Ater Sanguis
Warning: Rated M for language, potential violence, and occasional sex scene
Disclaimer: I don't own the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter. If I did, I could actually afford to attend uni. All characters are property of JK Rowling.
A/N: I am beyond elated that my tiny little story has gotten nearly 50 followers on here! I am so glad that people are really enjoying this (but if you could give me a review as to how you like it, that would be phenomenal). I do have the next two chapters pre-written, and I am planning on writing a few more before I upload the next one. I think I am going to remove my chapter numbers from the first one, as well as this one, and just keep it simple that way. Also, please note that my story is not beta'd - any grammatical errors that I somehow make, please inform me whether through PM or in a review. I tend to have very proper grammar, as I am a consultant at my college's writing center, but I'm human and make mistakes. So if I do have a mistake, be it continuity, grammar, or other, please let me know!
Doubtful
16 July, 1996
12 Grimmauld Place
Hermione gasped when she saw Narcissa open the door to the Black residence. She turned to her newly revealed father and his best mate before letting out a shrill "What the devil is she doing here?!"
Sirius patted her on the shoulder. "Poppet, you can't treat your new cousin that way."
Narcissa raised a perfectly sculpted blonde brow at her cousin. "Miss Granger is a muggle-born; how could she possibly be my cousin?"
"There is a lot that must be discussed," Sirius said solemnly. "That can be one of our first topics. Now, we must be able to get into my house before we can talk about these topics."
Narcissa moved, allowing her cousin – cousins, she corrected herself – to enter the house with the werewolf before closing the door behind her. They walked into the parlor and sat down.
"I thought you said that this was an Order meeting," Hermione said once she sat on the plush couch, trying to distance herself from Narcissa as much as possible.
"It is," Remus answered. "Narcissa is joining our ranks."
"I'm sorry, but what?" Hermione shrieked. "Her husband is a no good Death Eater that gave Ginny a cursed diary and caused the most deadly creature in Hogwarts to be released!"
Narcissa ignored the jibe at her husband. "Yes, that is why I am here, actually. Kreacher?"
A loud pop was heard before the elderly house elf came into the room. "Yes, Mistress Cissa?"
"Could you get us some tea and biscuits? It is, after all, tea time." The house elf nodded and left with another loud pop. He returned moments later with a tray of teas and biscuits.
"Now, as I was saying, I am here for a reason, Miss Granger. Or is it actually Miss Black?" Narcissa eyed her cousin, curiosity filling her blue eyes.
"It has recently come to the attention of Hermione and me that we are related," Sirius answered as diplomatically as he could. It was hard for him to remain so professional. "Back nearly 17 years ago, I had a night of drunken love making with Eobard Jones' squib daughter, Helen."
Narcissa nearly choked on her biscuit. "The Eobard Jones? His daughter was a squib, I knew that, but I can't believe you bedded her!"
"This is my mum we are talking about," Hermione exclaimed. "Can we not be so brash?!"
Sirius ignored her. "Anyways, Helen and I had a night together, and apparently it resulted in this brilliant witch before us."
Narcissa studied the young witch. She did have the same eyes as Sirius, as well as his nose; and yes, she could see the telltale Black hair making its presence known. "I had never seen someone's hair continue to change as they aged; Draco's hair was nearly black when he was born, did you know?"
"Of course I didn't know, Narcissa, I was banished from the family, if you don't recall."
"Sorry, sorry, sore spot," Narcissa apologized. Years ago she never thought she would become friendly with her estranged cousin Sirius, and she certainly never would have dreamed of asking Hermione Granger for help. "Miss Granger, do you still wish to be called Miss Granger?"
"Well, that is my birth name," Hermione said, somewhat stiffly. She still didn't understand why the sister of Bellatrix was in her father's home. "If I were to acknowledge Sirius as my father, that could cause quite a scandal, don't you think?"
"Oh, not particularly," Narcissa mused. "Your father was quite the playboy back in the day. Why, now that the accusations of the Potters' deaths has been lifted, I'm sure he will be returning to those ways." After the battle at the Department of Mysteries, the Minister released a statement saying that he was sorely apologetic for his disbelief of Harry's statements, and recanted the search for Sirius Black, claiming that he was innocent when it came to the deaths of Lily and James Potter. That blame was shifted to the rightful murder – Peter Pettigrew, who was also being charged (if he was caught) for being an unregistered animagus. (Hermione suggested that Sirius register himself shortly after, and he begrudgingly obliged.)
"Besides, having Black blood may make your new assignment a bit easier…" Remus mentioned, a bemused look on his face.
"Fine, I'll make a formal statement with a competent reporter for the Prophet," Hermione said tersely, clearly referring to Rita Skeeter, "saying that I have learned of my true heritage, and if Sirius agrees we can have a test done to prove it. But you must tell me what my assignment is!"
"Narcissa, would you like to explain it or should I?" Remus asked the female Malfoy. When she shook her head no, Remus continued to speak again. "Narcissa is afraid for her son's safety. Voldemort is currently trying to get Draco to become a Death Eater. After the incident in the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort is not happy with the Malfoy family, namely Lucius."
"Well, I can see why. Lucius made quite a blunder. No offense," Hermione shrugged, speaking to Narcissa. She turned her attention back to Remus. "Continue."
"Well, because of that, Voldemort believes he needs a more competent Malfoy to be in his ranks. Narcissa managed to convince Draco to wait a while before becoming marked, but unfortunately, he is being tested by the dark wizard for his loyalty to their…cause."
"Not that he'll have any problems with that," Hermione scoffed. "He's only been calling me a mudblood and voicing his disapproval of my being at Hogwarts for years. How much more difficult does it have to be?"
"Mind your tongue, Granger. This is my son you are speaking of," Narcissa chided. "Draco may not be friendly towards Hermione Granger, muggle-born, but Hermione Black, heir to recently acquitted Sirius Black…He might have to be friendly. Especially if I tell him that I plan on meeting with my cousin more, as well as my sister, Andromeda."
"You're okay with meeting with your 'blood traitor' of a sister and 'disgrace' of a cousin?" Hermione questioned, a brow raised. "I find that hard to believe."
"Don't believe me then. I have spent more time with the Death Eaters this past year than I have wanted to – it is my house that holds the Dark Lord. I have recently realized that I do not particularly agree with the ideals of the Death Eaters, including those of my husband. Muggle-borns, if properly attended to, are not as big of a problem as I once would have thought. I do not wish to become…as kids call it, 'buddy-buddy' with a muggle or a muggle-born, but I can tolerate them. I certainly do not have a bad taste in my mouth being around you, Miss Granger, and I believed you were a muggle-born for years."
Hermione was silent. She was surprised to hear these words come from Narcissa. "You're not under Imperius or anything, are you? You aren't trying to spy on us and destroy us from within?"
A small laugh came from the blonde. "I can assure you, dear, I am not under the controlling curse, nor am I here to sabotage your motley group. I just want my son to be safe."
"Hell hath no fury like a mother," Remus paraphrased.
"Exactly," Narcissa concurred.
"But how do I come into play?" Hermione questioned. It was nice that Narcissa had a change of heart, and that she wanted to protect her son from working for the most vile being Hermione ever heard of (he was worse than Hitler in her opinion) – but she was still confused as to how she needed to be a part of this.
Narcissa spoke once more to the young witch. "You'll be keeping an eye on Draco. I mentioned to him a liaison may be helping us out within the next few months, but I did not delve further. I did not want to explain my 'defection' to my son, and if the Dark Lord were to use legilimens on my Draco, and he were unable to hide the memory…"
"You'd be dead," Hermione finished the woman's sentence for her.
"Precisely. Once you are both back at Hogwarts, he will be less likely to meet with the Dark Lord, so if you wish to explain to him that you are his liaison you may," Narcissa explained.
"Your schedule will be shifted slightly as well, Hermione," Remus interjected to explain the academic aspect of it. "As you managed to get an O in every course you took, Dumbledore was able to shift around your schedule. You will be taking N.E.W.T-level classes, of course." He handed her a schedule. Hermione did not pay attention to the times, only the classes and the days.
Monday, Wednesday
Advanced Arithmancy Studies
Advanced Charms
Advanced Transfiguration
Tuesday, Thursday
Advanced Potions
Wednesday
Apparation
Friday
Defense Against the Dark Arts
Advanced Ancient Runes
Hermione gawked at her schedule; it was beautiful. She was planning on taking all of these classes anyways. She was about to ask why they needed to change anything when Remus interrupted her with the answer.
"Professor Dumbledore changed around your schedule, as well as many of the sixth years, for there to be more classes with students from all the houses as opposed to just one or two classes. Your Charms, Potions and Defense courses are all with strictly Slytherin students. Ancient Runes is Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff; while Arithmancy and Transfiguration are Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw. Apparation is for all the houses and takes place after dinner on Wednesdays."
"What about my duties as a prefect? I'm not going to give up being a prefect to keep an eye on the boy who tormented me for years," Hermione puffed.
"That has also been taken care of. You have five sessions per week as prefect; three of those sessions will have you paired with Mister Malfoy."
"Draco's a prefect?"
"As well as captain of the Slytherin quidditch team," Narcissa boasted. "Despite his work under Dolores Umbridge, your headmaster believes that keeping Draco in a position of leadership would be good for him. If he is to work with you, Miss Granger, I believe it will only do better things for him."
"We can hope, anyways," Sirius laughed. "He is Lucius' son, and your husband is a right git; sorry."
Narcissa merely shrugged. "I am aware of my husband's less pleasing tendencies. Had I been on your end I would feel the same. This is why we are staging this operation; I refuse to let my son become his father."
"Well, I must say that I applaud your determination, Mrs. Malfoy," Hermione admitted.
"Please, once you come out as Sirius' daughter, we will be official cousins. And because we are both part of the Order now, and you are going to be watching out for my son, we can be a bit less formal. You can call me Narcissa."
"Okay, Narcissa the Narcissist," Sirius laughed, earning a smack from his cousin as well as his daughter, "Oh come on! I've been wanting to use that for years. I know you aren't truly a narcissist."
"No, that title belongs to you, Pads," Remus said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, I must be off," Narcissa said, standing up. "I will be back soon. Miss Granger, it was a pleasure. I hope that our newfound partnership may turn into a friendship of sorts."
"As odd as it seems, I am almost looking forward to it, Narcissa. And you can call me Hermione if you'd like."
Narcissa gave a quick nod to the trio, acknowledging Hermione's statement as well as saying goodbye. She stepped outside and the telltale pop of apparation let the group know she was gone.
A/N 2: The schedule for Hermione is slightly modeled after my college schedule – I have classes that meet on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday, as well as classes that meet once a week, and I had classes that met on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule. Just wanted to clarify that. Yes, she will have all classes with Draco – what fun! (Well, maybe not for her yet.) I hope you enjoyed this, and if you could please leave a review, I would be so tickled pink!
OH, and with the recent article by J.K. saying that Dorea and Charlus aren't James' parents, I thought I'd mention now that they are in this story (as it should be). For...future reasons.
