Hi, yes hello. I am going to attempt monthly chapters as I've been in a bit of a funk overall with my life. I'm hoping some external validation in the form of comments and kudos will help ;)
But really I hope you enjoy this! I'm loving watching their family dynamic shine!
Tuesday, July 11. 1995
The following morning, Andromeda, Ted, and Dora met the inhabitants of Number 12 Grimmauld Place at a painfully early 6:30 in the morning. Remus had popped over to Brixton and picked up Dean to help as well. The three Tonks', three Blacks, and one Fawley sat around the kitchen table eating their breakfasts and drinking their coffee and tea.
Hermione tried her hardest to drag out the meal, but when she saw Andromeda's raised eyebrow finished the last dregs of her coffee. "Alright!" clapped Andromeda, drawing the attention of the motley crew. "Today we will be tackling the first floor. Remus and Dora will work on the Library. Please make sure to test for any blood curses, and leave anything that can only be touched by Purebloods aside for Sirius or I to handle later. If there is something that you cannot figure out how to clear, please set it in another pile. Every book needs to be sorted through, anything we cannot do we'll send off to Gringotts to have cleared."
The two looked at each other with grins, Remus was glad to be in the library and Dora was excited to be breaking curses, something that they'd recently covered in Auror training.
Andromeda continued, "The rest of us will be doing the other parts of the house room by room. Hermione and Dean you're in charge of the cleaning spells, Sirius and I will be working on unsticking any pesky portraits, Ted you can work on stripping all the wallpaper. Does anyone have any questions?"
Everyone shook their heads and stood, preparing to go to their assigned rooms. Dean and Hermione followed Ted to the parlour. He began to strip the wallpaper from the walls. Hermione went behind and scrubbed the walls and ceilings. Dean worked on the floors. It took hours. By the time lunch rolled around Hermione, Dean and Ted had only completed two rooms.
The group collapsed into their seats at the kitchen table and ate their lunch silently. Dora had a few new burns on her fingers and Remus was covered in dust. They had barely made it through a single book shelf, after pulling out anything they couldn't handle. Sirius and Andromeda had accomplished three portraits, but had finally figured out a spell that would help speed it up after consulting the library for close to an hour.
"I thought I'd appreciate being able to do Magic outside of school," whinged Dean. "Apparently my newfound freedom is only good for cleaning spells!"
Hermione groaned right along with him. "It seems like this should be going much faster with Magic!"
Ted sighed, "That's the problem with these Magical homes, there is so much residual Magic, and here Dark Magic, it has to be magically cleaned then we can go back and do a good old fashioned Muggle cleaning."
Hermione and Dean groaned, resting their heads on the table heavily.
For all their complaints though, Dean and Hermione found that Ted was a fountain of knowledge. He talked a lot about how difficult it was for him transitioning into the Wizarding World and some of the challenges that he and Andromeda had faced when they first got together. Hermione was fascinated to hear how his Magic had changed after Andromeda had been reinstated. It sounded like even he got some benefits from it.
Wednesday, July 12, 1995
The following morning went almost exactly the same, cleaning for hours. After lunch, Dean, Sirius and Remus had to go to Gringotts to work through the paperwork on Dean's manor.
Andromeda joined Dora in the library and Hermione and Ted continued room by room. By dinner they'd only completed two more rooms, leaving only the powder room, hallway, and stairwell to be cleaned the next day. When Remus, Sirius, and Dean returned they went back to their original jobs.
When they'd finally collapsed at the table, around seven, Kreacher served them takeout pizza on some fine china. "So tomorrow we're off to the lawyer," said Sirius softly.
Hermione swallowed heavily, the food settling poorly in her stomach. "I-I'm quite nervous," she whispered. She felt like she should be embarrassed by the feelings creeping up on her, but instead she felt accepted. She loved Harry and the Weasleys, but they never really took the time to understand her even if she worked hard at doing just that for the rest of them.
"I suppose it feels a bit like we're really losing Auntie Jean and Dad," Dean said softly.
"Oh you'll never lose them, not completely," said Remus softly. "You know that this is just the next step in the process, they're looking down on you from wherever they are. I think they're probably up there with my Mum and Dad, grinning down at the unconventional family we all make."
"Fortunately, Andi and I's parents are not with them. They're somewhere much less posh," Sirius said grinning at them. I know it's not what we all expected to happen, but I think they'd be quite proud of you and all the steps we're taking to make our family strong. Tomorrow is just tying up their worldly lives, they haven't gone, not really."
Hermione let out a little sniffle and felt Dora's arms wrap around her. "Come on Cousin, tell us about them, what would they say about all of this?"
Dean let out a chuckle. "Oh Dad would be thrilled. He loved magic. He was a bit like a kid in that regard. He would have been delighted by the cleaning spells and he would have thought that the portrait of your mum was hilarious!"
Hermione smiled at him, "Yeah and mum would have been absolutely disgusted with the house, she would have been following behind us with a mop and I doubt she would have let us sleep for a moment until it was 'spit spot!'"
"Sounds like a woman after my own heart," Andromeda said with a grin.
"Dad would have loved watching you transform, Sirius, and he would have asked about a million questions about being a werewolf. He was a big fantasy guy and was constantly asking what Muggles had gotten right and wrong." Hermione continued.
"I think mostly I feel a little bad because I feel like I'm moving on without them, like they would be sad."
"Don't say that, Mi. Auntie Jean and Dad would have wanted this. They'd be so proud of you for making the choices you are. They'd tell you that you can do whatever you want to do, you just have to go for it. I think they'd be glad that you aren't wallowing and that you're keeping busy," said Dean softly next to her, gripping her hand.
"I suppose it all just feels so final," Hermione whispered.
"It's not the end, it's just the start of the next chapter, Kitten."
That night, Hermione spent at Dean's house so that Sirius and Remus wouldn't worry for her during the full moon.
When they arrived in Brixton, Delyse threw open the door and wrapped Hermione in a tight hug. "Doll! I've missed you so much. What have you three been doing to my son? He's never slept so hard in his life!"
That evening was filled with snacks and movies and reminded Hermione of some of the times when her parents would go to Dental Conferences and she'd stay with Dean and his family. The girls asked Hermione all sorts of questions about what she'd been doing in her new house, and once they'd gone to bed, Delyse, Dean and Hermione talked about what would come next after everything was settled. She kept forgetting that instead of her Mum and Dad picking her up the next morning, Sirius and Remus would come to bring her to the lawyer's office to look at their will.
Thursday, July 13, 1995
The following morning, Hermione woke up to Delyse's knocking. "Up you get, Doll! We have to leave in an hour. We're meeting Remus and Sirius at eight thirty and walking over to the lawyer after we eat."
Hermione groaned and squinted at the alarm clock next to the bed. Seven in the morning. She begrudgingly threw her legs out of bed and padded to the bathroom. She'd laid her clothes out and showered the night before as a way to calm her nerves. When she saw her appearance in the mirror, she groaned. Her bonnet was lopsided and there were pillow lines on her cheeks, her eyes were puffy and red and she looked like she hadn't slept a wink.
She pulled out the book that Andromeda had slipped her the night before. Beauty Spells and You: A Modern Witches' Guide. With a sigh she remembered that she couldn't do magic at Dean's house because then they would know that she was doing underaged magic. She hadn't normally been one for beauty, but something about being Sirius' daughter seemed to change that. It was interesting seeing the small changes in her personality. She was a bit more appearance focused, a bit more prone to pranks, and much better at Defence Against the Dark Arts.
She pulled off her bonnet and watched her hair spring out in all directions with a grin. Her mum was always trying new things with her hair. Delyse came in and did a few braids at the left side of her head, and pinned a clip that her dad had given her for her 12th birthday to hold the curls back. She used the magical creams to enhance her eyes and then took a step back, impressed with her results. She grinned at herself, and turned to put on the dark dress she had picked out for the lawyer's office.
When she was done, she made her way downstairs to the steaming pot of coffee on the table, surprised to see Remus sitting at the table sipping his tea, talking to Dean. He looked less tired than he had on previous full moon nights, she'd have to ask him about it later, when she had time. Sirius, of course, still hadn't shown up yet. "How are you feeling, Pup?" Remus asked after she'd finished her first few sips of coffee.
"I'm-I'm alright. I'm a bit melancholy, I suppose, but overall I know that this is for the best. I hope that the lawyer doesn't take too long. I was hoping to finish all the magical cleaning today and I don't want to leave it to the Tonks' for too long, it doesn't feel fair, it's our house."
Remus chuckled, "It is, isn't it? Still feels strange to think of this place as ours. I know that Sirius has a lot of bad memories of the place, but hopefully we can turn those around."
"You rang?" trilled Sirius from the doorway. He stood before them in a muggle suit that would have looked better on a rockstar than her Adoptive Father who was going to meet the Muggle Lawyer. It was paisley and purple and very tight. He had a bright orange ascot and pointy, dragonhide shoes.
"Siri, you cannot wear that, we need to appear presentable," Remus said, gesturing to his rather Professorial suit.
"I thought it was rather charming!" Sirius huffed, but after a moment turned and stomped to the balcony, apparating away. He returned in another, more traditional suit not long after, although his tie was still brighter and more patterned than the average.
"With all your theatrics, you'll have to wait until we get to the restaurant before you have your tea," Remus said with a small grin.
"But-but-" Sirius stuttered, but followed along when the rest of the group made their way to the front door, where Dean waved them off.
The four of them walked to Hermione's favourite restaurant. Nana June was everyone's grandmother on their block. She always had a treat for the kids and a good piece of gossip for the adults.
"Miss Mini!" the old woman shrieked when Hermione entered the restaurant. She moved much more with much more agility than Hermione thought possible as she was wrapped in a hug. Nana June only came up to Hermione's shoulder, but she smelled like nostalgia. Hermione found tears rolling from her eyes unbidden. "Now love, let's get you all settled and you and Delly can introduce me to your friends."
Nana June ushered them to the counter and stood across from them, pouring coffees for all of them. "Unless you'd prefer tea?" Nana June said with a sharp look.
"No, no, we'd love some of your coffee," Remus said, elbowing Sirius before he got a chance to ask for the tea.
Nana June's face broke into a wrinkled smile. "I'm Nana June, are you the fellows who will be adopting Miss Mini?"
"Uhm, yes ma'am," Sirius said blushing.
"Siri-Cyril is my best friend's godfather, and Remus is a former professor. They just did a er ceremony, so Siri-Cyril is adopting me, it's all a bit atypical of course, but…" Hermione trailed off. Remembering mid thought that gay marriage isn't legal in Muggle Britain.
She looked back up at Nana June after a moment. The woman was openly weeping. Delyse looked shocked, Sirius and Remus looked uncomfortable. Nana June cleared her throat, "My Samuel, he had a man too," she let out a quiet sob. Nana June never talked about her son. "But back in Jamaica, they didn't encourage that. We were coming here, had our travel booked and everything. When they didn't show up, I knew something was wrong. By the time I got to them, they were gone." Hermione stood and stepped around the counter to hug the woman. "I can tell these two will do everything for you." She turned to Sirius and Remus, "You just be letting our Miss Mini come visit. The Grangers are already so missed and I don't know what we would do without our Hermione."
Sirius and Remus nodded, both blinking back tears. "What was his name?" whispered Sirius.
"Samuel and Robert," she pointed to a picture on the wall of two grinning young men. "That was taken the day they told me. Even though Britain was their dream, I knew I couldn't stay in a place that had killed my boys."
At this point, all four of them were tearing up. "We promise to take care of her." Remus said softly, taking a sip of his coffee. The rest of the meal was eaten in sporadic conversations, with Nana June asking about Hermione's new home and how she was settling in.
When they were leaving, Nana June handed Hermione a small vial filled with sand. "It's important that we always bring a little bit of home with us." she murmured with a pat to Hermione's hand.
The four of them made their way to the lawyer's office directly afterwards. When they arrived, the lawyer immediately set to work reading through the will. ¾ of their assets were designated to Hermione, with ¼ going to Dean. They had listed the house earlier that week and were already having some interest. The paperwork for the adoption would be filed with the courts later that day, as the adoption ceremony that they'd done at Gringotts covered both the Magical and Muggle worlds.
When they were leaving around lunch, Delyse had to go to work at her salon, giving Hermione a hug and a kiss she agreed to bring everyone over on Sunday for dinner.
Remus, Sirius, and Hermione made their way back home, a bag of Indian take out in tow. When they arrived, the Tonks' had almost finished the magical cleaning of the rooms, with only the stairwell left. The six of them sat down to lunch, deciding to go back to their original pairings to finish the cleaning and portrait removal.
By four, the only part of the house left to finish was the library, which meant that all of the adults, with the exception of Ted, were delegated there. Hermione went up to her room to work on some of her summer work until dinner. When she eventually looked up at the clock she was shocked to see that it was almost 9.
She shuffled down the stairs, stretching. She found all of the adults huddled around a book that they'd brought to the empty parlour. "What is it?" she asked. "It's almost 9, aren't you all hungry?"
They all looked up at her, surprised by the interruption. "We found a book on repairing the tapestry, we've all been discussing it, and trying to figure out how to go about performing the Magic," Sirius said with a grin.
"It's going to require a ritual. We were thinking we should handle that tonight, it's supposed to happen at midnight, but we were making sure we understood the steps," Andromeda added.
"We sent dad out to grab the required materials," Dora said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I've never been in a proper Pureblood ritual!"
Sirius and Andromeda shared a look and rolled their eyes, while Remus looked like he was holding back his excitement at participating as well. Hermione came over and joined them, reading over the ritual.
The last task they had left for their "Great First Floor Clean Up," was to remove Sirius' mother's portrait. The six of them stood in front of the large portrait while Kreacher did the appropriate spells. When she was removed, and began to shriek, Kreacher brought her to the basement, where she was horrified to find that she would be spending time with Remus and Sirius during the transformations.
When the portrait was removed, everyone had a glass of firewhiskey (rum for Hermione) and toasted to the future of the Black family.
At Midnight, Dora, Andromeda, and Hermione stood around Sirius in the room with the Tapestry Remus and Ted were standing in the doorway, watching anxiously. Hermione was nervous. They'd gone over the ritual again and again until they felt ready to perform it. Ted had gotten them the thread that they needed, as well as some of the herbs. All of it sat in a cauldron in front of Sirius.
Each of the women cut their palms, starting with Dora.
"I, Nymphadora Vulpecula Black Tonks, offer my blood to restore our Family."
"I, Andromeda Ilse Black Tonks, offer my blood to restore our Family.
"I, Hermione Jean Black, Heir of House Black, offer my blood to restore our Family."
Sirius winced every time they cut their palms but nodded at them as they stepped back. "I, Sirius Orion Black, Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House Black offer my blood to restore our Family. I give myself to restore the names of those who have been torn away, be they so-called Blood Traitors or Squibs. And with their restoration, welcome them back into the Family."
When he finished his last word, he dripped his own blood into the cup and watched as their Magic swirled around the Cauldron, bathing it in light. Suddenly, with a flash, the Cauldron disappeared, leaving behind a spool of thread that matched the colour of all of the names on the tree.
Sirius raised his wand and directed the thread to the tapestry. "Rogo te, Magia, ut meam voluntatem facias et nostram familiam restituas." (I beseech thee, magic, to do my will and restore our Family Tree). They all watched as the thread seemed to seep into the fabric and watched in awe as name after name appeared and added branches to the tree. There must have been hundreds of names by the time it finished.
"Looks like we have some new family members to meet," said Sirius with a chuckle, pointing to a Squib branch of the family.
Remus came in and looked at the portrait of Sirius that had formed, "This is quite a handsome picture of you, Siri," he said with a chuckle.
"As if every picture of me isn't handsome, you beast!" Sirius said, pretending to be affronted. Then he spun around and grasped Hermione's hand. "Oh Kitten! I'm so sorry! Episkey!" Hermione watched in awe as her hand knitted back together.
Dora held out her hand to Hermione, "I can see the look on your face, cousin. Try it out!"
Remus stepped up next to her, "The spell is Episkey, repeat it a few times," and she did. When she'd finally gotten the pronunciation down, he continued, "the wand movement is a circle, but don't close it at the top. Practise the movement a few times." he corrected her movement a bit then smiled down at her, "Have at it, Pup!"
"Episkey!" she said, and watched as Dora's hand knit itself back together. She turned her eyes to Andromeda who was smiling at her fondly as she stretched out her own hand to be healed.
"Alright, we must be off. Ted and Dora have to work in the morning. I'll be back around 9, to help with the manual cleaning," said Andromeda wrapping Hermione in a hug.
As the Tonks' left the house, Hermione stood between Remus and Sirius looking at the tapestry, watching her own portrait gin up at her.
"What should I call you two?" she asked softly.
"What do you mean, Kitten?" Sirius asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
"I-Well you both have nicknames for me, but…"
Remus moved to stand in front of her. "You can call us whatever you want. We know that you already have parents, so you're welcome to just call us Sirius and Remus, or Padfoot and Moony, or really whatever strikes your fancy, Pup."
"You don't want me to call you Dad?" she asked, blushing.
"Only if that's what you want. We'd never make you feel like you had to call us anything," Sirius added gently. "Like Rey said, we're happy to have you around and we know how we feel about you and there isn't anything you could do that would make us love you less."
Hermione felt tears running down her face and then felt both the men wrap her in a hug. "I love you too," she finally got out after her tears had slowed down.
Thanks as always to bam2305 for being my sounding board and listening to me whine about writer's block.
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