Hermione stood inside an office and waited. Waited for the goblin to return or some indication that they were ready to see her. This was the only way she thought that she might escape this meeting alive or free, or in some way able to carry on. That's what it boiled down to. Gringotts has been the only meeting ground and since it was the bank that had found the connection and their contracts that had to be signed, it was fitting. She had come of age and early. Bloody time turner, but she was of age and that's what mattered.
Not sure how long they would be in the Wizarding world or what would happen next year, she had wanted a vault in addition to supplies of muggle money. It was also something she had always wanted to do and in a way, her time was running out. Maybe she could have done it in the nebulous after but it was exactly that, nebulous. Vague and perhaps she would never get it. So she had come here and done it. All had gone as expected until she received a letter two days later. Instead of a bank statement it had contained a surprise.
Miss Granger,
As protocol dictates during a vault opening the cross checking against open vaults took place at 4:06pm on July 4th 1997.
This is done so we do not have multiple vaults unclaimed due to lack of the vault holders knowledge. As in this case it has proven its efficacy.
Please owl and arrange a visit with your vault representative, Tolkturn, as soon as possible. Events will be set in motion on a timed schedule based on our laws and customs.
Vipertail
Customer Correspondence Division
Gringotts Wizarding Bank
For minutes she had sat at the desk in her room and stared at the parchment. The seal at the top shone in the sunlight as she read it again and again. Then she had panicked. Cried and curled up on her bed for a time. All of her thoughts about her parents changed too. Her plans didn't but how she felt did and that was uncomfortable. Then her mind had kicked into high gear and she began writing things down. The two hours before her parents returned from work were spent writing mind maps of how this could affect things.
It depended on who she was related to and if they were alive. Picking up the letter, she read it carefully again. Trying to understand what it meant.
Three times later she was as confused as she had been the first time. Against other vaults. Checking her blood against other vaults and they had found something. The way she understood it, her blood would have had to have been linked to a specific vault. There were other rituals to discover magical family members that she had seen referenced but the goblins used individual blood recognition wards. So as a baby or something she had been added to this vault. They had used her actual blood. She had been there with someone.
Seated with her parents in the dining area off the kitchen, she listened to their conversation about what they had to fit in this week and wondered. It was possible she wasn't even their child. If anything she looked a mix between then. Her mother's dirty blond and her fathers dark chestnut hair colours. Her eyes were brown while her mum's blue and her dads hazel. She didn't have her mother's peaches and cream skin or her father's nearly olive complexion. Deciding that she would go to the bank and hope for the best before asking her parents, she let that go for now. They only had so many days left and she wanted to enjoy them if she could. Regardless of who they were biologically to her.
That had been fourteen days ago. This was the third time she had come to the bank and hopefully the last relating to this. It felt dangerous to be so exposed. Dumbledore was dead and she had come cloaked and scared each time. Knowing that she was a security risk but the public acknowledgement of her parentage was a big enough incentive to get her here. Tolkturn had explained that of age or not, there was power in family magics.
Wishing for at least the tenth time that she felt more prepared to see her him. Even thinking about him as her brother was nearly impossible. Felt more sure that she would walk out of this building and hurry home with some sense of having escaped. She didn't think so. Upon the discovery of who she was and the blankness that lasted minutes finally passing, she had jerked her head up to catch the goblins eye. The direct gaze told her that this was why they had discussed what they had. Hermione could appreciate the way that the account manager had gone about this. Feeding her information in a specific order and she felt that she understood the basics of what would happen today.
After he knew who she was, Hermione had been insistent that he know first. Not before coming here but before she had to face him. Hermione could have given other reasons but the bottom line was that she knew and felt like it would be an ambush to just walk in and expect any level of composure. Wizarding Britain was not particularly large and you knew at least the names of most people after a couple years at Hogwarts. Hermione knew who he was and knew too, that he would know exactly who she was. Even what that meant. He was two years her senior and so had been there for her fourth and fifth years.
The goblin came in, without knocking, and she tried not to jump. A gesture indicated that she follow him and she tried to make her nod firm before following the shorter creature out of this office and down the corridor to the one that was Tolkturn's. Not wanting to go in and knowing she had to, she couldn't run. This was her only choice, without increasing the danger. If he called in the family magics before her legal birthday than she would be traceable. Unable to go with Harry.
He was standing by the ornate crest on the wall and she stopped by the door. The goblin that had escorted her closed it and the sound seemed loud in the charged silence. She looked at the back of his head and wondered if his hair would curl if he let it grow more than his customary few inches. It was wavy and he had filled out since leaving school. She thought maybe she had seen him once in the Alley last summer but couldn't remember anything more than that. Occasional photos in the society section of the Prophet. That's what she called nearly everything that wasn't news. Including sports which seemed to feature the players and their friends more often than the muggle versions.
"If you will sit then we may begin." The goblin spoke but Hermione didn't take her eyes off the man. Wizard. Joshua Rosier. The only son of Evan and Caterina Rosier. Their only child, or so everyone thought. Death Eater, nearly certainly. Her paterfamilias. Unwilling to begin anything without seeing his face, all she could do was wait.
The restrictions he could place and the power he could wield over her was frightening but she didn't know if she was actually scared of him. She hadn't been and probably wouldn't be now if she didn't know exactly who he was to her. Using Rowle as her only reference, she thought over how she had felt when the masks disappeared and his face came into view. A hopeless disbelief and then rage. What a waste. She had worried less about him personally than what he now stood for. It was obvious that they weren't trying to take them, at least him and Gibbon. That had been disgusting to see.
The two of them were linked in her mind. Maybe people thought of her and Harry like that. Not interchangeable but part of the equation. Only in the last ten days had she decided or contemplated any of this more than passingly. Since then it had been overwhelming her. Trying to remember every interaction or rumour.
What would he think of her? It wasn't truly important whether or not he liked her or anything like that but how would decide to deal with her. She didn't know what kind of person he was. Whether a sister was something he wanted. The outcome was dependent on him and she knew that it was more influential to the outcome than she would like such a subjective and chancy thing to be. What she already knew. It was enough to increase her nausea to a ridiculous degree. Maybe this would begin with her being sick on the floor.
The light from the lanterns illuminating the office shimmered on his brown waves as he turned and she tried to take a breath but wasn't sure it was successful. Pinching her thigh worked better and under the cloak it couldn't be seen. The eyes that looked at her mockingly and the face hard. The two stared at each other until the goblin bid them sit for the second time.
She decided that sitting would have to happen eventually and so when his hand made an intricate flourish toward the two chairs she looked away from him and sat facing the goblin. Whom was watching them with interest and she was grateful for the confidentiality that account managers had to the noble families. The laws were old and biased but in this instance they were welcome. Nothing they spoke of would be leaked from this quarter. It was something to be grateful for anyways.
"Both of you have indicated that you wish to come to some compromise without the use of the family binding spells. Is this still your wish?" The goblin asked the wizard and she tried not to stiffen. He had wanted to do it this way before he knew who she was and she couldn't help but wonder if he would change his mind. Not wanting to rush him, even in her own overwhelm she could imagine that this was a lot to think through.
Even if he knew that he had once had a sister, she could bet it was a surprise to have her appear out of nowhere. Then after whatever he had thought might happen his account manager sat him down and explained her wish that he know she was Hermione Granger. She had used the last week to try and come to terms with any part of this and he had less than twenty minutes. She would have waited but he must have indicated that he was ready to proceed. Here they sat. Neither looking at the other in an office in Gringotts with a war ongoing and so many issues that she had no idea where to start sorting them out. She did have some things she wanted though and few things she wasn't willing to give up in order to be able to go with Harry. Just the thought of him and Ron out there, trying to hide or whatever was panic inducing.
"Yes." The word was brief and didn't sound happy but it was affirmative and she did relax slightly then. It was also comforting that he had spoken. The silence was oppressive and he had never kept his mouth shut around her before. Some Slytherins were quiet and observant while others wanted to observe your reactions and had no qualms about being the cause of said reaction. This one was one of the latter variety and it was definitely something to keep in mind.
"Would you prefer to speak before we pull out the various contracts that are in abeyance or begin with the paperwork immediately?" Tolkturn asked and Hermione flicked a glance at the wizard beside her and could see nothing, so decided the best she could do was wait.
"Will you cooperate?" The question was directed at her and she knew what he meant. Having had most of this explained. This time she looked at him and waited for him to meet her eyes. When he did they were still hard and not much showed on his face.
"What do you want from me?" She asked and his eyes flicked over her face before he looked to the goblin. Then his eyes were on hers and she felt her anxiety spike.
"You are my sister. The only daughter of our House. I want you to be who you are." The words sounded pulled from him and she tried to see what he meant by that. Eventually she knew she would have to ask what he meant exactly and bit her lip for a second before beginning.
"What does that mean right now? Surely you know that I would be killed or worse if you tried to bring me into your world right now." His eyes flashed at her and she knew that he too understood. This wasn't a normal situation and whatever would have happened without the current circumstances was irrelevant.
"You tell me what you want witch. Then I'll tell you what I'm willing to have happen." The way he said it made it clear he meant it. A bargain maybe. After another look at the goblin, who was watching them closely, she looked at the wizard beside her.
"There is something I have to know, before I decide what I can and can't tell you." Hermione let the seriousness show. This was bigger than the two of them. A slight nod.
"Are you marked?" Hermione felt brave and the look in his eyes told her that this had been risky. Already she had confirmed that anything said here wouldn't leave and wouldn't change the way the bank dealt with them. It was only between the two of them. Nothing. Silence.
"I know that he is. So I thought you would be too. It changes what I can say and what you might understand." She offered her explanation for asking. Of course she wanted to know for herself and whatever relationship they might be able to have. Eventually but now, it was relevant for other reasons. No nod or jerk of the head to actually indicate yes or know. The steady gaze that looked as if he was seeing things that weren't there told her the answer though. A pang. Another one pulled into the mire. Waste. The familiar anger flared inside of her. Anagain she wondered what life in magical Britain might be like, without this chasm of cruelty and fear. Pushing that away, she decided to continue as if he had answered.
"I'm of age and even had I known I was adopted it wouldn't have crossed my mind that my parents had bound my blood to such betrothal contracts. I have to go. What do you want in exchange for letting me disappear for a while?" The far away look had faded and now he was watching her carefully. Hermione was grateful to see the calculation back on his face and a more normal expression. Even his bearing shifted and she thought he was grateful that she had accepted his branded servitude to a mad man that wanted to kill her and her friends, without screaming at him. Which she would have done a year ago. Denying she could be related to such people or unwilling to accept the status quo. There was no time for that now.
"For a while? Indefinitely you mean?" Hermione blinked and then thought this through. Maybe he thought they were going to run from Britain or something. Flee the emergent and dangerous situation. From a Slytherin that was logical thinking. How to speak about anything without endangering them. Even him.
"No. Eventually it will end. For me, one way or the other." Letting him see that she meant it. Maybe it would have seemed dramatic to reference her death like that but it was true. If he thought it through then he would know what the other alternative was. For a minute she waited while his eyes flicked over her and then looked at the goblin. She kept her own eyes on him. Turned nearly completely in the chair so she could see more, express more.
"You think there's a chance that you will live?" He asked and then his eyes met hers again. It was challenge and curiosity. She was surprised at all that he showed then.
"A chance." She confirmed and he seemed to be searching for something. She couldn't tell him anything about the chance or how much of a long shot it was. She didn't even know what they would do next or if Harry had a plan, other than find the horcruxes and destroy them.
"I want a sister. After. If we get one. If we don't then this is moot. Nothing I can do, it won't stop him or them." The resignation in his tone was realistic but Hermione felt her first pang of emotion on his behalf. Maybe even their behalf. In that moment she wondered what he knew about her. The sister that had seemingly been missing since her birth or not long after. There were pictures in her house of her at only a month or two old.
"Is there a contract covering what you want?" She asked and his posture changed again. She mirrored it unconsciously and now both were sitting up straighter and nearly facing each other in the chairs.
"No. We can write one though. Usually we don't have to contract for contact or acknowledgement." The dry tone made a small smile appear on her face, unwillingly and he smirked at her. That brought out a scowl and she looked to the goblin. Who waited until both of them were looking at him and then pulled a piece of paper from the pile.
"Knowing some of what you each want, this is my first draft." Hermione felt her stomach flip at the crafty look on the creatures face and the near dare in his tone. Josh reached for it and his face showed nothing and then a small grin, not a nice one either formed on his face and he held his hand out for a quill. There was some scribbling and then he leaned back from the desk and read it over again. The flicked glance to her was followed by another read through and then he held it out to her, without looking at her.
Heart pounding, Hermione read it carefully. The first paragraph was an agreement to use her name and confirm family ties. Now it was her turn to hold out her hand for a quill and make small notes in the corner. She would prefer Charlotte be her middle name. Not being able to imagine just changing her first name.
The second paragraph was basic things like living arrangements and vault access. She didn't care very much about the money and would be of age. So six months living in the Rosier Estate and weekly dinners wasn't to bad. It seemed to be written as if she would live and Voldemort wouldn't be a factor. When she thought this, a quick look at the goblin showed that he was intently watching her and he gave a small nod. She looked back down and rapidly thought about that. This would only hold if they won, somehow. The steady look on Tolkturns face before this meeting had been reassuring and now she knew why. He had already known that Josh wanted a sister and was marked. Probably since their first meeting he had been trying to ascertain what both would give in order to make this work. He had no love for the Dark Lord, or so she had gathered from glances and gruff sounds during their conversations. Once she had as detained the confidentiality clauses and how they could be used, she had spoken more freely than she might have anticipated. It was limited to things that didn't compromise the bank but that was a lot, if you were careful.
With those thoughts in mind, she dropped her gaze to the third paragraph. It contained nearly no amendments. Word changes or additions. It was a demand for her to sign one of the betrothal contracts left standing in abeyance from her birth. Her heart started pounding and she could feel her cheeks heat. Not in embarrassment but anger. Deciding that she would never get to the end of this if she started screaming or walked out, she forced her eyes away from the disgusting words and down to the last paragraph.
This contract would hold until one of their deaths or the permanent cessation of hostilities. That made her snort in sarcastic disbelief. The wording made it sound like an armistice might be reached. It meant Voldemort's downfall though. His permanent death. Removal from their lives. Without thought, she looked up and caught the wizards eye. His brown ones were defensive and so was his posture. That was what she seen anyways.
In that moment it seemed hopeless. As if this contract wouldn't matter, the task was to big and both of them living through this seemed like an unachievable set of circumstances. As unachievable as finding and somehow destroying five Horcruxes. Most of which they didn't even know what they were. He must have seen something because he gave her a nod. Accepting that this would probably all be for naught.
She smiled sadly and to her surprise, he did too. For the second time she felt something. For him or this situation. He was without a family. Alone in his House. Like Harry. That was hard to consider. That he might want a sister, Harry had mentioned wishing they were actual siblings several times. They were just staring at each other and she didn't know what to do. Glancing back down at the contract, her eyes scanned the betrothal paragraph again and she didn't understand.
"Why the betrothal contract?" Her voice was uncertain and she decided that trying to hide all of her emotions was useless. He would already assume she wouldn't like it. It also felt out of place, though it had always been there and he hadn't amended it.
"If you survive, or we both do and this is over. I want to know that you will stay. I can't keep you at home with me forever. This will keep you here. In my world." His tones were gruff and she nodded her acceptance of his words even as she tried to understand.
"Did you know. About Charlotte?" She blurted out and then didn't take it back or try and wave it away. Wanting to know. She hadn't spent much time thinking about what could happen if he wanted her in his life. Mostly she had worried about what would happen if he tried to use her against Harry or for his own gains.
"About you, you mean. You are Charlotte. It never crossed my mind and something has been done to your magics. Or I would have known. The Family magics would have alerted me. Father left notes. Many of them. About the family and estates but also about you. I was nearly three and only remember mother rubbing her belly and speaking to me about you. My sister. Then she was gone and a week later father was dead and you too were gone." He answered and Hermione tried to puzzle out what he meant. Gone. It wasn't something she could imagine, having a family and then a week later being alone. A young boy of three.
"My magics?" It was the only question that had words. What had happened to her and how their mother had died. These seemed things she couldn't ask about. It wasn't her life or didn't seem to be. The look she got was incredulous and she didn't appreciate it.
"Muggle raised, maybe you don't know. Why would you and we wouldn't have told someone of your background about such things." Now he sounded musing and she lifted her chin in response to the derogatory words and more so, his prejudice against her upbringing. Ignorant prig.
"Even now it's not pulling at my magics. And it would. Certainly something is blocking your family magics from calling out to mind or even being recognized. The few things I have found in the last week, it wouldn't be good to do them now and could kill you or leave you a squib. I'll keep looking." His eyes were direct and she was grateful that he didn't elaborate on what might be needed to break whatever was on her magics. Deciding that she could look in the Black Library if they were ever there, she moved on.
"The betrothal contracts." How could she explain what she felt about agreeing to marry someone she wasn't even in a relationship with. Someone she might not even know or could never love.
"I have one." He sounded defensive and she met his eyes then. Not much showed but it looked to be resigned and maybe a bit of hopelessness.
"Who?" She couldn't help but ask and he looked her over before looking to the goblin and then back to her. That surprised her and she wondered what he had looked to him for.
"Daphne Greengrass." His tone was low and something flashed in his eyes. Something she didn't understand and she looked her question. Eventually he squared his shoulders and spoke.
"If she lives and I do." His words were drawled and Hermione couldn't help her small flinch at the emotions there. He didn't think they would. Didn't think the contract would ever be completed. There wasn't much she could say to that and thought absently that the two
of them would look lovely together. She wondered what Daphne thought of him, thought of this whole thing.
"I can't make someone marry me." She blurted out and then scolded herself internally for her word choice and lack of composure.
"They've all agreed. You were their first choice and until you sign one of them or sign another one they are bound to wait." His eyes were daring her now and she didn't know what to say. None of these people, however many had agreed to marry her. Hermione. Their parents had submitted contracts for a baby. That had disappeared and surely they were expecting to be free this September. It made her feel ill and she wondered if she would stop beeping sick at some point today.
"They must think she is dead though." Her argument was weak and she knew she had made a mistake with using she instead of I in her wording. His eyes flashed and he leaned forward.
"You can sign that contract and the betrothal one, then walk out here. Away from me. Like you want. Or you can spend however long we get together now. It's your choice Sister." His tone was all dare and finality. He had done it. Threatened her with captivity and surely her eventual death or worse. It didn't matter. Her choice was made before she came in here. Harry needed her and she had promised that she would help him. Had plans and ideas. Some done and some she still had to work on. That was it.
"Alright brother dearest. I'll sign. Who is the other victim?" Her tones were as angry as she felt herself able to convey without bursting into frustrated tears. The endless lack of choices that were anything other than loss vs loss was so draining and she felt defeated. She had to lose this battle so she could fight another war. Against him, and probably whomever she signed in her blood that she would marry.