Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Beta: Aimless Wonder.
Pairings: Hermione/Severus, Harry/Ginny, Ron/Draco, Neville/Luna
Chapter Word Count: 1,438
Story Word Count: 14,284
~Enjoy.
It was getting ever closer to midnight, and Meissa still had tears on her face from speaking about the loss of her daughter, when Rodolphus stood and gestured to the door. "I assume you'd want to take me to the Aurors now."
Meissa sobbed, "no. Please don't!"
"Don't worry ma'am," Harry said, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder, while meeting Rodolphus's eye. "At this moment I have no intention of turning you into the aurors. So long as you swear on your magic that you do not intend to harm my sister."
"Anything, Mr. Potter. You need only ask."
Harry nodded. "Just the oath for now, and I will take a few days, try and think over what I'm going to tell Hermione, and then I will get ahold of you."
"Thank you."
Chapter Eight
Hermione had grown concerned when Harry had not come to Hogwarts following the meeting with her birth parents. At first, she'd thought that the meeting had run later than expected and that he had gone home instead.
That had been two days ago, enough time for her to be paranoid and theorise several reasons, ranging from simple to outright ridiculous, as to why he still hadn't contacted her. Not exactly the best state to be in when her appointment with the pre-natal healer was swiftly approaching.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione focused her mind on the upcoming appointment as left her quarters for breakfast. For some reason, Severus had not been there when she had awoken. He'd had not been in the living room when she had finally stepped out of their room fully-dressed for the day.
Stepping into the Great Hall from the teacher's staff room, she frowned at Severus' vacant seat.
"I wonder where he is," she murmured as she took her seat next to his before turning and giving a greeting to Minerva and starting in on her breakfast.
She had only just taken a sip of her tea when the first screech's from above signalled the arrival of the morning post. She was surprised when she noticed Ginny's owl, [insert name here], among the arrivals. [she/he] swooped down and landed neatly on the edge of the table, before hopping the rest of the way between the plates of food to her side. She stared at him for a few seconds in trepidation before reaching and untying the envelop attached to [her/his] outreached leg. Somehow, she was almost surprised when she got an owl from Harry. Opening the envelope, she unfolded the letter and began to read.
Hermione,
The meeting with your parents was, to put it lightly, interesting. I'm sorry for not contacting you sooner, but I needed some time to sort my head out.
Your birth mother is Meissa Black, twin sister to Andromeda Tonks nee Black, Tonk's mother. She was disowned by the family when they discovered that she was a squib, which is why none of us never heard of her. From what I had learnt, any and all memories of her were wiped from Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa's minds. Your grandparents and birth father were the only ones who were aware or her existence.
As for the history of your birth father, his story is a long and complicated one. We had to make a trip to St. Mungo's to verify a lot of his claims about what had been done to him. I also had to do the same on some of your mother's history. Both she and your father are not what any of us could have expected.
This may not make you feel any better, but you should know that they do care for you. They'll be able to answer all your questions.
When you're ready, owl me.
Harry
Hermione stared down at the parchment dumbfounded, her breakfast forgotten.
She was related to Andromeda… which meant that it had been her aunt that had carved the inscription into her arm that night in Malfoy Manor.
Hermione didn't even remember getting out of her chair, her mind focused on the fact that she needed to get to a quiet place, a place to think. Her room.
She had barely taken a step towards the staff room when her vision suddenly clouded, her mind coloring with confusion before the world faded into darkness.
She came to with a groan seemingly only seconds later, squinting at the warm light of the hospital wing.
"You have no idea how worried I was when Parkinson ran into my office and told me that you had fainted at breakfast."
Groaning, Hermione blinked to adjust her vision to see Severus standing at the edge of her hospital bed.
"Darren was the one to come get you?" she asked, her voice dry as she raised herself up on her hands into a sitting position.
"You seem to have gained a fan." Severus raised his hand and Hermione saw that he held Harry's letter. "I read this. It at least explains why you passed out." He said this just as Pomfrey came into sight from behind the divider.
"You gave us quite the fright there, my dear," said Poppy, waving her wand at her, and the air in front of Hermione lit up with numerous small lights as the diagnostic spell took effect. "But from the look of things, you're fine."
"And the baby?" Hermione asked as one hand went to her stomach.
The little light show came to settle around her stomach before Pomfrey gave her a reassuring smile. "The baby is fine, too. Congratulations to you both."
Hermione returned the smile as she threw back the sheet off of her and brought her legs off the bed, but Severus was frozen, his hand still grasping hers. He was staring down at the hovering lights around her stomach, listening intently to the soft but low pulsing sound their were giving off.
"Is that… is that the baby's heartbeat?"
Poppy's smile parted into a grin.
"Yes, it is."
Dear Hermione,
I am not sure as to how much Harry told you of our meeting, but I just wanted you to know that I never wanted to leave you. Due to his circumstances, your father had left to care for his brother before either of us knew that I was pregnant. I don't know if Harry made mention of them to you, but there were complications during your birth. It would be best that I explain them to you in person.
Your parents were kind enough to give us one of your wedding photos. You look so beautiful, as does your husband. The two of you seem to complement each other quite well.
There are so many things that I want to tell you. So many things that I need to, and want to explain. And I promise to answer all of your questions.
Your parents suggested that lunch on the 10th of October would be a suitable date to meet. We both hope that you will come.
With the greatest love,
Meissa Black
Meissa leaned away from the desk and stared down at the letter. She wished that she could have signed it with her married name, but she knew that Hermione would not be ready for that yet. She folded the paper up and had it sealed in an envelope in no time.
She would be forever grateful to the Grangers. Not only had they willingly accepted her into their lives, but they had offered to forward any mail she would want to send to Hermione.
Frank Travers was on an important mission.
At the moment he was disillusioned behind some bushes as he stared into the window. He was working on making up for mistaking that filthy mudblood for his love. He should have known that she would not snap at him. Not when he was doing what he was for her.
He watched silently as the little boy wrote in the journal. Black hair and shining hazel eyes, diligently writing out his letters carefully.
He had done research on what would happen afterwards, and he knew that most people would think that it was a killing curse that killed the boy. However, after having heard some of the rumors about Harry Potters earlier school years, he was hoping that the boy wonder would realize what it was that was draining the child's power. After all, nothing would give his mistress more pleasure than knowing that Harry Potter knew what was wrong, yet could not fix it.
It wouldn't be much longer, he thought, as he saw the letters of the boys crayon disappear into the paper.
