A/N – Before we begin, I just want to clarify something regarding Sirius after I received a review for the last chapter where someone was assuming he was an Auror. He's not, if he was I would have said so, there's no need to assume anything in my stories as I always lay out the facts.
I know from reading reviews on other stories that there does seem to be a theory that both Sirius and James were Aurors, but it's a one I've never found any evidence of. It certainly wasn't mentioned in the actual books, or even hinted at. I'm not saying that somewhere there's not something saying they were Aurors that I haven't read, but I've certainly never found anything like it when I've been checking facts for various stories. In fact everything I've read about Sirius and James contradicts them being Aurors as they seemed to have very little regard to the law.
So in my stories neither Sirius or James are Aurors, unless I specifically say so in a certain story. So just in case there's anyone else assuming things I just wanted to categorically say that in Goddess of Vengeance neither of them are Aurors – therefore have no training in occulmency, which was why Severus was able to get Sirius's memories without too much fuss.
As for this chapter – the memories Hermione views are from the first chapter, so I haven't focused on them too much as people have already read what happened and I didn't want to just be repeating myself.
Hermione neatly placed her packed bag and jacket on her bed before leaving her bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind herself. Hermione then headed down stairs to where her parents were checking they had everything for their weekend. Hermione's parents were going to a dental convention in Brighton for the weekend while Hermione was heading to Malfoy Manor to spend the weekend with her boyfriend and his parents.
Hermione's parents had no idea she was also going away for the weekend, they thought their daughter was going to spend the weekend at home. When she was younger Hermione had always attended the conferences with her parents, once she had started school she usually spent the weekend with either Harry or Ron's family. Since both of her friends families were still on holiday Hermione had managed to convince her parents she would be perfectly fine on her own, the fact that she was nearly eighteen and very responsible had meant her parents had agreed to her staying home alone easily.
When she first heard about the conference Hermione had originally planned on inviting Draco to spend the weekend at her house but when he had shown up a few days ago with the news Lucius had the information she wanted she changed her plans. The plan was now for Hermione to spend the weekend at the manor, dealing with the information Lucius provided and getting to know more about her parents. Hermione was also going to mention her plan of getting vengeance to Lucius, in the hope he would help. Hermione knew that while she and Draco could cause some damage themselves Lucius was much better placed to inflict serious harm to the Order.
"Okay sweetie, we're off," Jean said, hugging Hermione goodbye. "Call us if you need anything."
"She'll be fine," Richard told his fussing wife. "We'll be back Monday lunch time, be good," he said, addressing Hermione.
"I will," Hermione smiled. "See you on Monday."
Jean fussed over Hermione for a few more minutes before the Grangers finally departed. Hermione stood in the doorway watching her parent's car driving out of sight before she turned to head back upstairs to grab her bag. Hermione had just began to ascend the stairs when she heard a noise in the front room, pulling out her wand she tiptoed towards the sound.
"What the hell," Hermione exclaimed, spotting the source of the noise. "What are you doing here and how long have you been here?"
"It's nice to see you too," Lucius responded, fully removing the disillusionment charm from himself. "And to answer your questions I came to see your parents and I've been here a while."
"Why were you speaking with my parents?" Hermione asked worriedly. She didn't want her parents knowing who she really was in case they said something to the Potters or Weasleys and her plan for vengeance was ruined. "And why were you hiding?"
"I was hiding so your parents didn't see me," Lucius explained. "After our talk I wiped their memories of ever meeting me."
"Why talk to them, then wipe their memories of the talk?" Hermione questioned, wondering what Lucius was up to.
"I needed some information from them," Lucius replied. "I promise I'll explain later, but for now I might as well take you back to the manor."
"Thanks, I'll get my bag," Hermione said, summoning her bag and jacket.
Once Hermione had her bag and jacket she held onto Lucius as he apparated them directly into the manor. Hermione knew the wards of the manor had been altered to accept her but if she had come alone she would have had to apparate into the grounds, only members of the family could apparate directly into the manor. Hermione knew this from the time Draco had brought her to the house the first time, the only reason he hadn't brought them straight into the house was because Hermione had specifically asked to see his house from the outside before she entered for the first time.
Hermione recognised the room they had arrived in as the front room in which her first meeting with Draco's parents took place. She and Lucius had barely arrived before two house elves appeared in front of them.
"Dobby, go and find Narcissa and Draco and tell them our guest has arrived," Lucius said to the first elf.
"Yes, Master." Dobby bowed low before disappearing with a crack.
"Misty, take Hermione's bag and place it in Draco's room," Lucius told the elf before turning to a surprised looking Hermione. "I take it you would rather stay in Draco's room, it'll save the pair of you the hassle of having to sneak about the place in the middle of the night."
Hermione blushed at Lucius's words, causing the older wizard to laugh at her embarrassment. Hermione was quite surprised by Lucius's relaxed attitude towards her and Draco sharing a bed, she knew that technically they were adults and could do as they wished but she had still expected some sort of parental resistance. Hermione knew her own parents wouldn't have entertained the idea of letting Draco stay over in her room and she had assumed that his parents would be the same.
Luckily for Hermione, Draco and Narcissa chose that moment to enter the front room, saving her from more embarrassment.
"It's lovely to see you again, Athena," Narcissa said, embracing Hermione. "Sorry, Hermione," she amended, remembering what Lucius had said about using not Hermione's given name just yet.
"It's nice to see you too, Mrs Malfoy," Hermione responded with a smile. "And don't worry about the name. I know I said I'd rather keep the name Hermione but I don't mind if you call me Athena."
"Thank you, dear," Narcissa smiled, relieved that she could keep using the name Athena. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't get away with the name Hermione. "And please, call me Narcissa."
Hermione agreed before turning to her boyfriend. Draco greeted her with a smile and a quick peck on the cheek. Hermione couldn't help but smile at the restrained nature of Draco's greeting, normally he would have given her a proper kiss but in his parents presence he had clearly decided it wasn't the wisest move.
"Shall we all have some tea?" Narcissa asked. "It's a lovely day, we can go and sit in the garden."
Hermione was itching to know what Lucius had found out, although she was here for the entire weekend and had plenty of time to discuss her plans. "That would be great. Draco says the gardens are pretty spectacular."
"They are," Narcissa smiled. The gardens of the manor were her pride and joy and she could spend hours outside in the summer. "I'll give you the guided tour over the weekend."
"That would be nice," Hermione replied as they made their way to the gardens for mid-morning tea.
G.O.V.
"You don't have to do this, Athena," Narcissa said, moving to stand beside Hermione.
Hermione was currently staring at the stone pensieve that was sitting on Lucius's desk. Lucius had just poured the memories into the basin, ready for her to view them. Over lunch Lucius had explained about the memories and how he had gained them. Both Lucius and Narcissa had offered to tell Hermione what they contained but she was determined to see for herself what had happened the night her parents were killed and she was kidnapped.
"Is it really that bad?" Hermione asked Narcissa. She had noticed that the older witch was particularly keen on trying to stop her from viewing the memories.
"Watching your parents getting killed is something no-one should have to see," Narcissa replied. "But I admit events were a lot more shocking than I had anticipated."
"I appreciate your concern Narcissa, but I have to do this," Hermione said to the older witch.
"It'll be okay, mother. Hermione won't be alone, I'm going to be with her the entire time," Draco said, taking hold of Hermione's hand.
"Good," Narcissa said, pleased that Hermione wouldn't be alone when she viewed the memories.
"We'll leave you to it," Lucius said, gesturing to his wife to leave the room with him. "We'll be in the front room when you're done."
"Thank you," Hermione said before she turned back to the pensieve sitting on Lucius's desk.
Narcissa gave Hermione a quick hug before she followed her husband out of the study. Once they were alone Hermione led Draco to the pensieve and together they emerged themselves into the memories.
When they landed in the memories Hermione took a look around the room they found themselves in, in the centre of the room was a large table with lots of people gathered around it. Hermione recognised a few of the people in the room despite having no idea where exactly they were. The fact that Dumbledore was standing at the head of the table getting ready to address the room had Hermione confident they were about to witness a meeting of The Order of the Phoenix.
Draco and Hermione stood silently as Dumbledore began speaking, neither were surprised when he mentioned attacking Hermione's father. A mention of a prophecy however had the pair confused.
"What's he talking about? What prophecy?" Hermione asked.
"I have no idea," Draco replied. "Although I'm guessing it concerns your father in some way."
Hermione nodded as the pair continued to listen to the conversation. When Snape's name was mentioned as being a spy neither Hermione nor Draco were surprised. Lucius had explained Severus's part in events, he had also explained that he was now firmly on their side once again.
As Hermione listened to the plans being made she kept watching the people she knew, waiting for them to protest against Dumbledore's plan. Hermione was disappointed when no-one really argued against the headmaster, apart from a few feeble protests they all nodded along and seemed content with the plans. Hermione was still struggling to reconcile the fact that not even Molly and Lily had argued against the plans when the meeting ended and the room disappeared.
As the room they had been standing in disappeared, Hermione and Draco found themselves standing outside a large house in the middle of the night. They listened as Dumbledore gave out final instructions before splitting the group, taking James, Sirius and Arthur with him and leaving Frank and Remus outside to keep guard. Because the memories were from Sirius, Hermione and Draco found themselves following the group that headed towards the property.
As they watched Dumbledore effortlessly break into the house both Hermione and Draco wondered why Voldemort didn't have tighter security. It was obvious from the way Dumbledore broke the wards and knew where he was going once inside the house that he had been planning his night-time attack for quite a while and had good knowledge of the house and its security.
As Hermione and Draco followed the men upstairs Hermione tried to look around at the house she should have grown up in, unfortunately it was too dark for her to see anything too clearly. It wasn't until the men stopped briefly outside a door that Hermione realised that she had heard nothing from the occupants of the house, they seemed oblivious to the fact there were people trespassing on their property. Hermione was still wondering when her parents were going to awaken and start fighting when Dumbledore opened the door and the men quietly entered the bedroom.
Draco realised what was going to happen before Hermione and held tightly onto his girlfriend's hand. Once in the bedroom the moonlight from the window illuminated the sleeping couple and Draco knew they weren't going to wake. As Dumbledore and James raised their wands Hermione realised what was going to happen. Seconds before two killing curses were performed Hermione turned and buried her head in Draco's chest.
Draco stood with his arms wrapped securely around Hermione as Dumbledore and James killed her parents in cold blood. Even when Dumbledore announced he was off to kidnap her as a baby, Hermione remained firmly in Draco's arms. Draco watched as the three remaining men trashed the house and staged a fight, all the time holding Hermione in his arms.
It wasn't until the scenery changed and they found themselves back with the Order that Hermione raised her head and looked up. Draco could see the tears silently falling down her cheeks so he gently brushed them away and wrapped his arm securely around her waist. Hermione smiled gratefully at Draco before she returned her attention back to the room. She then watched appalled as they celebrated her father's death, even Dumbledore announcing that a woman and a child had also been killed barely dented the celebrations.
The only consolation for Hermione was witnessing Snape's reaction. When Lucius had explained about the Potions Professor being with the Order before turning back to the dark Hermione had been sceptical. She was worried that Snape would return to Dumbledore and inform him of what she knew but watching his horrified reaction Hermione was pretty sure that Snape wouldn't betray her.
When the scene flickered again Hermione and Draco expected to find themselves expelled from the pensieve and back in Lucius's study but instead they found themselves back in the first room they had visited. Instead of the full Order being present it was just Dumbledore, the Potters, the Weasleys and Sirius.
Hermione was just about to voice her puzzlement as to why they were witnessing a memory that clearly wasn't from the night of her abduction when Dumbledore began to speak. Quickly she realised that he was explaining what had happened to her after he had taken her from her home in the dead of night. Hermione knew her questions about how much the Potters and Weasleys knew about her were about to be answered.
When the prophecy was mentioned yet again Hermione got the impression it was more about her than Voldemort. Before she had the chance to mention it to Draco however she heard Dumbledore mention her muggle father's name. Hermione felt more tears fall as Dumbledore explained how he had given her to a squib and his wife to raise as a muggle, now she had more questions about what her parents knew of her true identity.
Hermione was still trying to get her head round the fact her parents had been in on Dumbledore's plan all this time when the headmaster started explaining how he planned on manipulating her future. She listened in horror as Dumbledore planned her friendship with Harry and Ron while he plotted to keep her away from Draco. Hermione immediately sensed there was a special reason he wanted her away from Draco but unfortunately they didn't elaborate any further.
By the time Dumbledore finished speaking and the memories dissolved, Hermione was only just beginning to realise how much he had manipulated her over the years. What was worse than that though was finding out the Potters and Weasleys had done the same thing. Everything they had done, befriending her and helping her adjust to the wizarding world, had all been on Dumbledore's orders.
"Are you all right?" Draco asked his girlfriend. He had been quite shaken himself by what he had witnessed and could only imagine how terrible it would have been for Hermione.
"Not really," Hermione admitted, looking up at Draco with tear filled eyes.
"Do you want to go and rest before dinner?" Draco asked. "I'm sure my parents will understand."
"I'd like that, but first I want to ask your father a few questions," Hermione replied, a dark look flashing in her pain filled eyes. Even though she'd already thought about revenge on the people involved in her kidnapping and her parents murders, she now knew it was what she needed to do in order to be able to move on with her life as she would never be able to just sit back and let what happened to her parents go unavenged.
Draco nodded and took Hermione to the front room where they found Lucius and Narcissa waiting anxiously for them. Narcissa immediately rushed forward and wrapped Hermione in her arms, causing the younger witch to break down in tears. Narcissa spent a good five minutes comforting Hermione before they all sat down and began to discuss what Hermione and Draco had witnessed.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," Lucius said. "We had no idea that Tom and Adelaide had been killed so callously. If I had known I would have retaliated a long time ago."
"We can retaliate now," Hermione said darkly.
"What do you mean?" Lucius asked, wondering if the young witch meant to gain revenge for her parent's deaths. He certainly hoped so as he was eager to see just what the daughter of The Dark Lord was capable of.
"I'll explain over dinner. For now I have a couple of questions to ask," Hermione said, refusing to discuss her plans for revenge when she was still digesting what she had seen and heard over the course of the afternoon and now had some more decisions to make in regards to people she'd always thought she could trust. "They kept mentioning a prophecy. Do you know anything about that?"
"Not until recently," Lucius replied. "According to Severus, Dumbledore learnt of the prophecy around the time of your birth. He only told me of it when I revealed your true identity to him a few weeks ago."
"Why didn't he mention it after my parent's deaths?" Hermione asked.
"He thought you were dead," Lucius explained. "He wasn't trying to keep it from me, he just didn't think about mentioning it as you weren't around."
"What does the prophecy say?" Draco asked. "I'm assuming it has something to do with Hermione."
"Actually it has something to do with you both," Narcissa said. Lucius had told her about the prophecy when Severus had told him about it.
"The prophecy speaks of a powerful girl who is the spawn of the dark, with her she brings war and wisdom." Lucius paused slightly, noticing that both Hermione and Draco seemed to have made the connection with Hermione's birth name. "The prophecy then states the girl will rule the world with her dragon at her side."
Hermione turned to face Draco, immediately realising why Dumbledore and the Order were so keen on keeping her away from Draco. She was also wondering if that was why her friends and their families were so against Slytherins and used any opportunity to put them down. Now she knew the truth Hermione could clearly see that right from when she met the Potters and Weasleys they had been trying to turn her against Slytherins.
"That's why they attacked wasn't it?" Hermione asked, turning her attention back to Lucius. "They were scared the prophecy would come true."
"It certainly looks that way," Lucius said. "I'm sure eventually they would have launched an attack against Tom but I actually think the main objective of that night was to get to you."
"Yes, get to me and place me with a squib who was told to raise me as a muggle," Hermione responded bitterly. Her parent's potential betrayal was proving to be the hardest and most painful to deal with and her heart was breaking at the thought of the loving couple who had raised her being liars. "Do you know how much my parents know? Is that what you were doing there this morning?" She asked Lucius, hoping he could tell her something that would help make her feel better.
"Yes, that's what I was doing there," Lucius replied with a nod, impressed Hermione had immediately came to the correct conclusion. "As for what they know, you shouldn't be too hard on them. They didn't know who your real parents were."
"What did they know?" Hermione asked. "Surely Dumbledore told them something? They at least knew I was a witch."
"The night you were taken Dumbledore showed up at their house with you. He said that your parents had been killed and that you were in danger in the wizarding world. He asked them to raise you as a muggle and keep you safe. They thought they were doing the right thing, especially as they knew about the war. They had no idea you had been kidnapped, and your parents brutally murdered by the man who gave you to them," Lucius explained. "I looked through a lot of their memories and they genuinely love you. The only thing they've ever lied to you about is the fact they've always known you were a witch."
Hermione breathed a huge sigh of relief, the thought of her parents also been in on Dumbledore's plan had been painful but at least now she knew they were only doing what they thought was right. She was also glad to know that they genuinely loved her, no matter what happened she wanted to maintain a relationship with the loving couple that had raised her and that she loved deeply.
"I'm going to show Hermione the manor," Draco announced, pulling his exhausted girlfriend off the sofa. "Then she's going to rest before dinner."
"Dinner's at the usual time," Narcissa said with a small smile, understanding Hermione's need to rest after what she'd witnessed in the pensieve.
"And I've invited Severus," Lucius added. "I hope you don't mind." He aimed his last sentence to Hermione. He'd noticed earlier that she was disbelieving that Severus was really on their side but he was hoping the memories would have helped her place a bit of trust in his friend.
"Not at all," Hermione said before Draco escorted her out of the room.
Draco offered to show Hermione around the manor but she refused, all she wanted to do was lie down and think about what she had discovered. When Draco mentioned not knowing which guest room she was occupying Hermione took great pleasure in informing her boyfriend that she was staying with him. Draco looked thrilled with the idea and quickly hurried them to his bedroom.
Hermione barely paid attention to Draco's large bedroom as she flopped onto the enormous four poster bed. Curling up on the black, silk sheets, Hermione asked Draco to stay with her, although she made it clear she wasn't ready to talk about what had happened yet. Draco lay on his bed and wrapped Hermione in his arms as the witch thought about everything she had discovered.
Hermione couldn't help but focus her attention on the small group of people who knew the truth about her. Not only had two of them killed her parents but then they had all manipulated her and deliberately set out to make sure she stayed on the light side. Ironically though their actions had awoken something dark in Hermione, now all she wanted was to see the people who ruined her life suffer.