Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter, I merely play in the sandbox.
Chapter Two – A Betrayal Most Painful
Hermione thought she was going mad, passing shops that seemed to blur into one and Hermione never slowed once even though she had no destination in mind. She couldn't distinguish one colour from another, her brain seemed to have turned to mush and all styles of clothing became one. It was maddening and was making her head hurt. Two weeks till the wedding and he stress was becoming unbearable. Ron was no help and always made excuses that had him running off elsewhere. Recently Harry could only be found in one place, wherever Sirius was. It was a surprise to see Sirius who had picked her up and spun her around the first time he saw her. It was good to see Sirius and she was happy he had managed to return from the veil, even though she was curious about his methods.
Sirius had become a close confident of Hermione's from the moment she'd help recuse him in her third year to the battle in the Department of Mysteries in her fifth year. She'd almost been as sad as Harry when he had passed through the veil even though her brain argued that she shouldn't be.
She arrived home early, having given up on her quest to find something in Diagon Alley. She'd expected the house to be empty and not filled with the questionable sounds that set her teeth on edge. She wasn't in the mood for Ronald's antics and she just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for she was beyond exhausted. The problem was, there was already someone in her bed when she arrived, two someone's and neither were female. Oblivious to their audience, the two men kept going, indulging each other with murmured words of love. It was hard to imagine what it would feel like to realise your fiancé preferred men to women, but Hermione didn't have to imagine what it would be like because she was seeing it with her own two eyes.
The hurt she was feeling was eclipsed by the betrayal of just who her fiancé was embracing with, none of the than the saviour of the Wizarding World himself, Harry Potter. Hermione felt sick to her stomach and felt her the familiar stirrings of her magic whirling in anger beneath her skin. She stepped away from the bedroom and marched herself down to the sitting room of the house. Looking around she saw everything they had made in their relationship and everything that had meant the world to her. She saw the home they'd created and the pictures of the three of them together though the years. Something in Hermione cracked and in a wave of powerful angry magic, she blasted apart everything in the house. Not a single thing avoided being shredded of blown apart as Hermione's magic sought out to destroy everything that this house represented. She was, she thought being quite lenient towards the two men upstairs.
"What the hell is happening?!" shouted Ron, charging into the sitting room with his wand drawn and Harry close to his heels.
Neither had bothered putting any other clothes on, standing in just boxers, Hermione felt another wave of betrayal stab through her. This was not a simple affair.
"Hermione…this is not what it looks like!" said Ron, once the air had settled and he could see where she was.
Harry, Hermione saw, had the grace to look embarrassed but it was the action of moving closer to Ron that stabbed her the most. Never had she seen Harry bow to another's leadership and it was clear that Ron was leading this meeting.
"How long?" whispered Hermione. "How long has this betrayal been going on?"
Hermione had been specific in her words, had wanted the two men before her to realise the gravity of the situation and realise how close they stood to death at her wand.
"Ten years," whispered Harry.
Hermione spared neither a glance at either man. Waving her wand in a complex movement, any item she deemed valuable to too important to be shredded to pieces flew into her revered beaded bag she always carried with her and without a backwards glance she left the home she had thought would be with her forever.
Her head was in chaos, a whirlwind of emotions she couldn't distinguish. Her heart clenched painfully as she re-encountered all that had just happened. Ten years! Merlin, this had been going on since their fifth year of Hogwarts! Why hadn't they just said anything? Why hide it and involve her in the charade? There was no discrimination in the Wizarding World on what sex you decided to date. Even as she thought about finding them, she realised how stupid she'd been. How could she not have seen what was apparently happening right under her nose? How foolish had she been to be so oblivious. She felt worthless and used and angry that she felt the former. Everything about her five-year relationship with Ron was a blatant lie. Where the two men she left ever going to tell her the truth or would they have always lived with a secret?
Hermione felt herself get over emotional and berated herself for the tears that streamed down her face. She made quick work of getting to the destination she had in mind, knowing that the person she sought out would help her in her time of need. She burst into the room without proper grace or manners and startled a group of men she only partly knew. Lord Malfoy and Sirius stopped their conversation at her arrival, Lord Nott looked ready to run into battle and the remaining two gentlemen starred in open confusion and worry. She backed away startled at the full room, knowing that she looked a complete mess with her puffy red eyes and her hair cracking with the emotional magic she was projecting.
"I didn't know I would interrupt, I am sorry," she managed to say between the tears. She had thought to run from the room but didn't wish to be called out as a coward.
"Princess, what is wrong?" asked Sirius.
He'd always called Hermione Princess, from the moment he was rescued at the top of a Hogwarts tower to the moment he fell through the veil. Hermione had been weirded out with the pet name at first but had quickly come to enjoy it the closer her relationship with Sirius had become. He was a steadfast family figure in her life that she knew she could always turn to with a problem and not be turned away.
"I'm not getting married anymore," sobbed Hermione, the air around her cracking with her magic seeking vengeance.
Sirius growled lowly sending looks of confused curiosity to appear on the faces of those in the room.
"Why not Princess?"
"I caught Ron," she whispered, willing herself not to be judged in front of these men. "I caught his with Harry…they're together…romantically. Have been for years…ten years."
Had Hermione been able to see what was going on around her, she would have seen the varying looks of disgust, rage and sympathy but as it was, Hermione was crying too, much to see anything and it was taking all her strength to keep her magic contained.
The men of the room had been presented with an angry lion and would need their wits about them to calm her down.
o-0-o
Lucius's surprise had jumped from one level to another since the first meeting of the five Lords had started. He hadn't thought that Sirius would invite them so casually into his home but perhaps the Black before him had grown up during his time in the veil. As he sat before Lucius, he seemed to be a man who had learned from his mistakes and forgiven himself for what had happened. He was finally ready to take up the mantle of Lord Black and bring former glory back to the fallen house. Sirius had also felt the calling which Lucius assumed had speared him into action.
The arrival of an angry, tearful Miss Granger had halted all conversation in the room and Lucius wondered if the others could hear the singing of the calling in the back of their minds. Lucius found himself growling along with Sirius at Miss Granger's reasons for being in such a state and could feel the responses of the other Lords anger through the oath bond.
His magic had held him back when at last Sirius stood and lifted Hermione to him and had carried her back to the circle of men, letting her sit on his lap. Lucius's magic was appeased by Sirius's gentle nature with the woman, stroking her hair and holding her protectively in his embrace. Lucius watched as all the world's oceans seemed to pour from her eyes.
Lucius was rarely surprised but even he hadn't been able to mask his emotions in this particular situation. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with himself many nights ago and the conversation he'd just been having with his fellow Lords. The Weasley boy was foolish to treat Miss Granger thus and foolish boys would always pay for their mistakes. Lucius's opinion of Harry Potter had always been quite low, his one shining glory had been ridding the world of Voldemort and Lucius couldn't believe that he had acted in the way that he had. He firmly believed that the Sorting Hat had made a mistake when sorting both Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter in light of the relationship they'd been hiding for ten years.
It took a lot of time to calm Hermione down and to get her magic to recognise them as friendly and not threatening but soon the room was filled with the soft snores of Miss Granger who had been placed on a sofa within the room where all five men could see her.
Lucius silently departed soon after, sharing a look with Sirius that promised this meeting wouldn't fade without a written account. Lucius had been away from Severus for too long, his taciturn lover was probably hiding away in some corner of the library with a frown on his face. He knew Severus had missed Miss Granger's company as of late, as had he. Miss Granger had an incredible amount of love to give and was always willing to help those in need and give people a second chance in life. Lucius silently fumed that those two dunderheads had trampled over her precious heart like it was a stone beneath their feet. By the time he was home to Severus, there was so much anger in his being that he had no doubt on what would be tomorrow's Daily Prophet headline.
"What has happened? Did it not go the way you wanted?" asked Severus, jumping Lucius from his internal thoughts.
"I admit I had no agenda when meeting the four other Lords but rather something happened to put a spanner in the middle of our gathering."
"What spanner might that be?"
"Miss Granger interrupted our gathering when she arrived, dishevelled, hysterically crying and with a crackle of magic that was angrily lashing out."
"What happened? Is she alright? Why was she crying Lucius? Who has hurt her?" demanded Severus in quickly and clearly.
"Her wedding is apparently cancelled as she had just discovered her fiancé and Harry Potter in a romantic embrace and learned that the relationship between the two men has been going on for a decade."
For once in his life, Lucius noted, Severus seemed lost for words. Lucius watched as his lover turned from pale to red as he digested what Lucius had said. They were both very protective of Miss Granger and Lucius knew Severus felt he owed his life to her. The Wizarding World was not discriminating to same sex partnerships as the muggle world was. Most magicals batted for both teams. Severus had been Lucius's lover before Narcissa and had been lover to both Lucius and Narcissa during their marriage. Since Narcissa's death, both Lucius and Severus had been proudly open in their relationship.
Severus stood to take Lucius's hand in his own and led Lucius to their floo. Lucius let Severus take control of the situation because he recognised the glint in his eyes and knew that retribution would be achieved soon. Lucius knew where they were going and only hoped that the Wizarding World was prepared to receive what would soon be unleashed upon them.
