A/N: So it is Thursday and I have PT in a little more than three hours, I regret nothing.
Good news! After almost two months of searching I finally have a job! Which is great, but unless I consistently get Tuesdays and Thursdays off my updates will probably be few and far between, I will still update, but between work, the gym and PT I probably won't have a whole lot of time to get these chapters out... Sorry guys, but I do only do this for fun, I don't make any money from it and money is needed for bills. Now, last chapter was not only short, but probably brought up a few questions, hopefully I can answer those in this next chapter. Without further ado, Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve:
The silence in the Great Hall was almost as deafening as the howling wind had been not a moment ago, Lucius was left staring at the two blonde witches tangled together in utter shock. Originally he had thought that only a Black could bring another Black out of the emotional storm that cropped up from time to time, however it seemed at though he had been wrong all along.
"What the bloody hell was that?"
"Draco!"
"Mister Malfoy!" Both his father and Deputy Headmistress scolded the young blonde, despite the fact everyone in the room other than the two witches were thinking the exact same thing.
"We were all thinking it!" Harry snorted slightly at Draco's outburst, cringing when McGonagal leveled a stern glare at him.
Daphne sighed softly and turned to glare at the group of people behind her, her blue eyes sparking with annoyance, and a thinly veiled threat of violence should they continue to be loud. Draco, Lucius and Harry looked contrite, if Malfoys ever looked contrite. A quick levitating charm saw Hermione's unconscious form following her as she walked over to the group that had been pushed to the outer edges of the Hall by the last blast of wind.
"Mister Malfoy, do you know what that was? Or why Hermione's magic called me to her?" Lucius choked on the breath he had taken to answer the Greengrass Heiress,
"Her magic called you?"
"I didn't stutter sir, I was avoiding breakfast because I didn't wish to see her with Mister Potter and her magic called me. It started as a slight ache in my chest and then turned into a sharp pain, and a pull. Her emotions were all over the place." Lucius swallowed and ran a hand through his hair,
"I hope they can wake Pia soon... I don't know how to handle this." He mumbled more to himself than anyone else, though the rest of the group could easily hear his words.
"Something is wrong with Pandora?" Minerva couldn't truthfully say she had ever really like the elder Malfoy, he had been arrogant in school and even more so when he graduated, but he had been utterly devoted to his betrothed, and she to him. Pandora had been one of the few Slytherins who did not treat Gryffindors with disdain and even went out of her way to make sure her younger brother and his friends were warned about pranks and such her housemates intended to pull on them, even going so far as to tell McGonagal anytime she felt a prank would go to far. Because of the young witch's actions Minerva had been able to make sure Sirius and his friends remained fairly safe within the school. It had truly broken her heart when she heard from a drunk and emotional Sirius that his elder sister had died.
"Narcissa cursed her out of jealousy, the women of the Black family are working on pulling her out of the curse."
"Why is Hermione not with them?"
"She's not old enough, her magical core isn't mature enough for the ritual that B..." Lucius caught himself before he said his former sister-in-law's name, "They are using."
"Mister Malfoy, you have yet to answer my question, what was that?" Daphne's voice was tinged with mild annoyance, but her face was a perfect mask of indifference.
"That, I believe was part of the Black family curse. Narcissa never exhibited any symptoms of the family curse, but Pandora did have an incident similar to this in her fifth year, Professor Dumbledore had to call Bellatrix to come calm her down, strangely enough she was already on her way."
"I don't think that's strange, if it was so similar to what happened here, perhaps Lady Black's magic called out to her cousin."
"Then way did Hermione's magic call out to you? The Greengrass's are not related to the Black's at all, nor are they related to the Malfoys."
"I suppose we will have to wait until we can question Lady Black about it. I however will not be leaving Hermione's side until I know it is safe for me to do so, obviously my presence calms her magic and we wouldn't want anyone to get hurt now would we?"
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Bella, Andy, and Tonks were all drenched in sweat as they stood in a triangular formation around Pandora. Bella's hands were on either side of her cousin's head while her sister and niece stood off to the side near the cursed woman's feet. They had been channeling magic for the past two hours and had barely gotten anywhere with the curse placed on Pandora, but they couldn't lest the stasis charm break and the curse speed up it's deadly path through the younger woman.
"Bella..." Andy's voice was weak and her hands were shaking slightly, she hadn't channeled this much magic in years.
"What?"
"Maybe... maybe if we took the stasis charm off she could help us fight the curse from within? Right now we're fighting around the stasis charm just to get to the curse... what if..." Bella cursed herself silently for not thinking of that sooner, if she could just push past the stasis charm and talk to her for a moment, the way they used to be able to before she had "died". Bella hissed in pain as she latched on to the weak thread that connected Pandora to her and pulled, but rather than pulling Pandora to her she pulled herself to Pandora.
"Bella?" Bellatrix gave a mental jump for joy at the sound of Pandora's mental voice.
"Dora! I can't stay long, Andy and I, along with her daughter Nymphadora are trying to break the curse on you, but we are having to fight through the stasis charm that Lucius placed on you. We're going to break it and have you help us fight the curse. This is the only way we could find to break the curse, and it's going to be painful." Pandora hummed softly and took a deep breath,
"Do it. I'll do my best to help."
"Don't worry, we'll get you fixed up and then we can work taking Narcissa down. You don't harm family, and this goes far beyond that."
"Do it Trixi. We'll talk when I can physically hug you."
Bella let go if the thread and eased out of Pandora's mind before muttering the counter spell to the stasis charm. She expected her cousin to scream and thrash on the marble altar she had been placed on but she didn't, the muscles in her jaw clenched and her entire body went rigid before her entire body began to glow, her own magic was helping theirs tear the curse apart.
Three hours passed and the glow finally faded from her cousin's body, Andy and Tonks collapsed to their knees and took deep breaths but Bella couldn't relax until she knew for certain that her cousin was safe from harm. One diagnostic charm after the other left her wand as she walked shakily around the alter, hope and trepidation warring in her chest.
Every charm turned up that she was fine, letting the older witch finally sink down next to the altar, her eyes slipping shut briefly.
Bella found herself startled awake by Sirius leaning over her and shaking her shoulder slightly,
"We're getting ready to have guests who don't know the truth of what happened, you may want to make yourself scarce." Pandora was standing behind him, looking a little worse for wear, but otherwise fine.
"Do you want me to leave Dora?" Bella's voice cracked slightly, her hurt showing on her face until the wild haired witch shook her head.
"Stay, please... If anyone has an issue Nymphadora and Andromeda can vouch for you."
"Pandora..."
"No Sirius. My magic will go out of control without her near for a while, they can deal with it. We'll make sure everyone knows the real story of what happened to the Longbottoms, once they are woken they can confirm it." The Black Patriarch sighed softly and gently patted his older sister on the shoulder before leaving the room.
Bella stood slowly and faced her cousin, her mental anchor, just as she was Pandora's magical anchor.
"Have you told your daughter about the Black family curse?" The younger witch shook her head,
"I have a feeling though that that is the reason Lucius is bringing her here now instead of allowing her and Draco ride the Express." Bella's brows rose into her hairline,
"Lucius is bringing them here directly? What happened?"
"Apparently Lucius left to explain to them what you, Andy and Tonks were attempting in person rather than in a letter or waiting until they came home this evening. He got no further than casting a silencing charm before Hermione lost it... According to Lucius's Patronus they had to evacuate the Great Hall because her magic could have easily injured the younger students."
"How did they calm her down? The one time that happened to you at school they had to call me in to calm you down. Other than Draco there are no Blacks at the school, and the family magic wouldn't allow an Anchor to be a sibling because of the possibility of animosity between the two." Pandora shook her head and shrugged,
"I assume it was Potter, his grandmother was a Black, which makes them distantly related, but Lucius wouldn't say who managed to pull her out of it, only that she is now unconscious and they will be flooing home once she wakes." Bella frowned slightly and shook her head,
"No, I don't believe it would be the Potter boy, I'd sooner think it was a Weasley than Potter." Pandora bristled slightly and shot a dark glare at her cousin, opening her mouth the refute the elder witch's words, but Bellatrix held her hand up to stop her tirade, "I have nothing against the boy, I can't even begin to explain how happy I was when I found out that the Dark Lord was dead, however, our family magic is just as prejudiced as our parents were, possibly because of a ritual performed long before we were born. The Potter boy is a half-blood, our magic wouldn't allow him to be Hermione's Anchor, it would test him briefly before deeming him unworthy of being her Anchor. You forget cor meum soror mea, our family magic is just as sentient as we are. It chooses our Anchors for us." Pandora sighed and leaned heavily against the wall of the ritual room, Bellatrix was right, Harry couldn't be her daughter's magical Anchor, nor could Draco, the blood tie between them was far too strong. Nymphadora was only a half-blood as well which put her out of the question. Andy was too old to be Hermione's Anchor. There were no descendants of the Black family line that their family magic would approve of, unless it had chosen a Weasley but she highly doubted that, which means their family magic would turn to someone not of the blood, but with a strong bloodline and extremely strong feelings for her, whether platonic or romantic, it didn't matter. A small chuckled left the worried mother, she wondered who their magic would have chosen for the headstrong young woman, and what their feelings for her consisted of.
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Hermione woke to raised voices once again in the past two months,
"She's coming home with me so her mother can explain to her what just happened!" That was her Father's voice. A startled shock went through her, when did she start thinking of Lucius as her Father?
"She's our daughter! You didn't even want anything to do with her for sixteen years of her life." Hermione's eyes snapped open to reveal the familiar ceiling of the Hogwarts infirmary.
"I didn't know she existed until two months ago Mister Granger, through no fault of my own, I only seek to get to know my daughter a little better and prepare her for whatever life she wishes to lead." Lucius's voice had gone ice cold and Hermione fought a shiver, she knew her father was pissed and trying very hard not to show it.
"Mum... dad... eh... f-father." The blonde witch sat up slowly, her head was pounding and she was extremely sore, but it wasn't a physical soreness, she was sore down to her bones and exhausted.
"Hermione!" Emma Granger rushed to her daughter's side. She may not have given birth to the sixteen years old young woman, but she had raised her as her own and no one would ever tell her that Hermione was not her daughter.
"How... How are you here?"
"Professor Dumbledore brought us here after your episode..." Hermione frowned,
"Why didn't you come when I was in Saint Mungos? Or when I was petrified in second year?" Emma blinked slightly, not quite expecting that question. "You didn't ask if I was okay after I told you that I was attacked by a troll in first year..." Hermione's eyes narrowed in an accusatory manner, deep grey turning to steel.
"Hermione... we..." The incensed witch cut her adoptive father off,
"What parents in their right minds would send their child back to a school where they got attacked by a bloody troll! Or petrified by a sixty foot monster? I was attacked by a werewolf in third year and stuck under a lake in the middle of February last year!"
"Well... we just assumed... that..."
"Oh, I'm magical so I can handle all that, right?" Magic sparked through her hair.
"Hermione..." The blonde shook her head,
"I want an explanation! Why didn't you ever write to Dumbledore, or my Head of House? I have been in danger every year and I find out now that you two have always been able to come here! I wasn't even in danger today!" angry tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as the two muggles looked at each other, both at a loss for what to say.
Lucius stepped forward, having heard enough from his once again distraught daughter,
"Mister and Missus Granger, I would kindly ask you to leave before you distress my daughter further, she has already had a difficult day and I don't believe she needs any more stress added to it."
"She's our daughter! You have no right to throw us out of here!" Lucius frowned and leveled the muggle man with a deadly glare.
"In the muggle world she is legally yours. However, Magical Britain doesn't give a rat's ass about a muggle's claim to a Pureblood Heiress, especially considering that she is the production of two of the most powerful families in the magical world. I can quite easily rectify your claim to my daughter in the muggle world as well, muggle paperwork is no match for magic. So you can either leave now, or I will call Pandora up here to sit with her daughter while I go fix the travesty that happened fifteen years ago."
"Dan..."
"No, Emma, Hermione is our daughter." The muggle man snapped vehemently,
"Dan!"
"We are not leaving without our daughter!" Hermione slid out of her bed and went to stand next to Lucius, leaning slightly into his side when he wrapped a protective arm around her.
"Go home. We can discuss this later, right now I need to know about what is going on with my magic, this is the second time I've had to be calmed down because my magic responded to my emotions and could have hurt people."
"If you stay here you aren't going to be welcome back in our home." Daniel Granger had just crossed a line that even Emma couldn't stand back for. The tiny muggle woman stepped in front of her husband and slapped him so hard even Lucius winced.
"How dare you Daniel Granger!"
"No, she wants to chose magic over us then she can stay with her biological parents. We can adopt another child, a normal child!" Emma stared at her husband like he had lost it, "I had hoped if it seemed like we didn't care about what happened to her she would stay home, obviously that didn't work. So now she has a choice, and she better make it fast." Hermione's shock and despair quickly turned to anger,
"Magic is a part of me, whether I was born yours or not. You're asking me to chose between a part of myself and the life you want for me! That choice will always be the same. I will always chose magic over living my life missing a part of myself." Dan glared at the blonde witch who looked almost nothing like the girl he put on the train in September,
"Fine, don't darken our doorstep ever again." Emma stood in her place, shocked, as she watched her husband walk out of the infirmary.
"Hermione..."
"Aren't you going to follow him?" Her daughter snapped, refusing to look her in the eye.
"Hermione Jean Granger!" Emma snapped, crossing her arms over her chest to fix the young woman with a stern glare, "Dan never told me about all those incidents, I would have been up here in a heartbeat if I had known. Dan may not agree, but you are my daughter in every way that matters and I want to keep in touch and maybe meet your biological mother and your brother?" Silvery grey eyes met deep brown and Hermione nodded slightly, tears streaking silently down her face. "Oh, baby girl come here."
Hermione launched herself into her mum's arms and sobbed brokenly, she couldn't believe her dad had tried to make her chose between her magic and him.
"Honey, I have to go. I promise I'll write to you okay?"
"Okay mum. I love you."
"And I love you too hon. I'll try to visit as often as I can. Dan may find himself running the practice by himself from now on." With that last threat mumbled Emma kissed Hermione on the crown of her head and left the infirmary, fury at her husband boiling in her stomach. Daniel Granger was in for it when they got home.
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A/N: This took me nearly five hours to write... About half-way through the chapter my stomach decided it hated me so I had to miss PT. Now I gotta get home and make dinner. URG. Bye everyone, until next time R&R!
