Again, and always, wow wow wow and thank you for your feedback! It really feels awesome to hear you are liking the storyline!
For those who have questioned the parentage of Hermione, I promise you don't have to wait long as her parentage will play a big part in the story!
I do try to respond individually to reviews, but I often forget whom I've responded to already because I'm kind of a scatterbrain! If I missed you, please know that I truly do appreciate you leaving feedback!
This update comes sooner than I imagined it would, but only because the inspiration struck and I'm at a back-and-forth with myself over the next chapter in The Deepest Hearts.
Enjoy! :)
Family: a person or people related to one and so to be treated with a special loyalty or intimacy.
The tapestry room in the Black home, located at 12 Grimmauld Place, was a dark and musty place. There was no furniture in the room, which only served to further highlight the faces strung across the fabric walls. The tapestry seemed to have a bit of a life of its own, and it was clearly very, very old. There were holes scattered around the edges of the fabric, and Hermione guessed that the Doxy infestation that the Order had cleaned out several years ago was the cause.
There were several dark patches on the tapestry, where faces had been burned off, a testament to the disowning the family seemed so fond of. Along the top of the tapestry, nearly to the ceiling of the room the words The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black were scrawled in bright, glittering gold thread. The family motto appeared beneath it. Toujours Pur. It was a beautiful piece of work, Hermione thought, even if the family was quite disgusting.
She ran her fingers across the fabric, stopping to look at faces and names she'd only heard in stories or in passing. The tree was made of thin gold "branches" in the same thread as the family motto, and beneath each photo was a small scroll with the name of the occupant and their birth and death dates.
She knew some of the people on the tapestry. Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, the Mother of her classmate Draco Malfoy was connected to Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, and a dark burn scar was all that was left of Andromeda Tonks.
"Tonks," she asked, "Why aren't you on the tapestry?"
Tonks approached the smudge that was once her Mother's photo. "When a person is disowned from the family, their lineage is deemed complete. No marriages or births will on the tapestry after they are blasted off."
Hermione approached another burn mark on the wall, this one beneath the names of Walburga and Orion Black. She knew this was the photo of Sirius Black, and she felt tears burn her eyes knowing that even in death, he would not appear on the tapestry.
She followed his line and traced her fingers to his brother, Regulus Arcturus Black, born in 1961, died in 1979. There was a small golden thread spiraling out from beneath his photo and Hermione sucked in a gasp.
"What is it?" Tonks inquired, striding the few steps to stand next to Hermione.
"Oh... oh Hermione." Tonks wrapped an arm around the girl, trying to find words to comfort her, to ease the pain and confusion she must be feeling at that moment.
Hermione's legs crumpled beneath her, and she slumped to the floor, eyes glued to the portrait on the wall labeled Lupa Hermione Black.
The picture looked as if it'd been taken that very moment, and Hermione's mind reeled with questions, fears, and more than a bit of anger.
"How is this possible, Tonks?" she moaned. "My parents... I mean the Granger's... they' adore me! I can't be some... I'm..."
Her voice stuttered to a stop, as she broke down in sobs.
"I'm just Hermione," she whispered miserably.
Across London, in a warm and welcoming cottage owned by Ted and Andromeda Tonks, a woman with ebony curls paced the floor, waiting for a response from her daughter.
When the Black Grimoire had shrieked, Andromeda nearly blasted the thing to pieces. She'd never heard a Grimoire scream in such a manner, although it wasn't too much of a surprise, the book was designed to hold the darkest information about the family.
She'd been given the Grimoire two years prior when Sirius took up residence in the home at Grimmauld Place. He respected the family spells, despised them, but respected them, and he certainly didn't want to see that book in the hands of some of the members of the Order of the Phoenix.
When the book screamed, an ominous glow came from the pages, and Andromeda couldn't resist flipping the book open to find the source.
As she paced, the book lying open on the sofa, its contents no longer glowing, Andromeda knew that something didn't add up.
The book had led her to a passage on a spell that would hide living children from the Black family. It was created by Cedrella Black, another woman who'd been blasted from the tapestry because of her marriage to Septimus Weasley.
The book detailed a spell that would allow outside sources to manipulate the tapestry to hide marriages and births.
It was designed to hide family members in danger, without a person needing to access the tapestry in order to hide their loved ones, if they could simply send word to the home the tapestry lie in, the current occupant could cast the spell over persons who would be affected.
The spell could be removed either by the person who cast it, or when the person who was hidden was in danger and would need familial protection.
Andromeda had never heard of the spell being used before but imagined Cedrella created it before being blasted off the tree, to protect her future children and spouse should her face not be burned from the wall.
As she paced, thinking about the spell, worrying about her daughter, and wondering who was hidden, a large Eurasian eagle owl swept onto the windowsill, tapping the glass urgently.
She knew this owl. Her sister bought this owl after graduating from Hogwarts, and she knew that others must have felt the shift in the family magic, too.
Dearest Andromeda,
The has been a shift in the Black family magic tonight, as I am sure you're already aware.
I went to Bella, begging the family Grimoire, but was shocked when as the oldest living Black family member, it was not in her possession.
The book lied last in the hands of Sirius, and with his passing is probably hidden away at Aunt Walburga's hovel.
Bellatrix did not feel the shift in the family magic, I think her magic is corrupted, from the darkness and the years in Azkaban.
I have placed a great deal of danger upon myself by reaching out to you, but I am reminded of the importance of family, as you're the only Black left that hasn't completely lost themselves.
We must know what has caused the change. I may be a Malfoy in name, but I am a Black at heart, and we are all that is left of the family, now.
Please tell me you can get to the tapestry and the book, sister. We must determine the cause of the shift. Perhaps Aunt's old house elf will respond to you. I tried calling him, to no avail. He wailed on the carpet about his Master's young miss and to be honest, I think he's quite mad.
Yours,
Narcissa Malfoy
Andromeda started blankly at the letter. She had not heard from her younger sister since being disowned nearly 25 years ago.
Of course, she knew Narcissa would feel the shift in the magic, any remaining persons with Black blood would have felt it.
"Kreacher," she snapped out the name of her Aunt's beloved house elf.
The wrinkled elf popped into the room, wearing a dusty and battered towel, cowering under his arms and weeping.
"Kreacher does not answer to the bad Black witch. Yous was blasted from the family," he muttered.
"Oh shut up," Andromeda groaned. "Something changed in the family magic tonight. I need to see the tapestry."
"Kreacher cannot take you to the tapestry. Kreacher's Miss is seeing the wall." The house-elf groaned and slammed his head against the floor. "Kreacher said too much."
Andromeda sighed before dismissing the elf. Someone was viewing the tapestry. She knew Nymphadora was with the order tonight, and the Order had access to the house.
She flung on a deep black cloak and stepped out of her home into the blackness of the night, apparating to the Burrow to await more news.
Andromeda arrived at the Burrow to a scene that could only be described as chaotic.
There were people everywhere, and before she could take two steps forward, a wand was shoved into her face.
"Tell me the last thing your daughter said to you tonight before we left" Remus Lupin demanded of her.
"She said that I needed to quit imagining the two of you in a relationship," she responded.
Remus laughed, gripping her in a tight hug. "That's right! You know she's mad for Amelia, don't you?"
Andromeda glared at the man, humor in her smile. "Where is she? Is she back?" she inquired.
"No. She was here, waiting to heal in case of injuries. Kingsley called on her and Arthur. They haven't returned. They have Hermione with them. I didn't see them take any hits, but something must've happened."
Before the conversation could continue, a bright weasel Patronus leaped between them.
"We're on our way back. Please clear the room. Upper-level Order members only. There's a situation we need to discuss." Arthur's voice rang out, silencing the room.
"I'm staying," Andromeda demanded.
"Yeah, me too! Hermione's not back yet! I won't go without her!" Harry shouted.
Remus rolled his eyes, frustrated with the level of emotions running rampant in the cramped space.
"Tonks and Arthur left to meet Kingsley and Hermione, one of them might be injured. No one stays except Upper-Level members. Molly, Moody, Bill, Fleur, and myself." he boomed. "We'll fill the rest of you in as we can."
Shouts erupted, but Molly began pushing the younger Order members out of the room.
"Remus, listen." Andromeda grabbed the man's arm, forcing him to face her. "Something happened to the Black's tonight. Our grimoire screamed and the family magic shifted. Even Narcissa owled me about it. I called the Black elf and they said their young miss was looking at the tapestry. You know only the Order has access to Grimmauld Place. Tonks is there, I'm sure. I'm staying."
The man sighed, leading her to a seat.
The telltale cracks of apparition sounded outside, and Remus strode to open the back door.