Prologue
Mort
1990
When it happened, the Grangers were totally unaware of the war. Sure, things had been more violent lately, but they were muggles. How were they to know that the violence came from Death Eaters chasing witches and wizards fleeing from the war?
So the night that the front door was blown off its hinges while Helen and Richard Granger stood in the kitchen cleaning the dishes, they'd had no warning. Helen dropped the plate in her hand on the floor while Richard ran out to confront whoever had broken into their home, but halfway to them, a strange green light had hit his chest and he fell to the ground. Helen had run after him and the same hit her mere moments before three people popped directly into the living room.
Hermione Granger stood cautiously at the top of the stairs. She'd heard the door crash open, but there had been no yelling or banging after that, so she took a step down. "Mum? Dad? Are you- oh!"
A hand closed over her mouth and she struggled against the person holding her from behind. There hadn't been anyone up there… had there? They spun her around and she saw a concerned woman staring into her eyes. The woman put a finger to her lips and Hermione quieted, trusting her only because she looked so worried. She slipped her hand into Hermione's and twisted her ankle and… they disappeared.
It was explained to her many hours later.
She'd been taken to a large, fancy home that looked a bit like museums she'd been to with her parents. The woman had left right after leaving her there and there she'd sat for an eternity before anyone came back for her. In the end, two women - including the one that had left her there - and a man had returned.
"You brought her back here?" the blonde haired woman asked loudly, cursing colorfully when she removed her jacket, revealing a deep injury in her back. The other woman moved over and began healing it with a stick and light that only served to confuse Hermione more. "What the fuck do we do with her now?"
"Quiet, Kasia," the black haired woman scolded. "What would you have me do? Leave her?"
"Take her to a muggle place!"
"For them to track her down again," the man scoffed, waving his hand at her dismissively. "Of course not."
"Well what do you plan to do with her?" the woman - Kasia - asked skeptically.
"I'd appreciate it if you did not speak of me as if I'm not here," Hermione snapped, her nerves worn down. "And I would also like to know what's happening. Where am I? Did you kidnap me?"
The black haired woman shot a dirty look at Kasia and then offered her a tentative smile. "We didn't kidnap you, dear, of course not. I know everything happened very quickly, but we had no choice. You were in danger."
"Well, who are you? Why would I be in danger? I'm eleven."
"I'm Emma Greengrass," the woman smiled and waved at the man. "This is my husband, Daniel. Over there is Kasia - she's my sister. I know it seems unlikely that you would be in danger, but there's a lot you don't know."
Hermione furrowed her brow. She already knew that she was missing something and she was getting increasingly frustrated with the way they dragged their feet to explain it to her. "Then please tell me."
Kasia let out a sigh and walked over to her. "You've had things happen that you couldn't explain. Things that science and reason can't explain for you. Something… magical."
"Magic doesn't exist," Hermione denied immediately. "Any advanced enough science can be called magic by those that don't understand it."
"Well, whatever science this is, we haven't figured it out yet," Daniel said with a wink. "Truthfully, you're a witch."
"But- but I can't be!" Hermione denied, getting upset. With the stress over being so confused, and not knowing where her parents were, and how tired she was from being up way past her bedtime, her hair began sparking. It only startled her a bit. It happened very rarely, and she thought it had to be some sort of biological reaction… or something.
"That's magic, love," Emma nodded at her hair. "You're upset, we know. But we're going to help you, and we'll take care of you."
"I'd like to see my parents," Hermione requested finally. The three adults exchanged a glance at one another. "Where are they?"
"What's your name, kid?" Kasia questioned.
"Hermione Jean Granger," she answered, eyeing her nervously. She was much gentler than she'd been before, and Hermione got the impression she was used to working with kids.
"Hermione, I'm very sorry, but your parents didn't make it."
Hermione had lived a rather sheltered life, honestly. She'd had a small family consisting of her and her parents. They were both dentists with their own practices, which meant that they had a decent amount of money. That had a nice house and took vacations every other year. Hermione didn't have many friends at home, but she was friends with the boy next door, who while he didn't share her love of knowledge, he'd appreciated it.
Since there were so few people in her life that she truly cared for, she hadn't experienced any sort of loss or grief before. She was only eleven and she'd just lost both of her parents, her best friends, her biggest supporters.
The rest of the night was filled with a lot of firsts. Her first time taking potions - calming draught and a sleeping draught - her first time going into shock, her first time (of many) losing people that she loved, her first time finding a new family, and her first and only time permanently changing her name.
That night, she was guided to a room that was much bigger than her room at home and tucked in. Daniel and Emma sat on either side of her bed, holding a hand each, and stayed there until she'd stopped crying and fell asleep.
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Adjusting was difficult.
The weirdest issue she had was probably going by a different name. Her new name was Macie May Greengrass. Since no one knew her by her old name aside from her adoptive parents, they didn't mess up, but she definitely did. To practice getting used to it, she was taken on many trips around the world where she'd introduce herself to numerous people until it became habit. As well as that, she spent a ridiculous amount of time writing her name over and over until she no longer had to cross out the H.
Something else that was odd was having siblings. She had two sisters - one her age named Daphne and one a year younger than them named Astoria. She'd been an only child before, so she wasn't entirely sure how to have sisters. Aside from that, the two were obviously very close already, and she was worried about not being welcome or intruding.
Luckily, it was a non issue. The two girls were extremely understanding and very welcoming. They'd also been wonderfully helpful in teaching her about magic. She found it endlessly interesting. She was still certain it was science in some form, but for the moment, she was content with just learning about it in its base form.
The last thing they did to integrate her into the family was change her hair color and give her something to tame her curls. By the end, she had wavy, black hair and looked a great deal like them since they already had matching brown eyes.
It turned out, Kasia lived with them. More than that, Macie had been right. Kasia used to be an American teacher in the American wizarding school, Ilvermorny. She'd left when things had begun getting dangerous back home and had returned to help fight the war.
They hadn't said much about the war. All she knew was that there were people that didn't like muggles, muggleborns, and sometimes half bloods and sometimes, they might just have to kill you for it. The Grangers had only entered their radar when Macie's name had popped up on the Hogwarts registry, which had been stolen - it had been recovered a few days later - and read through to keep muggleborns from coming to Hogwarts.
Macie's concerns that they'd find her again were calmed quickly. Legal and blood adoption meant that she was, by all means, Macie Greengrass, the pureblood twin sister of Daphne Greengrass. Apparently, Emma had even checked with Dumbledore that her name was on there correctly.
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1991
Upon getting to Hogwarts, the two sisters were nervous, but they were nervous together. It was startling how much they were inseparable already, as well as Astoria. The trio were extremely close, luckily.
While both of them were Sorted into Slytherin, they didn't get to relax. They sat together at the table and Daphne leaned over.
"I heard Harry Potter is here this year."
Macie recognized that name. She'd been told about him a bit. Apparently, he'd killed the Death Eaters' leader. Well, they didn't think it was him since he'd been an infant, but he'd been the only one that had survived the Killing Curse. Unfortunately, the movement hadn't ended with their leader's death and instead, his highest ranking officers had picked it up.
"Potter," a boy with nearly white-blonde hair scoffed. "Stood by Weasley of all people. He wouldn't even shake my hand!"
"Perhaps because you were a prat about it," a boy with light brown hair rolled his bright blue eyes. "He's not been seen in years and you're talking about choosing the right people? How the hell is he to know you're not an arse?"
"Shut it, Nott."
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1993
That year, their family gave asylum to Sirius Black.
He'd escaped Azkaban after being thrown in there for betraying his best friend. Everyone knew it had been bullshit, but it was war. No one had the energy to fight for anyone that wasn't in immediate danger, and he hadn't been.
He'd escaped upon realizing that Peter Pettigrew was still a danger to Harry and had been on his way to Hogwarts when Kasia had caught him and dragged him back to Greengrass Manor. The girls were home for summer when he arrived and were, unfortunately, in the floo room playing Exploding Snap when she threw him to the ground upon Apparating inside.
While Astoria was sent to get their parents, Kasia stepped up to the mirror to spell her split lip closed and get rid of the bruise forming.
"Kasia, is that Sirius Black?" Macie wondered nervously. The blonde woman just shrugged and Macie watched Sirius struggle to push his hair out of his face, so she leaned over to help him. Their eyes met and she saw no danger in them and only desperation.
"Mace, no," Daphne gasped, tugging her back. She smacked her sister's hands away and quietly took off Sirius's ropes. He sagged in relief.
"Macie," Daniel's voice called sharply. She got to her feet and stood in front of Sirius.
"Don't turn him in," she demanded. "He could hurt me and he didn't. There's something about him, Dad."
"He has any number of reasons to not hurt you," Kasia told her while Emma wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "The first being that I'm here and I'd beat the shit out of him."
"I mean it," Macie insisted. "No one believes he did it anyway, right? Can't we just help him?"
"Why else would he be here, love?" Daniel wondered, honestly confused. "You don't think we'd turn him in, do you?"
"Well… Kasia had him tied up and tossed him to the ground and…"
Daniel reached down and offered Sirius a hand. Sirius took it very reluctantly and got to his feet. In an offhanded gesture, Kasia removed the silencing spell no one realized she'd cast.
"Thank Merlin," Sirius breathed, rubbing his throat. He grimaced in pain. "You're not turning me in then?"
"James adored you," Daniel confirmed. "You were brothers, and since we are the last family loyal to the Alliance, it's my duty to help you."
"Help me?" Sirius stared at him like he was crazy. "Why not help Harry?"
"The girls are good friends with him," Emma nodded at the three girls just as Astoria snuck her way back into the room to stand between her sisters. "He spends Christmas and Easter here and comes a few weeks before school. In fact, he's due in a few days."
"I can see Harry?"
"Not like that," Kasia scoffed, earning himself a glare.
"What she means is that you need to get cleaned up," Daniel clarified. "You can stay here as long as you need, Sirius."
"Thank you," Sirius breathed. "Thank you."
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1995
"You're an arse."
"Excuse me for not taking a teenager's opinion to heart," Sirius rolled his eyes, following Macie into the library. Daphne and Astoria had gone to see Blaise while Macie opted to stay home, not in the mood for socializing. "C'mon, kitten, you've been in a mood lately. What's wrong with you? I miss arguing with you."
Macie waved her wand behind her silently. When he grunted in pain as a book collided with the back of his head, she felt a trill of satisfaction and kept walking. The couch in front of the fire was empty per usual and she sat down. When he sat next to her, she resigned herself to his company and tossed her legs over his lap. "Maybe I'm tired of you following me around like the big dog you are."
"Nah, that can't be it," he waved her off. "I've got it!"
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yeah, what is it?"
"You've got a crush on me!"
Macie did roll her eyes this time, smacking his arm. "You're like twenty-two years older than me, Sirius. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I don't."
"Aw, come on. I'd have a crush on me!"
"You do have a crush on you."
"And it's lovely."
Before she could ignore him and open her book, he grabbed it out of her hands and tossed it across the room and out of view. Her eyes widened in horror and she felt her hair begin to spark. "Sirius!"
"Come on, just tell me!"
"Just leave me alone," she snapped, getting to her feet to chase after her book. Sirius got to his feet as well and Apparate across the room to stand in front of the book, appearing just before she got to it.
"C'mon, kitten, I'll stop bugging you if you do."
"You wanna know?" she asked, clenching her fists. "Fine. My parents died five years ago today!"
There was a moment of silence in which she stepped around him and picked up her book. Before she could walk away or out of the room, he grabbed her hand gently, prompting her to glare up at him with tears in her eyes that she'd spent so much energy holding back.
"Macie."
"Hermione," she corrected softly. The look he was giving her was unbearably gentle compared to the teasing he'd been doing before. The energy drained out of her and she led him back to the couch where she sat down and crossed her legs, looking at him. "I am- I was muggleborn. When I turned eleven, the registry book in Hogwarts was stolen and my family was attacked. The Greengrasses found me and took me in. Officially, Hermione Granger died that night along with her parents and three of the six Death Eaters that came to kill us."
"Shit," he cursed quietly. "I'm sorry, kitten. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't tell anyone," she shrugged, swiping at a tear as it fell. "Daph and Story don't even know my real name. Aside from my parents and Kasia, you're the only person that knows."
Sirius reached out for her. Instead of hugging her like she expected, he grabbed her arm and gripped her forearm and she did the same, confused. He grabbed his wand and pointed it at their intertwined arms. "I, Sirius Orion Black, do swear on my wand and magic to keep this secret with my life."
She felt the magical flames sink into her skin and gasped at the cool pain it caused. When they released their arms, she saw a small bond mark on her forearm, a bond mark indicative of an Unbreakable Vow. She ran her fingers over it quietly. "You didn't have to do that, Sirius. I trust you."
"You always trusted me," he pointed out. "I just wanted to prove that I'm worthy of that trust."
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The Department of Mysteries was Macie's first true battle and it hadn't gone well.
The kids had been grabbed by various Death Eaters. The one that had grabbed her was one she recognized as Antonin Dolohov. He'd tugged her hard against him and made her face the battle as it raged in front of them. His words had been soft and unsettling and had pointed toward wanting to take her. That was why she'd let out a scream to alert everyone of where she was.
Kasia had heard her.
Dolohov had been in the process of trying to Apparate them away when Kasia had reached through the wards, grabbed Macie, and torn her away from the Death Eater. While Sirius had taken Macie over to the other kids, Kasia had fought. She fought until Bustrode had sent a cutting hex her way and it had hit her throat.
She'd died.
The funeral was quiet and held in Greengrass Manor. Afterward, the family insisted Harry not go back to the Dursley's no matter what Dumbledore wanted. He'd lost some of his political power and so was not as much of a threat. So Harry officially moved in with them.
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1996
The night Dumbledore died, there was a battle on Hogwarts grounds. Death Eaters had been let into the school by Pansy Parkinson and they'd fought. Many people had been injured including Remus, Bill Weasley, Macie, and Harry.
After the battle, everyone had been sent home. Dumbledore was dead, Snape was firmly on the side of the Death Eaters, and they'd lost Hogwarts. It was a dark night.
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It was the fifth battle of the past two months when Daniel and Emma ended up in the same spot. They typically responded to different raids, but one was much larger than they'd anticipated and Daniel had to come help.
It was a trap.
The Greengrass parents were held hostage in Malfoy Manor for three weeks before they were finally deemed no longer useful and were murdered.
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1997
Astoria was killed January 7th when she went to save Luna Lovegood from being kidnapped. She'd been killed using Sectumsempra and then left there in the middle of the muggle street to bleed out. They didn't find her until they used dark magic to track her blood.
They couldn't take her body with her without being caught, too.
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They had one Horcrux. They had one and they'd killed it thanks to one of Theo's contacts that got them some very illegal basilisk venom that they used to infuse a goblin made dagger with.
They'd have been so glad for the death of another. It was less work for them. They hadn't even had to do anything. They'd have been so glad to see it gone if it hadn't been Harry.
Daphne died trying to get to him when he gasped awake and was killed again.
Macie and Sirius got out of there before they could be taken, too.
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1998
Macie stepped out of the tent cautiously. Sirius was lying on the grass with a blanket under him and stared up at the sky silently. She could see that he was bleeding through the bandage around his ribs as well as the shirt he wore, so she walked over silently and sat down next to him. She shoved his shirt aside and began messing with the bandages, spelling water on the nasty injury that had come from dark magic to clean it out. Once it was cleaned up, she waved her wand to collect new bandages and got to work putting them on. "How's the pain?"
"Better than yesterday," he answered. To her frustration, he pointed up at the sky, jostling the injury. "See that one?"
She considered scolding him but instead laid down next to him to see which one he was pointing at. "The one with that brighter star at the bottom?"
He nodded quietly. "That's Leo. The bright star is Regulus."
Understanding passed through Macie. Sirius's brother had fought for Voldemort, but he'd died to stop him. It was a touchy subject for Sirius, so she'd never tried to bring it up herself just as he never mentioned the family she'd lost eight years prior. "You're thinking about him?"
"I'm thinking that he died for a good cause but he was still a shitty fucking person," Sirius confirmed, his voice just as soft through the entire sentence.
"Maybe he didn't know how to be brave like you," she suggested quietly. He turned his head to look at her and caught her already frowning at him. "We can't all be as brave as you, Sirius."
"Maybe if he was, we wouldn't be here."
"I don't think Regulus could change this," she disagreed softly, dropping her head on his shoulder. "Can you do me a favor?"
"Of course, kitten."
"Don't die."
Sirius tensed. How the hell was he supposed to agree to that? They were all dying. And he knew he was a selfish man, so he knew he wanted to die before she did. He wasn't sure he could handle seeing her die, too.
"Everyone I've ever loved has died," she continued, her voice a whisper. "Except for you. Don't die, Sirius. I need you. I can't… I don't know how to do this alone."
Sirius sighed and pulled her closer to press a kiss to the top of her head. "I won't leave you."
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The last horcrux was one that they had to get close to Voldemort to kill. It was a suicide mission, truthfully. They went.
It was a large battle and they held it at Hogwarts with all of the remaining Order members and any help from surrounding magical communities that they could get. They were horribly outnumbered, but they still did it.
Neville ended up being the one to kill Nagini. No one could really figure out how, but their moment of celebration cost them.
Death Eaters swarmed more aggressively than before and they were surrounded and separated. Macie didn't give up, though. She kept fighting and managed to engage one of them in a duel. When she turned to shoot up a shield in front of Sirius, she missed a curse from her attacker and it hit a precious piece of magic held on a chain around her neck.
The time turner didn't break, but it interacted with the dark magic instead. There was a bright light and a horrible pain.
"Sirius!" she screamed desperately. It was no use. Abruptly, as she was calling his name, she was tossed to the floor and the light faded away. It took her a moment to be able to move or understand anything, but when she was clear again, she found Sirius standing above her with his wand out looking… wrong.
"Who the hell are you?" he snapped. She blinked up at him rapidly. "Who are you?"
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