1984
"Mr and Mrs Granger. My name is Severus Snape, this is Regulus Black. Might we come in? We wish to speak to you about your daughter, Hermione."
Severus was nervous, they'd waited five years. It was all they could bear. She wouldn't know them, but damn it all if they didn't miss the hellion who had turned their lives on their heads. The Order had been horrified when they realised that Hermione had helped them save the world. Again. And instead of them getting the glory, Hermione's little band of Snakes…and one Hufflepuff, had been awarded Order of Merlins first class for their services to the Wizarding world. Sirius was still furious.
James had finally come around…once Lily made him, too late to reconcile with the original version of their son, but in enough time to vow to be better the second time around.
"Hermione?" Martin Granger looked at the men suspiciously, startled when another man appeared behind them, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Orion Black," he introduced himself.
"Father!" Regulus hissed, "You were meant to stay at home!"
"I'm going to close the door now," Martin announced looking alarmed.
"No! Don't." Severus pinched the bridge of his nose. "I…Mr Granger, has anything…strange ever happened around your daughter?"
"Like what?" he demanded.
"Books appearing when she's been told no?"
"Come in." Martin sighed. "Grace! Hermione!"
A woman who looked very like the Hermione they'd met appeared in the living room, all three men looked momentarily stunned before a tiny ball of curls barreled into the room.
"Who are you?" she demanded, hands on hips and Severus' grin split his face.
"Gods, you've always been bossy," he breathed, making the Grangers frown before he collected himself, "Severus Snape," he held out his hand feeling the tiny witch take it cautiously to shake it.
"Regulus Black," Regulus shoved him out the way, making Hermione giggle when he exaggeratedly kissed her hand.
"My name is Orion." Orion smiled slightly before turning to her parents. "I'm sure you're…confused. But we're here to offer Hermione an…educational programme of sorts."
"All of you?" Martin Granger raised an eyebrow.
"Well…us, my wife, my niece and her husband, two ridiculous twins and probably the entirety of our words redheaded population…oh and my other niece and her husband but I gather they intend to be less…formal."
Martin Granger blinked, sitting down heavily. "Who are you?"
Severus winced and began to try and explain exactly who they were.
"You expect us to believe this?" Grace scoffed, none of them were paying any attention to her as Hermione stood up and held out her hand. A large book floated into it.
"Can you do that too?" she breathed.
"Yes," Orion smiled, taking out his wand and summoning a stack. "it's magic."
The elder Grangers looked faint. "I…Jesus. Magic is real then?" Grace asked faintly. "I wasn't imagining the strange things she does."
"It is," Orion agreed. "Hermione will be invited to Hogwarts when she's eleven. However magical children tend to have an advantage and we'd like Hermione to have the same."
"Why Hermione?" Martin interjected.
They froze. "This is going to sound…less believable than anything else you've heard this afternoon," Orion admitted.
Several hours, and numerous cups of tea later the Grangers sat stunned on their sofa. "Are you trying to tell me Hermione…that Hermione…saved the fucking world when she was, what? In her thirties?"
"Yes." Severus agreed. "Your daughter…was originally my student, apparently. She remembered…I..am not there yet. Time is complex but currently, in my current timeline anyway,…she became the first adult to ever tell me she believed in me. I was nineteen, and she was in her early thirties. She was…."
"An irreverent, terrifying, force of nature," Regulus interjected with a smirk. "Refused to call Secerus anything but Sunshine and bullied him into letting my cousin redecorate his home after he dared tell her he deserved to live in squalor."
"Be quiet," Severus hissed…"Baby Black." Regulus pouted.
Orion smirked, "We have…incredibly fond memories of Hermione. My wife and youngest niece are desperate to see her again. Walburga especially is determined to force some decorum into her. She…apparently her group of friends ensured that their relationships would still occur. I have no idea how, she attempted to explain but quite honestly, the explanation was…convoluted and I didn't understand a word. Complex arithmancy and rune work are not my strengths. Nevertheless, we can introduce her to those friends now, rather than in another six years."
"Friends!" Hermione exclaimed her eyes lighting up in a way that threatened to tear Severus' heart in two. "I've never had those."
All of them winced. "I…I want to meet this group you say want to help." Grace demanded. "I'm not going to hand over my five-year-old to three strange men!"
"Very well Madam Granger, tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow," Grace sighed, looking like she questioned her sanity.
Severus and Orion came to collect them the following day. "We are going to my youngest niece's home," Orion explained on arrival. "It is…well, you'll see. Try not to judge her too harshly, your daughter used to call her husband Peacock which should tell you everything you need to know."
"And we're meeting everyone?" Grace checked.
"Yes. You have no idea how hard it has been to wait. We weren't supposed to contact you, Hermione thought it would be suspicious but…well. We've never been very good at following instructions. The children, other than my niece's son, won't be there today but assuming this goes well, we can arrange something."
"Very well." Grace sighed, "How are we getting there?"
"Ah..well…" Orion hesitated.
"Apparating," Severus sighed, "Instantaneous travel that I'm sorry to say is not entirely pleasant."
"Wonderful"
"Take my arm, Madam," Orion instructed, "Sir if you'll take my other."
"And Hermione?""
"Will be with me."
Martin Granger looked ready to object just as Orion twirled them out of sight.
"Wow," Hermione breathed, her eyes wide. "They just disappeared!"
"They did." Severus agreed with some amusement, "Would you like to do the same?"
"Yes!" she shouted, rushing towards him.
"I am going to pick you up," he warned, "You can't let go." She nodded very seriously as he hoisted her onto his hip, trying not to think too hard about how fucking odd all this was. "Now take a deep breath." He waited until she complied with childish exaggeration before he twisted them out of existence.
There was a welcome party waiting on them. "Oh! Oh, look at you!" Narcissa gushed, Hermione's eyes went wide and she buried her head in Severus' neck.
"Come on, dear you're not shy." Walburga chided. "Let's go and meet everyone." She took Hermione from Severus and lead her through to the sitting room by the had. "Now dear, some introductions."
"I'm Narcissa, darling," Narcissa introduced herself, "And my husband Lucius. This is our son, Draco."
Hermione's eyes went wide as they darted between the three Malfoys. "Um…Hi?" she ventured quietly.
Lucius's eyes went wider than Dracos's, "She grew into that brashness then," he mused.
Narcissa nudged him sharply, making him wince, "You've met Regulus, haven't you darling?" Hermione nodded, "Well this is his Mother, Walburga. My sister, Andromeda and her husband Ted. Their daughter Dora is the one with the pink hair and the ah….beetle tank" Hermione perked up at that making Andromeda smile, "And these two are Gideon and Fabian Prewett."
"Hi," Hermione whispered again.
"Now there's no need to be scared," Narcissa continued, "All we want to do is help, would you like that? We have so much to teach you"
"With books?" Hermione asked quietly.
Narcissa hid her grin. "I promise if you're very good and pay attention to our lessons you'll have both the Black and the Malfoy libraries at your disposal."
"You have a library?" She squeaked.
"Yes, darling. Now, why don't you go with Draco and we'll talk to your parents and work out the particulars."
Neither child had to be told twice.
"Put your hand over it, little Harpy and say up," Lucius commanded.
Hermione frowned, "Why do you all call me little Harpy, Uncle Lucius?"
"Because you are a little harpy," he smirked.
"You remind me of a peacock but I don't call you that," she muttered with a pout.
Beside them, Regulus startled her when he laughed so hard he was almost in tears. "Please do," he begged.
"Do not," Lucius warned, turning her back towards her broomstick. "Now. Up. Sound sure or it'll sense it."
"I really don't like heights," Hermione murmured.
"Time to get over it, little Harpy," Regulus grinned. "Look at everyone else."
Above them, Draco, Susan, Harry and several Weasleys were circling around in the sky.
"I wish Neville was here. He's never done this before either."
"Alas, he is not. Stop stalling," Lucius commanded.
"Fine." she sighed, "Up."
"Good now sit on it." Regulus smiled encouragingly, noting her clear discomfort.
Hesitantly she got on the broom. "Kick off from the ground on three. To come back down, point the handle downwards."
She nodded shakily, rising into the air on Lucius' count.
"Come on Mione!" Harry grinned, moving to join her, "It's fun!"
She whimpered and he frowned. "I don't like this," she muttered.
Looking thoughtful, he pulled his broom alongside hers and reached a hand out, "Come and sit with me then."
"I…I can't do that!" Hermione turned white as she glanced at the ground below.
"What do you think they're doing?" Regulus muttered, watching with interest, turning paler than Hermione when it became clear.
"Fuck Cissa will murder us if we kill her." Lucius hissed as he watched Hermione and Harry manoeuvre her onto the back of his broomstick mid-air.
"Tell me they did not just do that!" Walburga hissed as she watched Hermione cling to Harry's back as he sped up, her own broomstick abandoned.
"Of course they did." Lucius sighed, "Fucking Gryffindors"
1986
"Hermione, dear, ladies do not slouch." Hermione straightened automatically at the sound of Walburga's voice. "Good now, all of you into position."
All of the children shuffled into the pose she wanted them in, having learned early on not to argue with Aunt Wally.
"Gods she makes me want to do as I'm told," James shuddered, watching as Harry adjusted his hold on Susan Bones.
Lily laughed "Yes, she's rather terrifying," she agreed, her eyes on her son's future wife waltzing with Draco Malfoy. It was still strange seeing the woman they'd refused to work with as a small child and in truth, she wasn't sure what to think. Only the older Harry's warning that they'd fixed this so that they'd remain together had made her agree to these lessons. Any of the lessons. And gods there were many, Walburga and Narcissa were exacting taskmasters and it made her head spin when she stopped and thought about what her son was learning and how much easier life would have been if Hogwarts offered even a fraction of it.
Two hours later, Severus swept into the room. It bothered her more than she cared to admit that while he had forgiven her, they still weren't friends, not really. She saw the flash of pain on his face every time he looked at Hermione, for all he adored the younger version of her, he missed the adult she had been and it hit her that for all he had made some horrendous choices, so had she.
"Potions, little harpy," he commanded, interrupting Walburga's lesson.
"Severus!" Hermione beamed, bouncing over to him and throwing her arms around his waist in a move none of the others would have dared. He smiled down at her, one of his rare, genuine ones that made Lily miss the boy he'd been. "What are we doing today?"
"Poisons I think. Your Aunt Narcissa demanded them,"
"Why poisons, Severus? I don't think want to poison anyone?"
Not today," he conceded with a smirk, "But perhaps one day, And you cannot understand antidotes without understanding the poisons, even if you never use them."
"Ok," she agreed before she hesitated, "And if I wanted to test them?"
Walburga smirked, pleased that some of the viciousness was still there, "Who would you be poisoning?" Severus enquired.
She shrugged, "Mary Eliott next door keeps telling me I'm a freak. I don't want to kill her but…maybe…maybe hurt her a little?"
Severus snorted, "Unfortunately you can't poison your neighbour, little Harpy. But perhaps Narcissa could add some wandless jinxes to your curriculum."
"Gladly," Narcissa beamed, "It's never too early to learn."
"Merlin they're going to be fucking terrifying," Alice muttered.
"And we're…just letting them teach our children poisons and jinxes at what? Six and seven?"
Alice shrugged, "Gives them an edge."
Frank groaned, "Wonderful. I'll remind you of that when they're all fucking deafly before they're even Hogwarts age."
Alice shrugged again, "You say that like it's a bad thing."
1987
"What does it do?" Draco jabbed a finger against the glass.
Dora paused, thinking about it, "Not much to be honest but I've had it for years. She used to run around a lot, sort of bang into the glass but she stopped that after a while.
"It's really rather pretty," Hermione mused. "How did it end up being called Rita?"
Dora shrugged, "I dunno. Mum and Dad had already named it when they gave her to me."
"Huh," Draco mused, "Strange name."
"Come on, you lot!" Ted shouted up the stairs, interrupting their contemplation "Ice cream!"
Scampering down the stairs, they abandoned the beetle. Inside the tank, Rita tried to scream.
1988
"Uncle Orion?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Why am I here?"
"To understand how this works," Orion answered looking down at the girl he'd grown to love.
"But…But I'm not really allowed to be here," she muttered.
"Who told you that?" he asked sharply.
She shrugged, "It doesn't matter."
"It does."
"Marcus Flint said that they don't allow mudbloods on the wizengamot." she paused, "Pansy punched him."
"That's why his nose was bleeding?"
Hermione fidgeted, "Not quite, Theo punched him after it. And then his nose started bleeding."
Orion smirked, "Good. I'll be having words with Isaiah Flint. You have as much right to be here as anyone else. And, we weren't going to tell you yet, but, Regulus named you his heir."
"What? But…that doesn't make sense," she spluttered remembering her Aunt Cissa's lessons on the old families.
"It does. You're family and Merlin knows neither of my sons appears to have shown any inclination to settle down. Now, I'm not arguing with you, it's done. We held a family meeting and all of us agreed."
"Will I need to change my name, Uncle Orion?" she frowned.
"No. I rather think your parents would be a bit put out by that."
"Probably," she agreed
"Well then, let's go and show Isaiah Flint exactly why you do belong here."
"Uncle Orion?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Won't Sirius be very upset?"
"He'll be overjoyed there's no chance of him having to admit to being part of this family," Orion replied.
"Oh. That's quite sad, Uncle Orion. Has Aunt Wally tried saying sorry?"
"Believe it or not, she has. Sadly, he's as stubborn as she is and won't accept it."
"Oh," she murmured. Orion smirked, the cogs were already turning, he could see them.
Mr Black,
You don't really know me, although we've met. But Uncle Orion says that you won't listen and….Aunt Wally's really sorry. She told me she was quite cross when you didn't listen to her when you were little. I can imagine that wasn't fun. I've seen Aunt Wally cross when Severus let Neville and I make up our own potion to see what it would do and we ended up in the hospital for a week and it was quite scary. I didn't know anyone could shout that loudly, Severus says his ears are still bleeding. It was years ago, they're not, I checked.
Anyway, she's sorry and even though she says you were a bit of a rake…what is that? She wouldn't say. And she was worried about you not taking school seriously, she's still sorry. She says she didn't do things the way she should, whatever that means. Could you maybe think about forgiving her? Regulus misses you. And maybe if you spoke to him he'd have more to do than force me onto a broom. I don't like it.
Hermione Granger.
Sirius read the letter in his hand several times, not quite sure what to make of it. He had met Hermione Granger several times, his godson was besotted by the tiny witch, which he supposed was to be expected. And he knew she was set to inherit the Black family seat from Regulus, which wasn't as unexpected as it should have been all things considered.
He remembered her old, battle-hardened self and wondered what she'd be like this time around. He knew his family was responsible for a lot of the girl's training; James had mentioned that all of the children were going to be even more terrifying than before. He couldn't quite get his head around that. Nor could he get his head around James willingly allowing Harry to participate in those lessons. He remembered them from his own childhood and shuddered. Still. The little witch had written to him and he owed her. He wasn't stupid, they all did. He still felt a searing sense of shame when he thought about how pigheaded he'd been. Amelia had broken all the rules and let him see Peter's memories before he had been Kissed. They'd made him want to vomit.
Before he could change his mind, he apparated. Ignoring the look of utter shock on the woman's face, he turned to look at her properly, "Hello Mother."
1990
"Right, duelling stance," Fabian commanded, watching as they all fell into line.
"You are not to let anyone at Hogwarts know you can do this when you go in a few months," Gideon warned.
All of the children rolled their eyes, "A chocolate frog says I can put Malfoy on his bum," Fred grinned, nudging George.
"Two says I can do the same to Zabini before you."
Hermione arched a brow, "Five says I can take down Pansy."
"No bet!" they chorused, "We know Snapes been giving you extra lessons."
Hermione grinned as Draco pouted, "How did you manage that anyway?"
"I'm his favourite," she teased.
From the sidelines, the Drs Granger watched. They'd never regretted giving in to the strange men on their doorstep. Hermione was happy, she had real friends, friends that meant they were in this ridiculously large house for the Christmas holidays, as they had been, with this strange group of people, every year since they'd invaded their lives.
"They're doing rather well," Arthur mused, coming to stand next to them. "Still can't quite believe we're here."
"Neither can we," the Granger's murmured.
1991
"Hermione! Over here!" Hermione smiled at the sight of the small group of her friends waiting on the platform.
"Hi!" she greeted breathlessly.
"Don't let Aunt Wally hear you, "Draco teased, putting on a high-pitched voice, "Hi is not a becoming greeting from a young lady."
All of them giggled having been treated to 'Aunt Wallys' etiquette lessons at some point or other. "My apologies, Draco," Hermione replied with exaggerated airs, as she curtseyed, "Heir Malfoy, I do hope you are well."
Draco grinned back as the rest of them laughed. "Well done, dear." Walburga praised as she appeared behind them making them all startle.
"Aunt Wally!" Hermione beamed up at the elder witch.
"Are you excited, dears?" she smiled around the group of children that she had come to love over the years.
"Yes, Aunt Wally!" they choused back.
"And you'll be good for Severus and Regulus?"
"Of course, Aunt Wally!"
The adults hid their grins, all of them silently promising to send Regulus and Severus something strong and alcoholic very very soon. Merlin only knew what they had been thinking when they agreed to teach, several of them suspected it had nothing to do with a desire to teach and everything to do with the incoming first years. Not that they'd admit it.
1998
Harry took a deep breath. Graduation was over, but gods he wished he hadn't planned on doing this somewhere so…crowded. Draco smirked at him from beside Susan Bones. Arsehole. Pansy rolled her eyes, making an impatient shooing motion, glaring at him pointedly as Ron and Neville laughed. Blaise just smirked.
"You are all fucking arseholes," he groused, making them laugh.
Gathering his courage, he stalked over to where Hermione was standing talking to Severus. Spotting him, Severus smirked.
"I think you're wanted," he commented lightly.
"Oh! Harry!" Hermione beamed at him.
"Yes…ah…Hermione. I ah…wanted to ask you something."
Hermione frowned at him, "ok." she replied slowly.
He dropped onto one knee, and he could have sworn the entire graduating class and their families stopped to watch them. "Hermione…I…I think I've loved you since we were five and Lucius and Regulus forced you onto a broom with the rest of us. I ah…you've been my best friend as long as I can remember and I don't ever want to imagine you not being. That…that is...I mean… I ah… Will you marry me?"
He chanced looking up at Hermione's face, she seemed to have frozen, tears slowly tracking down her face and he began to panic. "Fuck…I mean it's ok if you don't…we can…we just…"
Severus was outright laughing, as was Regulus where he was standing with his parents who were watching with strangely fond smiles on their faces.
"Of course," Hermione breathed finally.
"What? I mean…is that a yes?"
"Yes, you idiot!"
Grinning, he pulled her down to him and kissed her. Walburga allowed them two minutes before she cleared her throat, "The ring?" she prompted.
Harry flushed red. "Right…yes…yes of course." he fumbled for the ring, finally sliding it onto her finger.
"About bloody time!" Draco exclaimed, wincing as his mother's hand connected with the back of his head.
"Is there a ring on Susan's finger that I wasn't aware of?"
Draco flushed scarlet. "I'll do it when we're ready," he muttered as the others laughed at them.
"Hurry up mate, you'll be last." Blaise teased, "Even young Theo here, proposed to Red."
"Shit, you did?"
Theo shrugged, "She's back here on her own next year, I can't have anyone getting ideas." he dodged as Ginny went to hit him.
Hermione snorted, "Ever the romantic, Theo."
"You know it, Harpy!" he grinned.
2009
Severus' head jerked up when someone knocked on his door. He wasn't expecting anyone, not this late.
"Enter." he barked.
Slowly, Hermione pushed open the door, "Hello Sunshine." she grinned.
His jaw dropped. In a move no one would ever have predicted, Severus Snape, swept Hermione into a hug, twirling her like he used to as a child. "Gods! Welcome back, Harpy! I've missed you!"