A/N: Weeeeeell, here in Spain is already 22nd and this girl is celebrating her birthday with a special treat to all my readers. I will be the one giving gifts today posting several chapters of new stories and some other surprises, hope you like my birthday lol.
As you might know, I decided on turning most of the one-shots of Fleurmione week into multi-chapter stories, and here's the first one of those plots. Chiaroscuro is an interesting project as it would be not angsty but fluffy since I will be also writing the one of day 4 that's a bit darker so I felt the need to have some balance. In any case, let me know your thoughts in a review.
Enjoy!
Chiaroscuro
1.- Sfumato
Hermione Granger was never a regular child. She was extraordinary from the moment she was born. The second she opened her eyes, even the doctors blinked surprised. Her left eye was of a light shade of blue while her right one was amber. It was a very rare condition on magical babies that the main doctor attending the birth had only seen twice in her life. The first one being on her own first daughter, Apolline.
Curious amber and azure blinked and observed the medical personnel as if knowing what their jobs were. The newborn just sobbed softly when the doctor spanked her to make sure her airways were clear.
"It's a gorgeous and healthy girl," the veteran doctor said before handing the dark blonde baby to a nurse and sat back between Jeanne Granger's open legs "now let's bring her baby brother to the world." With great effort, the new mother pushed several times before her second child was born, and the emerald-eyed doctor frowned when the little boy didn't breathe and was turning blue at an alarming rate.
The newborn girl started to cry the moment she felt that the life of her little brother was extinguishing while the doctors tried hard to save his life. The nurse cleaning her gasped surprised when the baby's left eye darkened and glowed while her right fist balled, and a streak of blue light shot from her petite hand towards her baby brother.
The moment the azure beam hit the newborn's chest, the little boy gasped, opened his brown eyes, and cried softly. A second nurse wrote the results of Hermione's magical test in her medical history that placed the newborn into the gifted category of being able to perform spontaneous magic to help others; in this case, her baby brother.
The newborn boy was then tested, and his results were a bit disappointing compared to his older sibling. The younger twin was classified as below average which meant that he would struggle to use magic.
"Congratulations, you have a gorgeous girl and an adorable boy" the nurses approached the newborns to their exhausted mother while a young doctor made sure she had no internal bleeding. "what are you going to name them?"
"Hermione for the girl and Hermes for the boy" Jeanne whispered with a bright smile before holding them in her arms and kissed their foreheads. "my two small miracles."
"Well, mum" the doctor smiled behind her mask and her green eyes sparkled with joy. She really enjoyed her job. "we will take your babies to an incubator and they will spend the night in observation."
"Is everything okay with them, doctor?" the young mother asked with a shaky voice laced with worry.
"Yes, they are fine, do not fret" the doctor removed her surgical gown and cap revealing her curly blonde strands cascading down her shoulders. The healer ran a quick checkup and smiled satisfied when she realized that her patient was in perfect condition; in her experience, magical births tended to strain the mother's body less than muggle ones. "it's just St. Mungo's protocol with newborns, especially twins. Now, rest and you will see them in the morning."
"Thank you and I am sorry, I think I don't remember your name, doctor" Jeanne blushed embarrassed and the blonde doctor smiled amused.
The mediwitch was gorgeous and the new mother thought she couldn't be older than her late twenties when in reality, the doctor was forty-two years of age and finishing her last shift of 30 hours. It was her last day of service in London before going back to France after successfully completing her magical neonatology mastery.
"Just call me healer Delacour, mademoiselle Granger" the doctor spoke softly in a melodic language that Jeanne immediately picked up and her amber eyes widened. The blonde mediwitch was not like any other doctor, she was a Delacour; one of the pioneers in magical medicine for children and wife of the clan's head; even Jeanne, member of one of the smallest French clans that migrated to London half a century ago knew that fact "us veela have to stick together."
"Thank you, sirdar Delacour" Jeanne bowed her head, and the blonde doctor patted her patient's head "Antoinette is fine; sirdar is my wife Josephine, the clan's head. I am just a humble veela healer."
"You are more than that, you are the wife of the sirdar, which gives you the same status" Jeanne whispered in veela.
"Yes, but in here I am just the one that delivered your twins and made sure that they were healthy" Antoinette Delacour smiled warmly "you know that male veelas are quite rare, so your little boy must stay in observation" the blonde doctor nodded to a male nurse and the man used his wand to add some sedative to the IV drip and the young mother yawned. She was more tired than she thought, and she deserved her rest after the long delivery.
"Now rest while we take care of your bébés." Jeanne nodded before closing her eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep while Antoinette gave orders to the interns before checking on the newborns before finally leaving the hospital for the night. She needed to hurry if she wanted to make it to her oldest daughter's engagement party.
A piercing scream shook the nurses awake at three in the morning. Baby Hermione had her fists clenched and glowing blue while her magie tried to reach her brother that had stopped breathing and she was not strong enough to wake him up again.
The panicked interns tried hard to save baby Hermes and sent patronus to all the mediwizards and mediwitches available. One of the bluish messengers reached Antoinette Delacour that apparated still wearing her party robes, but it was too late. Young Hermes Granger had died due to sudden death. Despite not being her fault, healer Delacour felt guilty and it would take her years to overcome the unfortunate death of the small Granger boy.
Jeanne and Charlotte Granger decided on not trying to have a child again after a dangerous miscarriage the former had two years later, so the young mothers decided to focus all their care and love on their little girl.
Young Hermione grew up loving knowledge. Her mothers always encouraged her to aim higher and taught her everything she was willing to learn, and more. The young girl was a very precocious toddler that walked early and learned to read while most children of her age were learning how to clap their hands; but above all things she enjoyed, puzzles intrigued and fascinated her.
Jeanne and Charlotte Granger were so proud of their young daughter that bought her several jigsaw puzzles and magical blocks. Hermione enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how things worked, that's how several muggle appliances became her first victims; that also included Jeanne's wand as young Hermione wanted to know where the exact location of the core was.
By the time the dark blonde girl had turned six, she had successfully disassembled the family's blender and put it back together with magie helped by mum Charlotte that supervised all the process with her wand at the ready in case she had to aid her stubborn offspring. Being a curse-breaker, Charlotte preferred that her daughter tinkered with muggle objects while Jeanne, the unspeakable, let her play with magical objects of the safe kind, of course.
That same year, they adopted Jeanne's godson, four-year-old Harry Potter when his parents perished in a mission that turned into an ambush and the two unspeakables died in action. Hermione was a bit aloof at first because it was not the same knowing the bespectacled boy than living with him, but after the youngster showed interest in the things Hermione was crafting, the two of them became inseparable.
Harry turned into the younger brother life had taken away from Hermione, and the young girl became an overprotective older sister. Both mothers showered them with the same love and care, but they also kept the memories of James and Lily alive, so Harry didn't forget them. They talked about them all the time and took Harry to his parents' graves whenever he wanted to.
The mothers even gave him the choice of keeping his name as it was or change it. The young ten-year-old decided to keep his name but hyphenate his last name as he argued that he felt that he was a Granger as much as his sister. The next day, Jeanne and Charlotte Granger took him to the magical registration office, and he became Harry James Potter-Granger.
By the time he turned eleven, was also sent to Hogwarts along with his sister that would start her third year as a Ravenclaw, like her mum Charlotte who couldn't be prouder. Young Harry was placed in Gryffindor just like his biological parents and mama Jeanne.
Despite not belonging to her house, Minerva McGonagall saw the potential young Hermione had, and lent her a time turner which allowed the third year to also see fourth-year subjects, so by the time Harry started his second year, Hermione was beginning her fifth. That same year, the Ravenclaw had invented several gadgets to help around the house, but none of them were groundbreaking yet.
When Hermione was about to turn fifteen and was with her family enjoying her summer in a beach house in Italy, mama Jeanne was summoned by the Ministry on a joint operation with the Italian forces of the Ministero della Magia and she left to assist them not before promising her son to be back before his birthday that was in a week's time.
Four days before Harry's birthday, the guards around the beach house reverberated followed by a loud thud and a cry of pain that alerted the ones on the ground floor. Hermione was the first to arrive at where the sound came, and her amber eyes widened when she saw mama Jeanne in a pool of blood and having trouble breathing while holding her bleeding chest. Due to panic, the spell Hermione normally cast in her eyes to be of the same color vanished and her left one went back to its original shade of blue.
"Mama-"
"Call mum and get the ditanny, baby please" Jeanne winced while trying to place her dislocated right shoulder back in place while her left forearm pressed against her chest tried to stop the blood coming from her injured chest.
"Where is your wand, luv?" Charlotte asked worriedly while applying the clear liquid on her wife's open wounds.
"Broken" Jeanne moaned in pain "they ambushed us, fucking traffickers"
"Language, dear" Charlotte scolded while applying dittany on her wife's mangled arm and chest.
"I have several broken ribs and an open chest that I am keeping to burst open with magie and a hole in my arm but you worry about a curse word" Jeanne muttered while the skin on her chest closed and left a long scar from the right side of her neck down to between her breasts.
Hermione sighed relieved when she noticed her mama breathing normally once more before grabbing the broken wand from the floor and placed in the front pocket of her pajama's pants. It was not the first time mama Jeanne had come home wounded, but it was actually the first time she was bleeding all over the place.
"My arm was just broken but I splinched while apparating since I focused all my magie on keeping my chest as intact as possible."
Mama got splinched? But she has an impeccable concentration. Hermione mused while observing her mum taking care of her wounded mama. A frowning brunette raised her hand and charmed her left eye. It turned the same shade of amber as her right one.
While growing up, she had been bullied so much due to her mismatched eyes that she now hid the difference in color with a modified glamour charm. Only when Hermione was under extreme distress, the spell vanished, such as seeing her mama in the brink of death.
"You did well" Charlotte kissed her wife's forehead before holding her bride style "now let me take care of you."
"I will clean this up, don't worry" Hermione added and grabbed her wand from her pajama's back pocket "get well soon, mama"
"Thank you, dear" Jeanne whispered before closing her eyes; using her magie for that long took a heavy toll on her as she was just part veela and hadn't honed her creature's skills in a long time.
Maybe it is time to start training with my veela again, Jeanne thought before passing out in her wife's arms.
Hermione cleaned everything with a flick of her wand and was fixing a vase her mama broke when she apparated, when she heard slow footsteps heading her way from behind. The brunette turned around and her wand almost hit between Harry's eyes who just jumped away.
"Bloody hell, 'mione" the Gryffindor whispered before fixing his glasses "I just came for a glass of water, not to be hexed into oblivion."
"Sorry, Harry" Hermione gave her brother a small smile before pocketing her wand once more "it's just that mama scared me-"
"Oh, she's back?" the soon to be thirteen-year-old boy smiled widely "I should go and say hi-"
"I don't think you want to do that" Hermione interrupted before her brother saw how bad their mama really was. Harry tended to worry too much, so she lied, "she's busy with mum if you know what I mean"
"Oh," Harry blushed up to his ears "I better get that glass of water and greet her in the morning, then." The clock in the kitchen announced with a short beep that a new day has begun, and Hermione smiled at her brother.
"Do you want some warm milk instead?" Hermione offered.
"Sure, sis" the boy replied with a whisper and a wide smile before turning around and raising his eyebrow at their mama's broken wand coming out of his sister's pocket when she was busy pouring milk in a pot to heat it. "now, are you going to explain to me how that happened?"
"I didn't break it this time, I swear" Hermione crossed her arms and Harry just laughed while he served the warm milk in two mugs and added a touch of honey to both. "I just want to fix it."
"Mama can always get a new one, you know" Harry stated before heading to his room with Hermione in tow.
"But she won't" the Ravenclaw shrugged before following her brother to head to her own room, as well "you know that she loves this one so much as you chose the wood and I selected the core."
"True" Harry nodded "just don't go to bed at ungodly hours."
"I'll try" Hermione stuck her tongue out before closing the door of her room. Harry knew that look his sister had and that meant that a new puzzle had caught her attention and she wouldn't rest until she had solved it.
The young wizard was not wrong. So, when Hermione entered the kitchen the next morning with dark circles under her eyes, and ate her food ignoring her surroundings while mumbling to herself, Harry knew that she was working on something bigger than just fixing their mama's wand.
And again, he was on point when Hermione remerged from her room three days later, with a wide smile and a small coin-shaped device just before she was called for the fourth time by their mothers to cut Harry's birthday cake.
"What took you so long, dear?" Charlotte asked with a raised eyebrow, a gesture that Harry had picked up, as well. The young Ravenclaw hugged her brother and handed him a wrapped gift before turning to look at her mothers.
"I was crafting something for mama," Hermione showed them the small round device.
"A coin?" Jeanne asked in disbelief "we had been waiting for you for the last forty-five minutes for that?"
"Don't be mad, mama" Harry whispered. "I am sure that there's a good reason for it."
"It's more than a 'that' mama" Hermione pouted "it's a splinch-free circle of magic."
"A what now?" an intrigued Charlotte asked, and Jeanne tilted her head confused; their daughter was great at inventing devices but terrible at naming them.
"The name is a work in progress, as usual," Hermione waved her hand dismissively before placing the coin in front of her mama and touching it with the tip of her wand "the idea is to reduce the chances of getting splinched to less than 1% even if unfocused" the Ravenclaw looked up and tapped her chin with her index finger "let's say that around 0,8% to be exact."
"Wow" Harry gasped "that would make apparating way less dangerous."
"After seeing mama's last apparating issues, I started working on a way to make apparition safer" the brunette added with a smile.
"How does it work?" Charlotte asked in a proud tone. At this, Jeanne rolled her eyes at her wife before she started her long monologue about how Ravenclaw was the best house and the perfect choice for their gifted daughter.
"I took one sickle and applied a scan mass charm I have been working on along with a memory one so the sickle registers and remembers the users' dimensions." Hermione pointed her wand once more, and bluish strings came out from the coin. They stretched and held in place several glowing and floating numbers that were all in zero at the moment.
"You just need to add your wand length, height, and weight and the coin will make sure that no mass stays behind during apparition. I still have to work on some details, but I think it is okay for now. After tune it to the magic of the user the sickle can only be used by the witch or wizard that included their magical signature in it, so if stolen, it would deactivate the charms and become a regular sickle."
"That's brilliant, sweetheart" Jeanne beamed at her daughter's caring nature.
"Very impressive" Charlotte engulfed her daughter in a tight hug.
Both mothers knew that Hermione was always creating devices to make their lives easier, but this right here was the greatest invention of all her daughter had come up with so far and had the potential to turn into something that would not only benefit young wizards and witches learning to apparate but aid anyone to avoid losing a limb.
This was a wonderful device that would benefit everyone and would turn their daughter into a renowned inventor. It has been Hermione's dream to become one, and Jeanne had a hunch that her daughter would turn into one of the greatest of all time; if someone could do it, was Hermione Granger, their pride and joy.
"I just need a test subject since I haven't taken my apparition test yet, so I can't apparate" Hermione pondered and Harry smiled at her sister's ways of persuading their mama to take part in her experiments.
The siblings knew that Jeanne was the one that would need it the most due to her line of work. Mum Charlotte would certainly need it, too since her job as curse breaker could be very unpredictable at times "all the calculations I did are theoretical but I need real data to prove it works properly."
"I think that mama should try it" Harry said with a wide smile. The young wizard had a knack for convincing their mothers to be his sister's guinea pigs to the point that Jeanne was sure that if he pursued a career in magical business, her son would be very successful due to his persuasion skills.
"It's something that has never been tried before and that would revolutionize the wizarding world. And considering how dangerous being an unspeakable's job is, she would certainly appreciate the fact that her chances of getting splinched again reduced to almost zero, right mama?" Harry stated with confidence before turning to unwrap what his sister gave him for his birthday.
"0.8 percent to be exact" Hermione mumbled.
"I think the kids are right, luv" Charlotte voiced while placing her hand on top of her pensive wife's "I know that we will be more relieved if there was something that would assure us that you will always come back to us in one piece."
"Fine" Jeanne accepted with a sigh. The unspeakable knew that it was impossible to say no to the pleading eyes of her children and wife "but after we eat cake and Harry opens his presents."
"Thank you, mama" Hermione smiled and kissed Jeanne's cheek before hugging her.
"You are the best" Harry hugged her too.
"You can't take your word back, now luv," Charlotte whispered in veela "I really want growing old with you in one piece and our baby is making sure it happens."
"I won't" Jeanne replied in the same language and gave her a peck on the lips "I want to be by your side until the last day of my life, as well, my love"
"Non-veela here, remember? I don't understand your language" Harry waved his hand and pointed at himself. A chuckling Charlotte ruffled his hair and the boy smiled while Jeanne lit the candles on the cake.
"You are not missing much, Harry" Hermione shrugged "just their usual corny selves but in a different language."
"Hey" Charlotte pouted playfully and wrapped an arm around her daughter's shoulders "one day you will find love and I am sure that you will be as corny as we are."
"I think that making lives better is more important than love," the young inventor shrugged before grabbing the magical camera from the table and secure it on the tripod just across from them.
"You say that now, dear" Jeanne smiled at her daughter and shook her head in amusement "but the day will come, and you will meet the one for you."
"I don't think so" Hermione stated confidently.
"It's part of your heritage-"
"Can I make my wish? The candles are melting" Harry promptly interrupted. He knew how stubborn his sister and mama were and how long their arguments about veela heritage could be, so he tried to do some damage control before their silliness escalated.
"I am hungry, and I want cake" Charlotte pulled at her wife's t-shirt and pouted which made Jeanne and Hermione stop their pointless fight and burst into fits of laughter.
"Fine, let's eat" Jeanne added with a giggle. She just couldn't say no to her wife's antics.
After singing happy birthday and taking a picture of the birthday boy blowing the candles, another of cutting the cake, and a last one of them smiling, the happy family enjoyed the food and cake before Jeanne became her daughter's guinea pig.
Not even in her wildest dreams, Hermione Granger would have thought that her invention would work as flawlessly as it did. After setting her mother's data, the sickle shone in a shade of mauve which was Jeanne's magical signature. The unspeakable pocketed the sickle and gave a kiss on Hermione's forehead.
"I am so proud of you, dear" Jeanne whispered.
"Mama, you haven't even tried it yet" Hermione rolled her eyes "just try to apparate without focusing completely, so the sickle makes sure you come back unscathed. It will need time to adapt to your specifications, so please apparate back in five minutes."
"Fine, fine" the smiling unspeakable disapparated with a soft pop.
"Ten seconds and counting" Harry spoke while checking the chronometer Hermione gave him last year when he wanted to become a seeker for Gryffindor and wanted to register his speed while riding a broom.
"I think I am going to get sick" Hermione whispered to herself "what if mama gets severely splinched due to my invention?"
"I am going to stop you right there, sweetie" Charlotte approached her daughter and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders "I know that you would never put your mama under something that would harm her, so have faith in yourself and your knowledge."
"But-"
"No buts," the curse breaker kissed her daughter's temple "you are a brilliant inventor"
"Two minutes" Harry spoke.
"I haven't graduated yet, mum" Hermione replied with a shaky voice "I still need to learn more."
"But you will" Charlotte reassured her daughter "you know more than half of Hogwarts' staff anyway."
"I don't think-"
"Three minutes and thirty seconds" Harry added.
"You are about to start your fifth-year with only fourteen years of age and Minerva told me that you will also take some sixth-year subjects" Charlotte commented with a smile "we are so proud of you, poppet."
"Thank you, mum it means a lot," Hermione gave her mother an honest smile while trying hard to avoid her happy tears to fall.
"Four minutes and thirty seconds," Harry checked his chronometer once more. The five minutes frame was about to be over.
"Almost time, dear" Charlotte shook her daughter gently "everything's going to be fine."
A few seconds later after the five minutes passed, Jeanne apparated in a mist of mauve and Hermione rushed to cast a diagnostic spell; everything was fine, and her mother was back unharmed. When blue and amber locked with her mother's surprised amber, the young inventor knew that she had been successful.
"For Merlin, you did it!" Jeanne shouted before engulfing her brilliant daughter in a hug "even the horrible feeling after apparating was gone!"
"I can't breathe, you guys" Hermione shrieked when Charlotte and Harry also hugged her.
After some minor adjustments, and patenting the original spells Hermione used, the now renamed apparater was a major success among unspeakables that worked with Jeanne that soon, the Ministry ordered a batch for all their staff.
Hermione along with Charlotte and Harry spent the rest of her summer trying to meet the demand. The moment the Ravenclaw prefect stepped into her fifth year at Hogwarts, headmistress McGonagall asked for a demonstration of the apparater and after being pleasantly surprised, she lent Hermione a space she could use as a lab and tutor personally so she could take her OWLs early and focus on graduating even sooner.
That's how Hermione Granger graduated from Hogwarts at age sixteen after receiving ten outstanding O.W.L.s and passing eight N.E.W.T.s. Three months later, she started her own company with the income she had earned thanks to her apparater that was still a hot product as Ministries from all over the globe placed orders, same as other wizarding schools.
The apparater was only available after the wizard or witch turned seventeen and even if they tried to tamper with it to be able to use it before turning of age, the device would deactivate and turn into a regular sickle. Paying twelve galleons to cheat was something Granger Corp. would not allow nor endorse.
Three years later, Harry, that also skipped a year, graduated from Hogwarts and started working part-time in her sister's company while continuing his studies in Magical Business. After the great success of the apparater, the Polyjuice detector followed along with several other inventions that included dragon breath safety garments, and magical children finders that would help headmasters and headmistress to locate the future wizards and witches among muggle-borns.
By the time Hermione turned twenty-one, her company employed more than two hundred people and was the main crafter and provider of magical gadgets in Europe, and despite now having competition, Granger Corp. was still the leader in the magical market as their products were of the highest quality and wizards and witches trusted them the most.
Both siblings turned into the hottest bachelors according to Witch Weekly but neither of them cared about that, especially Hermione that was normally called eccentric and aloof; not that it bothered her, however.
A/N: Did you like your first gift? let me know!.