Hello all! Here is another update for you!
Enjoy!
Chapter 10
It's been a few weeks since that conversation Hermione and Harry had with Bellatrix, Narcissa, the Dark Lord, and Sirius, as well as find out who she really is and the truth behind the stories that were told to them about the 'dark' side. And during that time, it was agreed upon by all of the adults that it was best for the teens to move into Black Manor. They would be better protected, Hermione would be able to properly heal, and they would train to be able to adequately protect themselves while at Hogwarts, especially for Hermione. Since it was important to have a cover story for their absence from headquarters, Sirius told Dumbledore that he was taking the teens on vacation to the United States to get away and take a break from all of the turmoil that has been plaguing their lives. It took some convincing due to the Weasleys' questioning of them not be allowed to join the trio, but Sirius was insistent upon spending some quality bonding time with his two wards. Eventually, Dumbledore relented knowing that once a Black has made up their mind, there was no way of changing it.
In these past few weeks, Hermione and Harry have been able to properly recuperate from the events at the Ministry; Hermione was now fully healed and the two teens got to relax before they had to meet with the Dark Lord. Besides the recuperation, Hermione was able to get to know Bellatrix and explore their bond without pushing the boundaries of comfortability, as well as Harry was able to get to know his godfather and learn more about his parents. And throughout this entire time, they haven't talked to or even seen the Dark Lord, to which Hermione thought that He was giving the teens time to take in the information that they had learned. However, today, while Hermione was enjoying a nice quiet reading time with Narcissa, Bellatrix came striding in, disturbing the peace. Upon seeing her sister, Narcissa sighed, "Really Bella, what is so important that you must destroy the nice peaceful morning that I have been enjoying with our dear Hermione?"
Bellatrix's expression changed from one of glee to one that contained a sneer, however it quickly changed into a smirk. "Cute dear sister, cute. But if you really must know, our presence has been requested by our Lord."
Narrowing her eyes at the annoying witch, "'our' presence, do you mean all of us, including Sirius and Harry?"
"Yes, dear sister, it seems as though our Lord has finally decided what his plans are for our duchess and the Boy-Who-Lived." Bellatrix had possessed a tone of flippancy while her eyes had a flash of seriousness and amusement. Raising her hand towards to the teen, the dark witch spoke towards her, "come on love let us go see what the Dark Lord has to tell us." She was confused, but Hermione nonetheless laced her fingers with the raven-haired witch and allowed herself to be led from the library to the room that the Dark Lord claimed as his throne room. As they entered, Hermione felt the presence of Narcissa behind her, clearly having followed them, and she found Sirius and Harry waiting by the serpentine wizard. Seeing that they had arrived, Harry and Sirius had smiled at the trio, while the Dark Lord nodded and seemed pleased at the holding hands of Bellatrix and Hermione.
"Ahh, excellent, you're here. Come here my dears, we have much to discuss," and the witches did so as requested. "Hermione, Harry, I hope you have been able to properly adjust to everything that you have learned?" Both the teens nodded silently, neutrally. "And Hermione, I trust that you were able to fully heal," He had asked the girl, but he was mainly looking towards Narcissa. The fair-haired witch had taken over the priority of healing the found duchess. Even though she wasn't as adept at potions as Snape, she was a highly trained and qualified healer. Her skills sped up the girl's healing process significantly that it only took a first few days of living in the manor to be fully healed. Knowing that the question was really being sent to her, Narcissa nodded her head. "Good, that's good to hear." Turning his attention back to the two teens, he spoke up once more, "Hermione and Harry, the both of you will spend this summer strengthening physically, magically, and intellectually. And Hermione, you will be learning diplomacy as well. Since you are the last Grand Duchess of Russia, eventually your identity will be revealed and you will have to able to use your ability and influence to restore this world. Since it is essential for your position, as well as the embracement of your place as the heir of House of Potter, Harry, you both will be learning pureblood etiquette and politics." He paused, making sure that the teens understand clearly of what they will be doing.
"As for what you will be specifically learning, you will be advancing your knowledge and ability in potions with Severus." Immediately, Harry made a disgusted face at the notion of being in the same room as the potions' master. Catching the face, the Dark Lord immediately scolded the boy, "Oh, don't make that face, Harry. He'll surprise you when you get to spend time with him." Against his better judgment, he nodded his head, "alright, now next you will be learning the dark arts from Bella, as well as dueling with Bella and Narcissa." Despite what most people believed her to be a complacent housewife who relied on her sister and husband to protect her, Narcissa is a very formidable witch. She is a lot like her sister when comes to magical prowess, however, unlike Bellatrix, the fair-haired witch doesn't like to show her entire hand for everyone to see. Her cold, icy stare and aloof disposition gives her an edge of deception that causes the masses to underestimate her. "Next you will learn how to properly heal with Narcissa. It is essential for you to be able to care for yourself or each other when the time arises. You will also perfect your occulmency and legilimency skills with Severus and Sirius. The both of them have had years of experience with blocking out and silently invading the minds of Order members as well as Dumbledore and Moody. So, they are perfect for you to learn from. Next, you will learn pureblood etiquette from both Narcissa and Sirius. And then finally for you, Hermione, will be learning diplomacy from me. I will teach you Russian politics and diplomacy, as well as English diplomacy." At this plan, everyone nodded their heads, consenting to the lessons. "Great! Now you are free to leave, as for you Bella, Narcissa, and Sirius comprise a timetable with Severus to schedule the lessons for your new students."
"Of course, my Lord, it will be done," and with that, the adults bowed their heads and led the teens out to go about setting that timetable.
Since Sirius had taken Hermione and Harry on a long trip to the States, Dumbledore felt it safe enough to convene a secret meeting with a select number of Order members that knew of the plans for the Romanov heirs. Standing at the head of the long kitchen table, he looked at each of the members present: Alastor Moody, Arthur and Molly Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Severus Snape, and Andromeda Tonks. All of these eight members have shown time and time again of their unwavering loyalty to Dumbledore and the 'light' side. There was a time that he had questioned the faithfulness of Andromeda and Severus, but they have proved their usefulness and provided crucial information that led to successes for the Order on numerous occasions. For Severus, it was obvious that he would be there, he had spent years at being his spy for the Headmaster, and has provided crucial information from Tom's camp. As for Andromeda, he had doubted her intentions but she had left her entire family for the love of her muggleborn lover and unborn daughter and she proved her worth by calling the aurors on her sister, the Lestrange brothers, and Barty Crouch Jr. She was going over to the Longbottoms to visit them when she found them being tortured and swiftly called for the aurors and then testified against them with providing her memory. However, Bellatrix never knew that it was her sister who provided the memory. Staring out at his followers, he felt confident in their ability to follow his lead and come up with an iron clad plan that couldn't be impossible to prevent.
Clearing his throat, he disrupted all conversations and grabbed the others' attention. "I thank you for attending this meeting on such short notice, but we must construct our plan to keep Hermione and Harry tethered to this side. We can also see that the two has been detaching themselves from Molly and Arthur's youngest children. It is essential that we keep them rooted to our cause, it is the only way we can win this war."
"Albus," Arthur called out, drawing attention to himself, "why exactly is that, I understand that there is a prophecy surrounding Hermione since she is the Romanov Duchess, but what exactly does it say?"
"Ahh, yes, I forgot that I have yet to reveal to you its contents. It explains that the heir's mission to restore this world is entwined with that of Harry's. Her mission essential relies upon his. And then it also revealed that she will enter into a union with the one that is called the 'Amazon Star', though I'm not entirely sure what that means." Dumbledore looks towards Andromeda with a questioning look, "Andromeda, do you know what this could mean, it does refer to a person named after a star and your family is the only known family to name their descendants after astrological names."
Looking thoughtfully, Andromeda opened her mouth, "I apologize Albus but I do not know of any star or Black that has ever been referred to as such. So, it would have to be someone else." Albus seemed disappointed by the answer but however, before he could respond, Moody spoke up first.
"Albus, there was the conversation that the girl had with Bellatrix the night of the battle. I have a feeling that it is that dark witch who is this…Amazon star," he spoke with a sneer. The girl had extremely irritated the retired and overly paranoid auror. In one foul swoop, the girl managed to ruin the entire plan they had for that battle. He had also sent his sneer to the disowned Black sister. He always wondered why Albus allowed for her to be a part of the Order, let alone a part of the top-secret meetings. He did not trust her. However, the witch simply shrugged with a thoughtful expression.
"He could be right, Albus. Therefor, in the coming months, we should anticipate any possible interactions between the two." Andromeda spoke simply while setting her gaze to the old wizard.
"You are right, Andromeda, we must be more vigilant than ever. If Bellatrix is Hermione's fated lover, then we must do what we can to keep them separate. If they are able to solidify their union, both witches' magical ability will magnify, especially Bellatrix's."
"Why would Bellatrix's increase in magic be worse than the girl's? She is stronger than her," Diggle spoke, laughing at the ludicrous idea.
Unaffected by the man's laughing, Albus clarified, "The Romanovs are naturally stronger than others, including myself." This earned him a gasp from Molly, "yes, Molly, once Hermione has matured in her magic, she will be significantly stronger than anyone, including myself and Tom, and when she fully bonds with Bellatrix, or whoever is her fated lover, that person's magic will increase to the level of that of a mature Romanov. So, it is prudent of us to make sure that she is rooted to this side by being tethered to Ron, and Harry to Ginerva." And to that, Molly and Arthur smiled broadly at the prospect of their children marrying the Romanov Duchess and the most famous boy in history, and plus all the wealth they could ever dream of. It was just too perfect for them. "Now we have to think of something to bring about their connections. Severus?"
"Yes, Headmaster?"
"Do you happen to have any readily available love potions?" The potions master seemed disinterested in this conversation but nonetheless responded.
"Sorry, Headmaster, but I do not have any. I do not believe that it is inappropriate for me to be in possession of such potions since I work around underaged students who live in the castle as myself. And as you know, only the person that the receiver will be infatuated with is the person who originally made the potion. Thus, unfortunately, I cannot be the one to provide you with the potions. So, it seems as though both Mr. and Ms. Weasley will have to create their own potions for this plan to work, and since I have been their instructor these past four and five years, those potions will not likely be possible." His flippant tone towards the end caused both the elder Weasleys to scowl at the dungeon bat, especially Molly, who seemed to be snarling as well.
Clearly disliking this response, Dumbledore spoke with an icy edge to his tone. "Well, since you put it that way, you are going to have to help them make it."
Snape narrowed his eyes at the annoyingly insistent Headmaster, "If I must, I will help them make their first batch, but after that, they are on their own. So, they will have to pay attention, or they will no longer have Hermione and Harry infatuated with themselves, because as you know, love potions don't last for long periods of time." And with that, he gave a pointed glare to the Weasley couple. Severus Snape may have been tolerant of many things, however, love potions were not one of them. As a man whose heart had been crushed and has since never recovered, he felt it was wrong to meddle with someone's love and affection. Severus knew that even the Dark Lord would never stoop that low of playing with someone's heart, especially since he was a result of that love potion.
"Alright, Severus, that is fair for you to do. Thank you, it is appreciated." He nodded his head towards the dark wizard. "Now, with that handled, Severus you need to set up a time that you are available to assist Ronald and Ginerva. And on to other business, for now, there isn't much we can do until Hermione and Harry return from then, but when they return we will need to act with the love potions and have Ronald and Ginerva do everything they can to spend time with them. As well as keep a watchful eye on all communication that Hermione has. Also, we need to find out who is Hermione's brother. Since the young tsarevitch also escaped and most likely brought to this time as well, it is essential that we find him. We could also use him as leverage to keep Hermione tethered to our side." After saying that the Headmaster looked around and saw everyone nodding their heads in understanding. "The next time we reconvene, we will discuss our plan to get the boy. So now saying that, does anyone have anything they want to add?" Nobody spoke up, "alright then, this meet is now adjourned, have a good night." The Headmaster stood there as he watched the members talk amongst themselves or in Severus's case, swiftly leave to go back to his dungeons. Or at least that what Dumbledore thought. The Headmaster thought that he had a very tight circle that would maintain their confidentiality. However, he didn't take into account that Severus was not his spy and that there was another spy in the midst. Dumbledore never realized that once a Black, always a Black.
