Grascorty Castle Chapter Two, a harry potter fanfic

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GRASCORTY CASTLE

Lucille Lee

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Summary: AU. WIP. Hermione's world changes drastically after her parents' death. Set in the 18th-19th century. Just as she was beginning to fall in love with the handsome friend of Lord Black, she meets the plebeian Severus Snape. SS/HG/RL with some side-romances that I will keep as a surprise.

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Review Responses:-

MayaRose: Thank-you for reviewing. I am rather fond of this time-period myself.

bunnyrabbit228: Thanks for the advice. I'll try to follow it.

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2. In which the heroine attends her first ball and meets interesting men

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"This… this…"

Hermione had no words – so she groaned.

Ginny could barely restrain her laughter.

"THIS IS HORRBILE!" Hermione finally screamed, restless to get the dress off her.

Ginny gave vent to her amusement. "It is very ugly, yes," she said between her chuckles.

"Ginny! You are not helping! I have to go down there in an hour!"

"All right! Keep your hair on! We are witches, you know. Do you have a blue dress? I will modify it. I learnt many Weaving Charms here."

"I have that old one from the Yule Ball in our fourth-year," said Hermione, going to the wardrobe.

Half an hour later, Hermione was satisfied with the changes Ginny had made in her dress.

"Now hurry up with the dressing. It is not in vogue to be late for ladies – especially young ones," informed Ginny.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you will not be very popular if you arrive late, Hermione."

"No one will be! I know that!"

"I didn't quite mean it that way. Now if Harry or his godfather arrive late, it will be fashionable – they are men who are popular with men and women. So they are always forgiven."

"How ridiculous!"

"Hermione, you are in Grascorty Castle – among the high society. It won't do well to voice such opinions. And don't frown like that when I am putting on the rouge."

"So what kind of a man is Lord Black?"

"Very attractive," said Ginny, unabashedly.

"You know what I am asking about."

Ginny smiled – more because she was satisfied with her work on Hermione's hair rather than her exasperated tone.

"He's vain, he's dandy, he's narcissist, he's charming, he's famous, he's rich, he's brave and he has the most sinful smile a man can ever have – or even a woman."

"I don't think I am going to like him," declared Hermione, adjusting her diamond adorned choker, which had originally belonged to her mother, but had become hers when she turned eighteen a few weeks ago. She still remembered her mother's smile when she had first worn it.

"Oh, you will," said Ginny, adjusting the pleats of her dress, "he's too irresistible – and if I may say so, he's one man any woman would die for!"

"Ginny!"

"Hermione!"

"Well, I am looking forward to meeting Harry. He will be surprised."

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Hermione kept by her uncle's side for most of the evening. She was slightly terrified of the older ladies and the younger ones annoyed her to no end. Especially Miss Lovegood. She was… peculiar.

And then there were the young men, who, in her opinion, laughed too much and talked too little – and had the obnoxious habit of not taking the hint when you wanted to escape them. On more than one occasion, she had been determined to tell Mr. Corner that his jokes were not amusing but disgustingly vulgar. Her respect for her uncle and an innate sense of propriety just stopped her from doing so.

She wished Harry would come soon.

And finally, the Merlin answered her prayers. Harry arrived along with two other gentlemen.

One of them was very fashionably dressed and seemed very dashing… And he even had an earring! Hermione quickly deduced that this was the much-talked-about Lord Black.

The other seemed a quieter, more reserved man dressed in inconspicuous black and with a good-natured smile on his face. Hermione took an instant liking to him.

"Good Merlin! Hermione!"

"Harry, it is nice to see you again, too" she said with a not-so-ladylike grin.

Harry enveloped her in a bear-hug, forgetting that this wasn't like old days at school. Many people looked on with surprise.

"Gods! It is so good to see you again," he said, oblivious of all the attention. "Your last letter quite startled me. I thought that you had decided to join the nunnery or something."

"I only just managed to dissuade her from such an act, Mr. Potter," said Lord Cromwell, not at all minding the familiarity that the young man showed towards his niece. Hermione was very grateful. She decided that she was going to like her uncle much, much better than before. Unlike most old gentlemen, he was not annoying.

"Hermione, tell me this isn't true!"

Hermione just shrugged, smiling apologetically. They were making her feel as if she was going to do a bad thing! It had been one of the best thoughts of her life. Seriously, if this went on, she would really go to the convent.

"It is very indecent of you to command the attentions of such a beautiful lady all to yourself, Harry."

Hermione turned her head slightly and her eyes met Lord Black's.

"Lord Black, in your service, Miss Granger," he said, smiling – there was no other word for it – sinfully, and bringing her hand up to his lips, all the while maintaining eye-contact with her.

Contrary to her early opinion, Hermione thought that he was rather a gentleman – and very good-looking.

"And here's my best mentor, Remus – Remus Lupin. I told you about him."

Mr. Lupin bowed.

"Best mentor, Harry?" asked Lord Black, affecting great pain.

"You've got to admit that he pulls me out from the mud just at the right time, Sirius."

"He's the only man who is able to keep them away from turning into perfect scoundrels," said Lord Cromwell. "And a darn better lawyer than Weasley."

"You are very kind, Lord Cromwell," said Lupin, "but I must say that Mr. Weasley is much better than me in the matters of law. He is a very efficient young man."

Lord Cromwell shrugged. "Hermione and I both agree on the fact that he's a downright hazard to our sanity."

"Miss Granger," said Lord Black, ignoring his godson's frown, "may I have the honour of having this dance?"

Hermione, for all her apprehensions about men like Lord Black, accepted with a gracious readiness.

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"So?"

"So what?" snapped Harry.

"You have not danced more than one dance, Harry. I am worried about you."

"This is not the time, Remus."

"I am very serious, Harry."

Harry sighed, his frown deepening. "Hermione is my best friend – other than Ron, of course. She is like a very dear sister to me. I told Sirius not to talk to her."

"And what did he say?"

"That he won't – that he would keep away from her. But dancing three dances with her isn't really keeping away from her, is it?"

"Miss Granger is rather a good-looking lady."

"I don't trust, Sirius."

"How well would you trust Miss Granger with me, Harry?"

Harry's face suddenly brightened. "You mean it? Thanks a lot, Remus! I know you do not like to dance."

"Miss Granger is too good for dear old Sirius," was all that Remus said as he went towards the couple, hearing the last strains of the music.

Harry, with a clear brow and charming smile went to ask Miss Lovegood for a dance. She was crazy, but she was lovely – especially in that emerald dress tonight.

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"I think you have kept Miss Granger away from us for long enough, Sirius."

Sirius was genuinely surprised.

"May I, Miss Granger?" asked Remus, looking between the couple.

"Go along, Moony. Miss Granger, you have the great honour to be the first woman who Mr. Lupin has asked so willingly," said Sirius, grinning at Remus.

"Professor McGonagall speaks highly of you," said Remus once they had fallen into a comfortable rhythm.

"You are acquainted with her?"

"My pleasure, yes."

"Harry said you were very skilled in Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"I liked them better than everything else. But I think being a lawyer is really my destiny."

"When did you study law? Didn't you attend any Magical University?"

"I could not. My parentage was entirely magical, though. But I had a few friends among Muggles and I got extremely interested in law. It seemed a very nice way to help people."

Hermione smiled. "You were disillusioned, but?"

"Unfortunately," he said with a wry smile. There was something about that smile that Hermione liked – something friendly that set her at her ease immediately.

"And now?"

"I love the legal profession as before but I cannot find clients who are… worth all the hard work. But I have got to make a living."

They were quiet after that. But it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. It was rather pleasant. They revelled in each other's company.

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When the dance was over, he stood near her.

"Harry is rather protective of you," he remarked out of nowhere. "How did you meet him and Ron? To my last knowledge, the girls and boys section was different in Hogwarts."

"It was… You-Know-Who business. Ginny had gotten into trouble with his diary. I had gone to find her. So had Ron and Harry. Because Ron wanted to save his sister and Harry was Ron's best friend. Trouble threw us together. We made it out of it alive – and together. You don't go so near death with somebody and not feel anything for them."

"You got siblings that day?" he asked with a smile.

"Three of them," she said, remembering her second-year at Hogwarts. It was the only adventure of her life. "I had always wanted brothers and sisters. But the only two sisters I might have had died at childbirth."

"There are rumours about You-Know-Who," said Remus. It was confidential information, but on knowing that this young woman had confronted some very Dark events and creatures, he felt it was his duty to warn her. He would be surprised if Harry didn't do so soon. But he wanted to be the one who did that.

"I'm all ears, Mr. Lupin."

"He's resurrected. No one knows how or anything else. But he has been."

Hermione looked at him sharply. "These aren't rumours! You know it for sure!"

He nodded. She was as intelligent as McGonagall said.

"It had to happen," she said slowly.

He was taken aback. "Indeed?"

But before she could explain, Harry took her away for another dance.

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"My feet!" groaned Hermione, falling on her bed, fully dressed. "And my head! I feel so ill!"

"Well, you shouldn't have danced so much," said Ginny.

"Are you joking?" murmured Hermione, the exuberance she felt while dancing with Lord Black still alive in her. She got up to get changed.

"You fell for him, alright," said Ginny, smiling at her in the mirror. She felt rather smug.

"I am not sure." Hermione was glad to shrug off her dress. While it was beautiful, it was constricting and heavy.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Mr. Lupin was very… I don't know. I liked him. He didn't startle me like Lord Black did. Nor was he as disquieting. With Lord Black, I felt as if I couldn't quite follow his pace. He was overwhelming."

"You liked him!" said Ginny happily.

Hermione rolled her eyes and got into her bed. "I don't want to dance with him again, although it was rather an experience. He was very charming and everything but of a totally different world. Mr. Lupin, on the other hand, he wasn't so strange. We were rather compatible. I was so glad that he sat next to me during dinner. He loves literature, poetry and painting, too! I cannot believe that he is a pureblood!"

"Hermione!"

"You know what I mean, Ginny," said Hermione, smiling at her friend.

"Yes, I know what you mean. You are infatuated with the wrong person. And here I was… imagining all those escapades we'd arrange for you to meet him secretly. Because I am sure that Lord Cromwell will never let Lord Black court you. He likes him and he would never forbid you to meet such a dashing man – or any other man. But he would be the Bad Uncle and prevent you from meeting him because he does not think that Lord Black could do you any good and not allow him to come near you if he knows his intentions. And I would be the faithful maid… bearing all because I cannot see lovers suffer…"

"Dream away, Ginny," said Hermione wryly. The notion of her meeting some 'forbidden' lover was quite amusing – but impossible. She was determined to love once in her life and love well. Though she liked him, Lord Black was certainly not the person she would give her heart to.

"But I so want to be the 'faithful maid'," said Ginny teasingly. "Hermione, you have got to fall in love with someone below your station soon! It will be so exciting!"

Hermione decided that it was time for a change of topics.

"What about you?" she said. "When are you falling in love?"

Ginny went pale. All the mirth and delight left her face.

Hermione sat up and took Ginny's hands in her own. "Ginny?"

She sighed and rested her head on Hermione's shoulder. "You didn't tell Harry that I was here, did you?"

"I never mentioned I saw you to anybody, no."

"And you shouldn't. No one should know where I am, Hermione. Promise me."

"I promise. Although I think that now is just the right time for you to tell your long tale."

Ginny sat up straight. "It might take all night."

"It won't! Now stop dilly-dallying."

"There was something I hid from you in your seventh-year. You were right about that when you used to ask me if I had some problem. You weren't the only girl in the school who had friends among the boys. However, I didn't have a 'friend' as such in him – we were lovers.

"He was a Slytherin, Hermione, and that was the only reason why I didn't tell you. I thought… I thought you would tell Ron, so I was scared. It was stupid of me, but I was too much in love with him.

"Since he was in seventh-year, he was to leave that summer and never return to the castle again. So he told me about an inn called Grey Woods in the Knockturn Alley. He said I could meet him there.

"The fact that he mentioned Knockturn Alley didn't make me suspect him. He had always said that he was doing it all against his father's will. He didn't want to study Dark Arts. So he had decided to run away – leave the country.But he had now fallen in love with me and would not leave me. He said we would run away together.

"You must not think me bad. I was so much in love with him that I thought of no one else. I didn't think of my mother, my father, my brothers – no one at all. All summer I was sad because of his troubles. I was worried about him. I got no letter from him even though many months had passed. He had told me not to write to him.

"And then after the NEWTs results were declared, he sent me the first letter. He said that the last year had been a lot of trouble for him. He did not want to endanger my life by sending me a letter. It was such a beautiful letter, Hermione! Not for a moment did I doubt the sincerity of his words. I loved him even more. He had asked me to meet him in the inn in a week.

"And the thoughtless creature I was, I did so. I didn't bother about anything. I secretly left the train so that no one would see me, and went there."

Ginny stopped. She was now looking down. She couldn't bring herself to look into Hermione's eyes.

"Ginny?" Hermione said tenderly, stroking her hair.

"And they told me that there was no one of that name there nor had he left any message. There were terrible men there. I was not half as scared as I was upset – upset that something had happened to him. What a great fool I was!

"And then the innkeeper asked me my name. I don't know why, but I had this sudden feeling that something was wrong and so I lied. Thank Merlin that I had lied! For some moments later, a particularly nasty-looking man had come asking for Ginny Weasley – a lass promised for him by Draco Malfoy because he had done an important job for him! That rotten, wicked man! I couldn't believe my ears! I couldn't believe that Draco had betrayed me! I slipped away quietly, but I was determined to get to the bottom of this matter. So I waited outside for some hours.

"When that man came out of the inn, I had put glamour charms on my face so that I looked hideous. I asked him the whereabouts of Draco Malfoy. He was drunk so he didn't really bother with 'whys' and 'what'. He told me that Draco was in Italy – on his honeymoon with his bride."

Ginny was shaking with rage, tears of anger and pain burning in her eyes. Hermione embraced her. A couple of years ago, when Malfoy had attacked Harry, and hurt him quite badly, Hermione had not believed that she could hate Malfoy any more than she did then. However, the hate that welled up in her heart for him right now, couldn't have matched it.

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"You didn't quite hate the evening, now, did you?"

Lord Black was lying listlessly on the divan, his head still reeling from the after-effects of too many drinks. The Hangover Potion, taken in large quantity, could yellow your teeth. Whatever he would do, he'd never let that happen to his teeth.

Lupin, who wasn't fond of drinking, was observing some paintings which had just arrived. However, his mind was back in Grascorty Castle.

"No," came the monosyllabic answer from the aristocrat.

"You ought to take my advice which I give it you so freely, Sirius. A single helping of Hangover Potion won't harm your teeth."

"Damn you!"

Lupin sighed and went out, muttering, "You're hopeless."

Outside, he found Harry standing near the roses, deep in thought.

"Barnwell keeps the garden blooming even in winter. Won't neighbours suspect anything?"

"Remus, I need some advice. Well, actually, I need you to do something for me."

Lupin considered his tense face for some time. He had seen that expression only once before on his face. Last night. "Miss Granger?"

"She was the stabilizing aura around Ron and me. She kept us attached to reality when we had flying imaginations about taming dragons and flying higher than the sky. When I met her last night, she did the same thing again."

Lupin hid his emotions well. It was an essentiality of his job. Miss Granger had agreed to his referring Harry as a 'sibling', he told himself.

"I am protective of her – I have always been ever since I saw her. I had almost lost her back in our second-year. She was so true a Gryffindor! Seeing Sirius treat her so lightly last night… well, it set off that responsibility thing again. Now that she is so… friendless, I suppose, I feel I have a responsibility towards her."

"If you are worried about Sirius harming her, then rest assured. He won't. You have just got to show him that you are serious about things when it comes to her."

"I am not worried over Sirius," said Harry, caressing a rose bud. "I am worried about Hermione. All this Voldemort business… and the fact that the Death-Eaters might be anywhere… Imagine if you had a sister alone in a large castle living with nobody who'd be able to protect her… I am very worried about her."

Remus could have kicked himself. Harry's love for Hermione wasn't only platonic, but it was very pure. How could he have supposed otherwise?

"Harry, I believe that Miss Granger is a very brilliant witch – even though I have never seen her with a wand, but I trust Minerva's opinion. What do you think?"

"She's as good as Merlin himself."

"Then I feel that it would be an insult to her intelligence to think that she cannot protect herself," said Remus, with feeling.

Harry shook his head. "I am not sure if she has her wand. She has no inkling of the Dark happenings. And though she is awfully clever in Charms, her heart wasn't in it. How can she be prepared of something she knows not?"

"Ought you not to tell her then?"

Harry seemed flustered. "You might think it very strange – what I am going to tell you now, but it is true. Even though she is brave and brilliant and strong kind of a woman, she will always be like an angelic flower to me. I love her.

"Laugh at me, but I consider it… well… I don't want to tell her about all the evil around. She is blissful in her ignorance. I don't want to scare her or upset her. I will protect her with my life but I will not let darkness taint her."

"Harry…"

"I do not want to know what you feel about it, Remus. But I will be leaving this place soon. I want you to do something for me. I want you to protect her. Grascorty Castle is a bit far, but surely something can be done? You will take care of her?"

Remus looked him straight in his eyes as he answered, "With my life, Harry – and if need be, with my soul."

"If you have quite finished mauling that poor boy's head with your ethical thoughts, Remus," came a loud, impatient voice from inside, "you will have the decency to brew me a vial of Hangover Potion."

Remus caught Harry's hand in a reassuring grip before going back to the sitting room.

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Hermione was moving around the castle aimlessly. She had practically nothing to do right now. So she explored the huge castle. She had yet to get around the whole place. It filled her time and was very interesting.

The room that she found today delighted her. It was the library – a place that would make even hell inviting. However, as she was browsing through the books, she heard a familiar tap-tap-tap on the window.

It was an eagle owl. She couldn't remember anyone who owned eagle owls. Ron had a small tawny creature who seemed cute to everyone but him and Harry had a beautiful snowy owl. However, she let it in and untied the parchment.

It wasn't exactly a letter, but more of a note:-

Your son is ill. I think it will be better if you can stay with him for some time. Come down to the Bridge tonight. I will be there until midnight but no later.

S.S.

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My humble attempt at a cliff-hanger. Review?

- Lucille

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