"Well fuck, Princess. I don't think this is where we meant to land." Hermione shot a glare at Draco that promised retribution, as soon as they got out of the mess they'd landed themselves in this time. "Think this was Potters doing?" He winced the moment the question was out of his mouth as pain flashed across her face. "Of course it was." she replied softly, allowing him to wrap her in his arms as both of them ignored the wands pointed their way.
"I've never met them!" a voice protested loudly behind her, "This isn't my fault!"
"I don't believe it was our doing either." Another voice followed, reminding Draco viscerally of his mother.
Hermione unwound herself from Draco, turning slowly to face the group of people who were staring at them with a mix of curiosity, fear and hostility.
"Perhaps we should allow them to explain." Minerva ventured looking over the two people standing in front of them. They were filthy, emaciated and haunted looking. Their clothes were tattered enough to indicate that they'd been worn for some time and she didn't want to imagine how long it would take the girl to comb through the matted mess on her head. Neither of them had moved for their wands but she noticed the twitch of their fingers that suggested they'd have them in hand in seconds if needed and the wary way they watched the room, their sides pressed tightly against each other. Neither of them looked older than the students who had just graduated but she knew she hadn't seen these two before in her life.
"And how do we know they're telling the truth?" Moody growled.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Lets not pretend you don't have veritaserum on hand, Alastor."
Moody flinched "And just how do you know who I am?" He demanded, his posture immediately defensive as another shocked ripple flowed through the room.
Hermione shot a look at Draco, communicating something silently that had Minerva intrigued. Before she could open her mouth to redirect, Moody shot a hex at them. The effect was instantaneous. Minerva watched in horrified fascination as the children, the bedraggled, starved looking children immediately morphed into soldiers, their faces shutting down completely as their stances changed and the girl fired up a shield charm before she could blink, the boy shooting off an incarcerous with the girl following up with an expelliarmus and the boy stunning the crotchety Auror to end the threat. Neither relaxed even with Moody incapacitated. She knew without asking that these children had fought before. And that thought made her heart sore. No child should ever look like that.
"I think that perhaps we should all lower our wands." Albus suggested mildly, his eyes roaming over the interlopers with a gleam Minerva wasn't sure she liked, his mind clearly turning over possibilities. Neither of the children moved, their body's screaming distrust as they pressed themselves closer together and held their wands steady.
"I think not." The boy answered coldly. "Its been a bit of rough few years and I'd hate to have survived this long to be taken out by one of your little birds who couldn't be bothered to wait on a fucking explanation."
"To be fair, you did just appear in a building that is secret kept." Dumbledore answered mildly. "And no one appears to have any idea who you are. It's…rather suspicious, wouldn't you say?"
"All the more reason not to fucking kill us and allow us to give you answers, wouldn't you say?" the girl growled mockingly. "Christ, no wonder it turned into such a fucking shit show. How the fuck did anyone get any information if no one actually bothered to fucking ask?"
The boy snorted, "That year in a tent did wonderful things for your vocabulary, Princess."
"Fuck off, Ferret." she growled. "Remind me why I brought you along?"
"Because I was the only one left?" he suggested with a smirk that belied the grief that showed on his face and the flash of devastation on hers.
"Ah. Yes I suppose that would do it." She replied, rolling her eyes.
"If we could administer the vertiuserum now." Dumbledore interjected.
"Prove that that's what it is." The girl's chin tilted, her hard eyes landing on the man she blamed for all of this. He was momentarily taken aback by the loathing he saw on her face, he had never seen this girl before and had no idea what she thought he had done. Perhaps it would be wise to be circumspect with his questioning while they were under veritaserum, just in case. He knew some of the decisions he had made, while necessary, would not be popular with the Order and he needed their compliance. Ignoring the murmurs of discontent from the assembled group he placed a drop on his tongue.
"Your full name." the boy bit out.
"Albus Percival Wulfic Brian Dumbledore"
"How long were you and Grindelwald lovers?" the girl stared him down, even as he fought the compulsion. Around him several people were murmuring in clear surprise .
"A little over a month," he gasped.
"Apparently it really is veritaserum." the girl quipped, ignoring the boy shaking his head at her with exasperated fondness and the shocked faces of Dumbledore's chosen who were struggling to process the bomb she'd just forced Albus to drop.
"One drop then," Minerva announced, taking the vial from a seething Albus and moving towards the children once she had regathered her wits. They watched her warily but didn't move for their wands, once she was in touching distance the girl dropped her shield and allowed Minerva to administer the potion.
"Your full names."
"Hermione Jean Potter."
"Draco Lucius Malfoy."
There was a hiss around the room when Draco finished that overrode the sheer shock of hearing Hermione's name. Three people in particular watched her more closely, all of them searching for some sort of resemblance, even if none of them were sure where on Earth she could have come from.
"Your date of birth." Minerva prompted, her eyes on Hermione first.
"Nineteenth of September 1979."
"Fifth of June 1980"
The entire room went still and silent.
"Why are you here?"
"Specifically here?" the girl clarified, struggling against the potions compulsion at Minerva's nod she continued, "We don't actually know. We think Harry might have had something to do with our location."
"And in this….year?"
"We intend to defeat Tom Riddle before he decimates our world."
She nodded as if that made any sense, like she knew who this Harry was, like it was acceptable for children to be planning to end this war, before she administered the antidote.
"What actually is the date?" the boy…Draco…asked looking around the room at the stunned faces of the Order.
"Fifteenth of June 1979."
"Ah. Later than we intended." Hermione mused.
"But still in enough time for the cave." Draco murmured back.
"But still in enough time for the cave." she agreed, ignoring the confused looks around them.
"Are you….do you expect us to believe this?" A man called from the back. Hermione squinted.
"Mr….Dodge?" she ventured.
"How the blazes did you guess that girl?"
"Because I've had a photo of the first order memorised since my fifth year and…well I met you once. A few years ago. You should moisturise, you know. It'll help your skin, stop you looking quite so much like a shar pei. You do not age well."
Draco closed his eyes as if praying for patience. "Weasley did your manners no favours, Princess." he groaned.
"Starving and being hunted did my manners no favours." she bit back. "This lot fucked it all up spectacularly, forgive me if I'm a little bitchy."
"A little bitchy," he muttered disbelievingly. "We want them on our side Princess, you could at least try to help with that."
"Do we?"
"And why would you not, young lady!" The voice that had reminded Draco of Narcissa rejoined the conversation. His eyes landed on a woman who was quite clearly a Black although he had no idea what one; she looked startlingly like his Aunt Andromeda. Her face was pale as she focused on Hermione.
"Did you not hear me mention that you lot fucked it up?" Hermione replied pointedly, refusing to back down. "Do you think we look like this for fun? I've been dealing with this fucking war since I was twelve, so forgive me if I wonder if perhaps we're best just figuring shit out on our own, after all that was his fucking brilliant plan in our time." she gestured briefly at Albus who looked momentarily surprised which only seemed to increase her vitriol. "Don't bother with that look you meddling old coot, you sent us off to fucking die. An entire generation of fucking children fighting a fucking adults war. It wasn't any of you starving in a fucking tent, being hunted by Death Eaters, on a fucking mission from the Great and Wise Albus Dumbledore to find little bits of a madman's soul with nothing more than a fucking children's book, a snitch and a contraption he invented that puts out the fucking lights to help us! Most of you wont live to see the end of what we called the first fucking war. And for the few that have the dubious honour of managing that, you sure as fuck don't survive the second."
The room regarded her with horror as even Draco winced at her bluntness. It answered the question as to whether she was still angry at the Headmaster he supposed. Not that he could blame her. The man had destroyed their lives.
"Pieces of a madman's soul?" The man sat next to the woman from earlier spoke. He looked like Harry Hermione briefly mused. Or he looked like Harry if Harry had gotten a chance to grow up. It was hard to ignore how much that hurt.
"Horcruxes. The madman has….five I think in this time." She looked at Draco briefly for confirmation.
"How the fuck does a Malfoy come to be on our side of the war?" A boy spat, glaring at them both. Hermione's eyes widened as she took him in, tears appearing against her will.
"Padfoot." she whispered, her hand curving into a fist on her chest, pressing into it as if trying to alleviate a physical pain. The boy stared back at her, his jaw dropping.
"Where did you hear that?"
Draco glared at him over the top of her head, pulling her tighter into his side as she began sobbing. "From you you fucking idiot. From the future remember? " he growled before whispering into Hermione's hair, "Hush now Princess, you can't fall apart just yet. You can't. Where's that Gryffindor stubbornness you're so famous for? If Bella couldnt break you this won't." He felt her nod against him but refused to let her go.
"Bella? My cousin Bella?" Sirius asked, clear horror on his face.
Hermione flinched, "We were…caught. Bella was part of the welcome party." She murmured.
Several people in the room looked uncomfortable at that announcement.
"I think that's enough." Minerva finally gained control of her voice. "We will obviously need some answers and I do hope that you'll allow us to help you but in the meantime, both of you look like you could use a bath and a hot meal. Dorea?"
The woman who looked like Andromeda looked momentarily startled, "Of course. Come with me." Draco and Hermione cautiously followed the woman from the room, wincing at the noise that erupted behind them. "Are you my granddaughter?" the woman asked suddenly, her eyes searching Hermione's face as if looking for some familial resemblance.
"No." she replied softly. "Or….maybe but not exactly?"
Draco rolled his eyes, "Want to be more specific, Princess? I'd expect an answer like that from Lovegood, not you." Hermione snorted before she tensed again, her eyes seeing the pale skin and unseeing blue eyes of the friend she had not yet had time to mourn. "Fuck, sorry Princess." Draco murmured, dropping a kiss onto her head. "It won't happen this time, I promise. We won't let it."
She nodded blankly, ignoring the tears as Dorea looked on horrified, wondering what these children had seen. And how on Earth they were going to recover from it.
"Your grandson…adopted me. We'd been like siblings for years." Hermione whispered eventually, "But when we had no family left…we needed a tangible connection."
"No family?" Dorea asked, horrified. Hermone shook her head, the tears falling faster now, unable to verbalise the horrors she knew they were going to have to explain later. "You have family now." the woman replied fiercely, pulling her into a tight hug, making her yelp. "You're a Potter. My grandson viewed you as family and that makes you my granddaughter and I won't hear another word about it, are we clear?"
Giving into the nightmares of the last year and her desperate need to feel like someone, anyone, was actually looking after them, Hermione sunk into the woman and sobbed.
Inside the drawing room of Potter Manor, chaos erupted. Ignoring it, a dark haired boy found the older version of himself and moved towards him.
"Dad?" At his fathers questioning look James continued, "She said she was a Potter."
Charlus hummed, "Which is precisely why your mother has gone with them."
James nodded slowly. "Do…do you think she's my daughter? She didn't act like she knew me…or you and mum but she knew Sirius."
Sirius moved to stand beside him. "What the fuck happened to them? She…she knew me."
"I think we got that." Another voice commented wryly from beside him.
"No but Moony…she…fuck I was dead wasn't I?" he asked in horror as his mind processed the way the girl had looked at him before she'd begun crying.
"I got the impression we were all dead." Remus replied softly. "Do you think what she said about Dumbledore was true?"
Charlus sighed, eyeing his boys. "Yes." he admitted reluctantly, the look on the girl's face as she had stared down the Headmaster had unnerved him. Then again given their appearance he wasn't surprised at her hostility. His eyes drifted over to where Albus was fending off questions from various unimpressed members, all of them clearly questioning, pulling apart what little the teenagers had said, and probably more likely, the way in which it had been said. Charlus was sure that no one had spoken to Albus like that in his life. It was going to be a long night.
"What did I miss?" a bright voice asked as Lily wrapped her arms around James from behind, her eyes clearly scanning the room in confusion.
All of the boys snorted, "I don't think you'd believe us if we told you Lily-flower." James replied honestly, running a hand through his already messy hair. "What do you think of the name Hermione?"
Lily scrunched up her nose. "In regards to what?"
"Our daughter obviously."
"Oh obviously." Lily replied, looking at Remus for help.
Remus sighed, "Two people appeared out of thin air claiming to be from the future. They took veritaserum to confirm their names and dates of birth. Hermione Potter was born on the 19th of September 1979." He answered the unspoken question gently.
Lily paled dramatically. "And you think she's ours?" She asked James incredulously.
James shrugged, "I'm the last Potter. I don't know who else she could belong to."
Lily's eyes found Charlus' who winced but sighed before agreeing, "I cannot find another explanation."
"Where is she?"
"Lils…She…fuck." James floundered.
"She looks ill." Sirius cut in brutally, his face blank. "She…Merlin, she's clearly been fighting for quite some time and she mentioned having met Bellatrix. I gather from the way the boy she brought with her held her so fucking tightly his knuckles were white that it wasnt a friendly meeting. Neither of them look like they have eaten properly in months, given how fucking thin they were and they're fucking filthy and jumpy and appear to hate Dumbledore more than I think I hate Walburga."
"What boy?" Lily asked sharply, already bristling at the thought of her mysterious daughter being involved with a boy. "And…why would they hate Dumbledore? Are they going to be alright?"
"A bloody Malfoy." Sirius scoffed. "And I have no idea."
"I don't think I understand." Lily replied faintly.
Charlus' eyes found Minerva and Dorea as they reappeared, making a beeline for them.
"How are they?"
Both women looked pained. "They refused to leave each other."
"I thought you were taking them for a bath and clean clothing?" he asked, confused.
"We did. When it was suggested that perhaps separate bathrooms would be better we were told that they'd lived together in a tent for months, they were hardly unaware of what the other looked like naked." Dorea confessed reluctantly. "They did however assure me that nothing inappropriate would happen because quite frankly they were….and I quote…fucking shattered and sore from their last battle." she sighed, "They're more like feral animals than teenagers, we decided not to fight them on it tonight. Whatever happened…." she swallowed harshly. "Whatever happened is so far beyond what we can imagine. Their scars…..Hermione, she…broke, almost at the first bit of kindness, I get the impression that they've grown used to relying on themselves."
Charlus flinched as the group of listening teens paled. "Is she ours?"
Dorea inclined her head. "Yes. Our grandson adopted her, as far as I'm concerned she's ours."
"Our grandson…." he trailed off. "Why?"
"She said they had no family left and needed something tangible." Dorea replied softly, looking close to tears.
"And the boy?"
"Lucius Malfoy's son. I'm still not sure where he fits in to be honest beyond that that girl trusts him which is good enough for me. He…he knows what she needs without her having to say it. I have no idea what their relationship actually is, although it's clear he loves her, and she him, I'm just not sure in what capacity."
Charlus hummed. "How old are they?"
Minerva flinched. "They're eighteen, him only just, she'll be nineteen soon."
"Sweet Merlin. Barely of age." Charlus murmured. "Did they say anything else?"
Dorea shook her head. "They don't know me. They appear to know Minerva, so perhaps we can work with that. Clearly, Hermione knows Sirius, it's worth seeing if she knows any of the others, she appeared to be fond of him." Sirius looked momentarily apprehensive before he nodded and Dorea continued, her voice faint as a look of pain flashed over her face, "After her moment of weakness, Hermione clammed up again and…she apologised for her lack of control. She….looks like that and she apologised for crying. I cant…I can't even imagine what they've lived through for that to be seen as a normal response."
"What's going to happen to them?" James asked softly.
Dorea and Minerva shared a look. "We're hoping to convince them to stay here. I don't like the idea of them going off on their own but well…you saw how wary they were."
"The boy…Draco seems…practical in a way I think Hermione is still too angry to be." Minerva ventured. "I think he'll convince her if we can convince him. She seems to listen to him."
Dorea hummed, "You might be right. I'm going to go and check on them, I think."
James snorted, "In case they're up to no good?" he teased, trying to lighten the mood that was threatening to suffocate them, even if he was still slightly stunned his mother had left them in the first place.
Dorea shot him a withering look. "In case they need any help." she replied waspishly. "They might have intended to leave their reality but that doesn't mean they were truly prepared for it. I get the impression they had no choice. And that's before we consider the fact that neither of them looks to have had enough food for months. Merlin only knows how weak they truly are. I do not think they'd tell us even if they were near collapse."
James winced, looking immediately repentant. "Sorry, Mum." he called at her retreating back, leaving the group to process these new revelations, none of them really sure what to say.