Granger Yet
Puzzle Pieces

"What?" Hermione found her bewilderment growing, still caught off guard at having seen her father doing something which felt self-destructive and harmful, even though she knew he'd not intended for his actions to be that way, nor had she liked noticing the way his eyes were glazed over and his vision unfocused, which always meant a migraine. However, he'd tried very hard to hide them from her—she simply knew. "I'm not old enough to Apparate legally yet."

His eyes blinked, remaining unfocused, but he almost looked her in the eye, which was never a good thing given how she knew he hated making eye contact just as much as Jules did.

Hermione took a deep breath. "And you should know that, right?"

"Right," he nodded, smiling only to cringe and suck in his breath, a hand going to the back of his head.

"Oh," Hermione said, swallowing, becoming slightly concerned about what that indicated. "Dad, are you talking about yourself? What happened?"

"I crashed and burned big time," he said, looking away and somewhat nervous.

Hermione frowned, sitting down on the bed and slipping her wand into her jeans pocket. "You crashed and burned?"

He started to nod his head, only to switch to a shake, meaning nodding his head was a bad idea.

"And you ended up hitting your head."

"Also hit it a few moments ago on Sirius' hard skull, I think." And there was a laugh there as if she wasn't privy to some kind of joke.

"It's not funny."

"No, it is," he insisted. "Sirius' hard skull."

"Dad, concentrate."

"Sorry." He sighed, continuing to look away, before saying. "Children shouldn't be parenting the parent."

She wanted to say it was the big deal he was making it out to be, that he thought it to be, yet there was that part of her that was frustrated with him for not knowing certain things. Nor did she know where to begin asking the questions she wanted to ask. She glanced away, finally saying, "You say it as if that's a bad thing."

"I know you hate me."

"And that would be because?" Hermione asked, deciding to gauge what he could discern of her feelings.

"Because I was a Death Eater?" he said.

"Was?" she turned her head.

"Well," he said, suddenly placing a hand on his chin, thinking over something an average person wouldn't have to think, while his left hand remained stationary. "How to put this?"

"You mean you're a former Death Eater?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, but how to put that?" he said, not realizing he'd effectively already said what he wanted to say. "Um, I could say I don't follow him anymore, but I don't have any way to prove it, particularly since there's a spell keeping me from leaving."

"Well, that explains why you didn't return home to mom like you said you would," Hermione said, stunned. What she didn't sound as if she didn't know how he'd react, not to mention there was some level of doubt in her mind, was, "You don't have to prove you're not following him anymore." Not when she didn't understand any of his motives.

"Sorry. I…" he started to say.

A blush spread across her face. "Please don't say you want to have sex with mom again!"

His eyes blinked, but now he was looking her in the eye, which meant he was looking past her. She did know he registered what she said, as his cheeks and the tips of his ears started to redden as they always did when he was embarrassed by something. "Wait? Did I say that?"

"Yes, dad, you did."

"In front of Sirius?" there was a slight panic in his voice, reminding her he'd not directly answered her question of whether the two of them got along, although his reaction just now did.

"Yup," Hermione said, watching her father groan and flop back, which was probably better for him given the head injury and covered his eyes with his right hand, the left remaining limp, which meant he was stressed; his hand acting up like that always indicated stress, which was yet another indicator regarding his relationship with his brother wasn't a good one, reminding her of her mother mentioning family being an issue.

"Bloody hell," he said.

"Not that I think he believes you."

"Oh? And why's that?" he asked.

"Well, I'm not sure how to put this," Hermione said, biting her lip, glad her dad couldn't see her. "Did Amortentia really come up in your conversation?"

"Elle est mon Amortentia," her father responded.

To which Hermione bit back her amusement. "Oh? Mom's your Amortentia?"

"She smells like Amortentia," her father answered, always giving an unintentional indirect response, always with more information than was ever needed, yet that was how his mind worked. And she liked the fact that hadn't changed, to find that part wasn't a lie. "Or is it Amortentia smells like her? I could never keep that straight."

"So, getting back to why Sirius doesn't believe you."

"Uncle Sirius, Hermione," her father said.

"The two of you don't get along. I mean, that's obvious," she protested.

"He's still my brother, and I still love him."

Hermione stiffened, feeling her throat tighten. "Dad, we're talking about someone who literally accused you of putting a spell on mom and me to convince us that you're," only for her to stop.

"I'm what?"

"Hey, you are my dad, right?" She could hear her own voice strain.

"I'm not a stranger using a Polyjuice potion," he said, which meant her question went right over his head. "Plus, I wouldn't have been able to Apparate in if I weren't a member of this blasted family."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione said. "Fine. Let's get back to the fact Sirius accused you of putting a spell on mom and me to convince us that you're my real dad, but he also kept insisting you were a virgin and that you had a boyfriend back in Hogwarts. There. Straight to the point, so it hopefully doesn't go over your head."

He sat up then, frowning, and the first words to come out of his mouth were. "Wait. What boyfriend?"

"That's what you're questioning of what he accused you of?" Hermione asked, then she shook her head and let out a sigh.

"I've only ever been with your mother," her father said. "So, who exactly does Sirius think I had a relationship with, that idiot?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows, fighting back her amusement at receiving an in-character response from her father as there were still questions that were bothering her. "I don't know. He said they were a Ravenclaw."

"A Ravenclaw?" Her father took a deep breath. "Not Lockhart?"

"Lockhart?" Hermione gagged out but then noticed the look on his face. "Um, dad. You okay?"

"Lockhart wouldn't stop trying to hug me at school, stuff like that, so maybe that's what Sirius is talking about?" His head tilted. "I mean, what other Ravenclaw could he have been talking about that he could have confused to be—yuck! Lockhart gives me the creeps."

"Yeah. I found out the second year just how much of a creep he is."

"He didn't touch you?"

"I—no, dad!" Hermione held up her hands, noticing how he started to panic; he also went into protective dad mode, which meant a complete burnout when the protective-dad method ended because the threat ended. "Not what you think. Just that I learned what kind of person he really was, a liar and a cheat."

"Well, that's certainly true," her father muttered, glancing over at the desk for some reason before shaking his head and letting out a slight hiss realizing shaking his head wasn't a good idea.

"And the other things?"

"Yes, well, Sirius already accused me to my face of not being a virgin, so I'm absolutely not surprised about that one. And that was even after I lectured him about not teaching me about condoms growing up."

"What the hell, dad!"

"What?" he asked. "It's what happened, and you walked in on the conversation, so shouldn't I be honest with you."

"While I do appreciate you are being honest with me," Hermione tilted her head slightly, finding herself flabbergasted that her dad could be so—her dad, yet the familiarity didn't settle the gut feeling. "Why the bloody hell were you lecturing him about that, of all things?" She watched him tense. "What? What did I say that was wrong? I mean, you were talking about condoms, of all things."

"Yes, well." He reached up his one usable hand and rubbed his neck. "I made the mistake of bringing up the fact Sirius wasn't there when I needed him, and he questioned the idea of me ever needing him, so when I answered the question, the first thing to pop into my head was that."

"Why?" Hermione asked. "Why that of all things.

"Well," he said, pausing. And then, after what felt like forever in silence from him, he said, "You're not a mistake."

"I'm not a mistake?" Hermione shook her head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," he paused. His ears turned a deep red, meaning the conversation was embarrassing and uncomfortable. "I mean, you're not a mistake. I mean…"

Her eyes widened. "Wait. Is this about me being conceived before you and mom were married?"

And he stared, looking her in the eyes, his eyes focused for once. "Wait? You know?"

"I can do the math, dad. I've known for some time."

"Well, we didn't know we were going to have you when we married if it's any consolation," he said.

"I'm going to need to think about what you said because what you said is kind of weird. No, it's definitely a strange thing to say."

"Well, regarding what Sirius said," he turned his head. "Your mother, she wouldn't lie to me. I know she wouldn't. Olivia, I trust her. I mean, she'd lie to me if she thought it would be for my own good, but I also think she'd tell me the truth about being with someone else. And even if that were the case," he said. "You're mine. You're my daughter. You brought my words back."

Hermione frowned. "Definitely don't know what's going on in your head."

"It involves things I'm not ready to talk to you about yet," he said.

"Oh?" Hermione sighed. And yet, "Dad, you still haven't really responded to Sirius accusing you of putting a spell on mom and me."

His eyes blinked as he faced her. "Oh. That's not surprising either."

"Oh?" Hermione asked.

"I mean, Sirius just called me a monster a few moments ago. And he knows I was a Death Eater, so is it really shocking that he'd think something like that?"

Hermione frowned, her hands tightening and her feeling sweat gather on the palms of her hands. "You were a Death Eater."

"I've already told you that."

"No, I mean," Hermione sighed. "There's a question I need to ask about that."

"I'm not sure I can answer," he said. "There are things about that, being a Death Eater, that I don't want to talk about."

"Are you willing to tell me whether you tortured or killed anybody?" Hermione asked.

"That?" he frowned. "Literally or technically."

"Okay. Now I need to know what you mean by literally or technically."

"Well, literally, I've never tortured or killed anyone, but technically, I'm sure my actions did result in someone being tortured or killed. And I'm pretty sure…." He stopped, shaking his head, regretting he shook his head. "Nope. Not going there."

Hermione frowned. "So, you've never killed someone with your own hands, tortured them, or used an unforgivable curse?"

"Absolutely not," he said.

"Thank god," Hermione said, feeling relief begin to set in, although there was still a level of frustration at something else she'd not yet talked to him about. But then—

"Hermione, what have you done to your teeth?"

Her eyes snapped open, realizing there was something important she'd forgotten about. "Oh."