Chapter Nineteen

Hermione felt her hair sparking as she stared at Sirius, her temper rising. "You can't just fire him, Sirius! He was left in this place with no one but your dead mother's portrait to talk to for years! He needs help, not to be abandoned!"

"You don't bloody know what he needs," Sirius told her, narrowing his eyes. "Damn lucky I don't Avada him!"

"Sirius!" Hermione snapped furiously. "He needs help!"

"He almost got you guys killed," he reminded her sharply, glaring right back at her. It was possibly the first time their tempers had ever clashed and Remus, Harry, and Salazar were watching on in concern and wonder. "He shouldn't have been able to lie to Harry, Hermione! That means his bond with the family is breaking and he could damage us more!"

"So send him to get help! I don't fucking care about your stupid childhood grudge!"

"Woah," Harry muttered to the two men next to him. "I've never heard her swear before."

"I won't waste money on him," Sirius told her firmly. "I'm done discussing it."

"No, you aren't," she snapped, grabbing his arm when he went to turn away. He grabbed her hand to throw it off of him and she screamed out in pain when his finger brushed the glamoured bite mark on her wrist. She stumbled a little and Sirius was forced to grab her to keep her from falling. She grabbed onto her head as pain flooded through it.

Salazar shot over to them and pulled out his wand. He grabbed her arm gently, careful not to touch the bite mark, and cursed in Parseltongue. "Hermione, you were supposed to tell us if it got worse at all."

"Not that bad," she muttered as Sirius lowered her to the ground. "It doesn't hurt unless someone touches it. I can touch it just fine."

"I told you, this is unlike anything you've seen before," he reminded her, summoning bandages and a pain potion. She drank the potion without question as he took off the glamour and put the bandages on.

"Is that- was that a bite mark?" Harry asked, horrified. "Mione, how the hell-,"

"Harry," Salazar said quietly. Harry bit his lip but didn't push. When Salazar had finally finished wrapping the mark again, occasionally using magic to keep from touching it himself, he let go of her arm. "Hermione, you must be very careful. No one can touch this until we fix it."

"I know," she muttered, feeling much better after the pain potion. She pushed herself into a sitting position and winced. The pain in her core had slowly been decreasing, but it was just as bad as it had been the night of the battle.

"You okay, Kitten?" Sirius asked with a frown. "What was that?"

"Nothing," she shook her head.

"Hermione-,"

"Please," she requested. "Not now."

"...okay."

"And please just send him away," she asked him, getting right back into the topic they'd been arguing about. "He doesn't deserve to just be cut off from magic and eventually die."

"Fine," Sirius sighed. "Just promise not to do whatever just happened again."

Hermione did her best not to roll her eyes. "I'll try."

"Good!" Remus breathed out in relief. He trusted Sirius not to lose his shit on a teenager, but he hadn't seen the man so irritated in a long time. "Perhaps we can gather our things and leave before the Order gets here in thirty minutes, then."

"Shit, you're right," Sirius cursed. He jumped to his feet and reached down to help Hermione up. "Let's go."

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Hermione stood with Harry at the opposite end of the ballroom from the women in the beautiful dresses, her brow furrowed. "What is it like?"

"Weird," he laughed, thinking back to when he was adopted. It already felt like it had been forever, a fact he blamed on the Centaur attack and the battle at the DOM, not to mention everything else they'd been through in between those. "It was weird. After the magical adoption, there was this string between Athair and I, and… I tugged it. It felt so odd. I don't even know how to put it into words."

"You don't think this is a mistake, do you?" she whispered, stepping closer. "You know I'm not trying to… steal Sirius from you?"

Harry snorted. "Hermione, I love him, but it sounds like you've spoken to the man more than I have. It kinda sucks, but I wouldn't be upset with you for looking for magical support. I know your parents weren't always… happy. I think this is a good thing."

Hermione breathed out in relief. "I still haven't actually talked to him about anything I meant to talk to him about. I have a lot of questions for him."

"And a lecture," he joked, nudging her with his elbow. She blushed, remembering the night back in the Founders' time when she'd woken him up and ranted about how they'd witnessed Sirius luring Snape to the Whomping Willow on a full moon.

"It was stupid! And dangerous!"

"And he was a teenager," Harry shrugged. "It's been a long time, Mione. Let it go. You weren't even there."

"Hey," Remus smiled at them. "It's starting. You guys should get ready."

Hermione nodded nervously and watched Harry make his way over to the small seating area around the room where the Black family and some select friends were placed. She bit her lip nervously and hesitated.

"It'll be okay," Remus assured her.

"Remus," she frowned at him. "Professor Slytherin told me I needed to find someone and I wasn't sure who to ask, but… there needs to be a second, a godparent. I was wondering if maybe you'd consider-,"

"Sirius already asked me," Remus smiled at her kindly. "I said yes."

"Oh," Hermione blinked in surprise. "Oh. Thank you."

Remus nodded and made his way back over to the coven gathered at the front. The coven had been Salazar and Godric's suggestion. Sirius had jumped at it, fully aware of how powerful they would be.

They'd asked every woman in the Black family - Narcissa, Andromeda, and Tonks - to join. Aside from them, Rowena and Helga had offered their assistance, and Hermione had jumped at the offer. Finally, she'd picked Ginny and Luna to complete the unsealed coven. Both girls had been excited, and so the unsealed coven had been formed. All of them stood in the middle of the room, each dressed in matching robes of a light golden color that nearly glowed in the light.

"Let's get started," Godric called. As he had experience in an adoption ceremony, he'd offered to help them. Sirius had been overly pleased and accepted immediately. "We are here to perform the magical, blood, and legal adoption of Hermione Jean Granger by Sirius Orion Black. Is the coven ready?"

"We are," Ginny replied with a bright smile. She'd immediately been chosen as the person closest to Hermione and was, therefore, leading the ceremony.

Godric nodded. They were already in the middle of the room at a table. Hermione and Sirius stood on one side with Godric and Remus across from them. The coven walked around them until they stood in a circle around them. They joined hands and Hermione remembered chanting the same words at Harry's adoption.

A white-gold surrounded them for a mere moment before it spread out to touch everyone in the room. Hermione knew from asking Rowena after Harry had described it to her that the lines from her to those people were representations of the people she was connected to. She watched in amazement as the lines slowly disappeared until only one was left - one between her and Sirius.

"Do you, Sirius Orion Black, accept responsibility for Hermione Jean Granger's life? Her happiness and her safety? Her comfort and her peace?"

"I do," Sirius confirmed, his hands and voice shaking slightly. The magic in Ginny's eyes encompassed the man and settled into him. It prodded and entered his magical core, one half of the magical adoption finished.

"Do you, Hermione Jean Granger, accept Sirius Orion Black as your adoptive father? To be your caregiver and your family?"

"I do," Hermione managed to choke out. The last of the magic in Ginny's eyes settled into her magic core excitedly, and she calmed at the feeling.

"Do you, Remus Jacob Lupin, swear to protect and care for Hermione Jean Granger, should anything happen to Sirius Orion Black?"

"I do," Remus confirmed. Some of the remaining magic latched onto him as well, confirming his place as godfather.

"And now," Godric grinned. "For the blood adoption."

Hermione hummed as they set everything up and stared at the light that sat between her and Sirius. Harry had mentioned it and how odd it felt, but he hadn't explained further. Curious from her earlier conversation, Hermione reached out with her magic to touch the light. Sirius jumped, dropping the dagger he'd been handed.

"Motherfucker!" he exclaimed, turning to look at her. Despite how inappropriate his comment was in the middle of an adoption, she couldn't help but let out a shocked laugh.

"Sirius!" she laughed.

"The fuck was that, Kitten?" he asked her, blinking.

"Harry told me-,"

"Don't blame me!" Harry exclaimed from somewhere beyond the coven. "I didn't tell you to touch it!"

"But you told me it felt odd and then didn't say anything else!"

"Harry," she could hear Salazar sigh in exasperation.

"If we can continue," Godric laughed, gathering their attention once more. It took them a moment to regain their composure but once they had, the Founder began. With Sirius holding the dagger, he nodded. "Repeat after me."

They did as they were told, both of them, and muttered the same words they'd spoken before. After they'd both cut their palms and the ceremony had been finished, Godric grinned.

"Congratulations!"

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With the adoption over and the guests gone, only the Black family was left. Harry had returned with his father and the rest of the Founders to Hogwarts to begin getting everything in order. Dumbledore was still there for the simple fact that they had other things to do before they wanted to address the school, which they planned to do soon.

Hermione had found herself a bedroom, one which she'd been assured was free of any dark magic or anything that would hurt her and she had spent a while there to rest and gather her thoughts.

She wasn't entirely sure what she thought of being adopted. She still loved her parents a great deal, but they'd also lied to everyone - her parents had been Obliviated and sent to Australia. She knew she'd never have them back.

When Sirius had told them that Hermione would be infinitely safer as a daughter of an Ancient and Noble House, they'd jumped at the chance to keep her safe. It had taken a while to explain to the Grangers that Hermione no longer had a choice about being involved in the war - her choice had been taken the day she'd befriended Harry. It was the only reason they'd agreed to be Obliviated. They'd watched Hermione break down in fear and worry over their safety and had agreed to it after making Sirius promise he'd keep her safe.

Sirius was… frustrating. Certainly not her father, regardless of the adoption. She wasn't quite sure how to define the relationship aside from something vaguely familial. Hermione knew the entire thing had Sirius a bit jittery. He'd had just as much time to adjust as she had, despite it being his idea.

There was a soft knock on the door and Hermione glanced up. She'd been sitting at the window for nearly a half hour already, lost in thought. Shaking herself, she waved her hand at the door to open it, practicing some of the wandless magic she knew the way she'd been instructed to do. The more they practiced, the easier it would be.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her as he walked over and pulled a chair to sit down opposite her. "Wandless magic?"

"They taught all of us," she said softly. "Something happened and if we'd had wandless magic, we might've been able to get out of it earlier."

Sirius frowned at her. "I didn't even think you might've been in danger… what happened?"

Hermione shifted in her seat a little, uncomfortable remembering. "I'd rather not talk about it, truthfully."

Despite how much he looked like he wanted to push, he didn't. "I thought you might wanna talk. Seemed like you had a lot on your mind at dinner. You kept narrowing your eyes at me. A little scary, honestly."

Hermione let out a surprised laugh. "I did?"

"Mmhm."

"I have… some questions for you."

Sirius immediately looked uncomfortable, obviously misunderstanding. "Look, I was never- shit, I was terrified when James named me godfather, okay? I'm not really a fatherly influence, and-,"

"Sirius, no," she shook her head quickly. "That's not- I wasn't about to ask you to become my father."

"Oh. Shit, go on then."

With a roll of her eyes, she thought back to her questions. "Well I guess the first thing I want to know is why you lied to the Wizengamot?"

"Huh?"

"You told them I'm already your heir," she explained. "We haven't done the heir rituals yet."

Sirius made a face. "Look, they can ignore an adoption that hasn't happened quite yet, but they're weird about heir rituals. If I told them it hadn't happened yet, they'd just make me wait until it had happened."

"Well… why didn't you wait?"

"Because they like to meddle in shit that they shouldn't meddle in," he sighed. "If they knew I was Lord but I didn't have an heir yet, they'd lose their shit and try to get me arrested again or something so that the next in line - Draco - could become Lord and hopefully fit their plans better."

"That's awful!"

"That's politics," he agreed.

"So… that makes sense," she nodded slowly, her gut twisting anxiously. She fell silent, her anxiety stopping her from speaking again. She was terrified of the answer to her next question.

"What's wrong, Kitten?"

"Something happened," she told him softly. "And in the past, we knew it would happen. The Founders, they did this… test to see how we'd react in danger. They used Professor Gryffindor's Seer powers to know who would be the most danger to us in our lives. Harry's was Voldemort. Mine was… Antonin Dolohov."

Sirius sucked in a short breath and she swore he paled. "Fuck, Hermione."

She looked away and bit the inside of her cheek. "I asked Professor Gryffindor why I fought him and he used this old Seer spell to See the day I met Dolohov. It was… it was the DOM. He grabbed me and said… said he wanted to keep me and then he bit me, Sirius, hard enough that it bled and Madame Pomfrey says it'll scar. Then he hit me with this spell and when Professor Gryffindor saw what he hit me with, he got mad. He got so mad that he snapped at me and sent me away."

"What spell?"

"And then it happened and we were there and he's terrifying, Sirius," she said, her voice shaking. "And he hit me with the spell and it hurt so much. It still hurts. Madame Pomfrey said it'll go away and it does but then someone touches the bite mark and it hurts again, it feels like I'm being torn apart, and-,"

"Hermione!" Sirius said loudly. She stopped short, staring at him with wide eyes. "What spell?"

She blinked a little and tried to keep her breathing calm. "Anima Coniungere."

Sirius looked like he was going to be sick. "Fuck. Fuck."

"No one will tell me what it is," she told him, her voice a whisper. "Professor Slytherin took that book on soul magic that you told me to burn. Sirius… I'm scared."

"Fuck," Sirius repeated, getting to his feet. He ran his fingers through his hair and began to pace. "Shit! Hermione, how old are you?"

"I- I think I'm still sixteen."

"Sixteen," he hissed, forcing his eyes closed. "You're sixteen."

"Sirius, what does it do?" she asked him softly. "Harry says I should trust them to not tell me, that they'll figure it out and maybe I should-,"

"No," he told her firmly. He made his way back over to her and kneeled down to grab her hand. She met his eyes warily. "No, Hermione. No one should keep this from you."

"I don't understand. What is it? Why does it hurt so much?"

"How much of that book did you read?" he asked her, waiting patiently for her to remember.

"Just the first two chapters like you said. You've never told me not to read something before so I didn't."

He sighed and nodded. "I'll get it back from Slytherin. I have no clue where Dolohov found such a curse, Hermione, but it's bad."

"Yeah, I can tell, but what does it do?"

"Okay," he shook himself and tried to gather his thoughts. "Okay. What do you know of soul bonds? The different kinds."

Hermione frowned a little. "There are familial soul bonds, twin soul bonds, and soulmate bonds, right?"

"There are a few more that branch off from those but generally, yes. And you know how they're formed?"

"Familial and twin bonds are formed at birth and sometimes over the years when the people you consider family change," she nodded. "Soulmate bonds are formed when you kiss your soulmate."

"And soulmate bonds are only possible with one person - with your soulmate?"

"Of course."

"A long time ago, a very long time ago, a man found out that the woman he was courting wasn't his soulmate, so he created a spell," he began slowly. "A curse, actually. It dug into her and made him her soulmate. Her actual soulmate was no longer able to bond with her. Ever."

Hermione felt her breath sucked out of her as she began to process his words. "So… Dolohov, he-,"

"Wait," he requested gently. She nodded and just waited for him to continue. "The way that he ensured it would work was that he mixed it with blood magic. He had to bite her wrist and essentially infect her. The spell went in through the bite and infected her core, took it over until his core was bonded with it and settled in. It took weeks and caused her a great deal of pain."

"That's what happened," Hermione whispered. She looked down at the hand Sirius was holding and waved her free hand at the wrist to vanish the bandages and expose the still healing bite mark. Sirius stared down at it in horror.

"Hermione, it is important that you know about this because there is no cure. People have tried for many years to find a cure and they never have."

"They promised me they'd find a cure," she told him softly.

"I'm not trying to be an asshole, but it's entirely possible that they won't."

"But why did it hurt when you touched it?"

"Because there are… safeguards on this curse. It's only your wrist right now and it happens whenever you're touched at all, but it will… change. Grow. Eventually, it will cover your entire body and it will happen when someone touches you with…" Sirius grimaced. "Romantic or sexual intent. If someone kisses you, it will cause that sort of debilitating pain."

Hermione felt nauseous as she stared back at Sirius. She hadn't seen him so concerned or scared since that night in her third year. "Why would he do that, Sirius? I'd never met him before."

"Dolohov has been fucked up for years," he told her plainly. "You need to be really careful, Kitten. Some of the things he's done… I was an Auror, Hermione. I've seen people after he's gotten to them. You need to stay as far away as possible."

"It's not like I plan to pay him a visit," she shot back at him, momentarily irritated. "And I'm here and I'll be at Hogwarts. The worst case is if I go to Diagon Alley. It's not like I'll be out there looking for him."

"Soulmates have… perks," Sirius winced, shaking his head. "Not all have the same ones, but they do. He may be able to, within a certain distance, speak to you… telepathically."

Hermione's eyes widened. "That's possible?"

Sirius made a face at her.

Remember what you did earlier?

Hermione let out a small shout and jumped a little. "Merlin. That's what that did?"

Sirius nodded at her. "I talked to Harry about it and he let me know. Seems like Slytherin gave him a bit of a lecture, too."

"I didn't mean to do that," she said sheepishly. "But I was curious."

"Your Achilles heel," Sirius hummed. "Your curiosity. Your desperation to know."

"Yeah, and yours will probably be Firewhiskey," she shot back. He let out a small laugh.

"Fair enough."

Hermione's small smile fell into a frown. "What could it do? Aside from… telepathy."

"He might know where you are," Sirius admitted. "He might know if you're in pain, or he might know what emotions you're feeling. You'd be able to do all of these things, too. There could be more. I know James and Lily had the uncanny ability to somehow show up at the same places completely by accident. Frank and Alice Longbottom could pull on one another's magic to strengthen a spell. That got pretty dangerous during the war."

"You think some of these things… are possible?"

"Or all or none," he nodded sadly. "There's no way to know until we know. It is possible that he put more effort, more of his magic into the curse and that could bring more… perks."

"Why did they try to keep it from me?" she wondered softly.

"Because it's bloody fucking terrifying," he replied. "Hermione, I don't know if you understand the truth of what he's done. You will never know who your soulmate is and you will never be able to bond with them. You will forever be connected to Dolohov. Worse is that werewolves will recognize that bite on your arm as you having been claimed. The worst of the worse like Greyback, they might take you to him if they ever meet you. It's bloody dangerous out there for you now and not just because you were raised a muggleborn."

Hermione fell silent. She almost wished she'd just listened to Harry and never asked about it. She didn't want to be in such danger and the fact that there was a chance that a werewolf would see her and just take her to Dolohov terrified her. The entire thing terrified her.

"Don't tell anyone," she requested quietly. He stared at her, but she shook her head before he could reply. "Please, Sirius. I'm scared."

"Okay," he agreed in a whisper. "Our secret, then."

"Thank you."

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