Chapter 2
A/N: A rewrite of this story will be published sometime in the near future so be on the lookout for Blood and Loyalty!
Mystified
Early in the day the Quidditch World Cup was scheduled to take place, Hermione felt something tangible in the air, and was not a bit surprised when her Dark Mark grew warm. She hadn't spoken to Tom in a few days, but she had known he had been planning something. There was chaos everywhere, and Hermione loved it. Tents caught fire, people screaming, smoke and fear in the air. It had been a long time since she had felt like this. Death Eaters in long cowled robes and bone masks caused panic to seep into the air, everyone she was with had disappeared while she was in the same spot she was in when she first caught wind of the noises, just enjoying the smell of blood in the air. But then, suddenly, it was quiet. Everyone had either disapparated or used a portkey to leave, immediately surrounded with wands pointed at her.
"Well aren't you a pretty little girl?" a hairy werewolf-man by the name of Greyback told her, smiling at her with a pointed tooth grin.
Hermione was not impressed with her brother's new followers, she smirked at him, "I'm older than I look."
"We'll see about that," Greyback growled as he started towards her, some of the other Death Eaters chuckling raspily.
"She is off limits," came from a cowled figure beside Greyback, "The Dark Lord forbids her from being harmed."
Greyback turned to the man, growling out as the hair on his arms stood up like an animal in danger, "You sweet on the Mudblood, Malfoy? The Dark Lord didn't give us any rules."
Hermione pointed her wand at him as the others murmured their agreements, more chuckles raising around her as she bared her left arm, and immediately stopped as they saw what lay etched into it, whispering as they knew it obviously wasn't a traditional Dark Mark. She brought it up to her lips and kissed it, summoning Severus to her as she knew he was on another part of the grounds where the fires blazed brighter. He came to her in a mass of black shimmery smoke.
"Severus," she greeted him as he lowered his mask, and went on one knee and kissed her hand. "Did you do well?" she asked, as if they were not in the middle of dangerous and confused Death Eaters.
"Yes my lady," he replied, "Do you wish for me to call them off?"
She smiled, "Yes, my dear. Please. Send my brother my regards." She kissed his cheek as the other's masks disappeared from their faces.
At those words the Death Eaters disapparated in clouds of black, fear of their Lord outweighing their curiosity as Hermione raised her wand in the air and conjured up the green light that made up the Dark Mark, and she was captivated. This is how Harry, Ron, Mr. Weasley, and the Aurors found her, mystified, staring up into the sky with a craving pit deep within her stomach.
~.O.~
The Only One For Her
Ron was an idiot, Hermione had already known that, but he had just demonstrated it once again in Severus' class. He was once again whinging about not having a date for the ball, when he asked something incredibly insensitive and stupid.
"Hermione you're a girl, right?" he said, immediately getting another hit on the head from Severus for talking he would think, but the Professor's reason was of something very different. "You want to go with one of us?" Harry just shook his head and buried his head in his notebook, shoulders shaking.
"Very astute, Ronald," Hermione huffed, finishing her sentence and standing, "And no Ron, I was already asked." She gave her papers to Severus who looked surly as ever.
Hermione grinned at him, glad her back was to the class, "Are you jealous, Sev?" She asked, although she already knew the answer from the slight emotions flitting through their bond of the Dark Mark.
He ignored her teasing as he pretended to look through the work on his desk, "Who are you going with?"
"Harry asked me. Save me a dance?"
He looked up to her still smiling face, his grimace melting, "Of course, my Lady."
Passing the boys, Ron's mouth was gaping unattractively. Guess Harry told him.
..
"Do you remember our Yule Ball Tom?" While some of her former memories remained fuzzy until she concentrated specifically with Tom's help to fill in the pieces, the Ball was one such one that was of the easier ones to remember. For one reason for another.
"Yes I do, my love," he chuckled, "They all talked about us that night too, more than usual."
She laughed out loud, glad that she had spelled the curtains around her bed, "I also remember how you reacted to Abraxas when he tried to ask me to it."
..
Hogwarts
Outside the Great Hall, 1943
Hermione's back dug into the stone of the deserted hallway where Tom had his hand around her throat, his thumb slowly stroking the slightly red skin.
"If he even asks you to dance, I will maim that handsome face of his in his sleep," he told her, his eyes darkening all the while.
She smirked up at him as his hand tightened momentarily, tilting her head to the side in order to kiss her neck.
"I would expect nothing less, brother," she gasped out as his hand bruised her hip and his lips moved to trail over her own. "You know you're the only one for me, Tommy. I could never love anyone more than I love you. Maybe just as much as you, though. But he would have to be very special indeed to draw my attention away from you."
He pushed her harder against the stone and laughed, gently kissing her as his grip loosened, "As long as he doesn't get in my way, I won't have a problem."
In retaliation of the rising bruises scattered upon her body, her sharp teeth latched onto Tom's own pale neck until it bled. The very obvious mark bruised very dark in shades of green, blue, and purple for the next few days as Tom proudly strutted around the castle for all to see, not once thinking of glamoring it to save himself the inquiring glances. Looks that more than not turned to the smiling sister at his side, but dared not make any comment.
..
Great Hall, 1995
"You look lovely, my lady," Severus told her as he danced about the Great Hall with her to one of the slower songs of the night, his face was blank but she saw a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
She grinned at him as he twirled her in her dark green dress that fell around her in layers of soft silk, "Thank you, Severus. You can call me Hermione you know?" he gave her a look, she laughed, "In private." She looked down to her dress, "Harry didn't like the color very much, but you Slytherins seem to be drawn to me in this particular shade." He huffed out a laugh at her joke, knowing very well her heritage as she curtsied to him before bowing back to her when the song ended. Watching as she walked back to Harry, and noting a certain blond eyed pure-blood whose' eyes had followed her for the duration of her dance with her knight.
"Why were you dancing with Snape?" Ron asked, sounding disgusted as Harry handed her a cup of cold pumpkin juice.
"Professor Snape, Ron," she told him, taking a sip of her drink, "and students were encouraged to dance with the professors. You heard Professor McGonagall."
He shuddered, his face contorting, "No thanks, once was bloody well enough for me."
She laughed at him as Tom made his presence known once more, "Do I have competition, my dear Sister?"
"I stand by my words, Tommy." Her eyes were once again on Severus in his dashing Slytherin green dress robes she had convinced him to wear. "You will always be the first man in my eyes."
"I will hold you to that."
~.O.~
Back to Life
Triwizard Tournament
Hermione had gotten a message for the first time in a while from her living brother, and not the one residing within her mind.
Tonight
She felt the stir in the air, all too familiar and like the one during the Quidditch World Cup. Tom's voice raspy with excitement echoed in her head, giving way to an older version of itself, "Done."
"Done," Hermione repeated out loud as the long gone warmth of her brother settled into place beside her heart one more, looking to Severus who had already been observing her face from across the stands. Giddiness growing in her belly as the crowd's cheers around her grew to a roar, Harry appeared holding Cedric Diggory's body in a flash of blue light from the Triwizard portkey. The limb boy was clearly dead, that much was clear as soon as she saw Harry try and cling to the body as Dumbledore stood next to him. It took the crowd a few moments, and as if a switch was flicked, a horrific silence descended as Mr. Diggory began wailing. Hermione had felt her arm grow warm, and a presence not made up of a horcrux made itself known to her, for the first time in 50 years.
"Together," it said, "Together again. Tonight."
"Tonight," Hermione agreed, toning out the screams of the people around her at Harry's words of a supposed long dead man returning to life.
..
Godric's Hollow
Lord Voldemort was resurrected in a flash of swirling smoke, his weak and withered human body he had been possessing elongating, strengthening, connecting itself once again to it's other half as he gained strength with each passing minute. Connecting his soul once more to Hermione.
The next series of events would forever change how the world worked. It will forever be changed due to the actions of one man, one man who had thought he was doing good but had inadvertently made the most powerful wizard in a century even more dangerous. All due to love, the world will burn soon enough by the actions of two people who'd have killed themselves than be parted.
..
Hermione's mind lingered half way in the middle of darkness and light, as her soul had for many years before. Even in sleep she felt different. She felt whole. Her mind couldn't rest for all the world as gears turned, plans were in the making of the future. It was glorious chaos after Harry revealed Lord Voldemort was back, the air filled with denial and fear, and a father's sadness for his murdered son that never would have happened if the blue eyed Headmaster hadn't of separated her from her brother. The man back from the brink of death she thought while even in sleep her mouth tilted up at the thought of him, making her look even more innocent than she truly was.
Suddenly, a sun melded itself above her, grass under her bare feet as a white dress with flowing sleeves folded itself around her, translucent in the light. Her brother stood in front of her, clad in his new body that just wouldn't do.
"Tommy!" Hermione gasped, and before she knew it she was engulfed in the phantom like warmth that would have been Tom.
"Hermione," Tom said in her ear, arms wrapping around her small body half the size of his own, and buried his face in her shadowy riot of curls. They could finally touch each other, after 50 years so unlike their meeting just a few years ago within his diary.
Pulling back, Hermione stared at her brother's new body inspired by Nagini's venom in the potion that had resurrected him. She caressed his face gently, feeling the essence of heat upon his cheek, "What have you done to yourself, my love?"
All Tom did was put his hand up to her face and attempted to trace every sharp angle and commit it to memory once again. Heat was flaring up from their bellies to snake out to all parts of themselves.
"Are you ready Tommy?" Hermione asked him, smiling a smile she had never shown to any of her friends in her new life.
In answer, he leaned down to softly press his lips to hers as pleasure filled both of their beings. Hermione moaned as Tom tangled a hand in her hair, and a shining golden light surrounded their bodies even brighter than the sun. Tom felt like he was on fire, and by extension, Hermione as she moaned out loud in the waking world as well. Light turned to darkness, and then everything was still. The flowers, the birds, the trees surrounding them. Everything became still except the two heart beats in sync with one another as snake like Lord Voldemort, turned into charming and handsome Tom Riddle once more.
..
Hermione woke gasping while feeling as if she could be suffocated by the red velvet sheets of her bed, sitting up in the bed as she still felt her twin's heat surrounding her. She had her Tom back, and she was going to do everything to stay with him this time. Twisting a now black wavy curl around her finger as if her muggle mother had never given her caramel curls, she tested her connection with her brother. Closing her eyes, she imagined what her magic looked like and it came to her in glimmering gold waves, spinning and dancing in darkness now with a silver that seemed to revolve around her magic that had not been there before she was reunited with her brother. She smiled as she heard the whispers of her brother's thoughts that would forever remain in her head, three words were louder than the others, and they only made her even more happier for she hadn't heard them from present day Tom in years.
"Soon." His voice echoed fleetingly through her mind.
"Very soon," she repeated to him, watching the waves of magic dance even more enthusiastically with their words and mounting emotions, relishing in the enjoyment she knew he felt with having his old body as well as his sister back once more.
~.O.~
Together Again
Not very long after Hermione and Tom were reunited in their dreams, they were reunited in reality.
Hermione didn't think that she and her brother would see each other for the first time like this without the aid of dreams or parchment charms, especially not through the eyes and body of Harry Potter. Hermione already knew that her brother had lost a bit of his sanity along the years she was away from him, but she didn't think that he would do something as blatant as this. Especially after they had been bonded together again. The Department of Mysteries was a tricky thing, prophecies were tricky things. They were what got her Tom on the verge of death once, and they were going to threaten his life again as well as expose them both.
"Come back to me love. Do it for us. We will always find our way back to each other, no matter what. We've been through too much already to have them win. We will be together again," Hermione knelt on the ground with her hands on Harry's chest, Voldemort inhabiting his body fighting for control of will. She touches his cheek as those smoky eyes in that pale gaunt face looked at her through the Boy-Who-Lived. "I will always be here, waiting. We promised always."
Suddenly as if a shock went through her body, as well as Harry's, heat flooded them both and Tom's eyes bored into her's as he rasps through a combination of his and the boy's voices, "Always." Dark smoke lifted out of Harry's body, and all Hermione was left to see before she fainted was green floo's springing to life and screaming steadily getting closer.
This was going to be a hell of a thing to explain later if the boy chose to hear her speaking the words to the enemy inhabiting his body and not himself.
..
Malfoy Manor was actually very pretty, if not a little… large and overdone, but Narcissa's gardens were absolutely lovely. Hermione absolutely loved all the pretty colors and types of flowers with so many different hidden meanings, to those who knew where to look. Violet and pink asters, different colored gladiolus, and iris lined the light walkway and no doubt had a little help from magic to help grow in the crisp Wiltshire air. Entering the spaciously dark ballroom on the arm of her loyal comrade, Hermione brought several unfriendly reactions and wands pointed to her from the people seated along the long mahogany table as well as a growl from more than one. And an admiring one from the commander.
Those who had been at the World Cup and having seen one of their lieutenants taking orders from her hesitated slightly, and were by far the quietest of the den of voices.
"Silence!" Tom said quietly, his deep voice not having to yell to garner attention from his followers. Many sat back, only a few still mumbling their disagreements and inquiries at a mudblood being at a Death Eater meeting and was met at the end of a stony glare instead of the usual green flash.
"Thank you, Sev," Hermione told Severus as they both stood only a few feet from the end of the seated people.
"Are you sure?" he asked, placing a kiss to her knuckles.
Hermione chuckled putting her hand on his face, stroking her thumb on his cheekbone, and urging him on the take his new place a few seats up from his original to her brother's right, "Go on."
Severus sneered at the eyes that followed him as Hermione looked around the dark room, slowly making her way on the right side and dragging her small hand along the large black clad shoulders as the respective owners flinched, and suddenly the room became quiet as if a spell were cast. Meeting Tom's sharp gaze, Hermione's lips turned up at the corners and it softened. Stopping behind a young man with slightly long platinum blond hair with her hand on his tense shoulder, hissing interrupted the silence followed by her feminine chuckle that also turned into a hiss. In a swirl of black, her body transformed into a long slim jade boa constrictor that wound herself around a stone stoll Draco Malfoy's neck and shoulders, nestled against his cheek until he relaxed. With a nod from his Lord, the boy ran a pale hand along her back as she went to wind herself with Nagini slithering up to Tom. Passing the various Death Eaters, Hermione hissed at a few she didn't particularly like, tying herself around her brother's torso with her daughter until she was comfortable enough to turn back into her human self. Kissing underneath his jaw, Hermione felt a kiss placed onto her own black waves as his arms went around her trim waist, her own hands around his neck and bottom between his thighs in a very familiar position before looking down the table to the bewildered Death Eaters.
As Tom began the meeting, Hermione stroked Nagini on her head as she hissed her affections to her mother with her head resting upon her breasts, both of them looking on to study the dark knights her brother had amassed. They were loyal, but only by fear, she would have to change that. Her eyes are drawn to Severus directly in front of where she sat and she smiled as she notices he is already looking at her. Next is Draco, he will be next to come around, his mother will follow, and Lucius may be possible once he sees his wife and son. Many of the people at this table may be possible once they see the differences between herself and Tom. She had always been the staunch believer that fear may inspire loyalty without question, but love inspires loyalty in the most life threatening circumstances, and unlike fear, they will stick with you throughout it all without the thought of betraying you.
Just like Severus, he had not loved his Master above all else all those years ago, and so he turned spy. But that would not happen this time around as he was now soley loyal to her alone by the affection he bore her, and she him.
"This is my sister," Hermione heard Tom say through her thoughts, "you will treat her as if she is me, when all actuality she is and you will cater to her every need and protection whether she asks for it or not. She will be your Lady as I am your Lord, but my needs will be met second to hers. She is above me in every way possible where we both are concerned."
"Tom," she admonishes him lightly, speaking for the first time while playing with the buttons on his dark green robes that boarded just on black. "Severus is capable enough to protect himself and me, and you know as much as I that I can protect myself."
He tilted her chin up with his large hand covering half of her neck and part of her cheek, his eyes flicking to Severus for a moment,, "As you did so well against Dumbledore," Their eyes both darkened as she hissed angrily at her brother who simply tightened his hand on her neck when her hand sneaked up into his hair to pull on it painfully. "Accept it, love. Until they get to know you, they will fear me, and listen to me until they learn to love you and treat you like their queen. As they should."
Hermione was not at all surprised to hear that he knew what she was thinking, their connections allowing the other to hear at all times through thoughts. Putting her hand on his pale cheek, she smiled softly as her anger lessened before leaning up to kiss the corner of his healthily pink lips, "I know my love."
..
The Death Eaters were astonished, and that didn't happen very often. They saw their feared leader smile at the girl, let the girl touch him without killing her. Kiss him and wrap her body around him sensually, and let her touch his feared overgrown familiar who allowed her to touch her scaly body without biting her with venomous fangs. The Dark Lord had never allowed anyone to get close enough to even have a chance at brushing his voluminous robes, and if they ever were they were met with the end of his dark wand and with the flash of a green light in the blink of an eye. It had been common knowledge amongst their elders that he had never sought human contact with anyone once his beloved sister had gone missing all those decades ago, and they had heeded their advice with an abundance of caution around their volatile master.
The girl.
His sister.
It was abnormal, unnatural, and while many purebloods had married inside their family out of trying to keep the bloodline pure, never would their immediate siblings be involved. Ultimately though, it was not much of a surprise. There were stories, rumors once again passed down by their parents of Tom Riddle having a twin long ago that had disappeared without a trace, stories of the charismatic girl passed on from the first Death Eaters to their sons and daughters. Stories of the loving girl who had treated them with kindness and protected them from her brother's wrath, as well as protecting him from himself, but when she was gone, there was no one to buffer their Lord's cruelty. There was no one to keep him from succumbing to insanity. The girl that was thought to be entirely too close to her brother was thought to be dead, and with her, any shred of humanity that had festered within the Dark Lord's heart.
But here she was, the girl of myth was sitting on their Lord's lap, kissing him, and loving him, and touching him. Hardly anyone could believe it, but some dared to hope for the life their parents and their grandparents spoke in hushed whispers of. This girl, now their Mistress, may very well save them from death at the hands of their Lord. As they watched the smile they thought him previously incapable of spread across his face, they thought this with whimsical hearts as the small girl dwarfed by his sheer body size made their Dark Lord laugh lowly into the curls just like his own.
~.O.~
Suspicions
Hogwarts Express
"Hermione!" A tall lanky boy with messy black hair collided with the petite girl, almost knocking her over in laughter, "Where have you been?"
"Hi, Harry," she said, chuckling as they boarded the train while winding her arm around his tall neck as he grabbed her small bag, "You know I've been in France with my parents, I just haven't had time to write to anyone I've been so busy."
"You could've at least given us a hint that you were still alive," he said, giving her an admonishing look as she tried to not be annoyed at his prying and insistant questions.
"How've you been Harry?" she asked as she sat next to Ron in the maroon compartment, giving him a light squeeze and smiling as his face took on an uncharacteristic blush. Harry took a seat next to Ginny, sitting closer than they had the previous years. "You still having the dreams?"
He got this little frown between his eyes that made him look adorable, Ginny putting her hand on his knee as Ron tensed next to her but said nothing.
"Sometimes, but they're mostly bits and pieces, now it's more just feelings sometimes and emotions that aren't mine," he hesitated, Ginny's grip tensed on his knee. "He doesn't feel like he used to."
Hermione gave him a confused look, but knowing exactly what he meant, "What do you mean?"
"He… doesn't feel as erratic as he used to. He feels saner, or as sane as a Dark Lord can be."
"Well that makes sense, there's not as many raids as there used to be. What's so bad about it?"
"He's planning something 'Mione," Ron spoke for the first time since she stepped on the train, his long hair falling into his eyes boyishly.
"And so is Dumbledore," Harry interjected after a few moments of digestive silence, and Hermione's head snapped to him from where she had been lost in thought looking out the window. "He took me with him to see Horace Slughorn, an old potions teacher, Snape is taking the Defense Against the Dark Arts position."
"Professor Snape, Harry." Hermione said sneering, remembering the large biased irritating man, distracted again. Dumbledore doesn't expect Severus to live past this year Tommy, not in Hogwarts. She reached out to her brother's mind.
You already know everything I would kill him for, he will live, my sister. The old man doesn't know he swore loyalty to you.
"Do you know what?" Hermione asked Harry, desperate for information she could pass on to her brother.
He frowned again, suddenly grabbing his forehead and looking out the door of the compartment to where Draco had just passed, "No, but he wants me to go somewhere with him later this year. What was weird too, his hand was turning black." he replied, continuing to look towards the empty hall.
Hermione's body went cold, "His hand was black?"
"Yeah, and there was a white spot on one of his fingers like a ring and the black branched out like the hand was shriveling up."
Hermione's jaw clenched, Get all the Horcruxes. Keep Nagini close and don't let her be seen by anyone other than Severus and Draco.
..
Hogwarts, Potions
Walking into potions and seeing Horace Slughorn where Severus should have been was like an ice pick being rammed into the namesake's solid substance, that certain crack and break you know is eventual. Something was going to happen that Slughorn being here was crucial to the start of, Hermione could feel it. Him being here was the certainty that Dumbledore expected Severus to not be back next year, he thought he would lay his life down for him in order to win this war. Hermione would not allow that to happen. Would not allow him to lay down his life for her, nor anyone else no matter the promises he made. Especially a man who deceives by pretending to be good, when in reality, he is the one to send people off to their deaths.
"Hello, Draco," she sidled up beside him as he gave an uncharacteristically soft smile a Slytherin wouldn't normally give a Gryffindor.
"My lady," he says while keeping his attention focused on Slughorn's large frame wobbling up to the three steaming cauldrons, inclining his head slightly all the while as Harry and Ron shot her questioning looks as to why she was talking to the enemy.
"Does anyone know what these potions might be?" Slughorn starts, his ridiculous hat sitting atop his head as he just looked to the kids in front of him, nobody raised their hands.
"You know Draco," Hermione whispered quietly as Slughorn looked expectantly at them all, not at all like Severus who would be calling them utter imbeciles by now, "Severus taught us these years ago."
"Miss. Granger," Slughorn called on her, interrupting Draco's retort, "Would you be so kind?"
Pushing down her irritation at his high voice, she took her place in front of the first cauldron, "Amortentia, said to be the most powerful love potion in the world. Supposed to be the one thing that can attract anyone you want to you with even just a drop." She said, distracted by the scent and not even attempting to pull away.
"And what does it smell like to you Miss. Granger?" Slughorn asked, breaking Hermione from her trance when she heard something indistinguishable in his voice.
She met his eyes, saying the words that would cement her old professor's suspicions, as well as Dumbledore's but she could care less at the moment, "Bourbon," Slughorn flinched, "mint," he fought not to take a step back, "and fresh falling snow." His mouth gaped open slightly, and he fought his legs to stay in place and not go running to the Headmaster that very second.
Hermione turned on her heel to walk back next to a smirking Draco, "You just started something didn't you?"
"I sure did, lovie."
Harry and Ron exchanged confused glances behind the two, Harry holding a tatty old book with familiar black ink writing across the righthand corner.
..
"Albus," Slughorn's hand shook as he poured scotch into a tumbler before the man's office desk, "You didn't tell me when I agreed to come back that I would have Tom's sister in my class."
"So it is her?" Dumbledore asked for once without that insufferable twinkle in his eye as he looked every bit his age.
"Albus what is going on?" McGonagall asked from her seat in beside the new potions master, "Who are you both talking about?"
"Hermione, Minerva," Albus replied, "Hermione Riddle and Hermione Granger."
"She said the same words as the first time I set the assignment all those years ago," Slughorn chimed in distractedly, lost in his thoughts.
Realization dawned on her face, her body slumping back as she fought not to panic or faint, "How is this possible? She disappeared over 50 years ago."
Dumbledore runs a hand over his face, "I did something."
"What did you do Albus?"
He hesitated, "I made a spell that went wrong. It was supposed to make her into a different person, someone that would not help Tom. I guess it did, just in the wrong century, and from what Horace has told us she retains her memories from her first life. I thought it would keep Tom from becoming too powerful, but I was wrong, it only made him more unstable. The year that she was gone was the year that Tom made his presence known, the year that all those deaths occurred at the hands of the hordes of the Death Eaters."
"Dear Merlin," Slughorn said, knocking back his drink.
Minerva sighed, "Oh, Albus. They were twins, you know good and well what that means within the wizarding world. The bond they share. She is the only person who made him see reason, you didn't see it as much as I did. You were their professor, I was their classmate. She is more powerful than any of us, and now she has the power to control the most feared wizard since Grindelwald. You did this Albus, all we can do now is wait and see what she will do after being separated from the one person they both had and loved."
"Just wait," he repeated, taking on the weary expression of a man who has lived too long. His gaze turned towards his blackening hand.
~.O.~
Choices
Malfoy Manor
Tom's Chambers
"I don't want Draco to be involved in this Tommy," Hermione said one day, laying in a thin night dress on Tom's green silk laden bed. Their bed now. She had obliviated the muggle parents who had given birth to her, who had genuinely loved her and she them, but she loved Tom all that much more. The least she had done for them, as she took the only daughter they had ever known and raised for sixteen years was replace her with a new muggle Hermione. A young one they could love fully and keep close to them.
"Why not, love?" Tom asked from his position at the mahogany desk, bent over doing paperwork pertaining to Ministry officials and bribes. "He has been trained to be one of our Death Eaters since birth."
Hermione sighed while sliding off the high bed so her feet could sink silently in the black fur rug to wrap her arms around Tom's neck, looking over his shoulder. "Being raised into it, and choosing to become a dark wizard are two very different things."
Pulling back, Tom set down his quill and pulled Hermione down into his lap, nuzzling the underside of her neck to kiss her jaw. "We had made two horcruxes by the time we were his age."
She laughed softly against his lips, sinking her hands into his soft hair, "He will be my knight, I will put him in the Ministry and he can choose if he wants to be a part of the violence. He's just a boy, he wasn't meant to ravage..." she hissed, pulling his hair back roughly, making him chuckle huskily as she trailed her own lips down his jaw, large hands bruising her hips, "the world like we are."
"Ravage indeed, dearie." Hermione squealed as she was picked up into the air.
..
Malfoy Manor Ballroom
Death Eater Meeting
"Will you Draco Lucius Malfoy be loyal to your lady, to do everything in your power to ensure her and her Lord Brother's assent into power?"
"I do," he didn't hesitate.
Hermione put her red lips to Draco's bare left arm, and on it appeared the same image as the one on her's and Severus', the Dark Mark with the addition of the lavender.
The Death Eaters were mesmerized to witness the second of it's kind, The Knights, being made by warmth and compassion, rather than the agonizing pain that made the flowerless Dark Mark so similar to the Cruciatus curse. Looking to their Dark Lord, once again many thought that maybe things would have been different if she had not disappeared so long ago, taken from him. Maybe they wouldn't have become the violent creatures they were today. Seeing the utter open adoration upon Lord Voldemort's face, many were still taken by surprise as they thought they would never get used to the emotion so clear on the man that had tortured them all at one time or another. Maybe they could come to love him, and idolized him. But now, as they look even closer, they know that he is no longer the one that solely decides their decisions. The girl kissing the blond haired boy on the cheek is the one that truly rules them, and is more their Dark Mistress than he will ever be their Dark Lord again.
~.O.~
Secret Meetings
Gryffindor Tower
Quidditch was never a sport Hermione had liked, nor had Tom. It was just a bunch of witches and wizards flying around on broomsticks, dodging and chasing big and little balls. Although, the after parties provided very good cover for clandestine meetings with potion masters that everyone called a dungeon bat, especially when said children were hooting and hollering at the red haired boy and annoying chit of a girl snogging at the center of said party.
Slipping away, Hermione made her way downstairs to a shadowed empty room overlooking the dark lake. Leaning against the stone wall, she closed her eyes and felt out for Severus' magic with her mind. Slightly caressing the strands, she waited for him to come to her. After so long apart, Hermione still felt the hole in her chest when she can not reach out and touch her brother's warm skin that never seemed to become cold, so the other man in her life she was growing to love would do perfectly. Suddenly, she was enveloped in that same heat she had been fantasizing about, arms wrapped in soft black velvet resting across her ribcage beneath her breasts.
"You wanted me love?" his breath rustled her hair, his unique scent of potions ingredients and spices invading her senses.
"I wanted to be held."
"Happy to oblige, though I do not know how your Lord Brother would think of our embraces ."
She chuckled, "My brother already knows of our affections Severus, I don't keep secrets from him, nor do I want to. As long as we include him from time to time he won't get jealous." Her arms went to rest in line with his, their fingers intertwining, "Do you have issue with that?"
"As long as it gives me you, I take issue from nothing."
The sounds of the party upstairs was suddenly amplified as someone opened the Common Room door, "You should go before someone comes looking for me." She told him as she turned in Severus' arms. "Are you still coming to Slughorn's party? Tom will be using Cormac McLaggen's body to check on everything for himself."
"Wouldn't miss it." He drawled, kissing her on the corner of her mouth and disappearing in a twirl of billowing robes.
"Hermione?" She heard her name being called, an inky black head blending in with the shadows behind him standing up at the middle of the spiral staircase, "What are you doing down here?"
"Just wanted some alone time, Harry," she replied, snaking her arm through his, leading him back up the stones.
"Were you talking to someone? I thought I heard a guy's voice?"
"Nope, just me."
..
Slug Club Party
"You know," Hermione said while straightening Tom's collar, "I never liked blondes very much." Seeing Tom's smirk on Cormac McLaggen's face was very, unusual to say the least. Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by Slughorn wobbling up to them, slapping Tom on the back.
"You clean up good my boy," he said, the faint smell of firewhiskey on his breath. Looking to Hermione, he noticeably flinched and back up a step as Tom took her hand, "Miss. Granger."
Hermione smiled with as much hidden glee as she could manage, but some was determined to spill out, "Professor," she purred, watching as he nodded and fled to chug more firewhiskey, Tom steering her towards the drinks table. Seeing Harry hovering behind her brother she ran a hand down his chest, kissing the corner of his mouth. "Go check on how Draco is doing with the Vanishing Cabinet."
He smirked, "Yes, dear," he kissed her hand before sweeping away in a twirl of black robes much like Severus that the real Cormac could never pull off.
"Really, 'Mione. McLaggen?" Harry asked her as soon as he was able, pulling her behind a sheer golden curtain that surprisingly offered more privacy than was shown.
"Yes Harry," Hermione chuckled, "Cormac asked me, and you didn't think to ask before he did when you didn't have an escort." Hermione felt Severus getting close, as well as the scent of herbs making it's way towards them.
He blushed as the incredulousness faded from his body, "Touche." Suddenly the curtain was pulled back with a snap, and there stood Severus in all his menacing ebony glory, decked out in slightly more formal robes with splashes of green stitching that Hermione had given to him as an early Yuletide gift.
"Potter," he spat, "Come with me," his eyes softened as well as his tone as Harry walked out with a huff, looking at Hermione, "As beautiful as ever, my lady." Putting a hand to his jaw and running her hand down the slight stubble Hermione smiled, "Thank you dear." As her knight stalked towards her friend, a presence made itself known by wrapping his arms around her small waist, kissing just behind her ear on the spot that never failed to make her moan. "Everything going to plan, brother?"
"Absolutely," he replied, sliding his large hands that, even in polyjuiced form lost none of their sneakiness, into the hollows of her hips while drawing them back to feel the hardness of his erection.
Gasping lowly as not to draw attention while heat flooded both their bodies, Hermione slid her arm around Tom's neck as if to keep him from moving away, drawing him up to hover just above her lips. "Severus knows that you are aware of our relationship," she purred, and Tom desperately wanted to capture the dark maroon lips just within reach, "You will love him for me, won't you my brother?" she asked, her sweet breath flooding Tom's senses, knowing she could never gift him with a better present than the one she was now.
He met the eyes that matched his within every detail, tangling a hand in her voluminous curls as he wetly kissed her neck, "As you will it sister." he met her lips in a flurry of passion as they sought to remain quiet and sequestered against the stone wall for the remainder of the party. "I would burn the world for you."
~.O.~
Cherished Promises
Malfoy Manor
Tom's Chambers
Christmas
The shapes of three people seemed to merge as one, lying in the bed of green silk under an enchanted canopy of the full moon and stars that cast a light glow over the three lovers. Lying in-between her two men, Tom says they have a gift for Hermione, nodding to Severus on her other side.
Propping herself up on one elbow, she stared at the small velvet box he handed her, kissing her knuckles. Opening it to see a shining emerald teardrop, two small snakes winding about each side to come to a point at the tip, her voice became watery . "Tom… Severus..." Severus pulled it from the velvet and pushed it onto her left forefinger, turning her hand and kissing her pulsepoint.
"This is our promise Hermione," he said, dark eyes smouldering.
"We promise to love you…" Tom continued.
"And cherish you…"
"And always stay by your side in the darkest of days."
Placing her hand on each of their jaws, she said, "I love you both so much." She kissed the corner of their mouths, not knowing what to say to their joint declarations. Tom slid down her body, placing mussed waves upon her naked breasts, Severus slid his arm over her hip and Tom's shoulders, their large bodies about dwarfing her smaller one entirely when they lay in such a way but to Hermione all it felt was safety.
Tom and Severus thoughts both began wondering as they felt the comforting beat of Hermione's heart slowing in her sleep, the weight of Severus' hand caressing Tom's shoulder, and Tom's doing the same to Severus' pale hip.
Fifty years Tom had been separated from his sister, and every moment had been excruciating. Tom supposed he would have never turned out as feared as he was now though, and that was thanks to Dumbledore as much as he hated to admit it. Hermione had always kept his head for him when he got lost in his anger, always there to make sure he didn't do something that would cost him to be seen as anything more than the charming facade he had long since tossed aside. Now, he ruled by fear and intimidation rather than love and admiration that was now Hermione's job. To gain the love of his Death Eaters. Much like his sister he did believe that while fear motivates many people, love can be even more powerful to inspire infinite loyalty in the face of death, shown by the adoration on Severus' face now as he looked upon his sister's. Staring up to her, Tom knows that he certainly couldn't resist her for long if he were his one of their Death Eaters, she could be even more manipulative than him in the way that she could get anyone to do anything with just one look if they so much as liked her much less loved her.
For decades people had shunned Severus either by his appearance or the mark on his arm, denied physical and emotional contact. Not anymore. He had finally found his place in the world, with two of the most powerful people in it, and he knew that it would have never happened if he hadn't endured the hardships he had gone through. He, like Tom, would never let her go now.
~.O.~
Motherly Instincts
Great Hall
"He's hiding something," Harry suddenly said in the middle of Ron raving about Quidditch, Hermione having tuned both of them out smiling at Draco as he took his seat at the Slytherin table, and to Severus who passed by to the Head Table. "I can feel it."
"Honestly, Harry," Hermione said calmly, hiding her irritation with his incessant need to think all Slytherins were evil. "Just because he can be a right git doesn't mean he's evil."
"Why are you always defending him?" Harry asked, turning his anger toward her as he had every time she had said something to discredit his thoughts on the matter. "Do you like him or something? How can you? He's always calling you a mudblood and-"
She sighed internally, cutting him off, "I don't Harry, but you're giving me a migraine. Slughorn's a Slytherin, how come you trust him? Unless you found something in his memories to validate Dumbledore's suspicions?" she asked, but he was turned back towards Draco who was already leaving the hall.
"I'm going to follow him," he said, jumping up and trying to appear as if wasn't running to catch up with the blond haired boy.
"Harry!" Hermione called after him knowing he was ignoring her now, groaning in irritation she turned to the head table, catching Severus' eye.
Follow us.
He nodded.
Striding gracefully out of the hall after telling Ron to stay at the table with Ginny, Hermione followed the call of Draco's Dark Mark that acted as a beacon to her with it's distinctive magical signature. The hall was filled with water, no doubt coming from one of Moaning Myrtle's fits. Lifting the velvet robes she had taken to wearing like the other Pureblooded girls and older years, Hermione walked through the thin water leading into the girl's bathroom where Draco somehow ended up. Flashes of light filled the large dark space, along with two male voices throwing curses and hexes at each other, missing each one. Except the last one thrown by the boy with the scar on his forehead.
"Sectumsempra!" Dread filled Hermione as well as fear as she heard that word, seeing Draco fall to the water surrounding him. Blood seeping through the pristine shirt in seconds from the spell that Hermione knew had to have been from the potions book of Severus' she had allowed the boy to look through, never thinking that he would be so stupid as to actually try out one of them.
"Draco," she whispered dropping her robes, unaware of the water weighing them down and feeling faint as well seeing so much blood on the crisp white shirt the boy wore. "Draco!" suddenly burst out of her mouth as she appeared beside him, her glowing hands hovering above his gasping chest as Draco's green eyes met her's, his white hand seeking out her skin and holding tight. His fist clenched the fabric of her dress between his fingers when it became clear both her hands were occupied.
"I - I didn't mean to," she heard, faintly from the boy who threw the curse, hearing as if she were underwater, "I- I didn't know what it did."
Hearing that last part and feeling Severus getting closer, Hermione's face transformed into something Harry had never seen before as he was filled with fear. "Go!" she growled, her eyes glowing red, anguish and rage filling her voice, "Leave!" she screamed as Severus made it into the bathroom and knelt next to his godson, beginning to heal him. Turning her attention back to the boy underneath her, her hands roamed over his wounds as well as Severus' wand, the echoing of his healing song and the glow of her healing hands filling the bathroom until Draco fell to sleep due to his blood loss and exhaustion. He never once let go of his death grip on his mistress all the while he was transferred to the hospital wing.
..
"He will be sentenced to detention for the rest of the year, with Mr. Filch."
"I want him expelled!" Lucius roared at Dumbledore, leaping to his feet as Narcissa sat beside his long legs, pale as a ghost. Hermione stood beside the window along with Severus as they stared down to the Black Lake feeling nauseous, although she knew no cause as the blood of others certainly wasn't anything new to her. Severus reached his mind to touch hers briefly, making her smile as McGonagall watched them from the beginning of the meeting as they had both come from Draco's side with identical blank faces, her expression one that was absolutely unidentifiable.
"I understand your anger Lucius," Dumbledore said calmly but uncomfortably, suddenly aware of Hermione's stare now boring on the side of his bearded face, "But it is impossible to have Harry expelled from Hogwarts."
Lucius was becoming an unhealthy shade of white, as opposed to someone normally turning red from anger. Watching him about to yell something else, Hermione spoke up, "Would you like to see Draco again?"
Everyone jumped and snapped their heads to where she leaned her hip against the stone of the wall, no one having expected her to speak up. Lucius' jaw worked as he stared at the insufferable man in front of him who stared at his mistress with a twinkle in his eye.
Narcissa stood, grabbing her husband's arm, "Please." McGonagall could only stare in shock as the teenage girl made a Malfoy back down, Severus following behind them as a dark shadow.
"She cares for them," she told her old friend, knowing from the frown he was trying to figure out a puzzle.
"She's not like her brother." Was all the Headmaster said.
~.O.~
The small group walked in silence to the Hospital Wing, broken only by Hermione's voice when they came to a standstill as they saw a raven haired boy standing by Draco's sleeping form.
"Get out." Her voice commanded obedience.
Harry's head shot up, taking a step away from the wounded boy, his face displaying his guilt, "Hermione I-"
Her voice sounded not at all like her own, "Get out Harry. His parents would like to speak with him."
He looked behind her to Lucius who had calmed an ignored the boy who had almost killed his only son, Narcissa who simply had cold disdain written about her beautiful face, and Severus who was staring at the boy with a look of utter loathing. "Why are you speaking for them?"
"That is none of your business," she hissed, walking up to him, "He is just a boy, Harry. He is not Death Eater. Use your head, he would have hit you with at least one of his curses with the intent to hurt if he was a Death Eater. Now leave. You have done more than enough damage."
~.O.~
Preparation and Battle
Hermione was still mad the next day when Harry had come to apologize. "Hermione will you please talk to me?" She said nothing to him, only continued to look out into the sun lightened Black Lake, watching the Giant Squid dance lazily with her arms crossed in front of her stomach. "Right. You don't have to say anything. Dumbledore wants me to go somewhere with him to find a Horcrux, we're leaving right now and we'll be back tonight. I just thought you should know, I've already told Ron."
She still wouldn't look at him, and Harry didn't know why she was so upset over someone she hated. Or didn't as it turned out. He kissed her cheek and smiled at the side of her face sadly as he walked back up to the castle towards the Astronomy Tower. Hermione followed him with her eyes until he was out of sight and got up onto her feet, slightly off balance and dizzy, light on her feet as walked to the Hospital Wing for Draco.
"Wake up, love," Draco's eyes fluttered open as Hermione brushed his short hair off his forehead, taking a seat on the edge of the white mattress.
"Mistress," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes like a little boy with his fists and attempting to sit up.
"No, no," Hermione pushed him back down as he winced a bit. "You don't have to get up just yet. Will you be ready tonight?"
His eyes widened fractionally, "Already?" he paused, " I will be ready, my Lady Hermione."
"You're a good boy Draco," she smiled and grabbed his pale hand that shook slightly, "I'll not make you do anything you're not ready for darling," she gave it a squeeze, "I will be with Severus in the Astronomy Tower until nightfall, I would like to be prepared when Dumbledore comes back to Hogwarts."
"Why do you and the Dark Lord hate Dumbledore so much?"
"Because he took our lives from us, my love. Sleep well," she kissed his forehead before silently stealing back out of the Wing once Madame Pomfrey came to check on the once again sleeping boy.
..
The students were rounded up out of their houses during the night, most with their robes over their pajamas and sporting confused and disgruntled faces as to why they were risen into the cold Great Hall. Upon his Mistress' orders, Severus told all Head of Houses to get them woken up, and that the Dark Lord was planning to attack that night. Later, if you had asked any of the children what had happened, they would tell you was parts of a story, certain people tell of certain phrases, curses, or people that were there, but never the whole as many were either too young or too shadowed.
An unexpected person stood next to the Head of Slytherin House…
Hermione Granger, was what started the fascinating tale of a battle and the even more unexpected events to occur.
"Tom will be here within the hour, I'm sure Dumbledore won't be long now either." Hermione whispered to him as he nods and his eyes lift to someone behind her.
"Severus what is the meaning of this?" McGonagall asked the man, glancing towards Hermione who had just turned around.
"The Dark Lord plans to take hold of Hogwarts tonight Minerva, I had just found out this evening before initiating protocols," his smooth voice continued, ignoring the growing fear on the older woman's face, "I have already alerted the Order and Dumbledore, I hope they will be here by the time they attack. He and Potter had not sent a Patronus in response."
And then screams of the children in the back of the hall echoed, causing the teachers and the older years to pull out their wands, the younger ones following suit even as they new nothing of defensive nor offensive spells. Death Eaters had infiltrated the castle, throwing curses and jinxes at anyone closest them as Hogwarts teachers shot their own, albeit non lethal ones but curses nonetheless, and then they were silenced.
"Enough!" a handsome young man clad in flattering black robes had entered the room, a calm demeanor in the face of the cowering fear and sobs of the children in front of him. "Grab the teachers and stop messing around." The people of the school were shaken by the sheer power this man gave off, magic wise and voice wise. How could a man such as this command hundreds of Death Eaters who now also lined the entirety of the room, and was not Lord Voldemort?
The large gleaming familiar of this man and the woman standing beside the Potions Master wove a line straight through the hall, children yelping and cowering into their friends as they parted as if an invisible hand pushed them fluidly aside. The part everyone would remember was Hermione Granger, the resident know-it-all, book loving, curly haired girl only smiling as the snake slowly made her way to her. Her graceful dance down the steps as her wand swung in a circle, starting from her head down to taper off at her waist. In a lovely bit of magic any of the girls would kill for, her shiny hair made it's way into a pretty bun and her robes fanned out into a fitted lace trim dress to replace her muggle shirt and jeans as she swept fluidly to meet Nagini with her dark shadow following silently behind her.
"Darling!" she swooned, holding her hand to her hissing daughter.
"Mother," she wound herself around Hermione's waist and neck.
A flash of blue came next, teachers ripped from Death Eaters, kids all surrounded by a shielding spell by Professor Dumbledore who had apparated onto the grounds with Harry Potter at his arm, only able to stand, watch, and listen to the battle that would surround them as Death Eaters trained their wands on the Order Members apparating in as backup.
Hermione's face turned dark as everything stilled, walking to the protected children, Order members eyed her with no idea how to proceed let her hold out her hand, "Draco." He let her lead him to Tom as she wove her arm around her brother's, Draco behind her, Severus to her left, Tom to her right.
"Attack," her cold voice rang, and curses flew, and the battle ensued.
The Death Eaters won. Casualties were made by anyone over seventeen, and Albus Dumbledore succumbed to the afterlife at the hands of the Dark Lord and his Dark Mistress.
..
Malfoy Manor, Ballroom
3 months later
Hermione and Tom sat on their velvet lined thrones at the top of the ballroom dias, surrounded by snakes, eagles, badgers, and lions all dancing and barely dressed in celebration of having yet another revel. Dancing drunkenly, most people were high on the magic that was visibly sparking in the air, all except Hermione with her stomach, slightly swollen and resting upon her hips, and Tom and Severus who both only wished to get their wife to themselves.
"Do you like the world we have made, my Hermione?" Tom asked from his throne, ankle over knee in pristine black slacks, his bare muscled chest drawing more than enough attention from the women surrounding them, and a fair few of the men staring as long as they dare lest his lace clad queen catch them and lose herself to hormones. Severus in much the same boat.
She smiled as she kissed his hand, "I love it, my love." Her eyes turned to Severus, who smiled and kissed her palm. "Do you like our world, my Darling?"
He smiled like he had never before, the weight of a master who used and abused him finally dead and able to lead his own life with the other he had forgiven, knowing only Hermione would allow for him only the best. "A world with you by my side is utopia, my love," he replied in his deep baritone and helped her stand, finally tired of the festivities surrounding them to lead the way through the happily oblivious crowd. Tom, lead by Hermione's hand, brushed Draco's bare shoulders where he stood pleasuring a red-head alongside Harry who was with his own.
Hermione now ruled a world that bowed down to her and her husbands, either in deep seated fear, or love, but eternal loyalty.
Behind the trio followed their euphoric hissing familiar, "Family again. Family grows. Together family safe. Safe now."