Chapter 10

The private room they had been escorted to was perfect for their needs. After some showy parading around several stores in town to establish the legitimacy of their trip, they retreated to the pub and had been holed up there ever since. Hermione had borrowed an owl in the village, under the guise of Daphne, and sent the professor a letter stressing the importance of secrecy and the urgency of their meeting.

They'd sent the letter thirty minutes ago but she still hadn't arrived. They suspected Professor Dumbledore had something to do with it. Well Draco and Narcissa did, Hermione was adamant that she simply hadn't read the letter yet. It was in their fifth discussion about the topic that the door to the private room swung open and a small tabby cat slipped in, closing the door somehow with a flick of its tail. It was when the cat jumped onto a chair and became Professor McGonagall that their worry was alleviated.

'I apologise for the delay.' She stretched her neck out a little. 'I'm afraid it's much more difficult to sneak out of the school with Umbridge demanding details of your every movement.'

Hermione had almost forgotten that Professor Umbridge was even at the school. It had only been four days, but they felt like a lifetime ago.

'I had received a letter from Miss Granger so unless you're all using magical means to hide your identities, I'm rather surprised by the company she's keeping.' She narrowed her eyes a little at the group.

'That would be me, Professor.' Hermione raised her hand. 'You see there have been some developments over the last few months that have led to Mrs and Mr Malfoy aiding me.'

'I'm more familiar with the circumstances than you are Miss Granger, or as we both know, Miss Stewart.' She snapped, whipping her head to stare directly at Hermione. 'I was very specific when I told you not to do anything rash, and yet here we are.'

'You know?' Draco asked, briefly forgetting to use manners around his mother until she whacked his arm.

'Of course I know Mr Malfoy, I bewitched the sorting hat to place her in my house so I could hope to prevent something like this happening.' McGonagall rolled her eyes and sighed. 'Traditionally your family has been placed in Slytherin and Ravenclaw, on the rare occasions they have actually attended the school. My hope was to keep you away from what I regarded as epicentres of dangerous knowledge. Clearly I failed. Though I've known that for a while.'

'How do you know so much about me Professor?' Hermione asked, leaning forward in her chair. 'Did Dumbledore know?'

'No, Professor Dumbledore still believes that the Stuart line likely exists abroad and is unaware of what they've triggered here in Britain.' She waved her hand. 'The only people who know about your true identity are myself and your father, though he requested to have your cover identity kept from him for safety reasons.'

'How do you know all of this?' Hermione asked, her eyes narrowing.

'I know this Miss Granger because before you were born I was tasked with the safeguarding of your mother, and your mother's mother.' McGonagall snapped. 'For the last seventy years of my life I, and briefly with the help of my father and several of your relatives, have done the successful task of keeping both you and your entire family line unknown. My father spent eighty years before me on the same task. His father, and his father, and his father before him have all been protecting the magical royal family from being assassinated or worse, taken and manipulated.'

'You weren't talking about the father that raised me, were you?' Hermione asked, her heart sinking down into her stomach.

'No, I was talking about the family lawyer who helped me hide you from Voldemort and his forces for the last 15 years.' She shook her head. 'He had me erase all memory of your muggle family from his knowledge so even if he was found out and tortured, he couldn't betray you. But you've squandered that sacrifice, squandered the sacrifice of your mother, all for the petty reason of staying magically extraordinary. Your mind is far more exceptional than you seem to have given yourself credit for.'

'With all due respect, Professor.' Hermione spat out. 'You can be as angry with me ruining your secret plans as you like, but I didn't do this in some petty, vain attempt to be more powerful. I spent months lingering over the decision to claim my family magic and in the end, yes, I did choose to keep the power, though not just for ego and Os in tests. But in doing so I could attempt to find my magical family, I could understand where I came from. I could find out why someone went to all of that trouble to convince my parents that I truly was theirs, even though my mother truly was infertile and truly couldn't conceive.'

'That was not your decision to make Miss Granger.' McGonagall spoke, her voice low, quiet and dangerous. 'Your parents were very specific about what they wanted for your life. They decided to give up magic for you. To give up their role as parents. To wander this world knowing you were out there and always out of reach. They made it clear, the Stuart family magic was to die out with you. The only reason they didn't take your magic away too was so that you could see the world they loved so much, the world they hoped to keep safe by keeping you out of reach of madmen.'

'And I suppose that they didn't think I'd eventually notice when the family magic started burning out.' Hermione challenged, her tone sharp and cool. 'They didn't think that the violent of an event would just slip past my notice.'

'You aren't thinking about the grander picture here, Miss Granger.' She spat back. 'This is not about you.'

'I think I'll interrupt you there Professor.' Narcissa butted in, standing from her chair. 'This is definitely about Hermione. If her curiosity was all it took to foil your plan then it was a bad one. Blaming her for doing the most natural thing in this world does not change the fact that she IS a Stuart, that she IS going to rule this community and that she IS NOT responsible for your failings.'

'And if she should fall into the hands of your precious Lord?' McGonagall whirled on Narcissa. 'If her power should be within the grasp of a madman what do you think will happen to the world?'

'You do her a disservice.' Narcissa spoke, taking a step toward the Professor. 'If your estimation of her character is that low then you should reconsider your aptitude for being Head of Gryffindor house.'

'Enough.' Hermione yelled, startling even Draco who had been receding into his chair since the argument started. Narcissa retook her seat. 'You will find, Professor, that I have no interest in the what should have been of your little pact to micromanage my life from the sidelines. My family magic is fully incorporated into my magical core, and as we speak, Peter Pettigrew, the poor pathetic boy you thought couldn't hurt a fly up until your estimation of character was proven wrong, is currently tied to a chair in Malfoy Manor, lacking his magic. That is why we are here. Not to hash out all the ways I've unknowingly disappointed you. You in fact, are the disappointment Professor. No better than Professor Dumbledore. You decided what was right, what was worth the greater good, and assumed total control of that with no care for a child in your care.'

'Your parents were specific Miss Ganger.' She argued back. 'I have been following their instructions.'

'And where have they been?' She screamed. 'It's all about their sacrifice. How terrible it was that they gave me up. But they GAVE ME UP. They lost all right to make decisions about my life when they gave up being parents.'

'The wider world is at stake, Miss Granger.' McGonagall pleaded. 'This is bigger than your sense of identity.'

'And it's bigger than your sense of superiority.' Hermione spoke, rising from her chair. 'You said yourself that I am Miss Stuart and you will address me as such because whether you like it or not, I will be ruling magical britain.

'You will find Peter Pettigrew on the premises of the Weasley household in exactly one hour. You will spend the time between having them agree to the story that you were there at their request while Mr Weasley recovers and discovered a man hiding there. You recognised him as a former student of yours until realisation hit you. He was Peter Pettigrew. Always clinging to James Potter's side. He was dead, surely. But even so it was him, and you are certain. On his person was a letter that sent the well wishes of an anonymous Stuart daughter, who would be coming to claim her birthright, and would be setting right the wrongs of the previous administration, starting with the real man who betrayed Lily and James Potter on the night of the 31st of October 1981.

'Should word not reach the ears of Mr Malfoy, an important political figure in the Wizengamot, of this discovery by end of day, I will assume you've decided to continue in your adamance that only your way is the right way, and will be informing Professor Umbridge that you knew I was going through severe magical withdrawal and purposefully withheld that knowledge from me. Your decision could have ruined me, scarred my magical core permanently, so I will be doing the same to your career.' Hermione smiled sweetly, enjoying the shades of red spreading across her Professor's face. 'Of course you can still side with your ego, no matter what the consequences might be.'

'This is what I was hoping to avoid, Miss Granger.' She shook her head. 'When you decide to rip apart the rest of the resistance, I hope you give them the same forewarning.'

'I took away Peter Pettigrew's magic, a Death Eater. He was just my first.' Hermione grinned. 'I'm hoping my next will be Voldemort himself, so long as no one else plans on spying on me and exposing me to him.'

Hermione swept to the door, not sparing McGonagall another glance. 'Oh, final reminder Professor.' She spoke idly as she opened the door. 'It's Stuart.' She'd truly just threatened the Professor she'd respected most at Hogwarts. Never before would she have had the gall to speak to even Professor Snape in such a way and yet she'd just had. She couldn't tell if the sick feeling in her stomach was her adrenaline or the polyjuice wearing off. She took a quick swig from the vial she carried in her pocket and waited at the bottom of the stairs for Narcissa and Draco to eventually join her.

They arrived sooner than she expected and no words were exchanged, no glances that acknowledged what she'd just done. Narcissa simply took their arms, led them outside and apparated them away in a blink.

Draco immediately collapsed in a chair, letting out a haggard breath. It took Hermione a moment to recognise the sun room, and even longer to realise that her hands were violently shaking. Narcissa had a hand on Draco's shoulder, reassuring him during what must have been an outpouring of pent up stress.

'I think a lot just happened that will take some time to process, but first and foremost we have to pen a letter and send Peter to a location I have never seen before.' Narcissa spoke up.

'He lived there for 13 years as their pet rat, I'm sure you'll find what you need in his mind.' Hermione shrugged, closing her eyes and taking a calming breath.

'Peter was moved to a different room while we were away so you'll find your writing undisturbed.' Narcissa spoke. She gave Draco's shoulder one last squeeze and left the room, doubtless heading to Pettigrew's new, secret location.

'What just happened Hermione?' Draco asked, staring panicked at her. 'What the fuck just happened?'

'I don't know.' Hermione stammered. 'But hopefully I didn't just make a mistake.'

She too left the room, trying to think back over everything she'd heard and everything she'd said. She'd never been impulsive. She always thought things through. This shouldn't have been an exception. But it was, and she'd have to deal with the consequences.

There was no change in her room from earlier that day, but she didn't care that clothes were dominating half of the room. She just wanted to get the letter over with and fall into a long deep sleep. It was when she sat down that she found something out of place. A letter on the desk. It had no address line and simply the title Miss Stuart on the front. She ripped open the envelope, planning on throwing its contents in the fire without a second glance until the words on the page stunned her.

'I made an unbreakable vow.'