After the secret is out.
Hermione and Tom work on the treaty. Tom reassures Hermione.
Hermione couldn't believe it. She suddenly had a father again. Granted he was dangerous, scary and unpredictable but, hey, he was here and that was all that counted, right? It was hard to believe that the Dark Lord himself was her father but she looked entirely too much like him plus she had the letter from her mother.
She pushed away from him, just enough to look up at him. "I'm sorry. I was rude to you earlier. I read the letter and just jumped to conclusions. I didn't stop to think about any repercussions. You, you WOULD have been there if it had been possible, right?"
"Yes, if it had been possible, I would have been there. Had I known about you, I'd have done my level BEST to bring you and your mother back with me. Everyone would know that you were my child. You would have grown up already knowing about your magical abilities. You would not have encountered all the resistance you've had to fight against." He cupped her chin tenderly.
Hermione smiled. "It wasn't too bad. It made me tough. It made me brave enough to go toe to toe with Malfoy! I punched him in the nose! He was making fun of Hagrid!"
Tom laughed. "He was? Well, then he deserved a punch in the nose, didn't he?" he was glad to see she wasn't still upset. Not that he blamed her. The news she had been hit with would have shocked anyone. She was reacting much more calmly than he deserved, really.
After all, it was his own fault that he hadn't been there. He'd been so stupid, reacting so strongly to a mere prophecy! Had he not gone to try and kill another child, he never would have almost died. He would still have a political career. He would have been there to get the letter. He would have known about her much sooner than this. He could have brought her and her mother to his world and they could have been a family. He felt a flutter of hope. Maybe, just maybe that might still be possible but first he had to SHOW her that he wanted to be there. That he wanted to be a father. That he wanted to love her. Then, only then, would she trust him enough to bring her mother back.
"Well, we have a treaty to work on, don't we?" Hermione changed topics, not ready to talk about family matters yet. She needed to think about this in private before she opened herself up to the possibilities of this news.
Tom nodded. It didn't matter that she wasn't willing to talk to him yet. It was enough that she knew who he was now. He was willing to let her take all the time she needed to work through this. After all, they had all the time in the world now.
They sat down side by side as they unrolled the parchment. She summoned a blank piece for taking notes or marking down changes made to the initial draft. "All right. The amnesty clause should be the easiest one to push through. That should actually cover the Snatchers as well, shouldn't it, as they weren't really bringing in prisoners?" Hermione asked making a few notes on her blank parchment.
"It should. Yaxley, that amnesty, it should extend to the Snatchers, right, since they weren't technically taking in prisoners? Also none of them bear the Dark Mark. That should help as well." Tom told her. She added a note to her page.
Yaxley pulled up a seat facing them. "It should. It really depends on who we get in there to replace Scrimgeour. Fudge would just let them be tossed into Azkaban, no trail, nothing. If it comes right down to it, I nominate Kingsley Shacklebolt for the job. He's one of the few who would do an excellent job."
"I actually second that nomination." Hermione said. "Plus he's an Order member. If we can get him and Remus in here, that will add strength to our cause. They are both fair and impartial. They both had their suspicions about the Ministry AND Dumbledore. Neither of them were happy about Dumbledore sending Harry off on his own, with just Ron and myself."
At that reminder, Tom looked at her. "Why DID he send the three of you off?"
Hermione bit her lip before she answered. "He didn't. It was more like he told Harry part of what he 'needed' to do. But he didn't want him telling anyone WHERE he was going or WHAT he was doing. Ron and l flat out TOLD Harry he wasn't leaving us behind!"
Tom was smiling. His daughter was a true Gryffindor! She refused to let Harry set out on a dangerous mission alone! "Well, I'm glad that Harry has such a loyal friend." He looked at Harry to see the boy smiling proudly at Hermione.
"All right. Next item. Prison sentences. Some of our group have already served a portion of their sentences. Maybe a reduced sentence to finish out their punishments? Others, including myself, have yet to serve any kind of sentence." At this item, Hermione jerked back and looked at him.
"You? But why? Why are you including yourself?" she had a white knuckle grip on her quill. He sighed heavily. He'd known she might possibly balk at this clause.
"Hermione, sweetheart, I did kill two people. I haven't forgotten that. I know you haven't. I can almost guarantee Mr. Potter hasn't forgotten. I did the crime, dear, I have to do the time. It's not fair to tell them they have to go to prison or return to prison and keep myself out, scot-free. That's why I wanted to have you helping to decide the prison sentences. Besides, I'll need someone to care for Nagini while I'm serving my sentence. Who better to care for her than sister?" Tom reached out and tucked a few strands of hair back from her face. At her name, Nagini slithered around and curled herself up around both Tom and Hermione's feet. Hermione realized he really was trying. He knew he'd done wrong and he was willing to accept his punishment.
"Ok. First I'll need to do some research on this one. The actual crimes they were charged with and the actual sentences they were given. How much time was served etc." Hermione earmarked that clause and wrote several notes to herself. Several of the Death Eaters who had been broken out of Azkaban breathed out sighs of relief. They knew she would make sure they were treated fairly this time.
She had no problem with declaring the Death Eaters a political group now. As predicted, she was very interested in some of the platforms they had introduced. She was definitely interested in getting magical classes or schools set up for dealing with accidental magic in children too young to attend Hogwarts yet. She also wanted classes set up for their non-magical parents. She knew both she and Harry would have benefitted from such a class. She was also interested in making sure magical children in non-magical families weren't abused. She reached down and gave Nagini scratchies as she fine-tuned some of her notes.
By this time, most of the room had emptied out as the various residents went their various ways. Harry and Scabior were absently tossing a Quaffle back and forth across the room as they waited for Hermione. She laid her quill down and looked at Tom. "If you hadn't gone to Godric's Hollow all those years ago, you wouldn't have almost died. You would have been around, alive and well, and active in politics, wouldn't you?"
"Yes, I would have been a politician all these years." Tom wondered where this conversation was going.
"You would have received my mother's note, soon after I sent it. You seriously, no lie, would have come back for us?" she looked him right in the eye.
"No lie, Hermione. I would have either brought the both of you back with me or I would have stayed in the Muggle world with you. Either way, you would have grown up, knowing me. I wouldn't have left the two of you to suffer for anything in the world. Had I known your mother had conceived, there's not a thing in the world- not even her stubborn temperament- that would have stopped me from bringing her back then." Tom laid his arm across Hermione's shoulders and squeezed gently. They stayed like that for a few minutes, then Tom stood up, pulling Hermione with him.
"It's almost lunchtime, dear, shall we go eat? We can pick back up this afternoon or tomorrow. You can have some time with your friends, all right?" Hermione smiled and nodded. She bent down and kissed Nagini, telling her she loved her. The large serpent quickly reclaimed her sunspot. One hug later, she was finally ready to release Tom. They walked out of the office arm in arm and went their separate ways. Harry and Scabior sat down on the steps as Hermione went to change for lunch.
