I am just flabbergasted by the attention that this story has gotten. I am shook. I knew from comments on Facebook that people were interested in the story that I had teased them with a year ago, but I was overwhelmed by all the follows and favorites that the first chapter has garnered. Thank you all so much for your kind words and appreciation. You are the best!
Chapter 2
"The last of The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black has died without issue and it is your fault, you crazy arse bitch!"
Slate grey eyes stared at her from the gilt-edged frame, once beautiful, now darkened by age and neglect. The image inside the portrait remained still and Hermione was afraid that whatever sentient magic that protected the house had been damaged so badly that the portrait had become inert. Her last insult to the long dead witch unheard, her final words lost to the wind that whipped through the broken windows of the house that she had claimed as her haven for the last four years.
The bravado that Hermione had been feeling just seconds before seemed to falter, the weight that she had carried for so long now destroying any hope that she might have felt in returning to this place that Sirius had despised as a reminder of the parents that hated him and that Harry had wanted to burn to the ground for the reminder of a godfather that he never got to know, whom had promised to save him only to prove how reckless he was by dying before he could ever fulfill that promise.
She could feel her strength faltering as the wards outside Grimmauld Place were beat upon by the ones that wanted to kill her so badly. She would be the trophy upon their wall. Undesirable Number One now that Harry was gone, the last one left to fight against their idea of "The Greater Good." The ones that foolishly believed that they could raise the dead without consequences, without the world finding out. The ones that wanted to rule that world, outside of their magical borders. Well fuck it. There was nothing she could do now, nothing that could be said to temper their words or actions. She was just a mudblood that didn't have the proper manners, or even proper knowledge of the magical world for her words to be listened to. She never learned her place and would die as proof of her ignorance and inferiority.
Finishing her cup of tea with a last toast to the portrait hanging upon the wall, she called for Kreacher.
"Yes Miss Mudblood, how can Kreacher help you? Would you like more tea?"
"No Kreacher, thank you for the tea. I think that you may have been holding onto that special tea for just a tad bit too long, but I do appreciate the gesture." Wheezed Hermione, once again trying to push the hair from her face, but finding it knotted into bloody clumps. Letting her hand drop to her side, she leaned heavily against the bottom of the railing, trying with all the might that remained to keep herself from sprawling across the bottom step.
"Kreacher, I must ask a favor of you and it is not an order, I will not leave this world ordering a house elf to do anything, but I must at least ask."
Kreacher, used to the strangeness of Hermione and hearing all about her quest for House Elf Liberation from the once proud Hogwarts elves, knew that she did not mean any disrespect by not ordering him to complete this final task for her.
"Yes Miss Mudblood, what favor can Kreacher do for you?"
"Kreacher, when the wards on this house fall, whether I am still breathing or not, I ask that you destroy this house and everything and everyone in it, barring yourself of course. Or at the very least take me away from this godforsaken place. Do not let those bastards take my body. Do not let them use me as an example of what they mean to eradicate from the wizarding world. Please Kreacher." Her final words came out a whisper as she stared with tears in her tired eyes at the only living creature that might give a damn.
"Hmph… what dramatics... Merlin you would think that it was the end of the world and you were dying you little chit..."
Raising her eyes to the painting once again and thinking that she might be hallucinating just a little bit, she let her eyes fall closed to the smirking face staring down at her.
"Oh no Miss Granger, now is not the time for a kip. I listened to your little impassioned speech, blaming me for the fall of the wizarding world, now dying or not, you will listen to me."