Chapter 4

The next day Hermione washed up and got dressed in fresh robes that were left on the stand near her bed. She suspected Kreacher left them there for her. She was ready to leave as she heard someone knock on the door. She walked over and opened them to see Regulus looking impeccable.

"Good morning Hermione"

"Good morning Regulus" She smiled.

"Ready for breakfast?"

"As ready as I will ever be"

"Excellent. Follow me"

They walked down the stairs together. Regulus seemed to be in a good mood, and that made her feel better. She was worried meeting the Lord and Lady Black, but they turned out not so bad. Maybe her being from the future really did change a lot? If anything, it was all Regulus seemed to care about.

"Last night I went to our library and looked through the books on time travel, I haven't found much yet but in one of them, there was an entry from a journal from 1753, by a wizard nicknamed Dan. He mentioned that the timeline is continuous so Dumbledore got it almost right. Dan said the timeline cannot be changed, but anything significant could have an impact on the future events. Essentially, the event will still happen and it will still lead to the same thing it led to originally, but the trigger might be altered. For example, a different person might get hurt, but whatever led to that person getting hurt and what followed after, will still happen."

"So I can't change the future but I might alter it"

"Exactly. But these are all just theories, so we must be careful either way. There was another book that I found and the author was saying how the continuity of the timeline cannot remain the same if we move around it openly, it's like potions, if you add an ingredient too early the outcome might be completely different, or if you add a different ingredient you will end up with a different potion entirely, it might even explode…"

Regulus looked fully captivated, usually it was her who was the first one to grab a book and provide the key pieces of knowledge, so it was refreshing seeing him so invested in her cause. He went on about different theories that argue against what Dumbledore claimed the day before, but Hermione couldn't help but admire his persistence and passion about the subject.

"…. Besides, for all we know he could have just said it to get you to tell him about the future."

"You're not wrong Regulus, but if you think about the rule of probability in the space of time, then by being here I could be creating multiple alternative universes, multiple timelines across one that I moved on to get here. And if that's the case how do I get back to where I came from without ending up in some other universe that was created when I altered the original timeline"

"To work that out we must work out how you got here in the first place. It's very likely that we're missing something big. But I think it's quite impossible to send you back to the exact moment you came from"

"But when I was using the time tuner this year I would always return back into the same spot at the exact same time I left"

"But that was hours, this time you're 19 years back in the future. If we do it that way, by the time you return to that moment you will be 33 years old. I think we will need to take a look in the restricted section of Hogwarts's library after the summer is over, assuming we will remain unsuccessful until then"

Hermione and Regulus entered the dining hall and went to sit down on the two empty spaces on the side of the table. Walburga and Orion sat on the ends of the table, and Sirius was not present.

"Good morning Mr and Mrs Black" Hermione said as soon as they walked in.

"Mother, Father, I trust you slept well" Regulus added reaching for butter.

Sitting next to each other, both were deep in thought about the time travel they have just been discussing.

"Biscuit?" Regulus asked holding a plate with biscuits in front of her.

"One please" Hermione replied busy pouring the tea in their tea cups. Regulus put two biscuits on her plate and two on his, and the third one he put in his mouth.

Orion observed them with mirth in their eyes. Walburga seemingly payed them no attention, but to her husband it was clear she was scheming something.

Regulus was always very restrained and kept to himself, especially after Sirius has gone to Hogwarts. Seeing him so energetic this early in the morning and interacting with a 'friend' was invigorating. Of course, this was outside of Orion's personal feelings about the girl and her status. He suspected his wife, now sober and composed in the morning, was up to something. Living was Walburga was like constantly playing a game of chess. Once you lose your guard, you lose the game. He was almost worried for his son and Miss Granger. But that's how Regulus was when he focused on something. And with a clever partner to conspire with like Hermione Granger, he forgot his surroundings. And underestimated his cunning mother.

"Miss Granger, allow me to welcome you again. We didn't get to talk properly yesterday" Walburga said with a pleasant smile. Orion didn't like that smile.

"So, if I remember correctly, you came here from 1994?" She made casual conversation at the breakfast, and that alarmed Regulus, because his mother never made casual conversation unless she had something to gain from it.

"That's correct Mrs Black"

"And in your time, where do you live?"

"I was born and grew up in Wiltshire. I stay at Hogwarts throughout the year through."

"I see, I must apologise for what you saw yesterday, you must have been startled. Surely your family doesn't argue this much and in front of guests?"

"Not at all Mrs Black. But, I wish my family argued, instead they all keep to their rooms in different wings of the house and avoid each other for weeks" as soon as it left her mouth, Hermione felt something was wrong. She would never openly say something like this about her family in such casual manner, and to Walburga Black of all people.

"How come?" Mrs. Black acquired further.

"My father, uncle and aunt died in an accident when I was 8 years old. After their deaths, my cousin Niklaus and I have been raised by my great aunt Amelia. My grandfather immersed himself with work to distract himself from the loss of his family, and my mother fell ill, she locked herself away for months and hasn't been the same since. There is an empty gap none of us know how to fill" She revealed feeling the panic in her stomach. She looked at Regulus who looked as confused as she felt. Was there something in the tea?

"Mother I think we should talk about my grades. I am the best in the entire year, surely you must be proud?" Regulus tried to distract his mother with anything but she ignored him and stayed focused on Hermione.

"Oh that is truly terrible! Do tell, what is the name of your grandfather? Maybe we are acquainted with him in this time." Dreadful woman knew Hermione's blood status was wishy washy.

"Claudius Greenfell" Dread, fear and panic invaded Hermione's entire existence the moment the words left her mouth. There was definitely something in the tea. She felt Regulus's eyes on her. She felt unsure, would Regulus refuse to help her now? Would he want something in return? She dared not wonder how much would Walburga get out of her. The sweet irony would have her disowned instead for revealing family business to Blacks.

"I have never heard of him I'm afraid, is he not a wizard?"

"He is a druid like the rest of my family. You would not have heard of our family; we keep away from the Wizarding World. I am the first one to inherit full magical powers in over one hundred years." Did she spike the tea with Vartaserum?

"Is that so?"

"Mother!" Regulus shouted.

"Regulus you brought home one very interesting witch. I suspected she was a mudblood from her mediocre muggle surname you introduced her with, and the way you all acted yesterday, you couldn't have been any more obvious, I'm very disappointed Regulus, Orion. But few things didn't make sense. I could not understand what could have been the reason for my younger son whom I trusted to make this house proud, to bring a mudblood home. But it turns out she's no mudblood.

I slipped some veritaserum in your tea, but I must admit I did not expect this." Walburga laughed bitterly. Orion kept quiet, fascinated with the girl. He was glad she turned out to be of magical descent. She was way too clever and too well-mannered to be a mudblood.

"Mrs Black, my family's origins are far from ideal and one look in my family tree records makes this very easily traceable. If the nature of my family was to become public, it could become a problem, our existence alone rings a question to the statue of secrecy. We could become a threat to the Ministry of Magic. I assure you we want no part in this war, in fact my family is well established as one of the oldest muggle families in Britain, we belong to the muggle world even more so than this one"

"You can count on our silence; My husband won't say a word and I will take it to my grave, you have my word Miss Greenfell. It isn't a common knowledge even among our family but the Noble House of Black is of druidic descent as well."

"What? I never knew that" Regulus was shook. He was sure he knew everything there was to know about his family.

"Of course not, you won't find that particular information in the family books easily. It's the most well-kept family secret and for a very good reason. Your brother will never know it and you, son must make sure you guard it with your life. Having Druidic blood is as much of a gift as it is a curse. If the public finds out, we will be ruined, so I understand completely the need for secrecy. However, the one thing I cannot comprehend, Miss Greenfell, is why would you go around claiming to be a mudblood, of all things."

"Because I cannot claim to be anything else. My family is cursed. Merlin made sure full magical powers is a rare lottery for us and until we work out how to break the curse, until we are strong enough we must stay away."

"Well, you are welcome to take a look in our library. I am ready to overlook you family's peculiar situation since you can't get any purer than the Druidic blood. We will also keep your secret. In return, you must keep quiet about what you have learnt about our family matters, and after you return to your own time, you must ensure our bloodline continues." Walburga offered, and Hermione agreed. They made an unbreakable vow. A binding promise that would later come to haunt Hermione for years to come.

"Let's eat" Walburga ordered with a real smile that reminded Hermione so much of the boy who sat next to her. Walburga never asked Regulus why did he really bring Hermione to their house. It's not normal to bring a strange girl home the way he did, she knew her son better than to believe it was only due to her time travel. But maybe she didn't want to know.

"I can't believe it! I hoped for so long that Druids were still out there, alive, practicing their magic and doing amazing things with it, oh how I dreamed of meeting one! How ridiculous that I unknowingly brought one home, and I would never know I did if it wasn't for mother"

"Yes, that was very cunning of her" Hermione said as she turned a page of a book she was reading.

She sat on a sofa in a drawing room that was connected to the library. Regulus was pacing in front of her, holding a book of his own, but instead of reading it, he was venting. It was quite to see him like that. Ever since she met him, he was composed and acted as if moving his arm at the wrong angle was undignified, like saying or doing anything outside the script of pureblood manners was illegal.

"But what's even more ridiculous is the fact that we are of Druidic decent and I never knew! My mother knew I was interested in druids, she gave me books to read about them ever since I was a little boy, but she never said a word"

"Mhm, you must feel betrayed"

"And even in those books, the way the wizards speak of Druids! It's atrocious! They say Druids were emotionless, cruel and barbaric. They say they were the most unnatural, monstrous clan of wizards. They say Merlin became so powerful because he stole their magic"

"That's funny"

"What is?"

"Well, Merlin didn't steal the magic; he stole our written records of spells and rituals."

"You must know a lot about this. Was Merlin a druid too? I always suspected he could have been one." Regulus stopped pacing and sat down next to her. She closed her book and twisted to the side to face him. He was looking at her with curiosity burning in his eyes.

Was it safe to tell him? If it came to the worst, she could always kill him. Not that she condoned such practices but if it came to her family safety, she wouldn't even blink.

She hated she felt like this, but it couldn't be helped. Family first, family second. Going against one's upbringing was not easy.

"No, he was a warlock and a Dragon Lord"

"A Dragon Lord? I thought they were just a legend"

"No, they were very real until the Purge. King Uther killed them all off, apart from one who escaped, Merlin's father Balinor."

"So Merlin was the last one?"

"From what I heard from my grandfather, Merlin is portrayed completely wrong by wizards. He was very powerful, but he was young and made a lot of mistakes. To druids, he was the Emrys of prophecies. Back then magic was outlawed, Merlin was supposed to change that, and he did. Druids looked up to him you know"

"So what happened"

Hermione took a deep breath. "Morgana did. From what I read from our oldest books, Merlin and King Arthur filled the prophecy, magic users were no longer persecuted and the kingdoms of Albion were united. Everything went downhill after Arthur was killed.

Merlin looked past Morgana orchestrating Arthur's death, but he was quite upset about her going after his wife and sons. Morgana wasn't satisfied, she went after Uther's followers and created a hit list of magic prosecutors' families so she could kill them in revenge. The problem was, since the Albion united they were under Queen Guinevere and her sons' protection.

Merlin could not find the list before Morgana and her followers began their own purge. They killed quite a lot of families before Merlin put an end to it. As a punishment, he put Morgana under a curse that would restrict her use of magic and considerably decrease the inheritance of magical ability in her line, to prevent her descendants from continuing her mission against those who were guilty of magical users' deaths in the past.

He then confiscated most of the old magic books and dark artefacts from the druids and hid them away in a secret library where they were safe from Morgana and her followers. But he couldn't predict what came next.

The fall of Morgana made many Lords feel confident to go against her and take over the vast lands that belonged to her after in rage from losing her powers, she murdered Arthur's remaining family. Those Lords made the people rise in fear of magic yet again and hunt down the magic users.

Everyone and everything that was connected to the old magic went into hiding, that's how Druids lost their lands, their forests and that's how the old magic was gradually forgotten over the years. The current magic is a much-softened version of what was once possible and all of this is down to our family. The Pendragons fought with each other for decades and the effect of that we still see today. A mindless slaughter of innocent magic users over a ridiculous notion from 900 years ago. That's the truth about your war."

"You're Morgana's descendant?"

"Yes"

"Do you still have that list?"

"I have never seen it, but I will be damned if my Grandfather Claudius doesn't have it well guarded deep in one of our oldest vaults"

"But what happened to all the magic books Merlin took?"

"Nobody knows. My family has been looking for Merlin's library for centuries. That library is the key to bringing old magic back and to getting rid of the curse he placed on us."

"Your family… Wouldn't they know how to send you back home?"

"I'm not sure"

"Maybe we could visit them?"

Hermione looked away. "Well I was planning on that actually. I can't stay here for the whole summer, it's not safe for any of us. Would you come with me? For helping me return home, I will let you meet more Druids so you can see they're actually not that great"

"Of course I want to go!" His enthusiasm made her smile. Regulus noticed and smirked slightly. They returned to their research in silence.

Regulus for the first time in his life couldn't focus on a book. The girl sitting across from him raised a lot of questions he could not answer. His entire world changed just like that, all his beliefs were wrapped in an uncertainty Hermione brought into his life. She wa…

"If you keep staring at me with such intensity Regulus, you will soon burn a hole out in my forehead" Hermione cut into him trail of thoughts, making him noticed his eyes were fixated on her.

"Do you want to bring the old magic back?" He asked randomly. He could see from her subtle yet obvious reaction that she didn't expect such question.

"No." She answered after a moment. "It's much too dangerous. It's a one thing my family and I do not agree on. Druids might not be as diabolical as wizards make them out to be, but it can be quite savage. Old magic makes unforgivable curses look like petty party tricks. There is no way I want to dig it up and give it to the wizards. They would have no idea how to control it"

"I think you're wrong. I think if I had the choice I would do everything in my power to recover the valuable knowledge we lost. Even if it would take hundreds of years, I'm sure wizards would one day learn to use it. Just because something seems difficult, doesn't mean we should give up on it"

"It's not that easy. It could affect the outcome of the war, or worse, we could all end up fighting something we can't win with"

"Surely not us"

"Just because you have some druid blood in you doesn't make you any better"

"Oh but it does Hermione, it makes me feel much better"

"And what's the use if you know nothing of the old magic and traditions? Your mother said you barely have couple of books left, hidden away like a treasure you can never set your eyes upon"

"You can teach me"

"I don't want to. If I had to choose a side I wouldn't pick yours. Voldemort, the wizard you so admire is a mad man; and death eaters are foolish to follow him blindly. Why should I teach you, an enemy, about something so dangerous?"

"Some of us don't have a choice Hermione"