Chapter 2
Hermione ranted to her parents about how Harry was being rude to Molly Weasley, who loved him like a son, and disrespecting her.
"Hermione," said Dan Granger, "Why don't you use your eidetic memory to tell us the whole conversation?"
Hermione did so. Her father listened, exchanging appalled looks with his wife.
"And that was when Professor Lupin brought me here," said Hermione.
"Sweetheart," said Emma Granger, "How did you like Arthur Weasley just telling us that you would be going with him? A man who is not related to you?"
"I... well, he has no tact, but if Dumbledore thought it was right..." stuttered Hermione.
"Why?" said Dan. "He's your headmaster, not a combination of Merlin, Santa Claus, Winston Churchill and Superman as you seem to think."
"He's the leader of the light!" said Hermione.
"He still puts on his pants inside his trousers – if he wears trousers – and one leg at a time," said Dan, grimly. "And his farts do not smell of perfume, and no, Emma, I won't apologise."
"I would hope that if any of your friends' parents spoke to your father, especially in his own home, the way that termagant spoke to Mr. Black, you would act like Harry, and not permit such rudeness," said Emma.
"But... she's afraid Sirius is half insane from Azkaban and will treat Harry as if he was James," said Hermione.
"Your friend Harry – if he is still your friend, which I doubt if you've betrayed him so badly – has fought a troll for you, killed a basilisk for you, faced dragons, and this terrorist lord of yours I don't know how many times, unless you've been embroidering the stories you have told us," said Emma. "And as our agreement to let you return after the basilisk incident was full disclosure, and you swore that on your magic, I assume that you have told the truth. I wonder if this poor child soldier is not more experienced than his father was in his early twenties when he died."
Hermione looked aghast.
"I... it isn't right that he has been through so much," she said, in a small voice.
"And didn't he write to you about a pair of those dementor demons and begged you to contact him during the holidays?" said Dan. "Please tell me that you ignored Dumb-the-Dork and did so?"
"I... no," said Hermione, blushing.
"Good God, girl, I'm not surprised he threw you out!" said Dan. "And Mr. Black still prepared to invite us all back? I did not understand this when I made a knee-jerk decision to take us to Australia. Is it possible to reverse that decision? Your friend needs support, and we want to spend time with you, but maybe we can be of some help. And you certainly owe him an apology. He must be terrified of being cast back on those awful relatives I can conjecture more about than you have ever told me, and yet you would not even tell him that you stood his friend? I am ashamed of you."
Hermione was crying in earnest.
"We're going to Diagon Alley to hire a room with a floo connection for you to try to contact Harry," said Emma.
...
Hermione was crying in the green flames when Sirius answered the floo.
"Please, I need to apologise to Harry," she said.
"Yes, you do," said Sirius. "Have you left your parents to call?"
"No, they brought me to the Leaky Cauldron," said Hermione.
"Then if you take their hands and come through, the destination is Padfoot's Pad, and the password is 'mischief managed.' I changed all the contact information, save for speaking," said Sirius. "I had better be right in my instincts to trust you."
Hermione managed the destination and password, and brought her parents through.
"Mr. Black, I am sorry she is such a little fool as to trust that twinkly-eyed old bastard," said Dan.
"Well, at least you seem to be on the right track," said Sirius. "Technically, it's Lord Black, but I answer to Sirius."
"Dan; my wife, Emma," said Dan. "I have some military experience and so does Emma; we joined the territorial army in university. She's very good at rocketry."
"Well, that might come in handy," said Sirius. "Go into the library, Hermione; I'll send Harry to you."
.
"Hermione has come to apologise," said Sirius. "Are you going to give her a chance?"
"Why should I? She spat on me, metaphorically, when I begged her to write to me. I was abandoned – again, just like last year."
"I gather her father has been using a crowbar to remove her head from her arse," said Sirius. "You could hear her out, at least."
.
"Make it fast, and make it good," said Harry, coldly, as he walked into the library.
Hermione burst into tears again, and fell helplessly to her knees in despair.
"Oh, Harry! I... I wanted what was best for you... I thought Dumbledore knew... my father went on a rant about him in the train as we went into London, and... and I felt something fall off my magic, when his logic made more sense than the headmaster's platitudes! I was wrong, I was stupid, I was naive and... and I think I was confounded, but even so, I should have realised and done what was right, not what was easy. And that's his phrase, but he doesn't practice what he preaches!" she spat the words out.
"I want a vow on your magic that you will put me above Dumbledore, or there's nothing doing," said Harry.
Hermione got out her wand.
"I vow that I will put Harry Potter's needs above the desires of Dumbledore, and I will not let Dumbledore or his tools talk me round again," she said.
"Good, that ought to protect you from being mind-whammied again," said Harry. "Are you going to Australia still?"
"No, my parents said we should come here and support you," said Hermione.
"Then welcome to the pack," said Harry.
...
The removal of the Horcrux only required Sirius to reach out to his cousin, Andromeda, who was a healer, who knew a curse-breaker to assist with it. This was then handed over to Saul Croaker in the Department of Mysteries, for them to find and deal with any more rogue horcruces. And Harry was still a parselmouth, something which shocked him, when he found himself conversing with a talking doorknob at Grimmauld Place.
"Well, now, just like your mother," said Sirius. "She once accepted a date with James to go walking on the moors, and objected to him getting handsy, and set a load of adders on him."
"So my mother is descended from Slytherin?" said Harry. "Why has nobody told me this?"
"Because I assumed you knew," said Sirius.
"Dad, I know nothing of my family," said Harry, patiently.
"Well, James took Lily to Gringotts for a blood test, and found she was descended from a number of families, included Slytherin. Which is why she set up a Potter ritual spell on you, to blast He-who... Voldemort that is, into pieces for attacking his only living heir."
"Wait, so if he's officially dead, does that mean I can claim House Slytherin?"
"Oh, hell, yes, and Peverell. Which the Potters also descend from. Lily was more amused than impressed, but we'll get you confirmed in as many lordships as possible. And Hermione as well, who's likely a Dagworth-Granger," said Sirius, speculatively.
"Wait, Dagworth is my middle name, it's always given to the first son of my family," said Dan.
"Well, there you go, you're a documented squib," said Sirius. "And likely Emma is also the squib of some other family.
"Does it help that my grandmother's maiden name was 'Black'?" said Emma.
"I can check that out with the family tree, Emma, if Hermione is prepared to put a small bit of blood onto my family tapestry," said Sirius.
Nothing loath, Hermione did so, and was amazed to see a line of unnamed squibs running between her and Marius Black, the squib, the magic of the tapestry also confirming a line of Dagworth-Granger squibs. Her portrait appeared as Hermione Jean Black Dagworth-Granger.
"Yes! That means I can ritually add you all to my family to protect you," said Sirius. "And if you want me to hold proxy on the Dagworth-Granger seat whilst you are at school, I have legitimate cause."
"I hope you will," said Hermione. "We need to learn about politics."
"Oh, hell, yes," said Sirius, chortling. "And we need to regularise who is who as well, so let's get to Gringotts. "
Soon, Hermione was wearing the ring of heir primary of Dagworth-Granger, the family magic not permitting her to take Lordship until she was 17, and only if there was no male heir in the meantime. She also had the ring to heiress secondary of Black, because Sirius was perverse that way. And though he trusted Andi Tonks, he wanted Nym to get her head out of Dumbledore's backside. Harry had the ring of heir primary of Black, Lord Slytherin, and Lord Peverell in addition to Lord Potter.
...
The fire flared.
"Sirius, my boy!" the head of Albus Dumbledore appeared in the fireplace. "I've been waiting for you to contact me, to let me know if you have got over your snit, so we can reconvene Order meetings here. And you really should permit the Weasleys back, to keep a check on Harry, who is likely to do something headstrong like go into Diagon Alley."
"Why shouldn't he?" said Sirius. "It's the summer holidays; you have no say over what he does. Or, for that matter, what I do."
"Sirius, you need to be careful; what if anyone should see you?" said Dumbledore.
Sirius smiled.
It was the sort of smile which Crocodile Dundee would recognise on the animals which gave him his name and fame. Wizards of the age to remember when the Black family was at their height of power would have cringed. Dumbledore sighed at the young man's bravado.
"I'm serious," warned Dumbledore.
"Oh, I always thought I was Sirius," said Sirius. "But what should happen if anyone sees me is that they bow to the lord of an ancient and noble house."
"You'll be arrested and kissed," snapped Dumbledore.
"No, I won't," said Sirius. "Guess what? All it got for me to have a hearing over my innocence was to pay for it. And now I'm proven innocent. It should have hit the Prophet this morning, perhaps you haven't read it yet? Also that I'm holding the proxy for my godson's houses and that of my Cousin, Heiress Dagworth-Granger. So, nothing will happen to me."
The flames wavered alarmingly as Dumbledore's magic shook them.
"How reckless of you! I am disappointed that you risked everything for..."
"For Harry? It was his idea. Brilliant idea, play the enemy at their own game. And do it better," said Sirius. "And I don't feel inclined to house the Order here, and I certainly refuse to have any Weasleys anywhere near me for the foreseeable future."
"Sirius, you once made an oath of obedience to me as a member of the Order of the Phoenix; if I call on that oath, you could lose your magic," warned Dumbeldore.
"Like you have with Pettigrew? Don't make me laugh," said Sirius. "Besides, when I assumed the lord's ring and became The Black, it stripped all other vows and allegiances from me. Do your worst, old man."
Dumbledore pressed a ring.
Nothing happened.
"I'm coming through," he said, harshly.
"I wouldn't if I was you because..."
There was a loud fizzle, a pained cry and the fire went out.
"... because the wards won't let you," said Sirius. "Well, I tried to warn the old coot." He turned and grinned at those he now counted his family. "Shall we go to Black Island for sun, sea, surf and leave all and sundry hollering fruitlessly to an empty fireplace?"
"As long as Kreacher understands not to let anyone in, or talk to anyone," said Harry. "He'll need specific orders, or Narcissa Malfoy could order him and he'd feel a need to obey. I can think much more clearly with that thing out of my head, you know. And, Dad, you stripped the Fidelius with Black family magic, why not restore it as cast by The Black, and make... Dan the secret keeper?"
Sirius sniggered.
"Brilliant," he said.
A couple of weeks on Black Island would also help Harry get his magic under control, where it was trying to get away from him with the soul splinter gone.
.
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Here's an omake from Polar Bear 20000 as a response to chapter 1. I loved it.
OMAKE:
The power welled up from within Harry. The Last Potter felt something snap from within, and he held up his hand to see it glowing. Sparks flew from his fingertips, the burning sensation burrowing into his nail beds and making him groan.
"Harry!" shouted Sirius.
"What's happening, Sirius?" Hermione cried, fingers digging into her face in fear for Harry. "What's this?"
"It's something I've seen before in Potters. I didn't think I'd see it in Harry so soon." The worry in the old dog's tone was sure to be heard. Hermione looked to the right to see the grave expression on Remus Lupin's face and knew that it was not good, whatever this was.
For his part, Harry was staring at his hand. He'd never seen any manifestation like this, not at all.
"Sirius, what... what's happening to me?"
There was no time to answer him. Harry threw his head back in a soundless scream of agony and flames shot from his torso. Over the stupendous noise, Hermione barely heard Sirius as he whispered.
"Harry, you're regenerating."