It took three days, three long days, to arrange a portkey to England. Severus groaned. The Prince Estate was no longer actively on the floo network and some damn, bloody fool had tried to take a Welsh Green Egg into Italy without a license. All travel was being strictly monitored.
He knew she'd survived. He knew she'd taken her seat. There were pictures in the paper. There was praise for her mercy and her power. It was all very terrifying.
She'd made a very Slytherin move with the brash fire of a Gryffindor. Lucius probably had his hands full trying to rein her in. Severus rubbed the back of his neck. That at least would be some compensation for letting her get into all this trouble. It wouldn't save his old friend a good hexing, but such was life.
He plucked at the stone around his neck. She'd layered the spells on it. He hadn't even been curious. Letting someone else's magic do for him and to him should have seen him fighting, but she was clever. She'd placed spells to keep him accepting, spells to keep him from focusing, and spells to keep him safe which amplified the first two.
She'd been so clever. He smirked. Tying it all into gifts that showed how much she valued the bond and him. Each gift had kept him safe. He took a deep breath. Safety, freedom, and she'd been the only one trapped.
Bloody Gryffindor.
Martyr complexes abounded in that house, but none were as strong as Hermione's.
The bond she'd tried so hard to free him from proved stronger than she'd thought. If he hadn't broken faith with her, it might have stayed buried under her spells. They'd been designed to grow stronger over time, but she hadn't taken every factor into account.
Merlin, he was grateful she'd missed something.
He fought the urge to rush to her side.
After the wedding would be soon enough to confront her. He needed to get his house in order first. The wards would need updating because he wanted privacy for their little tête-à-tête. He damn well wouldn't have that conversation anywhere near her adoptive mother.
Hermione stood at the main doors of Longbottom Keep and fussed with the robes Narcissa had insisted she wear. Two days brewing and now she looked like a Victorian maiden in half mourning. Being a member of the Malfoy family came with some fairly heavy responsibilities to fashion.
The doors opened and Neville stood there. He didn't smile. His eyes tracked over her with an odd emptiness.
"The elves told me you'd come." His eyes flicked back toward the room behind him. "Lady Black."
"Hermione, Neville, I'm still just Hermione." She clenched her hands at her sides. This was beyond awkward.
"You aren't. You're Lady Black. My friend, my Hermione, wouldn't call that monster family." He shook his head. "You didn't chuck that monster out. You didn't prune her from your tree."
"I did what was best for my family." Hermione stiffened to her full height. "It isn't as black and white as it seems."
"Neville, allow the lady in." Augusta Longbottom stepped into the hall behind her grandson. "She's come for a reason."
"Surrender your wand, Lady Black." Neville held his hand out palm up. "You may have it when you leave us in peace."
Hermione placed her wand into his hand and fought the urge to roll her eyes. He wouldn't appreciate it. She watched him plunk it down on the polished surface of a round table that stood in the center of their entry. Chrysanthemums and white lilies filled the vase that was centered on the surface. Hermione blinked and looked away.
"Join us in the drawing room." Lady Longbottom gestured toward the doorway behind her. "Quit being a hot head, boy. Offer the lady your arm."
Neville huffed and raised his elbow slightly toward her. It was not a welcoming gesture, but Hermione rested her fingers gently on his forearm. They walked with stiff formality into the room.
"Forgive my grandson, Lady Black." The older woman settled into an ornate chair covered in a pale gray velvet and gestured to a small settee across from it. "He had expectations of your accounting."
"I could not cast Bellatrix out." Hermione sat at the edge of the seat and crossed her ankles. "As Head of House, should she ever return, I would have the power to stop her."
"She's dead." Neville snorted. "Where she's coming back from, then?"
"Death is not always the end." Hermione bit the inside of her cheek to keep from lecturing her friend. "We all know that."
"I imagine you are more aware of it than most." Augusta Longbottom smiled gently. "Being a curse breaker."
"Yes, ma'am." Hermione nodded. "I knew that accepting the burden of my house would change our relationship. The enmity between our houses traces back over generations, but I am hoping to put an end to that curse today."
Hermione pulled her beaded bag from a pocket concealed in her gown and enlarged it with a flick of her fingers. She glanced out of the side of her eyes at Neville and smirked slightly at his widened eyes. She opened the bag and pulled a long mahogany box from within. The Black family crest adorned the center of the box. It was worked in precious stones and metals and caught the light. The latch was worked with a silver lotus.
"A lotus?" Neville looked at the box in her hands.
"It's my personal symbol." Hermione smiled. "Draco designed it. He said an otter was too cheery for a Black and too playful for a Malfoy. I think it looked too much like a ferret."
Neville chuckled and his posture relaxed. He patted her shoulder gently, her friend once more. Hermione grinned at him and relaxed herself.
"I've spent most of my adult life pursuing arcane knowledge. Most of it is useless, but I recently acquired something that made some of that knowledge very useful." Hermione flipped the latch and opened the box. Two vials and two small red pouches rested on black velvet that was shot through with silver so that anything in the box appeared to be resting in the night sky. "I would have come to you right away, but I had to brew the potion myself."
"You didn't!" Augusta looked at the box with wide eyes.
"The pearls can only be added by a loving hand on the full moon. They will dissolve slowly and should be gone by the new moon. It has to be given on the new moon." Hermione stroked a finger along the edge of the box. "I offer this as a gift and as repentance."
"What is it?" Neville stared at the liquid in the vials.
"It's a healing potion." Hermione closed the box and handed it to Augusta. "It has a lot of different names. The Hittites called it water of life. That one seems the most apt. The potion itself without the ghost pearls will heal most injuries and maladies. With them, your parents should be able to come back to you."
"The ingredients are rare and very dear." Augusta frowned. "I've managed to collect half of them myself."
"I'm a master curse breaker." Hermione smiled. "I've worked all over the world and I'm a bit of a magpie. I had everything that was needed. Andromeda and Narcissa offered up the blood."
"I was disappointed that you didn't blast that crazy creature from your family tree, but I do understand." Augusta held the box close to her chest. "This is the greatest gift. Would your House consider an alliance with ours?"
"Yes." Hermione smiled and leaned into Neville as he hugged her against him.
"I don't see why we are required to go socialize with your Gryffindor friends." Draco glared at his sister as she flicked her long hair over her shoulder. "They won't be thrilled that you included us."
"You're my family. I want you there." Hermione smiled at him.
"Your pretty smile won't always work." Draco crossed his arms across his chest and glared at Hermione.
"Sure, it will." Astoria grinned. "She's your sister."
Draco watched as his sister and his fiancée smirked at him and decided to live to fight another day.
"Fine, let's go. How bad can one party be?" Draco shrugged. "Tomorrow, you can help me greet all the out of town guests that are coming in early."
"Throwing me to the wolves?" Hermione slipped an arm around his waist from one side.
"You can talk to the overly intellectual ones." Draco smirked. "There's some pair of masters coming in from Spain."
"And Draco likes everyone to think he's just pretty." Astoria slid her arm around him from the other side. "So, pretty."
Draco grinned and dragged both women off toward the floo. There was a chance he could hex someone if they insulted either of his girls. It might just be a perfect night.