Chapter 72: To Watch Over You

Blackmoor, Essex, England, UK.

June 3, 1991

Alicia Black gently ran the brush through her daughter's hair. In just a few months Hannah would be going away to Hogwarts to begin her studies at the same school that Alicia had attended. Soon, Hannah would be far away in the Scottish Highlands and Alicia wouldn't be able to do little things for her daughter, things like plaiting her daughter's hair into her favorite style of braid.

"You'll need to learn how to do this for yourself, you know," she said, her voice light and teasing despite the raw sentimentality that she felt. Her little girl was growing up so fast. In a few more years she would be interested in boys. She'd send letters home about her first crush.

Hannah made a face at the suggestion. "I try, but I keep fumbling it," she told her mother. "It's easier to get right when I practice on a doll but when I try to do it to my own hair, it looks dreadful."

Alicia hummed in sympathy. She understood her daughter's plight. It had taken her a year of steady practice to get it just right when she was her daughter's age. Then she only wore it that way for a year before she abandoned the style in favor of other hairstyles. Still, the Dutch-braid was a good style that kept Hannah's pretty blonde tresses back from her face and out of her way while still looking pretty, stylish, and like a proper Heir.

Hannah was the Heir Abbott. Furthermore, she had a scandalous past due to the denouncement of Lord Abbott. It hardly mattered that the man had finally seen the error of his ways where Hannah's paternity was concerned. Society still remembered the many years of Lord Abbott insisting that Alicia was a whore and that Hannah had been no scion of House Abbott. With Hannah's reinstatement into the Abbott family, and her acknowledged status as the Heir Abbott had come even more public scrutiny. People were waiting in the wings, ready to judge her daughter.

"We'll have to practice a little more then," She said as she began to separate the strands so that she could braid her daughter's hair. They were silent as Alicia worked, weaving the braid to perfection. She tied it off with a ribbon. "There," she pronounced.

Hannah looked over her reflection in the mirror and then she smiled back at her mother. "Thank you," she said and then she turned to her mother. "Mama, Hermione wasn't at breakfast this morning," she prompted.

Alicia bit back a smile. Her daughter often prompted when she wanted to ask a question. She was always hopeful that by prompting she would get others to reveal what she wanted to know without her actually having to ask. It was a good trick in a Slytherin, but Hannah had none of the subtlety of a Slytherin. Alicia very much believed that her daughter was destined for Hufflepuff, the same house that Hannah's father had been proudly sorted into.

"You are quite correct, love," she said simply. She had made it a habit to not give in to her daughter's prompting. Hannah would have to ask her question.

Hannah made a face at that, her lips curving into a moue of disappointment. It was quite the cute look on her, not that Alicia would ever tell her daughter that.

"I was wondering why she was missing," Hannah said. "Do you know why, mother?"

Alicia felt her good mood vanish at the question. She sighed and nodded. "Yes, sweetheart, I do," she said and stared into Hannah's brown eyes, brown just like her own. "Eleanor was hospitalized last night," she revealed and watched as her daughter paled.

"Will she be alright? What happened? Is there anything we can do for her?" Hannah demanded in a rush of questions.

"She will be alright. The healers are willing to allow her to come home to Blackmoor this afternoon. Hermione is there at the hospital with her to keep her company. Andromeda is likewise there and shall remain until Eleanor is released," she explained.

"But what happened to her, mama?" Hannah demanded to know.

This was the question that Alicia did not want to answer. How could she explain to her daughter that Eleanor's grandmother had become mentally unhinged and decided that the best way to eradicate magic from her granddaughter was to poison the whole family? As Sirius had explained it, Corinne Branstone had not known that it was a poison that could hurt the Muggles of the family, but the woman had been told that it would hurt Eleanor. The woman had thought it would kill off the magic in her grandchild. The idea of it had left Alicia trembling with horror swiftly followed by rage. If that woman wasn't dead, Alicia would devise great tortures for the woman.

"Eleanor's grandmother was sick," she said gently. "Not physically, but mentally. She was sick in her thinking. She believed that Eleanor would be better off without magic and that there must be some way to take it from her. Someone, we know not who, gave her a poison that they insisted would not harm them and would rid Eleanor of her magic."

"Did it?" Hannah asked in a horrified whisper.

"No, of course not," Alicia reassured her daughter. "There is no spell, no potion that can remove magic from a Witch or Wizard, remember that."

Hannah nodded and continued to watch her, drinking in everything she said. If only she could always have her daughter this attentive when she spoke. "So, her grandmother was sick, and she used this poison to rid Eleanor of magic?"

"Yes, It hurt Eleanor but did not kill her. Her own magic was attempting to fight off the effects of the poison, you see. However, the poison was also ingested by Eleanor's father and her grandparents," she revealed to her daughter as gently as she could. "They were not magical and could not fight off the effects."

"Oh," Hannah said softly. "So, they are sick too?"

Alicia shook her head in the negative. "No, they died, sweetheart," she said gently to her kindhearted daughter.

Hannah looked away for a moment and Alicia had caught the sheen of tears that had flooded her daughter's eyes. "That's terrible," Hannah whispered shakily. She raised a hand to wipe at her eyes. "I didn't know Elle's grandparents, but I met her father a few times when playing at Andromeda's. He came several times for teatime to discuss things about our world with Andromeda. He seemed like he really loved Elle and that he was so proud of her."

Alicia's heart ached at that. 'That poor child,' she thought as she thought of Eleanor Branstone. Thus far she had only thought of the injustice done to the child by her grandmother. She hadn't stopped to think that the girl had lost a father that had clearly accepted her and loved her.

"Sirius will do right by her now," she said aloud for both herself and for Hannah. Sirius was now the Regent of House Black. Eleanor was a Black Heiress and so her safety and well-being was now Sirius' responsibility. She knew her husband would rise to the task. He was marvelous with the children of House Black. He had been a kind and patient father with Hannah ever since they married, and he vowed to honor Hannah as his child for all of time.

Alicia had not known that he was going to make that vow at their wedding. She had assumed he would be a good stepfather, but she had not dared to hope that he would claim Hannah as his own child, vowing her the same protections and affection that his own blood children had the right to expect from him. In the almost four years since their marriage, Sirius had given Alicia no room for doubts. He had treated her daughter as though she were his own child.

"Well, of course, he will," Hanna declared as she rose from the stool she had been seated upon. "He's Sirius after all," she said with a bright smile as if that declared all.

Alicia giggled as she watched her daughter flounce off. It was heartening to see how much love, respect, and trust that her daughter held for Sirius. It reminded Alicia that she had been right to marry Sirius Black. The only reservation she had ever held when considering marrying him had been the knowledge that her heart still belonged to Johnathon Abbott, despite the fact that he had been dead at that point for seven years. Also, there was the knowledge that Sirius' heart belonged to Olivia Macmillan nee Greengrass. Now, she realized that there was no other man she could have married. Sirius understood that she still loved her dead first husband and he honored that love, honored her Johnathon's memory right beside her. He honored it every day in how loving he was to Johnathon's only child. Sirius made no demands that she give him her whole heart. He had told her, on their honeymoon, that he would earn his own place in her heart and he'd be happy with that. She had asked him if she would one day have a place in his heart and he had replied that she already had a place there.

Alicia wasn't a fool. She had known when she felt the first thrill of attraction toward Sirius Black that his heart whispered the name 'Olivia'. Sirius' first interest in her was because she was a beautiful damsel in distress. She knew that, and she had happily capitalized on it. Marriage to Sirius Black would give her and Hannah security. It would restore their standing in society, a standing that had been stolen from them by Warring Abbott's slander. Sirius was a good man and Alicia knew she would enjoy being his partner in marriage. She hadn't expected to love him.

Now she did. She loved him very fiercely. It was inevitable really. She could understand how Olivia had lost her heart to Sirius Black. The great wonder to Alicia was that more women hadn't lost their hearts to her husband.

She shook her head at her fanciful thoughts and swiftly tidied up the vanity in her daughter's room. She took a moment to give the room a swift glance to make sure that everything was tidy, and she nodded in satisfaction. She had long ago instilled in Hannah the need to pick up after herself. Just because they were blessed with the status that allowed them to maintain bonds with House Elves, didn't mean that we had to make messes for them to clean up. Sirius had once told Hannah that doing little chores like cleaning up one's room and maintaining their own possessions was good for the mind. Alicia wondered if he had been taught that as a child or if it was something her husband had learned as an adult. Was it at Auror Academy or after? Had he learned it as he had healed from Azkaban?

She didn't like to think of her husband in Azkaban prison. She hated that sometimes Sirius still awake from nightmares about that horrible place. They were infrequent but they did sometimes happen. He would stare into space for a time after awakening, needing to remember, to remind himself that he was not in that horrible place. Alicia always held him once he came back to himself, it was too dangerous to touch him before that moment.

She was drawn from these thoughts when she heard the voices of Hannah, Leonis, and Orion coming from the room that was assigned to Hermione and Eleanor. She frowned as she came to a stop in the doorway. "Children," she addressed them. "What are you doing in Hermione and Eleanor's room?" What she really wanted to ask was if they were planning some sort of mischief. While Leonis and Orion did not often pull pranks as their father had in his youth, they did sometimes prank their friends. Usually, it was when Sirius declared a week-long prank war, but perhaps they thought pulling a prank on Hermione and Eleanor would make the girls smile? Perhaps it would on a normal day, so long as the prank didn't ruin Hermione's books and parchments. That child was a shoo-in for Ravenclaw. Alicia had a bet riding with Andromeda on Hermione's future placement. Now was not a good time for pranks. She was sure that Eleanor would still be weak from the poison her magic had fought so hard to fight off. Hermione would likely be terribly worried about Eleanor, and the girl could be high strung when she was worried. Alicia knew the type. Her younger sister, Alexis, was just the same. She would have to put a stop to their plans if they were pulling a prank.

"We are creating a present for Eleanor and for Hermione," Leonis, the eldest child, took it upon himself to explain after exchanging a swift glance with Hannah and Orion.

Alicia didn't like the sound of that. It might well be a prank, as she had feared. "And what is this present?" she asked her stepson.

It unnerved her sometimes to look upon Leonis Black. He reminded her at times of Regulus Black, her husband's dead brother. The one that Sirius still mourned. She wondered if Sirius saw the resemblance. Oh, there was enough of Olivia Macmillan to the boy's features to say that he wasn't an exact replica of Regulus Black, but he was very close to it. Close enough that there had been some speculation over the last few years as to whether he was really Sirius' son. Some wanted to believe he was Regulus' boy. Alicia had carefully noted the names and faces of those who preferred to believe that rumor. She had found many of them to be rumored Death Eaters or those who were family to convicted ones.

Leonis and Orion came to stand before her then, each held a box in their hands. The boxes were prettily made, and she recognized them as the Turkish Puzzle boxes that Hesper Gamp had brought with her from her island home in the Adriatic Sea. She gently took the box from Leonis and looked it over.

"We thought that Hermione and Eleanor would like them," Orion said simply.

"Grandmother," Leonis said referring to Hesper. "Didn't bother to give them out. She just said that they were for the children. Hannah helped Ori and I pick out these because she thought Hermione and Eleanor would like the floral carvings."

Alicia examined the box and nodded her agreement. "Eleanor and Hermione like flowers," she agreed. She had noticed that Hermione had gravitated toward the solarium while the days had been too wet for the children to play outside. The girl had read books while curled up on a lounger beside the Irises and the Orchids. The box she held in her own hands was made of walnut and had an Iris carved in the top of the box with ivy vines carved to frame the lid. The sides of the box were ivy vines as well. She glanced at the box that Leonis held and saw that it was also made of walnut and had delicate looking rose blooms carved into the wood.

"We thought that Hermione would like the puzzle of figuring out how to open the box and then once she solved it, she could enjoy utilizing the box to hide some of her favorite trinkets," Leonis pointed out.

"Same with Elle," Ori said. "She likes puzzles, so we thought when she was feeling better, she'd enjoy playing with the box to figure it out. And, if she's going to need to stay in bed for a little while, it's something she can do to entertain herself while she has to stay in the bed."

Alicia slowly smiled at her three children. "This was very thoughtful of all of you," she said as she handed the box deemed for Eleanor back to Orion. "You had best put the presents where they are likely to find them then."

The two boys smiled at her as they turned away each going to a separate part of the room to place the boxes on the nightstands beside each girl's bed. Though Blackmoor held more than enough rooms to accommodate the children having their own bedrooms, Sirius and Cygnus had refused to allow that to happen. There were two children to a room. Sirius deemed it good practice for when the children would be going to Hogwarts in a few months. Of course, she didn't call her husband out on the unspoken reason that Sirius had insisted on the children being two to a room and all of them close instead of spreading out. With the children so close, they were easier to defend. Her husband had never really stopped thinking like an Auror it seemed.

She stood by as the children filed out of the room. Then she looked to the beds and frowned. Perhaps she should see about having some quilts made specifically for Eleanor and Hermione with charms woven into the quilt to protect them from harmful dreams and give them a good night of rest. She was sure that Eleanor would need it. As for Hermione, well, the situation with Eleanor must have frightened her and it could stir up unpleasant memories of the sudden deaths of her parents.

Alicia nodded to herself as she left the room. She'd go speak with a few of the other ladies about it. Surely, she wasn't the only lady in the house who had learned how to weave spells into thread and cloth. If they worked together, they could have two quilts ready by dinnertime when the girls should be coming home.


Hermione sat on the bed with Eleanor and watched over the girl that was essentially her sister. She and Eleanor had become fast friends when both had been acknowledged as Heiresses of the House of Black. Eleanor was raised in the neighboring town and while it was unfortunate, to Hermione's thinking, that Eleanor couldn't attend school with her, she was still grateful that she lived close enough that they could see each other so often.

It had been ever so wonderful to have a female friend her own age. Oh, she loved Harry and Dudley. They were her first friends. They had introduced her to the fact that she was a Witch. If she had not met them, who knows what would have happened to her. She might never have figured out that she was a witch, or maybe she would have but she would have been helplessly ignorant of her rights as a Black Heiress. She might have remained ignorant of the traditions of the world that she belonged to. She had no delusions about that. She belonged in among her fellow Witches and Wizards and not in the Muggle world. She didn't hate Muggles, of course not! Her parents were Muggles, or perhaps they were Squibs. They had never been tested and Andromeda had said it was hard to know for sure since Squibs and Muggles were nearly identical. Still, she didn't hate Muggles, she just had never felt truly a part of them. She had always been different. It had been such a relief when Harry and Dudley had helped her understand that she was a Witch and no it was not a bad word and it wasn't a bad thing.

She had been delighted in her friendship with Eleanor as they began to learn about magic, about the traditions of their world and of their family. Hermione had become friends with Estelle Burke as well and Hermione was delighted to think that the three of them might be friends forever. Yet Eleanor, well she wasn't just a friend. Perhaps it was the fact that they were best friends that Hermione saw Eleanor as a sibling. Maybe it was because they shared the same Magical Guardian. Maybe it was because their circumstances were so alike. It didn't really matter in the end, she supposed. What mattered was that somewhere along the line, Hermione had begun to think of Eleanor as her sister.

'This is my sister lying in this bed,' Hermione thought. The thought left her feeling both joy and anger. The joy that this was her sister and she was right there, breathing, sleeping a healing sleep so that she would become well enough to go home to Blackmoor. The anger came from the knowledge that someone had willingly hurt her sister. Andromeda and Ted had explained to her what had been done to Eleanor. Hermione understood that Corinne Branstone had been a foolish, stupid and desperate woman who had listened to the wrong person and had paid the price for it. Hermione understood all of that, but, she also understood the point that Corinne Branstone had not cared that the poison she gave the family would hurt Eleanor. The elf had told her it would hurt Eleanor, but that Eleanor would survive it and be fine. She had been willing to hurt Eleanor, even if she thought it would be something she'd bounce back from, just to rid her of magic. It was disgusting, horrifying. She couldn't imagine Andromeda and Ted ever being willing to harm them in any way whatsoever. Hermione's parents certainly wouldn't have done anything to hurt her. She didn't care if Corinne Branstone thought it would only cause Eleanor to have symptoms like food poisoning, Corinne was still a wretched and horrid woman in Hermione's books.

"Mione," Eleanor murmured softly, and Hermione blinked in surprise, coming out of her thoughts.

"Elle," Hermione said as she took her sister's outstretched hand. "Do you need anything? I could get you a glass of water," she offered.

Eleanor shook her head. "You were thinking too loud," the girl said, and it caused Hermione to smile. It was a joke between the two of them. If Eleanor caught Hermione brooding, then she often said that she was thinking too hard.

"Guilty as charged," Hermione agreed. "Sorry, Elle."

Eleanor shook her head and bit back a yawn. "It's fine," she reassured. "I am feeling loads better Mione. I just feel a bit weak. Like I've had the flu and I need to build my strength back slowly."

Hermione nodded her understanding. "You'll be discharged in a few hours so long as the healers think that you are making good progress and are not going to have a relapse."

"You mean so long as the healers are sure that the poison is truly out of my system," she murmured sadly.

Hermione squeezed her hand gently. "Yes," she agreed because there was no point in lying to her sister. She paused a moment and then spoke softly "I am so sorry about your father and grandfather, but I am so angry with your grandmother."

Eleanor squeezed her hand and a single tear fell down her cheek. "Me too," she revealed. "I'm so angry with grandmother. She took my father and grandfather from me and she took herself from me. I knew she didn't like my being a Witch, but I really thought she loved me and that she'd come around to accepting it."

"Maybe she would have in a few more years if she hadn't met that Witch," Hermione said. She wasn't sure she really believed that, but she thought that maybe Eleanor needed to believe the possibility had existed.

"Maybe," Eleanor said wistfully. "We'll never know now," she said. "I promise not to dwell on it much. It won't do me any good to only think about what might have been."

"Ted talked to you about that?" Hermione asked her curiously. She had gotten such talks from Ted Tonks during the early stages of her grief over the sudden deaths of her parents.

"Grandpa Cygnus actually," Eleanor revealed.

"Really?" Hermione was slightly surprised by that, but she realized on reflection that maybe she shouldn't have been. Cygnus Black III was the father of Andromeda Tonks, their Magical Guardian. With Andromeda as their mother figure then Cygnus was arguably their grandfather.

"Yes. He stayed overnight to watch over Andromeda and me. He left just before you and Ted arrived this morning," Eleanor revealed. "He had some things he needed to discuss with Sirius."

"Probably about the Ministry finally releasing the bodies of our relatives so we can give them the proper honors and place them in the crypt," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Eleanor smiled sadly. "It will be a relief to be able to finally mourn them properly. I wasn't at Blackmoor with the rest of you. I was on vacation with Dad when the news came from Andromeda and it was so strange to know they were gone and to mourn them but to not do it with the rest of the family," she said. "I mean, my dad met Lord Black only one time. He didn't know him well enough to mourn him. I didn't know Lord Black as well as others in the family, but I knew him enough to know that we lost a great man. And Pollux? He was such a huge part of our lives."

Hermione nodded in agreement. All of their studies when they had first become heiresses of House Black had been with Estelle Burke with their tutor being Meliora Burke nee Loveday, the beloved mistress of Pollux Black. Pollux had often partaken in luncheon's with Meliora, Estelle, Hermione, and Eleanor and he was always charming and attentive asking each of them out their studies and about their lives. If Pollux Black had been a blood purist, he certainly didn't act like it to Hermione. He had never sneered at them and called them Mudbloods. He was also very close with his Squib brother, Marius Black. He had been a good man and Hermione missed him.

"It's really hard to figure out which loss hurts the house the most," Hermione mused. "Lord Black for obvious reasons is a huge blow. Yet Pollux was the real political might in the House."

Eleanor nodded her agreement. "Yet Ms. Cassiopeia is also a huge loss. She was a very cunning witch and she was able to manipulate most in society. There were those witches she held great sway and influence over," she reminded Hermione.

"True, and women rule over society," Hermione murmured her agreement.

"Exactly!" Eleanor agreed. "They were all a huge loss, an incalculable loss."

Hermione once more nodded her agreement. "We'll have to pay careful attention to the lessons that our elders can pass on to us."

"Especially since there are fewer of them now than there were before," Eleanor said softly.

Hermione leaned forward and gently brushed back Eleanor's hair. "Go back to sleep, Elle," she said gently. "I can tell you are tired. I'll be right here when you wake up. Don't worry about me," she added when it looked like Eleanor meant to protest. "I have a book to keep me company while you sleep."

Eleanor sighed. "You just want me to be quiet so that you can read. I'm on to you Granger."

Hermione smiled in delight at Eleanor's teasing. "You figured me out Branstone."

Eleanor fidgeted a bit in the bed until she could be more comfortable. She fell asleep a few moments later and Hermione smiled gently as she watched her sleep. Eleanor would need to talk with Andromeda and Ted more about her father and her grandparents. There was still a well of hurt there, and Hermione didn't blame her for that, not at all. Still, she thought that Eleanor would be alright in the end. She'd come through this. Hermione refused to accept any other outcome.


I had thought that this chapter would have been the funeral rites for the Malfoy and Black families, but instead this chapter of love and care in the aftermath of Eleanor's near death happened. Next chapter shall be the funeral rites.