With all the rumors going around it was time to go to the one place she knew she could find answers and that was why Hermione was in the library at a table that was buried under books all on wizarding genealogy. She hadn't discussed it with Harry because mainly she thought he might flip out and there may not be any reason to and the proper research needed to be done before anything could be discussed.

Asking the girl was out of the picture especially for Hermione who didn't like her and who she was sure didn't like Hermione. Hermione flipped through pages frantically trying to find what she was looking for before lunch period was over. It was only the first day of classes and already the gryffindor was on a research mission.

After the conversation she’d had that morning, Felicity was in no way hungry for lunch. Her mind was racing and she needed to calm it down. The best way she knew to do that was with a trip to the library, battered book in her arms and a determined smile set on her lips. The blonde had stopped along the way to point a few first years in the direction of their dormitories, reminding them to mind the staircases, before continuing toward her destination. It felt good to help the young ones. It helped her focus on something other than her racing thoughts.

The Hufflepuff strolled into the library, looking for an open table and instead spotting a bushy haired girl with books piled all around her. Intriguing. Felicity wandered over, gently setting her worn copy of Gray’s Anatomy on the table before sitting down and flashing the other girl a friendly smile. She couldn’t help but notice the subject of the many books strewn about, and felt her breath catch in her throat. Wizarding genealogy… Why hadn’t Felicity thought of that? She could look up more information about her dad!

“Um,” she started, shifting her tome a bit to her left so that she had room in front of her. “Would you mind if I borrowed one of those? I… well, I’d like to do some research of my own.” She really wanted to tell the girl what research she was interested in, but she didn’t want to distract her from her studies. Maybe she’d ask and then Felicity could explain… The desire to make a new friend was strong, but the knowledge that many people did not want to be distracted when doing research was stronger, so she restrained herself, hoping this girl turned out to be as friendly as the Hufflepuff.

Hermione sighed in her frustration and set the book she was looking through back down on the table. Nothing. In all ten books she had looked so far she had not found a single detail of any Riddles. How was this possible? The library had never failed her before and she knew the answer was in there and she just had to find it.

The gryffindor picked up another book that she had yet to look through and her hope to find an answer before her next class was dwindling. She had just decided that she would come straight back after classes if she had to to find the answer she was searching for when a voice interrupted her thoughts.

Hermione didn't know the girl and thought it odd someone else would have a reason to read through these kinds of books. Maybe the other girl was looking for the same answer she was. The gryffindor witch nodded. "Help yourself. Looking for something specific?" Hermione didn't want to sound too forward and quickly backtracked. "It's just that I've skimmed through all these," she waved at the pile of books on her right "so I have a good idea of what's in them."

Slightly taken aback by the fact that the younger girl had already perused so many volumes, Felicity gaped for a minute before finding her voice and answering the offer. “Actually, I’d love some help,” she said quietly, grabbing one of the books and flipping through, locating the index and searching for the family name. “I’m looking for information on my father actually. Well, my late father I should say. Anything on the family name of ‘Black’.” She smiled at the girl before turning her eyes back down to the pages, turning to the correct page where there should be information on her dad’s ancestors.

“I’m not sure what all I’ll find. Mum said he was a pureblood, so that should make it easy to find information on him, right? I mean, it might be a bit of a common surname, but surely not in the pureblood community, right?” She looked at the girl, not really understanding what the look on her face might mean. “I’m sorry, I’m babbling. It’s just, I never did any kind of research on things like this and I never thought I’d need to, so I’m a bit lost.” Plus there was the fact that she was still rather confused and upset about the fact that her dad was gone and she’d never even met the man. It was all just a bit much for one girl to handle.

She cleared her throat and turned back to the book before her, frowning at the information. “This seems to say they were all bad wizards, but I know that isn’t true. Based on what mum said, Sirius was a great guy. Really nice, if a big trouble maker in his day…” She looked at the other girl again, worrying her lip before practically whispering “could there be a mistake? Or is it talking about another pureblood family?”

Hermione had not been prepared for that. In reaction to it she did the unthinkable. She dropped her book. It hit the floor with a resounding thud but she hardly noticed. "Black? Did you say...Black?" The Gryffindor was sure she had heard the older girl correctly but thought it wise to double check. Double checking couldn't hurt.

Hermione mentally ran through all the information she could recall of Sirius and his family and also was thankful she hadn't dragged Harry to the library with her. He was really touchy about any mention of Sirius or any thing that led towards the topic of his godfather. This was understandable but usually led to shouting from him and it wouldn't so to have him in here shouting at a random girl.

The Gryffindor witch became even more confused and anxious when the girl actually mentioned Sirius' name but thankfully the common sense part of her mind told her to remain calm and begin to research. She sighed and gave up her research on Riddle for the time being. If this did end up having to do with Sirius then it was more important. "Maybe we should start from the beginning. Who exactly was your father?"

The younger witch actually dropped her book and Felicity was suddenly scared that she’d done something wrong. Her green eyes flashed with fear and anxiety as she worried that she might have just lost a potential friend and helper in this quest for information, but then it seemed as though the other girl wasn’t so set on disliking her. Maybe she just knew more about Felicity’s dad than the Hufflepuff had ever hoped.

But that didn’t make sense. The only person she was told would know about him was Harry Potter. Was her mum not completely honest with her? Or did the woman not actually know everything she thought she knew about the man? In truth, the witch hadn’t seen the father of her child since she’d conceived, so it wasn’t such a farfetched idea to think she had missed quite a bit of his life. Felicity’s head was spinning and she found that she really just wanted some solid answers to form a foundation to stand on. Right now she felt like she was getting lost in the black nothingness that was her knowledge of the man who helped her exist, and it was driving her mad.

“Sirius Black. He didn’t know, though,” she added quickly in case the girl did somehow know her father. She didn’t want to ruin his image in other people’s eyes. Even without having met the man, Felicity felt protective of him. Perhaps it was just her Hufflepuff nature, but she felt like it was something more. “Mum never told him. She only just told me. That’s why I wanted to find some information.” She wondered how other people might react to suddenly finding out about the missing half of their family lineage. Would they go into a frenzy of need for information? Or was it just the medical student in her that drove Felicity’s desire?

Smoothing her thick bangs and trying to focus on anything but the seemingly overwhelmed witch before her, Felicity willed her brain to think of something more to say. “I’ve gone almost seventeen years without knowing who my dad was. Now that I do know, I feel like I can’t even figure out anything about him. It just isn’t fair, you know?” She looked at the girl again, this time with somewhat watery eyes. “I just have to know who he was. If I’m like him at all. If I’d make him proud…” Her voice cracked a bit on the last word, and Felicity looked down. Why was she suddenly fighting off the urge to cry? It seemed like life had gotten so difficult and emotional this summer… She mentally kicked herself as a single watery drop fell onto the book before her.

Sirius Black was the girl's father and even though it was what the Gryffindor had half expected to hear it hadn't made it any easier to hear and Hermione had half dreaded that answer. It wasn't really believable either and if the girl's mother had lied to her for so long it wasn't a leap to think she had lied about who the father was.

The Gryffindor witch felt like a lot of things were going on at once and this one might just tip Harry over the edge. If this girl did turn out to be some legitimate child of Sirius he would not be taking it well and he would also take it upon himself to care for her. It could be good for him in a way to have some form of Sirius still with him and Harry would find some familial tie to her but it would take a while for him to get to that point.

Hermione sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers her head already overloaded with information and it wasn't the information she had been looking for. A mental checklist in her head had just grown about an inch and her need to talk to Harry about a few things was growing too. The Gryffindor didn't want to be the one to tell him about this for fear of bearing the brunt of his anger but he did need to know and forewarned. She decided that she wouldn't have this talk with him until she could give him some answers to the questions he would undoubtedly have.

With the choice made the Gryffindor's brain kicked into overdrive and she quickly invented a plan to kill two birds with one stone and hoped the older girl was useful in a library because if she wasn't this would go about as smoothly as if Hermione had dragged Ron in here to help her. "Anyone would want to know more about him." Hermione consoled with a hand on the girl's shoulder and a understanding smile. She did doubt the legitimacy of this claim but anyone would and there was only going to be one way to tell for sure. "He was a very great and brave man. But I am not the one who should be telling you about him. I can help you though. If you want me to."

“Really?” Perhaps she was a bit naïve, but Felicity took the younger girl’s words as completely sincere and honest. She didn’t imagine there were any ulterior motives or hidden agendas. This was just another girl helping her find out about the dad she never had. The Hufflepuff wasn’t exactly sure how this girl intended to help her, though she did know who she should be talking to, at least according to her mum and the conversation she’d had that morning.

Alas, the boy wasn’t ready for such talk yet, and this girl just happened to be researching the one thing that Felicity hadn’t thought of. “The truth is, there are a lot of things I don’t think of as far as the magical world is concerned. At least, when it comes to families and anything scientifically medicinal. Things like DNA and paternity and such. That’s why I didn’t think to look for books on genealogy I suppose…” She was rambling, but that probably didn’t matter. She wasn’t sure how this girl could help her, but she wasn’t about to turn her down.

“I’d love any help you could offer,” she said with enthusiasm, trying to keep herself looking on the bright side of things. It was in her nature to keep a positive outlook on life, so she really didn’t want to let herself fall into despair when it came to thinking about her dad. “Um… what should we do? I only really use the medical section, but I do know my way around a library, so just… uh… point me in the right direction?” She smiled at the bushy haired girl as a thought came to her. “Oh, I’m Felicity, by the way.”

"Yes, really." The Gryffindor replied in all honestly. If she didn't take it upon herself to do it now she would no doubt eventually end up doing it because Harry would be asking the same questions she was and he would want to know whether this was truth or fabrication. Hermione's efforts went more towards helping her best friend and not this girl but in the end she would be helping everyone.

"Originally I was looking through these for a different matter, but these are sadly lacking." Hermione frowned at the books before her and didn't like having to admit the answers she was looking for weren't in them. The Gryffindor witch indicated the book the girl had. "That one for instance includes the black family with one problem. It doesn't include anyone who was disowned by the head of the family. Which means Sirius won't be in there." Hermione began to like the books up into stacks so that they weren't strewed all over the table and so they would have room to work with what she was planning. "It's the same with all the other families in all the other books I've looked through. Making them very unhelpful in proving what you say is actually true. I'm assuming the update automatically which is why the disowned ones get removed and that would mean any children they have wouldn't be entered because they wouldn't be considered a part of the family."

The Gryffindor witch explained her theory on this. "But I can't know for sure. Anyways, you should still take a look at that book. You might find more family than you knew you had in it. I dare say you're probably related to most of the pureblood families if not them all." She advised the older girl. "But to prove you are his daughter we'll need something else. And I have an idea, as long as you're not squeamish about giving a bit of blood for the effort."

Felicity stared at the girl as if she was covered in dragon dung. "You do realize what I just said, right? Muggle medicine. I want to be a muggle nurse. Hopefully assisting with operations. Oh Merlin, you aren't one of those pure blood idiots who doesn't even know what a surgeon is, are you?" Usually the Hufflepuff was much nicer than this, but she really had no patience when it came to muggle-hating. If this Gryffindor was one of those, she quite frankly didn't want her help.

"If I were squeamish about blood, be it mine or another's, how the hell would I be studying this stuff?" The blonde held up her copy of Gray's with a slight scowl on her pretty face. It made her angry that so many people underestimated her based on her house. She raised a slender brow at the other girl, daring her to question her further.

With a practiced ease, Felicity slid the heavy time back to the side and looked at the younger girl with serious eyes. "Do whatever you need to prove me his daughter," she said, thinking of how she would show Harry the proof to set his mind at ease when they met that Friday. Felicity knew her mum wouldn't lie about this, especially because it broke her daughter's heart to have lost the dad she never even found. She just had to prove it to the rest of the world.

"I heard you say you only use the library for the medical section. I apologize if I didn't realize that meant you wanted to be a muggle nurse." Hermione snapped back haughtily and sarcastically obviously not in the mood to deal with the girl's ridiculous attitude. She had more pressing matters to attend to and didn't need this right now.

She couldn't care less what house the girl was in because the Gryffindor didn't prejudge people that way but judged them on their choices, actions, and what they brought to the table. So far this girl had brought nothing but accusations, attitude, and a whole lot of drama all of which Hermione would be glad to be rid of. "Furthermore I don't really care for you're attitude or about what you want to do after Hogwarts. Now if you want my help which I suggest you take because you'll likely never pull this off by yourself then meet me after classes on the seventh floor. I've got to get to class."

The Gryffindor witch huffily got up from the table grabbing her things and taking them with her. On her way out she took a detour down a row of books not commonly looked at which she explored in reference for an essay and grabbed the book she needed. Hermione left the library and the girl behind with her head buzzing.