17) Heiress Dagworth-Granger - or - Bashfest 2020

A/N this is a side muse from another story I've had cooking for years and never finished. One where Harry is raised by a tolerant and ambitious Aunt Petunia. There is no love for characters in here that some often love. I do not apologize. It's a flight of fancy.

~~begin chapter~~

"I have an announcement"

The headmaster looked down on his most confusing student, bringing attention to herself in a full hall. This was so out of character, he almost forgot to reply.

Hermione Granger had been such a promising student: her grades and manner were impeccable. But she had been ostracized early on in Gryffindor House because of her intelligence. The few friends she'd made had withered under the words of blood-purist Malfoy's teasing.

By her second year, she was alone, and it seemed to be her preferred state.

The castle rumor-mill informed the headmaster that when the Longbottom heir approached her again, in their third year, to ask if she wished to go to Hogsmeade, she turned young Neville down, flat. She held nothing against him, but would never allow herself to claim friendship with someone either so "inconsistent or so craven". She did have a way with words, Dumbledore mused.

Longbottom hadn't approached Granger again.

There had even been that brief time in their fourth year when young Lord Potter was in attendance of the school. Dumbledore didn't like to think on Lord Potter much. Such missteps, and that young man so completely out of touch and unwilling to do his duty to country.

Dumbledore believed that the two contrary students had something spark between them. Granger had apparently been in some sort of school competition against Potter in the past, and the two acknowledged that they knew each other. But nothing further came of it. Potter decided not to come to Hogwarts and finished the tournament challenges without interacting much at all with magical society.

His published international (required) OWL scores were second to only one other scholar: Miss Hermione Granger.

Such a waste.

Dumbledore smiled congenially at his most promising yet perplexing scholar. "Miss Granger, though your request is out of the ordinary, so long as you say nothing inappropriate, the floor, such as it is, is yours!"

"Thank you, Headmaster Dumbledore. As many of you know, today is my seventeenth birthday. In fact, I reached the age of emancipation at 1:07 this morning. At that time, I entered a ritual circle and claimed my family magic, as I have been preparing to do for over two years. I was successful."

There was murmuring, most of it very confused. Granger, the mudblood, had family magic? A few in the hall were steadily silent and stared with accusing eyes.

"In this very public forum, I, Hermione Jane Dagworth-Granger, do declare Molly Canopea Prewett oath-breaker. I declare that she has, through the action of her children and by proxy of her godmother, attempted to end the magical line of her oath-bound mentor, my grandfather, Hector Dagworth-Granger. This was a nefarious attempt to secure my magical and financial inheritance for herself and her children. I ask magic to judge her faithless and revoke any oaths made since her apprenticeship. I ask that magic remove her magic from her and any offspring she might have. On my magic, so mote it be."

There was a flash. Hermione lifted her wand and cast a verbal lumos. It was bright as a minor sun.

She was vindicated.

"Miss Granger, how could you do such a thing?" head of Gryffindor house Minerva McGonagall began.

Hermione turned to the woman she once looked up to as a mentor.

"Lady Dagworth-Granger, ma'am. And, seriously, how could I not? Additionallly, I declare Minerva Ginevra McGonagall, godmother to Molly Canopea Prewett, enemy of Dagworth-Granger house. Your inaction and misdeeds – when you were to be my succor and solace here as the head of my house – show that you - at the very least - did not do the job you were paid for. More likely, you have been my enemy from my birth. I do forswear you. I will have nothing more to do with you."

The Gryffindor colors faded… but not from Hermione's tie. The deputy headmistress felt the tenuous tie she had to the wards fade. She was now at most an instructor at Hogwarts; obviously the semi-sentient castle had judged the actions of its deputy and head of Gryffindor house and found them lacking. This oath had merely given the castle reason to take action.

"Lady Dagworth-Granger," Dumbledore brought attention back to himself. "This is a very hasty action you have taken; indeed, the effects will cascade if you do not undo what you have done. Forgiveness is the path to the light, my dear."

"Headmaster, respectfully, to me, forgiveness can only be given if the malefactor admits that he or she has done wrong. Ronald Weasley almost killed me in first year by 'accidentally' skewering me with a broomstick in our first flying lesson. I was ten feet off the ground when his broom went out of control. Sheer luck kept me alive. He has never apologized.

"I was Ginevra's second human victim when she was unleashing Slytherin's basilisk hither and yon. I'd asked my head of house to source mature mandrakes from elsewhere after Colin had been petrified. But no, mudbloods don't deserve to have good gold spent on them. I was lucky, again, to only lose six weeks of my life to Ginevra's murder attempt. She has never apologized.

"Percy got in on the game, assigning me detention in my third year for the crime of not helping Ronald with his work. He requested Madame McGonagall make my detention in the forbidden forest, under the light of a full moon, when the werewolf cum defense professor conveniently 'forgot' to take his wolfsbane."

"Still want to know how you got out of that," Ronald grumbled.

"Yes, I'm certain you do. Notice his conciliatory attitude. To continue: Madame McGonagall tried to kill me by making me Lord Potter's hostage during the tournament; only my timely hiding forced her choice of a successor – Harry's recently exonerated godfather. I need not remind you of what happened to the Lord Black? The introduction of a spell-nullifying field restricted to the area around the statue that held Lord Potter's hostage under Black Lake has never been tracked; Lord Potter will almost certainly abandon Magical Britain as a result. By the way, Madame McGonagall reprimanded me for shirking my tri-wizard responsibilities and declared Lord Black's death my fault.

"Last year, the twins had the contribution of inducing yet another coma on me during OWLS week. Not taking OWLS would have made me ineligible for magical maturity at seventeen. Like the rest of their 'pranks,' they never apologized for my incapacitation. Sadly, for them, I'd caught onto their game; I took my OWLS in Geneva over winter hols last year. I believe you've received my results?"

"Yes, and congratulations on such an accomplishment. Your scores were top of the year, internationally. That you took them six months early…" Hermione smirked as she saw her former head of house grimace as though she were sucking on a raw lemon.

So sad.

"And now, having declared myself adult in your little world, I do fully withdraw from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Good luck to you all – especially with the little squiblets."

"Squiblets?" Neville asked from her side. She smiled down at him.

"Well, I called Molly Prewett Oath Breaker, so any oath she took after her apprenticeship would be declared null by magic. Her wedding vows would be included in this. Now, her brats are all truly the bastards they've acted. She will have lost her magic completely – and her children will have lost magic they got from her. They no longer have access to the Weasley family magic, either. In short, they will have greatly reduced magics. Perhaps, if they are lucky, they can still brew. Perhaps their father will blood-adopt them in hopes that his magic will... oh, blood adoption must occur before magical maturity and takes three moons to take hold. Looks like only Gin-Gin could take advantage there. Alas...

"I'd say I'm sorry, but…" she let her voice trail off. Revenge was so sweet. She smiled sweetly and began to walk toward the door.

"Lady Dagworth-Granger," she stopped, turning to the respectful query from the Slytherin table. Draco Malfoy smirked at her. "I do applaud your efforts here today. Blood traitors will out, my father has always said."

"Indeed," Hermione murmured with a small smile.

"But house Dagworth-Granger were notoriously light. Where were you able to find the oath-breaker magics?"

"Mister Malfoy, my family were notoriously light. They are also all dead. I have that in common with Lord Potter. We're both finding shadows a bit more welcoming, I'd say. As to where I found the oath breaker magics? In the Black library, of course."

Smirking, Hermione turned to walk out of the Great Hall and from Castle Hogwarts for the last time. Harry's school had a seat waiting for her.

(*) (*)

fin

And that's my attempt at a dark Hermione!