Chapter 2
March 1977
Marlene sighed to herself as she read fiddled with robes. She was nervous, to say in the least.
How did the world change so much in just a few years? How did everything she grew up around change in a matter of but a few years?
She was growing up and everything around her was shifting.
Despite being raised in the wizarding world, and attending Hogwarts for six years, it felt like she was a stranger watching in on the horrors that were seizing their world.
Every day in the paper there were more and more reports of death and destruction. Voldemort was gaining more and more popularity, and not just with the witches and wizards who were older and believed in blood purity.
She could see it all around her; how taunts that were once made to verbally insult someone's status were turning far more malicious and violent.
It wasn't a regular day if some student didn't end up in the infirmary due to being hexed by someone who believed them to be unworthy, or hexing someone in return to save themselves from the bigoted bullies that were after them.
She could see how it affected Lily Evans, despite her friend's efforts to pretend it didn't.
Marlene knew it hurt her friend to see the names being hurled at her, but it wasn't the ones that came from people like Mulciber, Avery, or any of the other Slytherins who had always disliked her, that hurt Lily. It was the backhanded insults that came from Severus when he was with his friends.
For someone who had begged Lily for almost a month to forgive him, he quickly settled in to his role as a Death Eater in training, or so Marlene had taken to calling all of them.
She pushed her peas around on her plate. It seemed as if she had little appetite these days. If Lily or Mary had noticed something odd about her behaviour, neither mentioned it.
"Lily, Marlene, Mary," she heard a voice greet from behind her.
She looked up to see Remus sit beside her on the bench.
"Remus?" Lily said, slightly confused, and Marlene didn't blame her. It wasn't odd for Remus to be sitting with Lily and them, but it was when Sirius was on the other side of the table, and James Potter was sitting a few seats over in the other direction. "Is everything okay?" she asked, slightly hesitant.
It was rare for the Marauders to ever be apart, and it seemed as if they weren't the only ones who had noticed something was up. There were curious glances from all of the tables, and from even a few of the Professors.
She wondered the quartet were planning some sort of prank, and that was the reason for their separation. However James looked like he had been scratched up, Sirius looked as if he hadn't slept in a few days, and Remus had a tense air to him.
"Yeah," Remus exhaled, as he filled his plate with a bread roll, and some potatoes. "Sirius did something stupid, but I don't really want to talk about it."
Mary gave him a sympathetic smile, as she started talking to the group about one of their assignments. Marlene knew her friend was doing it in an attempt to take Remus' mind off of whatever seemed to be bothering him.
She brushed a strand of her blonde hair out of her face as she studied him closely. While she had talked to Remus in passing, she never had a full conversation with him. Not like she often had with James, as she grew up with him, or Sirius whom she had often laughed along with in classes or in the common room.
Other than Peter, she found that Remus was the Marauder she automatically assumed she had the least in common with. It wasn't that he was not as outgoing as James or Sirius, or that he wasn't the sort of heart throb that girls in the school associated the former two as being. He had several of his own redeeming qualities as well, was nice enough, and rather good looking in his own way. If anything, he was the sort of friend she assumed she would want in her corner.
If Remus noticed her watching him, he didn't say anything. But as Mary and Remus were almost fully engaged in a conversation about their latest History of Magic essay, she noticed Lily staring at her just as she had been watching Remus.
Her friend shot her a small smile as Marlene rolled her eyes at her friend. As the topic shifted to the latest Hogsmeade outing, Marlene felt herself being drawn into the conversation, and engaging with her friends and her newfound acquaintance in Remus.
It wasn't until later that day when Mary and Lily had ditched them to visit Tomes and Scrolls that Marlene and Remus had decided to visit Honeydukes so she could top up on her sugar quill supply and he could buy more chocolate frogs, that Marlene McKinnon truly felt the stem of friendship begin to bloom between her and Remus Lupin.
(And if she were perfectly honest with herself, she would admit between the laughs they shared, and conversations they had, she felt herself slowly start to feel as if things would be okay, despite the chaos occurring in the world around her).
Hermione felt herself shaking ever so slightly as she left the house. It was a little over an hour since she arrived and found out the truth about her parentage. She had stashed the vials of memories in her bag, and decided to view them later. She needed to know what had happened.
It wasn't as if she didn't know she had been adopted.
Her parents had always assured her that they loved her despite everything.
They had told her when Professor McGonagall had come to visit their house all those years ago and reveal to her that she was a witch.
Her mother and father had sat her down after that visit and told her that when she two years old, they had taken her in. They didn't have a lot of information to tell her, but had mentioned that her birth mother had been killed in an accident. From what they could tell, her birth father had never been in the picture as her mother lived with her parents.
Her parents had been struggling to have their own children for quite some time when that had happened. But when her mother had failed to come for her, and the muggle authorities had told her parents of the woman's death, they finalized the paperwork for Hermione to legally become theirs.
She had looked at the official report when she was fifteen years old, but there had been no sign that magic had been involved. Looking back on it, Hermione supposed it could have been because the Aurors had altered the memories of those involved. But who had modified her parents' memories? If it had been the Ministry, then there would be records of her adoption in the Wizarding World, and when she looked into it, nothing had come up.
They had never told her if her mother was a witch, but she supposed they probably did not know themselves. Hermione speculated that their memories had been modified by magic to make them forget the specific details about what had happened so they did not question it too much. Thinking about it, she supposed it made sense that magic had been involved in her adoption.
She had stopped looking into it when she was younger. It didn't matter that she was adopted; it was exactly why she never told Harry or Ron. As far as she was concerned, she had two parents who she loved more than anything; and that was enough for her.
Somehow, she found herself with more questions than answers, and she knew exactly what she needed to do to get the answers she so desired. By going to the only source whom was still alive.
Hermione apparated directly back to Grimmauld Place, where she knew the person she wanted to see would be visiting.
As she opened the door, she tossed her bag aside and went straight to the kitchen where Sirius and Remus were sitting at the table. They were currently laughing about something, and smiled to greet her as she entered the room.
She was shaking, and upon her lack of response, the two men immediately sobered up as they looked at her in concern.
"Hermione, is everything okay?" Sirius asked her, slightly worried.
She stayed silent as she handed the birth certificate to Remus, before asking the man, "Did you know?"
She watched as the man read the paper in front of him and look up at her in shock, "Hermione-" he said, before she cut him off again.
"Did you know?" she asked again, before adding, as Sirius peered over and read the paper as well, "Did you know that you're my father?"
"No," Remus said, shock colouring his voice. "I never even knew Marlene was pregnant."
"Is it true then?" she asked sitting down from exhaustion.
"I-I suppose so," he said with a nod. Sirius looked at the pair of them in shock. "I loved Marlene; we were together in our last year of Hogwarts and until she passed away. But I swear to you Hermione, I never knew she was pregnant. I didn't know about you."
She felt the words crash into her as reality began to settle in.
"How?" she asked softly. "How did you not know that the woman you claimed to have loved was pregnant with your child? How did none of you know? You were in the Order together."
He was silent for a few moments, as if to figure out what had happened. She stared impatiently as she waited for him to speak again.
"I had a secret mission, given to me by Dumbledore. He wanted me to gather support of all the other werewolves, but to do so, I had to fully immerse myself in their ranks. I couldn't tell anyone, as it would put them in danger. Marlene knew I had a mission, but not what it was. But by the time I came back, the war was over; Harry lost his parents, and Marlene had been dead for nearly a month by then. Hermione, I swear to you, if I knew she was pregnant, I never would have left her alone. I would have stayed and protected the both of you."
"Why didn't she ever tell anyone?" Hermione whispered. "Why is there no record of me anywhere?"
"It was a war," Remus explained, unable to fully look at her. "Hermione, Voldemort was winning. By then, all of us were already targets, and she left the wizarding world. Her family had been in hiding for almost two years by that point, and I had assumed it was because she was protecting her parents, but I think she did it to keep you safe. Other than the odd Order Mission, Marlene stayed away from the wizarding world completely
"It's also our fault," Sirius said guiltily, "Or mainly mine. When Remus left, I didn't know he was on a mission. There was a traitor amongst our ranks, and at the time I thought it was him. And I was rather vocal about it. If Marlene was pregnant, she didn't tell us because of me."
Remus seemed to get what he was saying and started, "Sirius-"
"Don't, Remus," Sirius cut him off. "Because I thought you were a traitor, I caused two kids to grow up without their parents. That's on me. If I believed in you, and our friendship more, maybe Marlene would have told us, and maybe I wouldn't have switched secret keepers with Peter."
"For what it's worth, I had a good life," she said, trying to alleviate Harry's godfather's guilt. My parents loved me and were always there for me."
Remus gave her a sad smile, "I'm glad, Hermione. I wish I could have been there for you as you were growing up, but I'm glad you have your parents. How did you find out anyways?"
"I-" she said in surprise as she realized she forgot to mention how she learned the truth. No, instead she had barged in and simply announced to the man that he was her father, without any sort of explanation. For dropping such a truth bomb on the man, he was taking it pretty well.
She explained what had happened, remembering the incident which caused her to find out about Remus and Marlene.
Her biological parents.
She had known her biological father for over six years, yet neither of them knew that they were related.
What were the chances?
"Hermione," Remus said wordlessly as she finished speaking. He placed his hand over hers, and she felt a small comfort from the action. "Do Harry and Ron know?"
She shook her head as a few tears slipped out, and Remus moved to pull her into a hug. She felt herself lean into him, as Sirius rubbed her back gently.
When she pulled away from him, she wiped her eyes slightly. Remus looked concerned, as she did.
"So what now?" she asked the man softly. "What does this mean for us?"
"It can mean whatever you want, Hermione," Remus told her gently, "I don't want to replace your parents in your life. But with that said, I've gotten to know you over the last six years as Harry's friend, but I would like to get to know you as my daughter as well."
She smiled softly at that, "I would like that as well," she nodded.
"Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?" Remus asked her carefully, unsure if he was pushing too many boundaries, "Teddy can meet his sister, and I'm sure Dora would love to see you."
"If it wouldn't be intruding," Hermione asked, "Then I would love to."
He smiled at that, and Hermione felt herself exhale the breath of air that she had been holding in.
Draco let out a sigh as he stared at the mountain of work at his desk.
This wasn't where he saw his life heading when he was a child. Hell, when he signed up to be a curse breaker, he had assumed there would be far more action, and far less desk work. Yet here he was, sitting at a desk as he attempted to research the latest cursed object that had been tossed at him.
He knew newer employees often started at the bottom of the chain, but quite frankly, he felt like his supervisors often threw things his way when they didn't feel like dealing with them.
Ironically, the only one who seemed to care enough to give him interesting cases, or at least pity him, was Bill Weasley.
The oldest Weasley child had been slightly wary of him in the beginning, but had slowly warmed up to him over the last year and a bit.
He had gotten the job after things had calmed down after the war. He had opted out of returning to Hogwarts for his seventh year, and had instead taken his NEWTs privately so he would still have his scores. Getting a job had been difficult, but he found that having Harry Potter testify on his behalf had helped his case. Even Granger's testimony that he had tried to deter his Aunt's torture of her had been a surprise, but had been beneficial.
The name his father had been so proud to lord over others had fallen significantly. The name still had value, but nowhere near the amount it once had held.
He supposed it was good his father was in Azkaban so he didn't have to see it now. And that he wouldn't have to see Draco choosing to work for a living.
Not that his father ever approved of any of Draco's decisions.
He knew he didn't have to work, but his other options were to simply go around joining every committee to hold power as his father had, or to sit at home with his mother who was on house arrest, and quite frankly, neither option sounded all that appealing.
Draco rubbed his temples as he tried to stare at the paper in front of him.
"Draco," he heard a voice call his name, and he looked up to see Bill standing at his desk, looking down to him.
He looked up and gave Bill a nod of acknowledgement.
"I just wanted to tell you that the Minister has sent a letter that he would like to meet with us early next week," Bill informed him.
"What about?" Draco inquired curiously. He knew Bill and Kingsley were acquaintances, but didn't it quite explain why him. "And are you sure he wants me there?"
Bill shrugged, "He didn't say, so it's probably of a sensitive nature. And it was addressed to the both of us, so yes, I'm sure he wants you there."
Draco frowned, at that. Why would the Minister of Magic want to meet up with him? It didn't make any sense. And what could be so sensitive that he couldn't even reveal the subject in the letter?
Bill gave him a sympathetic smile as he seemed to realize the younger man's confusion.
He had so many questions, and no answers. Unfortunately for him, it seemed the only thing he could do was wait until the meeting to find out what the Minister wanted.
A/N: In case the memory confuses anyone as to why Remus was fighting with his friends, it was because it occurred around the time Sirius tricked Snape into going to see Remus during a full moon, thus causing tension. In addition to Hermione and Draco's story, this story will also feature that of Marlene and Remus, and how they fell in love. It will be a side story and not in as much detail as the two main characters.