We've got a double update today because I missed last week (moving and starting a new job!)
April 2000
Theo
Theo was equally pleased and frustrated when Hermione was yet again put on bedrest. He was pleased because it made his Slytherin heart feel vindicated that he did in fact do the right thing when he yelled at her about her overextending her magic.
He was frustrated because she was a miserable patient. She was constantly trying to find ways around Madam Pomphrey's mandates. He had to confiscate her wand after he saw her trying to discover her family magic, yet again. George came up with a clever trick to keep her Magically bound for only two days, but somehow Hermione had bullied him into giving her the countercurse.
"I have half a mind to give you an elf who will follow you around all day every day so that you don't use your magic," The said with a huff after the second week of her constant whinging.
"You'd better not, Theodore Nott!" she said angrily.
"What would you do? You know as well as I do that Elves are tied to the family line, you'd have to accept or the poor creature would die. You don't want that, do you? And imagine what a wonderful life you could provide for such a being!" He knew he had stumped her there, and when he saw her contemplating it, he handed her a book on House Elves, which promptly shut her up for the rest of the day.
The following days, he saw Hermione constantly talking to the House Elves, but she wasn't using her magic so he didn't think he needed to interfere
He spent time working with Dottie and Cookie trying to figure out how to get a representative of Draco for the ceremony. They needed something with his blood to travel with them. Pureblood Wizards were very careful about their blood. It could be used in any number of rituals and ceremonies against their will.
One day he was sitting in his room, staring out at the gardens, when Izy, the old elf who was in charge of the building and grounds, popped in. "I was talking to Cookie," he wheezed, "and she be mentioning that Master Theo needs some blood from Master Draco?"
Theo nodded vigorously. "Yes, Izy I do! Do you know where I can get some?"
Izy nodded sagely. "I was being in the Abraxan stables and I be finding where Masters be making a blood bond, some be dripping on the ground."
Theo grinned at the elf, throwing his arms around him. "Will you take me?"
Izy, looking uncomfortable with the amount of touching that was happening, snapped his fingers, apparating them to the shed in question.
On the ground Theo saw two small stains of blood on the wood. He bent over, conjuring a vial and began to scrape the blood from the ground. When he was done, he thought he had enough of Draco to perform the ritual.
After a week of her surreptitiously talking to his elves and taking notes, he finally asked her what she was working on.
She handed him a manual. "I'd like a house elf." She said primly. Theo gaped at her. "After speaking to your elves I've decided that the best way to help is to adjust the way they're bonded. Plus a house elf is bound to my line and since I'm the first and only in my line, that's only to me. And," she added, " as long as my elf was born and not bonded to another house, I can call them in any time."
"What? How?" Theo asked curiously.
"House elves are severely misunderstood. This book you gave me," she added, throwing it down in disgust, "was written by wizards who never even asked House Elves how the bond worked. Ridiculous!"
"Could I bind a house elf just to me?" He asked thoughtfully.
"Unfortunately, no, we could always convince your ancestors to adjust how they raise their elves, but any elf bound to you would be bound to your family and their magic."
"Alright so what do we have to do?"
"Well," she gushed, clapping her hands together, " we have to find an elf who is approximately 100 who hasn't been formally bound to a line. A Hogwarts elf maybe? 100 is pretty young for an elf. They can live well into their 700s. I think I'm going to see if Kreacher will find someone for me."
"You called Kreacher?" Said the ancient looking elf, appearing at her side.
"Oh, well I didn't mean to, but since you're here, I'm looking for an elf who is around 100 and 200 that has never been bound to a family or place. I'd like them to bind to my family line, I've adjusted some of the parameters based on the Nott Elves suggestions. Would you like to see?"
"Mudblood's ca-" Kreacher cut off abruptly. "But Miss isn't a Mudblood anymore. Miss is Pure now. Miss Hermione's magic is very strong," Kreacher said awed.
"But that's not- is that how it works?" asked Theo.
"It is Mr. Nott, but some wizards have buried the teachings," Kreacher said, looking at Theo shrewdly. "Kreacher will talk with the Hogwarts Elves and see if one or two want to bond with Miss Hermione."
He popped away, and Hermione and Theo stood in shock.
"I'm not Muggleborn anymore?"
"I don't think that's what he meant," said Theo, scratching his head and looking at the bookshelves thoughtfully. "Dottie," he called and turned to her when she popped in, "do you know which books talk about the Purity business, Kreacher said something about Mia not being a-a…"
"A Mudblood," Hermione added, grateful that he didn't use the slur.
"Oh! But Master Theo, that's not being in any books" she said with a laugh. "That is being Magic! When Missy Mia started her line she became clean, Pure. Missy is still being a Muggleborn, but now she is a True Magical! She is Pureblood now."
"I'm a Pureblood?" She asked astounded.
Dottie nodded, "Yes your blood has been purified by Magic, that is what the ceremony was for. Didn't Missy Mia know?" The Elf looked between the two shocked humans in front of her. And when they shook their heads, she laughed again. "Witches and Wizards be thinking they can learn everything from books, but they should knows that books aren't written by Magic, they's written by Witches and Wizards."
"History is Written by the Victor's…" Hermione trailed off and slumped into one of the couches."Theo this is groundbreaking. The Sacred 28 is a lie."
Hermione
It had been days and Hermione was still reeling. She felt like she could barely focus on all of the things that needed doing. They had finalised almost everything to Travel Back. She was loath to say, but the ritual was a bit dark. It didn't require sacrifices or anything, but it did require a lot of not so legal items. Fortunately, they had everything ready.
Two weeks after Kreacher had gone on a hunt for the Granger Elves, he appeared with two youngish elves. "Miss Hermione, these be the Granger Elves."
"What are your names, then?" asked George looking up from his calculations.
"George!" she scolded, "They don't have names. Yet. When they bind to my line they will get to select their names."
Theo chuckled from the potions bench. "Give him a break, Granger. Most people have never met an unbound house elf," he said teasingly. "Even I haven't, and everyone I know grew up with house elves."
Hermione handed them the ritual she'd drafted, which slightly altered the traditional bond to be about mutual support and service, much more of a give and take than a one way bond.
The two elves looked over the page with wide eyes, "Mistress be very kind," said the smaller of the two, "she be making us equal to the family, is it being too much?" the elf squeaked, looking at her companion.
"It is not being our job to question Mistress," said the larger one.
"Actually," added Hermione, "if you look at the fourth paragraph, it is your job to question me. How are any of us expected to be better if we're never challenged?"
All three of the elves looked at her in shock, while Theo and George just tried to bite back their laughter. "I've always said I wanted to work on House Elf Rights, I just had no idea how wrong I was about how to go about it!" Hermione added with a laugh of her own.
She had each of the elves stand on either side of her. She handed each a small knife and took her own in her hand. She began to chant along with the elves:
Sanguine meo hoc vinculum creo. tuo me sanguine voveo iungere familiam. sanguine nostro vovemus invicem pro bono lineæ nostræ servire. (I create this bond with my blood. I vow to join the family with your blood. we vow with our blood to serve each other for the good of our line.)
She cut her right hand and watched as the larger elf cut their left, she clasped his hand and felt their magic bond. "I be Bennett," he said firmly. She repeated the action with her left hand, clasping the smaller elf's right, "I be Darcy," she squeaked. Hermione felt strong. Stronger than she ever had really. She could barely hold back a chuckle to her elves, very literary names.
The two elves cut each other's opposite hand with each other's knives and grasped hands, "We be Granger Elves," they said together. A joyous blue light circled around the trio, blinding them for a moment.
When Hermione was able to see again, Darcy and Bennett were wearing the most prim Georgian outfits she'd seen. She bent down, scooping them both in her arms. "I'm not the only Granger anymore!" she began to weep, and felt her two elves join her. She felt George and Kreacher creep out of the room, and heard Kreacher pop out, muttering about "Sentimental Grangers."
"Alright, alright," she said wiping her tears, "tell me everything! I want to start writing a book about Elves and how we can work together for equal treatment." She plopped on the couch with her notebook and began to take notes as they discussed their bond. It seemed that bonding this way increased Hermione's magic as much as their own. Other elves had to give their magic to their family, but the Granger's shared. They hypothesised that all Grangers would share, and depending on how Hermione bonded when she married her spouse may as well, they had built a large well of magic that could be shared and used amongst all of their family.
This would be very attractive to many of the more power mad families. "Darcy, Bennett, can you tell me about the part of the bond that would prevent injury to each other?"
They were silent for a couple of moments, "I think the Granger Magic makes it so that none of us can betray or hurt one another," said Darcy thoughtfully.
"Do you think that's how it would be for all families who bond this way?"
Bennett shook his head. "I don't think so," he said, scratching his little chin, "I think it's the nature of our magic, it's made to heal and protect and hide, not to hurt."
Hermione pondered this, taking down notes. The rest of the day was spent with the elves, talking about how to best handle time jumps and travel. They agreed to stay at Nott Manor with the Nott Elves, but insisted that they be the ones to help with her things.
When the sun was setting, Theo sprinted in. "It's just us tonight, Mia. George popped away not long ago to spend time with his family. Andromeda and Remus took Teddy to see Minerva. Neville is going to formally introduce Aunt Gussie to Hannah, and Shacklebolt took Finn to work on battle strategy with Harry." He nodded to Darcy and Bennett, who grinned back at him.
"His magic is so strong and so closely bound to Granger Magic!" squealed Darcy throwing herself at Theo who caught her as he stumbled into the couch.
"Well yes, I should hope so," he said and cast Nexus Vincula. The silver bond was sparkling between him and Hermione, a new pink cord was stretching from him toward where they assumed Finn was and bronze cords ran between Hermione and Darcy and Hermione and Bennett.
"We're really family," Hermione said in awe. "And Theo, we're so strong!"
Before he could respond, they watched as most of their yellow cords winked out, followed by Theo's bronze.
I'm so sorry!