Neville was confused. It had been almost a month since Samhain. He'd never been close-minded about triadic and polyamorous relationships, he'd just never thought he'd be a part of one. However, he didn't want to bring the idea to Hermione before checking the Book of Bonds, so he'd made an appointment with the DoM to check the Book again. He'd already known Hermione was his soulmate the first time he'd come to check the book, but he'd never looked further to see if he had more than one soulmate as that was a separate section of the book.
His appointment was set for Friday, November 28th, so the night before, he sat down for dinner with his Gran and Uncle Algie and nervously asked them about it.
"Gran, Uncle Algie…has there ever been a triadic soulbond in our family?" He grimaced when both of their heads snapped up and their eyes pierced him like knives.
"Triadic soulbonds happen every once in a while, but we've never been blessed with one in our family," Uncle Algie replied as he scrutinized Neville's face.
"Usually triadic soulbonds are reserved for extremely powerful witches or wizards, specifically those with creature inheritances, or those who go through a second magical maturation, or both," Gran said skeptically, "Why do you ask?"
Neville hummed, "I felt the tingling of another bond during the Samhain celebrations."
Uncle Algie looked supremely excited but tampered down his excitement when Gran gave him a scathing look.
She turned back to Neville, "With whom?"
Neville blushed, he could feel it travel up his neck to his cheeks and up to his ears. He had never mentioned his interest in men as well as women to his older relatives.
He rubbed the back of his neck and swept his dirty blond hair from his face before he responded, "Charlie Weasley."
Gran sat back in her seat and narrowed her gaze on her grandson. Algie was practically vibrating in his seat.
"His family has a set of magical twins that have a triadic bond with their wife, but theirs isn't a soulbond, is it?" Gran asked Neville, as she vaguely remembered that he had attended the wedding as the Head of their family when she and Algie were sick.
Neville nodded, "That's right. Fred and George, own Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and they bought out Zonko's in Hogsmeade a year or two after the war. They were the Weasleys' fourth and fifth children. Ron was in my year and he was the sixth."
His gran nodded, "Yes, William was the first, Charles is the second and Percival was the third. I believe you took the girl, Ginevra, to the Yule Ball in your fourth year?"
"Yes, we became friends that year and I offered to take her because she was a year below us and couldn't go without being invited by an upper year," Neville huffed, "I had actually asked Hermione to go with me but she had already agreed to go with Viktor Krum."
Uncle Algie chuckled at that, seemingly trying to keep his excitement levels down.
"Yes, I remember," Gran said seemingly distracted, before she smiled and sat up a bit, "Well, a triadic soulmate bond between two of the Sacred 28 families and the first muggle-born Minister of Magic. That's sure to garner some attention. You will, of course, have to verify the bond with the Book at the DoM. It's not very normal for a muggle-born to have a triadic soulbond, it's actually quite rare that a muggle-born would have a soulbond at all. Have you set an appointment with the DoM yet?"
Neville nodded, "I have an appointment in the morning."
"Good, once you've verified the bonds, you will have to rescind your original intentions and redo the whole thing. Best warn Hermione and Charles both," Gran smiled.
Uncle Algie finally spoke, "One of you will soon be going through some kind of change. Creature inheritance nor magical maturation is much fun and both are fairly painful. Our family doesn't have any creature inheritance that we know of, and I don't think the Weasleys do either. That would leave Miss Granger, but she's a muggle-born as far as we all know…"
Neville nodded, "If she's not muggle-born, she's not aware of it. I guess that means one of us might be about to go through a second magical maturation…that won't be fun for whoever it is."
Gran nodded, "Your birthday was over the summer so it probably isn't you, as you would have already gone through it. Charles is about seven years older than you so he probably won't be going through it either. When is Miss Granger's birthday?"
Neville frowned, "It was back in September."
Uncle Algie shook his head, "That's not possible. One of you has to have a creature inheritance or a second maturation to be able to have a triadic soul bond. Otherwise, you wouldn't have it at all. I suggest you check the Book before you speak with either of them about this."
Gran nodded, "I agree. The situation seems a bit precarious. Triadic soulbonds aren't unheard of, but they don't just happen to anyone."
Neville knew they were right, so he didn't dispute them. Dinner ended up becoming a guessing game for Gran and Uncle Algie about what kind of creature inheritance Hermione could possibly have or if she'd be going through another maturation. Neville tuned them out as he ate and thought about the possibilities that could be the cause of this new bond with Charlie Weasley. He had never felt a bond with Charlie, but he'd also never spent a significant amount of time with him either. Samhain was the first time they'd actually spent longer than ten minutes around one another. Usually, Neville saw him in passing when he was walking through Diagon but he'd always been working so he never stopped to talk to him.
Neville also remembered that Charlie had said he'd always felt the bond towards Hermione. Hermione had met Charlie in their first year at Hogwarts, he remembered because they'd gotten detention the night they smuggled Hagrid's dragon out of Hogwarts. He'd been a last-minute recruit to the operation and hadn't spoken to Charlie because Ron had had him stand guard at the door in case a professor caught them. Hermione didn't mention anything about Charlie after that, that Neville could remember, until fourth year when he was at Hogwarts for the first task of the Tournament. Neville had officially met him then, but he hadn't felt anything at that point toward Charlie most likely because he was preoccupied with Hermione.
Neville came to the realization that Charlie must have noticed the bonds when he met them because he had already gone through his magical maturation. He must have been waiting for one or both of them to notice it, but he'd been out of the country for so long that neither really spent enough time with him to have noticed it. Neville was starting to worry about Charlie. Neville recalled the feelings of despair, loneliness, and emptiness he'd felt at Ron and Hermione's wedding. Charlie couldn't have felt much better, but in two-fold, because Neville hadn't recognized their bond either. Neville went to bed that evening feeling awful.
He woke up the next morning feeling no better but forced himself to get up and ready for the day. He dressed in a pair of dark muggle khaki trousers, and a dark blue button-up shirt, with a heather grey cardigan over it. He added a pair of brown dragonhide shoes and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows.
Neville grabbed a piece of toast from the breakfast table and greeted his gran and uncle before he left. He left the grounds of Longbottom Manor and apparated to the Ministry. Once in the Ministry, he registered his wand at the visitor's desk and made his way to the Department of Mysteries. He was greeted by the head of the department as he stepped out of the lift.
He was informed that the Book was ready and that he could take as long as he needed. Neville thanked the head of the department before he opened the door and stepped into the room the Book was held in.
Once in the room, he looked around to make sure there was no one else present. When he was certain he was alone, he stepped up to the pedestal the Book sat on and spoke softly, "Aperiam in relation trium". (Roughly translated, Latin - "I will open the book in relation to the three.")
The Book shone a bright gold after he spoke and he opened it, gingerly. He held his hand above the Book before slicing his palm and turning it over the pages to let a few drops of his blood splash down onto the blank pages. He sealed the cut on his hand and watched as the book shimmered.
His heart almost stopped as the images became clear. His face smiled up at him, there was a gold-colored line that connected him to Charlie and another gold line connected him to Hermione and Charlie to Hermione. But the picture and name weren't right. Hermione was the first name but it wasn't his Hermione. This Hermione had golden blonde hair, and her eyes were almost gold. He only knew of one reason a witch or wizard's eyes would be gold. He glanced over the name and grimaced, as his eyes followed the black-colored lines that lead to two names of people he knew to be deceased and then the silver-colored line that went from Hermione to the other picture on the page. He resolved himself to drag Hermione and Charlie down here, interrupting their work day, he might even need to call Harry down to keep Hermione from freaking out. He needed to contact them immediately.
Immediately, however, meant after he spent two hours trying to get his mind around what he'd just found in the Book of Bonds. After he felt he had sufficiently gotten his head around this, he sent a Patronus to Charlie, asking him to meet him in the DoM at the Book of Bonds. He figured Charlie would take the longest to arrive so he should have him meet him before he sent for Hermione or Harry.
Surprisingly, Charlie arrived five minutes after he'd sent for him, and luckily Hermione and Harry were with him.
"We were meeting about the dragon reserve with the Aurors Hermione asked me to select for security when Charlie received your Patronus. Hermione said you sounded panicked so she insisted we join you," Harry explained sheepishly.
Neville nodded, "Well, I was going to send for you two after Charlie anyway, so it's serendipitous I suppose."
Hermione smiled at him, before she spoke, "Why are you guarding the door to the Book of Bonds room, Nev?"
Neville gave her a nervous smile, "I think it's best that Charlie takes a look first, and then we can show you."
Hermione looked at him skeptically but didn't argue with him as he let Charlie pass through the door. Neville shut the door behind him and Charlie so that Hermione couldn't see or hear what they were discussing as they looked at the book. Harry shrugged and leaned against the door looking at his pseudo-sister, he didn't want to interrupt her thoughts as she looked like she was thinking hard about something.
After twenty minutes the door finally opened and an exasperated Hermione huffed, "What took so long?"
Charlie looked between Hermione and Harry, and back to Hermione before looking at Neville. Neville grimaced and cleared his throat, "We have to show you two something. Please don't freak out."
Hermione gritted her teeth, "I won't make any promises, but I would like to know what's so concerning to you."
Neville nodded quickly and stepped back into the room and let Charlie usher her and Harry into the room before he shut the door. Neville lead the duo to the Book and muttered the incantation for triadic soulbonds again. The book lit gold again and Neville instructed Hermione to cut her hand and drop some of her blood onto the book. She rolled her eyes and told him she knew how the book worked before she cut her palm and allowed a few drops of blood to fall onto the pages.
With bated breath, Neville and Charlie watched the close friends to see their reactions to the information that slowly began to appear on the pages.
"That's not possible," Hermione said as she slammed the book shut.
Harry was quiet for a long time before he reopened the book and pulled Hermione's hand over the blank pages and told her to cut her hand open again before he made her drop her blood on the pages again, "The Book doesn't lie, Hermione."
He drank in the information that appeared on the page and nodded, "It makes sense. Remus always thought of you as pack even before he knew we were close. He put you in his will because he wanted you to always be in Teddy's life. Charlie was this Marlene McKinnon woman involved with the Order in the first war?"
Charlie nodded, "We could ask mum and dad about her. They knew her from the Order."
Hermione looked lost, so Harry shut the Book and Neville stepped over to wrap his arm around her shoulder, "The Book also said that we share a triadic soulbond with Charlie."
Hermione nodded slowly, knowing that Neville was trying to lift her spirits and break her out of her mental fog, "Yes, that means you'll have to rescind your original courtship request and issue a new one. Although Charlie will also have to issue one now that he's involved."
Charlie chuckled from behind them, "That won't be a problem. Let's get Hermione's parentage sorted first though."
"You guys take Hermione to the Burrow, I'll take care of letting Lavender know that Hermione will be taking the rest of the day off. I can meet you there later after I sort out a few of my own work," Harry said as the red-haired and blond man lead Hermione out of the room and towards the lift.
"I'll also contact Andromeda and have her meet us there with Teddy. They should know about this too. Andromeda isn't getting much better," Charlie said as the group of four stepped into the lift.
Harry left the lift when it reached the DMLE and reiterated that he'd meet them at the Burrow in no less than an hour. The two wizards left with Hermione did their best to keep the witch from collapsing as she silently began to cry. Charlie stepped in front of her as the lift neared the atrium.
"Hermione," he spoke sternly to her, "Stop crying, now. You are the Minister for Magic and you know Rita Skeeter will be flitting around looking for a scandal involving you if she hears you left the Ministry in tears today."
Hermione nodded trying to stop her tears.
"I mean it, Hermione. Dammit, stop fucking crying right now!" Charlie almost growled at her.
Neville felt a tug in his naval when he heard Charlie speak in such a rough tone and saw Hermione straighten up quickly. He watched as Charlie gently wiped the tears from Hermione's cheeks and nodded when he deemed her adequate to grace the atrium with her presence. He stepped away from her and Neville took a slight step back as well. Hermione didn't need them to be seen leaving the Ministry together just yet.
Their relationship had been announced by Skeeter and had been subsequently followed by a few articles about Hermione officiating and performing the ritual for Ron and Draco's wedding on Samhain, but Hermione was still a private person and didn't need people to think she needed Neville around to protect her while she's at work. She didn't need the Prophet speculating that she was skiving off to cavort with her boyfriend.
Charlie and Neville left the lift together, making sure to be overheard discussing the current Wizengamot proceedings and who they thought might be stepping down or taking family seats next season, with Charlie asking Neville if he was planning on taking his family seat.
Hermione made her way to the cafe to get a coffee, making sure to be seen moving through the Atrium but not being seen leaving immediately following the two men. She spoke to a few people about their departments before excusing herself when Harry joined her with her coat and briefcase and made sure he was overheard when he told her to have a good meeting with the muggle prime minister. She left through the exit into the muggle world after taking her things from Harry.
Thankfully, Neville and Charlie must have expected that was the entrance she took when leaving the Ministry if she didn't apparate or floo and had been waiting just outside in the muggle world. She smiled as she took in their muggle clothing, she surmised that they must spend some time in the muggle world. Then she felt like hitting herself when she remembered that both men had visited her or Harry at Grimmauld Place which was in fact in the muggle world.
Feeling out of sorts, Hermione leaned into Neville as they walked down the street to an alley where they could safely apparate to the Burrow.
Landing at the Burrow, Hermione took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. Charlie lead her and Neville through the wards and into the house, where Molly was busy making lunch in the kitchen.
"Oh, Charlie! Hermione and Neville! Come in, come in! What are you three doing here today? Shouldn't you be working?" Molly smiled as she bustled over to hug all three of them.
"Well, we should be but something's happened, mum," Charlie said calmly, "Is dad at work, or did he stay home today?"
Molly looked between the three young adults before nodding, "Take a seat then, I'll get your father. He took the day off to reflect on the offer Hermione gave him last month. He's only got a few weeks left to decide."
Hermione took a seat and was immediately surrounded by Charlie and Neville on either side of her. Charlie shot off a quick Patronus to Andromeda and Molly bustled out the kitchen door as she headed toward Arthur's hobby shed. Not five minutes later, Andromeda, Teddy, and Arthur were seated at the kitchen table with them as Molly passed her homemade fish and chips out to everyone.
"What's going on, Charlie?" Arthur asked looking at his second eldest son, who looked more serious than he'd seen him look since the war.
"Well," Charlie started but stopped as he looked at Neville and Hermione before he nodded at Neville.
"Mr. Weasley, I'm sorry about this and we will explain in a moment, but I must rescind my courtship request for Hermione," Neville said calmly.
Arthur narrowed his gaze at the young wizard before he glanced at Hermione who didn't seem angry or hurt by his words, "I expect a good explanation."
Neville nodded and turned back to Charlie who spoke then, "Dad, Mum, Andromeda…Neville spent a few hours in the Department of Mysteries looking over the Book of Bonds this morning and we've discovered a few things. The first thing is that Neville, Hermione, and I share a triadic soulbond, which is why he needed to rescind his request to court Hermione."
Molly and Andromeda both sucked in deep breaths, whether in excitement or shock couldn't be deciphered. Arthur looked proud before nodding his acceptance of this.
Charlie continued, "The second being that Hermione's picture in the Book changed, as did her name. Also, a sibling bond showed up. Hermione Granger is actually Hermione Alice McKinnon Lupin."
The gasps echoed throughout the room this time and Charlie knew it was shock this time as his mother looked at Hermione and Andromeda looked like she wanted to sob.
Andromeda had covered her mouth with her hand and Molly was wringing her hands as Charlie continued, "Hermione is Marlene McKinnon and Remus Lupin's daughter. She was actually born in 1978, a year before her muggle birth certificate shows. As we all know, Marlene and Remus are both deceased. We wanted to know if you could tell us anything about the pair that could help us understand why Hermione was left in the muggle world."
"Well, Marlene and her family were murdered by Death Eaters during the first war. They were a part of the Order. Marlene joined the same year Remus, James, Lily, and Sirius joined. They were in the same year at Hogwarts. She was a Gryffindor. She, Lily, and Alice Longbottom were best friends and roommates. They spent all their time together," Molly said.
Arthur nodded, "Marlene announced her pregnancy in July 1978, she said she was due in December. She and Remus had been a couple off and on during their years at Hogwarts, but she hadn't been in a relationship with anyone when she told us she was pregnant. She refused to step down from her position in the Order just because she was pregnant. Now that I think about it, Remus was on a mission when she announced her pregnancy, so he might not have known until he got back. But by the time he got back, she had given birth. The baby, well, Hermione, was a delight. She brought her to all our meetings. If she resembled Remus, no one mentioned it. Marlene never told us who the father was and no one asked because it was the middle of the war."
Andromeda sighed, "I was her mentor and contact during her missions. I babysat for her. One day in September of 1979 she showed up, covered in blood, but refused to let me stitch her up. She tergeo-d the blood off of herself and grabbed Hermione before she left. The only thing she said was that Dumbledore could help. The next week the entire family was dead, we all assumed you had died with them, my dear."
Tears cascaded down Hermione's face as Andromeda reached across the table to squeeze her hand. Charlie and Neville both wrapped their arms around her, taking turns whispering comforting words to her as they tried to help her calm down.
The group awkwardly finished their meal as Hermione calmed down enough to eat. Once she had finished eating she asked, "Does this change anything for you, Andromeda? With me adopting Teddy?"
"No, my sweet girl, if anything it makes things even more solidified in my mind. You are my granddaughter, as much as he is my grandson," Andromeda said with a sad smile on her face.
Hermione nodded, smiling back tearily, before turning to her younger brother, "Teddy, how do you feel about me being your sister?"
Teddy smiled at her, "Do I still get to live with you after grandmama goes to be with dad?"
"Of course," Hermione smiled sadly at him.
"Then, I think I'll be happy having you as my sister," the ten-year-old said simply as Molly cleaned up the table from lunch before she set a plate of biscuits on the table for everyone. Harry arrived then and joined the group at the table, he snagged a few biscuits as he took a seat and greeted everyone.
"Do you think I can visit my parents' graves?" Hermione asked the table, not sure who she was asking, or if anyone even knew where her biological mother was buried.
"Of course, you can, sweetheart. Marlene is buried in the same cemetery as Remus and Tonks. Do you want us to come with you?" Andromeda replied.
Hermione swallowed and shook her head, "I think first, I should take the cleansing potion to clear out the magic that others used on me to keep me hidden, that way I look like I'm supposed to, and then I think Harry and I will visit their graves."
"Ah yeah, I got that for you. Kings and Lavender said to send a Patronus if you need them," Harry said, fishing the potion vial out of his pocket and passing it to Hermione.
Hermione rolled the vial between her hands before glancing at everyone at the table, with a deep breath she quickly downed the potion. The group watched in near silence as her hair lightened to a warm honey blonde, her curls softened a small bit but not noticeably and her eyes lightened to a warm amber color that flashed gold. Nothing else seemed to change about her so the group relaxed.
Molly smiled, "You look like Marlene. But the eyes are distinctly Remus."
Hermione sighed, she didn't know it, but her magic seemed more settled after she had taken the potion. Humming she asked, "Do you think I could go to Hogwarts and speak with Dumbledore's portrait about what Marlene had meant by saying he could help?"
Harry shrugged, "It's worth a shot. Let's go visit your parents' graves and then we can go over to Hogwarts, I'm sure Minerva won't mind us visiting."
Hermione gave her pseudo-brother a smile and let Charlie and Neville help her to stand before she hugged the two men and moved around the table thanking the older adults for telling her about her biological parents. Teddy hugged her tightly as she thanked Andromeda and when she was finished talking to their grandmother, he quietly said he was glad she was his sister because he always felt like his magic was connected to her. After he released his hold on her, he also let his hair go back to his natural sandy blond color that almost matched hers.
Neville quickly conjured two bouquets for her and handed them to her.
"Poppies for remembrance and consolation, dark crimson roses for mourning, purple hyacinth for sorrow, honeysuckle for bonds of love, heliotrope for eternal love, and forget-me-not, which is self-explanatory," Neville said with a sad smile.
"Flowers fit for a graveyard visit. Thank you, Neville," Hermione took the bouquets and set a stasis charm on them so they would stay fresh until she was able to visit the cemetery later on. Neville waved off her thanks and watched her and Harry leave the Burrow together.
Molly invited Neville, Charlie, Andromeda, and Teddy to stay until Hermione and Harry returned, which everyone agreed to as they wanted to support Hermione as best they could.
Hermione and Harry apparated from the Burrow to the cemetery where Andromeda had said her parents were buried. It took them a few minutes but they eventually found Remus's headstone and Harry left Hermione alone as she spoke to her father. Harry spent the time looking for the McKinnon family plots, he was surprised when he found them only a few paces from the Tonks' and Lupin's plots.
Hermione knelt in front of her father's gravestone and set the bouquet against it.
"Hey, Remus, erm…dad. I just found out but you're my biological father. Which I suppose makes sense. We always did feel a connection and you always said I was pack. Teddy is happy that I'm his sister. He's going to come live with me soon. Andromeda isn't well, she's getting worse every day. It's hard to watch, but Teddy is being so strong. I'm proud of him. He's going to Hogwarts next year. Um…I guess you don't know that Marlene McKinnon is my mum. Or maybe you do…being in the afterlife with her and all, I guess you might have had time to talk about such things. Unless there is no afterlife for us….then I don't really know why I'm talking to you…anyway, I loved you before I knew you were my father, but I don't think that changes anything. I miss you and Teddy misses you too. I'll make sure he comes to visit you soon too. Bye for now…" Hermione felt strange talking to Remus's headstone so she moved on quickly to find Harry in front of Marlene McKinnon's headstone.
Hermione set the second bouquet in front of her mother's gravestone and knelt in front of it for a moment. She didn't know what to say this time. She never knew her mother and she only knew of her from the others. Harry walked away so she could gather her thoughts.
"Hello, Miss..erm Mar….ugh Mum. Hello, mum. I'm Hermione. Your daughter, I suppose. Um, I just found out that you're my mum. I suppose that makes me a half-blood, doesn't it? I grew up thinking I was a muggle-born. And I was raised thinking I was born in 1979, so I guess I'm also older than I've always thought. That's so strange. And I just found out that I've got not one but two soulmates. They're Charlie Weasley and Neville Longbottom. They're both very good men. Charlie works with dragons, and Neville owns his own florist shop. He's got his Herbology mastery. Charlie has a mastery of Dragonology. I suppose you might like to know that I am the youngest Minister for Magic. I guess I'm no longer the first Muggleborn Minister of Magic, Merlin the press is going to go crazy when this all comes out…Godric, I've got to go and get a headstart on the press, mum. Rita bloody Skeeter will be only too happy to break this kind of scandal to the world," Hermione rambled for a while before she hopped up and said goodbye to her parents as she grabbed Harry and dragged him out of the cemetery.
Landing back at the Burrow not even thirty minutes after leaving, Hermione surprised everyone in the sitting room when she asked Arthur and Molly to contact Rita Skeeter and get her to the Burrow for an exclusive interview before she demanded Charlie and Neville both make their official courtship intent letters and send them before the reported showed up.
Charlie and Neville quickly wrote up their letters of intent. Charlie sent his letter to Augusta Longbottom before handing one to Andromeda and Teddy. Neville followed his lead, handing one to Arthur and Molly and another to Andromeda and Teddy. Both men verbally made their intentions known to Harry who wasn't in a capacity to receive a letter of intent anymore since Hermione had a biological brother in Teddy.
Neville and Charlie both conjured up bouquets, offering the flowers of intent to Hermione who accepted them sweetly, kissing each man on the cheek. She inhaled the sweet scents of the traditional courtship bouquets, the red roses, ivy, iris, white and yellow jasmine, lilac and larkspur brought joy to her heart as she remembered what each flower meant. These bouquets were smaller than the original one that Neville had sent her, but she would bet if she put them together in one vase they could rival the original in size. Not that size mattered.
Not long after Charlie had sent his letter of intent to Augusta and Algie Longbottom, the pair of elder Longbottoms floo'd into the Burrow. They greeted Molly, Arthur, and Andromeda before turning to the triad.
Charlie, Neville, and Hermione quickly made their formal introductions. Hermione went first as the only woman in their triad, introducing Neville and Charlie formally to Andromeda and Teddy before introducing Molly & Arthur and Augusta & Algie to them as well. Then Neville and Charlie took their turns introducing their guardians and parents to the other guardians and parents in the room. Once the formal introductions were over and each guardian or parent had approved of the bond and given them their blessings, Molly offered them tea.
The group made their way back into the kitchen and enjoyed tea while they waited for Rita Skeeter to reply to Molly and Arthur's invitation. They didn't have long until the owl Arthur had sent returned with a note that said that Rita would be available for the promised exclusive interview later that evening. The group settled in for the afternoon and filled the Longbottom elders in on everything that had happened earlier that day.