Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything you can recognise from any books or TV series or movies. I do however take liberties with the plots or mentions provided by JKR or other writers. The only profit I'm getting out of it is improving my English.

Title: Secrets & Keepers – Entropy

Rating/Warnings: R/M [AU; Manipulative Dumbledore (therefore not Dumbledore friendly); profanity; canon typical violence; frank discussion of past child abuse (Harry but not only) and of past child abuse of sexual nature (not Harry); not very detailed descriptions of torture (not Harry); Black family feels; identity crisis; pureblood politics; good Slytherins]

Characters and pairings: Harry Potter, Sirius Black, Regulus Black, Severus Snape, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Bathsheda Babbling. As well as Hermione Granger, Arcturus Black, Larry Lawrence (OC) and Josephine Turner (OC). The rest of characters will appear as the story progresses.

All adults are more or less paternal towards Harry or grandfatherly towards Hermione as well as generally friendly or at the very least civil towards each other once they sort out their differences.

References to past and present relationship of sexual nature between Snape and Babbling. Occasional mentions of one sided Sirius/James, not one sided Sirius/OFC (the woman of many names). Contains mentions of Remus/Tonks, eventual allusions to Larry/Josephine and background Arcturus/Melania. No Harry or Hermione pairings because they have a lot on their plates and won't have time for teenage nonsenses for a longer while (at the very least through PoA timeline).

Spoilers: All seven books with occasional, brief references to ground work for HP & CC main plot as well as Secrets & Keepers – Collision Course and Secrets & Keepers – Supernova.

Summary: Harry & Hermione learn that as weird as everything become in the aftermath of learning devastating news is that the life actually goes on. There's a Dark Lord to destroy, a manipulative Headmaster to overthrow, family bonds and new friendships to establish and old ones to maintain. Direct sequel to S&K - Collision Course and S&K - Supernova.

Chapter summary: The Greengrass visit Hermione and Arcturus.

Word count: About 3900.

Author's note: This one is short and to be fair was done ages ago, in April, but switching this one and the last one was messing up with my numerical aesthetic. Sorry for making you wait so long. This one is also a game changing chapter because this meeting will also bear fruits, but a bit further down in line than the last one. On that note guess who will make an appearance in next chapter, provided that I would be able to keep it on tract.

Next chapter will be posted hopefully before the month ends, maybe within a couple of days.

I hope that You will find this story enjoyable. I would be the most grateful for constructive criticism.


Deciding whether or not to trust a person is like deciding whether or not to climb a tree, because you might get a wonderful view from the highest branch, or you might simply get covered in sap, and for this reason many people choose to spend their time alone and indoors, where it is harder to get a splinter.

~Lemony Snicket

Secrets & Keepers – Entropy

Chapter thirteen: Teenage Girls.

Hermione Granger, 13th August 1993, Black Manor, Derbyshire

As she learned over last couple of days, Derbyshire was positively one of the loveliest places on earth, at the very least of those that she visited personally and Black Manor was located in positively one of the most beautiful corners of it. Never much of a walker herself she found herself raising in the morning to truly beautiful view of a lake bathed in rays of raising sun and the sound of chirping birds. That in turn prompted her to having short walks before breakfast to take in the new day.

Not that it started without a reason. The letter from Harry that she received after she and Arcturus returned from Bath instead of calming her down had caused her no small amount of distress.

Harry wrote about his Dursley Aunt and the circumstances that led to him blowing her up. A justified punishment and Hermione was amazed that he managed to last as long as he had seeing that Harry wasn't exactly a paragon of patience at the best of times. But the idea of visiting Hogsmeade with her and Ron had to keep him focused. Naturally he thanked her effusively for the gift and then he went on to describe what happened later.

He went on about discovering the letter from some cousin of his mother and how it led him to a Muggle town of Cokeworth to find the man. But instead of finding some distant uncle of his he found himself caught, by Snape of all people. Who along with Dumbledore ensured that he would stay put with him till the end of the summer.

Hermione knew that all of it was a lie. She knew that Harry was with Sirius and Regulus in the Black Manor in London. Not that there wasn't some truth in there, as apparently Harry discovered that Snape was his mother's school friend. Harry's letter in turn led her to questioning Arcturus meticulously how much of what Harry mentioned could be true.

According to the Daily Prophet Harry was no longer missing, supposedly he was found by an old friend of the family and Dumbledore, supposedly on Harry's behalf, implored the wizarding public to leave him in peace. The only thing that Arcturus could confirm was that Harry was indeed at the Black Manor in London and that the town of Cokeworth appeared to be very meticulously warded and as one of the many wards placed around it alerted to the presence of magical intruders he didn't dare to examine it more closely.

That in turn led them to speculating for quite a long while how likely it was that Snape indeed was involved and to what extent. As there was no love lost between Snape and Sirius it was highly unlikely that Snape was a willing participant. But what Arcturus knew for sure that Harry, Sirius and Regulus weren't the only people present in the London house. One of them was a Black family relation, that much Arcturus could confirm through studying the wards, and after sending around a young peppy elf called, Emma that within an hour confirmed that Mr & Mrs Tonks were still at their family home in the different part of town but their daughter was supposedly vacationing in Italy.

"That would explain Snape," mussed Arcturus. "At the very least Dumbledore buying the story that an alleged Snape found your friend. Dora is a Metamorphmagus and as such can pose as whomever she wants. She had to be truly convincing for the old coot to buy the story."

"And what about real Snape?" asked Hermione sourly.

"I like to think that for Harry's sake Sirius hadn't chosen a drastic route of murder and rather sent your…" he coughed slightly when Hermione glared at him, "on a merry hippogriffs chase for some precious ingredient or a recipe. Likely Regulus's doing."

The identity of the other two guests perplexed them both. Arcturus was uncertain whatever or not they were the Tonkses or, and that had her laughing for quite some time, Sirius's other cousin, Narcissa Malfoy with her son Draco. Either way the London manor hosted seven people and a house-elf and identity of five of them Arcturus was certain of.

Therefore Hermione's answer to Harry was just as truthful as Harry's letter to her. She wrote that she was back to England after a huge row with her parents and that she was spending the remainder of her vacation with her grandfather in his house in Derbyshire. Not that Harry could be able to tell that it was a lie. When it happened her grandparents' deaths wasn't something she felt like writing to Harry or Ron about, not out of distrust though. It was more a matter of understanding the loss, too much and too little respectively. And it was her own grief so it wasn't as if they could do anything to fix it. And later on more important stuff had weighed on her mind.

She was also sufficient in devoting an appropriate amount of space and exclamations when it came to the news about Snape's friendship with Harry's mother and also a bit petty to imply that the ending of thereof could be a lovers spat. That would serve him right for lying.

Not that she herself was truthful on the subject of her parentage as it was still something she tried to wrap her head around. It was hard to imagine Snape as anybody's father, least of all her own. It also wasn't something that should be included in correspondence which most likely will be read by other people aside of Harry.

Her letter, after a couple of rewrites, was dispatched at noon with Hedwig and in so far she hadn't received a reply.

The person who did receive a reply was Arcturus. Apparently Damocles Greengrass managed to secure the support of his family in freeing Sirius and was asking Arcturus whatever or not he could come around to talk, along with a company. Arcturus speculated that company meant his oldest son Hyperion and maybe Hyperion's oldest son as the future head of the Greengrass family. At the very least when he received an answer to his invitation that implored Greengrass to state the number of guests in the visiting party.

Which was why she found herself dressed in the blue dress she found in her wardrobe and her hair coifed in a truly uncomfortable manner standing by the fireplace and waiting for their guests to arrive.

Instructed by Arcturus in proper pureblood etiquette she bowed her head when Damocles Greengrass stepped out of the fire, quickly followed by a man that looked like a much younger version of himself. Hyperion Greengrass, as he introduced himself to both Arcturus and Hermione. He only managed to mention that his nieces and son were following after him before first of them arrived.

And even though she expected the arrival of Daphne Greengrass she found herself slightly unsettled when the blonde-haired Slytherin stepped out of the fireplace. Her presence alone made Hermione feel slightly uneasy but the sight of her dressed in exactly same dress made her swallow quite audibly.

Daphne greeted Arcturus before she turned to Hermione and with a really unsettling grin she said, "Don't worry, we're going to get along just fine."

"That's what I'm worried about," replied Hermione softly.

"Well, I lost quite a lot of weight recently so we can start getting to know each other better," replied Daphne dryly. "My younger sister Astoria," she introduced the little girl that was just turning away from Arcturus, "she's going to Hogwarts this year."

"Pleased to make the acquaintance," replied Hermione nervously as she extended her hand to the little girl.

Who instead of accepting it hugged Hermione tightly.

Hermione stared at Daphne over Astoria's head and blinked.

"Well, she arrived with her mind set," said Daphne simply just as another girl, and one that Hermione recognised stepped towards them. "My cousin, Tracey Davies."

Tracey Davies was as blonde and as curly haired as the Greengrass girls but unlike them she had brown eyes instead of blue ones. She was also slightly taller than Daphne. And unlike the Greengrasses she was dressed very differently. Not that the turquoise dress didn't suit her because it did, but Hermione spent enough time in Muggle shops this summer to know that it was something very popular in Muggle world.

Hermione's eyebrows climbed to her hairline on their own volition. In return Tracey only smirked while Hyperion's oldest son, Alexander introduced himself, first to Arcturus and then to Hermione.

"Why don't you entertain our guests?" suggested Arcturus. "I'm sure that you have a lot to talk about."

"As are you," replied Hermione, trying her best to not glare at Arcturus's retreating back before he disappeared behind the closed door.

"Relative of yours?" asked Daphne curiously.

"Self-proclaimed godgrandfather," replied Hermione briskly before she realised what Daphne said. "Wait? You…"

"Grandpa informed us of your current status," replied Daphne. "Hence Tracey," she gestured towards the other girl. "She claimed that it would put you at ease."

"Yes, about that," said Hermione. "It's not very…"

"Pureblood?" finished Tracey dryly. "I'm not very pureblood myself but I had a benefit of a very dedicated older brother that benefited from being raised by his Muggleborn aunt when my grandmother lost her marbles when she discovered what kind of scumbag our mutual father is. And yes, he first knocked up my grandmother and a couple of decades later he knocked up her barely legal daughter from a different union. Luckily he's dead."

"What about Tobias?" Astoria pipped up.

"He's been dead for a couple of decades and yeah, that scumbag quite effectively seduced my great-grandmother too, prior to her marriage from which my grandmother came from," added Tracey with a grimace. "And my grandaunt, you also forgot about Theodore. He was one the reason why grandaunt got Tommy instead of the Davieses, Merlin only knows how he would have turned up if he was raised by his relatives."

"Well, he isn't exactly interested in fairer sex and quite monogamous on that," added Daphne with a smirk. "Hence the cousin angle, quite a lot of people believe that Tracey is Tommy's daughter rather than sister and with Uncle Tommy and Uncle Percy spending quite a lot of time abroad we don't disabuse people from that notion."

"Why are you telling me that?" asked Hermione cautiously.

"Because we're going to get to know each other better," said Daphne as she approached Hermione and wrapped her right arm around her.

"And Pansy won't mind?" asked Hermione pointedly.

"I'm sure that she will but that isn't exactly my problem anymore," replied Daphne. "Soon enough we aren't going to be related through marriage so she can mind all she cares but I'm thoroughly done with her."

"I never cared for her in the first place," added Tracey with a shrug. "And neither she cared about me so I doubt that she will notice the difference. Now, be a good girl and tell us how it started."

It spoke to Tracey's talent in persuasion that before the day ended Hermione admitted to almost everything she learned, aside of being Snape's daughter. It wasn't something she was ready to admit to her friends let alone to the girls she at best ignored before the summer had started.

Not that she hadn't found herself liking them all in the end. Tracey was very charismatic girl, quick-witted and absurdly funny with her constant Muggle references that quickly put Hermione at ease. Some of her references Daphne, the pureblood, understood quite readily even though it was stuff that was a couple years old. Like Tracey she was quick-witted and on top of that quite well oriented in pureblood genealogy. Astoria was the quietest of them, listening intently to what they all had been saying, occasionally pipping up with a question or suggestion on her own.

And although they managed to come up with a quite long list of suspects for Miranda's parentage, which was what interested Hermione the most it was hard to narrow it down to any particular family. The general consensus which Daphne and Tracey reached was that Hermione's mother had to be at Hogwarts with Miranda, possibly quite close and likely no further than three years ahead or below Miranda. Quite likely below, considering the secrecy.

She also learned from them that Hogwarts kept yearbook albums and depending from year and student responsible for maintain them the photographs in the albums were either few and far between or quite filled with them. Luckily for Hermione, because Daphne once went through them to find something on Uncle Percy the years during which Miranda was at Hogwarts belonged to the quite well documented ones.

Not that the visit had ended with that. Once they discussed Miranda's mystery from every approachable angle the discussion drifted to more down to earth subjects, like elective subjects. And Hermione found herself quite put out when she discovered that McGonagall failed to mention something that was called exemption month during which a student could drop out of elective classes if they decided that the subject or the teacher didn't suit them. Not that she planned to drop out of them.

"You will be wasting your time on Muggle Studies," commented Tracey when Hermione admitted what she was going to take. "I already talked with Professor Burbage about it, she's great but the curriculum she uses is heavily outdated and the bane of her existence. The only good thing about it is that she organises driving lessons for students that have gotten at least Exceed Expectations on their OWLs. If you ask her she will even supply you with a list of everything that comes up during the OWLs and NEWTs and she makes no problems with putting such students on examination roster."

"And she can't change it?" asked Hermione sceptically.

"She's been trying for quite a while," added Daphne. "But only the board of governors can propose drastic changes to the curriculum and considering that the vote needs to be unanimous…" she grimaced.

"What about Divination?" asked Hermione. "Why aren't you taking it?"

"Because it's a load of bollocks," snorted Tracey. "You see, Divination requires certain level of open-mindedness to the possibility that everything is a sign of something. True talent in that field is rare and cannot be taught. Sure there are certain aspects of Divination that should be taught to everyone…"

"But it's another thing which many years ago one of the board of governors botched up," added Daphne. "Like Occlumency and Legilimency, technically both are part of Advanced Divination even though they technically belong to Ancient Studies which from standard elective subject had been cut down to elective subject for advanced students."

"Not that majority of advanced students need that," commented Tracey. "Most purebloods by the time they're tethering on the edge of legal maturity are capable of maintaining minimal levels of Occlumency. As a precaution against intrusion."

"Whose?" asked Hermione curiously.

"People interested in finding out what you're up to," suggested Daphne. "Authority figures mostly. Luckily not all of them all well-versed in Legilimency but if you pull something truly outrageous and find yourself staring into Headmaster's or Snape's eyes you're in deep trouble."

"Speaking of outrageous," pipped up Astoria. "Is it true that you turned yourself into a cat?"

"Well…" started Hermione.

Somehow telling that tale came easily and from a safe distance it was quite amusing, especially the part of outwaiting Snape which had the other three snickering.

"You've got some balls, brass ones," admitted Tracey. "Steal from Snape, brew a Polyjuice under his nose…" she snickered.

"I'm still baffled by the idea that you considered Malfoy as the best source of information," commented Daphne. "He's just as self-centred as Pansy, which suits them quite well, as they're future Mr and Mrs Malfoy, unless Narcissa won't drown both her husband and Pansy's father in a fountain or something."

"Unlikely to happen," quipped Tracey. "From what I heard the years of her marriage cowed her considerably and even though she introduces Pansy as if she was constantly sucking on a lemon the only thing she would dare to do would be trying to discourage Draco from settling down too fast."

"And who would have been the best source of information?" Hermione interjected.

"Literally any other Slytherin, especially those with families in other houses," Daphne supplied. "They would be most willing to speculate the nature of the monster. Some form of a snake had always been a general consensus. The question was whatever or not it was magically altered by Slytherin himself or one of his heirs."

"And the basilisk?" offered Hermione.

"Was one of the contenders early on, amongst those who are in Slytherin for their ambition and not to carry on the family tradition. But because no one died some other sneak freak had become a quick contender of that notion," explained Tracey.

"Isn't it a good thing that no one died?" supplied Hermione.

"It's an anomaly that allowed it to slither around the castle for the rest of the school," pointed out Tracey.

"Well, the last time someone did die the school was checked thoroughly and in so far they hadn't found anything but a third year Gryffindor with a giant spider for a pet," Hermione in turn pointed out.

"Which is bloody ridiculous if you ask me," snorted Daphne. "According to old legends Slytherin lost his little sister to some venomous spider. Which is why the entire Slytherin quarters, from the entrance to the farthest corner of it are warded against any living spiders. Believe me, I've seen people try to bring one inside, if they don't flee immediately they suffer some sort of attack and die shortly after."

"It isn't mentioned in Hogwarts: A History," muttered Hermione.

"Hardly anything important is," said Tracey. "House-elves for example. Or living accommodations. Do you know that Slytherin dormitories consist from separate rooms?"

"No," replied Hermione with a frown. "Why?"

"Supposedly Slytherin designed them that way to give his students some luxury. Granted his idea of luxury greatly varies from luxury nowadays but it still is better than sharing your bedroom with other people," explained Daphne. "I wouldn't be able to stand sharing bedroom with Pansy and I cannot imagine how you can stand sharing one with Brown. She's…"

"Childish?" supplied Hermione.

"I was going to say infantile but I like that bluntness better," replied Daphne. "No idea why the Patil twins are sticking around that one."

"Well, that's a seer in the making," said Tracey and she coughed. "Her mother was a wannabe seer, luckily for her she married well. I strongly suggested developing a fondness to pictures of big black dogs, and turning them her way."

"Why?" asked Hermione curiously.

"Black dogs are often seen as death omens," Astoria pointed out.

"But if they actually had been they wouldn't be quite popular watchdogs," added Daphne.

"Arcturus breeds Newfoundlands," supplied Hermione. "Do you want to go and check them out?"

"Do they have puppies?" asked Astoria eagerly.

They did and by the time the Greengrasses departed, with a promise to return tomorrow in the girls case, Astoria did so with about six months old puppy that promptly got named Cocoa Bean. What fascinated Hermione was Hyperion's reaction to it and Astoria's pleading eyes when she asked if she could keep it if Arcturus agreed. Hyperion only looked at Arcturus who simply nodded.

"Does she know that she isn't allowed to bring him to Hogwarts?" asked Hermione during dinner.

"Hyperion is a member of the board of governors and while technically students are only allowed one pet between cats, owls and toads hardly anyone abides that rule. McGonagall long stopped to put a fight against it. She only keeps it down so Hogwarts isn't overrun with pets that students cannot take responsibility for. And in Astoria's case she's likely to get an exemption," said Arcturus pensively.

"On the grounds of her uncle being a governor?" asked Hermione pointedly.

"No, on the grounds of requiring a…" he frowned for a moment before he added, "you would have called it a service dog but wizards prefer the term familiar. Astoria suffers from a malediction and that alone is a ground for exemption to keep whichever pet she wants as long as she proves that she can take care of it. That pup is a good choice for one, he would have been one lazy service dog for sight-impaired but Bonnie, she's the one responsible for the kennel, has found her niche in service dogs for people suffering from other chronic diseases. They usually end up with people suffering from epilepsy and I convinced a couple of old lonely farts with diabetes to keep one."

"That's very thoughtful of you," observed Hermione.

"Is it?" asked Arcturus with a grimace. "They always brought a good profit, especially from families with children. Mostly Muggle ones, they aren't the ones that bother with that death omen nonsense. They bring up a smile of people's faces, especially the pups."

"But you don't keep them inside the manor," commented Hermione.

"Not anymore," admitted Arcturus. "Not out of malice, mind you, I socialise with them as much as the time allows me but I hadn't truly found my dog amongst them ever since my last one passed away."

"Maybe you're too afraid to lose another," supplied Hermione.

"Maybe," agreed Arcturus. "Would you terribly mind deserting your company after dinner? There are a couple of letters which I need to write."

"Okay," agreed Hermione. "How did the meeting go by the way?"

"Better than I expected," replied Arcturus with a small smile. "Not that Hyperion or Damocles are slouches, mind you, but Alex Greengrass…" he hummed. "One day that lad will either become Chief Warlock of Wizengamot or the next Minister of Magic."

"That good?" asked Hermione. "Can you get in details?"

"As soon as I will start teaching you Occlumency," replied Arcturus. "I hate the idea of Albus Dumbledore poking around your mind. Your company will arrive after lunch. Why don't we met after breakfast tomorrow in my study?"

"I'm sure that I can find a couple of hours in my social calendar," replied Hermione dryly. "Should I bring anything?"

TBC


Next: Sirius decides what to do with Lily's proposition.