Hermione gently fingered the fragile gold necklace that hung from her neck, giving a bereft smile to the small golden "E". She had known since she was very small that she was adopted, her parents were fairly open about the whole affair.

The Grangers had been unable to have children of their own due to some complication, and when they found little Hermione (who at the time had been named Elena) in a nearby orphanage, they couldn't say no. The Grangers we're going to keep the name Elena but Mrs. Granger decided that they were going to give Hermione a new life, so they might as well give her a new name as well. Hermione had never questioned her parent's decisions, and she was happy that they were so understanding about everything that was going on in the Wizarding world.

Hermione had explained to them that there was a very evil man out to kill all of her kind, and she had chosen to fight for the light. Her parents had very absent expressions during her explanation, as if they were too far away to hear what she was saying. They told her they were so proud of her, and they told her to be careful. She told them she would do all she could, and they accepted it.

In 3 weeks, Hermione would be turning 17, meaning she would be of age in the Wizarding world. She was beyond excited, not only for being able to use magic outside of school, or the early birthday party her parents had promised to have for her, but for the information her parents had promised to divulge to her. They promised her that come they day of her party, they would tell her everything they had been holding back. She was mad that they hadn't been telling her something, but she couldn't wait to hear what this information was.

Tomorrow was the day of the party, she would be having the Weasley family, Harry, and some unknown friends of her parents. She wasn't so sure how she felt about having Ron come, because they had a falling out a few weeks ago over Lavender, and their relationship was still rocky. Essentially, Ron had betrayed her trust and he'd been seeing Lavender behind Hermione's back, effectively driving Hermione into the arms of a very handsome and protective Seamus Finnegan. After hearing about Hermione's new relationship, Ron blew up, saying that it wasn't supposed to happen this way. Hermione shot back at him, saying she wasn't meant to wait around for him forever, especially when she could find someone else to make her happy. They had hardly spoken since.

Seamus isn't able to come to the party because his mum has fallen ill, but he sent Hermione a beautiful peacock feather quill, some books she'd been lusting after, and plenty of sweets in attempt to make up for it. Hermione's mother had bought her a gorgeous summer dress made from emerald green silk chiffon, with spaghetti straps and a v-neck; it fell a few inches above her knees. She adored the dress and couldn't wait to wear it tomorrow.

Bubbling with excitement, she braided her hair and grabbed her copy of Hogwarts: a history, climbing in-between her Egyptian cotton sheets, she turned on her lamp and started to doze off in the dust of the old tome.

"Good morning sweetheart! Your guests will be here soon!" Mrs. Granger sent a warm smile to her daughter, and giggled at Hermione's expression when she saw that the clock face read noon.

"Why'd you let me sleep in? I have so much to do!" Hermione frantically hopped out of bed and ran to the bathroom to try and comb out her hair while the bath filled up. She had forgotten all about the news her parents were going to tell her and wouldn't remember until much later. She filled the bath with a multitude of oils, choosing coconut, gardenia, and blood orange. The result was absolutely lovely; she would have dozed off in the bath if she hadn't looked at the clock. Once she had her dress and sandals on, she did her hair in an elaborate French braid, using a piece of blood red ribbon to tie it; she liked the contrast between the two colors, one dark and the other vivid. She decided to make an extra effort and applied some rosebud salve to her lips, and some mascara to her already lengthy eyelashes. Hearing a series of slight pops coming from the garden, she raced to greet her guests.

"Harry!" She grabbed her long-time best friend in to a tight hug, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, causing the shy boy to turn scarlet. He took in her appearance with wide eyes, and stuttered a bit before he announced

"You look amazing Hermione!" He chuckled as she smiled and spun around. She really did look amazing. She greeted each of the Weasleys with the warmth that she gave Harry, even slipping Fred and George a cheeky wink, much to their delight, until finally she came to Ron.

"Ronald, it's a pleasure" she extended a hand to Ron, trying to be courteous, but the look on his face absolutely screamed jealousy. She brushed it off and invited everyone inside for coffee and desserts.

Hermione was beyond happy with all of the amazing presents she had gotten:

Wonder Witch products from Ginny, a leather bound journal from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, a book from Ron, two adorable Pygmy puffs from Fred and George appropriately named Gred and Feorge, and a pretty silver necklace from Harry.

Hermione had enjoyed her day, it was truly wonderful, but she couldn't help the nagging curiosity over her the information her parents have to share with her. Saying goodbye to her guests, her parents called her into the sitting room for some tea and a chat.

"Hermione dear…" Her father cleared his throat before continuing

"Elena, love, you're mother and I haven't exactly been honest with you. You know that you're adopted, and you know your real name, but what you don't know is that your mother and I didn't adopt you from an orphanage. You're the daughter of a family that's very old friends of ours. During the first war, they feared for your safety, and they asked for us to keep you safe. They've recently decided that it's about time you went home."