3rd November, 1991

I spent most of my time in the library.

Sometimes I was with Blaise, or my other friends, but I wasn't always.

I did my homework there, read books there, studied there...

And eavesdropped on Hermione.

It was an accident, I swear! Well, mostly...

It was my birthday, but I didn’t treat it like a day any different to normal. I got gifts from Blaise, Anja, Alex, Padma, Pavarti, Dean, Seamus and Lavender.

After dinner, I was sitting in one of the aisles, reading one of the few ‘Modern Acclaimed Wizards’ books that didn’t mention Harry Potter.

Then, in the next aisle over, I heard a girl – I recognised her voice as Hermione Granger’s – whispering to herself, “Okay…Flagen, Fleming…no, not here…Fater, Faveira, Felman, Ffeffer…er…Fjordsan, Flagen, Flanetta…no, not here either, let me see, how about in ‘A Magical List of Prestigious Wizards From 1000 to 1980? F…okay, let’s see…Flagen, Flamel – Flamel! ‘Alchemist, discovered the Philosopher’s Stone, now over 600 years old along with his wife, Perenelle.’ I’d better go tell Harry and Ron!”

Hermione, Ron and Harry were looking for Nicolas Flamel? Did that mean they knew something about the Stone or the dog that was guarding it?

I knew someone had to stop them, for their own good – and that someone was going to be me.

I could hear her standing up and starting to put the books away. I decided to confront her.

I stepped into her aisle. “Why are you looking up Nicolas Flamel?”

Hermione froze.

She stood up slowly, examining my expression. “Jade, I’m not looking for a fight…”

“Then why don’t you just tell me, Hermione?”

“Well, how do you know about Nicolas Flamel?” she asked curiously.

“I know because I was told by a teacher,” I replied coolly.

Understanding dawned in her face. “Snape. Snape told you, didn’t he? You’re working for him, aren’t you?” she accused me.

“And so what if I am?”

Hermione looked at me in horror. “Because, Jade Edwards, Snape’s working to bring You-Know-Who back! He’s evil!”

I shook my head firmly. “Don’t call me Jade Edwards! And Professor Snape is not working for Voldemort!”

She winced at the use of Voldemort’s name. “Why can’t I call you Jade Edwards?”

I finally spoke the words I’d suspected for a while now.

“My last name isn’t Edwards!” I exclaimed. Hermione stared.

“But they called that name at the Sorting! And how would you know? You don’t know your parents – you’re an orphan, aren’t you? Anyway, if your surname isn’t Edwards, what is it?” she reasoned.

“I know they called that name, but that was only because I thought it was Edwards. I know it’s not Edwards because my instincts tell me so, and I trust my instincts. As for what my surname really is, well, I have absolutely no idea,” I replied slowly, considering.

She shrugged. “You might be right, actually. Because I’ve been thinking…” she whispered conspirationally, “you look a bit like Harry.”

I was taken aback. “Is that supposed to be a joke? Because I don’t -”

“No, I’m serious! Your face shape is kind of like his! You might be his sister, or half-sister, or something like that,” she suggested.

Now it was my turn to stare.

But then my hands found their way onto my pendant – as they always did when I was thinking – and then I came up with a response to disprove her idea.

I showed her the pendant. “Hermione, you’re the second person in the world who knows about this, other than my parents.”

“‘JAE, our daughter – SS and LE’,” Hermione read. “Hmm, I wonder – oh my gosh – do you know the names of Harry’s parents?”

I shook my head, frowning. “But neither of them could be one of my parents, because they’d both have the surname initial ‘P’ for Potter.”

Hermione nodded. “True. But when Harry’s mother was married, she changed her surname to Potter. Before that, her name was…Lily Evans. LE.”

My mother was…Harry’s mother? We were half-siblings?

It was hard to believe.

I stared at her for the rest of forever. “But-but my father-”

“I’ve worked that out too,” Hermione told me. “Yes, you do look a bit like him…your eyes…”

“Can’t you just tell me?” I asked, aggravated.

Shrugging, Hermione asked me, “Which teacher favours you most and keeps you back after class to talk to you?”

So she’d noticed.

Well, of course she’d noticed, she was Hermione Granger.

I thought about what she had said for about one second. “Not – Professor Snape?” I gasped, working it out. His initials –

“And Snape’s initials?” Hermione continued, cutting into my thoughts.

“Severus Snape – SS – my father? But Professor Snape hates Harry! And he’s technically Harry’s stepfather!”

“Snape probably resents the fact that Lily had a child with someone else. And I expect he also hates James Potter, Harry’s father. Harry also looks a lot more like his father than his mother – or, at least, I expect he does, everyone is always saying how he looks like his father,” she commented.

“Oh. I suppose that makes sense,” I conceded.

She nodded, glancing at the time. “It’s getting late. I need to go back to the Gryffindor Common Room and you need to go back to the Slytherin Common Room. Wow, I forgot you were a Slytherin…I guess not all Slytherins are evil.”I nodded and started walking away.

“Thanks so much, Hermione,” I thanked her, then left.

When I got back to the Common Room, I found Blaise arguing with Anja, as seemed to be their pastime. As I watched, their argument came to a close as Anja got up and went to talk to some second-years.

“Hi Jade,” Blaise said. “What were you doing in the library this time?”

I told him what had happened. “Wow…Snape’s daughter, huh? Who would have thought?”

“I know,” I agreed. “It’s hard to believe.”