A/N: Huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed after last chapter! I am so blown away, you guys, its ridiculous. So pretty much everyone hates Cygnus, haha. He was a pretty big jerk to Hermione in the last chapter. Let's see how our girl gets along in this chapter, and how long it is before she gives him a piece of her mind. And you finally get to meet Pollux and Cassiopeia! Exciting! Huge thank you to Kreeblim Sabs for alpha reading this!

I started posting a special valentine's day fic this morning - one chapter a day thru Valentine's day. It's called Saltkin and it's a Snape x Hermione, with a Lily Evans twist, so please check it out if it's your cup of tea :)

Please let me know what you thought of chapter seven and be on the lookout for chapter eight soon!


June 30th, 1929

Hermione sighed, staring out the window at the Tyrrhenian Sea from their villa in Naples. Her honeymoon had passed by in the blink of an eye. Cygnus had taken her all over the country of Italy - starting in Venice, before taking stops in Milan, Florence, Rome and finally stopping in Naples. She'd never been to Italy before, so she'd been eager to experience everything the culture had to offer.

It was certainly romantic, and it had inspired some new hope into Hermione that she and Cygnus just might make something work. He was endlessly patient with her when she could spend hours in museums - though she always had to be careful not to suggest somewhere that hadn't been built yet - and he seemed to genuinely take delight in her eagerness. It was completely unlike any of the other boys or men she'd fancied back at Hogwarts, except for maybe Viktor.

He'd made sure that his galleons were put to good use, often feeding her elaborate dinners and vintage wines. He would indulge in splitting a dessert with her, if only to feed her whatever morsel he had to offer. Hermione wasn't so blind now that she couldn't see Cygnus's appreciation of her. His eyes were frequently dipping to her lips.

The sex had gotten better from the first night, and Hermione found that he could be a generous lover, once she gave him a little bit of guidence of what she liked. That had taken some figuring out on her part, including one very awkward bath. But, it still wasn't some earth-shattering experience that she would die without.

Cygnus seemed to enjoy it in any case.

He was frequently making odd little comments to her about their chances to be alone together once they returned home. One morning, after waking her up with kisses to her face, and a hard cock pressed between her legs, he whispered how much he was looking forward to the future, while he held her in the afterglow. "Just think, in only a few years Dorea will be at Hogwarts, and we will have all the time in the world to make love. Anywhere in the manor you want to."

Hermione had held in a snort of derision. She wasn't exactly itching to have sex all over the manor, but she wasn't going to deny him the opportunity either. Within reason, of course. "Well, Dorea might be at Hogwarts, but Tommy will still be home."

"Ah, yes. Thomas." Cygnus said, his face a blank slate. "That will take some getting used to I suppose."

She could no longer hold her tongue to his getting Tom's name wrong. "Tom. It's just Tom. Not Thomas." She reminded him, leaving his words on adjustment for another time. Clearly, it was a new step for all of them.

He gave her a tight smile, which reminded her distinctly of Lucius Malfoy. "How quaint." Perhaps it was some look that all purebloods perfected in their youth? He clearly didn't think highly of the muggle that Tom was named after.

Thinking of Tommy again, though, had her eager to get home. Hester had agreed to stay at Cygnus and Hermione's home with the children while they were away. Seeing as she was one of two Blacks that she actually got along with, she was alright with it. Knowing that Dorea would be there to watch over her son, too, made her feel a lot better. She'd given the child extensive instructions on how to reach her if anything went wrong.

Even though she knew Tommy was well looked after, she couldn't pretend as though it didn't hurt to be parted from him. Ever since he was a newborn, they'd been together every day. There hadn't been a time that she hadn't tucked him into his crib or woke up with him in the night if he had a nightmare. There hadn't been a day when she didn't wake him up with kisses and cuddles.

Tommy didn't understand why she was leaving him either, just that she was going away for a while. He'd thrown a fit worthy of the record books, screaming and crying so hard that Hermione almost told Cygnus that she couldn't go with him to Italy.

Instead, he told her that all children suffer from some separation anxiety, and it was good to get it out of the way while he was younger. After all, he was going to have to go to Hogwarts one day and he wouldn't be allowed to stay with his mummy while he did that.

In any case, she was so excited to get back to her son and hold him in her arms for all hours. She'd purchased a nice set of silver jacks for him, and she couldn't wait to watch him play with them. It was odd, she thought, to miss him so much. These days it was nearly impossible to reconcile this wonderful child with Lord Voldemort of the future. She couldn't imagine that he would ever become a Dark Lord, when he was just so sweet to her.

But, Hermione also couldn't have imagined herself becoming so attached to Tom Riddle when she was back planning in Grimmauld Place. If anything, she was worried that she would be able to set aside her anger and hatred for Lord Voldemort when she was dealing with Tommy. Glad that things seemed to be working out, Hermione waved her wand to pack her trunk up. The sooner she was done, the sooner she'd get back home to Tommy.


December 20th, 1929

Hermione had been hurrying around the manor all afternoon, trying to burn off all the nervous energy she had. Today was the day that she was finally going to meet Cygnus's two older children, and she was absolutely dreading it. She could already feel that they were going to destroy the delicate balance that they'd grown into over the past months.

All in all, things didn't change that much for Hermione's day to day life, except that she was sharing a bedroom with Cygnus now. She hated to be so far away from Tommy, but he'd been moved into a room near to Dorea's and he didn't seem to mind, so Hermione was trying not to be too overbearing. She still spent most of her days tutoring Dorea and Marius in their studies. She'd also begun to devoting some time every day to begin teaching Tom about numbers and letters. He was very advanced for her age.

She was also able to take the children to do some more fun things now that she was their mother as well. They could go on little day trips, like when she'd taken them to the beach at Brighton for the afternoon. Both Dorea and Marius had been impressed that their new step-mother seemed to know so much about how the muggle world worked, and they loved ice cream. Cygnus was less thrilled to hear that his children had been out consorting with muggles.

Cygnus still spent a lot of time at the Wizengamot, but now Hermione was actually invited along to the dinners that he was invited to. To her immense disappointment, they weren't nearly as interesting as she thought it would be. All the other wives treated her poorly, both because she was from France and because she was a second wife. Honestly, it wasn't as if Hermione had killed Violetta Black in order to get her hooks into Cygnus! But that's how they treated her nonetheless.

Despite initially thinking he wasn't one, her husband turned out to be in incorrigible flirt, enough to give even Sirius Black from her time a run for his money. She wondered if this was a harmless family trait, too, like constellation names and grey eyes. So far, she wasn't worried.

Her husband had only been too pleased to see the way she was...looking forward to meeting his children. Perhaps he mistook her nervousness for excitement. Whenever she tried to bring up any of her worries - that their mother hadn't been gone very long, that he'd married her without their consultation - he tried to brush her concerns away with a passionate kiss and promises that they would love her. Dorea and Marius did, after all.

Hermione had her doubts. Marius and Dorea were still children. Pollux was an adult and Cassiopeia was in that nebulous teenager phase. She didn't think it would be an easy joining of family that Cygnus had envisioned.

Wanting to avoid a public row, Hermione had elected to stay home with the children while Cygnus picked them up from the train station back from Hogwarts. Picking up Tommy, she walked from room to room trying to make sure that everything was perfect. She'd decorated nearly every room to try and get things in the Christmas spirit, but she hadn't touched Cassiopeia or Pollux's rooms, not wanting to intrude. Instead, she had their very pushy house elf air them out.

Tommy placed one of his tiny hands on her cheeks. "Mummy scared." He said, quietly, looking at her with such worry in his little blue eyes. Over the years, they'd become such a dark blue, not at all like the grey that the Blacks seemed to possess. Hugging him tighter against her body, she was so touched that he was trying to comfort her, but she didn't want to make him worried, either.

Giving him a big kiss on the cheek, Hermione did her best to put on a big smile. "Mummy isn't scared, Tommy. I am just a bit nervous. Today you will meet your two other step-siblings." The convoluted family dynamics were almost not worth explaining to the boy, but he seemed to understand that he had a special bond with the Black children.

"Dorea?" He asked, having formed a special bond with the girl. She always knew how to play the best games and sometimes she would even slip him a chocolate. It was no secret that Dorea was his favorite of the two Black children. At least, Marius didn't seem to mind. He was incredibly introverted, and it made Hermione a bit concerned. She so wanted Marius to be happy and carefree, like a child should be.

"Yes, like Dorea. Dorea's brother and sister. Pollux." She said, enunciating every letter so he could understand.

"Poll." Tommy tried, not quite able to make the 'x' sound yet.

Hermione smiled down at him anyhow, wanting to reinforce him trying new things. "Very good, Tommy. Pollux. And Cassiopeia." Hermione giggled at his concerned little face, as he seemed to be giving her a look that he thought the name was impossible to pronounce. "We might have to practice that one, hmm, Tommy?" At first, Hermione thought that her son wasn't very expressive, but it turned out that his face had all sorts of subtle nuances to show off what he was feeling. As his mother, it didn't take her long to figure out what was what.

Hearing the large grandfather clock in the library clang the time, Hermione realized that her husband would be back soon. "We better go wait to greet them." She said, giving Tommy one last kiss on the head. His dark hair had just a bit of curl, but it was nearly black in its color. "Dorea! Marius! Time to come down to the parlor!" Hermione shouted up the stairs, before proceeding down to the parlor to wait.

She was a bit surprised that neither Dorea nor Marius seemed thrilled to be welcoming their elder siblings home. She wondered if she could be concerned about it, but seeing as she didn't have a lot of experience with sibling relationships, she decided to let it go for now.

Cygnus was the first to come through the floo, followed by a girl and then a young man. "Cassiopeia, Pollux, I would like you to meet your new mother. Say hello to her." He instructed in that stern tone of his.

Hermione instantly blushed, seeing the unmasked contempt on their faces as they each moved forward to press a continental kiss on her cheeks. "Please, call me Hermione." She said, stumbling over her words. "If you prefer." She added on. She didn't want either of them to feel as if she'd taken over the spot of their mother, but she wouldn't be upset if they called her that either. Marius and Dorea still called her Hermione.

Looking over the pair, there was no doubting that they were of the Black family. Cassiopeia wore her long black hair in two tight braids, though the ends indicated that it was just as wavy as her father's. Her grey eyes were dull and calculating, but it did little to diminish the womanly beauty she already possessed.

Pollux on the other hand, looked almost nothing like his father, and if Hermione didn't know they were related, she wouldn't have thought it, though she supposed Cygnus was the...blond sheep in the Black family. His look was rather severe - dark hair perfectly coiffed and his eyes such a dark grey they could nearly be called black. He stood a few inches taller than his father, and she could practically feel the tension in him ready to snap.

The teenage boy - half way through his final year at Hogwarts - stared at Tommy at her hip. Perhaps as uncomfortable as she was, Tommy tucked his face to hide in her shoulder. Turning to face his father, Pollux did little to hide the sneer on his face. "Father, you didn't tell me that the girl had a child." Hermione thought he would have had other choice words for her had she not been standing there. Still, she bristled at being called a girl by someone several years younger than she was. Suddenly, it didn't seem so surprising that this man could have sired Walburga.

"Tom is Hermione's cousin. After his mother died, she was so generous as to see him looked after." Cygnus responded diplomatically.

Hermione still rankled at the term. "Tom is my son now. I've adopted him." She said fiercely, not wanting anyone to delegitimize why he was with her.

"I see." Pollux said simply, before letting the silence stretch between them. Already, they were off on the wrong foot.

Shaking off her annoyance, Hermione needed to get them moving so that they could hopefully move on from this awkward introduction. "Shall we move to the dining room? I understand that Opal has prepared all your favorites." She told the older pair of children. Opal, the old house elf, had told Hermione that she would handle all the cooking for the pair's return.

Nodding stiffly, the seven of them moved into the dining room, where only a few months ago, Cygnus had asked her to marry him. It was not long before generous helpings of duck and wild rice in front of them. Pollux seemed content to ignore her, but Cassiopeia couldn't help but needle her. "So, Hermione, you are from France?"

"Yes, I grew up in France." Hermione responded, not wanting to give away too many extraneous details, lest someone see through her ruse. "I understand that you visited your cousin in France this summer?" She inquired, hoping that a bit of small talk would ease the tension in the room.

Cassiopeia ignored the question, and began pressing for more details, though. "Where did you complete your schooling? I understand that you are tutoring Marius and Dorea. I wouldn't want them to pick up any bad habits and then have them feel out of place at Hogwarts." Her voice was icy and calm, and though Hermione was certainly able to pick up on the heat in her tone.

"Like the way you cut your food." Pollux said with a smirk.

It had taken Hermione a while, but she had begun to hold her silverwave in the continental style, hoping to blend in with the culture she was supposed to be from. She looked at Cygnus pleadingly, wishing that he would say something. They were his children after all. He shouldn't let them get away with disrespecting his wife so much. Finally, he seemed to understand what their silent conversation was about. "Children, be respectful of Hermione."

"I went to Beauxbatons." Hermione told them cooly, not willing to comment on Pollux's open insult. "It was a lovely school. I am sure it is not that much different from Hogwarts." Hermione was suddenly feeling a bit over her head, that maybe she wasn't quite cut throat enough to last in pureblood society.

"How did you hear about my father's fortune?" Pollux asked next, giving her a smirk over the table. Hermione hated that Cygnus's whole family thought that she was somehow after their money, when all she'd been looking for was a job.

Putting down her fork, she looked at the boy head on. "Actually, I was just working her as a governess. I didn't know about your family's wealth, other than that your father was willing to pay me, and provide me with room and board." She stared him down, wanting to reveal how she'd been tricked into this. "It was your uncle who insisted that we get married."

Cassiopeia looked at her in awe, before her face dissolved into a malicious grin. "Oh, she is so stupid!" She said, peeling with laughter. "But then again, I suppose only a French woman wouldn't think it was odd for an unmarried man and woman to live together!"

Cygnus, finally finding it in himself to take control of the situation, pounded his fist on the table. "That is enough, Cassiopeia. You will go to your room immediately and you won't come out until you apologize to Hermione."

"But, papa! Opal made my favorites - that means Peach Melba for dessert." The spoiled girl whined, clearly not having expected that her father would side with Hermione. Hermione resisted the urge to smirk at her, knowing that it wasn't very ladylike or age appropriate, but she was excited to realize that she'd won. This round.

"But nothing. Leave, now." Cygnus said, pointing towards the door. The girl grit her teeth, and if Hermione wasn't wrong, she thought she say tears sparkling in her grey eyes, but she left without another word. Cygnus turned to Pollux, and looked at him with annoyance. "Anything else to say from you?" He needled.

"No, sir." Pollux responded looking down at his plate.

"Good, then you can tell me how your mid-year exams went." Cygnus told him, before drilling him on all the subjects that he was taking. It was good to see him take such an active role in his children's schooling, but at the same time, she was a bit concerned by how harsh he'd been.

Looking around the table at all the sullen faces, she wondered if every family event for the rest of her life would be this tense.