Hey y'all! Happy New Year! I'm finally back! A little while ago, I hit a block with Scars of the Future and Percy Jackson and the Sorcerer's Stone, so I decided to mess around with an idea that was stuck in my head. I started writing it out, and it accidently became a new fic. I should hopefully have updates for my other fics soon as well. A quick disclaimer here- I do not own Harry Potter. If you recognize something, it was likely from the books or movies, as I have used direct quotes. Anyway, enough with my babbling. Sit back, relax, enjoy, and on with the chapter!
-Sav
December 27, 1980
A loud crack followed by a blinding flash of light startled the ever on-guard members of the Order of the Phoenix. The Order meeting had been called to discuss the growing death toll of the war. The meeting was going routinely, until that loud crack of course. As the premises had been warded, nothing was supposed to have been able to get in. All wands were drawn and pointed at the source of the sound as the light faded, revealing a bushy-haired girl crumpled on the floor.
She groaned. "Dear Lord, I knew it would be bad, but that was horrible!" The girl, who looked to be about nineteen, pushed herself off the floor and rubbed her temples. She opened her eyes after a moment and looked around the room. They filled with a mixture of pain and happiness, and she smiled through a few escaping tears. She brushed them away as Alastor Moody's impatient voice broke the tense silence.
"Who are you? How did you get through the wards?"
She grinned. "It's good to see you, Alastor. I'm not a Death Eater, but I do understand the wand in my face, constant vigilance and all. As for the wards- well that's a complicated question."
Moody scoffed.
"Not a Death Eater, eh? Show us your arms."
The girl breathed a small sigh and unbuttoned the sleeve of her denim jacket, before presenting her left arm for the Order to see. Many members gasped and some even gagged. Instead of the Dark Mark burned into her forearm, what they saw was even more grotesque. Written in scars that had been carved across her arm was the slur: Mudblood. The girl cleared her throat, bringing the collective attention from her arm back to herself.
"See? Not a Death Eater. There is, however, a mole in the Order, or in this case, a rat."
"How do you know about the Order?"
"I will gladly answer that question, and any others, in a minute. I'll even take Veritaserum, as I'm sure at least one of you has a vial handy, but I will do so after we are away from Death Eater ears. Peter Pettigrew, would you mind rolling up your sleeves?"
As the rat in question squeaked, many protests could be heard around the room, the loudest of which came from the other three marauders. Dumbledore, who had been characteristically quiet, caused his wand to make an authoritative bang, effectively silencing everyone, but James Potter's last protest was still heard. "You can't be serious!"
The girl smiled at James, who was standing between his wife and best friend.
"Of course, I'm not, Mr. Potter." The girl turned to direct her attention to the man standing next to James. "He is Sirius." Mouths around the Order gaped in disbelief at the sass the stranger displayed while boasting her inexplicable familiarity of the members. The girl spoke again.
"If you are so sure that Peter Pettigrew is not a Death Eater, then why don't you check his arms? Prove me wrong. After all, he is, quite literally, a rat. An unregistered rat, but a rat all the same." And Pettigrew," she cautioned, turning to stare into his face, "shifting would be incredibly unwise."
This time, it was an angry Sirius Black who interjected.
"How can you possibly know all that? And who are you to accuse us of being Death Eaters, when you're the one who broke into a top-secret meeting?"
"Again, I'll answer all questions under Veritaserum, after you have checked Pettigrew's arms. You can even perform legilimency on me, but only you. I don't trust any other legilimency here to poke around in my head."
Sirius sighed. "Pete, show us your arms."
Peter didn't move.
"Wormtail?" Questioned Remus. Pettigrew's beady eyes darted around the room as his breathing picked up.
"Come on, guys, y-you can't really believe her over me."
"We don't," said Sirius, "but since you're not a Death Eater, rolling up your sleeves shouldn't be a problem."
"She's probably working for him! She wants to turn us against each other! She'll give away the location of Headquarters! He'll kill us all!"
"That's rich coming from you," The girl snorted. "Stupefy!" Before anyone could throw up a shield, Pettigrew was unconscious on the floor, and the Order gaped at the girl.
"I'm well practiced at wandless magic. I would have done it nonverbally as well, but I didn't want anyone thinking I had killed him. As to his accusations, if I wanted you all dead, I would have stayed where I was. Now can somebody check his arms?"
The room was dead silent until discomfort set in, whereupon Frank Longbottom approached Pettigrew and pulled up his sleeves. The Dark Mark stood out as bold as day, branded into Pettigrew's skin. The group exhaled in shock and pain. The marauders were shattered. Taking advantage of the silence, the girl spoke.
"Mr. Longbottom, you're an auror. Obliviate him for any memories of the Order you feel necessary. That way, if someone breaks him out, he will not be able to hand off any valuable information. Then, take him to the Ministry. Make sure you put anti-animagi wards on his holding cell, and make sure he gets a trial. The Ministry is too good at throwing people in Azkaban based on speculation and hearsay." She turned to face the marauders. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to find out this way. Actually, I'm sorry he switched in the first place."
Directing her attention back to the rest of the Order, she continued. "I'm happy to undergo Veritaserum and legilimency from Sirius now, but may I suggest we wait until Mr. Longbottom gets back from the Ministry? I think it would be good for everyone to take a breather, and I feel bad for whomever gets landed with telling Mr. Longbottom my story, as it is rather long. I understand I am probably not trusted yet, so you are welcome to do whatever makes you more comfortable. Stun me for all I care, though if you do that, could someone please find some paracetamol for me? Waking up from a stunning spell tends to give me a nasty headache."
Moody grunted.
"Someone stun and do a body-bind on the girl. Longbottom- do what she says. So far, her information has been accurate, and those precautions are simply good advice in general. Everyone else, get some air."
The girl turned to look at Moody.
"It's good to have you back Mad-Eye," she paused, then backtracked. "Er, well you're not Mad-Eye yet, but it's good to have you back nonetheless." She then slowly pulled out her wand with two fingers, and one hand by her head. "Here's my wand, please don't snap it. Do you want me off to the side or just right here?"
Moody stood in shock for a split second, before taking her wand and pocketing it.
"Go by the wall, lass, we don't want a body in the middle of the room. Mind telling me what paracetamol is?"
"It's a muggle pain reliever. I'm hoping Mrs. Potter has some. If not, I'll ask someone to use magic, I just like the muggle version better."
The girl started to slowly walk over to the wall, as to not scare anyone. As she laid down on the floor by the wall, with her jacket bunched up underneath her head, Lily Potter called out to her.
"I have some paracetamol. I like it better as well. I'll give it to you when you wake up." The girl smiled at Lily.
"Thank you, Mrs. Potter."
The girl took a deep breath as Moody placed the body-bind on her. Then, the room went black.
As she came back to consciousness, the girl groaned. She squinted at the light while her eyes adjusted to the room. For a moment, she looked on guard, but as she slowly took in her surroundings, she relaxed.
Lily walked over to the wakening young lady and stopped a couple feet away. Lily rolled a medicine bottle towards the girl who took it gratefully. She removed two tablets and tossed it back to Lily. The girl looked at Moody, who seemed to have taken control of the meeting.
"So, what's first? Veritaserum or legilimency?"
Moody gruffly barked "Black," before stepping aside. Sirius, who was red rimmed around the eyes, walked over and sat down on the floor in front of the girl. She smiled. "Hello, Sirius."
He blinked and looked into her eyes. "Legilimens."
The Order silently watched as the two stared into each other's eyes. Sirius's face betrayed many different emotions- confusion, anger, surprise, sadness, at one point he even let out one of his barking laughs. The girl's face remained impassive. After a while, Sirius pulled out of the girl's head. He sat back, contemplative for a moment, before looking back to her.
"So… does this mean you're my goddaughter?" Many eyebrows in the Order flew up, but the girl just laughed.
"It's good to have you back, Snuffles."
Sirius snorted. "Welcome to the family, Mia, and thanks for coming back for us. I know this must have been difficult for you."
She gave a half-smile. "I'd do anything for my brother, even… even if it risks him not knowing me, I'd still do it. He deserves to be happy."
Sirius nodded. "Don't worry, Mia. They'll love you." He gave her a quick hug, before standing up to face the rest of the Order.
"She's safe. Actually, she's more than safe, she's going to bloody win this war, but let's do the Veritaserum anyways. Her answers should be… interesting, to say the least." He walked over to James and took a seat next to him. James looked at him like he was slightly crazy, but Sirius just smiled.
Moody passed the girl a vial of Veritaserum, who downed it in a few seconds. He waited a minute for the potion to take effect, before starting on the questions. "What's your name?"
"Which one?"
"What do you mean 'which one'?"
"Would you like my birth name, legal name, nickname, moniker, or my marauder name?"
Moody looked at her for a moment, and James, Remus, and Lily's jaws all dropped, again. "How about all of the above," he replied.
The girl grinned.
"Hello, everybody, my birth name is Hermione Jean Granger, my legal name is Hermione Jean Potter, my brother called me Mia, I'm known as the brightest witch of my age, and my marauder name is Jumper."
Amid the obvious astonishment among the Order, Moody asked his next question.
"Potter? How are you related to the Potters? As far as I know, there aren't any other Potters in wizarding Britain."
Hermione smiled again - it was clear she was having a bit of fun with the questioning.
"Well, technically, I'm Mr. and Mrs. Potter's adopted daughter, however, they're not the ones who did the adopting. I suggest your next question is when I was born. That might clear up a few things."
Lily and James both looked too shocked to properly say anything, so Moody continued with his interrogation.
"When were you born?"
"September 19th, 1979."
Moody let out a long whistle and many murmurs passed through the Order. They all quieted down to hear his next question.
"Well, lass, it seems as though you're a long way from home. What year are you from?"
"1999."
At this point, Dumbledore broke his silence. "Well then, it seems we must get you back to your time. After all it would do no good to change things. Awful things happen to people who meddle with time."
Hermione sent Dumbledore a venomous glare that would have left even Voldemort six feet under.
"Absolutely not. Magic is all about intentions. I came here to change things, which means that the minute I left my timeline, it ceased to exist. I have no timeline to go back to, and I refuse to sit back and let this one play out the same way. And stop being a hypocrite, Albus. I've gone back before on your command- something I wouldn't have needed to do in the first place if you had stopped your blasted manipulations. Your actions, Albus Dumbledore, not only made my brother's life an absolute horror, but extended the entire war! You indirectly killed thousands of people, and now I'm cleaning up your bloody mistakes! So to hell with not changing anything, and I'll thank you to keep your crooked nose out of this!"
The Order was astonished. No one had ever called out Albus Dumbledore.
Moody broke the silence to continue his questions.
"How did you get here?"
"I created a variation of the Tempus and Portus spells to take me to the time and place that I specified. I figured there would be wards up, so before I left 1999, I made sure that I was standing somewhere already within the wards, so when I traveled back, I would not have technically broken through the wards, as I was already there to begin with."
"Why did you come back?"
"For my brother."
"And, who is that?"
"Harry. Harry Potter."
Moody nodded and passed Hermione the antidote for the Veritaserum. After she drained it, she looked back up at Moody. Before he could say anything, however, James cut in.
"You're our adopted daughter?" Hermione nodded.
"You said that we didn't do the adopting, so that means Harry adopted you as his sister."
Again, Hermione nodded.
"And you're here for him."
Hermione took a deep breath, and looked directly at James and Lily.
"I would do anything for him."
"How come he's not here with you?"
Hermione's eyes filled with tears. James and Lily got the message. Their faces fell, and a few spare tears slipped down their cheeks. James let out a long sigh and ran his hand through his hair, while Lily pulled a baby Harry closer to her in comfort. After a few seconds, Lily choked out a question through her tears.
"You're here to save him? Why so far back?"
"I figured that instead of just saving him, I should make sure his whole life is better this time around. The earliest I could do that was 1980. This has the additional bonus of saving countless other lives as well."
James swallowed hard.
"What happened?"
Hermione gave another hard look towards Dumbledore, before taking a deep breath.
"If anyone here has anger issues, I suggest exploding a conjured dummy. It usually works for me. If not, well, killing Voldemort a second time will be very cathartic. If you're currently standing, I suggest you take a seat. I'm about to tell a very long story."
She gave the Order a few minutes to get over their shocked faces and settle down, before starting her story.
"The First Wizarding War ended on October 31st, 1981. By that time, over half of the people here were either dead or missing. I don't know exact dates for most of you, but I do know what happened. 1981 is the year everything went south.
Mr. Bones and Ms. McKinnon, update your wards, and move your families to safe houses. Mr. Bones- Susan grew up with your sister. She was at Madam Bones's house the night you and your family were attacked and killed at your home. Susan is lovely, by the way. I never knew her well, but she was in Hufflepuff, and her best friend is Hannah Abbott. She is a wonderful fighter, and she took down quite a few Death Eaters. She made her aunt proud. Madam Bones was head of the DMLE until July of 1996, when she was found murdered in her home by Death Eaters. When I left 1999, Susan was working in the Ministry and dating Ernie Macmillan, one of our year mates who was also in Hufflepuff.
Ms. McKinnon, I don't know when, but sometime in 1981, you and your family will be slaughtered in your home. No one survived. Mr. Fenwick, you were killed fighting Death Eaters. They suspected you got hit with a very powerful blasting curse. Miss. Meadows, you were murdered by Voldemort sometime in 1981.
Mr. Dearborn, watch your back. You went missing, and nobody ever found out what happened to you. Messrs. Prewett-" she broke off for a second when she looked at the Prewett twins. They raised their eyebrows.
"Merlin, you guys look like the twins. From what little I heard, you guys appreciated pranks as well. Molly never talked about you much, I don't think she ever fully got over your deaths. You guys were sent on a low key mission and were ambushed by half a dozen Death Eaters. You took out five of them before Antonin Dolohov killed you.
Fabian- Molly gave my brother your watch for his seventeenth birthday. Our best friend was your youngest nephew, and my brother was dating your niece before- well, before."
Hermione paused to furiously wipe away a few tears, before continuing on.
"Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom, a few days after the war ended, you were told it was safe to come out of hiding. You were attacked by Bellatrix, Rabastan, and Rodolphus Lestrange, and Barty Crouch Junior. Bellatrix tortured you both into insanity. I suggest you guys practice occlumency just in case. Trust me, it helps."
Hermione was subconsciously rubbing her left arm, and most of the Order, including Alice and Frank, understood what had happened. They were astonished that such a young girl could survive so much and come out still sane.
"Neville was raised by Madam Longbottom. He's absolutely amazing. He was in Gryffindor with my brother and I, along with many of our friends. In my fifth year, I convinced my brother to lead a secret defense group, as we weren't learning anything in defense class. Neville joined the group, and at the end of that year, he went with my brother, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and I, to the Department of Mysteries on a rescue mission.
After that, he continued to fight with the D.A., and in our seventh year, while my brother, Ron, and I were going around the country on a mission for Dumbledore, Hogwarts had fallen under the control of the Death Eaters. He created a refuge for students and led the D.A., and he fought back against the Death Eaters who were teaching the classes. Neville fought alongside us in the Final Battle, which took place at Hogwarts, and he is one of the reasons we won the Second Wizarding War.
I attended the presentation ceremony of his Order of Merlin, First Class. He was being awarded for his actions in the Second Wizarding War. I'll show you both the memory of it later. When I left, he had gone back to school for a repeat of his seventh year. He was on his way to a mastery in Herbology and was dating Hannah Abbott."
Hermione took a deep breath while she let everyone process all that she had said. Many people were crying, and others were just sitting in shock. After a few minutes, Hermione braced herself, and started talking again.
"The last two deaths I'm about to talk about, ended the First Wizarding War. I'm going to explain what happened on October 31st, 1981, and then I'm going to talk about my years at Hogwarts, the Second Wizarding War, and my plan to kill Voldemort."
Hermione heaved a sigh.
"On October 31st, 1981, Voldemort broke into a home protected by the Fidelius Charm. There was a last minute switch in Secret Keepers, which was kept very quiet. The purpose of the switch was to fake out Voldemort. The original Secret Keeper knew that he was the obvious choice, so the plan was to change the Secret Keeper to someone less obvious, while the original Secret Keeper would pretend to still be the Secret Keeper. That way, if the original Keeper was captured, there was no way to give away the location of the family. This would have worked perfectly, had they not put their trust in the wrong person. A few days after the switch, the Secret Keeper ratted out the location of the family to Voldemort.
Voldemort came alone. When the family saw Voldemort approaching, the father told his wife to take their child and run, while he stayed behind to try to buy his wife and child some time. The wife ran upstairs to the nursery with her child to try to get to the emergency escape portkey, but Voldemort had placed an anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards on the house. Voldemort killed the father first, as he was guarding the stairs to the second floor of the house. He traveled upstairs to the nursery, where the mother was standing in front of the crib, guarding her child. Voldemort told her to stand aside as she was pleading for her child's life. When the mother did not move, he killed her and turned his wand on the child. However, when Voldemort shot the Killing Curse at the child, the curse rebounded off the child and hit Voldemort instead. The child was unharmed, apart from a lightning bolt shaped cut on his forehead, while Voldemort vanished for ten years, and was presumed dead, until he returned to his corporeal form on June 24th, 1995, although the Ministry didn't acknowledge his return until the 18th of June, 1996, directly after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. The child became known all over the country as the 'Boy-Who-Lived'.
The boy's godfather, the original Secret Keeper went to check on the family a little over an hour after the attack. The godfather arrived to find two of his best friends dead, and Hagrid, who was at the house on Dumbledore's orders to remove the child from the house. The godfather tried to take his godson from Hagrid, but Hagrid insisted that he was to bring the boy to Dumbledore. The godfather conceded to pick his godson up from Dumbledore, and as Hagrid took the child, the godfather went to go hunt down the traitor.
The godfather tracked down the traitor and cornered him in the middle or a crowded muggle street. The traitor screamed for the whole street to hear that the godfather had killed the family, before faking his own death by cutting off his finger and blowing up the street with his wand behind his back, killing twelve muggles in the process.
The godfather was framed for the deaths of the family, the traitor, and the twelve muggles. He was taken from the scene of the crime and thrown straight into Azkaban, without a trial. The DMLE didn't even question him at the scene of the crime, they just took from 'eyewitness' accounts. The traitor, believed to be dead, was posthumously awarded an Order of Merlin, First Class, and the innocent godfather was in Azkaban for twelve years, before breaking out in 1993."
James ran a hand through his hair before asking Hermione a question.
"So how do we warn this family? You already warned the rest of us about our futures, and you could kill Voldemort before Halloween, but the family is currently trusting a rat. And, if you don't kill Voldemort before Halloween, then the parents still die, a child becomes an orphan, a traitor gets away, and an innocent man is put in prison. Also, if nobody else was in the house, apart from the family and Voldemort at the time of the attack, how do you know what exactly happened inside the house?"
Hermione looked at James for a few long seconds, then she closed her eyes. She didn't want to see their reactions.
"I already stopped it from happening. It was the first thing I did when I got here. As for how I know what happened inside the house- it's what my brother hears every time he's close to a dementor."
Silence.
Remus spoke first. "No…"
Everybody was crying. Lily and James were hugging Harry between them, with Sirius and Remus flanking the family on either side. Hermione was still sitting against the wall, her eyes squeezed shut, and her head resting on her knees.
"H-He remembers…?" Lily's voice was thick with tears.
Hermione nodded and quietly spoke with a strained voice.
"'Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!'
'Avada Kedavra!'
'Not Harry, not Harry, please, not Harry,'
'Stand aside you silly girl, stand aside now.'
'Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead… Not Harry! Please… have mercy… have mercy…'
'Avada Kedavra!'
'Harry!'"
Hermione took a huge breath in, and looked at James and Lily, tears rolling down her face.
"He mumbled it in his sleep. On the bad nights, he would mumble it… I couldn't help him… I would wake him up, and I would hug him until he fell asleep again, but I couldn't make it stop… I couldn't stop it…"
Hermione couldn't breathe, she was starting to hyperventilate. The edge of her vision was starting to blur as her breaths came quicker and quicker, and her eyes became unfocused. While the rest of the Order was motionless in a state of shock, horrified at the revelation, James bolted out of his chair and flew across the room to kneel in front of Hermione.
"Hermione? Hermione, snap out of it. Look at me, look, you stopped it Hermione, it's ok." James did not receive a response. He knew he needed to get her attention before she passed out. Then, he remembered something she had said earlier- "My brother called me Mia."
"Mia." She drew in a sharp breath as her head snapped up to look at James. "Mia, listen to me. It's ok, everything is going to be ok now, love, but you need to breathe." Slowly, Hermione's breathing started to even out. James decided to try and distract her, to hopefully get her to calm down.
"Mia, can you tell me something happy?" Slowly, she nodded, and then swallowed hard.
"He… he was the y-youngest seeker in a century… his… his patronus was a stag…"
Although giddy at those revelations, James still needed to distract Hermione.
"Can you cast a patronus?" James carefully started to rub Hermione's arm, trying to further calm her down. She nodded at his question, and took another deep breath.
"Expecto Patronum."
The Order watched in astonishment as a large silver doe leapt out from her chest. She hadn't drawn a wand, and yet she produced a corporeal patronus, something most people couldn't do, even with a wand. The doe trotted around the room, before walking back up to Hermione and nuzzling her cheek. Hermione gave a small smile and wiped away her tears.
"Thank you."
James gave her a warm smile.
"Anytime, Mia. Now, where on earth did you learn to do that?"
This time, her smile was wider, and she latched on to the distraction, trying to block out what they were talking about minutes ago. This is where the reading on occlumency came in handy- in order to properly shield their mind, one needed to be able to compartmentalize.
"Harry taught us. It was the last D.A. lesson before winter break in our fifth year."
James's jaw dropped.
"Harry could produce a corporeal patronus when he was a fifth year?"
"Don't be silly, of course not. The first time Harry produced a corporeal patronus was in third year, when he used it to drive away over a hundred dementors in a feeding frenzy. That was the other time we time traveled, you see. Sirius Black, the crazed, murdering, lunatic, had escaped Azkaban to come after Harry, so the Ministry put dementors at Hogwarts with a kiss-on-sight order.
At the end of the year, we found out about what really happened at the end of the first war, and we also found out why Ron's rat kept disappearing. Scabbers was a twelve year old rat who was missing a toe, you see.
Then there was a whole commotion and the dementors saw Sirius, which is when the frenzy started, then Harry saw you cast a patronus, but it wasn't you, it was him. When we woke up in the hospital wing, we found out Sirius had been captured and was going to be delivered the kiss. Dumbledore said he couldn't do anything, but discreetly told me to use my time turner to go back and save him.
When the frenzy started, Harry waited for you to show up and cast the patronus until he realized he saw himself casting the patronus, which is how he knew he could cast the patronus again, which is how he got rid of the dementors. After that, we flew on a condemned hippogriff we had saved from execution earlier that night in the time travel loop, up to where Sirius was awaiting death in Professor Flitwick's office in the West tower. I banished the window so Sirius could climb out, and he escaped on the hippogriff."
The Order was left gaping, and Sirius was grinning like a madman.
"I think my brain exploded," commented James.
"Don't worry, it gets less confusing once you see it. I'll show you the memory later."
"Wait- how did Harry learn the patronus?"
"Professor Lupin taught him, of course. Best defense professor we ever had. Speaking of- Remus John Lupin, get your butt over here!"
While James was struggling to form words, a very confused Remus Lupin approached Hermione hesitantly.
"Sorry for yelling, I just missed doing that. We were friends after you got hit with the defense professor curse, so I'd yell at you to come handle Sirius when he was being- well, Sirius. He used to call me 'kitten' all the time. It was extremely obnoxious."
Sirius, who had wandered over to Hermione as well, heard the last part of her sentence.
"I used to call you 'kitten'? I think I like that, Kitten."
Hermione glared at Sirius, before turning to Remus.
"Moony. Fix him." She jabbed a finger in Sirius's direction. Remus smiled in amusement and slapped the back of Sirius's head. Hermione grinned.
"Thank you. Could one of you three end my part of the meeting, please? If I start talking about the war again today, I'm going to go downhill very fast. After that, I have presents for the three of you and Mrs. Potter, but it would be wise to hand them out in private."
"I'll end the meeting for you, Kitten."
"Call me 'Kitten' again, Snuffles, and I'll keep your present."
Sirius just winked and walked away to talk to Moody.
"Mia?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter?"
James snorted. "Yeah, about that- how come those two are Remus and Sirius, and Lily and I are Mr. and Mrs. Potter?"
"Well I figured it might be a little weird to have some random girl waltz into a secret meeting, saying that your almost five-month-old baby adopts her as his sister seventeen years into the future, so I didn't want to overstep any boundaries. On the other hand, I've spent time with Remus and Sirius before, so I know how they'll react to me." James smiled.
"Call us whatever you like, Mia, as long as it's not Mr. and Mrs. Potter. You'll be staying with us anyway, so you might as well drop the formalities."
Hermione's mouth popped open in shock.
"What? I-I was just going to get a room at the Leaky until I could find myself a flat. I couldn't possibly impose-"
"Mia. You're Harry's sister, which makes you our daughter, no matter who adopted you, or what time period you're from. It also means that it will be a cold day in hell before we let our daughter live in the Leaky. If you insist on finding your own flat, fine, but you can do that from our house. Understood?"
Tears welled in her eyes, and after a minute, Hermione launched herself at James, trapping him in a bone-crushing hug.
"Thank you. I… just- thank you."
A couple minutes later, Sirius came back, this time with Lily and Harry, and Sirius handed Hermione her wand back.
"All right, Kitten, the entire meeting has been adjourned for today, but we're supposed to be back here tomorrow for the rest of your story."
"Don't call me Kitten, Sirius Black, but thank you for the update."
James snorted. "Come on, guys, let's go home." James held out his arm to Hermione for side-along apparition, and Hermione took it warily. Her last trip to Godric's Hollow hadn't exactly been… pleasant, to say the least. With a pop, they were gone from the Order Headquarters. Hermione looked around in confusion.
"This isn't Godric's Hollow…"
"Of course not. This is Potter Manor, the ancestral Potter home. We haven't been to Godric's Hollow in years. The wards here are much better, because they're blood wards, whereas Godric's Hollow just has basic wards. Plus, it's bigger over here as well."
"Aren't blood wards practically unbreakable?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, why did the attack happen in Godric's Hollow, if Potter Manor is safer? And moreso, if this is the ancestral Potter Home, how come Harry never knew about it?"
"Didn't Harry go to anybody on our list of guardians in our will? They should have at the very least told him about Potter Manor, so he could live over here when he either took up his lordship or became an emancipated minor."
"Lordship? Wait- he could have been emancipated?"
"Yes, why?"
Hermione clenched her teeth and replied in a tight voice.
"Later, can we go over all the laws and any arrangements you both made for Harry? I have a theory that, for Dumbledore's sake, I really hope is wrong. I don't have enough energy to get worked up over this right now."
"Of course, Mia. Judging by how pissed off you are, I don't think I have enough energy tonight either. For now, let's just enjoy ourselves."
"Thank you." Hermione looked around. "Where are the others?"
James smiled. "They should be here any minute. I think they didn't want to crowd you."
Sure enough, as James finished his sentence, three pops sounded, and Sirius came barreling in from the other room, with Lily and Remus following at a much more leisurely pace.
"Presents!" Hermione laughed at Sirius's enthusiasm. Lily, holding a sleeping Harry, walked up next to Hermione.
"I'll apologize on Sirius's behalf. Unfortunately, his childish excitement and atrocious manners are normal behaviors for him. I do, however, get the feeling that you know Sirius a bit better than just your brother's escaped-convict godfather."
Hermione laughed. "What gave it away?"
Lily smiled. "The first thing you said to James was a pun on Sirius's name. That, and you called him Snuffles. I do have to say I like that much better than Padfoot." Hermione gave Lily a sly grin. "He may have rubbed off on me just a tad."
Sirius, who was steadily growing more antsy by the second, finally grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her to the sitting room, before pushing her down onto one of the sofas. He then flopped into an armchair and called out to the others.
"Prongs, Moony, Flower, bring Prongslet and get over here! Kitten's got presents, and I'm not very patient!"
As the rest of the group walked in, Hermione turned to Sirius.
"Just for that, I'm giving Remus his gifts first." Sirius pouted.
Hermione grabbed something that was disillusioned at her hip. When she cancelled the disillusionment, it appeared to be a small, purple, beaded bag. At the group's curious gazes, Hermione explained.
"I didn't want to draw attention to my bag. Technically, it's illegal, as I charmed it with an undetectable extension charm, but it was necessary at the time. This has literally all my things in it."
James gasped sarcastically. "Mia! Our daughter, a criminal! First, helping convicts, then illegally charmed bags, next thing you know, you'll be breaking into Gringotts!"
Hermione coughed and averted her eyes. "Well…"
James blinked.
"Hold up. Mia, do you mean to tell me that you actually broke into Gringotts?"
"Harry, Ron, and I, may or may not have broken into Bellatrix Lestrange's vault to steal and dispose of a very dark artifact that helped to end the war…"
Everyone was staring at her, and all jaws had dropped to the floor. Finally, James spoke.
"How'd you get out alive?"
"Um… well… you all know that Gringotts has dragons, right?"
Remus spoke next, astonishment and disbelief coloring his tone.
"You broke into Gringotts and escaped on a dragon?"
"Yes?"
"Damn."
Hermione, slightly uncomfortable with all the amazed looks, decided to just accio the gifts for Remus out of her bag. She pulled out a picture of a small child whose hair was rapidly changing from sandy brown to turquoise blue, and handed the photo to Remus.
"What's this?"
"Your first present."
"A baby picture?"
Hermione smiled. She already missed her godson.
"Not just any baby picture. That wonderful little boy just so happens to be my and my brother's godson. Do you want to know his name?"
Lily, who had caught on to what Hermione was saying, squealed. Remus, however, was still confused.
"Sure?" Hermione grinned.
"I would like to introduce to you my godson, Edward Remus Lupin. We all call him Teddy though."
Remus's jaw dropped, and his eyes became watery. James and Sirius were loudly cheering and congratulating Remus, and Lily and Hermione were grinning like loons.
"He's- he's-"
"Yours, yes."
"And he's not-"
"Teddy is a perfectly healthy metamorphmagus baby. There's not a wolf gene in sight."
Remus grinned as the tears started falling.
"He's beautiful. Who's the mother?"
"Nope. Sorry, not telling. I will tell you that she is your mate, as you explained that to me once. I will also tell you that you can be obnoxiously stubborn and pig-headed sometimes. Last time, you tried reject your mate because you thought she deserved someone better. It made both of you sick and depressed, and I refuse to watch that happen again. She loved you for all of you, and you loved her right back. If you try rejecting the bond again, I will hit you upside the head until either I knock some sense back in you, or I scramble your brains enough for you to do the right thing and accept the bond. Got that?"
Remus gave a small laugh, smiled, and nodded.
"Good. Now for your second present." Remus watched as Hermione accioed seven vials of an unfamiliar potion.
"Ok. When is the next full moon?"
"In a week. Why?"
Hermione smiled and handed him a vial.
"Perfect. Drink this. I apologize in advance about the taste, there's no way to make it better without ruining the effects."
Remus hesitantly took the vial from her, and drank the potion. He had to work hard to control his gag reflex.
"Ug. That's worse than Polyjuice. What was that?"
"That was Wolfsbane Potion. You have to keep quiet about it, as it isn't created until 1984. You have to drink one vial a day, every day, for the week leading up to the full moon."
"What does it do?"
"Wolfsbane Potion does two main things. First, it removes most of the pain that comes with the transformation."
"And second?"
"And second, it allows you to keep your mind when Moony comes out to play. Essentially, it makes you an animagus, apart from the fact that you are forced to shift at the full moon, rather than at will, and the fact that your bite can still transform other humans."
The empty vial dropped from Remus's hand and shattered on the floor, and suddenly Hermione was wrapped in a tight hug. She felt Remus's tears landing on her head, and she hugged him back tighter. She had missed him. This time, she silently promised, they'll all live to raise their children.
After a few minutes, Remus reluctantly released Hermione and brushed away a few tears. James then remembered something.
"Hey Mia?"
"Yes?
"You said your marauder name was Jumper… does that mean…"
Hermione smiled.
"It does. I'll show you later, when we're outside. I don't think it would be very appreciated if I were jumping around inside."
"Are you a kangaroo?" Hermione shot a glare and a stinging hex towards Sirius.
"Ouch! Was that a wandless and nonverbal stinging hex?"
"I am not a kangaroo, Sirius Orion Black!"
"Merlin's pants, you're violent. Who gave you your name?"
"Harry did, and I gave him his name."
James, in an awed voice, asked, "Harry's an animagus too?"
"Yep. I called him Stormy."
"Stormy?"
"He was a Thunderbird."
"Woah."
Hermione smiled.
"Okay, Sirius, your turn. These were supposed to be your birthday presents, but we never got to give them to you." Hermione pulled out a medium size box first, and handed it to Sirius.
"This one was from Harry."
Sirius excitedly opened the box, and pulled out a heavy leather jacket. On the back of the jacket was an embroidered picture of a dog, stag, and wolf under the moonlight, and written across the shoulders in big silver letters was Padfoot. Sirius's jaw dropped as he reverently held up his jacket.
"That's supposed to go with your motorcycle. You had lost your other jacket, so Harry designed this one for you."
"He- wow. This is amazing. Just- wow."
Hermione smiled.
"Now for my present." Hermione grinned evilly. "You know that horrible portrait of your mother in Grimmauld Place? The one that never shuts up about blood purity and is on the wall with a permanent sticking charm?"
Sirius narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Yes…"
Hermione accioed a jar of ashes out of her bag, and handed it to Sirius.
"She pissed me off one too many times."
Sirius let out a loud bark of laughter, and started grinning like a lunatic.
"This is awesome! You're a little scary sometimes, you know that?"
Hermione laughed. "Yeah, Harry and Ron liked to remind me of that."
"Thank you, Mia."
"You're welcome, Sirius. I'm glad I could finally give those to you." Hermione turned to Lily and James next. "These next few gifts are Harry's prized possessions." Lily and James nodded, and Hermione dug around in her bag for a moment, before pulling out a large broomstick.
"This is Harry's Firebolt. I'm going to try to remember all the specifications on it. It came out in 1993, and it's the fastest broom on the market. It's an international racing broom, and the first time they were really seen in action was at the Quidditch World Cup in 1994. It has an ash handle, with ebony wood, and birch twigs. It also has an unbreakable breaking charm, extra balance and precision, a goblin-made iron non-slip footrest, and it accelerates from zero to one hundred and fifty miles per hour in ten seconds. Sirius bought it for him after his Nimbus 2000 was blown into the Whomping Willow."
James, Sirius, and Remus all looked like children in a candy shop. Hermione turned to Lily. "I apologize for whatever I've just started." Lily just laughed and waved her hand.
"Before you guys start drooling on my brother's broomstick, let me hand out the rest of the gifts. I have a Potter family heirloom to return." James's eyes widened as he spotted the familiar silvery fabric of his invisibility cloak.
"Harry got this from Dumbledore in his first year, and I have to say, it's been dead useful. Also, something you should know if you didn't know already- the Deathly Hallows are real, and this is the cloak from the story. The cloak was passed down through the Potter line, starting with Ignotus Peverell, the youngest of the three brothers from the story. I know the locations of the other two Hallows as well. I'll talk more about the Hallows tomorrow in the meeting, but I won't give away that you're in possession of one. That's just inviting trouble."
"The Deathly Hallows… are real… well, then. Any other myths you and your brother proved real? Or death-defying stunts you two pulled?"
"Well, as far as myths go, we found Rowena Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem, and in our second year, the Chamber of Secrets was opened. I figured out that Slytherin's monster was a basilisk, and I was on my way to tell Dumbledore when I was petrified. Harry found my notes and went on a rescue mission to save Ron's little sister, Ginny, who had been into the chamber itself. Whilst inside the chamber, he killed the basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor. As for death-defying stunts? There are far too many to count."
"Ravenclaw's Diadem? The Chamber of Secrets? Have you and your brother ever had a normal year?"
"Not really, no."
James and Lily sighed. Hermione decided to move on with the next gift.
"This is Harry's photo album. Hagrid made it for him at the end of our first year. Most of it is of you guys, but Harry added more pictures over the years."
Lily and James smiled.
"Thank you, Mia. Not just for the gifts or coming back, thank you for always being by Harry's side, even before you were adopted."
Hermione gave a sad smile and wiped away a few tears.
"He always did the same for me."
Hermione accioed the next gift out of her bag, and recaptured the marauders' attention.
"This next gift is for all three of you." She casually set the Marauder's Map on the table in front of her. The Marauders looked a little confused, as the map was locked, and most likely looked a lot older than when they had last seen it.
"I have to ask, if you guys have a magical map of Hogwarts that shows exactly where everyone is, how on earth did it end up in Filch's drawer of confiscated objects?" Once again, the marauders' jaws dropped. After a few seconds they all started talking at the same time.
"Is that-"
"How'd you-"
"No way-"
Hermione grinned. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The gaping looks on the Marauders' faces were priceless.
"The Weasley twins found it in their first year, and somehow managed to figure out the password. They worship you guys, by the way. I think I have some of their products as well. I'll show you later. They gave it to Harry our third year so he could sneak into Hogsmeade."
"My kids are marauders!"
"Does it count as marauding if we didn't go looking for trouble? The trouble always found us."
"Of course it counts! We just need to educate you on looking for trouble. It's very fun, really, as long as you don't get caught." Lily slapped her husband's chest.
"James Charlus Potter! Don't you dare even think about corrupting our kids!"
James grinned. "Of course not, Lily-Flower, I wouldn't dream of it!"
Lily glared at him, and Harry started squirming in his mother's arms. Lily turned to Hermione.
"Would you like to hold him?"
Hermione's eyes watered and she swallowed hard.
"I- could I?"
Lily smiled and moved closer to Hermione, before passing the restless Harry over to Hermione's open arms. Instantly Harry calmed, and wound his arms around Hermione's neck, resting his head on her shoulder. Hermione clutched her brother to her, furiously blinking away tears. She kissed the top of his head, and whispered in his ear with a broken voice.
"Hey there, little brother. I've missed you."
Lily and James were softly smiling at the scene. Neither of them could imagine losing Harry- they wouldn't survive it. They supposed the only reason Mia was still standing was because she knew she could fix it, and for that, they would be forever grateful.
Hermione was still unsure at how to address her adoptive parents. They seemed to already think of her as their daughter, even though physically they were only two years older than she was. Hermione spoke hesitantly, her voice a little hoarse from her tears.
"Um… Dad?"
James laughed at her hesitance.
"Dad is just fine, Mia. Actually, it's better than fine, it's perfect. After all, you're my daughter. Why shouldn't you call me 'Dad'?"
"The same goes for me, Mia," interjected Lily. Hermione smiled. It felt nice to have a family again. She turned her attention back to James.
"Well, Dad, I brought over something for Harry as well. It's the first snitch he ever caught. Would you mind accioing it from my bag?"
James accioed the snitch out of the bag and watched as it unfurled its wings. He let the ball go for a few seconds so it could dart around, and then snatched it out of the air right before it flew out of reach. The scene was achingly familiar- Harry used to do that too.
As the gold of the snitch caught the light, Harry perked up. Hermione shifted him so he was sitting comfortably in her lap while facing towards James, who smiled at his son and brought the snitch over so he could see.
"Look what your sister brought for you, Harry." The group laughed as Harry reached out his tiny hands and snatched the snitch from his father. Hermione snorted when Harry promptly put the snitch in his mouth.
"No, Harry," said James, "snitches aren't for eating."
"This one apparently is. This has got to be at least the third time it's been in his mouth."
"Why does my son have a habit of eating snitches?"
"Not snitches, just this one. The first time was an accident, and the middle few were when he was trying to figure out a clue left by Dumbledore, and then there's now. In fact, the first time was when he caught it. The Slytherins were very peeved. They said it shouldn't count as a win if you almost swallow it."
"How did that happen?"
"Harry spotted it, did an insane dive that scared me half to death, pulled up two feet from the ground, and then stood up on his broom while it was still moving and reached out for the snitch. He was balancing pretty well, until he stepped too far and fell over the front. He landed on the ground and looked like he was going to be sick, then he just coughed up the snitch." Everyone looked at her, gobsmacked. Sirius got over the shock first.
"He's even better than you, Prongs!"
James laughed. "Hey, that's not really a fair comparison, Padfoot. I was only a seeker for one year. I was a chaser for the rest of them. Do you play, Mia?"
"Absolutely not. It's bad enough watching! Plus, I don't fly."
"You've flown on a dragon," commented Remus.
"And a hippogriff," added James.
"Yes, and a thestral, a broom, and even an airplane, and I hated it all of those times too. I'll keep my feet on the ground, thank you."
"Wait- did you say thestral?"
"Yeah. I've done that twice. Neither time was fun." The group openly gaped. "I'll tell you more about that tomorrow in the meeting."
After Hermione received nods from the group, Lily stood up.
"I'm getting hungry, so I'm going to start on dinner. Remus, could you help me? James and Sirius, why don't you guys go help Mia unpack her things," Lily turned to Hermione. "I'm sorry for sticking you with both of them, but I don't trust Sirius in my kitchen."
Hermione laughed as Sirius dramatically gasped.
"Oh, the pain! Flower, you wound me! I shall never recover from the blow to my pride!" Lily snorted. "Yes you will, Black. You have more than enough ego to cover up your wounded pride."
Sirius grinned. "Well, Prongs, you heard Flower. Let's get Kitten moved in!"
James smiled and shook his head.
"Come on, Mia. You can have the room across from the nursery."
James took Hermione's beaded bag off of the table while Hermione stood up, clutching Harry, who was still sucking on his snitch, to her side. They walked up the first flight of stairs to the second floor, where James and Sirius lead Hermione to her new room.
The room was bright and airy, with large bookshelves, and wide French doors that opened on to a balcony overlooking the vast gardens. A large bed was centered against the wall, and a beautiful mahogany wardrobe stood to the right of the entrance to her bathroom.
"It's gorgeous," commented Hermione.
"I'm glad you like it. You're welcome to move things and change up the walls. It's your bedroom, after all."
"Thanks. Let's get started."
She set Harry down on the bed and put up some wards that would keep him on the bed until someone physically took him off of it.
"Where'd you learn that," James asked. They had never found a way to keep Harry located in one area without conjuring a playpen fence.
"I created it. I based it off of some of the repelling wards, and then reversed the logic, so it keeps things in instead of out. Teddy likes to move around a lot."
"Please teach us that spell."
"Of course." Hermione opened her beaded bag and accioed a box filled with shrunken boxes of her things. She pulled the tiny boxes out and enlarged them one by one, and the three of them started to unpack her belongings. She was about halfway through putting away her clothes, pausing only when she heard a gasp coming from Sirius.
"Woah," Sirius was looking at a photograph of Hermione, a red-headed boy, and someone he could only assume to be Harry. "Is this Prongslet?"
Hermione smiled and nodded. "That was taken on my birthday in our fourth year. Harry and Ron snuck out to Hogsmeade to buy a cake for me because I refused to eat anything made by house elves. They took me on a picnic by the lake."
"Harry looks-"
"Exactly like his father but with his mother's eyes?"
"How'd you know I was going to say that?"
"Sirius, if I had a galleon for every time someone said that to my brother, I would have enough money to buy Hogwarts."
"So he only heard that a few times then?"
Hermione snorted and continued to put away her clothes, while James and Sirius were looking through all of Hermione's photos. None of them noticed that Harry had dropped his snitch until a frustrated cry of "Dada," caught their attention. James, seeing that the snitch had fallen, retrieved it for his son. Hermione, however, was confused.
"He can already talk? Most babies aren't supposed to start talking until they are at least ten months old."
"Magical babies usually mature faster than muggle babies. Harry mostly babbles right now, apart from names."
Hermione nodded her understanding, and as if to prove his father's statement, Harry thrust his arms up into the air and demanded, "My-my." Hermione smiled and obligingly moved to pick Harry up off the bed. Harry, who had put his snitch back into his mouth, snuggled close into Hermione and once again laid his head on her shoulder. James smiled.
"I think he likes you better than the rest of us. After he finally got 'Mama' and 'Dada' down, it took him weeks to pick up 'Padfoot' and 'Moony'. And now you show up, and he's got 'My-my' down in a matter of hours."
Hermione grinned cheekily. "Of course I'm his favorite, I'm his sister!"
Sirius furrowed his eyebrows. "I thought that was supposed to automatically make you his least favorite."
Hermione stuck her tongue out at Sirius, and returned to sorting her clothes. By the time Lily had yelled to them from the kitchen that dinner was ready, Hermione had put away all her clothes and had started on her books, while James and Sirius had hung most of her pictures.
James, Sirius, and Hermione, who was still carrying Harry, traveled downstairs to the kitchen, where James sped in and wrapped his arms around his wife.
"Harry learned a new word…"
"What is it?"
James grinned. "My-my."
Lily smiled. "I think he has a new favorite."
Dinner was a pleasant affair, with everyone sharing the most interesting things from their respective timelines, and talking about their lives.
"So, Mia, how did you and Harry meet?"
The question, asked by Remus, made Hermione smile.
"Well, I met Harry and Ron on the train to school, and I think we all made bad impressions on each other. I came off to them as a bossy know-it-all, and they came off to me as eleven-year-old boys with horrible manners. Ron was a bit rude as well, and Harry was just shy."
"What happened?"
"I came into their compartment to ask if they had seen Neville's toad, to find that Ron was trying to do magic on his rat. We didn't find out that the rat was Pettigrew until third year though. The spell was a fake one that the twins told Ron as a joke, and I pointed out to him that his brothers might be having a go at him, before using a repairo to fix Harry's glasses. I then realized that I was talking to the Harry Potter, and that didn't help either. I realize now that I was horribly insensitive. Back then, I just wanted to fit in so I read up on everything about the magical world."
"How'd you become friends then, if you all made bad impressions on each other?"
Hermione grinned.
"Well, on Halloween day, we were working on the levitation charm in class, and I corrected Ron's pronunciation, which pissed him off a bit. I was walking to my next class when I overheard Ron complaining about me to Harry and a few of our other housemates. He called me a nightmare, and said that it was no wonder that I didn't have any friends. I brushed past the group and ran to the bathroom. I was in there the rest of the day crying."
"I don't think I like Ron very much," commented Lily with a pinched expression.
"It's okay, Mum, he got better. I'm not saying we didn't argue all the time, because we definitely did, but he got better."
"He better," growled James. Neither James nor Lily liked that someone had hurt their daughter, and they liked it less that she had spent the rest of the day crying.
"I still hadn't left the bathroom by the time that the Halloween feast came around, so I missed Professor Quirrell running into the Great Hall yelling that a troll had somehow gotten into the dungeons."
The group, apart from Hermione, spluttered.
"Hold up," James said. "A troll? You're kidding, right?"
"Nope, not kidding. A fully grown Mountain Troll. It was twelve feet tall, probably just as wide, and smelled almost as bad as the rotting corpse of the basilisk Harry killed. Anyway, Dumbledore told the prefects to lead all the students back to their common rooms, and Harry realized that I didn't know about the troll. Harry and Ron went running to warn me, but they ran into the troll on the way. They managed to lure it into a room and lock the door, and all was fine and well, until they heard me scream and realized that they had locked the troll in the bathroom I was in.
I thought I was a goner until Harry and Ron ran in. Ron started throwing the wooden shards of the stalls that the troll had demolished at it, which turned the troll's attention from me to him. In an effort to distract it, Harry jumped on its back and shoved his wand up its nose. The troll turned on Harry and Ron used the levitation spell to levitate the troll's club and drop it on the troll's head, which knocked it out.
McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell came rushing into the bathroom a few seconds later, and after recovering from their shock, McGonagall demanded to know what happened. In an effort to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble, I lied and told her that I had gone looking for the troll, and that the boys had come to my rescue. I lost five points, and Minerva gave Harry and Ron five points each for, and I quote, 'sheer dumb luck'. We've been inseparable ever since. The press even called us 'The Golden Trio' after the war ended."
The Marauders and Lily looked gobsmacked. Remus spoke first.
"You mean to tell us that three eleven-year-olds took on a fully grown Mountain Troll?"
"No," Hermione huffed indignantly, "I was twelve."
When the gobsmacked looks did not fade Hermione commented in defense.
"What? There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."
After a minute, James shook his head, laughed, and raised his glass.
"To Hermione Potter, our troll-tackling, dragon-taming, thestral-riding, hippogriff-saving, law-breaking, convict-helping, legend-busting, time-travelling, marauding daughter!"
The group laughed and they all raised their glasses to meet James's. Hermione knew that even with her foreknowledge of the war and how to kill Voldemort, she had her work cut out for her. But, for now, she was content in the fact that she once again had a family, and, if she had anything to do with it, it would stay that way. She would not lose anyone else. Not this time.