Everything changed that day. Or maybe it started the day the prisoners escaped from Azkaban or even further back, the moment he took me, or the moment he made the decision, he had to have them, their money, support and influence three families in one swoop all he had to do was take down the Black sisters, one sister and he'd have them all, have their husbands, have their everything, all he had to do was make me disappear. That was the moment it started. His mistake, his first mistake, before the prophesy, then he had them and he needed them, because there was a prophecy. His mistake though, so long ago, came back so many years later, when the prisoners escaped, when Harry said his name, when we were brought to them, when we stood face to face so many years later, when her wand brought me down and everything changed. He'd made a mistake and now, now they'd all know it.

Bellatrix shrieked as the cruiciatous ripped through her wand and into Hermione… Hermione Granger… a shudder ran through her body and tears well in her eyes as her magic swelled through her screaming as it connected to the girl… to her magic, her daughters magic… "Cassiopia?" She whispered. As the spell gave way and a tear fell.

She shrieked in angry pain and spun around the room, shooting spells at the snatchers as she moved to stand over her daughter who lay shuddering on the floor. She didn't understand, couldn't comprehend but knew without a doubt, had felt in that hateful spell, her dead infants magic. In seconds only her family remained in the room and she bent to touch her daughter, apparating away to safety, there was fear in her eyes as she struggled, "Don't." Bellatrix muttered as they landed in her living room, "There is nowhere for you to go."

"Please?" Hermione questioned more than begged.

"How is this possible?" Bellatrix asked back, shaking her head.

"What?"

"Cassie?"

"Who?"

"My daughter." Bellatrix explained. "You're my daughter." Bellatrix shook her head and waved her wand. Hermione could feel her magic as it rose and saw a glow. Bellatrix let out a sob before waving her wand at herself. "Cassie." She dropped to her knees, "How? Where have you been?"

Hermione backed up a step and then jumped as three people apparated in, the Malfoy's.

"Bella?" Narcissa asked gently.

"It's her Cissa." Bella sobbed, "It's Cassie." She waved her wand, though cast no spell, "How?" She cried, then demanded angrily sweeping to her feet, "How?! Who kept my daughter from me!"

"He said they killed her." Narcissa held up her hands, speaking gently, "You know what he told us Bella." She glanced at the girl, "Are you sure?"

"Cast the spells yourself." Bella waved angrily, "I know my daughter! I know her magic!"

Narcissa moved slowly to Hermione, "Do you know the spells for Familia?"

Hermione nodded slowly, "Sort of, I mean, I've read a little, but, I know who my parents are."

"You were, would have been, only a baby, less that a year when Cassie was kill… when you would have been taken."

Hermione nodded slowly that Narcissa could proceed, not that she thought she'd have much choice, a moment ago she'd been about to be tortured, not about to be, the spell had been started.

She watched the complicated wand movements carefully and recognized the results backing up and shaking her head in disbelief. There was nothing to back up into to sit down but a cabinet against the wall. It banged rather loud in the silent room and she dropped inelegantly to the ground leaning back against it and trying to breathe.

"Cassie." Narcissa breathed out, almost as if it was painful as the same time Bellatrix let out a sigh of "My baby."

Lucius let out a loud growl and slammed his walking stick against the ground, then swung it across the desk, pulling out his wand and casting spells at inanimate objects. Narcissa slowly walked to him and pulled gently to his arm to calm him down.

"Lucius?"

"He did this!" The man exclaimed angrily. "He did this!" He repeated. "Or he had someone do it! He took her and he got us! All of us, not just us either, Nott followed me in and what else has he done! We know not all them were lying about the spells, the damn imperious and the families he threatens! He didn't threaten ours he took it! He took Cassie! We've been loyal but how many purebloods does he betray, how many families does he tear apart? Not my family. Not ours. He's threatened Draco, abused our family status, he stole Cassie. It's over. He's over." Lucius rages.

"What are you saying Lucius?"

"What are we going to do father, turn against the Dark Lord? He'll kill us all." Draco asked nervously.

"Purebloods might be better, by virtue of our long lineages and family status but a wizard is a wizard and the enemy of my enemy is my friend and that creature has made himself the enemy of this family!"

"Cassie is Hermione Granger." Narcissa nodded encouragingly.

"Do NOT call MY daughter that!" Bellatrix hissed angrily tears stinging her eyes, "I'll kill that snake myself." Tears stung her eyes, madness swimming in them.

"Aunt Bella…" Draco tried calmly.

"He TOOK MY DAUGHTER!" She screeched loudly. "He swore those traitors stole and murdered her! HAD PROOF! WITNESSES! He gave me my revenge, he'd promised it to me… well he promised it me and I'll take it, I'll kill him! I'LL KILL HIM!"

"You ok?" Hermione was stunned out of her shock as the weight settled next to her and his quiet voice interrupted the chaos in her mind.

"No." She responded quietly, shaking lightly. "Where are we?"

"Aunt Bella's safe house. Only the family has access."

"What about…"

Draco frowned at her as her voice tapered off, "Who?"

"Her husband?" She whispered even quieter than before.

"Your father?" He whispered back.

Hermione swallowed. "He's going to flip even more than my dad… maybe not as much as Aunt Bella," he lifted an eyebrow and grimaced, "She hasn't been the same since Azkaban, mum says not since… well you." Draco sighed, "Hermi… Cassie… because even if it's hard for you my Aunt, your mom is kind of unstable and is serious about the name and will probably lose it hearing anyone call you by your you know stolen name… well the thing is… I'm sorry. I was… am… you know… me…"

"An elitist snob, a bully and prat?"

"Yeah." He snorted. "Well the first part I was kind of raised to be and I'm sorry about the second, I don't want to be like that though I kind of am the last sometimes. Thing is, I was worse to you, I always sort of liked you, not like, liked you but the challenge in class and bickering with you sort of made the shit outside easier to deal with because I took it out on you and that was never fair."

"Yeah, well, I suppose bickering with was a way to relieve some stress in my life too."

"You were just never a bully the way I was."

"Maybe a bit of a prat though."

"Maybe. You never thought I was evil though, did you?"

The question seemed almost rhetorical but she answered anyway with a small shake of her head. "No."

"Thank you."

"I forgive you too, for the bullying. Thank you for apologizing."

Draco nodded. "You ok now?"

Hermione chuckled and shook her head looking away from her hands and around the room, "Where did they go?"

Draco shrugged, "Once mom got Aunt Bella a little calmed down they left the room, either to get her more calmed down or to plot. She saw I'd moved over here and I guess decided to leave us be for a bit. I think she figured you needed the time and space. In all that, I rather think they forgot about you… no offence… Aunt Bella's rages… she's… a bit unbalanced."

"Lucius too I think." Hermione blushed, "Sorry."

"Only when he gets like that, and he's been drinking more since Azkaban. Mom's sort of holding them, all of us together. It's hard on her."

"You too."

"Them…" He shrugged, "Like I said, mom's keeping them together and me. On the other hand there is the constant terror of the Dark Lord, being a Death Eater and a disappointment, all of us going to die on a whim and trying to keep that from happening." He sighed and tilted his head back against the cabinet, the dark circles under his eyes clearly evident, "Now apparently my cousin is alive after all these years, and is you and we're defecting his insane darkship which in no way lessens the us going to die bit actually instead of on a whim we're going to be targets and insane Aunt Bella is going to make sure we're all front line, dad too because no one" his voice turned angry "and I mean no one messes with family." He started to shake and took a few deep breathes to calm himself before continuing in his previously calm, almost resigned voice and disillusionment in the world, "We are going to die. You and I and them and Potter and Weasel and all of them, we'll all kill each other over nothing because he's a mad man and a mad man tried to stop him and failed so he set an army of children to fight and so children fought and betrayed each other and themselves and families tore each other apart because he manipulated them to or someone else did or they lost sight of each other and the worlds gone as mad as Aunt Bella who tried to torture her own daughter who never died so many years ago but will die just like I will and they will and we'll still keep fighting to not die first and to not let our families die around us so maybe, just maybe our sister or brother or baby can be the you who didn't die so many years later and then maybe, maybe there is hope from his madness, from all our madness and mistakes."

Hermione wasn't even sure if he was talking to her anymore or just to himself but as his words tapered off she wasn't sure how to respond. Slowly, she felt her head slid over and land against his shoulder. He stiffened at the contact, but only for a second before he relaxed, as much as he'd been relaxed before, and they sat there in quiet a long while before he spoke again. "I'm really glad you're alive Cassie."

Hermione still didn't know how to react to any of this, but she did know, one thing, "I'm glad to still be alive too."

"Do you want to send word to your friends you're ok?" He offered after another short silence.

"Can I?" She breathed.

"You aren't a prisoner… well you can't leave… Aunt Bella would go Baallliiistic and I mean bat crazy but yeah, if you know how to, we can send them word… shite!"

"What?" Hermione jerked upright away from him as he jerked forward with the curse.

"We left them in the dungeons." The two shared a glance.

"Look, you pen a note and I'll sneak back, there's no way he'll know anything is amiss already. I can set them free, them and the others."

"They won't trust you."

"Probably not, but it's the only way, seal the letter in a way they'll know it's from you. They'll think I'm tricking them, of course they will, but it will still get them out of the manor before anyone else shows up, if they haven't already and it will at least get them out before anyone notices them! Come on hurry up," He urged, getting up and pulling her to her feet, summoning a quill and parchment. "Unless you want to leave them there!"

Hermione of course was already snatching the quill and parchment as he finished speaking but spared a second to scowl at him before quickly scribbling a note, crossing out a few things, scribbling more and sealing it, "Here, it will do for now. Go!"

Draco nodded and apparated away and directly into his room, it was on the opposite end of the manor but the safest place in case they had guests. He hadn't wanted to worry her but if anyone had come, leaving dead snatchers lying around would have alerted the others to problems if not their betrayal immediately. Sneaking through the manor he heard voices but having spent his childhood sneaking around, and avoiding Death Eaters as much as possible he got to the dungeons without issues, unfortunately they were empty. Draco cursed and made his way upstairs in a secret passage where he could listen in to a conversation between his uncle and a couple lower Death Eaters.

"WHERE IS MY WIFE!"

"I don't know." One man cowered.

"It looks like the prisoners escaped Sir." The other spoke up. "Probably their rescuers killed the Snatchers."

"I can see that." Rodolphus lifted a brow, his voice cool, what I don't see is any evidence of my wife or her sister and her family. So where are they? Who exactly has them? Where were they taken? Bella wouldn't be taken without a fight! Do you see evidence of a fight? That means betrayal, if one of you or these blast Snatchers is behind this, I tell you, I'll kill every last one of them and you, GOOD FOR NOTHING GUARDS! What are you for if not to PROTECT those you are meant to GUARD, it's your JOB to get ALL intel on attacks planned against our families! I'll have your bloody heads on spikes adorning my gates! FIND MY WIFE!"

The men cowered away from him as Rabastan came in snearing at them, "The Snatchers have traces of Black and Malfoy magic, I can only guess one of them attacked Bella and Cissa, took them in the back. It's the only way they would have gone down without a fight. You know Bella, she'd have torn the place apart and Cissa is no slouch, Blacks are damn powerful." He smirked a moment with pride before frowning and shaking his head, "Bloody cowards. If they weren't dead." He spit and glared at the two men, "Why wasn't there a warning about a threat to our families." He growled, "and from the inside! Betrayers! The Dark Lord will hear." He threatened darkly, "He'll discover the part you played."

"No." They both paled.

"No part." The second insisted, "We haven't heard any threats against your families.

"Of course the light thinks you are all high targets." The other added, "It's known, the Dark Lord, all of you know but no real threats, nothing new, nothing solid, no attacks and none of ours!"

"We swear!"

"Liars." Draco, let himself out of hiding, the almost apathy in his voice saddened his uncles, the boy had quickly become disillusioned with the world, his childhood so quickly lost, perhaps never really there not the way it should have been. "You are betrayers of our family."

"No." The men paled even further.

"Where are the prisoners?" Draco asked them, his voice unchanging.

"Prisoners?" The other stuttered.

Draco lifted an eyebrow, "When I left here for my Aunts safe house, there were prisoners in the dungeons, oh an hour ago, now there are no prisoners and there are you two, so where are the prisoners?"

"Escaped." They gulped. "In the rescue attempted, the one that killed the Snatchers and um, sent your family on the run?" One suggested.

"Escaped?" Draco lifted a brow, "In a rescue attempt? Is that the story you concocted?" Draco chuckled mirthlessly, "So what of our family? Do we need to be killed before you attempt the lies? Then again, Manor wards aren't broken… or did you come back to try to do that yourself? I assure you, neither of you have the power. Then there is my Aunt. Was she not supposed to be here when the Snatchers came? Or was it your plan all along for her to be? Whose side are you on? Maybe you are the rescue attempt? Or are you the assassins? Why did they come here to the Manor? We have our own prisoners from raids but Snatchers don't bring us prisoners, until today, until this. How far do the lies go? Did you send the Snatchers here? Did you take the Prisoners? Was it all your plan? To what end?" He finished his barrage of questions and just stared at them, the anger of his uncles radiating through the room but the fear of the other two men permeating the air.

"Nu… nu… no?" One of the men ventured after a tense moment of silence.

"No what?" Draco asked softly.

"We have no idea what happened." The other nearly sobbed. "Please. We were just guessing, you had prisoners, we knew that and they're gone and the Snatchers are dead, what were we supposed to think but that it was a botched rescue? Please!"

"Are loyal to the Dark Lord?" Rodolphus demanded.

"Of course."

"To our families?"

"Of…"

Draco cut the second man off with a decisive, "No."

"We are!"

"You told those Snatchers to bring those prisoners here."

"To help bring your family back into his grace!"

"My mother killed them to protect my Aunt and her daughter. As soon as you tell him, and you will, you sign their, all our death warrants. By your own admission your loyalty is to him not us." With that Draco turned his back and apparated away.

He found her where he'd left her, her only movement to a small window seat. He settled in across her and handed over the envelope. Her breath caught, "They escaped." He rushed out to reassure her. She nodded, tears still in her eyes, "Know how to get it to them."

Hermione shrugged, "I might know a spell but I don't know if it will work."

"Better try it." Draco encouraged her, "They'll be… dangerous with fear… dangerous to themselves."

She nodded in agreement and whispered, "I need my wand." Then looked at him, "If I can be trusted with it." She lifted her chin stubbornly.

"You're my cousin, not our prisoner."

"Right." She nodded her voice soft and trembling as she turned to look out the window again.

"I didn't think to get it at the manor." He told her gently as he held out his own without another word. A wizards wand was a very personal thing, the offer said a great many things.

Hermione took it gently and with great reverence as she looked to him, meeting his eyes and nodding slightly offering a weak smile and hoping it portrayed the gratitude and understanding of the depth of trust and emotion in the moment.

She heard the intake of his breath as she cast the small cut on her skin and began the spell, not only was she using his wand, but casting a blood spell. It was advanced magic, the wand would need to accept her, accept that in the moment, it was his will and desire for this spell but their needed to be a bond. Their shared blood line helped but a lot of trust on both sides needed to be opened as their magic mingled for a moment and the wand accepted her. She placed a small blood seal on the seal already there and whispered a spell then they watched as the envelope folded in on itself and disappeared with a tiny puff of smoke leaving a soft scent of herbs behind.

The two teens sat on opposite ends of the small window seat staring out the window in silence even after hearing the two pops of apparition and loud voices in the other room as Rodolphus and Rabastian arrived and were enlightened. Shouting and crashing and then quiet surrounded them again as darkness stole into the room.