Happy reading!

Chapter 4.

"Why did you do it? Everything was under control" Harry asked calmly.

Hermione couldn't talk, she was tired of crying and her stomach hurt like hell. They were both lying down on a St. Mungo's bed, even if Hermione was the only one who needed to be there right now, Harry didn't want to leave her. Only the Marauders and Lily knew Harry was there, the healers would never allow it of course but there were certain perks about having an invisibility cloak.

"I mean I know it wasn't exactly on purpose but..."

Hermione tensed.

"It was on purpose?" Harry asked perplexed.

She nodded.

"Why?"

She hid her face under the covers, even if both of them were watching the ceiling she didn't want him to read her expressions.

"I didn't want you to know how it feels" she said finally, after a few seconds.

"How it feels? What?" Harry asked bewildered, he wasn't the one who was attacked.

"To be an orphan" she answered almost whispering.

A heavy silence fell between them. So that was it, even after so many months she couldn't get over her time at the orphanage, he knew how bad it was, she told him that much the night he discovered she was bloody afraid of thunders and everything she did today just showed how much she loved her new family. Harry hid under the covers and hugged her, because he realized he would never find the words to thank her enough.

"Is she going to be okay?" Lily Potter asked.

Healer Jefferson sighed deeply, three worried men and a tearful witch wasn't a good combination.

"I'm quite surprised" he began calmly "she's stable and we know her stomach hurts a lot right now but she's handling it nicely. Before I give you the analysis results I must ask, what happened?" he looked at Sirius when he asked but it was obvious that he was not going to answer.

"We were at Diagon Alley, shopping, I mean Harry, Hermione and I" Lily started "everything was going fine but before I realized what was happening a Death Eater was in front of me."

James who was holding Lily's hand tensed.

"I knew the kids were watching at the other side of the street and I was glad because I didn't want them to get involved" she took a deep breath "I was able to fight the bastard for a while but I got distracted and I knew that the curse was going to hit me but..." She could not continue speaking.

The healer nodded giving her time.

"She exchanged her place with me! I don't even know how she did it! All I know is one second I was fighting and the next one I was next to Harry watching how Hermione received the curse!"

"That's when we got there, the bastard was as surprised as everyone when he saw Hermione so that gave us enough time to catch him" James explained.

Healer Jefferson sighed, he didn't know what to think about the unusual family in front of him but they needed to hear what he was about to say.

"The curse was dark and ancient magic" he started "really uncommon, it destroyed half of her stomach."

Sirius paled and Lily gasped.

"Destroyed?" Sirius asked with a hoarse voice.

The healer nodded.

"We tried to rebuild it but we didn't succeed."

"What consequences...?" Sirius tried to ask.

"We don't really know, for now we would suggest to change her diet, she won't be able to eat much anymore and there's a potion she'll have to drink it every week, it'll numb the pain."

"For how long she'll have to drink it?" Remus asked.

"We'll check her progress, everything is uncertain for now."

Sirius hid his face in his hands. He could not believe the situation, his daughter in St. Mungo's, "The Prophet" probably printing the history already and he wouldn't be surprised if Fudge had already an appointed meeting for him to evaluate if he was a good father. Surprisingly that was the least of his worries, he just wanted to see his daughter, was this parental instinct?

"Oh, and another think, we obviously had to run some test on her magic, nothing invasive of course but we discovered something really interesting."

"Interesting?" Remus Lupin asked apprehensively.

The healer smiled for the first time of the conversation.

"Did you know she has a soulmate?"

"A soulmate?" Sirius asked confused.

The healer nodded.

"And he's a really special boy."

"Do you know who he is?" Lily asked.

"Of course! I must say I'm surprised you didn't realize sooner Miss Potter considering is your son, I mean."

James gaped and exchanged a look with Sirius. That was what they felt the day Harry and Hermione met.

"Harry and Hermione are soulmates?" Lilly asked shocked.

"And I must say that their bond is quite strong."

"But how do you know Harry is...?"

"Oh, we keep a record of magical signatures since the birth of the witch or wizard, and analyzing the documents we found a really strong match in Hermione's, after seeing how worried the young Mr. Potter was when you brought the young witch in here that left me no doubts."

The healer wanted to laugh at the several expressions of the people in front of him.

"I think it would be wise to keep it a secret even for them" he advised them "let them grow closer at their own pace, after seeing them together today I think that you won't be able to separate them, I can provide you some books about that topic. Any questions?"

Sirius was the first one to find his voice.

"Can I see her?"

Sirius didn't know what to say, he wanted to yell at her, he wanted to hug her and he wanted to laugh because she was alive, but the moment he went into her room she throw herself at him and hugged him, she caught him by surprise but he hugged her back immediately.

"Don't you ever do something like that to me again" he said with a hoarse voice, trying to control the lump in his throat.

Everyone gaped at the scene and Harry took that chance to get off the bed and ran to be next to his parents.

"I want to go home" Hermione said, hiding her head in the crook of his neck.

"We'll leave soon, princess."

Hermione spent several weeks drinking potions, going to St. Mungo's for check-ups, getting visits of worried people and talking with Harry on a daily basis. She was feeling better with each passing day. Getting used to eat less was going to be hard but she was sure she could handle it, after all she wasn't greedy about food.

The history about the accident didn't reach "The Prophet", Narcissa Malfoy took care of that using her connections, for some reason she liked Hermione and since she was a Black she couldn't allow drama around the last name. Sirius was really grateful.

The Death Eater who attacked them that day was Antonin Dolohov, he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban although Sirius suggested the Dementor's kiss.

"Hermione, you need to drink the potion" Remus said sighing.

She shook her head stubbornly and grabbed Harry's hand. They were at Grimmauld Place, Harry was visiting and Remus, who took very seriously Hermione's medical treatment, couldn't believe how difficult it was for her to drink one single potion.

"I'm fine."

He knew she was lying, she was a terrible liar. He could see tears welling in her eyes and he knew it was because her stomach hurt, what possessed Molly Weasley to send the child a cake after everyone told her that she wouldn't be able to eat much? He'll never know.

"Hermione, you ate too much cake."

She shook her head again and he sighed again, he knew how much she despised the potion but it was necessary otherwise he would have to take drastic measures.

"Fine, you don't have to drink it" he said and she smiled "but I'll take Harry to his house and I'll place a charm on the library door until you take the potion."

Her smile faded and Harry exchanged a worried look with her.

"That's not fair, dad!" She said and this time tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Then drink it."

"I hate that potion! I'm fine!"

"No, you're not" he insisted.

"Come on, Hermione" Harry said squeezing her hand lightly "drink it and then we can go upstairs and play."

Remus observed the exchange curiously, ever since the healer informed them about the soulmates thing he started to notice small things about the children. What puzzled him the most was the fact that they could look at each other without saying anything and even then they understood each other perfectly, this was one of those times.

Hermione gave up and grabbed the vial to take a large sip, the potion tasted like rotten eggs and it made her want to throw up.

Remus smiled satisfied.

"See? It wasn't that bad" he said.

Hermione huffed and dragged a smiley Harry upstairs.

"I believe that you must be wondering why I called you"

Sirius huffed while looking around, he hated Fudge's office, he hated how small and smelly it was. Not enough books and too many boxes with Merlin knows what inside, but what he hated the most was the man in front of him. His mustache was tacky and he had too much power and no capacity to control it. Fucking government and bloody ministry, this is why he was an anarchist.

"You called me to blackmail me again" Sirius said sardonically "and unfortunately is not going to work."

"You seem to be very sure about that fact" Fudge said.

Sirius smirked.

"I am."

"I won't lie Mr. Black" Fudge said "we are having some financial troubles inside the Ministry, therefore we have asked for some contributions and most people have been really charitable."

Sirius shook his head.

"First of all you wouldn't have financial troubles if you'd stop stealing like a corrupt piece of shit and second I believe those people weren't innocent, otherwise you wouldn't have find a way of blackmailing them" Sirius said "I'm clean and I haven't done anything wrong, I won't give you my gold."

Fudge sighed heavily and Sirius fought the urge to hex him right there, he didn't have time to be here, he needed to go back and be with Hermione who was probably wondering where he was.

"I was afraid that you would say that" Fudge said "but, answer me something, how is your daughter?"

Sirius tensed.

"Perfectly fine" he said "not that you care."

Fudge nodded.

"You're completely right, I don't care" he said "oh, but did you know that there's a special institution that makes sure that adopted children have a great quality of life at their homes?"

Sirius could feel a headache growing.

"Your point?"

"If I were to inform this institution that Hermione Black was attacked…"

"Don't you dare!" Sirius said exploding "that was your entire fault! You and your useless work as the Minister allowed that Death Eater bastard to go around throwing curses!"

"I won't deny it" Fudge said smiling "but how many people would believe you? The Black family was really known for their links to the dark arts and as far as I'm concerned there hasn't been a single history about the Death Eater attack on the newspaper."

Sirius's eyes widened.

"So, if that institution were to run some tests on your daughter would they find her perfectly healthy?" Fudge asked "because if that's not the case you might find yourself losing your daughter and who knows? My ministry, as you say, it's pretty useless and no one takes good care of the children within the system, she might get lost somewhere, in the best case scenario of course."

Sirius couldn't help it, so he threw himself at Fudge and grabbed him by the neck of his robes.

"You stay away from my child" Sirius said menacingly "I adopted that girl magically and in case you don't know how that works it means that she's mine even by blood."

"I suggest you to let go off me unless you want me to call security" Fudge said suddenly aware of the fact that he was dealing with an Auror, an expert at fighting.

Sirius let go off him and sighed.

"Don't you have some other pureblood to steal from?"

"I'm finding quite difficult to find some other pureblood who is as scared of the Ministry as you."

Sirius frowned.

"I'm not afraid of you" he said.

"Of course you are, we sent you to Azkaban and obviously the Dementors did quite the number with you, not to mention that you ran to adopt a child when we tried to get close to you and look at you right now, you're shaking from head to toe."

Sirius tried to control his breathing, he had to admit that the mention of Dementors was enough to send chills down to his bloody bones.

"I'm shaking because I'm enraged asshole" Sirius said "don't get me wrong."

"You have three days" Fudge said finally "cooperate with us or trust the system to take care of your daughter."

Sirius left the office without looking at Fudge's satisfied face.

When Sirius arrived at Grimmauld place he was relieved to see Hermione fast asleep on her bedroom. If she were to ask he wouldn't be able to explain why he looked like he was in pain. He walked downstairs to find Remus at the living room, reading. Without a warning he grabbed the book and threw it far away.

"Hey!" Remus said "I was reading that and…"

Sirius didn't let him finish what he was going to say, instead he straddled him and kissed him full on the lips as if his life or sanity depended on that.

To say that Remus was shocked was an understatement, he couldn't understand what had gotten to Sirius, it was even worse when his body started to feel hot and the way his lips seemed to move on his own. He was answering and Sirius's kisses were demanding and rough, Remus was about to let himself go but he remembered the little girl sleeping upstairs and they weren't even using a privacy charm.

"Sirius" Remus tried to say but Sirius wasn't stopping "Sirius wait!"

It took five seconds for Sirius to stop.

Both men stared at each other breathing heavily.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Hermione is upstairs" Remus said "unless you want her to see us in a compromising position I suggest you to calm down."

Sirius cursed under his breath.

"I have never thanked you for supporting me" he said angrily "I've been a shitty friend and a shitty father and now she lost half of her stomach."

"You gave us a daughter" Remus said cutting his self-loathing speech "it would've been a lot better if you had talked to me about what the fuck we were or where we were standing but I don't regret raising her along with you, besides the accident wasn't your fault! It wasn't anyone's fault."

Sirius hid his head on Remus's chest.

"I gave us a daughter" he repeated and then chuckled "you sounded too damn gay."

Remus sighed annoyed.

"Considering how we're both gays I won't take that as an offense."

"We might lose our daughter to the Ministry" Sirius said suddenly confusing Remus.

"What do you mean?"

Sirius couldn't think straight, he couldn't explain how angry and defenseless he was feeling. He explained everything to Remus and by the way his face was changing along with every single word Sirius supposed that he was thinking about how to find a solution to the problem. Sirius stopped talking and took a seat next to Remus who seemed to be lost.

"There must be something we can do" he said finally.

"If there was anything I would've done it already!" Sirius said "you already know that I adopted her just to protect my money from those bastards but she's…" he took a deep breath "goddamn it! She's my daughter, just the thought of being away from her or not knowing how's she doing it makes my heart ache, how the fuck do you call that?"

Remus blinked.

"Did you actually think that you wouldn't get attached?" he asked bewildered "she's been with you for a little time but of course you love her as your daughter, she's too damn easy to love."

"Tell me about it" Sirius said while running a hand through his messy hair.

"Besides" Remus added "the adoption at Gringotts created a bond between both of you, it's not like she's a puppy, you're bonded like real father and daughter."

It was then when something made click on Sirius's head.

"Right!" Sirius said while snapping his fingers "that's it!"

"What?" Remus asked.

"She's a pureblood!" Sirius said.

"Well, basically but not really."

"I need to send a letter" Sirius said standing up and running upstairs.

Remus wondered if he had finally lost his mind.

Yes, Sirius is crazy.

That was all Remus could think the next day after greeting Narcissa Malfoy who was with her son Draco in the living room.

"Good morning" Remus said uncomfortable.

"Good morning" the pureblood witch said with a smirk that made Remus believe that she knew his deepest secrets. She probably did.

"Oh!" Sirius said cheerfully appearing behind Remus "I didn't expect you so early."

"I have other things to do and Draco wanted to show Hermione something, she is awake I believe?"

"Hermione is the first one to wake up in the whole house" Sirius said while putting his hands in his pockets "she's probably reading in the library."

"May I go and say hi to her?" Draco asked politely and Sirius fought the urge to roll his eyes at the boy's respectfully pose, he couldn't blame him, his pureblood upbringing was quite something.

"Sure, kiddo" Sirius said and Draco thanked him before running upstairs.

"So" Narcissa said once his son was out of earshot "what did you want to talk about?"

Sirius gulped while taking a seat in front of her. Narcissa Malfoy was intimidating and irradiated power just by looking at her, but Sirius believed that she was the only that could help him so he decided to go straight to the point.

"The Ministry is blackmailing me and if you don't help me I'm going to lose my daughter."

Narcissa laughed, she saw this coming.

"You don't seem surprised" Remus pointed out.

"Oh no, I'm not" Narcissa said "you'll see, Lucius found himself in a similar position a few months back."

Sirius's eyes widened.

"Don't worry cousin, you've called the right person" she said "explain, from the start."

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked Draco once she saw him entering the library.

"Your father wrote to my mum" Draco said sitting next to her "what are you reading?"

"Oh!" Hermione said smiling "it's a forbidden spell's book, but don't tell dad, he doesn't want me to read these."

"Cool" Draco said approvingly "hey, talking about spells, come with me I want to show you something."

"Sure" Hermione said closing her book.

"To summarize this, you want me to put an end to this whole situation?" Narcissa asked and Sirius nodded.

"I would be in debt to you and Hermione…"

"I won't lie to you cousin" Narcissa said interrupting him "I like the girl, Merlin I wish I had a daughter like her, she's elegant, smart and polite, but how would this be beneficial to me?"

Sirius blinked.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Narcissa chuckled.

"Don't be tacky please" she said amused "I don't play that game and I have everything I've ever wanted, a loving husband a healthy little boy and fortunately money has never been a problem for me."

"Then?" Sirius asked and Remus could see how anxious he was.

"Let's suppose I refuse to help you" Narcissa said "what would you do?"

Sirius gulped.

"I would've to give them my gold" he said "I cannot afford to lose my daughter."

Narcissa nodded.

"Luckily for you I've been bored lately" she said "Draco has been learning how to ride a broom properly and God knows I'm not good for that, so this" she said pointing to Sirius "will give me something to do."

"But you want something else" Remus concluded.

"Of course I do" she said smiling "you'll see, after Lucius and I betrayed the Dark Lord I've been trying to raise my son without prejudices."

Sirius didn't believe her but he didn't say anything.

"But ever since I saw Hermione I couldn't help it, she has a lot of potential"

"Potential?" Sirius asked apprehensively.

"Yes, as the heiress of the House of Black I would like to educate her on etiquette."

Sirius groaned, he knew where this was going.

"You just want to instruct her in the pureblood norm so the House of Black doesn't break the tradition."

Narcissa shook her head.

"You're going too far" she said "times have changed, I won't teach her prejudice, I just want her to understand her roots and how important is to keep some kind of behavior, her last name is not to be taken lightly."

"I feel like I'm going to throw up" Sirius said angrily "may I ask what's wrong with the way we've been raising her?"

Narcissa sighed.

"Well, I don't have many complaints" she said "you have good taste, her wardrobe fits her magnificently and as I said before she's so polite, it's endearing."

"But?"

"But she gets along with the Order children, the Longbottoms, Weasleys and of course the Potters."

"I'm not going to forbid her to see her friends" Sirius said.

"I wasn't going to suggest it" she said "I have nothing against the Longbottoms and the Potter boy gets along with my son so I see nothing wrong there."

"So the problem are the Weasleys?" Remus asked taken aback "they are purebloods."

Narcissa nodded and both men looked at her with confused glances.

"Fine, I didn't want to be so direct but you're not giving me much choice" she said "Hermione is a Black and my niece, she will probably have deep friendships with those boys since they are all going to attend Hogwarts together, do you realize that the probabilities that she ends up marrying one of them are extremely high, right?"

Sirius laughed hard.

"They are children!" he said "and you are already talking about marriage?!"

Narcissa tapped her elegant fingers on her knees and glared at him.

Sirius shut up immediately.

"Yes, you might be correct, is too soon to talk about marriages but would you approve of your daughter living in a house that goes by the name "Burrow"?"

Sirius frowned.

"Hermione is just a child" he said again angrily "and even if she were to choose a poor husband it wouldn't matter as long as she's happy, right?"

Narcissa chuckled.

"Well, then if money isn't really that important why don't you give your gold to the Minister? Let him suck every single galleon and then you can come and tell me how it doesn't matter to you because you are "happy"" she said.

Sirius didn't want to admit it but his cousin's words were actually making sense to him.

"It would be different if you didn't have a child" she said "but you're not thinking straight, all I am asking is a chance to show Hermione what kind of history goes behind her lineage, the good and the bad, teach her about our customs, a few spells and I want to teach her what kind of suitors are worthy of her."

"You won't talk her into this pureblood privilege, right? You won't make her believe that she's better than anyone just because of her last name, right?" Sirius asked.

"Of course not!" she said "I give you my word."

Sirius gulped.

"This is not a trick, right? I mean she would spend a lot of time with you every once in a while, you won't play matchmaker with her and your son?"

Narcissa frowned.

"I'm starting to feel offended" she said "so let's go straight to the conclusions, the first one is that I get to teach this girl things that I consider necessary for a girl like her to blossom into a good witch and the second one is that as long as you don't hide a marriage contract with a redhead I'll protect her from our useless Ministry."

"Why do you hate the Weasley family so much?" Remus asked with sincere curiosity.

Narcissa waved a hand dismissively.

"I don't like them and I don't owe explanations to anyone about that particular topic" she said "do we have a deal?"

"We do and just for the record" Sirius said "I don't believe in marriage contracts."

"I'm glad" Narcissa said "besides, rest assured, it's been centuries since they abolished that ridiculous law about marrying your cousins to keep the bloodlines pure, my Draco won't marry Hermione."

"Can you really stop Fudge?" Sirius asked.

Narcissa smiled.

"As a Malfoy there's very little I cannot do."

It was then when a high pitch scream was heard and the three adults were on their feet instantly, seconds later Draco and Hermione were coming downstairs at full speed on a broom. Remus was sure that they were going to crash into a wall but Narcissa waved her wand and the broom stopped immediately.

"Hi, Aunt Cissa" Hermione said smiling brightly.

"Hello, my dear" Narcissa answered with a smile.

Sirius was starting to regret his deal with her.

Okay, so I love all of your reviews from the last chapter so I updated a little bit earlier than planned!

Thank you, thank you so much for all of your kind words, I appreciate them A LOT! Your reviews keep me inspired so keep them coming! Now, I always thank you personally but I'm in a hurry so I'll thank each one of you in the next chapter!

Let me know what you think of this chapter and if you liked it!

Take care!

Pd. I apologize for my grammar mistakes.