Good Afternoon everyone! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, and if you did... Well here's another one! I hope to get the bonus chapter up this evening (GMT) So stay tuned!
O_o_O_o_O
"Good morning Miss Granger." Remus greeted formally, as he made his way up to the head table where the headmaster was already sitting.
"Good morning Professor Lupin-Black." She replied, nodding her head at him as he hurried past. She was down early, maybe a little too early as the only other students in the hall were a bunch of older year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, bent over books, chattering away to each other, and comparing homework notes. He made a note to approach her later to ask how her first night had been. It did not seem as if she had waited around for any of her fellow dorm mates this morning.
"I see you have already met some of our students Remus." Dumbledore said in lieu of a greeting as Remus sat down to breakfast.
"Good morning headmaster." The werewolf greeted cordially. "I have met a few students already, Miss Granger it seems, had a spot of trouble on the train with one of Professor McGonagall's new Gryffindors yesterday. I spoke to her last night about it and planned on speaking to the head of the young man's house this morning."
"I hope it wasn't anything to serious my boy."
"It wasn't, however I feel that professor McGonagall should be made aware." Remus answered. "And with all due respect headmaster, it is Lord-Regent or professor Lupin-Black. You forget that it has been a long time since we last spoke and I cannot remember giving you permission to address me by anything other than my family name and title."
"Forgive me professor." Dumbledore ground out. "I meant you no disrespect."
"You are of course excused headmaster." Remus replied with a nod and starting to serve himself breakfast. His mate was currently over at the manor having breakfast with Frank, Alice and little Luna, explaining the events of last night. Xeno had argued with Dumbledore until he was blue in the face to allow his daughter to witness a sorting so that there were no concerns for her the following summer, and after almost three hours of informing the headmaster that it was her right to be there, Dumbledore had caved and Luna had joined the Ravenclaw table for the evening. She had returned to the manor early with Sirius and he was due back just before the first lesson whilst she wouldn't be re-joining the group until the following week. Remus looked up at the doors swung open once more and all of the first year Slytherins were led into the hall by two of their prefects. Neville, Harry and Draco instantly took seats facing Hermione and gave a wave and a smile, which she returned.
"I see your heirs have already started to make friends." Dumbledore commented at the exchange between the four pre-teens, lightly brushing Remus's mental shields as he did so.
"Indeed." Remus answered stiffly. "Please excuse me headmaster, for I've rather lost my appetite." He stood and left the hall, his breakfast untouched. He had not missed the headmaster's intrusion and he knew that they would all have to ensure their defences were impenetrable whilst in the old man's company. This year, it seemed; would be a lot harder than they first thought.
O_o_O_o_O
Harold watched as Remus talked with the headmaster with narrowed eyes. He hadn't missed the flash of anger on his Uncle's face and he knew that Dumbledore had tried something against Moony's mental shields. Since joining the house and bonding with his father, Moony seemed to have joined Remus's consciousness and instead of being two separate entities, the man and the wolf were one. It made his Uncle both extremely protective and extremely dangerous when confronted and Harold knew that the headmaster had been close to a conflict as soon as he had tried to read Remus's thoughts.
"I think we have a problem." Neville whispered in his ear. Harold nodded, his eyes still not leaving the headmaster.
"Yeah, he needs to be careful before Uncle Moony does something that none of us can come back from."
"No Harold, I mean we have a problem with Hermione." Neville watched as Harry's eyes darted to the Ravenclaw table. Hermione was sat eating her breakfast with her head and eyes down.
"What's wrong?" He asked quietly.
"She's upset." Neville answered simply. "Don't ask Harold." He said when his brother turned to give him an unimpressed glare. "You know I can't explain it." Draco sighed at the side of them before getting to his feet, triggering curious looks from the rest of their year group.
"I'll sort it." He said. "Leave it to me." He marched quickly to the top of the hall, passing Remus with a smile as the man made his way out of the doors and was soon heading back down to where Hermione was sitting alone. "What's wrong owl?" He asked, planting himself down onto the bench at the side of her.
"Nothing." She replied a little too quickly. "I'm fine."
"No you're not." The blond replied, studying her brown eyes. "We can all feel it." Hermione sighed and dropped her spoon back into her bowl of porridge.
"I don't think I belong in this house." She said quietly, looking back down into her bowl. "Two of the girls in my dorm hate me, at least one of the prefects think I'm out for glory by hanging around with you guys and the group of older Ravenclaws over by the Hufflepuff table have been talking about me since I arrived in the hall. Sometimes I just want to disappear." To Draco's surprise, he caught sight of her facial features changing slightly as she said this and as soon as she made eye contact with him again, they reverted.
"You're going to be fine Owl." He said firmly, making a metal note to seek out Sirius as the earliest opportunity. "In fact, you're going to be brilliant. You're powerful, intelligent and you have a thirst for knowledge that rivals Harold's. It will just take some time to settle in. It's only the first day." Hermione nodded, knowing that her new brother was right. "If you're still having problems at lunch, come and find us in the library. We're going to stick by you Hermione, whether you need us to or not."
"Thanks Ghost." She said with a smile. "I guess it's just the nerves."
"Anytime Owl, you know that." Draco replied getting back up and gripping her shoulder. "See you second period." He sauntered off back to the Slytherin table just as the doors opened to admit the rest of her housemates and she realised that they hadn't even been given timetables yet.
O_o_O_o_O
"Good morning Professor." Remus greeted as he entered the transfiguration classroom. McGonagall was sat at her desk transcribing lesson notes, completely oblivious; it seemed to the fact that it was breakfast time.
"Good morning to you too Professor Lupin-Black." She greeted with a smile. "What can I do for you?"
"Firstly you can call me Remus Professor." He replied with a smile. "Second of all, I wished to talk to you about one of your students."
"Am I to assume that this is to do with an altercation that took place on the train yesterday between a certain Mr Weasley and your sons?" She asked. The youngest of the Weasley boys had headed straight to her after the feast, the previous night ranting about the Blacks, Malfoys, Deatheaters and the Dark Lord and he had already been warned about making such allegations against his fellow students.
"In part." Remus replied. "I am more concerned over his treatment of a certain muggleborn Ravenclaw whom was insulted before being shown the way to the prefect's compartment instead of the first year carriages. Of course if you wish to discuss this as a group with all parties involved, I'm sure that I can come and get the boys and Miss Granger to come and see you at lunch."
"That would be perfect professor." McGonagall replied. "If you could also escort them, I would be most grateful."
"It would be my pleasure Professor McGonagall." Remus replied with a smile before turning to leave. The boys had provided him and Sirius with their memories yesterday, so he would know exactly who was responsible for what, if the young Weasley decided to deny it.
"And Remus?" McGonagall called after him, as he was just about to open the door. "Please call me Minerva." Remus smiled and nodded, his eyes shining with emotion.
"Thank you Minerva." He said softly before leaving, closing the door almost silently behind him. They had discussed McGonagall at great length in the months running up to the start of the new school year. Not knowing just how far in Dumbledore's pocket she was had made it hard to plan for anything. They had decided to see how it went for the first term and then decide how much they could trust her. It was a risky game, playing things by ear, and it was a situation that none of them had been happy to be forced into. However, they had no choice and if they were going to get through the next seven years, there was bound to be times where they would have to improvise. Remus sighed and pushed himself off of the wall he'd been leaning against, making his way towards the classroom he was due to share with his mate. He was exhausted already and they'd not been in the school twenty four hours yet. This was going to be a long year.
O_o_O_o_O
"Where did you go this morning?" Padma asked, sitting down next to her new dorm mate and helping herself to some breakfast. "You were out of the door before any of us were even awake.
"I needed some air." Hermione answered honestly. "Like I said, this is all new to me."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Padma said, rolling her eyes. "You're a muggleborn, first in your family and all that, spare me the details. The sorting hat placed you here for a reason so stop playing it up and just be straight with me. You've already done the reading for this year, you've tried some basic spells and you are excited as hell to be here."
"Okay." Hermione admitted with a smile. "You are right. I am excited." Padma grinned in triumph and placed her hand on Hermione's shoulder.
"I get the feeling you and I are going to get on great." She said with a grin.
"I hope so. I've never really had a lot of friends before. I was always a bit of an outcast."
"I'm sure you'll be fine here." The Indian girl laughed. "Sure there is always the few narrow-minded idiots that view muggleborns as inferior but, that shouldn't matter to you, the way I hear it, you've already made some powerful friends." The two girls glanced over to where Harold, Neville and Draco were sitting before turning back to their breakfasts. "The Blacks are one of the most influential families in the country." Padma explained. "They are masters of politics, leaders of the dark faction and filthy rich." The Indian girl glanced over at the two brothers once more. "Not to mention they're bloody gorgeous." She blushed and looked away as Neville gave her a smile. "Damn Blacks." She mumbled under her breath. Hermione laughed at her new friend's obvious crush and her laughter only increased when she caught sight of a faint blush on Padma's cheeks.
"I forgot to ask." She said after a while. "Who is who are the other two girls in the dorm? I didn't get names last night." Padma let out a bark like laugh and clapped Hermione on the back.
"The Asian one is Cho Chang and the other blonde bombshell is Marietta Edgecombe." She said. "You knocked the wind right out their sails last night, let me tell you, and impressed the hell outta me. Anyone who can pull a stunt like that and get away with it is someone worth knowing." The two girls looked up as the doors to the great hall opened and sighed when their dorm mates stepped through and made a beeline for where they were sitting. "Talk of the boggarts, and they appear." Padma mumbled. Hermione let out a giggle even though she had no idea what a boggart was. She envisioned some sort of tentacle like creature with green suckers and went with that. To their delight, Cho and Marietta sat some way down the table and as the rest of their year group trickled into the hall they were moved further down still by a group of third years.
"Thank God for that." Hermione muttered, not knowing if she could cope with a run in with her dorm mates this early in the morning.
"We say Merlin." Padma said offhandedly. When she received a puzzled look from Hermione she rolled her eyes and explained. "If you're going to be one of us, you have to start talking like one of us." She started. "Instead of God, Goodness or whatever else muggles use, we say Merlin. So instead of; 'thank God for that' we say; 'thank Merlin for that'."
"So Merlin was real?" Hermione asked, tucking away the phrases in her head and concentrating instead on changing the subject.
"Of course he was real!" Padma exclaimed. "He was the first Warlock, the first born to tangible magic. Sure, the Druids had a gift for some of the more benign magiks such as potions and Herbology but, Merlin was the first to actually be able to control his magic. Morgana was the second and so it went on for generations. Merlin lived until he was 500! Some say that he was the real first known creator of the Philosopher's Stone, I mean, the workings had to come from somewhere right?" Hermione was just about to start asking more questions when a squeal of 'timetables!' emitted from Padma. Hermione turned to see their head of house handing out timetables and she wondered why she had yet to meet the small professor. "Are you even listening?" Padma asked impatiently.
"What?" Hermione asked, turning towards her friend with a blank look. She had apparently missed something.
"I said; I wonder what we have first lesson?"
"We have either Potions or History second." Hermione replied. She was shot a questioning look from her friend, and it was her turn to roll her eyes. "Draco told me they'd see me second period." She explained. "The only reason they'd know what we have second is if Professor Snape or Professors Black and Lupin-Black told them. I'd bet it was one of the other two, Snape is their head of house."
"How very perceptive of you Owl." Came a voice from behind the two girls. They jumped and spun around to see Neville stood behind them. "Draco however, would like you to know that we'll be seeing you sooner than that. We have Potions together first thing."
"Mr Black." Professor Flitwick addressed, approaching the eldest Black heir. "Please return to your own house table."
"Apologies professor." Neville said respectfully, giving the diminutive professor a half bow. "I was just passing on a message of good wishes to our friend Miss Granger. I did not mean to cause any trouble." The surprise on Flitwick's face could not have been any clearer and he cleared his throat, standing, it seemed a little straighter than he had been before.
"It's quite alright Mr Black." He said. "But please make your way back so that Professor Snape does not lose count of his first years."
"Yes professor." Neville said with a nod. He turned and gave Hermione a bow, taking her hand and giving it a light brush of his lips. "Until first period Miss." He said before he straightened up and gave her a nod to let her know that he would explain later. He gave Flitwick another bow and made his way back to his seat.
"You're just friends." Padma dead-panned giving Hermione a calculative look. She shrugged and turned back to her breakfast, ignoring the gossip that was now circulating around the table.
O_o_O_o_O
"How did it go?" Harold asked as his brother joined them back at the table. They knew that they had to give Hermione some form of protection so they had decided quickly to acknowledge her as under their protection.
"Worked like one of Mother's charms." Neville replied, sitting down and digging into his cereal. "They didn't even wait until I was away from the table. It will be all over Hogwarts that she is a friend of the house of Black before this afternoon."
"There is no way on Avalon that the purebloods wouldn't have recognised what we have just done there." Draco added. "She will become the most protected girl in the school."
"We need to talk to Uncle Remus and Severus before first period." Harold said quietly. "A lot has happened in the last 24 hours and we need to tell them everything."
"Uncle Remus is in his office." Neville replied. "He left as we came in and isn't coming back. Dumbledore tried something against his shields."
"We have half an hour at the end of breakfast before we're due in class." Draco whispered. "If we can get Uncle Sev as we're leaving the hall, we can take him up to Uncle Remus."
"I think we need to tell Father and Uncle Remus what happened last night." Harold replied. "We can't ask Sev to keep it to himself and we're going to need the support they can give us."
"You need to be careful Harold." Neville said quietly. "The castle might not be the best place for a discussion like that. Especially when Uncle Siri is involved. Do you think there is any way we can home tonight?"
"Their Floo has been set up already." Draco said, raising a shoulder. "We'll need to be seen before we go but, we can Floo home tonight."
"We can't wait that long." Harold quickly argued, shaking his head. "It has to be this morning."
"Then we discuss it this morning and let Uncle Remus bring Uncle Siri up to date." Neville answered with a nod. "But, we need to go now if we want to tell them everything."
"You two go on ahead, I'll get a note to Uncle Sev and he can bring Hermione along."
"No." Harry snapped, cutting his cousin off. "We go together or not at all. There is no way we're going to be treading the corridors solo. We have to stick together."
"Right then." Draco announced, standing up. "We go now."
"You get Sev, we'll get Hermione." Neville agreed, standing with his cousin. "Come on Harold." Harry sighed and got to his feet, mindful that the headmaster's eyes were on them.
"Tell him to follow us out in a minute or two." He whispered to Draco. "We don't want Dumbledore making the connection between him and Hermione." The blond nodded and headed off in the direction of his godfather. "Come on." Harold said, leading his brother towards Hermione once more. "Miss Granger if you would allow us to escort you to your potions lesson we would be most grateful." Hermione nodded and stood, not trusting herself to speak as took her new brother's offered arm.
"Wait until we're out of the hall for questions." Neville whispered at the side of her ear, almost silently. "Draco will meet us in the entrance hall." They walked towards the door and Draco appeared at the side of them as they reached it.
"I told him Uncle Moony had business to discuss with him after breakfast but missed him." The blond answered at Harry's questioning look. The youngest member of the group nodded and they made their way out of the hall, ensuring that the doors were closed behind them.
"We're going to see Uncle Moony." He said softly to Hermione. "We have things to discuss and you're involved now. There are things that you're going to hear this morning that are going to need protecting, therefore I will put a temporary shield on your mind until you have mastered the mind arts. The headmaster has a way of reading your thoughts and memories and there is a lot of information that is going to have to be stowed away. It will not harm you and you will know it is there, its just for a few days until we can help you to build a rough set of defences. You're going to have to learn how to meditate and protect your mind over the next few months, we will help you with that." Hermione nodded, frowning, but didn't speak. They made their way up into the higher levels of the castle until they reached the door to the History classroom. Draco pushed it open and they piled in, again ensuring the door was closed behind them before rushing up to the office belonging to Remus and Sirius.
O_o_O_o_O
"Uncle Moony we need help." Draco said, rushing into the office and jumping to sit on the edge of Remus' desk. "Harold's lost his mind, Hermione is sad and I know a secret that none of you do." Hermione burst into giggles at the sight of the Malfoy scion sat up on the desk with his arms crossed and his nose in the air.
"My dear Draco, I am quite sure that you're over reacting again." Remus said, doubling Hermione's hilarity. "Why don't you start at the beginning?"
"What our dear brother-cousin is trying to explain is that Hermione was quite upset at breakfast this morning." Neville translated.
"It's nothing guys, I'm fine." Hermione argued. "It was only the first night and nothing was ever going to run smoothly for me. Things never do."
"You're under our protection now." Harold answered. "What Neville did at the breakfast table this morning, put you under our protection. It was a move that most of the pureblood's would have recognised. By acknowledging someone formally as a friend automatically puts them under the protection of that house. You will be the most protected girl in Hogwarts by this evening." Hermione wasn't sure quite how she felt about that. To have a house such as theirs agree to protect a muggleborn would obviously be a risk for the boys to take. She decided to talk to Harold on his own at a later date. He was obviously the leader of their small group and despite having had roughly the same amount of interaction with him as she had the other two boys, she felt like she didn't really know him as well.
"If you need to speak with either Sirius or myself we can usually be found up here or in our rooms." Remus said softly to the girl. "Our rooms are on the charms corridor behind a painting of a stag, a wolf and a black dog, standing in a field of lilies."
"Thank you uncle Remus." She replied with a smile. "I know that there a lot of things going on that I don't know about, and I also understand the reason behind you not telling me. As soon as I can get some defences I can know things, so it just means that I will have to get busy learning how to build those defences. Until then though, I would appreciate a little warning before you go and do something that changes my position in the school. I'm not sure how comfortable I feel, knowing that you are now basically my keepers. I want to look after myself too." She looked towards the three boys as she said this and smiled to herself when she saw them look a little guilty.
"We're sorry Owl." Draco said, responding first to their new sister's concerns. "We just want to protect you the best we can. For someone to have such a bad first evening as to look like you did in the great hall this morning, well it's not good, even by Hogwarts standards."
"Draco is correct." Remus replied. "It is not just Hogwarts that has it's problems, our entire society is quite bigoted against muggleborns, half breeds and dark creatures. I myself am a werewolf, and have been shunned by the majority of this society for the best part of my life. It was only when Sirius and I became consorts that I started being treated like a person. It was the knowledge that I was joining the house of Black that saved me. The boys are, in their own way trying to do the same for you, but I am sure that they will discuss things with you fully in the future."
"We're sorry Hermione." Neville and Harold said as one. "We were worried about you."
"Thank you guys." The girl replied with a smile, deciding to feel touched by their gesture, rather than worrying about it.
"What else did you wish to speak to me about?" Remus asked, turning to the trio. "Whatever it is, it needs to be quick, classes start soon."
"Well the thing is..." Harold started slowly, trailing off when he realised he didn't know how to break the news.
"We need Uncle Sev for this one." Draco replied, smirking when there was a knock at the door. The potions professor entered when bid and frowned at the small gathering that was appearing to take place inside the werewolf's office.
"What's wrong dragon?" He asked, turning to his godson and closing the door. "You wouldn't have risked getting a message to me like that unless it was urgent." The potions master walked around the desk and took a seat at the side of Remus, conjuring up a chair with his wand.
"The dark lord is in the school." Neville said, believing in getting straight down to business, rather than sugar coating the situation.
"Say that again." Remus whispered. "I don't think I heard you correctly.
"Yes you did." Harry said, squaring his shoulders. "Voldemort is in school, which means there is something going on that we don't know about. There is no way he would risk exposure just to teach firsties how to defend against tickling charms. My cover is going to be blown by the end of the year because we've been too worried about Dumbledore to consider threats from other sources. We've known for years that he had the potential to return and yet we didn't even consider the fact that Harry James Potter was due to turn up with the first years yesterday."
"I've heard that name before." Hermione said, frowning. "And Voldemort's. Didn't they have something to do with a war?"
"Voldemort is a dark lord who tried and failed to take over the wizarding world for the side of the dark." Harry explained. "He lost his mind half way through from dark rituals and lost. Harry Potter stopped him when he was just a baby in his crib. He was hit by a killing curse, one of the three unforgivable curses of our world. It ends your life quickly and cleanly and even now, he is the only known survivor of it."
"He died a few years ago in a muggle fire that ripped through London." Remus said tightly.
"The fire of Little Winging." Hermione answered. "My father told me of it. They called it the second great fire of London."
"It is a lie." Harry said. "The fire was real, and muggle in origin, it had nothing to do with the wizarding world however and Harry Potter did not die in that fire."
"Harold…" Remus started.
"No Uncle Moony, she has a right to know." Harry snapped. "My cover will be blown by the end of the year anyway. Better for her to know now that find out with everyone else."
"You're Harry Potter." Hermione whispered, her eyes glancing at his forehead, the story coming back to her now and the knowledge of a lightning bolt scar hiding behind his fringe returned to her. "You destroyed Voldemort and you survived the killing curse. Now you're hiding within the dark sect, presumably away from Dumbledore and now the dark lord is in the school and knows who you are."
"He doesn't know for sure." Harry replied. "If he did, it would have been more obvious to me."
"We need a plan Uncle Remus." Neville piped up, looking at the werewolf and Severus. "What do we do?"
"We do nothing." Severus said angrily, standing up and banging his fist on the desk. "That means no half-baked schemes to meet with him, no playing games that could get you killed and especially nothing that endangers our entire operations within this school. Yes this is unexpected however, you need to treat this delicately and with discretion."
"We need to pull Luna out." Remus said. "We should be pulling all of you out."
"We need Luna in the castle now, more than ever." Draco argued. "If she can offer us any insight whatsoever into this then it could be a game changer. We keep this quiet from Xeno and carry on as planned. If we pull her out Dumbledore will begin to suspect something isn't right. She can't see anything behind through the manor wards and it is unfair to keep her somewhere that damages her sight. She has to be here."
"The brat is right." Severus agreed, turning to Remus. "Dumbledore is a perceptive old man and he will not let the matter go if we do pull her out."
"Fine then." Remus said with a nod. "We carry on. However, if we catch any whisper of plans regarding you four and the Dark Lord, you are all getting packed off to Beauxbatons and away from the country."
"Agreed." Harold said with a nod. "We'll be careful."
"Not just careful Harold." Remus said warningly. "You need to be full proof and you need to be safe. I'm serious when I say that you are not to go after the Dark Lord."
"Thank merlin for that." Draco sighed, relieved. "He was ready to meet with him last night."
"It's time you were getting to your potions lesson." Severus said sharply. "Your professor does not appreciate tardiness. We will continue this tonight." The four nodded and made their way to the door.
"Harold." Remus called as he watched his son leave angrily. "We love you cub. We love you all. We just want you to be safe." Harry nodded tightly before leaving and closing the office door behind him.
"This is going to be a long year." Severus sighed, massaging his temples.
"My sentiments exactly." Remus replied tiredly.
"So who gets to tell Sirius?" Remus groaned at that and let his head fall onto the desk with a thump.
Please let me know what your thoughts are!