Chapter 28

September 1979

It happened on a Wednesday.

It had been an ordinary day; as all of the days over the last few months had been. She had woken up that morning, and joined her parents for breakfast.

It had become something of a routine over the last two months of her pregnancy. She wasn't able to contribute to the fighting anymore, and aside from healing the odd injury or so, she found herself with not a lot to do, other than preparing for her baby's birth. It had taken a while in itself to pick out a name, finally setting on Hermione, after having spent hours reading up on Shakespeare plays which her neighbour, Jean, had recommended to her. And thankfully, having magic made prepping a lot easier.

Her parents had been monumental when it came to helping her out. Her mother had bought more toys and outfits than Marlene could have ever imagined. Honestly, she wasn't even sure Hermione would be able to go through all of them before she grew far too big. And her father had helped her get the furniture in the room ready. He had created a mobile that was enchanted for Hermione to stare at every night before she fell asleep, filled with magical creatures.

Fortunately for her, her friends had been extremely supportive. Or at least those she had told, had.

She knew it wasn't exactly safe for everyone to know she was with child, and aside from James and Lily, Peter, and Alice, not a lot of others knew. Marlene knew she probably should have told Sirius, but she knew he would pity her if he found out. With his insistence that Remus was the traitor, how could he be supportive of the fact that she was pregnant with his baby?

She loved her friends dearly, but it didn't change the fact that they weren't Remus

Not that she had even had contact with Remus since he left when it happened.

Despite the fact that she would have given anything to know about him, and had begged Dumbledore to tell her more than "He's safe".

From what she hoped, he was doing okay. She hadn't heard anything of his death, or even as much as a siting. And no news was good news right?

She supposed there was some problems magic couldn't solve.

Even if she wished she was enough for Remus to remember to write to.

She supposed it was the price she had to pay in all of this. Wars took their tolls on people. James lost his parents, Mary lost her life, and she lost Remus. No one made it out of it unscathed.

The world was hurting, and every day she could see it breaking, piece by piece.

It was a Wednesday morning when her water broke.

Marlene had been in labour for exactly seven hours before Hermione Jean Lupin had joined them in the world. And when Marlene looked down at the tiny baby in her arms, she wanted nothing more than to protect her daughter from the horrors of the world. She wanted to shield her child from the war, from the pain, and from the loss. She wanted nothing more than for her daughter to grow up with a mother and father, telling her how much she was loved every day. And she wanted her daughter to know that she loved her.

She wanted her daughter to grow up unaware of prejudice and hatred.

She wanted her daughter to not have to fight as she had to.

"I won't let anything happen to you, Hermione," Marlene whispered to her sleeping child. She had given birth in a muggle hospital, unwilling to risk anyone else finding about her child. And she lay in the bed there now, as her daughter lay in her arms. "I love you so much. And I promise you, your father will love you more than anything when he meets you, my precious girl. He'll love you, and care for you, and be there or you every step of the way."

"I'll protect you from all of this, I promise you," Marlene told the baby. "You'll grow up to be powerful too, just like those before you. Your grandfather likes to joke that we come from a powerful line of wizards and witches, and that they would be so proud of how strong we stood today. And like those witches and wizards, you'll be strong and brave too. You'll have the world at your fingertips, and I won't let a single thing harm you."

Hermione blinked awake and Marlene soothed her child, until the small girl fell back asleep once more.


"I need to tell you something," Hermione said nervously as she joined her father at the table. It had been a long day of her constantly thinking of the night before, and she knew as awkward as it was, she probably should tell her father of what happened. Well not all the details, but the gist of what it meant.

"Do I want to know?" Remus asked her with a raised brow.

"I don't know," she admitted as she looked up at him. "I bonded with Draco last night."

"Oh?" Remus asked, and she blushed slightly.

"Yes," Hermione said softly. "I love him, and it felt like the timing was right. And I wanted you to know, seeing how important it is."

"I'm not sure what you want me to say," Remus sighed. "Or if I should play the angry father card right now. Because I feel like that's what one is supposed to do in this situation. And that most fathers would get irrationally angry, and yell."

"But not you?" Hermione raised an eyebrow in response. She wondered if it was because she wasn't exactly a small child, or because Remus hadn't exactly raised her either, and didn't feel the emotional connection enough to get angry as he claimed he should. And it hurt slightly, because despite it only being a few months, she loved the man. He was the closest family she had left, and if he didn't even consider her family enough to care about the fact that she had taken the biggest step of her romantic life last night, what did that mean for them?

"Not because I don't love you," He told her, firmly, cutting off her train of thought. "Hermione, I love you so much, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I've only known about you for a few months. For I love you as if I raised you from birth. It has everything to do with the fact that I understand your bond with Draco. I understand that you're his mate, and I've been there for every step of your relationship. I've known that you love him for longer than you have. How can I get angry at you for following your heart? He makes you happy, and that's more than enough for me."

She felt her eyes water slightly, and Remus moved closer so he could wrap his arms around her and draw her close into him.

"I love you, Hermione. You're my only daughter, and I want nothing more for you to find happiness. And Draco is a good guy. I know you love him, so don't think for a second that my lack of anger has anything to do with my love for you. If he hurts you, then that's another story. Because you can be rest assured that I would not hesitate to show my anger at him then," Remus hugged her into his chest. "I'm so proud of you, Hermione. You're on the verge of your adult life, and you've already accomplished so much. And your mother would have been so proud too; you remind me so much of her every day, through your strength, your kindness, and your brilliance."

"I wish I could have met her," Hermione said softly, "I've seen her memories, but it's not the same as having her around growing up. She only got to be a mother to me for a year or so, but in that time, she seemed to have figured out how to do it. I don't know if I ever will, if I have children."

"You will," Remus reassured her. "Her and Lily both would have made great mothers. But merlin knows that James and I, and even Sirius, would have gotten in quite a bit of trouble for something or the other. Marlene would have probably taught you quite a bit of mischief. She grew up with James after all. It drove her mother crazy how unladylike she could be at times. But despite all of it, your mother was always so beautiful. She probably could have had her pick of men when it came down to it."

"But she loved you," Hermione told him.

"She loved me," Remus said with a smile. "I still remember the day she told me that she had feelings for me too. I was so mad at Sirius for trying to hit on her, to spite me, and I though she for sure would go for him. But she wanted me."

"You're a good father," she told him softly, "You've handled all of this far better than I have, and you've been nothing but supportive of me, even when I had no idea what I was doing. You could have kept be at arms-length as you have a new family now. But you took me in and you cared for me."

"As I always will," he promised. "Hermione, you're my daughter, my oldest child, and I don't intend on treating you as anything less."

She smiled, feeling relieved that their talk had gone so well, and that her father was supportive of her actions.


She was back at the castle, except it felt different. It wasn't filled with old magic. It all felt so new, and alive. As if there was power currently coursing through the walls all around her.

"Hermione," a tall dark haired woman said, as she appeared before her. "I've waited quite a while for you."

"Who are you?" she breathed, unsure of what was happening, "Is this a dream."

"I think you know the answer to both of those questions," Morgana told her, as she nodded at her. "We don't have much time, but we must talk."

"About the curse," Hermione stated. "Why did you cast it? Why am I here?"

"One at a time," Morgana told her with a soft smile. "I cast the curse because I thought it was the right thing to do. I wanted to save the wizarding world from my brother. I wanted to unite magic and muggles. I wanted to be able to use my powers to help people, instead of hiding them out of fear. But in the process, I became the monster."

"Yet so many innocent people died for your curse," Hermione reminded her, "Maybe those who died during your era were not so pure, but what of those since then? It's been two millennia. Why didn't you break the curse since then? You should have broken it long ago when you realized that you did reunite magic with muggles, even if not the way you desired. Merlin loved you, and Arthur was your brother. They would have accepted you back into their lives. There was no need for you to continue. You could have stopped all of this."

"I could have," she whispered, "But by then I was spiteful. I felt as if I had been wronged. I wanted to be the one who saved everyone. I wanted them to come to me; not turn on me and make the enemy. That was never how all of this was supposed to happen. Yet it did anyways. And history has written me as the villain, when I just wanted to help others."

"Why didn't you break it then?" Hermione questioned.

"Because I died," she murmured. "I never intended for it to go on for years. But I died before I could stop it. And none of my heirs broke the curse, if they even knew of it. By time the curse struck again, it became a myth and those who were my heirs did not understand the significance of their blood. But you have a chance now to stop it. You have a chance to right the wrongs, and restore the balance in the world. To end the curse once and for all."

"Me?" she questioned, unsure of what Morgana was saying to her.

"You have the chance now to undo what I've done. You and your friends," Morgana said, as the dream began to break apart, "Hermione, you are the key to all of this."

She wanted to ask more questions, but before she could, the dream broke apart around her, and she felt herself emerged into darkness, a thousand questions swirling around in her head, and the answers lost to her.


She had gotten to work early the next day, to write down everything she could remember about the dream she had the prior night. She had no idea of knowing if it was even real or if it had been created by her subconscious. But either way, there could be valuable information that she hadn't realized, and she needed all the help she could get at this point.

Whether she bothered telling anyone else was another story. There wasn't exactly any solid proof to her dream, and claiming she had one where Morgana cryptically told her that the fate of the world lay on her shoulders wasn't exactly hope rising.

Especially when she didn't even know what her dream was trying to tell her. Did it mean what she thought it did, or could there be a double meaning to Morgana's words? Or was she just over thinking about all of this, and really it was just her thoughts on the curse slowly making its way into her subconscious.

"Hermione," she heard a voice say, and she jumped up as she saw Theo in front of her.

"I didn't hear you come in," she admitted, as her heart rate slowed down slowly.

He didn't acknowledge what he had said, as he looked down at the book in front of her, "What are yo working on?" he questioned, as he peered at her writing.

"Just some thoughts," she said in a vague way, as he joined her at the table. "Nothing really. More like random rambles. Nothing worth mentioning."

"Oh I very much doubt that," Theo said, and she felt herself shiver. "If you wrote it down, I have a feeling I must be of great importance. For I doubt Hermione Granger could have a theory which was less than accurate. Or is it Lupin, or even Malfoy, now? I find it hard to keep track, with the amount of changes in your life lately."

"It's nothing really," she insisted, as she ignored the second part of his exclamation. Where was Draco and Bill? She had never had a problem with Theo in the past, and she wanted to get along with Draco's friends. However she was finding it hard to do so when he was treating her as such. Something about his body language, of leaning in far too close, and his words, made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

"You know it isn't your destiny to break this curse without purpose right?" Theo asked her. "You must have figured it out by now, Hermione. You're a clever witch. Even Bill figured it out, not that he would remember any of it. You and I are meant to fight alongside each other as we break this curse to bring the world into a new age. We're supposed to save the world. So join me, and together we can do just that. We can be the salvation that the wizarding world so badly needs, and help restore it to the glory it once had."

"You're Mordred's heir," she whispered, as she stood up, trying to draw her wand.

"Looking for this?" he smiled as he held her wand in his fingers. "You really are quite distracted when you're into your work. It was almost too easy to disarm you. Now don't be like this, Hermione. Fight alongside me, like we're destined to do. Fight with me, and we can do what we're meant to."

"Why?" she asked, "You're Draco's friend! How could you do this to him? How could you betray him like this? He trusted you. We all trusted you. How could you think that you're the one meant to break this curse, and let the rest of the world suffer for your greed? You don't want to save the world. You want to rule it."

"And rule it I will," he told her sharply. "As is my birth right. And as is yours. However, I don't really need you to be complicit in helping me. One way or another you will, and if you don't see the benefits of doing it willingly, by my side, then I am not opposed to using less orthodox methods to get you to comply. How do you think I got the Minister to allow me onto this team?"

"You're mad," she said, as she tried to run towards the door, only to feel a sharp pain hit her leg. She fell to the ground, as she clutched the spot that had been hit. "I won't help you. Not willingly. And if you think Bill and Draco won't figure out that you killed me, you have another thing coming."

He laughed as he approached her, and said, "I have no plans on killing you. I need you around. It would hardly be effective to kill you now."

As he got closer, she stuck out her non-injured leg, causing the man to trip over and fall to the ground.

She tried to stand as she heard him curse at her, and began limping, hoping she could make it straight to the door.

She got close when she felt herself be hit in the back by a stunning spell. And as she began to fall, she felt a set of arms grab her, as she heard her name being yelled out in worry. The last thing she remembered was being pulled into a body, as the world went dark.