"Ms. Granger," McGonagall repeated. Hermione blinked up at her, shocked.
"Mi," murmured Dean as he held her hand. "We have to do something, the Professor is…" he trailed off as tears finally started to flow from her eyes.
"C-Can you start from the beginning, Professor?" she stammered.
McGonagall nodded stiffly. "Last night, after Voldemort rose, his Death Eaters went out to hunt quite a few Muggleborn families. We're not totally sure how they got the names. Mr. Thomas' mother and sisters were visiting his Great Aunt, but your parents were home. I-I'm so sorry Ms. Granger, but they didn't make it. The culprits were captured. Avery and Macnair. I, I'm so sorry, Hermione, we were too late."
Hermione felt herself collapse against Dean who had wrapped his arm around her. She knew he was crying too. "Because you're underage, we will obey your parents will, as much as possible, in which case Mrs. Thomas-Whyte becomes your guardian, but I would like to put in a recommendation that we find you a Magical Guardian to adopt you, as for now you would be a Ward of Hogwarts. For now, let's get you to your mother, Mr. Thomas," she said, gesturing to Dean.
Remus Lupin stepped into the room. "Hello Hermione, Dean. I'm here to escort you home. I have a Portkey here, it leaves in a few minutes."
"The Elves will deliver your trunks to you this evening," McGonagall added more gently than either Gryffindor had heard her speak.
A few moments later, the three of them gripped the Portkey and were delivered to Dean's foyer. Dean's mother, Delyse Thomas-Whyte ran to the pair of them, wrapping her arms around them. "I'm going to enforce the Wards," Remus murmured, not wanting to their arrival, Dean's sisters came scampering out of the other room and joined the trio on the floor, crying.
Hermione Granger was an only child. Somewhere in London she had Aunts and Uncles and Cousins, and probably grandparents, but she'd never met them. When her parents married in the early 70s, interacial marriages "just weren't done." They had hoped that when Hermione was born in 1979 their families would come around, but they didn't. She knew she wasn't the only Granger left, but her parents were just gone.
Hermione found herself being ushered into the living room, by Dean's mum. Delyse Thomas-Whyte and Jean Granger had met at the market one day when they were both pregnant with Dean and Hermione. They had become fast friends, connecting over their shared Jamaican heritage. When Jean was finishing Dental school, Delyse watched both of the children. Jean and Richard had continued to pay Delyse to watch Hermione when they were at their practice.
Hermione and Dean had never met Dean's father. There were a couple of pictures of him around the house, but Delyse didn't like to talk about him. Richard Granger became both of the kid's Father. Both called him Dad and he constantly bragged about his kids. When Hermione and Dean were six, Delyse got together with another Muggle named Gerain Whyte after falling pregnant with Straleen, they had Sabryna and Shanice quickly Hermione and Dean were ten, Delyse and Gerain split, rather amicably. He still came and spent time with the girls and was always kind to Hermione and Dean.
When Hermione got her Hogwarts letter, delivered by Minerva McGonagall, she cried because Dean wouldn't go with her. McGonagall did something "unprecedented" and gave him his letter early, so that she'd only have to explain the whole scenario once. Of the three adults, Richard had the hardest time accepting magic. Delyse and Jean had grown up with stories about magic happening all around their island.
"Oh my girl," Delyse rocked Hermione back and forth, keening. When Remus had rejoined them in the living room, Delyse stood, "Let me get us all some tea."
Remus looked curiously around the room, "Who is that?" he asked, pointing to the picture of Dean's father.
"That's my dad, I never met him, he left before I was born. His name was Daniel, but Hermione's dad was my real dad. I- Mi, what are we going to do?"
Hermione sniffled and leaned her head against Dean's shoulder. The girls were leaning on them and sniffling as well.
Delyse came back in and set the tea out for them to drink. Remus sucked in a breath, "My mum died when I was at Hogwarts. She was a Muggle too," he cleared his throat when his voice cracked. "She had cancer, and it was horribly drawn out. Dad never forgave himself or me after my affliction, and then when Mom died at the end of my Fifth year, well it was never the same…" he trailed off and looked down into his mug.
After they had all finished their tea, Remus left, saying he would be back in two days to bring them to Cedric's funeral.
Friday, June 30, 1995When the day of Cedric's funeral dawned, Hermione rolled out of the bed she'd been sharing with Shanice, the youngest Whyte. She was exhausted. She hadn't had a full night's sleep since before the tournament had ended. They got downstairs to Callaloo with ripe plantain and hardo bread. Hermione smiled.
"Thank you Auntie Del," she murmured, hugging her hard. She sat at the table and was soon joined by Dean.
"Remus said he would be back around 9 to take you all. I know that this isn't the best timing for any of us, but I don't think Jean and Rich would be happy if we didn't keep going. They loved you both so much and we'll get to celebrate them just how they would have wanted. We'll meet with the lawyer next week before the funeral. I wish I could be there with you all at the funeral today. Stick together, alright?"
They nodded and Delyse went to get the door, where Remus stood, waiting for them. They hopped on the Tube toward Diagon Alley and used the floo at the Leaky Cauldron to get to Hogsmeade. They walked up the path toward Hogwarts, Hermione gripping Dean's hand, not wanting to let go.
The first face they saw was Molly Weasley. She wrapped Hermione up in a larger hug than Hermione had ever gotten from the witch. She started fussing over Hermione, "Oh you poor dear! YOu'll have to come to Burrow now that you don't have anywhere else!"
Dean looked offended, but before he could say anything, Remus stepped in. "She's staying with her godmother, Molly."
"Yes well, it's important to stay with people who understand our way of life!" Molly huffed.
"Dean Thomas," Dean said sticking out his hand, "A person who understands Hermione's way of life and the son of Hermione's godmother."
Molly paled slightly, but doubled down. "How come we've not heard much about you then, Mr. Thomas. Are you another Muggleborn?"
Remus stepped in again. "Molly, this is not the time, they've both experienced tremendous loss. Hermione is fine where she is, I've already strengthened the wards."
Molly looked between the three of them and left in a huff, grumbling about ungrateful children. "She still sees me as a child, even after all of these years. Sirius wanted me to express his condolences, Hermione. He said if you need anything don't hesitate to ask. If you'd like us there at the funeral, let us know. I'm assigned as security, but Sirius offered to come in Animagus form too."
"I'd like that, thank you, Remus," she said softly, grabbing Dean's hand.
They slowly made their way over to the Gryffindors. Ron went quite red in the face when he saw Hermione's hand in Dean's, but didnt' say anything when George elbowed him in the side.
"I'm so sorry, Hermione!" Harry said dejectedly. "It's all my fault."
"What?" she said, louder than she intended.
"They only died because of me! It's all my fault."
Dean pinched his nose, in a move very reminiscent of Hermione's father. "Unless you sent them to kill our families yourself, I'm not sure how this could possibly be your fault? Auntie Jean and Dad died because of some crazy people who are so inbred that they can't even understand basic genetics."
"Dad?" Ron asked, ignoring the pleading looks from the twins.
Ginny rolled her eyes and marched away. "Well yes, Dean and I were raised together, Ronald. Which you might know if you bothered to ask either of us about our families.`` She pulled Dean away to sit between Seamus and Neville and watched the funeral, without really watching anything. From what she gathered, it was beautiful. She saw people all around her weeping and she found her eyes were dry. Dean kept a firm grip on her hand, and Neville had wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
When the funeral was over, she noticed that the Slytherin contingent left as soon as the ceremony had ended. Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott were trailing behind them, talking animatedly, ignoring glares from Pansy Parkinson.
Neville wrapped Hermione in a hug. "I know I don't know exactly what you're going through, Mi, but let Gran and I know if you need anything. We're happy to support you in any way we can, send me an owl if you need anything, alright?" She could only nod as Dean pulled her toward Remus who was waiting for them at the edge of the congregated people. HErmione and Dean avoided Ron and Harry and made their way to him.
"We have to take the floo to the Leaky and the public transport. We're trying to avoid magical signatures by yours as much as we can, Dean," Remus said softly. "Sirius was wondering if he could stop by, we have some things we want to talk to you both about. Would that be alright?"
"Sure, of course," murmured Hermione. They made their way down to Hogsmeade and took the public floo to the Leaky Cauldron. When they exited the building, Padfoot was waiting for them in an alleyway. He jumped up when he saw Hermione, butting his head against her. She felt a small smile creep onto her face as she bent down to pet him. He lapped at her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's good to see you too, Padfoot."
They hopped on the bus and then the Tube to get to Dean's house in Brixton. Both Hermione and Dean waved at the old man who lived across the street, although his face never broke from the scowl. When they got to the door, Hermione and Padfoot entered first, followed by Dean and Remus.
"Mum, we're home, and we've brought some guests!" Dean called out to her. His sisters were at school so it was just her in the house.
"Meet me in the dining room," she called back, "I'm making a Stamp and Go for us!"
The four of them made their way to the dining room, and Hermione and Dean set about setting the table, directing the now transformed Sirius and Remus to sit. Delyse bustled out of the kitchen carrying her tray of fish and set it down in the centre of the table.
"It's so good to see you again, Remus," she said with a soft smile, "Who is your friend?"
"Sirius Black," Sirus said, bowing dramatically to her, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Delyse just raised an eyebrow at him and turned to Hermione, "This is the criminal-not-criminal you told me about?"
"Yes, Auntie Del. He was framed and he's been such a delight to have around. I'm not sure Harry would have made it through the Triwizard Tournament without him." Delyse just nodded brusquely and ushered them all to dig into the meal.
After a few minutes of munching on their food, Dean turned to Remus, "You said there was something you wanted to talk to us about?"
Sirius set his fish down and wiped his mouth. "Yes, there is. I'm glad your Mother is here as this pertains to her as well." Everyone at the table stilled and looked at him. "Remus came back after dropping you off with a picture of you dad, Dean. Turns out we knew him."
"You-You know Daniel?" Delyse asked quietly.
"Yes, his name was Dan Fawley and he was a wizard, Hufflepuf a few years older than us. He was best mates with the Prewitt Twins, Fabien and Gideon, that's Molly Weasley's brothers. Dan died at the same time as the twins, in a blaze of glory the three of them took out nearly 15 Death Eaters."
"Wh-What? You're saying Dean's dad's a wizard and a Sacred 28 one at that?" Hermione stuttered. Dean looked at her sharply. And Sirius and Remus just nodded.
"Yeah we'd heard that he'd gotten married and was expecting, but no one knew to whom so there was no way to contact you all," Remus said softly.
Hermione looked over at Delyse, who was sobbing silently. "I-I thought he'd left us, that the interracial marriage thing was too much. Turns out he was-was killed to protect us from those nasty wizards."
The Grangers and Delyse had spent most of the summer between Dean and Hermione's Second and Third Year drilling them about the Wizarding world and reading up on all of the recent history. For Muggles, they were superbly aware of everything that had gone on in the last hundred or so years.
"I know this is a lot of information, but you'll have to go to Gringotts and verify your claim to the Fawley seat. They let vaults sit for 17 years before distributing them to other relations. There is a lesser branch of the family that is vying for that. Then we can decide what you want to do with the Fawley seat," continued Sirius. "If you want to carry on the name you have a Wizemagot seat and a vault of family treasures. Your grandparents died a few years after your dad graduated from Hogwarts, they were much more old fashioned than your dad, probably closer to Death Eater alignment than anything." The whole table was just staring at him.
"Sirius and I have talked about it," Remus continued. "If you choose to take the seat, he can show you how to be the Head of House Fawley. He had to learn all the old rituals and such too. I know that your magical guardian is technically Hogwarts, but it would probably be a good idea to find someone else to support you."
"I'm- Head of a House!" Dean gasped, finally seeming to put together the pieces. He looked to his mom, who was looking at him fondly. "Mum, what do I do? I'm only fifteen!"
"Well I suppose we figure it out together. After the funeral we can go down to the bank and see about the paperwork, maybe Remus would join us?" When he nodded she folded her hands and sat silently.
"Dean, this is astounding. I'm so interested to hear about what you learn," Hermione stopped herself, "That is if you choose to go down that route."
Sirius cleared his throat. "Alright, Kitten, your turn," he looked to Hermione who just blinked back at him. "I want to formally offer Adoption into House Black. I uh- well Remus and I wanted to get hitched, but that of course makes the whole Heir business quite difficult and I'm not really prepared for babies after Azkaban and well…"
Hermione gaped at him. "You-you want to adopt me?" she looked between the two men.
Remus rubbed the back of his neck, "Well yes, we'd do a blood adoption and then you'd be part of House Black and well, I mean you'd still be a Granger of course, but you'd also be our daughter and well I know this is sudden, but they really don't do adoptions once you're 16 and since that's coming up in September we thought…" his rambling tapered off.
"I-I'd still be a Granger?" she asked softly. Sirius nodded fondly, "And you'd both be my dads?" Remus and Sirius nodded together. "When do I need to decide by? I need some time to think about it and read up about it."
"You should decide by the end of July, if you choose to go through with it, we need some time for the Bond to settle before you go back to School and we'd want to get you and Dean started on the lessons as soon as possible."
The table fell into a heavy silence. After some small talk, Remus and Sirius excused themselves. "I'll send along some texts for you to look through and if I can find any memories or pictures of Dan, I'll send them too," said Sirius before he transformed into Padfoot.
When they'd left, Delyse, Dean, and Hermione sat in the living room quietly. "That was…a lot." Hermione said with a huff. "Can we put this on hold until after the funeral and we go and see if Dean is really Heir Fawley?"
Delyse nodded, "I think that's a good idea, Doll." she stood and sort of shuffled away, leaving Dean and Hermione alone in the living room.
"This is wild," Dean muttered, "Who knew this is what today would bring."