A/N This story is my own plot but using the characters of J K Rowling.

This story is going to contain some OOC moments but its how I'm imagining it.

Also, the first couple of chapters have been tweaked and updated to fit with the new plot that the bunny brought to me with the help of my new Beta Gingerzrule so please give the first 4 chapters a reread.

Chapter 5

Lucius and Severus headed towards Lucius' study. The walk from the library was silent but comfortable. Both men made themselves at home within the study. Lucius chose his chair behind his desk and Severus took one the other side.

"Fire whisky?" Lucius offers Sev.

"I better not, I'm still getting used to being a father to Hermione." He replies.

Lucius chuckles. "There will be a day brother, when you will do both."

"I know that. I'm just not ready for it." Severus replies standing his ground.

Lucius nods his understanding and pours himself a drink. "She's a lovely little girl. A nervous young thing." Lucius says.

Severus nods in response. "I'm still trying to work out what makes her so nervous. We haven't yet discussed much of her past." He informs his brother. "Her muggle file is very vague when discussing the reasons previous families weren't able to keep her long term. So, I'm waiting for Hermione to tell me herself. We have spent the last week or so talking but she's yet to tell me much of her past." Severus discusses, pouring himself a glass of pumpkin juice.

Lucius nods, thinking about the situation. "I'm sure she will talk to you when she is ready to. Depending on how distressing the memories are for her, she's probably holding out to see how long this relationship lasts." Lucius guesses, trying to reassure his brother. "She may have tried to talk to a family before and then been sent back to the care home, she may just be biding her time."

"I know you're right, but I just wish I knew what I could do to help her see that this is forever." Severus responds.

"Keep doing what you're doing brother. Keep integrating her into our world and regular contact with us and Minnie will help too." Lucius said, while the stern Slytherin was a fan of the Gryffindor matriarch, he understood Severus' bond with the elder witch.

Both men continued to converse in the privacy of the study. The topics of conversation wide, informative, and mainly about family life.

Back in the library, Cissy had led Hermione around, showing the young witch some of her own favourite sections. Draco with permission had gone back to his room, homework from his private tutor to complete. Hermione sat nervously at one of the tables within the library. Her aunt sat opposite.

"How have you found your first couple of weeks with Severus?" Cissy asked the child kindly.

"Good thank you." Hermione responds in a quiet but polite tone.

Cissy sighed internally, wanting to bring the girl out of her shell was proving to be a difficult thing to achieve. "What's your view on the wizarding world so far?" She asked.

Hermione nods in response, trying not to verbally answer the questions. She had learned early on that being silent was better, she wasn't always liked when she chose to voice her own opinions.

"Listen, sweetheart." Cissy says, moving to sit next to Hermione. "I want you to know… you can talk to me about absolutely anything. I promise you right now, I will never judge you, I will always help you in any way I can." Narcissa says emotionally. "I will always be here. No matter what."

Hermione bites her lip nervously. She didn't know what to believe anymore. She had heard similar speeches before. Broken promises were all too familiar. However, they always hurt no matter how used to them you got. "I want to believe you." Hermione whispers after minutes of uncomfortable silence. "But it's hard."

"Why?"

"Because, well I've heard it all before" Hermione responds before hiding her face within her hands.

"What do you mean?" Cissy asks slightly confused.

"I've been in three homes before being with Severus. All three said something similar to what you just did. But here I am, home number four." Hermione said, slightly bitterly.

"What happened?" Cissy asks. Wanting desperately to pull the girl in a tight embrace.

Hermione bites her lip again, trying to work out how to avoid the question. "It doesn't matter" She responded.

"I don't believe that for a second sweetie. Three homes is a lot. You can talk to me, or if not me definitely Severus. "

Hermione shakes her head, tears lining her eyes, pulling her knees to her chest. Hermione wraps her arms around herself. Each previous home had said that they would be her forever home, and while the first two homes had to return her for decent reasons, she would never forget that third family. Who tried to turn everything against her, a young girl of only 8 at the time.

"Do you think I'm a bad girl?" Hermione asked quietly. Trying to gauge the reaction of her new aunty. However, neither witch noticed the two Slytherin men enter the library again. At hearing that sentence from Hermione both men decided to continue to keep quiet to see what was unfolding here.

"Of course not sweetie. Whilst I can't say I've formed much of an opinion as I've just met you, I can already see your aura. It's a special skill of mine. I can see that you're not going to be bad, no different than any other child of course." Cissa said unsure where this conversation was headed.

Hermione bit her lip slightly, a trait she knew she used when she was nervous. Did she talk to Narcissa and tell her what happened before? Mr. Dumbledore did explain about accidental magic… maybe that was involved…? Would it be fair to talk to Cissa before her own new father? She was so confused.

"What if he sends me back?" Hermione asked.

"Whom?" Cissy asked confused.

"Severus. What if I tell him what happened and he said I was bad like the care home did and sends me back?" The younger witch asked, raising her hand to one of the curls in her hair and started twisting it, another nervous act.

"You are safe here sweetie. I promise. I will hex him before he has the chance to even consider sending you away." Cissy joked, and Hermione paled at the thought of the elder witch hurting the man who had helped her so much in so little time.

"No! Please don't hurt him, it's me. I'm the bad one." Hermione said beginning to panic. It was in this moment that Severus and Lucius decided they needed to intervene and headed towards where the two witches were sat.

Severus pulled Hermione in tight to him. "What is all this nonsense about you being bad little one?" He asked trying to get a read on the situation.

"We were talking about Hermione's past with previous families, and she started saying she was bad and you were going to send her away. I joked that I would hex you before you had the chance and I don't think Hermione realised I was joking." Cissa explained. "I'm sorry sweetie. No one is going to hurt Severus and we are all going to protect you. No one has made Severus this happy in a long-time sweetie therefore you are a very special young lady."

"I'm scared" Hermione responded; no other adult had ever cared this much.

Lucius who had also slowly made his way over to the couch, sat next to his wife. Pulling her close to him. "My Cissy was also right when she said you are protected. Sev, Cissy and I are here for you, and we always will be. I know magic is still very new to you, but there is so much we can use it for to help protect you, and our family." He said softly deeply wishing he could hold the younger girl.

"I don't know what to do…the care home said I was a bad girl after the third family sent me back, I don't wanna be a bad girl anymore. It wasn't my fault. I want to stay with you guys. I like it here." Hermione whispers. "I so desperately want this family but it's all going to go wrong, I just know it."

"Why is it sweet girl?" Cissa asks.

"Because it always does." Hermione says. "They always promise the world and then it always ends in tears. I can't do it again, I really can't."

"We will always be here for you." Severus repeats. "Me, Uncle Luc, Aunty Cissy and Nonna. I swear it." Severus says, casting a magical oath.

"So mote it be." Lucius and Cissy said, in perfect timing, sealing their part of the oath. A blinding white light soared from the core of the three elder magical beings. The light surrounded Hermione and wrapped her tight.

Hermione shivered, the light made her feel warm, and safe. It settled in her heart and in her soul. "What was that?" She asked softly. Slowly beginning to uncurl herself from the ball she had put herself in.

"A magical oath. Magic itself has bound us to you. Our promises will be upheld, or else we will lose our magic." Severus said.

Hermione's eyes widened. "Re…really? But…but what if something happens out of your control." Hermione asked, suddenly worried for her new family.

"Then magic will judge us, and if magic believes that we failed our oath on purpose, then we lose our magic." Lucius adds.

Hermione stares at the adults for a couple of minutes. "You'd give up your magic for me….? Why?"

"Because we all love you and want you to feel safe with us." Cissy adds.

"But you included Nonna, You can't swear on Nonnas behalf" Hermione says.

"The oath hasn't included Mum. She hasn't sworn like we did, but I'm sure she would if we asked her to." Severus says, finally pulling the younger witch in close. Hermione wraps her arms round Severus and pushes in tighter for a hug.

"You can't ask Nonna to do that. You guys shouldn't have done that for me!" Hermione whimpers into Severus.

"Why shouldn't we?" Cissy asked, softly running a hand through the younger girl's hair.

"Because I'm a bad girl. That's what the care home always said." Hermione says getting louder.

Cissy shakes her head. "Nonsense." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Hermione Granger!" Severus snaps slightly. "You are not a bad girl, and anyone who says so is lying." He adds passionately.

"Hermione Granger… Snape actually." She whispers with a small smile on her face.

"Pardon?" Severus responds partially flummoxed.

"I want to be Hermione Granger Snape. You say I'm part of your family, so can I have your name?" She asked.

Severus smiles at the young girl. "Of course, but that doesn't stop us discussing the fact you are not a bad girl and how I feel we need to talk about why you keep referring to yourself as one." He said, putting his foot down using his tone of voice.

"I really don't want to talk about it." Hermione states. "Please."

"Honestly princess, whilst it may hurt your heart to discuss it with us now, in the long run it may help you. How can we help you if we don't know what thoughts are going through your head, and why?" Lucius pitches in.

"I just… it…I…" Hermione tries to start but can't seem to find the words. Hermione closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths whilst extracting herself from Severus' arms and sits back on the couch.

Lucius uses the break in the conversation to call for his house elf. "Odin"

The house elf that saw Severus into the manor popped into the room.

"Yes Master."

"Could you please bring an assortment of drink and some light snacks to the library and check in on Draco." Lucius asks.

"Yes Master." Odin replies.

"Could you also please pop over to my quarters and ask Laney to make sure the room is warm and Hermione's bedroom is prepared. I fear this conversation will exhaust her."

"Yes Mr Severus. Odin will go see Laney." Odin responds with a small smile before popping off.

A few minutes later, a tray with hot chocolates and biscuits appeared in the library.

Lucius passed the warm drink over to Hermione and placed some of the snacks on a smaller plate to give to the younger girl.

"Drink Princess, the chocolate will calm you."

"T…Thank you Uncle Luc." She whispered in response grasping the glass tightly. She sighs, "Thank you guys… is this what family feels like?" Hermione asks.

Severus nodded. "Yes little one, this is family."

Hermione took a couple of deep breaths before sighing. "Fine I'll talk, but I bet you hate me by the end of it."

Severus let out a tiny chuckle "I doubt it." He said and pulled his young witch closer to him while she took some more calming breathes before beginning to talk.

Meanwhile back at Hogwarts, Minerva was going through her mail. She recognised two of the letters as writing from two of her grown up adoptees. She put them aside for later. The next was correspondence with Transfiguration monthly about a piece of research that they had published. The final was a missive from Arabella Figg. Why on earth was Arabella writing to her, she wondered. Minerva unrolled the parchment and quickly skimmed through the short letter.

'Dear Professor McGonagall.

I know I shouldn't be writing to you regarding this matter but I'm rather concerned about the great Professor Dumbledore. He asked me to move here to keep an eye on the young Potter boy while he was staying at the Dursley's. I've tried writing to Albus multiply times about the state of Harry but he never seems to respond to me. I'm very worried about the boy. What should I do?

Arabella.'

Minerva dropped the glass of pumpkin juice she was holding and gasped out loud. She stood up quickly, shooting a patronus to Amelia telling her she wouldn't be a dinner. Minerva rushed out of the castle as used her position as deputy to apparate to Arabella's back yard and swiftly knocked on the door.

The only thought going through her head through the process was, James and Lily had never wanted their son living with the Dursley's.