Hey guys! I've been gone a while i know. Kind of lost my muse. I know this chapter is shorter than the usual but i wanted to stop this one here for a reason. This should answer most of your questions about Hermione's father. I don't know when the next chapter will be but i want to try and wrap this fic up within about three at the most i think. Thanks for staying with me guys.
After everything with Andy was sorted out and the two Tonks women had stated they would help the small group shared an early lunch before Bellatrix and Hermione left the cottage. They didn't return to Shell Cottage though and instead appeared somewhere beach side where Hermione hadn't been before. It was a small cove circled by sheer cliffs that were home to a few different types of sea bird. Hermione knew Bellatrix couldn't stay but that didn't mean she had to like it.
"You know i have to leave." Bellatrix says softly tilting her head and looking at the witch.
"I saw you take some of my clothes this morning yes. I knew you wasn't staying." Hermione nods and bites her lip.
"I really wish i could stay." Bellatrix adds and Hermione nods again.
"But you wont take me with you." Hermione points out and Bellatrix momentarily looks pained.
"You would resent a life on the run and end up resenting me for it." Bellatrix says softly a slight frown on her face. Hermione sighs softly.
"You're right. I just... everything sucks without you. I know that probably sounds stupid, i should be able to cope. I certainly used too. But now i've had you with me. I've had taste and i'm addicted." Hermione moves close and wraps her arms around her witch.
"I'm addicted too, little love. But returning means going back to Azkaban and i can't do that. Not when i truly have something making me long for freedom." Bellatrix holds her witch close, memorising the feel and smell of her. Hermione doing the same.
"I hope this doesn't last too long, but live your life Hermione. Don't let people push you around and don't take anyone's shit." Bella urges softly and Hermione nods.
"You are my life. I will have you freed some how." Hermione promises gently. Bella regards the little witch and smiles.
"I love you, Hermione Granger. You are all that is right in this world." Bellatrix smiles softly and reaches into her borrowed jeans.
Hermione didn't see it coming so it was extremely surprising when Bellatrix dropped down to a knee with a small box in her hand. The younger witches eyes widened when she comprehended what was going on and she stared at the woman before her. This was like a dream only the outcome was still up in the air where it could go any way from here. Her future was so uncertain but her present was everything she needed it to be.
"Hermione... I never knew i could feel the way i do. I thought i was too dark, too twisted and broken. I've done so many bad things, more bad than good but you still find it in yourself to give me the love i may never deserve. I have to leave and i hate that... but will you let me leave knowing that one day you will be my wife. When this is over, will you marry me?" Bellatrix's little speech was so heartfelt and beautiful that it had both the witches in tears.
"When?" Hermione asked in a croaky, tear-strained voice. Bellatrix nodded.
"Oh Bella... Of course i will marry you." Hermione dropped to her knees and pulled the women in to her embrace both of them sobbing happily.
"You have got to be kidding me. He really kept all of these?" Narcissa and Fleur were in Bill and Fleur's room late that night with Bill.
He had gotten Fleur's owl about the vault in question and had convinced the Goblins to let him in it. It was full of all sorts of contraband, paintings and artefacts. What drew his attention most was the crate of vials, memories, sitting upon an old pensive. It didn't take too much convince the goblins to let him withdraw the items on the promise he would return the pensive and likely the memories in a week. Bill had a feeling if they were right that the little witch would be going to vault to prove her birth.
"It seems that way. I have to return the pensive next week so you best get searching. Its looking promising though. There are a few there labelled 'MM'." Bill explained gesturing towards the crate with the vials in it.
"Alright. Thank you, Bill." Narcissa smiles briefly at the helpful young man.
"No worries. I will go and make us some tea and i'll come help." Bill offers and receives a grateful kiss from his wife for his efforts.
The two witches looked at one another for a long moment before heaving a sigh and getting started. First they sorted the vials into different categories. The ones that were labelled regarding Mrs Crouch or Barty Crouch Jr were set aside. The ones that were double M were sorted out and set aside so they could view them and hopefully find the truth they were really after. Only when it was sorted out did they turn to the pensive, and then only after having tea with Bill and explaining the whole thing did they even start on the memories.
Minerva McGonagall was obviously very drunk and much younger looking. She was sitting at the bar in the Leaky Cauldron and it was quite late at night. She wasn't waiting for anyone but she seemed more than a little upset based off the tear stained cheeks. She was knocking back another fire-whiskey when none other than Barty Crouch Sn approached her.
"Minerva, i didn't expect to find you here in this state." The man spoke a little goading. It was clear there was no love lost between the two.
"Sod off, Barty... I'm in no mood for your banter." Minerva growled out without looking at the man.
"Minerva? What's wrong?" Barty frowned not getting the usual reaction from her, it was easy to tell there was something wrong.
...
The memory shifted and the two stole off upstairs to the room Barty had been staying in the last couple of days.
...
The next time the memory cleared it was Minerva laying under a sheet on a bed and watching a frustrated and angry Barty leave the room. The moment the door closed behind him fresh tears welled in the woman's emerald eyes.
"These memories are Minerva's." Narcissa states when the two pull back from the first set of memories.
"How does he have these memories but doesnt even seem to know she has a child?" Fleur asked frowning deeply.
"Might i suggest leaving all questions to the end? We might find the answers we need." Bill suggests putting the memories back in the vial and plucking up the next for them. The two witches nod before leaning into the pensive for the next set of memories.
Minerva was a half-blood so it was not really surprising when the memory was of Minerva pacing the bathroom of her cottage with a muggle pregnancy test on the vanity. It was the third pass before she turned and picked it up only to look a conflicting mix of pleased and devastated.
...
"You're pregnant?" Barty hisses.
"Yes you fool!" Minerva snarked back, the two were standing in his usual room in the Leaky Cauldron.
Before anything else could be said the man drew his wand on the unsuspecting witch and cant the Imperius curse on her. Minerva visibly seemed to struggle before her eyes glazed a little.
"You will not speak of this to anyone and you will use spells and glamours to keep this pregnancy a secret. If anyone finds out you are to obliviate them." He says and slowly the woman nods. He puts his wand away as her expression clears.
...
"You've seemed a little off the last few months Minerva. Is something wrong?" Albus asks one evening while the two were doing their rounds of the school halls. The war had yet to end but school was amazingly still in session.
"No Albus. I just miss Robert and even Elphinstone." Minerva sighs softly, she wanted too but couldn't tell her oldest friend of the baby only a few short months away from greeting the world.
"I understand. I'm sorry." Albus speaks softly though he doesn't look completely convinced.
"Convenient that the one man who may potentially have had some idea of this is dead." Bill comments now that they were again out of the memory and gazing at the pensive.
"We will figure this out, it makes more sense though how no one knows whats happened." Narcissa scratches the back of her head and heaves a sigh as Bill vials the memories again.
"This is... devastating. How do we even tell Hermione this? How do we tell Minerva she was so savagely violated." Fleur sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her hand over her face.
"It wont be easy but it has to be done. They have both been wronged." Bill says though he personally didn't think any of this was fair either.
The women watched Bill pour the third and final vial into the pensive. They took a moment to gather themselves before leaning over and getting on with their self appointed mission.
Minerva was in the cottage, sweating and breathing heavily. She seemed hesitant, like she was fighting with something, before raising her want and casting a patronus. Her little silver cat ran off with an unheard message as Minerva waddled to her room.
...
Minerva was screaming with the pain of labor, alone in the cottage and giving birth to a child she was hesitant to cherish. Yet even alone the woman was managing. Her strength was obvious, if not in mind definitely in body. It seemed to go on and on until finally, after an especially hard push the cottage was filled with a different cry. The scream of a baby newly born was enough to make Minerva weep as she sat up and carefully collected the baby girl from where she was laying on the soiled bed.
...
It was only minutes later, Minerva hadn't even had time to clean the little child up much less anything else. She had only managed to let the little girl suckle and have her first meal before Barty arrived in the cottage. Minerva had barely lifted her head when the grips of the imperius took her. Barty took the baby, not roughly but there was no tenderness. He then set a bag on the bed and looked at Minerva.
"You will place a few memories of this in these vials. The child's birth, the coming about of its conception." He orders and like the enslaved mind that she was she obediently got to work doing just that.
When Minerva was done and she looked back at the man he handed her a potion and demanded she take it, the memory faded to nothing.
"He just... he just took her... he didn't even look at her. He just took her from her mother and... and erased all memory of her ever happening." Narcissa sniffled as it dawned on them all just what had happened and just how bad Barty Crouch really was.
"We really need to figure out whats going to happen next. Do we tell Hermione or do we tell Minerva first?" Bill asks reaching over and rubbing Narcissa's back.
"Actually, i haven't heard Hermione come back yet." Fleur comments frowning suddenly.
"Really? But its so late and she would have said if she was staying out." Bill frowns at this and moves to the door.
The witches followed him as they made their way along to the young witches door and knocked. They knocked twice before opening the door slowly and peaking inside. No Hermione, she wasn't in her bed and she wasn't in the bathroom so they headed to Draco's room to check with him. Draco hadn't seen her since that morning after breakfast when they left to go to Andromeda's. It was beginning to concern them when they couldn't find her but Bill decided to be a reasonable mind and suggested that perhaps she wanted to be alone after Bella had left.
Upon this suggestion they decided to have some tea and go to bed though none of them slept very well.
Harry and Sirius were in the kitchen the following morning while Molly and Ginny were cooking. The others were either still asleep or had yet to arrive. The two men were going over Harry's schedule for Auror training and were talking quietly among themselves. They were still head down over the schedule when the fireplace activated and Fleur, Bill, Narcissa and Draco stepped through looking as though they hadn't slept much at all the night before. Molly frowned at the sight of Narcissa and Draco but Harry, Ginny and Sirius immediately became concerned at the unexpected visit.
"I'm sorry to intrude before breakfast but i don't suppose any of you know where Hermione is?" Bill asks curiously looking at his friends and family.
"She didnt come home last night." Fleur adds.
"How do you know she isn't just with Bella?" Sirius asks curiously.
"She would have sent us an owl or a patronus or something." Narcissa explains seriously.
"How do you know Bellatrix didn't just snap and kidnap the girl?" Molly asks a little snidely.
"If you had seen them together you would understand how that's not likely at all. Not only does Bella love Hermione but she loves her enough not to drag her into hiding with her." Bill explains a little frustrated with his mother.
They deliberated for a little while on what needed to be done. Ginny went to Andromeda's to check with her and Tonks but they had explained the two witches had left there yesterday and hadn't seen either of them since. Finally they all decided that they would give it the rest of the day and start to actively look tomorrow just in case something simple was going on like Bella and Hermione were being intimate and it simply slipped their mind to let the others know where they were or how long they would be gone.
The following morning rendered the same results with no Hermione to be seen or heard from and the others were generally beginning to worry especially with the knowledge that Augusta Longbottom was wanting to try and persecute the little witch. Fleur and Bill and Narcissa had spent move the night before talking about everything they knew which was why they were now making their way up to the castle to speak with Minerva McGonagal.
The witch in question was sitting in the great hall, newly repaired, and looking over some papers she had received from the Ministry earlier that morning. She smiled upon seeing the odd trio but was glad to see them none the less. She lead them up to her office and the conversation seemed rather light until the door to the office was closed and Bill presented the vials.
"Minerva, we have something to tell you and its really not going to be easy for you to hear." Bill starts gently.
"Alright well... what is it?" The Headmistress asks curiously looking from the vials to the trio in front of her.
"Its just... we have come upon some evidence to prove that you..." Bill trails off slowly not sure how to tell the woman.
"Minerva you had a baby, during the first war." Narcissa all but blurts out. Minerva actually laughs.
"Don't be foolish, what is it really?" She says convinced they were joking.
"Minerva... we aren't joking. You and Barty Crouch Sr had a drunken one night stand. You conceived a little girl and when you told him of this he placed you under the imperius curse. Demanded you keep it to yourself and not let anyone know. When you had the baby, alone in your cottage, you sent him a patronus to let him know. When he arrived he used the curse to collect some of your memories and we assume he then obliviated all memory of him or a child from your mind. He took the child and gave her to the muggles." Fleur speaks up when the other two seem to be at a loss.
"What... you must be kidding. I... i was obliviated? Do you have the proof with you?" The woman was already distressed but she needed the proof.
"The vials, they are your memories." Bill whispers softly.
Minerva looked confused and more than a little bit hurt, she felt these things intensely, if this was true then her one desire had been granted and then cruelly ripped away from her on no more than the whim of a man unfaithful to his devoted wife. The fact that Minerva had never particularly liked the man didn't even matter at this point but the fact that he had done this didn't really surprise her. Barty had always been lacking in morals and had more than once been willing to use the unforgivable as interrogation methods. But this... taking her child? It was worse than the worst.
Her current company sat quietly as Minerva shakily look the vials and went to the pensive. The trio sat quietly and waited as the increasingly upset woman got through the vials. When she emerged from the last she was a complete wreck, having seen the life she had made all on her own, a part of her she missed out on being able to cherish and nurture, she couldn't help the complete and utter devastation she felt. Bill was too slow to catch her but had followed her to her knees as she sobbed hard, leaning into him when strong arms surrounded her.
It took a several long minutes before the woman calmed down enough that Bill could coach her into her seat where she then sat for a few more minutes with tears silently streaming down her face while staring at the vials on the desk before her. Fleur and Narcissa had managed to keep their own tears at bay but were just as upset as Minerva by how badly the woman had been wronged. Bill had found a bottle of fire-whiskey and poured the Headmistress a large glass which she promptly downed half of.
"Surely you three did not just stumble upon this information. How did you even learn of this?" Minerva was the first to speak after stretching the silence almost to breaking point.
"Actually no we did not. It was brought to our attention shortly after the war." Narcissa explains gently.
"Who brought it to your attention?" Minerva asks though her suspicion was obvious.
"It was Bellatrix sort of." Narcissa frowns.
"It's Hermione isn't it?" Minerva asks much to the surprise of her companions.
"When the battle at the Department of Mysteries happened Bella had tackled Hermione and they ended up in some concealed room. There was some sort of device that they fooled around with for what even reason but it turned out it showed them their pasts to birth. They witnessed one another's pasts and have since formed a bond." Narcissa explained after a moment and Minerva nodded.
"She's known all this time? Why did she never speak with me about it? Why isn't she here?" Minerva was genuinely confused.
"You have to understand, and it is something we only recently learned, is that Hermione suffers from depression. She's never had a lot of friends, the friends she had she adores but they haven't paid her the most attention which she loved and hated. She had loving parents who were always there for her and then she learned she was adopted. She doesn't know exactly what happened that lead to her being put up for adoption but she thought she wasn't wanted by you. When she realised you didn't even know she was your daughter she decided not to say anything to you." Fleur explains softly and Minerva's eyes welled with tears again.
"Where is she now?" Minerva asks in a slightly strained voice.
"Actually... we don't know. Bella had save Nymphadora during the battle and went into hiding with Dora until she was well enough to travel. Bella and Hermione took Dora back to Andy's but no one has seen Hermione since." Narcissa frowns and rubs the back of her head.
"Maybe she went with Bellatrix?" Minerva frowns at this new tid-bit. Hermione didn't seem the type to run, she was too much a Gryffindor.
"I doubt it. Bella loves Hermione, she wouldn't make her live that kind of life. Plus Hermione was set on getting Bellatrix's sentencing reduced." Bill offers with a bit of a frown himself.
"Our main worry is Augusta Longbottom is on a literal witch hunt for Hermione. For hiding and 'aiding and abetting' Bellatrix." Fleur speaks up.
"I beg your pardon?" Minerva asks as this is the first she had heard of any of this. The trio settled to explain everything they knew so far.