Disclaimer:
As much as I would like it, I don't own Harry Potter or the wizarding world. I'm just making my own castle in JK Rowling's sandbox.
Some of you who are on my favorite authors list may notice that there are some concepts I borrowed. You'll be getting full credit for the borrowing at the end of the story. I promise only small ideas have been borrowed the story is all mine.
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Chapter 1
The battle had been going on for what felt like weeks to Harry, even though it had only been a couple of hours. Ron and Hermione had long since been separated from him and in opposite directions. He'd seen a red haired person fall but didn't know who it belonged to, and unfortunately didn't have the time to go and find out. He could only hope that it wasn't a Weasley.
Just when Harry thought that he didn't have the energy left he saw a strange yellow lit spell hit Hermione in the chest causing her to fall after screaming loudly. That alone seemed to spur Harry on, causing him to have what was needed to defeat Voldemort. A few of the Death Eaters who had been nearby, instantly apparated to safety. The few people could recognize being Malfoy senior, the rest of his family having turned on him a couple of weeks before the battle and were fighting with the DA. Dolohov, unfortunately one that the six who went to the ministry would never forget. And Fenrir Greyback, having just slashed through Lavender Browns back, but didn't get the chance to bite before he ran when he saw his master fall.
Standing there and looking around at all of the carnage, he saw Bill Weasley look at his fallen wife, that he himself had had to shoot. Watching when she inexplicably ended up surprising everyone and turning to start firing on the children she was supposed to be protecting. After a moment of looking at his traitorous wife he moved over to Lavender Brown, starting to work on her wounds and began to reassure her that she wouldn't be changing. She might grow a love for spicy foods and rare meat closer to the full moon, and she'd end up wanting to find her mate, but she wouldn't change.
Ginny Weasley was kneeling next to Neville Longbottom, while the latter looked down at the fallen figure of Hannah Abbott, a girl he'd been seeing off and on for about two years. The two just held on to each other and cried while now and again their gazes would look at the other faces they knew. The Creevy boys were being looked over by the used to be Headmaster who had two days before the battle tied all his main staff that was loyal to Hogwarts and forced their faces into a pensieve so they could see Dumbledore's last messages. They'd made sure that the Golden Trio had seen it too, though oddly enough Hermione seemed to already know and to the shock of everyone just wrapped him in a hug and through her tears whispered, "Finally."
It was with Hermione's, Flitwick's, Severus Snape's, and Ginny Weasley's help that they found a way to put the dark mark from the Headmasters arm on to a rat snakes. So that Severus always knew when the call was being put out by the anger of the snake, but he was safe from the anger and from later on when the Auror's came.
Harry didn't notice that Hagrid, though injured and missing one of his arms was stumbling his way through the crowd of people on the ground. Trying to yell something though his tongue had been shot off at some point during the battle. It's only when Hagrid sent a stinging hex to his arm making him yell that he turned to see what he wanted.
There had been rumors that six months before the takeover by Voldemort the Unicorns of Britain had all disappeared. It was thought that they were bled dry and that Voldemort was going to live forever because he had killed the last one. Now though, seven full grown Unicorns were bent over Hermione, their horns all touching her chest. While an eighth one that looked to be female given it's gentle grace was making some kind of whinnying noise into the sky.
Ginny and Neville, Bill and Lavender (with his help), Ron and Luna, Molly and Arthur, Severus Snape and Madame Pomfrey, Fred Weasley and Alicia Snippet, and George Weasley and Katie Bell all moved towards the Unicorn circle. Unable to resist what he would later swear felt like a siren's call Harry followed as well. Only for the seven couples to surround the seven Unicorns and Harry to be nudged in by Harry by one of the larger Males.
Kneeling down, a cry almost left Harry's throat, touching Hermione's hair as it was soaked in blood that she was obviously loosing. Bending over her his forehead touched hers and he sobbed softly, "You can't leave me, Mia. You just can't. You're all I've got now." Moving his hands to rest in her blood soaked hair his tears started to fall, running down her temples.
With every tear that fell from him, matching tears fell from those outside the Unicorns. And from all the tears fell a stream of white light formed a dome around the whole group of them. Only once the dome was completely formed did the whinnying from the lithe female Unicorn stop and a voice replace it that sounded like it was part air and the tinkling of bells. "Don't cry. The pure one will live. As will all of those who live now that are on the side of light. But you must all listen to me now. For the seven couples will now be charged with protecting the couple of Pure Light."
"Miss Ginerva and Neville. You will be in charge of protecting them from themselves. You know them best, you know their weaknesses and their insecurities. William and Miss Lavender. You will be in charge of protecting their financial future and their reputations. Both of you know not only how the politics work but also how cruel those who are jealous can be. Ron and Miss Luna. You both will be in charge of making sure they remember how to be themselves and not just what everyone else wants to them be. Help them find their own paths for their futures together."
"Molly and Arthur. Be the parents they both need but remember they are adults. Be the shoulders they'll need in their grief and the strong hand when anger overtakes reason. Severus Snape and Madame Pomfrey. Out of all of the instructors Severus Snape, we are pleased that you lived. We charge you both with their mental, emotional and physical health. There has been a lot of damage done over the years, most of it from Dumbledore. It's time they knew the truth and just how much you two and Molly and Arthur were protecting them from.
"Miss Alicia and Fred Weasley. It's going to take a long time for people to realize that the threat isn't completely over until everyone bands together. You are tasked with being there to help them gather people together, to get people to fight alongside of them. To see what the past has done, and what the future can bring. Don't let them take it all on themselves, but more importantly, remind them how to laugh. Not at other people, but at themselves. At things around them. Show them the joy they've missed for so long. Miss Katie and George Weasley. You are tasked most importantly to listen. Given them the sounding boards that they haven't had. Not only in each other but to a peer they can trust with their secrets and fears, their hopes and their dreams. Give them encouragement and push them when they think to give up."
"The truth must be known. Not just to them. But to everyone, they must see how many years Dumbledore has been doing this. Don't let the memory be swept under the rug. You know where to find the truth, it's time that it be seen. She'll be considered one of our kin, she'll carry the sign that she's been blessed by us. It's been too long since the Unicorn have found a couple worthy to bless their future to. "And at this the female Unicorn leans her head down, touching her horn to first Hermione's lips and then to Harry's. His head having come up watching the female as she spoke.
Each of the Unicorns followed suit and when the last one finished Harry's black hair turned stark white, not blond white like the Malfoy's but albino white. A dark blue star appearing in the center of his forehead. While Hermione's unruly brown hair turned wavy and stark white with the same blue star on her forehead. Having long since woken up as her blood had slowly been drawn back into her body, the wound healed when one of the unicorns cut itself and poured the silver blood over the wound.
With the dome down and everyone outside having heard and seen what happened, the Unicorns turn and after a couple of them rub their noses against Hermione's cheeks they head into the Forbidden Forest, and disappear. Hermione and Harry had long since started to stare at each other, their hands clasped, and his hold more desperate in a need to make sure she was still there. Hers seemed to be reveling in the fact he was there. "Hermione. I … I thought…"
Not saying anything she just reaches up to touch his cheek after extracting one hand. "How many times have I told you, Harry Potter that I'm not leaving you? Not now not ever." Tears running down her cheeks as they finally went with the pull they had been feeling, hugging each other tightly their lips coming together in soft kisses.
Their friends around them were all smiling now, tears of happiness running down their cheeks even as a white light surrounded the couple. The magic outflow rocking many people all the way past Hogsmead. When they finally parted, neither of them noticed the platinum bands with white diamonds and Opals on their hands. Not really paying attention, Madame Pomfrey and Severus led the two to their feet and with the rest of the group led them all into Hogwarts.
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Chapter 2
The elves had already begun the process of fixing the structural damage caused by the battle, and with so many wounded the medical wing was the first to be worked on. Severus looked to Winky and said tiredly, "Bring me all of my private potions stores. All of them. Fill Madame Pomfrey's stores with them and then make sure I get three pepper up potions, and two magic core restore all's, followed by three nutrition potions as well as three malnutrition potions."
Ron started to make grumbling sounds when he heard the number of certain potions, it was only Luna's slap to the head that made him shut up. When people looked, she was fixing him with a glare that would have rivaled Molly's on her worst day. Molly just stood there with a rather proud look on her face and nudged Arthur before whispering, "That's gonna be my daughter in law."
Sitting down in an enlarged bed, both Hermione and Harry took the potions as Winky handed them to them. Ending with the Pepper up potions. Still tucked in against each other, they looked to their 'healers' and said at the same time. "Tell us."
Sighing a bit, Severus transfigures several chairs and then makes sure Minerva knows what's going on as well as putting all the elves out to help with the wounded before saying unless it's an emergency they're not to be disturbed for the next hour. Only then does he sit, pinching the bridge of his nose it's obvious the fatigue is setting in, "I'll tell you have now, and the other half once we've all had 12 hours of sleep." His tone showing this wasn't a question merely a statement of fact.
"It all began when Albus was in his 20's. He had met a young man named Grindelwald and well, became rather enamored with him. He himself was only a half-blood. His mother was a muggleborn with rather exceptional skill when it came to manipulation and memory charms. He learned at his mother's knee and was the same way, only he went several miles further into charms study than she ever did. He learned how to bind people to him. Usually it had to be done willingly, you can't bind someone if they don't want to be normally. Not even if they're suffering the Imperious curse." Pausing Severus takes a breath, taking a sip of tea that Pomfrey puts in his hand before continuing. "He'd spent much of his school years, as well as the following years manipulating Grindelwald into turning sadistic and a killer. He even pointed him in Hitler's direction, to blatantly ignore the Law of Secrecy and instead led him into wanting to destroy all magical and muggle kind."
"What Grindelwald didn't know was that Albus was setting him up. Not only did he set up Hitler for his downfall precisely at a moment when he was alone and at his weakest. He did the same to Grindelwald. You see, he was Albus' lover for many years. And Albus knew the one secret he tried to hide more so than anything else. Grindelwald had a very rare disease, Moon Glow Fever. It would hit around the full moon and make his magic rather erratic, and some times close to non-existant. His core was stable, but around those times he just didn't have the energy to access it. Using magic at all weakened him."
"I have memories that I stole from Albus that I'll show you if you really want to see them, but the general gist is, he made Grindelwald think it was earlier in the month than it was. Convincing him to do some rather complex charms that weakened him almost critically. It was then that Albus set up the surrounding area to look like a battle had taken place and then killed him with a Reducto to the head."
"This put Albus on the same level as Pure Bloods in many peoples minds. He pushed his way into Hogwarts as a teacher and later as Headmaster. As he aged he turned that manipulation into looking like 'grandfatherly advice'. When he was really sending a compulsion charm at you through those glasses he wore and some wandless magic. He started while he was still young, and began to 'urge' and convince people to match their families certain ways. You see, Grindelwald may have had that illness and a weakness in being Albus' lover. But he was smart as hell when it came to Arithmancy, and he'd figured out with the amount of inbreeding they'd already done it would only be about 3 generations before their power levels started dying out."
"Many of the purebloods at that time had figured it out and were marrying foreigners to bring in new blood, or bringing half-bloods into the families. Some had even foregone marriage contracts to let them bring in who they wanted even if they weren't people of breeding. But when Albus got started they seemed to just 'forget' their reasons behind this and started intermarrying again. Sometimes he even pushed siblings together. How do you think Crabbe and Goyle happened? "
"Anyways, his goal was to breed out all of the purebloods till they literally killed their families off, and made sure they left their family fortunes to Hogwarts or part of some cryptic Scholarship that he controlled. That's where he got all of his money. That and his being 'guardian' of so many muggleborns."
Pausing, he seemed to be debating something. Glancing to Molly, she nods and says, "Tell her. Her and her parents should have been told the first day they came to walk through the school on their tour. It's only cause of Albus' scheming she never found out."
Nodding slowly, Severus Snape looked at Hermione and says, "Muggleborn aren't really muggleborns Hermione. There's really no such thing. They come to be by one of two methods." Taking a breath he looks about to say when Hermione cuts in and says, "Either the woman in question had an affair and didn't know it was with a Wizard. Or there's at least three levels of squib blood in the family and it for all intents and purposes reignited the core. I know, my mother and I spent an entire summer trying to figure it out and came up with the same conclusion."
Only Harry didn't look surprised, just a beaming pride in the woman sitting next to him. Severus also looked rather proud, almost like a proud papa might and nodded his head once. "Correct. We know your mother didn't sleep around, she just wasn't that kind of person. Her and your father were almost sickening in the amount of love they had for each other. So… Minerva and I did some checking with the Goblins. And we think that there's a possibility one of the reasons why your magic is so strong is you've managed to reignite one of the lost founders blood. We know that Neville is Hufflepuffs heir, and given how good he is at Herbology she'd be doing handsprings if she ever met him. Harry is by blood the heir of Gryffindor, and …." He pauses glancing to someone else. "Luna is the heir to Ravenclaw. It took come checking but you are actually the last heir to Slytherin. Not a direct line mind you there's two other families in there that helped. Snape and Weasley. There were squibs on all three sides that apparently hit just the right amount and came up with you."
The shock on Hermione's face was something no one could have foreseen. The panic started soon after and she started dumping out questions, "Is this something people are gonna take well? Will I have to hide it? Will people try and label me as a co-conspirator to Voldemort? What's going to happen to me now?"