Full Blurb:
It has always been said that there is no place safer than Hogwarts... But that doesn't apply when you're the Dark Lord's daughter and his most outspoken adversary is the school's headmaster.
Returning to England after her seaside villa on the coast of the Albanian Riviera is attacked, Hermione Granger-Riddle is forced to enroll in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for her final year of education. Having to send his daughter deep behind enemy lines, Lord Voldemort decides to bend his own rules and recruit the most promising students into his daughter's guard.
If chosen it's a pass into the Inner Circle but there's one catch...
Her guard won't just bear the mark of a loyal Death Eater, they'll become her husband.
Hermione Granger/Severus Snape/Regulus Black/Evan Rosier/Rabastan Lestrange
AN:
Here we go again with another WIP... It's been a hard leaned lesson but I now know I have absolutely zero chill when it comes to writing. If you find yourself here because you read any of my other works, the same oath applies that I will never, EVER abandon any of my works. I love writing far too much for that and would be wracked with a horrible sense of guilt if I did.
Thank you to Slytherclaw1917 and SnapeMadeMeDoIt for further descending down the rabbit hole of fan fiction with. I love y'all and thanks for not hanging me out to dry because I now have four stories lol.
So without further ado let's jump on in...
Chapter One
The Return of an Heiress
"So, have you heard the rumors?" Regulus asked by way of greeting.
Severus looked up from the potions text he was annotating with a dull look as Regulus tossed his worn leather satchel onto the rack above.
"This is where you say, 'No Reg, I haven't. I've been languishing away in my muggle hell hole all summer. Please do tell me,'" he exaggerated, falling onto the bench across from him with his back cocked to the window.
Throwing his quill down, Severus made his eyes go wide as he placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin in the palm of his hands.
Batting his eyelashes and speaking in falsetto, he mocked, "Why no Reggie, I haven't. I was too busy this summer languishing away in my muggle hell hole, sticking it in every slag who was willing to step out of her knickers just for me to whisper truly depraved things into her ear. Please tell me, what has you elitist pricks so excited? I'm about to burst."
Dropping his act, he closed his book and pushed it off towards the window. Leaning back into his seat, he crossed his arms and raised an expectant eyebrow at Regulus.
"Better?" He asked, the deep, smooth tones of his voice drawing the attention of several witches in his house who were seating themselves across the train car from them.
Turning his bored stare on them, he made a show of appraising each witch, all of whom hadn't spared him a second glance in the last six years unless it was to try and have him do their homework. Scoffing as Evan's twin Eloise, preened her golden blonde hair, he dismissed them all and turned his attention back to Regulus.
He was what the muggle nurse at the free clinic in Cokeworth had called a late bloomer, having started puberty over a year after everyone else due to the malnourishment that came from having neglectful parents. It had taken some time but he had finally gotten there. During his fifth year, he had grown in height at an exponential rate, which at the time did nothing but make his awkward features more pronounced. Then the following year, his frame had broadened and he had finally gained some muscle mass, though only enough to be reclassified from scrawny and boney to wiry and lean. And the blessed finale happened shortly after he had returned home from Hogwarts for his last summer. The cracking of his voice that had plagued him since his fourth year had finally abated and left him with a silken register that he had quickly learned made knickers drop despite his still too large features, the most bothersome being his nose, which he had also learned had its own advantages over the summer.
"I could have done without the mocking, but yes much better," Reggie said, winking at Eloise's friend with all the arrogance of his brother.
Reaching forward, Severus snapped his fingers in front of his face, drawing his attention back.
"Right! So according to Bella-"
"Oh now there's a reliable source," he commented sarcastically.
"Trust me the information is good," Reggie retorted, waving off his cousin's tendency to exaggerate. "According to Bella, who we all know shares the Dark Lord's bed, he's looking to initiate someone still at Hogwarts directly into the Inner Circle this Christmas."
Previously uninterested, Regulus's words made Severus sit up and lean in, his curiosity peaked. While the Dark Arts had always fascinated him and he had the desire to join the Dark Lord's ranks, he had assumed it wouldn't be possible given his poor, half-blood status, at least not until well after he had completed school and had begun to forge a name for himself.
Reggie's face was smug as he taunted his new eagerness for more, making him scowl at his friend as he motioned for him to hurry up.
"Apparently he's going to have something there that he wants under near constant supervision. Since Bella only graduated two years ago and Rodolphus has Rab still in school, they were tasked with compiling a list of prospects. And you, my friend, have made the short list along with myself, Evan, and of course Rabastan, as well as a few others she didn't mention. However she did say that we're his top four choices, that he's even mentioned initiating all four of us to be sure whatever it is, stays guarded at all times, but that remains to be seen as of now. At some point after the Sorting Ceremony, everyone who has made the short list will somehow be notified and our trials will begin right then."
"What do you think it is?" Evan asked as he and Rabastan joined them.
"Who the fuck cares?" Reggie announced over the whistling of the Hogwarts Express pulling out of the station. "He's potentially looking to initiate several of us and we're on his shortlist, which means we're as good as in. For Rab and I, that's a whole two years before we finish school. This shite will finally get my mother off my back about 'restoring the Black Family's name after Sirius disgraced us.'"
Severus's mind was reeling. He had spent the last six years cultivating connections within Slytherin that would hopefully prove to be advantageous for him once he left Hogwarts. He had even turned some of those connections into his own solid network of friends along the way in the form of the other three wizards he sat with. This opportunity however, was exactly what he needed to prove himself. If he could secure one of the positions, an untold number of doors would open up for him, paving the way so his ambitions could flourish.
The rest of the train ride passed without much fanfare, the four of them circling through games of chess and cards. Every so often one of them would interrupt the game to begin another round of speculation on what the Dark Lord had at Hogwarts. The school was already a fortress, with nothing getting in or out of it without Dumbledore knowing. The headmaster's constant vigilance was why the Dark Lord had refrained from marking those still in the school's attendance. The fact that in just shy of four months he would be bending his own rule, possibly several times over, made whatever he was so adamant about protecting appear all the more intriguing to them.
When they finally arrived at Hogsmeade Station, the four stepped off the train into the deceptively brisk early autumn air of the Scottish Highlands, all of them in various stages of being acceptably dressed. Always the pristine picture of a pureblood heir, Regulus was fully outfitted from his robes to his polished Oxfords. The collar of his shirt was stiff and the knot of his tie a perfect Windsor. His trousers held a sharp crease and his Prefect badge winked in the fading sun as though it wasn't already a year old. The only outward rebellion he showed was his untamed Black Family curls, but even those they knew were tamed into an artful mess that took more time to arrange than if he had in fact rolled out of bed.
Rabastan too was styled within an inch of perfection. While he had foregone his robes, his hair was loosely slicked back with the coppery brown ends curling at the nape of his neck balancing out the subtly wild look of Regulus. With his cuff links in place and his satchel slung across his chest, he nearly passed for a model student. It wasn't until one looked closer and saw the ever present look of being up to no good in his hazel eyes that one reassessed their assumption of him.
On the opposite end of the spectrum stood Severus and Evan.
Rosier had at least made an attempt for the Sorting Ceremony by quickly running some of his sister's product through his matching golden blond hair, but the number of times he had already run his fingers through it had made the effort futile. Those small attempts ended though with his uniform. His tie was off center and had been left loose after looping the knot as though he had forgotten what he was doing, and while he wore the uniform's charcoal sweater, his shirttails stuck out from the hem, and his sleeves were pushed up along with those of his Oxford to purposely expose his still bare forearms.
As for Severus, he had given up on caring the year prior, his misbuttoned and untucked shirt, lack of tie, and boots over dragon leather Oxfords proved that. As a poor half-blood within a house that valued blood purity and wealth, he knew he would always stand out no matter how much he chipped away at his unrefined edges. His words would always carry the slight accent of the working class, his frugal spending habits would always betray his deep seated fear of forever being impoverished, and while his manners were impeccable the chip on his shoulder would always be there when it came to having to respect those who were only his betters by an accident of birth. He'd been raised in the wrong world and on the wrong side of the tracks both by wizard and muggle standards and it was something he had finally learned to embrace.
Falling into the shuffling herd of students, the four made their way out of the train station and up to the gates of Hogwarts to claim an unseen thestral pulled carriage. Standing beside Severus, Regulus half-heartedly attended to his Prefect duties while vibrating with excitement for the night to come.
"Reg, would you calm the fuck down?" Evan berated while shoving back a seventh year Ravenclaw whose hand was winding up to make contact with his sister's arse. "Touch my sister again Carter, and you may just break the school's record for the fastest trip to the infirmary."
"As if half the blokes in the school haven't already had their hands up her skirt," he laughed, unaware of the death wish he was asking for.
With an exasperated sigh at Archibald Carter's stupidity, Severus watched as Evan punched him in the jaw, the force of it sending the wizard to the ground.
"Hey, come on! Don't make me take points from our own house before we even have any," Reggie complained, otherwise ignoring the unconscious Ravenclaw whose friends were backing away from him before they too incurred Evan's wrath.
"He's not wrong, you know. I think we're the only four among the sixth and seventh years in our house who haven't felt up your sister's cunt," Severus observed.
"Longbottom! Get your tongue out of Alice's mouth long enough for her to talk to James! He's already trying to schedule tryouts for the year and needs his keeper!" Sirius Black yelled, a moment later shoving into Severus.
"What the fuck?" He swore, turning around to push him back, the both of them dropping their bags as they squared off.
"Fan-fucking-tastic," Regulus muttered. "At this rate, we should have ourselves dug out of the hole and back at zero by Christmas."
"Watch yourself Snivellus," Black hissed, puffing out his chest.
"Or what?" He challenged, crossing his arms, appearing wholly unaffected.
"Just because James is shagging Evans now doesn't mean-"
"Sirius, leave them alone. It's our last year here, just pretend he doesn't exist," Lily groaned. "It's done wonders for me," she added with venom, tugging on his arm as she sneered at Severus. "Not to mention you're making a horrible first impression," she hissed, jerking her head to her left.
Glancing in the direction the red-headed witch that had once been his friend was indicating, Severus saw another witch whose face was obscured by the hood of her cloak. What her robes and cloak didn't hide, the long shadows she somehow melted into made great work at keeping the rest of her from his view. Studying her for a long moment, trying to place which of Lily's friends she was, he almost missed the subtle stroke along his mind.
Feeling the sensation again, his curiosity at who she was doubled as he slammed his mind closed, forcing her out of his head. Even though he couldn't see her face, the half step back she took and the way she started to reach for her hood spoke volumes. Whoever she was, she was a master Legilimens and had not been counting on him being an Occlumens, or so skilled. She clearly did not often encounter those who could register her presence within their minds and the revelation that he could, made her just as curious about him.
The distant chime of the castle's bell tower broke the spell between them, her hand lowering back down and her voluminous robes once again covering her sun-kissed skin that had been exposed.
"Come on, Sirius," Lily reiterated with a more forceful tug. "I need to get her to the boats, she's about to miss them."
"Fine," he growled, not taking his eyes away from Severus for a moment longer.
Lily gave up on his shoulder and grabbed his earlobe yanking on that instead, making him yelp as he was forced to turn and follow her or lose his ear.
"Who's the witch?" Evan asked, coming to stand beside him as he watched the witch shove Sirius's arm off her as he tried to sling it around her.
Her small hand peeked out once more as she absently waved the other two off, picking up her pace to outwalk them to the docks.
"I have no idea, but I intend to find out," he said quietly. "In the meantime keep your mind blank. She's a Legilimens and a damn good one."
"Come on you two I don't want to miss whatever it is we're supposed to be looking for at the feast," Regulus all but whined.
Grabbing his bag, Severus tossed it into the carriage before climbing in with Evan right behind him.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, we're coming," Evan taunted.
"Ha! I don't wear any," he retorted.
"Damn Reg, we didn't need to know that," Rabastan grumbled, putting a healthy distance between them.
"Free is best," Severus snickered.
"Not to mention the easiest," Evan tacked on.
"Says the last remaining virgin," Rab scoffed.
"Just because I don't want to take the risk of being stuck with some husband hunting witch for the next seventeen years doesn't mean I can't satisfy in other ways. A flexible tongue and dexterous fingers go a long fucking way."
To prove his point, Evan stuck out his tongue and wiggled it at them while quirking his eyebrows up.
"Speaking of your dexterous fingers, what are the chances I can persuade you to come back to the team for the season as our keeper?" Regulus asked, abruptly changing focus.
Tuning out the quidditch talk and the resumed argument over Evan quitting the team, Severus turned his mind back to the witch that had been with Lily. Legilimency was an uncommonly practiced magic that lay squarely within the realm of grey intention. Most witches and wizards, unless naturally gifted, didn't even attempt to learn the art given how fine the line was between having a gentle touch and brutalizing the mind. Those that did attempt it often never reached a level of skill that would fairly qualify them as a Legilimens, and yet this witch was an expert at it.
She had so easily slipped into his mind without the spell ever leaving her lips or raising her wand. He was positive that the only reason he had even become aware of her presence was because she wanted him to know she was there. Her touch was too soft and unobtrusive to lead him to any other conclusion.
She was taking the boats over to the castle instead of the carriages which meant she had to be a new student. However, her skill coupled with her separation from the rest of the excited and fearful eleven years olds seemed to negate that assumption. Lily had attached herself to the witch more within her capacity as Head Girl than as a friend given how she had chastised Black for not creating a good first impression. If the witch had already been a friend she would have been exposed to Black's antics countless times by now. As well, if she was potentially going to be a friend Lily would have waved his behavior off to her. All that left him with was that she had to be a transfer student but to the best of his knowledge Hogwarts had never had a student come in in the middle of their education. He wasn't even sure if it was something any of the other schools allowed.
He remained silent for the rest of the carriage ride, turning his questions over as he examined what little information he had from all sides. By the time they reached the castle he still hadn't come up with a working theory and was reluctant to let his investigation go, but knew he had to, at least for the night while he awaited more information about the Dark Lord's trials for them.
Entering the Great Hall, Severus took note of Dumbledore standing at his podium instead of being seated at the center of the Head Table. Nudging Rabastan who was in front of him, he pointed out the unusual deviation, the chain of observation traveling down the line as they made their way to the Slytherin table. They reached the far end of the hall and took their seats along the bench that placed their backs to the wall with Rabastan leaning over the table to address them from his seat on the far right.
"What do you think that's about?"
"I don't know..." Severus replied, his eyes narrowing.
There were a lot of oddities occurring in one day making him believe they were all connected somehow but he couldn't puzzle out just how they were, and it was making him increasingly frustrated.
When the last of the students trickled in and the doors closed, Dumbledore raised his arms, flapping his hands downward to signal everyone into silence.
"Welcome, welcome. Please everyone take your seats. I have a quick announcement before Professor McGonagall brings in our newest students for the Sorting Ceremony.
"This year in addition to our regular incoming class of first year students, Hogwarts has also accepted a transfer student who will need to be sorted," he explained, pausing for dramatic effect while his face clearly showed he was displeased with the development. "For the last six years, she has been privately instructed in Albania, however, due to a tragic family accident she has returned to England. Since our Ministry does not allow for private tuition as a main source of education, she will be joining our hallowed halls for her final year of education.
"To keep with the excitement and tradition of sorting the first years, she shall go first and join her new house before we begin the official ceremony. May all of you please make her feel welcome here and find it within yourselves to open a place for her within your social circles.
"Now without further ado," he finished, nodding at Filch to relay that they were ready for the first part of the ceremony.
"Is it just me, or did the old man sound like the last thing he wanted was to have this student here?" Regulus whispered, down their line.
"Definitely not just you," Evan agreed.
"Clearly she's the witch from earlier, but who is her family?" Severus asked, knowing one of them had to have some idea as to who had familial ties to Albania.
Rabastan pointed at him as he said, "Now there's the question we should be asking." Leaning over the table he hissed down to Eloise and her friends trying to get her attention.
Just when she looked up from her own conversation, the large double doors of the Great Hall opened again. The speculative whispers that had broken out after Dumbledore's speech hushed as everyone turned to look at who McGonagall was about to lead into the room. The stern face and rigid posture of their Transfiguration professor was even more pinched as she entered, her eyes glancing up to the headmaster as her jaw tightened and her lips pursed even more.
"Look at how the staff is acting," Severus said, seeing that nearly every professor had some sort of poorly concealed distaste over whoever this girl was or who her family was.
"Sweet mother of Salazar Slytherin," Regulus breathed out at the same time Rabastan said, "I think I'm in love."
"Get in line," Evan said, not taking his eyes off of the witch.
"Holy fuck..." Severus swore under his breath watching her quietly walk up the long aisle to the dais where the small wooden stool sat with the Sorting Hat resting atop it.
Her robes and cloak had done a good job of keeping her concealed. When he had seen her earlier he had been unable to tell from his distance if she was actually diminutive in height or if the excessive swirls of black fabric were merely swallowing her whole. Watching her walk in with her charcoal grey skirt gently swishing from side to side, he could clearly see that she was petite, easily a foot shorter than him or his friends. She had a mass of messy caramel brown curls that made her look as though she had been thoroughly shagged before arriving for her Sorting Ceremony, and the glimpse of sun-kissed skin that he had seen earlier carried from her face to her arms and down to her slender legs. She briefly looked above her at the bewitched ceiling, a sweet smile curling her cupid-bow lips in wonder as if magic still excited her every time she saw it. She easily took in her surroundings, her eyes landing on the Slytherin table last as she slowly took in each face as though she already knew that the hat would assign them as her new home. When her eyes finally landed on him after appraising each of his friends, the small smile she still wore grew a fraction more as he felt another brush along his mind.
"I'm just putting it out there so it's on the record, I'm down to share," Evan stated, to none of them in particular.
The witch stopped right on the mark Professor McGonagall indicated as she unrolled the scroll to read out her name.
"Granger, Hermione!"
"Excuse me Professor but there seems to be a mistake with my student record. I thought I had addressed it after receiving my acceptance letter but I must have been remiss given everything going on this summer," she corrected with a voice like silk, hers as light as his was deep. "It's Hermione Granger hyphen, Riddle."
The Great Hall had already been silent as everyone watched the two witch processional make their way to the front of the room, but at the sound of her corrected last name, a feather dropping could have been heard amongst the Slytherins.
"Ten galleons says that's what the Dark Lord wants us protecting," Rabastan said, adjusting his posture to become a little more straight along with the rest of them as they all realized their trials had already begun.