Chapter Ten
As they entered the sitting room they saw Orion had leaned against the marble of the fireplace lost in contemplation or so it seemed.
"Orion."
"My Lord." Orion Black turned around and began without looking Hermione's way once. "You have done our family honor with your distinction in inviting Hermione to your home. However, her suitor and I were quite distressed when we couldn't find her at the ball. Naturally we thought the worst but as soon as we found that young Caradoc had put something in her drink and sent her off via portkey, you can understand our overwhelming concern. I am afraid the boy is of little use to you now. If I had but known he was one of yours, I would never have tortured him for so long. Alas, his decent into madness once my Legilimency tore through his mind is quite irreversible." He lamented.
"I can see how the mistake might have been made." Voldemort said through narrowed eyes, still holding Hermione hostage on his arm.
The thing Hermione was learning about Orion Black was that when he used his apologetic voice, one should be terrified that his very life was hanging in the balance. Even if that someone was a Dark Lord.
"Hermione, it has been a pleasure having you in my home. I look forward to seeing you again soon." Voldemort inclined his head at her while he patted her hand finally relinquishing his hold on her. "Oh, and I would appreciate you returning that valuable book you borrowed from me." He said with a glint in his eyes.
Her eyes went wide as her pupils were blown wide in fear. She reached into her beaded bag and drew out the Diary. As she pulled it out of her beaded bag the chain of the locket got tangled into the buckle of the diary leaving it dangling in mid-air. Hermione stared at it in horror. It drew the eyes of all three occupants in shocked silence. Each one of them knew exactly what was suspended in front of their eyes and the significance was lost on none.
"What. The. Fuck." Voldemort ground out.
"That's um something um unimportant." Hermione said staring resolutely at the ground.
"DO NOT LIE TO ME!"
"What do you want me to say? That I killed your necklace on accident? That I don't know what it is?"
"You know."
"Yes."
"You know there is more than one."
"Yes."
"You're hunting them."
"Are you really surprised?"
Instead of an answer he raised his wand casting as he went, showing them exactly why he had been so feared and revered. It was a rare thing indeed to catch Voldemort off guard but it seemed he was forming a habit of underestimating people.
As Voldemort hurled his first curse at Hermione, she was wrapped in a protective bubble that she had cast which was reinforced by Orion. The Two Horcruxes still clutched in her hand.
Hermione shoved the Horcruxes back in the bag.
"Orion, Apparate!" Hermione yelled. She turned on the spot to apparate away, but nothing happened. She heard a deep rumbling laugh wash over her as she realized she wouldn't be leaving that way. Orion had popped out and back in quickly. He must have realized she didn't follow. Knowing what she had to do, Hermione shoved the bag in his hands.
"Get the fuck out of here, Orion!" She yelled. Even as startled as he was, he was a man who knew how to get shit done. People like that understand the price of their actions and knowing that once he left, Hermione would suffer the consequences. Regardless, he left her there. He must destroy the Horcruxes at all cost. Sadness weighed him down as he materialized outside the wards of Malfoy manor.
**HGHGHGHG**
Orion walked in the foyer to see the Lord of the manor physically holding his heir back from leaving the manse. When Lucius caught site of Orion, alone with Hermione's bag that she always took with her, he became a mad man. Yelling at and begging his father to release him so that he could get Hermione from where ever she was being held.
Orion ignored the younger man for the moment focusing his attention solely on Abraxas.
"I need to know if you have what I asked for. My daughter's life depends on it."
"Are you going to hand it over to him?" He asked with a sneer.
"I must destroy them all, I promised her."
Abraxas looked at Orion calculatingly while Lucius calmed down enough to follow the conversation with confusion.
"I have it, but not the last one, I am afraid. It was gone when I got to the old shack."
"I think WE can help you with that." Two Albus Dumbledore's strode into the room looking as badass as ever holding up the Gaunt ring that had an obvious crack down the center. Twinkling merrily with each step.
"It is terrible timing, but we will work with what we have. It also helps that we have the advantage, right, Mr. Avery" Future Dumbledore said as Cadeus strode into the room with Theo beside him.
"I can feel her or I could several hours ago. Something is blocking me now." Theodore Nott said with a smirk.
"How is it that you can feel my daughter through a link, Mr. Nott?" Orion said with narrowed eyes. He knew what it would take to make the link work. The smirk fell off Theo's face being replaced with a look of apprehension. "Should I expect any more surprises?" Orion glared at Lucius and Avery.
Avery took a step back turning a pasty white color holding his hands up and palms out in surrender. He may not have had sex with Hermione but he got pretty damn close. He was surprised that out of all three of them that it was Theo who had been first but he wasn't jealous that Theo was with her, it was more that he was jealous of the time they spent together. It was weird, before they were marked all he seemed to feel was jealousy.
"Now, now, Orion. It is not the time to castigate your sons-in-law for consummating their marriage." Said 1971 Dumbledore Twinkling.
Orion went red in the face and with an obvious struggle, not one curse left his wand. There were many in the room who were impressed, as well they should have been. They were well versed in the impetuousness of the Black family. It was dangerous to cross any Black.
"Then there is just the matter of the diary and the cup." Orion snapped still not quite in control.
"Are we in possession of either?" said Future Dumbledore.
"The cup is in my study." Offered Abraxas.
"Hermione found the diary for us. When she realized that he set up wards to imprison her but not me, she shoved the bag at me. That girl is a warrior." Orion bragged, proud of his daughter.
"Does she have her Christmas gifts in her bag by any chance?" Asked 1971 Dumbledore.
Orion opened the bag and a crashing sound rumbled out of the opening.
"Undetectable extension charm. Absolutely incredible!" Abraxas said stunned. That was powerful magic and a devil to get right.
Orion reached in and grabbed the diary with the locket still dangling from the clasp, followed by the two ruined vessels. He stuck his hand in again rather bravely thought both Dumbledore's.
It was quite spectacular that when the people in the room would later tell the story, it didn't need any embellishment. Orion pulled out what was once a dagger, that was now a full sized broad sword encased in Merlin's everlasting diamond that had once housed Excalibur.
How the hell did Hermione get her hands on that? Everyone but the Dumbledore's wondered. They knew exactly where it was from, she put that book to good use in the two months that she had it.
Orion drew the sword from the stone and with a powerful thrust destroyed Riddle's diary. One more to go. He thought as he reached for the cup that Abraxas held out to him.
**HGHGHGHG**
Hermione was furious. She was literally tied. Like on a ribbon leash, tied. Voldemort had secured a black satin ribbon around her neck making it indestructible and melded the ends together to make a continuous loop. Then he attached a black smoky chain from the ribbon to the serpent ring he wore on his finger, going invisible as the spell completed. She felt like a dog sitting there being held in place by a simple 'Petrificus Totalus'.
Voldemort had left her only moments after she thrust her beaded bag at Orion but he was gone for an hour before sauntering back in calling for tea watching her as if she was a most amusing play. It had taken two hours to tire herself out. She had cast every charm, hex, and curse she had in her vast mental arsenal after Orion left, even the dodgy ones.
Once she had sat down across the room from him, he put her into a full body bind. He then informed her of the nature of the serpent ring as he secured the ribbon around her neck.
It could only be removed by the wizard who had cast the spells, he gleefully informed her. They were trapping, tracing, and binding spells strong enough to overcome most other magics. As long as she wore his ring, he could claim her and all the magic a two-way bond would afford, effectively cutting her off from Theo, Lucius, and Avery. Apparently, he found a way to bypass the soul mate requirement. She wondered how the spells on the ring could do that.
**HGHGHGHG**
"If you can't feel her, we have to run under the assumption he is blocking it. It would be safer for her that we draw him out and meet him on a neutral plane." Said Abraxas.
"Dealing with Tom Riddle as I have for the last fifty years, I think I am the best qualified to make that judgment. We are inside his wards. I would say that is not neutral ground."
"And yet you had to send a young girl, back in time to take care of this mess. The wards will fall. It has to be right here, where he cast them. We can't take the risk that he could get away and hide Hermione from us."
"You have that much confidence in this plan?" Dumbledore grumbled. He hated when his plans got superseded.
"As a matter of fact yes. He wants my heir as a soldier in his insane crusade. I think we should go in wands blazing, and take him out quickly now that he is vulnerable without his Horcruxes." Abraxas said stubbornly.
Future Dumbledore pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Vulnerable does not mean weak, Abraxas. He is one of the most powerful wizards ever."
"Between the four of us, I am sure we can break whatever enchantments he is using."
"Oi! What about us?" objected Avery
"The three of you are liabilities. You are far too young and have yet to procreate. We cannot risk killing off three Houses of the sacred twenty-eight. What are you even doing here? Go back to the Manor!" Remarked Abraxas
"Well, it doesn't matter if we currently have children or not, the mother of our future children is in there!" Theo angrily whispered.
The seven men hiding in the hedges of Riddle Manor were discussing tactics while casing the house.
"I must say, I am rather flattered to have warranted not just one visit by our esteemed Headmaster, but two. How droll." Drawled Voldemort casually leaning against the fence.
"Frankly, Orion, I am surprised at you most of all. Being the revered master of wards the world claims you to be. You should have known you couldn't cross them without alerting me. Where is the diary?"
Orion smiled as the others surrounded the powerful wizard.
"I have it right here. Would you like it back?" Asked Orion as the rest gave him funny looks. His daughter wasn't the only one with a few nasty tricks up her sleeve.
Voldemort narrowed his eyes as Orion drew one ruined Horcrux after another out of the bag and laid them at his feet. Voldemort was so concentrated on the ruined vessels that he didn't notice the Dumbledore's starting to cast a black cage over him. It wasn't truly black bars, but undulating ropes of shadow and flame. Something that he had picked up from a friend of his that he met while traveling as young man. This cage had only one weakness. It wouldn't work on a person who was in love. No problems there.
The rage started pouring out of Voldemort as his eyes snapped up to meet the eyes of the man in front of him.
He lifted his wand and a bright yellow light filled the clearing. Everything went silent for a moment before gale force winds swirled around the clearing blasting half who stood against him off their feet. Abraxas slashed his wand through the air sending hundreds of tiny sharp ice shards, they were like homing missiles. No matter how they were buffeted by the wind they sailed through the air towards their target. Hundreds of tiny cuts marred the body of the despot standing in the center of the fray. Lightning flashed from Theo's wand as his eyes went completely black, no whites showing at all.
Voldemort sent the young man a series of time-release exploding pods that attached themselves to his clothes. Avery and Lucius were beside their friend detonating the explosive pods before they reached him. The summoned lightning strikes were tearing down the wards around them.
Orion finished arranging the ruined Horcruxes and sent a jet of purple light at them. It activated the dormant curse he set, making a hole in the wards, ripping them down one at a time.
Theo, raising his wand above his head drew a simple figure eight pattern in the air, making a harsh bell clang as everyone froze in rapture of the other worldly sound. He sent a mild stinging hex to the Dumbledore's, urging them to finish the complicated prison.
Voldemort flicked his wand the second he was released from the sound of death's call. A green ball of light encased Orion and he started to scream in agony, blood trickling from his ears. Lucius turned to his future father-in-law and used every spell he could think of to release the man from his confinement.
Abraxas cast a series of curses rapid fire, Crucio, Imperio, Avada Kedavra, each missing its mark, to his great frustration.
**HGHGHGHG**
Drawn by the noise, Hermione wandered out of the house and into the gardens beyond the drawing room. Once she moved beyond the six foot hedges the sight that greeted her eyes was incredible.
Seven of the most powerful men of their time had surrounded Voldemort, obviously trying to keep him on the offensive. When she saw the green bubble encase Orion, she grew panicked. She could feel the spell pull from her own reserves. Determined to cut it off and save them, she tried to remove the ring with renewed determination.
With every second that passed, Orion's screams grew less urgent as he began slipping into madness. Desperate, Hermione drew out the purple velvet bag and reached in for the Time Turner. As she pulled out the powerful relic, the ring on her finger crumbled, the enchantments failing. Her eyebrows drew together. That was something she would look into later as she negated the spell on Orion. He fell unconscious to the ground. Blood trickling from his eyes, ears, and nose. Hoping he wasn't dead, she drew upon her magic noticing the sheer amount that she commanded was now much larger than it had been before. She had a hunch it was her wizard's magic.
Swishing her wand just right, a bright white bolt of electricity flew from the tip, holding Voldemort in stasis as she stepped forward helping the Dumbledore's complete the cage.
Abraxas watched as his soon to be daughter-in-law emerged from the hedges, wielding her wand with decisive movements, joining in the fray. How did Hermione know this shit? Thought Abraxas in amazement. It had taken him nearly his entire life to be as skilled as he was and she was quickly surpassing him and everyone else around her.
With Hermione's considerable added power, the cage was rapidly completed, holding the most feared wizard the world had ever seen.
**HGHGHGHG**
Hermione collapsed on the ground where she stood. A black smoke chain visibly connecting the young witch to the angry imprisoned wizard. He laughed with maniacal abandon as the men around her rushed into action.
Lucius picked her up and apparated back to the Manor, dissolving the smoke tether. He laid her out in the sitting room, yelling for his mother over his shoulder. She was one of the best medi-witches of her time.
"Lucius, whatever is the matter?" She bustled in the room.
"Hermione has a dark curse on her. Fix her mother. I can't lose her."
"I'll do my best. Milly!" She called
A house elf popped in next to her mistress.
"Mistress called?"
"Take Hermione to the Golden room and bathe her. I will be right up."
"Yes, Mistress." She bowed low before walking to the young girl and gently clasping her hand and with a crack was gone.
"Mother, what should I do?" Asked Lucius brokenly.
"Floo, Othello. Tell him I am summoning him to the manor and to bring his team."
He nodded as she left the room with the same urgency that she had come.
**HGHGHGHG**
Hermione was moaning incoherently obviously hallucinating, talking about people who were not yet born. Lucius sat by her bedside caressing her hand with his fingers talking quietly to calm her down.
She had been in this state for two weeks without any change, the healers coming and going as they thought of new ideas or tried a new counter curse.
It had taken Orion two days to be cured without any lasting effects. The healers had said if he was in that curse for even one moment longer he would have been driven to insanity.
He had wanted to move Hermione home but the rest of the group staunchly opposed it. She couldn't be moved. And so they took it in shifts to sit with her and talk to her, hoping that would bring her out of her delirium. Those that were not sitting with her were in their respective family libraries searching for a way to take off the blasted ribbon, that the healers had identified as the catalyst.
Avery was all for murdering Voldemort in the hopes that the magic would dissipate if he was no longer alive. But he was over ruled by one of the Dumbledore's who stated that killing him could have terrible and far reaching consequences. The Dumbledore's had been walking around as if their world had collapsed. The others had no idea he cared about Hermione so much, even though he was the one that sent her to the past to begin with.
It was nearly time to change shifts again. Theo walked into the Golden room a little early, intending on updating Lucius on their lack of progress. He had walked around the room to where Hermione's things were set out and started touching them as if they would give him the answer he so desperately sought.
At that moment, a flurry of healers flooded in followed by a whole contingent of people waiting for her to wake. Apparently, they had found something they wanted to try. Theo stood watching them, not yet daring to hope that this time something would work.
After an hour of hopeful faces falling into disappointed looks, Theo turned back to his lazy perusal. He picked up the small purple velvet bag and curiously opened it peering inside. He was astounded to see the Time Turner innocently lying at the bottom. Reaching in to grab it, he drew his hand back with a loud expletive bringing the offending appendage to his mouth.
"What happened, Mr. Nott?" Asked 1971 Dumbledore who was peering at the bag in recognition.
"I stuck my hand in the bag to get a better look at the Time Turner on the bottom when it shocked me."
"The time turner?" Dumbledore asked losing interest.
"No, the bag."
Both Dumbledore's heads snapped up.
"Hand me that bag."
He put the bag in the Headmasters hand as the older man reached in the bag drawing his hand back out with a hiss of pain. He waved his wand over the top.
"Astonishing. Orion, would you pull out the Time Turner for us?"
Orion gingerly reached in the bag fearing the zap that the others felt, however he met no resistance and grasped the Time Turner sitting innocently at the bottom and drew it out of the bag slowly.
Leaving the Time Turner dangling from Orion's fingers, Dumbledore grasped the bag by the bottom and while holding it open he gently grasped the silk ribbon with the inside of the bag. With a delicate tug, the ribbon turned grey and began crumbling from around her neck. And for the first time in two weeks, Hermione fell into a deep healing sleep.
**HGHGHGHG**
"An innovative spell that Sirius must have created was cast on the bag. He must not have trusted us to see to her safety. Only a person of the Black bloodline who had only the best of intentions for Hermione could safely put their hand in it. Those conditions would also enable that person to touch anything that has ever been in it. I once tried to examine the Time Turner when she first arrived and was unable to touch it, I thought it had to do with my own time traveling but now I see that isn't so." Explained Future Dumbledore.
"Sirius did this?"
"Oh yes, I recognize his magical signature."
"It must have been really difficult for him to send her back."
"I believe it was difficult for her entire family and friends network, the ones that knew anyway. She was much beloved in her original timeline." Future Dumbledore added.
"We are lucky that he was so concerned. Without that bag, Hermione would have died." Avery stated. "And soon."
**HGHGHGHG**
Hermione was up two days after the ribbon was destroyed and after a week of being coddled by everyone, she was utterly frustrated. She was fine enough to get out of that room. Damn it! Lucius had been trying to convince her to go back to the room and even once opting to throw her over his shoulder. His mother caught him and commanded he not man handle his future bride. Reluctantly he placed her feet back on the ground. She walked into the sitting room looking for the book she had laid down earlier that day. She wanted to finish reading it. He erected wards over the room as he intended to confront her about her shoddy listening skills. 'Why couldn't the woman just do as he said?' He thought.
"Lucius, I am fine!" Snapped Hermione as she got onto her knees looking under the divan.
"I thought I had lost you!" Yelled Lucius as he followed her around the room, trying and failing once more to get her to rest.
Hermione glanced at him with concern and understanding.
"Losing you would have destroyed me. I am not going to just go off prancing into the sunset marrying some poor girl as I go! I cannot live my life without you. You are it for me." He thundered.
"Yes it might have taken you time, but Lucius you are strong. You would have moved on." She was trying to placate him as she moved over to one of the tables still searching for that book.
"You are not hearing me. Or Theo. Or Avery. We would have died!" He chucked a priceless Ming vase at the door. Chest heaving with emotion.
Hermione walked towards him and put a hand upon his chest abandoning her search as he stared at the door over her shoulder. Refusing to even look at her.
"I survived. I'm right here." She murmured comfortingly, trying to sooth him out of his rage.
"It so easily could have turned out the other way, Hermione."
He turned his hard, angry eyes on her and grabbed her arms, pushing her against the door the shattered vase crunching at their feet.
"I don't think you realize what you mean to me then if you are so bound and determined to dismiss my worry."
"I do not dismiss your concerns, Lucius. What would you have me do? Live in a protective bubble for the rest of my life."
"Yes!"
"You are being completely unreasonable." She shouted trying to get out of his grasp.
His lips claimed hers in furious panic, not to hurt her per se but because his adrenaline was still high with fear. He tore her robes off in a frenzied haste and she helped him as best she could with so little room between them. After her robes landed on the floor, Lucius requisitioned her lips again forcing them apart. His hands reached between them and ripped the tiny yellow thong off with little to no effort and lifted her up as she wrapped her legs around his hips. She undid as many of his buttons as she could, feeling the same frantic need that Lucius was feeling.
Lucius was overflowing with anxious energy. Having nearly lost her had made all of her objections to this plural marriage untenable. The three of them had decided that no matter what it took, they would win her heart and tie her to them with marriage. She was too important to lose.
Fumbling for his pocket he finally found his wand, not having the time or inclination to separate and undress. And with a muttered charm they were both naked in each other's arms. Taking her bottom lip in between his teeth and giving her a little nip, he adjusted her body slightly and let gravity pull her down on top of his cock. He stilled for the moment in euphoria as her wet quim surrounded him. She was ready for this, for him.
He was incredible as he was focused and tensed drawing out of her and slamming back into her making her moan and rock against the wall.
"You will never fucking leave me! Promise me!"
"I promise." She was breathless.
"Fucking right you won't!" He growled as he shifted his balance and carried her over to the settee still deep inside her and laid her down letting his hands roam her body making sure she was with him, still all in one piece. Again, he commenced his almost brutal pace, muttering incoherently.
His hand roved down her body to her sensitive clit and rubbed until she came around him, squeezing his cock, nearly to the point of pain. He didn't stop rubbing her even as she tried to push his fingers away from her over sensitive nub.
"Oh God, Oh God. Lucius, I can't."
"Yes you can, Pet. Once more for me."
She was sobbing in ecstasy, completely at Lucius' mercy. Every time he pounded into her it moved her up the settee a little bit more.
"That's right, Pet. Come for me. Look at me!" Her silver eyes flicked up to meet his intense blue ones as she came undone around him once more. He had never seen anything so glorious as the way she looked in that moment and with a load roar, he came, shooting spurts of his seed into her, coating her walls as they squeezed him. They laid there for a few minutes before Lucius cleaned them up. Dressing in silence after shaking out Hermione's robes, Ming vase wouldn't be a good look on her.
As she turned to leave him, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into a tight embrace his chin resting on the top of her head.
"Stay."
"I wasn't going to leave. I was just going to open the door for Theo and Avery who are standing listening on the other side of the door. They broke the silencing ward as you were fucking me against the door. I believe they enjoyed what they heard." She said with a naughty smirk.
With the flick of his wand the door unlocked and opened, showing not only her two other suitors but her father too. Orion was the only one smiling and that was the most terrifying site Hermione had ever seen. And that includes the time that she was trapped with Voldemort.
"Hello, so glad you could join us, Lucius. I have decided to hold the wedding next Saturday at one. Any man who has touched my daughter and does not show up, will be in forfeit of his life. I will personally see the three of you to the alter to wait for your bride. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Sir." All three men said fighting huge smiles. It was exactly where they wanted to be but felt they were already on rocky ground with the powerful Paterfamilias. "Consider yourselves officially engaged."
"Do I not get a say in this?" Asked Hermione exasperated.
"You break my heart, Darling. I didn't want to know you did anything with boys other than hex them." He looked at her slyly as she blushed with mortification.
"Maybe everyone should hear what I have to say first. Call the Lord's Malfoy and Nott. I have a feeling this will turn out pretty nasty. Take a seat." Hermione gestured still bright red, at the settee that Hermione and Lucius had just christened.