Disclaimer:I don't own anything except the O.C and the plot.

Secrets, everyone have them some of them can be small like you were the one that eat your brother's candy but, some of them can be quite big and hard to mange for example your boyfriend never telling you that he had an affair or your parents telling you that you have a half-sibling but, that isn't Hermione's case right now.

Her parents had kept a big secret from her; a secret that made her change the way she viewed her family. Her whole life was base on this secret. It all started after she finish her fifth year in Hogwarts when they told her that they were going to America for the holiday something she found odd; her little brother Ryan; who was younger than her by two years, was excited to hear that they were going back to America. Her parents doesn't visit the same country again and the last time they been to America, her mother was fighting with a man about her.

"I thought that you didn't like visiting the same country again?" asked Hermione in suspicion.

"Come on Mione, don't tell me that you don't love America," whined Ryan. Their mother laughed and told her that, they loved visiting America and that they were going to make it an exception. She glanced at her father, who wasn't smiling at what her mother was saying and noticed that his hazel eyes were pained at what she said.

"You aren't telling me something," accused Hermione. Julie looked pained at what her daughter accusing her but, knew that both of her children needed to know the truth about Hermione real father. She looked at Robert, who looked at her with such sadness and pain. It was her fault for not being faithful to him after one of their fights.

"Sit down, Hermione and Ryan your mother and I have something to tell you," said Robert sitting down in the couch beside her while her mother sat beside him. She was afraid at what they were going to tell her; she could feel her hands trembling at what they were going to tell her. It was like they were telling her about their cat dying while her younger brother was excited. She wanted to know why he was so excited.

"About seventeen years ago before you were born, your mother and I had a huge fight about the wedding and I stormed out of the apartment and went to your Aunt Gemma to stay there until I calm down," began Robert. Hermione didn't know, what the fight had to do with them going to America since it happened fifteen years ago.

"After the fight I went to the bar after the fight and got very drunk," admitted Julie. Her daughter's eyes widen when she realized at what she was about to say to her while her son still looked confuse at what she was about to say. Robert stayed with her even through she cheated on him; most men will leave if they hear this but her husband stayed with her.

"Mom, what does this have to do with us going to America?" asked Ryan. Hermione waited for her mother to continue the story while her younger brother kept asking the same question to their parents. She glared at her brother who flinched at her glare and got the message that he should be quiet.

"Hermione, the truth is Robert isn't your father," said Julie quietly but her children still heard it anyway. Ryan looked at them in disbelief while his sister ran upstairs her room slamming the door at them. He had never felt so angry at his parents for keeping something so big like this from them.

Robert cradle Julie as she cried at what she did to them and he tried to whisper comforting words to his wife. He remembered the day that he found out of her cheating on him with a stranger from a bar so well he love his wife so much that he was able to forgive her for this and the only good thing that happened was his daughter.

Hermione locked the doors of her room and started to cry, she never cried in front of people to show them that she was strong that she was hard to upset. The photos on her bedside made her angry but, then she realized something that made her calm down. Robert was still her father but not biologically and the man that is her father lost his chance to know her long time ago so why was she so angry with them.

"Can I come in?" asked Julie. She still felt guilt at what she did to her daughter, she never knew her daughter father's name and had vague memory of him. She took a seat beside her daughter and told her that what she did was something she still regret till this day but, she didn't regret having her.

"Why now? Why didn't you tell me when I was thirteen?" asked Hermione; wiping her tears away not wanting to show her mother that she was weak.

"When I was thirteen did you know what your grandmother told me?" asked Julie. Hermione shook her head at her mother wondering what her grandmother told her mom at that age.

"She told me that I was adopted," confessed Julie. Her husband doesn't know that she was adopted because she didn't want him to ask her feelings towards this matter and so she kinda knows what her daughter was going through.

"Did you scream at her?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, I threw a big hissy fit at your grandmother," admitted Julie. Hermione laughed at that; trying to imagine her mother trying to throw a hissy fit for being adopted but, yet there was something that bothered her. Did her mother went to find her real parents or did she simply didn't care about them.

"Did you ever try to find your real parents?" asked Hermione.

"I found my biological father but, not my mother," answered Julie. Her biological father was addicted to drugs and had a drinking problem which made her quite glad that she was adopted but, as for her mother, she never found out who was her mother from her father who even when drunk kept a tight lipped about it.

"What is it about my birth that made you decide to go to America when I'm fifteen?" asked Hermione; questioning her about the reason she decide that going to America this time for her birth.

"Honestly, there is this voice inside my head that says you are needed there," admitted Julie. At the age of ten; she learnt that it was very good idea to listen to your instinct and something her husband said that was very useful for them like how they were very lucky that they did't went to the other road where a couple got killed because of her instincts.

"Furthermore, I met a woman from America when you were five remember, she simply adore your drawing and your vast knowledge in history." Added Julie. She looked confused when her mother told her about the woman; she didn't remember any woman from America and she had a very good memory from that age.

"Are you sure that he isn't my father?" asked Hermione hoping that her mother wasn't too sure, she was also trying to change the subject. She saw the pain in her mother's eyes when she asked this question and the guilt for cheating on her husband. Julie reluctantly nodded her head while her daughter inherited her grace and beauty, something her adopted mother and grandmother told everyone about, she also had inherited flecks of green in her eyes, her husband's family didn't have it and she checked her biological father's family tree and found none there.

"I want you to know this kiddo, even through Robbert isn't your biological dad, he is still your Dad in every sense in the word," said Julie looking at her daughter's beautiful brown eyes. She remember meeting a woman that was so interested in learning about her and asking questions about her love life.

They didn't know that their conversations were being heard nor did they know that by going to America that they sealed Hermione's fate.