Hello! Just a note - if you want extra context for Founders Hermione and her situation, I'd suggest you go read chapter 27 of Athair! It's relatively short, especially for the length of my typical chapters. It'll give you all (or most) of the context you need.

Enjoy!

Alexia, F. Hermione, Adelaide, Mia

Chapter One

"You look- there's something going on here," Hermione guessed nervously. She looked between everyone slowly. "Is everything okay? I can come back."

Alexia shook her head. "I promised you, Hermione. Something happened, I take it."

"Are you hurt?" Adelaide asked her gently.

"I was," Hermione told them. "I am. I don't know. There were some- some spells that I…"

"Why don't you sit down?" JJ suggested with a soft smile. She guided Hermione over to a chair and sat next to her. "You're here alone?"

Hermione grimaced. "Harry distracted everyone for me so I could come here."

Alexia exchanged a glance with Adelaide. "That's not going to go over well. Addy, can you?"

Adelaide waved her wand quietly. She pulled up the results and sighed. "Merlin. Dolohov, I assume."

"I didn't even realize I was… it's like he hypnotized me," Hermione told them. "It was like I was being Imperiused, but I was aware of talking to Remus. I just didn't realize I was… he used it, the curse, he used it to get me out of Grimmauld Place. If Remus hadn't been there, I'd be-,"

"Don't think about that," Spencer told her. "It didn't happen. Is she hurt badly?"

"It's a couple of binding spells," Adelaide explained. "I'd assume they were used to… worsen the curse. If he'd placed them on me, on top of how bad the curse already is, he probably would've gotten to me far sooner than he did. He probably could've taken me out of the Burrow."

"Which explains how he found her at Grimmauld Place, and then manipulated the curse," Alexia rubbed her forehead. "Can these be taken off?"

Adelaide hesitated. "Maybe if he does it… I don't know. Maybe."

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked Alexia quietly. "Something is always happening when I see you, but you seem…"

Alexia let out a bitter laugh. "I broke the multiverse, one of us is going to die, I'm suffering from some sort of chronic mental eclipse, and I have two psychopaths killing people because they both want me to have their kids. One of them put a tracking spell on my core, so I can't leave Black Manor. I'd really rather focus on you right now."

"Alexia, we need to work on Feliks," Rossi told her.

"We can help you," Adelaide told him firmly. "Feliks can't get to Lexi if she's not in this universe. Going to help Hermione might be the best for her safety. The Doctor and Rose can work on how to fix the multiverse, and all of us can stay here and try and figure out Feliks."

The Doctor cleared his throat. "We won't be able to make something to help with this unless we have the TARDIS. We'll have to go back home for this."

Alexia sighed and reached into her bag. She dug around and pulled out a chain with two rings on it. She handed one over to Rose. "I was going to give this to Estelle, but I can make another one when I get back. Use that to get to us if you need to. It's already programmed with universes. Addy can show you how to use it, but just twist it once and it should open a portal to take you back to Addy's universe."

Rose put it on her finger and did just that. She smiled at her. "Be careful, Alexia."

Alexia didn't bother agreeing. After that portal closed, she let out a breath. "Okay… Hermione, are you ready?"

Hermione hesitated. "Are you sure? You're busy, and-,"

"Merlin, you're as opposed to people helping you as Ash is," James made a face at her. "Let her help. Lex, you'll be back soon, right? I don't want to deal with Dolohov yelling at me for letting you go."

She rolled her eyes, but she grabbed a piece of parchment and scribbled a note. She rolled it up and handed it to Adelaide. "If he gets back while I'm gone, give this to him."

"Got it," Adelaide smiled and pocketed the note. "It'll be okay, Lexi. We've got this."

"Hermione," Alexia helped her up. She opened the portal and, with a glance and a smile at everyone, jumped through with her. When they came out the other side, they were in Potter Manor. "Shit. If the multiverse could not hit 'random' on the places we land in, that'd be great."

Hermione looked at her hesitantly. "Are we safe here?"

"Well, it's home. I'd assume so," she told her. Her vision was blurring slightly and she blinked her eyes to try and fix it. "We should see if anyone is here."

"Are you… okay?"

"Huh?" she looked up. Hermione was looking at her in concern, and she realized too late that they weren't touching, and her mind was growing fuzzy once more. "Fuck, I- I'm-,"

"What's happening?" Hermione asked in alarm.

Alexia wasn't able to answer her as she fell back into yet another memory.

She'd left work early that day.

It hadn't been her plan, but Bertie had sent her home when she'd had a breakthrough in the time room and managed to get the casing off of a time turner. It had reacted poorly and bloomed with fire that had burned her. After she'd been healed, Bertie had told her to head home and rest, since her brother's wedding was to be the next day.

Malfoy Manor was busier than she'd expected that afternoon. As far as she'd been made aware, there were no meetings going on. Despite that, she could feel in the wards that there were multiple people there, so she made her way toward the drawing room and stopped outside to listen.

"-tonight, before midnight," Riddle was saying. "All of them. None can get out. They must be punished for her choices."

"And how do we kill them, my Lord?" Rookwood wondered.

"As brutally as you can manage. Kill her family first. Make her watch. I want the young Miss McKinnon to suffer, knowing she brought this upon them."

Alexia covered her mouth with her hand in an effort not to make noise. She backed away slowly and, as soon as she was confident that no one was around to see or hear her, she ran back to the floo and took it back to the Ministry. From there, she went to Bertie's office and Floo'd directly to Potter Manor.

"Ash?" Sirius looked at her in surprise when she appeared. She felt her sobs build up in her chest and let them out. Startled, he moved over. "Jesus, Lexi, what's wrong?"

"Marlene, they're- tonight, all of them, they're going to kill them, Sirius," she told him in a rush. "They're going to make her watch. We have to get her out, we have to move them now!"

Sirius froze and looked at her with wide eyes. "Marlene… no, they can't be."

"They are. I'm sorry, they gathered while I was at work so I wouldn't- but I got home early and- we have to get her."

The door opened and James looked in, confused. "Lex? What're you doing here? I thought you couldn't-,"

"James, they're about to kill Marlene and her family," she interrupted sharply. "We need to go get them. Now."

James didn't argue. He didn't question her, and he didn't stall. He spun around and ran up to his room to grab his wand. By the time he got back, Alexia had downed a calming draught and Sirius was ready, too.

The trio took the floo over and stepped out together. Sirius didn't wait. He ran out of the floo room and looked around. "Marlene? Marlene!"

To all of their great relief, she ran out from the kitchen. "Black, what the hell are you doing here?"

While Sirius pulled his fiance into a hug, Alexia stepped closer. "Marls, we need to go. Your family is going to be attacked tonight. They want all of you dead."

"How the hell would you know that?" Marlene asked her sharply. Alexia winced. They hadn't spoken since Marlene had fought with her about marrying a Death Eater. "You swore you had nothing to do with that."

James tipped his head back in frustration. "She's a spy, Marlene, she just didn't tell you to keep you both safe. Can you please get your family and your things? We'll keep you at Potter Manor."

Marlene looked at Alexia hesitantly. "A spy. That's why you married Malfoy?"

"No, I married Lucius because he's my soulmate. We both joined Voldemort because we wanted to stop him. I got home early and heard them talking. Please, Marlene. I came right away."

Marlene's face softened momentarily before she looked pissed off again and raised her voice to yell. "Mum, Dad! Lacie! We need to go!"

When she came out of the memory, Alexia had fallen against the couch in the sitting room they were in. Hermione knelt by her side with panic in her eyes. "Lexi, what was that?"

Alexia grabbed her head in her hands and closed her eyes, trying to sort out her memories. "Fuck."

"What's wrong?"

"We didn't save her," she whispered. "We didn't… we didn't know, we didn't save her. Marlene died because I didn't-,"

"Marlene McKinnon?" Hermione wondered. "Lexi, she was supposed to die. Sirius told Harry about her last year and-,"

"And she saved her!" Alexia snapped. "I could have saved her."

"Who?" Hermione shook her head. "Who saved her?"

"I did, she did!"

"Alexia."

She glanced at the door to find Loki standing in the doorway. She closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples. "She should be alive. If I'd just- if we'd changed time, I could have-,"

"You couldn't change time," Hermione told her sharply. She winced at her own tone and knelt down. "Lexi, you don't know what it could've done. I don't know… what happened just now, but you couldn't have saved her. I'm sorry. There's a man here and I don't know-,"

"That's Loki," Alexia waved her off. "We're in the right universe, don't worry. Can you… feel him?"

Hermione frowned. "No, I- no. Should I? Can you?"

Alexia sighed. She opened her eyes and looked up at Loki, who was frowning down at them. "I can't feel him. He's… dead, isn't he?"

Loki nodded shortly. "He died four months ago. Are you still suffering the eclipse? Six months later?"

"Eclipse?" Hermione wondered. "Wait, you said- you said something about a mental eclipse. What exactly is that?"

"Time is different here," Alexia told Loki. She wavered slightly. "I can't… fuck."

"What?"

"I need you to let me borrow him."

Regulus scowled at her. "The last time I allowed someone to borrow my elf, he was brought back nearly dead."

Alexia made a face at him. "Yeah. Riddle used Kreacher to give the blood, take the potion. He put him through the ringer. All I need him for is to get me into the cave - I'll give the blood, I'll take the potion. I just need to get in there, and I need him to watch me and make sure I don't touch the water and take me back. He won't be hurt at all, I swear it."

"I don't know, Lexi," he hesitated. "I don't know if it's a good idea to help you get in there at all. After he came back, he's… different."

"Look, if you don't help me in, I'll do it by myself," she told him plainly. "I know enough about Riddle that I'm fairly certain I could figure it out on my own."

Regulus cursed. "You're not exactly asking, are you?"

Alexia offered him a tight smile. "I can only control what I do. You can only control what you do. I'm telling you what I will do in reaction to what you do or don't do. You have every right to protect your elf."

"No matter how you phrase it, this is manipulation," he told her. She didn't reply. "Fine. Fine, you can borrow him, but not alone. I'm coming with you."

"Great! There's a few things we need. I need to gather some of my blood to get it on the wall, we need some containers of water, and we need to find a good ward to block off the water around the island. None of us can touch it for any reason, or we'll be taken under by Inferi. Can we do this tonight?"

When that memory ended, Alexia breathed out slowly. The confusion was worsening and it took her a while to clear it up. "We need to go."

"You need a mind healer and a curse breaker," Loki told her shortly. "You need your husband."

"Well, it's a good thing we're heading to a universe where he should be alive, isn't it?"

Hermione looked at her in confusion. "What? If he's dead, where will we go?"

Alexia grimaced. "You know the… troubles we've been having? With my job, the object of my job"

"Yes…"

"We're going to have to go where it all started," she explained. "He's the only other one I know of that's… I think he'll help."

"Do you know how to get there?" she wondered. "I mean, you haven't been there since… it happened, have you?"

Alexia shrugged. She got to her feet carefully and winced at the pounding headache the memories gave her. "No, but I programmed it into my ring in case we find a solution. If you're ready, we can go, but you need to jump through first so that your curse connects to him instead of my bond. My bond is stronger, so it would win out over your curse if I arrived first."

"If you're okay for it," Hermione agreed. "You don't look okay."

Alexia offered her a small smile as she opened the portal. "I never really look completely okay. Go through." Hermione nodded nervously and jumped through the portal. Before she followed, Alexia glanced at Loki. "Maybe one of these days, we can meet on purpose."

"After you have resolved your eclipse."

With a small wave, she jumped through the portal. It was rough, and she felt like she was going through a never-ending slide on a hot summer day that shocked her when she touched the metal parts. Finally, she fell out and to the ground and rolled until she hit a wall. Immediately, she felt a memory coming. It was more painful than the others to the point that she let out an involuntary scream.

Malfoy Manor was full that day. There were multiple meetings going on throughout the place in preparation for new Death Eaters, a raid, and the extraction of information from an Order member.

Alexia had no meeting to be in. She'd been excused from the raid, had no interest in watching more bigots be branded, and couldn't stand watching Edgar Bones be tortured and murdered. So, she wandered around as she thought.

She and Lucius were to be married in four months, and Voldemort was already pressuring them to have kids. She had a feeling Voldemort was expecting them to begin breeding the next generation of Death Eaters, and it made her sick.

"Potter."

Alexia looked over to find Rowle leaning against the doorframe of her bedroom. She narrowed her eyes at him. "What the hell are you doing here, Rowle?"

"You know, some people think you're a spy," he told her casually. "James Potter's twin sister, a Death Eater? Seems pretty unlikely."

"I'm marrying a fucking Death Eater, you imbicile," she snapped at him. "James and I disagree on quite a bit. He made his choice and I made mine."

Rowle stepped back from her room a bit, so she made to pass him and walk in. He grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "I don't trust you, Potter."

"Yeah, and I don't exactly trust you, either," she replied sharply. She tugged at her wrist, trying to get it free, but he held tight and pushed her into her room instead. "What the fuck do you think you're-,"

"I think you'll need to prove your loyalty," he told her, slamming the door closed behind them. "Don't you?"

"Rowle, if you take a step closer, I'll make sure you're castrated," she warned him. It was difficult keeping her voice steady. She wasn't sure she'd managed it.

He took another step.

And then another, and another. She had her hand up, ready to cast, but he grabbed her wrist and twisted it around so that the spell she shot off - a Killing Curse - hit the window and blew it apart.

She was pulled from the memory by Hermione grabbing her arm in concern. She jerked back from the touch, startled. "No! No, don't-,"

"Lexi," Hermione said sharply. "Lexi, it's just me. Maybe we should get back if-,"

"Dorogaya."

Alexia's head spun to Antonin. He was looking at her curiously, but his eyes were the same as always. She looked deep into them and used them to ground herself. Finally, she let out a slow breath and shook her head. "Rowle isn't here."

"He is not."

"Okay," she breathed. "I'm- I'm fine, Hermione. Let's just get this handled."

Hermione hesitated. "Whatever's going on, it doesn't seem good. You screamed, Lexi. I thought you were being attacked, or that you're in pain."

Alexia let out a humorless laugh. "I was being attacked. I am in pain. There's nothing we can do about it until I get to my husband, so let's just focus on you."

"Why are you here?" he asked her as he looked between the two. "Granger is-,"

"Not from here," she assured him. "English, please. She's nervous enough as is. We need your help… again."

Antonin stepped closer. "You need my help. Why not the help of your husband?"

"Antonin and I are already bonded," she explained. "A sealed soul bond. She couldn't- her version of you cursed her. A cursed, forced soul bond."

He looked at Hermione curiously. "Yes, I suppose I do feel something."

Alexia nodded. "And I'd asked a different version of you for help breaking the curse. He'd agreed, but apparently, he's died since then. I… trust you, as much as I can trust you. I need your help to break this curse. She's my friend, Antonin. She's important to me."

Antonin looked between the two of them thoughtfully. He clearly wasn't hurrying to answer. She had a bad feeling about whatever he was considering.

"If you won't do it, it's fine," Hermione told him stiffly. "And I'll need to get Lexi back home before… whatever that was happens again."

Alexia waved her wand and popped up a scan. She grimaced at the results. "If that spikes, I'm about to be attacked again. Use our bond to pull me out of it. It's not perfect, but it helped when Addy did it."

"I suppose I can help… under a few conditions," Antonin told them finally. Alexia stared at him and he chuckled. "It is a very serious thing, breaking a soul bond, cursed or not. In return-,"

"Merlin," Alexia tipped her head back in frustration.

"In return, you will Vow to stay here until you have assisted Bertie and I in building us a multiverse machine of our own," he told her.

Hermione tensed. "She can't do that! It took her months to finish the updates on our machine, not to mention building an entirely new one! She has to get back to her husband before she has another attack, and she can't just stay here while the multiverse is-,"

"I'll do it."

"What?" Hermione hissed. "No, you won't!"

"Yes, I will," Alexia said softly. "I made you a… promise, I can't-,"

"Lexi?"

"-let you… suffer like we have and…"

She was unable to finish her thought as, yet again, she was pulled into a memory.

"You know, you should really get a backup godmother," Alexia told Frank. The man looked at her like she'd lost her mind.

"I suggested it and Ali threw an omelet at my face," he told her nervously. "I'm well aware of how dangerous the… position you are in is, Alex, but you're it. Out of everybody, she's certain that you'll survive."

Alexia tipped her head back against the couch. She was tapping her fingers against her leg anxiously. "I was the first out of all of us that Riddle wanted dead, Frank. Just because he trusts me right now doesn't mean that I'll never be found out."

He shrugged. "I don't know. James seems to have faith in you."

"That's because my brother can't bring himself to consider the thought of me dying," she muttered. "But he needs to, and so do you guys."

"Shut up," Alice yelled at them from the bed. "Or I'll fucking curse you both until you're blind."

Lady Marchbanks chuckled. "Don't make me take your wand, dear. You do want them in here, right?"

"Yes," Alice hissed. "But if Alex talks about dying one more time, I'll kill her, not fucking Voldemort."

Frank winced. "I promise she doesn't mean that."

Alexia laughed. "Lily was a bit more vulgar and violent than Alice. She did curse me, and I was the one helping her for the first six hours."

Alice let out a scream as she pushed. Frank looked at his wife in alarm, looking a bit like he was going to pass out. "Is she- are you sure she's okay?"

"Certain. Martha is brilliant. If anything goes wrong, she'll take care of her," Alexia soothed him. "In the meantime, buckle up for hours of verbal abuse."

Frank shook his head and smiled at her. "You don't have to be here for this."

Alexia snorted. "Yes, I do. Aside from the fact that she's one of my best friends, Lily threatened me repeatedly telling me what she'd do if I didn't come since she's on bedrest. I love and respect my sister enough to know that she'll fucking gut me if I don't stay to make sure Ali is okay."

"Alexia!"

She startled and stumbled back. "Fuck."

"We're not doing this," Hermione told her firmly. "Take us back."

Alexia rubbed her temples and stayed silent as she tried to figure out what was her and what wasn't. It was difficult, but she did know they couldn't leave, and she knew why. "No. Dolo- Antonin, I'll do it, just fix her damn curse."

"The Vow," he told her. "Vow to stay here until it is finished."

"She's not in the right state of mind to take an Unbreakable Vow!" Hermione argued loudly. "Look at her! Something's happening, she looks confused. She can't-,"

"I, Alexia Dorea Dolohov née Potter, do swear on my wand and magic that I will stay in this universe until I finish building them a multiverse machine under the condition that Antonin removes the soul bonding curse placed on Hermione by an alternate version of himself," Alexia said with a dagger in the air. It lit up at the end, accepting it, and she saw the line of a Vow appear on her arm. "Do it."

Hermione paled and her eyes widened in horror. "Alexia, you can't do that!"

"It's too late."

"You won't see your husband! For- for months! However long it takes- you won't see your brother, your family, your- and these attacks-,"

"Will be taken care of after you leave," Alexia told her shortly. "My soul bond will be taken over by Antonin, and he will ground me… that is the hope, at least. It's too late, Hermione."

Antonin nodded. "We will both need to embrace the forced bond first."

Hermione was clearly upset and distracted, so Alexia grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "If I could've had someone help me, save me from Crabbe, Goyle, Nikita, Kastya, and Feliks… I'm doing what I wish someone could've done for me. All of us, all six of us- you're family, Hermione. I protect my family. So, please. Do as he says."

Though she was still upset, Hermione nodded shortly. "How do I do that?"

"Feel it. Feel it in your core and allow it to encompass your core. You have been resisting thus far, and impressively so," Antonin told her. "To be rid of it, you must accept it first."

Hermione closed her eyes and focused on her core. Ever since she'd been cursed, she'd felt the curse tight around her core, as if it were suffocating it. He was right - she was resisting. The more she resisted, the more it hurt. She took in a long, deep breath. As she let it out, she relaxed her core and allowed the curse in.

It hurt as it settled. It felt like it was changing the very essence of her being, her magic. She let out a quiet whimper as she felt her core expand slightly.

"It is changing you," Antonin told her in confirmation. She looked at him in alarm and he just smirked. "A soul bond comes with quite a few perks. I would guess you have been cursed for months. Why rid yourself of it now?"

"He almost got me," she answered quietly. "He cursed and tortured me, and then he… got me out of the house. He almost got me."

He hummed. "Now is the difficult and painful part - removing it."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

It had been a half hour, and most everyone had dispersed through Black Manor. The BAU agents left behind had gathered in the library to use the tables. Regulus had copied the folder on Feliks for them and left them with parchment and quills.

"No one likes being here," Garcia said after a few moments of silence. They were all a bit stuck, and she was frustrated being without WiFi. "This place is a bit… eerie."

"I don't think anyone's lived here in a while," JJ replied. She paused. "Do you really think they actually did sacrifices to protect this place?"

"Lexi said the Black family were notoriously dark," Reid said slowly. "She told me a couple of things about them. I would guess that they did."

Emily looked around. "Do you ever wonder if there's a whole different set of morals in their world? Can we even accurately profile wizards if we don't know the culture here?"

Rossi shook his head. "I don't think so. We're just going to have to do our best."

"It's like they don't even know what we don't know," JJ sighed. "The only way we'll be able to do this is with their help."

"None of them seem like they're in a great mood to help," Garcia muttered.

"Would you be?" Emily pointed out. "I mean, how does one even get in this much danger? Two serial killers that have stalked her for years and killed for her for the same reason."

Garcia grimaced. "Are family lines seriously so important here that they'd kill for a woman? It's sick."

"They are."

All of them looked back to see James standing in the door with his arms crossed.

"Us Potters don't exactly subscribe to the whole pureblood society thing, but I do know about all of it," he told them. "Blood purity is fucked, but taken very seriously. That's why Feliks… aside from him, continuing your line is important. Our Houses govern our world. When we were in school, I had to make Lex my heir because our parents had died and it was just the two of us. The goal was that if I died or she died, our House would be covered. We didn't expect- I didn't- I guess she knew. I guess that's why she was so resistant to being my heir, but… we hold sixteen votes in the Wizengamot, not counting the votes Lexi has because of Dolohov. That's a lot."

"So what happened when your House was left without a Lord or Heir?" Rossi wondered. "She said you died, right?"

James nodded and walked over. "Lexi died… or disappeared, I guess, before I died. After she was gone, I should've found someone else, but… I'd have made Sirius my heir, and he was sent to Azkaban and then died, so no matter what, we were fucked. After Lily and I died, our regent was Remus, but he- there were laws that-," he shook his head in frustration. "Dumbledore took over when Remus was unable to do it. I have no fucking clue how he managed to pull that bullshit, but he did. He led our House and used our votes until he died. After that and until Lexi and I came back, we were without a regent. Daniel Greengrass tried to claim our votes, being our closest surviving ally, but Death Eaters shot it down and said Harry would take it up eventually."

There was a loud crack by the fireplace and they all watched as a portal opened up and Godric Gryffindor jumped through. James stared at him with wide eyes. "Mother of Merlin, you really are… real."

"Who?" JJ wondered.

"Godric Gryffindor," he told them quietly. "One of the Founders of Hogwarts, and the Founder of the House Lexi and I were in. They're all dead here- like, long dead. Long, long dead."

"Where is she?" Godric asked him. He blinked.

"Lexi? She's in another universe."

"Hermione."

His mouth opened into an 'o' shape. "Also in another universe."

Godric frowned. "Take me to her."

"I can't," James shook his head. "I can't open a portal in case Feliks tries to get to Lexi. Plus… I don't really know how or where they went. Not exactly my department."

"Why did they go to another universe?"

James hesitated. "Lexi said she promised her something. Hermione seemed…"

"Shaken up," JJ offered. "She said something about leaving Grimmauld Place because of Dolohov. It seemed to mean something to Alexia."

"If she's with Lexi, she's in good hands," James assured him, though he looked pained. "Lexi has a bad habit of taking care of the people she cares about before she thinks about herself."

Reid shifted. "It sounded like they had a previous agreement."

The door to the library slammed open again and Antonin stalked in with Adelaide hurrying behind him. He didn't stop until he was a bit too close to James. "Where is she?"

James rolled his eyes. "She and Hermione went to another universe to do something."

"She cannot be in another universe without an attack," Antonin told him sharply. "Too many attacks and Alexia will be lost to us forever."

"Merlin," Adelaide reached them and shoved a roll of parchment at him. "Shut up and read this. She left it for you."

He glared as he took it and read it over.

My love,

Hermione came. Her curse is getting worse, and I promised her I would help. I'll be taking her to U11 to have it removed. It shouldn't take too long, but this is probably for the best. Feliks can't find me if I'm not in this universe.

Don't worry about me. I'll be back soon enough, and I'll be okay while I'm gone. Keep looking for Feliks in the meantime. I'll see you in a bit.

I love you with everything I have,

Your Dorogaya

"Damn it," he cursed quietly. "Damn it!"

OoOoOoOoOoOo