Hermione Granger and the Embarrassing Secret (Prologue) (Patreon)

Hermione woke up with a gasp. She looked around in disbelief for a moment, then realized she was safe at her parent's house. 

Yet another nightmare had clung to her dreams like a parasite. She had dreamt of Death eaters, dark wizards and prophecies. 

The nightmares had started when she was 11 years old and had never stopped. Witnessing so many horrible things at such a young age was a traumatic experience, especially for a girl who had just learned she was a wizard.

Sometimes she wondered what it would've been like if she had kept on living as a muggle. Going to college, then university. Oxford, maybe. Who knows. Becoming a lawyer, have a family... 

All this was denied to her when she realized the power within her. Now she was a 16 year old fighting the most evil creature the world had ever known, alongside her two best friends. 

She knew her mind was strong enough to take it, but it didn't come without a price. She never talked about the dreams, to anyone. How could they understand? They had spent their lives living in a world full of werewolves, goblins and dragons. 

Maybe Harry would understand her, but he had enough pressure on his shoulders as it was, being the chosen one and all. 

The truth was, she was embarrassed. She wanted everyone to see her strength. She wanted them to see her as ''the most clever witch her age'' as Sirius Black had once put it.

 She was embarrassed by the nightmares, but most of all, she was embarrassed by what came with them.

Hermione lifted her blankets up to reveal her soaked sheets. Once again, she had disgraced herself in the night. Her white, stripped pajama pants exhibited a dark aureole around her crotch. She sighed.

The bed wetting incidents had been somewhat of a routine for her since her first year at Hogwarts. They had started soon after the troll incident in the bathroom. The story people told about that adventure fortunately failed to mention that the poor young witch had wet herself then and there, before Harry and Ron came to her rescue.

The accidents became more frequent year after year in her sleep, returning full force after the events at the Ministry of Magic. 

Sirius had died, He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named was back. Hermione couldn't recount one dry night in all of her summer.

Unfortunately, there was no magical way to stop her from uncontrollably peeing in her knickers when she was asleep. It was no easy task to put a spell on bodily function. 

She had tried everything she could, read hundreds of books trying to find a way to make it stop, but without success. The only way she had to at least conceal her problem, was the muggle way. 

The way any 11 year old would hide such embarrassing accidents.... she wore nappies to bed. 

Unfortunately for her, she wasn't eleven anymore and that method was becoming increasingly humiliating every year. 

When she was at her parents house, in the summer, she refused to put on the nappies, by principle. She thought if she stopped wearing them, her body would eventually learn to control itself. 

As she could see at that moment, it did not. 

Hogwarts was another story. Living in dorms did not give her the luxury to wash her sheets and pajamas every morning, so she had been reluctantly wearing the childish nappies under her pants every night for 5 years. 

Hoping that every year the accidents would go away. 

But the more she had to go through perilous adventures, the worst the accidents would get... and she had a feeling that this year wouldn't make exception.