CHAPTER TEN
Summary: Hermione's secret is discovered by The Order of the Phoenix. Before Harry is rescued, she needs to be first. But from who? With the help of Sirius she learns to put the past behind her, and with the help of two Weasleys, they show her a happy future. But Hermione isn't who she thinks she is, what she discovers will change her life for good. Rated M for a reason.
Disclaimer: All original characters and canon events belong to J.K. Rowling. Non-canon events are my own ideas. I am not making any profit from posting this fanfic.
Page count: 11
Hogwarts – Wednesday 10th January 1996
She was paralysed, a four year old hiding under her bed again.
When he saw her terrified expression, he almost faltered and let go, but he got his bearings and gripped her tighter.
"You have a smart mouth, Granger, I'm glad to know that you know how to shut it. But I can think of a few things it can be used for," he leered at her, taking great pleasure in her apparent fright.
Tears started leaking out of Hermione's eyes.
"Please don't hurt me," she whispered. "I've been good, I swear." He looked at her confused and his hold on her slackened.
She took advantage and struggled out of his hold. She stumbled backwards and he followed her, stepping forward.
He'd never seen her so frightened, hell, he'd never seen anyone look the way she did. Her skin was pale white, her large eyes filled with undiluted fear and tears poured out of them. She gave a whole new meaning to the term shaking like a leaf.
"I swear, I've been good, I haven't broke any rules," she cried.
Her back hit against the wall and she slid down it, landing on the floor. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her hands around her legs and she started rocking.
"I promise I've been good. Please don't hurt me, Daddy," she wailed. Malfoy was stood, rooted in place in shock.
Her whispered words brought him out of his shock and he narrowed his eyes and stepped forward. His hand touched her shoulder and it was a big mistake.
Hermione screamed. A great force of wind slammed into Malfoy, sending him flying backwards and into the wall opposite them. He bounced of it and landed on the floor.
He groaned and looked up when he heard a loud clash, rain started pouring from the ceiling, immediately soaking him and lightning flashed overhead. He looked at Hermione fearfully.
"HERMIONE!" his head snapped up, Fred and George were running down the corridor, also being soaked.
They kneeled down in front of her but didn't touch her. They tried to get her attention, but she was clinging to her knees, sobbing, not hearing a single word being spoken.
"What did you do?" George asked Malfoy with a fatal glare and an ice cold tone.
Malfoy opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out.
Fred carefully manoeuvred his hand under Hermione and touched her necklace.
'Sirius?'
'Who is this?' His voice entered Fred's mind, and it was a strange feeling to be hearing voices in his mind that weren't his own internal musings. He wondered how Hermione and Sirius did it so frequently without going insane.
'Fred, something's happened to Hermione, you need to get here now.'
'I'm on my way, what happened?'
'I don't know, we left after dinner to follow Hermione to the library, we found her. Malfoy's on the floor, looks to have been thrown against the wall. She's caved in on herself, crying and whispering. We can't break her out of it. It's like she's having flashbacks, like she's frozen in a memory. It's thundering and lightning here, too.'
'I'm stepping into the floo now,' Fred didn't have to wait long. 'I'm in Dumbledore's office, where are you?'
'First corridor to the right of the great hall.'
'I'll be there in a few minutes.'
"Sirius is coming, Hermione," Fred whispered.
"I asked you a question!" George snarled and he stood up and made his way over to Malfoy. He made an imposing figure with his hands clenched by his sides and anger twisting his usual joyous features.
"GEORGE!" Fred yelled, getting his attention. "He's not worth it, Hermione needs us. Sirius is on his way."
George glared at Malfoy, but walked away from him, and he knelt back down in front of Hermione, his anger dissipating in worry and the need to comfort her.
They whispered to her as she continued her mumblings and crying. They heard footsteps in-between the sounds of the thunder and rain hitting the stone floor and they looked up to see Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Sirius rushing towards them.
"Kitten!" Sirius called in worry.
Hermione's head snapped up and recognition lit her face, she wasted no time in unfolding her arms from around her legs and standing up, jumping into his arms when he was close enough.
"Please, don't let him hurt me, Daddy," she cried into his chest, but everyone heard clearly despite her words being muffled. Malfoy was stunned at her words and he sat up, propping himself up against the wall for support.
Sirius almost stopped breathing.
"I won't, Kitten. I promise he won't ever hurt you again," he replied softly. The rain, thunder and lightning stopped immediately after his words, and everyone sighed in relief.
"What happened?" he asked her quietly.
"Malfoy, he grabbed me and wouldn't let go. He looked so much like him. I panicked." Sirius gently tugged Hermione off him and he looked at the twins, Hermione followed his line of sight.
Their hearts broke at her puffy, red face, tears still leaking and fear still sitting in her eyes. They held their arms open for her and without thought she jumped into them, and they hugged her to them tightly.
Sirius smiled slightly at the scene and then he remembered the blonde on the floor and turned to him, anger immediately taking over.
"You dare hurt my daughter?" Sirius' canine side made an appearance with a growl. Malfoy gawked, unable to formulate a response. "You dare harm a Black, boy?" Malfoy stuttered. "Well?"
"I didn't know," he gulped.
"You didn't know? So it would've been perfectly acceptable for you to hurt a woman if she wasn't a Pureblood?"
He didn't speak.
"Your mother will be hearing of this, she may not like me, but when she discovers that you willingly harmed a woman, a Black, a cousin, she will be furious, even more so when news comes to light tomorrow."
"What news?" Fred asked.
"The Ministry received the letter; they're coming here tomorrow, sometime between breakfast and lunch to do the testing."
"What test?" Malfoy whispered fearfully, if it involved The Ministry it wouldn't bode well for him.
"You'll see the headlines on Friday," Sirius glared at him.
"She threw me against the wall," he said, looking at Hermione fearfully.
"You're lucky that's all she did, the consequences may yet be worse for you." He turned to Dumbledore. "I'm not leaving her in this state; it'll take at least a couple of weeks for her to feel comfortable without me being in her presence. The flashbacks she was forced to endure has just undone months of progress."
Dumbledore nodded. "I understand, arrangements will be made."
"No need, I'll stay as Padfoot." He turned to Malfoy. "You speak of anything you heard or saw and you'll live to regret it," he warned, before turning into Padfoot and Malfoy stared in surprise.
He moved over to Hermione and nudged her leg with his nose. She pulled away from the twins and followed after the dog with Fred and George behind her.
"Miss. Black, I am sorry for my assumptions," he said.
Hermione looked at him. "It's alright, Professor, I forgave you the moment you said it," she said quietly and then she continued walking, disappearing down the hall.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and then he turned to the two professors.
"Lord Black, will want a punishment," Dumbledore spoke knowingly.
"As do I," McGonagall spoke, looking livid at the thought of someone hurting her lion cub, particularly another student hurting her in the place where she was supposed to be safe.
"It will be taken care of," Snape assured him, a cruel smirk tugging at his mouth.
~000~000~000~
Thursday 11th January 1996
It wasn't until Hermione's first lesson, DADA, that everyone noticed the large black dog, looking terrifyingly similar to a grim, following Hermione. She had skipped breakfast and taken it in her room with Sirius. She hadn't been in a very talkative mood, so he told her stories from his time at Hogwarts, pulling a laugh out of her every so often.
They'd left the common room late, waiting until they were sure everyone else would be at breakfast and they headed straight down to her class, taking a seat on the floor in the corridor.
Surprisingly, Harry was the first to arrive and he sat on the ground next to her. He was shocked to see Padfoot and Hermione tiredly explained everything that had happened the night before, having been avoiding everyone since then.
He was furious, but a bark from Padfoot had him in his place. She explained that Padfoot was staying for a little while, he didn't question her. He could see how much the previous day had affected her. Her eyes weren't as bright, her skin looked pale, she had bags under her eyes and her usual wild hair looked limp and lifeless.
It was clear that everything the twins, Sirius and Remus had done for her was no longer there. It had been wiped away by the flashbacks she'd had, it was like the week before the trial all over again and it broke Sirius' heart to see his daughter in such pain.
Students started arriving and they looked at the dog confused, whispering between them and staring. Hermione ignored them and scratched the head of the dog that was resting against her thigh.
When Umbridge arrived Hermione stood and walked into the room, taking her regular seat and Padfoot laid down on the floor next to her, by her chair.
Umbridge cleared her throat and turned around, the sickly sweet smile plastered on her face. Before she could begin the lecture, Pansy Parkinson raised her hand.
"Yes, Miss Parkinson?"
"Forgive me for interrupting, Professor," she turned to Hermione and smirked, but Hermione wasn't looking, for the first time in her life, she wasn't paying attention. She was resting her head against her hand and doodling on her parchment. "But I was just wondering if you were aware of the animal beside, Granger."
Umbridge's attention snapped to her, her eyes widened and then narrowed, before a scarily sweet smile appeared on her face. She walked over to Hermione, stopping in front of her desk with her hands clasped into front of her.
She cleared her throat. Hermione ignored it. She cleared her throat. Hermione ignored it. She could hear the wheezes of Padfoot from beside her, indicating that he was laughing and that he found Hermione's ignorance amusing, especially since it seemed to ruffle the professor's feathers so much.
"Miss. Granger?" her snooty voice called. Hermione ignored it.
A book slammed down on her desk, making everyone but her jump in surprise. She slowly looked up from her parchment to a furious Umbridge standing before her.
"Yes?" she asked bored.
"It is against school rules for animals to be on the premises," she said primly.
"Actually, I think you'll find it's not since familiars such as cats, rats, toads and owls all reside on school grounds. I'll give you that they're not supposed to be in classrooms to save you face." She heard gasps and sniggers at her words, clearly her peers hadn't expected to respond in such a way.
Umbridge blinked furiously.
"Then you have knowingly brought a stray and a non familial animal onto school grounds and into a classroom, you will have to be punished."
Padfoot immediately stood up and took a defensive stance next to Hermione, growling viciously. The room watched in silence and Umbridge took a step back at the bared teeth of the grimm like animal.
Hermione ran her hand through Padfoot's fur and whispered in his ear to calm him. He stopped growling, but he didn't move away from Hermione and he didn't settled down on the floor either, keeping his defensive stance.
"I honestly don't care, do what you have to, I can't be arsed dealing with you and that hideous suit today." The room was deadly quiet as Hermione looked back down at her parchment and ignored Umbridge's presence.
Umbridge's face turned red and before she could screech in outrage, there was a knock at the door and it opened revealing Professor McGonagall.
"Forgive me for intruding, Professor, I require Miss. Black." There were murmurs at the name, everyone looking around to see if there was a new student no one had noticed.
"We don't have a Miss. Black, and I was in the process of giving Miss. Granger disciplinary action."
"Miss. Black?" McGonagall ignored Umbridge and she had to admit it felt good. "Please come with me." Hermione immediately stood and grabbed her satchel, flinging it over her shoulder and Padfoot moved with her as the whispers in the room grew louder.
"You are mistaken at your age, Minerva," Umbridge smiled sweetly.
The room went silent.
"I am afraid it is you that is mistaken, Hermione Black is the daughter of Sirius Black, as the Undersecretary I thought you would know that," she frowned, but Hermione saw her eyes crinkle in amusement and there were gasps and sniggers.
"Your appointment is here, Miss. Black."
Hermione nodded and walked over to McGonagall.
"Miss. Granger needs to be punished; she brought an unknown animal onto school grounds and into the classroom."
"If you bothered to read the staff notice board you would see that Miss. Black has been granted permission by Professor Dumbledore to allow her to have this dog on the school grounds and in all classrooms for her protection. He will be accompanying her for her protection for the coming weeks, Miss. Black will not be given a punishment."
She stepped out of the room and then turned around to face the gawking students and Professor.
"I suggest, Delores, that you address Miss. Black by her name, denying her the right of her title as Lady Black will not bode well for you. Lord Black will not be pleased that you have treated his daughter with disrespect, neither will Lady Malfoy. I would hate to be on the end of the retribution they would demand for such a slight against The House of Black, and their soon to be Matriarch." McGonagall then closed the door behind her and Hermione gave a genuine laugh and Padfoot barked out a laugh too, McGonagall chuckled.
"That was brilliant, Professor," Hermione spoke.
"I will not tolerate that witch one moment longer, incessant pain in the broom stick." Hermione laughed again. "We best be going, there are several members of The Ministry waiting for you in the great hall."
Hermione sighed and nodded.
Together they made their way to the great hall and they stepped inside.
It seemed there was quite a crowd, nine people -including herself and Sirius- if she counted correctly.
Padfoot immediately changed into Sirius, not bothering to hide the fact that he was an Animagus since Hermione had made him register when he'd had his name cleared. He put his arm around her shoulders and they walked over to the group convened in the centre of the hall.
"Ah, Lady Black, it is a pleasure to meet you, I am Cornelius Fudge." He went for her hand but she flinched and he noticed and looked at her curiously, she gave a small smile. "Lord Black, thank you for your letter alerting us to your daughter's development." He shook Sirius' hand but didn't take his eyes off Hermione.
Hermione took the chance to look at the others. Professor Dumbledore was off to the side with McGonagall. There was a tall figure wearing dark robes and the hood drawn hiding the face, which intrigued her. There were two slightly smaller wizards wearing traditional auror robes, and a short pudgy man wearing grey robes. Surprisingly there was a wizard holding a broom stick, staring at her leeringly and she moved closer to Sirius. She had to admit he was handsome with his dark hair and eyes and a tall, muscled frame, but he made her uncomfortable.
"Lady Black, please let me introduce to you the men that will be aiding in the testing today," he said positively gleeful. The man wearing grey robes stepped forward first. "This is Reginald Kiln, he is the Head of the Department of Security." He nodded at her. The two men wearing standard auror robes stepped forward. "Next we have Leroy Litl and Jeremy Hunter, two of the best aurors we have at The Ministry." They winked at her and she scowled, causing Sirius to chuckle. "Next is Daniel Cameron." The man with the broom stepped forward and leered at her, promptly picking up her hand and kissing the back of it.
Hermione stopped breathing, the man smirked misunderstanding her reaction for her falling under his charm, but that wasn't the case. Sirius pulled Hermione into him and away from Cameron and she took deep breaths as her body shook.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't touch my daughter, her biological parents were not nice people, if you catch my drift." he glared at Cameron.
His eyes widened immediately and he nodded furiously. "I am sorry, Lady Black, for my rash actions," he said sincerely.
Hermione took a deep breath and nodded, gaining control over her emotions.
"It's perfectly alright, Mr. Cameron, you didn't know," she said quietly.
"Mr. Cameron retired from professional Quidditch last year and now head's up the Magical Games and Sports Department," Fudge bragged.
"Well, I'm sorry to say that I do not recognise you, Mr. Cameron."
Sirius laughed at her and everyone looked at her as though she was stupid.
"Kitten, he played for the Montrose Magpies for six years," he snorted in amusement. Hermione's brow furrowed.
"They're based in Ireland?"
"No, nice try though."
"Scotland?"
"Got it," he chuckled at her when she looked pleased with herself.
"Moving on," Fudge cleared his throat. "Finally we have Agent Comet," he gestured to the man in the black robes. "He's an Unspeakable."
Hermione nodded, it explained the whole wardrobe choice and secrecy thing.
He stepped forward and held his hand out for her patiently. Hermione eyed his pale hand and then gently put her hand in his. He bent down low over her hand, but he otherwise didn't touch her. Hermione's eyes widened.
"Err, Agent Comet, you don't have to bow, honestly, it's a little weird actually." Sirius snorted at her and she heard McGonagall and Dumbledore chuckling.
"Each wizard will have a role in the testing," Fudge explained as Comet gently released her hand and he stepped back into line.
"How so? What will the test require me to do?" she asked with a thoughtful frown.
"We need to test that you actually are who you claim to be." He hadn't mentioned the term yet, not wanting to bestow such a title on the witch until it was a clear result. "We will need to see your elemental powers, we will need to test your body's reaction to being under threat and we need you to complete a number of tasks."
"Let's get this over with, I've been having a bad week, it's only going to get worse when the article is released in The Daily Prophet," she sighed.
"That's assuming you are what you say you are," Litl rose an eyebrow at her.
"We wouldn't bring you here for a lie. You think I want the responsibility of having all this power in me? Of having to learn to control myself, my reactions, my emotions, my mind, my body, just so that I don't accidentally hurt someone? You think I asked for this? You think that I was all happy as Larry when my magic started acting out? No, I was not. We wouldn't do that to you or us, it'd just be a waste of time. Time I could be using to study for my OWLs." They gawked at her and she turned and made her way into the middle of the great hall. The house tables had been banished to the sides against the walls, to give a large space.
Fudge cleared his throat. "We would like to see you do something with the element of water."
"I can do that, water's actually easy for me right now; I've been practicing," she shrugged.
She pulled her wand and conjured a bucket and she filled it with water. She then threw her wand to Sirius and he caught it, slipping it into his pocket.
"Watch," she whispered.
She kneeled down in front of the large bucket and she stared at it, her eyes narrowing. It was taking slightly longer than normal because it was a larger body of water than she was used to.
One of the aurors, Litl, snorted at her.
"We should just leave now," he muttered and the other auror laughed.
The laughter stopped when the bucket started to vibrate, then it grew more powerful until it was shaking violently and water was sploshing over the sides. Water suddenly erupted and it flew into the air. Hermione commanded it to form into the Hogwarts castle and she looked away from it to The Ministry employees and she smirked at their awed expressions.
She then stood up and sent her thoughts over to the water, willing it do what it had the night she was with Fred and George in the common room. The water swarmed around them in the air and then it fell towards them. They all flinched expecting to get wet, but they didn't. They opened their eyes and they saw millions of water molecules floating in front of them, as if it had been paused.
"That's amazing," Sirius said awed. "You've improved immensely and it's not even been a week." She smiled at him and felt her cheeks heat up at his praise.
Suddenly the water collected above Litl and it dropped over him, soaking him from head to toe. He gasped in shock and Sirius burst out laughing.
"To be fair, you did deserve that, Mate," he said through his guffaws. Dumbledore chuckled and McGonagall appeared to be doing her best to remain stoic, though failing miserable with the smile that was pulling at her mouth.
"Next, is earth," Fudge said, ignoring the sniggers from The Ministry employees.
Hermione furrowed her brow in though. "I've only had two experiences with earth, but I'll see what I can do," she replied. She got down onto her knees and pressed her hand against the cold, stone floor.
She saw flowers and vines sprouting through the stone from the mud underneath the castle's foundations. In fact, she saw a stalk, a bean stalk, she realised with a giggle.
She could feel the ground shaking beneath her and her breath sped up, her body was shaking and she gritted her teeth. It was a lot harder than a single, small rose. She had to force the stalk through several layers of solid stone.
She opened her eyes and took a deep breath when she saw the small tip of a stalk sticking out, in-between the flooring. She forced more magic into the stalk, picturing it growing and growing, like Jack and the Beanstalk.
The ground shook as if it was being affected by a small earthquake, then she gasped and fell backwards, landing onto her bottom and panting in exhaustion with a bead of sweat streaking across her forehead. Her eyes opened and she laughed breathlessly when she saw the ten foot wide beanstalk, reaching all the way to the top of the ceiling and disappearing amongst the enchanted clouds.
"Brilliant, Kitten," Sirius beamed. "An afterthought," he interjected. "How are you going to get rid of it?" he asked amused.
"Ah, Merlin's beard!" she cursed and he laughed at her. "I hadn't thought of that," she frowned.
"Do not fret, Miss. Black, it will be taken care of," Dumbledore chuckled, his eyes twinkling in amusement.
"Fire," Fudge interrupted impatiently.
Hermione sighed and stood up. The torches that lined the stone walls had been lit and she stared at one in particular, it was fifteen feet away from her. She willed it to come to her and it did.
She held her hand out and the flame suddenly left the torch, leaving only the base, the flickering flames floated through the air, growing wilder as it got closer to her. She sighed when the flames licked at her fingers, and she giggled when it tickled.
She stepped back and the flames followed her. She lifted her hand and clicked her fingers, the ball of flames disappeared, leaving a puff of smoke behind.
"Air," Fudge spoke.
Cameron stepped forward and walked so that he stood in front of her.
"This isn't a regular broom, all magic has been deactivated, it's essentially a muggle house hold cleaning item," he shrugged. He then mounted the broom. "Make me fly."
Her eyes widened. "I can't," she spluttered. "I could hurt you, I haven't mastered my abilities," he snorted.
"What I've seen so far says otherwise, I'm used to getting banged about, that's why I'm here. We need to see just how powerful you are and how much control you have over the elements."
She sighed. "Your funeral," she muttered.
She stepped back from him and took a deep breath. What she needed was a force of wind strong enough to lift him off the ground, she's flung Malfoy away from her twice, she was sure could do it.
She cupped her hands together and imagined a tornado sitting in her palms. She imagined it tickling her, cooling her skin. She opened her eyes and parted her hands to see a tiny tornado floating above her palms.
She narrowed her eyes and slowly pulled her hands apart and the tornado grew in size, she dropped her hands leaving it the size of half of her height. She lifted her hand and pushed it in the direction of Cameron. The tornado swirled over to him and it swept him up, his feet no longer touching the ground.
She waved her hand in the air, side to size, in circles and the broom followed her movements. She slowly brought her hand down and Cameron was gently lowered to the floor.
"That was pretty awesome," he grinned and she chuckled.
"Finally, the mystery ability, Quintessence. What is your ability?"
"I can conjure lightning."
"Now that is definitely awesome." Cameron commented.
"There's just one problem."
"And that is?" Hunter asked.
"I haven't harnessed the power yet, I don't know how to control it. My emotions affect it and I'm not yet able to control it willingly like I can the other elements."
"So you can't prove it?" he challenged.
"She can," Sirius interrupted before Hermione summoned her wand from him and hexed the auror for his comment. He stepped forward and moved over to her. He bent down slightly as he whispered her ear.
He pulled back amused and walked away to a safe distance. Hermione's face had turned red, her hair started sparking with little flashing lightning bolts and flickering of flames, before her hands clenched tightly by her sides.
"HE WHAT?" she growled angrily. And there it was. Rain pounding against the floor, a loud clash of thunder and a terrifying flash of lightning, that just missed hitting Fudge. They all stared in awe.
"I'm just kidding, Kitten," Sirius chuckled.
It took her a little while to register his words and reign in her anger. When her anger had dissipated, the storm did too, leaving behind several soaked wizards and witches.
"Anger and fear, that's how she conjures lightning, but she can't control it yet," Sirius shrugged. "Is that all the evidence that you need, gentlemen?"
They were gawking at her.
"No, just a few more tests," Fudge said, far more enthusiastic than he'd previously been. "Gentlemen, please step forward."
~000~000~000~
"It's true, The Blue Mage has come to us," Fudge whispered in awe. "Imagine the possibilities!"
"No!" Sirius said instantly, from his place kneeling beside his daughter who had passed out from the amount of magic she had used for the tests. He hated seeing her in pain, but if she was exhausted, she might not have nightmares. It may have been a blessing in disguise.
"You will not use my daughter for anything. Every decision she makes in her life, will be that, her decision. For you to attempt to manipulate The Blue Mage would be disrespectful," Sirius said gravely, they all paled at the thought. "You have confirmed that my daughter is The Blue Mage, we've already given you a statement for The Daily Prophet to use; we're no longer needed here." Sirius swept his daughter up into his arms and then stood and left the great hall.
"The Blue Mage will bring prosperity to us," Fudge said quietly.
"We're going to need it," a deep voice rumbled from under the robes of Agent Comet. "Lady Black must be protected."
"From who?" Hunter snorted.
"You-Know-Who."
Before anyone could reply, he turned into a raven and flew out of an open window.