco taught her not to enter the Forest?” Narcissa waved her wand and the portrait returned to its place on the wall.

“I don’t know, Ma’am. But it’s Thestral mating season! Even Hagrid doesn’t go in there unless he has to. Excuse me.” Adrianna rushed back inside to her mother’s rooms. She and Draco were coming out of the bedroom and she shuddered, thinking about the last time they had been in there together.

“Give her the slip already?” Draco smirked at the girl, referring to his mother. Adrianna shook her head, breathing hard and leaning against the wood of the door jam.

“Lilah came running through the castle, really upset and crying. All the portraits came flying off the walls after her, and…she’s in the Forest! She wouldn’t listen to anyone. RJ went to get Hagrid.”

Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, recalling the time of year it was. “Oh, Draco, you have to go find her. Thestrals will rip her apart if they come near her.” She gave her lover a push out the door after their daughter and went to change her shoes. Heels weren’t appropriate for trudging through the Forbidden Forest.


Narcissa elected to remain in the castle, while her son and Hermione entered the forest to find her granddaughter. She paced worriedly up and down the corridor outside of Severus’ office. She loved the little girl, until recently her only grandchild. Adrianna had stayed with her brother in her mother’s quarters. Narcissa hadn’t wanted to intrude on the siblings, so she had taken a walk, ending up in front of the stone staircase to the headmaster’s office. She turned with a start when she heard the staircase open and Severus exit. He bit back a sneer and smiled at the widow. She giggled, realizing that she would rather see the sneer, or smirk. A smile didn’t do anything for his looks.

“Hello, Severus.”

“Draco abandon you already?”

“He and his lady friend are looking for my wayward granddaughter. She ran into the forest. My new granddaughter and her brother are keeping themselves amused in their rooms. So, I guess, yes my son did abandon me, but for a better cause.”

Severus blanched, if that were even possible for the man at the news. “I’ll floo Hagrid and have –“

“They’ve already got him looking. I’m sure the three of them will be able to find Lilah.” Narcissa bit her lip, showing the former Death Eater just how worried she was for her grandchild.

“Yes, Hagrid knows the forest better than anyone. Why don’t you come up to my office and wait? I’ll have some tea and scones sent up. Unless you’d prefer something a little stronger?” He opened his arms in invitation. Narcissa was taken aback, but she entered the winding staircase ahead of him. A good Firewhiskey sounded like heaven right about now.


**Up here in New York, a Michigan is a hot dog on a bun with a meat sauce(not quite chili sauce) and onions and/or mustard. It is soooooo good and when I lived in California and Texas while my ex was in the military I craved them, especially since I was pregnant at the time! So the best analogy, I guess, is a chili dog. But better :-D

Adelee, have you been near Plattsburgh? OMG, this little roadside diner makes the best Michigans. It's called 'Clare and Carl's' and it's been around since the dawn of time....but............deliciousness! Thanks for reviewing, everyone!!!!
marti