Wow, I am still so incredibly surprised at how well received this story has been, and we have not even gotten to the good parts yet…. I'm sorry that I 've been a bit slow in updating, but there is so much going on in RL right now and I am trying to make headway on a few of my other WIP's, that it hasn't allowed me to focus on just one thing. This story though has been knocking on my brain for the last couple of weeks, though I have started a chapter of another story, that I thought, what the heck! It is time to answer the door and knock out another chapter here. I hope that you enjoy it.

I want to thank everyone that has followed, favorited, or reviewed this story. It is Always welcomed, but never expected. Every notification or shout out, just fills me up and makes my day just a bit brighter!

To Serve the Noble House of Black

Chapter 11

He needed access to this manor. He knew that there was something about the Black family and their magics that would allow him to rule. To bring back all of those that died before, so that he could show them what a good, benevolent, and magnificent master he would be to follow. He was the great Wulfric Brian Percival Dumbledore. He was the leader of the Light. The vanquisher of Dark Lords.

HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG

The air felt thick with anticipation. The portraits looked down upon the young witch as she took everything in that had happened over the last few hours. From the deaths of her final allies to the revelation of all that had been stolen from her. The love of a man that could make her smile, make her laugh, and infuriate her like no other. She had, had no time to grieve the losses of her two best friends. The ones that had been killed by the two people that she should have been able to and had trusted with her life.

The ones that had wanted her dead. The one that wanted her dead and access to the home that would have been hers, had she and Sirius stood a chance of surviving the war that they never should have become involved with. The megalomaniac with a god complex that wanted to be seen as the hero, as the one that saved them all after he got them all killed. Yeah, she had his number now.

She looked around at all that was left of the world that she was leaving. The country around her had been decimated. The muggles knew that there was something wrong and most had abandoned the surrounding areas. The dilapidated manor, the neglected portraits that had so much faith in her. She knew that she was being given the chance to change everything. To save those that should never have died so young, whom never should have been used the way that they had been.

To find the love that had been denied her in this life. But would it be the same, would they fall in love with each other without their shared experiences and the experiences that made them, them?

She knew that she could not travel back with all her memories, what nine-year-old could survive all that she had endured? Would she remember the good guys? The bad guys? Or was history doomed to repeat itself because it was not her that was meant to save them all? They had it wrong, so very wrong, because if she had been meant to save them, wouldn't she have been able to her first time through? But of course, she did not know then what she knew now. She had to remember. She had to remember enough to save them all.

"Kreacher" she whispered, not wanting to speak to loudly in fear that "He" might have a way to listen.

"Yes, missy Mudblood?"

"I need to remember this; I need to know what he is capable of. I can't go back not knowing" she lamented, feeling the anxiety start to creep back through her body.

"But Missy, you can't go back and remember it all, the pain, the knowledge will drive you mad." croaked Kreacher.

"We have enough madness in this family, Ms. Granger, there is no need to add more to it through your magic and children." Snarked Phineas.

Looking wildly at the paintings surrounding her, "Children!" She squeaked. "I'm nine again thanks to Yoda here."

"Calm yourself, Ms. Granger" barked Walburga "You won't be left floundering like some hapless fish, but no you can't go back and remember all of this. Kreacher will help where he can, deep down you will recognize the evil that surrounds him. HE, excels at hiding his true nature, but once you discover the manipulation, you are not likely to fall for it again."

The pounding against the wards continued and Kreacher continued to look more and more worried as he looked at the witchling before him, the paintings surrounding them and the headmaster at their door.

He knew that time was of the essence and that if they did not move soon, that it would be too late and no one would be saved, least of all the witch that held the potential and the fate of their world in her tiny little hands.

"Missy Mudblood, we must be leaving." croaked Kreacher. "We can't be here much longer."

Looking resolutely around the room that she lay in, she pulled herself up to a seated position and tried to center herself. She knew that she may not make it from this house alive if she gave into her final wish, her final need. She needed to, had to face the man of her nightmares one more time. He had taken everything from her, and she would go back and take everything from him. She was fucking Hermione Jean Granger Potter and she would be damned if she walked away without letting him know exactly whom he had fucked with.

"Kreacher, I want you to drop the wards and let him in."

Looking startled, the elderly elf's eyes widened, and his jaw appeared to have dropped. Given his age, it was a bit hard to see the difference in his expression.

The paintings started to object wildly, gesticulating, and squawking out their concerns that they may have underestimated how crazy the young witch was, that it might be too late to save the lost. There were tears in Cedrella's painted eyes and anger in those of Walburga's and Cygnus, but Phineas' eyes held steady with the young witch and seemed to know what she was about and what she may be planning.

"Quiet!" commanded the portrait. "Kreacher, Ms. Granger is to be your new mistress, you will continue to watch and protect over her as much as you are able to while in service to our family. She may not return with all her memories but will recognize the danger that this timeline presents. Her memories will remain hidden until she encounters a member of the main line of the Most Noble House of Black. At that time, you may allow her memories to begin to resurface. Allowing her to remember though will put her in the way of danger. Ms. Granger you must learn occlumency as soon as you possibly can, though I am sure that Madam Prince will be able to assist with this. Kreacher, follow Ms. Granger's request and take her back as soon as her point is made and not a second later."

Maintaining eye contact with the commanding portrait, Hermione bowed her head in thanks. This would be the end of her life as she knew it, but it would only be the beginning of the hell that Albus too many names Dumbledore would begin to experience.

Hermione sat back on the landing where she had discovered so much just hours before.

The pain, the rawness, the betrayal, the lies, so many lies by so many people that she thought were good, not just light, but good witches and wizards that she believed had wanted Harry to succeed. That wanted to protect Harry, Ron, and herself. So many things now made sense with glaring clarity.

She closed her eyes and felt the anger of everything wash over her again. She felt let down and so disenchanted by the society that had invited her into their midst's but had never wanted her or any other muggleborn invading their territory. The letter from Hogwarts, the visit to her parents, the welcoming feast, the troll, the basilisk, the escaped convict, and his werewolf best friend, the bloody Quad Wizard Tournament, Umbitch, the department of mysteries. The breaking into the castle of the Death Eaters. The damning of one soul and the deaths of so many others.

She felt her magic crawling up her spine, along her fingertips and through the strands of her wild and unbound hair. She heard the door begin to open cautiously. She felt the pulse of "His" magic as he sent it through the house and the feeling of it repulsed her. She felt him walk through the door standing within striking distance. Not so close as to stop her. She opened her eyes and stared into the startled blue eyes of Albus Wulfric Brian Percival Dumbledore.

He seemed genuinely surprised to see the witch sitting and watching the entrance to the home that he had been unsuccessfully trying to breach for months now. Not only today, but many days before.

To see her transformed into a much younger witch truly threw him.

She decided to let him speak first.

"Ms. Granger, a situation has arisen, and I have need of information from the Black family library, it appears that you have been afflicted by something as well." The headmaster stated, starting to walk toward her.

"Don't come any closer Albus." Said the witchling in front of him in a cold voice. A voice that did not match the petiteness of her stature or even the age that she seemed to be projecting. Her voice held power.

'I don't know what you think that you are doing holing up in this house Ms. Granger, it does not belong to you. It is Mr. Potter's house. I think that you should come with me to see him. He knows that I have come here for information that the Black family possessed to help us win this war against the darkness."

Tilting her head to the side and looking at her former headmaster, Hermione could see the changes that being remade from a Horcrux had done to the once great wizard.

Though he looked to be much younger than he was upon his death, the foolishness of vanity. She could see the tiredness of his eyes and the slumping stature of his body. Being away from Hogwarts and her wards for so long seemed to be draining the man along with the missing Elder Wand that he had coveted and held for so many decades. She was sure that it was the first thing that he had searched for after killing Harry and after Molly had killed her youngest son. What a pity that he would never find it in this lifetime and in her next, she had plans to get it out of his greedy hands at the first opportunity that she could.

"Ms. Granger, let us return to Mr. Potter and the Weasley's and then I will return here for the information that I seek. I can see that you have been injured and need the loving comfort of a mother's touch."

At this Hermione started laughing. Looking at this despot of a wizard in front of her and the lies he continued to spew and about Molly Weasley of all people had her cackling in her laughter, scarily sounding a bit like Bellatrix.

Looking befuddled, Dumbledore tried approaching the witch sitting on the landing in front of him, effectively blocking his way to the library, where he believed all the Black Family's secrets were held.

Abruptly Hermione stopped laughing at his approach and held out her hand once again.

"Not a step closer Albus!" she growled. "I own this house now, upon the death of my brother and the final descendants of the Once Ancient and Noble House of Black, I am the owner of the heap of a manor that you are standing in."

"Are you surprised that I know of Harry's death? Of Ronald's death?"

"Portraits talk Headmaster, especially upon the death of their final heirs. Neat trick silencing Walburga all these years, but not really silencing her. Enough malice to turn away everyone, including her last living son. Pfft, Pfft Albus, you were a very naughty, boy."

"I have no idea what you are speaking of dear child, but this house was willed to Mr. Potter and the Order of the Phoenix upon him being incapacitated in any way. I am afraid he has run amuck of a stray spell, and I have been caring for him in your absence." Said Dumbledore trying to use his grandfatherly persona on a no longer enchanted witch.

Raising her eyebrow in a decent impression of the former Potion's Master and feeling the ache run through head at the action, Hermione questioned Albus again.

"A stray spell Albus or your blade? Like I said, portraits like to talk when everything that they formerly lived for is gone. I know exactly what happened to Harry and to Ronald. I know exactly who brought you back and how they did it and I remember everything that was done to me. I want you out of my house you bastard."

Trying to move closer to the witch but feeling the press of a shield against him and unsure how she was powering it, he proceeded cautiously, hoping to gain an advantage on her and get rid of her once and for all. She would not be brought back. For the greater good of course.

"Ms. Granger, I am afraid that you can not stop me from gaining access to this house. The wards are down and the only thing between me and the information and power that I seek is a sad little witchling that never should have survived the war."

"That sounds an awful lot like the little speech that Riddle gave Harry, his first year in this blasted world. I wonder where he learned it from?" Hermione sneered. She could feel Kreacher standing slightly behind her disillusioned, touching her shoulder with just the tip of his finger and she was comforted by it.

Dragging her hair from her face once again and keeping her eyes locked on those of the headmaster, she allowed him to see the hate and darkness that filled her mind, her body and soul while she dragged as much of her power to the forefront. Feeling it fill her and start to manifest as flames along her fingers, she smirked at the waste of a wizard in front of her and leaned back into Kreacher's touch.

"You underestimated me Albus, something that many wizards and witches have done." Letting the strength of the fire build in her hands, she formed it into balls, and before he could even suspect, she hurled them both at the unprepared wizard. And while he was frantically trying to douse the flames, she had lit him up with, as she had done so many years ago to the supposed friend of her family. She left him with this parting.

"You should have killed me first you bastard!"

And while the world burned around one Albus Dumbledore, Kreacher pulled the now drained witch through space and time as the once Ancient and Noble House of Black devoured the destroyed timeline.