Hello Lovely Readers!
Here's the next bit. Hope you enjoy it. Feel free to let me know if you think I'm being a bit of a bitch by leaving it where it is lol.
Ciao!
~VTM
Chapter Eleven:…Youth and Enthusiasm
Severus led her away from the floor after that and Slughorn caught up with them again for another round of 'Meet and greet'. The entire time, all Hermione could think of was her encounter with the Headmaster. She wondered how he knew, or in fact if he knew at all. She wouldn't have been surprised if he had only said it to put her on edge, give his suspicions grounding.
"What did he say?"
She was brought out of her musings by another familiar voice. She looked up to see Eileen standing by their side. She looked rather concerned as she surveyed the other girl before turning to her son.
"Severus, could you please go and get us some punch?" She asked him with a smile. It was then that Hermione noticed he looked just as concerned as Eileen. She briefly wondered where his older counter part had got to but put it out of her mind as Eileen led her over to a dark corner of the room.
"What did he say to you? The Headmaster?" She asked again.
"Nothing important," Hermione told her swiftly. Eileen rolled her eyes.
"Hermione, remember who you're talking to," she hissed, "I've only ever seen one person but that kind of fear in your eyes before."
Did she really look fearful? She didn't feel it. She was angrier than anything else, more shocked and surprised that Dumbledore had even thought to accuse her…
"What did he say to you?" Eileen asked again.
She hesitated, but answered nonetheless.
"He asked if I had seen Tom recently," Hermione whispered, "I told him no."
Eileen's brow knitted together in confusion.
"How did he know?" She asked, "I mean, Leopold hasn't been there when he's come to call, has he? And surely even if he had, if you asked him to-"
"He would keep it quiet," Hermione nodded, "But no, he hasn't been there."
"So then how would he-?" Eileen cut herself off, "Then again, maybe he was just saying it to get a rise out of you. He used to do it all the time to us in school. Whenever he didn't have any concrete fact he would…lightly intimidate people, keep pushing until he got answers."
Hermione said nothing. Eileen's argument made sense and yet she couldn't help but think that it was more than that.
"Look," Eileen said after a while as she saw Severus make his way back, "Just put it out of your mind for now and deal with it later. He's gone back to his office now. You won't have to see him again at least until tomorrow."
Hermione gave her a brief smile of thanks as she accepted the punch from Severus and Eileen moved back into the crowd to find Leopold. Severus then settled down beside her and she couldn't help but note the concern in his eyes.
"My mother is very fond of you," he said.
"Yes," she smiled back after taking a sip from her cup, "But for the life of me I can not understand why."
"For the same reasons I am…fond of you," he seemed to struggle with the words and it was rather comical. Hermione couldn't help but smirk.
"Oh really?" she laughed, "Come, Mr Snape, do lavish me with words of affection."
"I'd rather not," he rolled his eyes.
"Oh? Why is that?"
"Your head is already overly large with that brain of yours," he smirked, "I wouldn't want to crush it with a puffed up ego."
She laughed and lightly smacked his shoulder. He took a sip from his own cup before depositing it on a passing elf's tray. He then took her cup out of her hands and placed it on the floor.
"Hey, I was drinking that!" She said, trying to sound offended but the smile on her face made it halfhearted.
"Slughorn is on his way," he told her, "And unless you want to go and meet Mr-"
"Let's go," she cut him off, taking his hand and practically dragging him across the room. However they made it all of five steps before Severus was abruptly stopped by the sound of his name. He and Hermione turned back to see a young man coming towards them with a curtain of white blond hair and a pale pointed face. Hermione felt chills go up her spine as a young Lucius Malfoy made their way towards them. He looked so much like Draco had before the older Severus had given him a makeover. The fine cheekbones, the pale skin, the shade of blond on his head…it was all just so familiar. She had to resist the urge to hug him the moment she saw him and wipe the look of wonder and longing off her face.
"Lucius," Severus actually smiled at the man, "Good to see you. Is your father here?"
"He had to decline and sent me in his place," Lucius smiled back. It was almost baffling. What little memory she had of Lucius Malfoy was of a cold man, constantly calculating and spiteful towards anyone who crossed him. This young man seemed surprisingly open and polite.
"I'd like to introduce my partner, Miss Narcissa Black," Malfoy said, bringing forward a very pretty young woman with equally blond hair and lithe figure. She seemed very timid but smiled at the both of them nonetheless. Hermione had seen the future Mrs Malfoy even less than she had seen her husband and yet this was also remarkably different to what she had witnessed.
Severus stepped forward cordially and kissed the older woman's knuckles and then proceeded to introduce Hermione. At the sound of her name, there was a considerable change in Lucius. While Narcissa shook her hand and smiled back at her, Lucius didn't seem to know whether to bow or strangle her. Clearly Tom hadn't kept his intentions toward her entirely quiet. Finally he bent forward and brushed his lips against the back of her hand much in the same way that Severus had.
"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Evans," he said quietly.
"And you, Mr Malfoy," she replied politely, fighting as hard as she could to keep her smile on her face.
"Tell me, has Severus been treating you well?" Narcissa suddenly piped in as she took Lucius' hand in her own as though to remind him who he should be gawking at. Clearly she took his expression to be one of interest rather than wonder or confusion.
"Yes, very well," she smiled back, "If it were not for him, I'm sure I would be bound to Professor Slughorn's wall and gawked at by all the guests he deems to be important."
"It seems all the lessons we gave him paid off then," Narcissa smiled as Hermione looped her arm with Severus', as though it were some confirmation that she wasn't after Lucius.
"Lessons?" Hermione asked her.
"Before we left Hogwarts ourselves," Lucius seemed to snap out of it, "Severus was rather…antisocial, so we took it upon ourselves to train him in the ways of the gentleman in case a lady such as yourself caught his eye."
"Did these lessons include dancing, by any chance?" She asked him as she felt Severus become uncomfortable.
"No, his mother taught him all that," Lucius smirked, "The table manners, etiquette and general cleanliness are all our doing."
She couldn't help the giggle that rose in her throat and Severus glared at her as the sudden image of him walking around with a pile of books on top of his head invaded her mind. She then turned her eyes back to Lucius who was staring at her again with concerned eyes. This time it was Severus himself who broke the silence.
"Narcissa, I wonder whether you would permit-" He was cut off when said woman was promptly dragged away from them. It took a moment for Lucius, Severus and Hermione to react but then they promptly ran after the now wailing woman, instructing the man carrying her to put her down or suffer the consequences. It reminded Hermione of a movie she had once seen in her time involving a princess who knew karate, a talking donkey and an ogre with poor eating habits.
The three of them caught up with Narcissa and her captor just as she was carted out the dungeons and up into the Entrance Hall. Hermione drew her wand from the holster on her leg and fired a well aimed stunner at the man's back, causing him to drop Narcissa and turn and face the three of them wildly. When he did turn around both he and Hermione froze in place. Cygnus Black stood before her, his daughter screaming angrily at his side as he stared at his former friend in shock.
"Mr Black?" Lucius exclaimed, suddenly bowing his head, "I apologise sir, I didn't recognize you."
"I can't believe you did this to me!" Narcissa screeched, her lady-like exterior suddenly disappearing to be replaced by a spoiled child. That seemed to snap his eyes away from Hermione and return his mind to the current problem. He glared down at his daughter.
"Go back to the manor," he growled, "Your mother is waiting for you there."
"I'm twenty-three years old!" she screamed, "You can't just order me-"
"You aren't too old to go over my knee girl!" he roared, "Go! And if you think this is bad, just wait until your mother gets a hold of you!"
Narcissa paled at the thought of meeting her mother but resigned herself to meet her fate. In one last act of defiance she walked straight over to Lucius and kissed him passionately. Cygnus looked about ready to murder the two of them but Hermione gave him a stiff shake of the head and it seemed to keep him still until they had finished. Narcissa waked out of the hall with one last glare towards him.
"Pleasure to meet you Miss Evans," she said stiffly as she went.
"You too, Miss Black," Hermione managed to smile back. Her attention was then drawn back to Lucius and Cygnus. Lucius' eyes were following Narcissa out the door with a sort of goofy smile that didn't quite belong on his aristocratic lips and Cygnus was breathing heavily, glaring with all his might.
"Might I suggest we take this discussion elsewhere, gentlemen," Hermione said, "This place is far too open and I think it would be prudent to save ourselves further embarrassment."
Reluctantly, the two older men agreed and Severus placed a protective arm around her shoulders as she directed them inside the Great Hall and into the adjacent trophy room. It was small, compact and there were no portraits that could carry word of the forthcoming argument to Dumbledore or any of the other teachers. Aside from the Room of Requirement this was the perfect place for them to battle it out.
"Now before you start yelling at each other, please give me your wands," Hermione said to the two of them. All three men looked alarmed. It was rather impertinent of her to ask such a thing seeing as one of the men she barely knew at all and she had to pretend to know nothing of the other. Severus was certain that the girl had a death wish.
"You know I can hurt him without a wand," Cygnus told her.
"Yes, but cuts and bruises and broken bones can be healed," she told him, "Curse scars, can not."
"I am not handing my wand over to someone I barely know," Malfoy argued coldly.
"Then give it to me," Severus suggested, "You know that she's right. If he curses you then your shame will be made public."
They were hesitant at first but after a while, Lucius retrieved his wand from his pocket and gave it to Severus. Hermione looked pointedly at Cygnus who handed his over with a sigh. She instantly placed it inside her holster and kept her own in her hand. She and Severus then took their seats by the school cup and watched and listened to the shouting match that soon began. It was incredibly one sided, with Lucius only getting in a few words as Cygnus warned him away from his daughters and told him that he would never be good enough for any of them, let alone his youngest. He screamed that he was only going after Narcissa because Andromeda was taken and Bellatrix wouldn't look at him twice and he wouldn't see his youngest in a loveless marriage just because Malfoy was too arrogant to pick a lesser bride. Malfoy argued weakly that that wasn't the case, that he had honorable intentions towards Narcissa and that this had nothing to do with his pride. He had indeed been attracted to Andromeda first but that had been while he was in school and now that he was free of the confinements of Hogwarts he was able to see which of the Black sisters he really loved.
Hermione for her part watched the argument with growing anxiety. Is this how it went before she had ventured back in time? Did Cygnus really tell the son of his best friend to sod off when he asked for Narcissa's hand in marriage? Had Lucius really been after Andromeda first? Or was it all her doing? Had she really screwed up the timeline that badly? It was true that this Lucius was very different from the one that she remembered, the same with Narcissa…but surely that wasn't her fault! Maybe they grew bitter and snobbish with time?
No. She had changed too much. She needed to fix this before the night was out. The only question was how she was going to do it. She watched a little more as the two men became more heated in their words and looked on the verge of a brawl and Cygnus had taken a hold of Lucius. Suddenly the door to the trophy room was thrown open and a ragged looking Abraxus burst through. The moment Cygnus saw him, he unhanded the man's son and threw a punch in the elder Malfoy's direction with a roar of untamed rage. It landed straight on Abraxus' nose, sending the elder man flying back through the door again. The younger Malfoy then dropped all pretenses of being polite, grabbed the nearest trophy and rammed it into Cygnus' gut, only to be tackled by his own father as the darker man hobbled out of the way. At first Hermione thought it had been a mistake but then she saw Abraxus land a punch on his son's cheek and the son began fighting back. Soon all three of them were fighting each other, no sides drawn, each out for their own and the result would have been rather comical had the trophy room not been half destroyed by the end of it.
"Are you bored yet?" Hermione leaned back on Severus' shoulder. He ran a hand through her now loose hair soothingly before flicking his wand and erecting a three way barrier between the men. She was surprised by the gesture at first. It was almost as if she were with the older Severus for a few moments, but she said nothing about it. Each of the now caged men looked around in shock, Abraxus finally having the thought to draw his own wand instead of throw punches and then they looked directly at the only source of their separation.
"Are you quite finished children?" She asked them, "Because I would like to get to bed some time soon."
Abraxus went to disarm the wards but Severus disarmed him before the thought even crossed his mind. His wand rolled along the floor until it reached their feet and Hermione picked it up, placing it next to Cygnus' in her holster and it was then that the answer suddenly occurred to her.
"Severus," she said quietly as he continued to stroke her hair, "Would you mind taking Lucius outside? I need to have a word with the other two."
Severus glared down at her in confusion.
"I don't like that idea," he told her.
"I'm armed, they're not," she told him, "I'll be fine."
He thought about it for a few moments.
"Very well," he told her before moving from his seat and ushering Lucius from the room. Hermione then demolished the barrier he had made and watched as the two older men glared at one another. Cygnus then began to walk towards her, not taking his eyes off of the elder Malfoy as he went and without warning he embraced her tightly. For a few moments she relished the contact, wrapping her arms around him too before releasing him.
"Mind telling me why I feel so old around you?" He asked with a small smile.
She couldn't help but smile back.
"It's a long and complicated story which will have to be explained at a later date," she told him, "Suffice it to say I don't belong in this time and I'm struggling to get back. For the moment I want to focus on you two."
That seemed to make him glare at Malfoy again who seemed to sneer at the other man even more now that he had his arms around Hermione. She couldn't tell whether it was because he deemed her as his master's prize or because he wanted to be in his place. There was no doubt in Hermione's mind that Cygnus had the better deal of the two. He had the love of a beautiful woman that he was free to love in return, was not being forced to serve a mad man or trying desperately to keep his son under control. It was very clear that in his mind it was better to be a Black than a Malfoy at the moment.
"First of all," Hermione began, "I thought the two of you declined your invitations to the party?"
"I did," Abraxus told her, "My wife is ill, so I sent Lucius in my place."
"Yeah, you sent him with my daughter!" Cygnus started yelling again, "I meant what I said Malfoy, your son will get nowhere with any of them!"
Hermione silenced him with a soft touch on his arm.
"From the way he was beating him up just before, do you really think Lucius went on his father's orders to take your daughter to the party?" She asked, "Come on Cygnus, be reasonable."
"She's right," Abraxus glared, "I told him to pick another."
"Then how-"
"Your daughter went to him," he said simply, "Asked him to accompany her. Apparently Slughorn invited her because of her position beside the Minister for Magic and she wanted a date for the evening. Lucius was the first one she sought after."
"So why-"
"Because I told him to respect your wishes," Abraxus cut him off, not needing to know where the conversation was going, "I told him to stay away from your children and for the most part he did. It seems however that Narcissa has a few…hidden talents when it comes to men. I always told you that Veela blood in your family would come back to haunt you-"
"So you're telling me it's my fault she has a thing for your decrepit, idiotic-"
"My son is not decrepit or idi-"
"He isn't worth the ground Cissy walks-"
"If Narcissa wasn't such a-"
"Both of you shut it!" Hermione silenced them. They each looked at her then as though they had forgotten she was there in the first place. She rolled her eyes at the two of them.
"Is this really what you two have been reduced to?" She asked, "The heads of two of the world's most powerful families reduced to bickering like an old married couple? It's ridiculous."
"He started it," Cygnus muttered.
"Did not," Abraxus muttered back.
"Did too."
"Did not."
"Don't care," Hermione told them with a sigh of frustration, "And whether or not you two interfere, your son and your daughter are going to get together and stay together for many years to come."
They both looked at her with surprise.
"You know that…for a fact?" Abraxus asked her carefully.
"Yes," she told him, "It'll just go a hell of a lot smoother if you two lay off and let it happen."
"My daughter should not have to be reduced to being a Death Eater's wife," Cygnus growled.
"It's going to happen, Cygnus," she told him, "Make your peace with it."
"Why do you care so much that we leave them be?" He asked.
"Because someone very dear to me will be born from that union," she told him firmly, "And I will not have my interference with time putting a stop to it."
"How could you coming back to-"
"Because if it weren't for me you wouldn't have been thrown from the Dark Lord's service," she told him bluntly.
"Is anyone going to let me finish a sentence?" Cygnus huffed at the ceiling.
"If I hadn't come back to 1944 then you would have stayed a Death Eater," she told him, "You would have remained friends with Abraxus, gone on to marry Druella and had your daughters and married them off to the first purebloods who would take them."
"I would never-" He began angrily but she cut him off again.
"Not now," she told him reassuringly, "I know that now you would never do such a thing but…if I hadn't come back then you would have done exactly as every other pureblood had done before you. It's just the natural order of things and I disrupted it."
Cygnus seemed conflicted and as far as Hermione was concerned he had every right to be so. On the one hand he had his youngest daughter's life and freedom to care for, her wellbeing and safety. On the other he now had Hermione's burden of knowing things could possibly turn catastrophic if he kept her away from Lucius Malfoy. Who knew what would happen if he disrupted time's tapestry that was slowly trying to be repaired.
He closed his eyes, almost as though he were in pain and then turned to Hermione.
"Will she be happy?" He asked, his voice little above a whisper, "Will he keep her safe from him?"
She stuttered.
"I-I can't answer that," she whispered.
"Hermione please," he said quietly, "This is my daughter. You must tell me."
"I can't Cygnus," she told him, "It will weigh on your decission-"
"Which is why I'm asking you," he said, taking her hands in his, "Begging you. Please. Will she be safe with him?"
Hermione stared at him for what felt like an eternity. Images and memories assaulted her conscience viciously as she remembered what Draco had told her in the early days of her journey into 1944, when all this chaos had begun…
"I watched my mother die for me," he whispered back, "I won't let anyone else do the same."
She could almost hear his voice inside her head now, urging her to tell him no, ordering her to tell him the truth and save Narcissa from the fate that she had been given. He would have done anything he could to save his mother from the torture, torment and eventual death that she had suffered. But she could also hear Severus' voice inside her head, urging her to lie, telling her that the world had to come first, that time could not be altered…
For the greater good…
She couldn't help but remember those four little words that had been uttered too many times for her taste. They always seemed to pop up when she had difficult decisions to make such as these, tormenting her, goading her, laughing at her as she struggled to do what she thought was right. They were a weight on her shoulders that she couldn't seem to shift.
For the second time since she had escaped 1944 she felt as though the world was much too small for her, as though the knowledge she had acquired and the knowledge that had been hers to begin with made her an anomaly in a world that wasn't made for her.
And it was suffocating. It was torturous and hellish and frightening but her friend was waiting for an answer…
She looked up at him and took a deep breath, trying as best as she could to keep the tears in her eyes from his vision as she used three words that she prayed she would never have to utter in bad faith again.
"He loves her."
She waited for him to make some kind of noise or signal to let her know what his next move would be but for the longest time he simply stared down at her, as though searching for some kind of lie. But her gaze was unflinching and her resolve was firm, no matter how much it tore her apart inside. Then he let go of her hands and turned back towards Abraxus.
It was when he was about to speak that the door was thrust open once more. Hermione had expected it to be either Lucius or the young Severus but was stunned into silence when Eileen and the older version of her son walked into the room. As the blond man took in the scene before him, as he saw two of her former friends glaring at one another and Hermione firmly in the center she could almost feel his temper rise. She thought that he would begin to yell or bark orders at her but it was Cygnus who broke the silence.
"You may tell your son," he said to Abraxus, "That he has my permission to court my daughter."
He then proceeded to storm out of the room, wordlessly summoning his wand, grabbing the hand of a shocked Eileen as he did so and dragging her with him. There was little protest from the woman who was simply happy to see her old friend and didn't even notice the presence of her former lover as she left. Blond Severus then turned towards Hermione with a murderous glare.
"What," he hissed, "Have you done?"
But Hermione wasn't listening. She was still reeling from Cygnus' decision, still trying to reconcile her own guilt. No matter what happened now, she knew that she had just played a very large part in the murder of Narcissa Black-Malfoy.
Then she suddenly felt him shaking her. He was so angry, yelling at her, barking orders…But she didn't hear any of it. It were as though she had suddenly gone deaf, her emotions acting as a shield against the abuse that was being hurled at her for telling Abraxus and Cygnus the truth. She distantly saw Abraxus try to pull him off her but he didn't succeed. It was then that Lucius and the younger Severus ran back into the room at the sound of a raised voice. As Hermione heard nothing, she didn't know how much the other two learned but she didn't think it was much. At seeing the younger Severus enter the room, tears began to leak from her eyes and she seemed to slowly come back to her senses.
"…Destroyed everything!" He roared, "You'll never learn will you? You'll never understand that the world can't be all rainbows and sunshine! Sacrifices must be made! Impertinent, stupid, selfish cow!"
What she did next was purely instinct. She gripped the wand in her hand, her breathing labored and she silently blasted him away from her. He landed on a trophy case on the other side of the small room, crashing into the glass and staring at her completely stunned by her actions. It was then that he noticed her tears, her body hunched over, racked by sobs.
"After," she struggled to gain enough control of herself to speak clearly, "After wh-what I just did…don't you dare call me selfish."
And she left him staring after her then. She shoved past both the Malfoys and the younger Severus, tossing Abraxus' wand to the floor and making her way up the stairs towards the seventh floor. It wasn't long however before the younger Severus caught up to her. She got the impression that he had never chased after an emotional girl before as he just stood there awkwardly at first. It was probably true actually, as she thought about it. She also knew that he was uncomfortable with tears, particularly a woman's tears. It was something that she had seen in both versions of Severus, young and old. But he seemed to find his feet as he at first took a hold of her hand and then brought her into a warm embrace. Her makeup ran all over his crisp, white shirt but he didn't seem to care as he just held her there in the abandoned corridor for what seemed like an eternity and she cried her heart out for all that she had done.
"Come," he whispered in her ear, "You aren't going back to your room tonight."
