In the last week of May Professor McGonagall held Hermione's brother back to instruct him that he had to meet Mr. Bagman with the other champions at 9 o'clock. So Hermione went about her normal business, knowing that she would be able to return to her common room by at least 8 o'clock so she could see him off.
That night Crouch Jr surprised the young witch by casting a few imperios at her. Hermione was able to shrug them off as she had with practice, but it forced her to focus on her lessons than her worry for Harry. She was angry, but she appreciated it. It was a nice reminder that even though she was worried for her brother, she still had to focus on what was going on around her. She could be as worried as she wanted, but as long as it didn't drive her to distraction it was fine. It could be the meaning between life or death, and the use of an unforgiveable reminded her of the fact.
"You already know what the third task is, lass and we've been preparing ye for the past few weeks," Barty said at the end of their lesson.
"I know," she huffed.
"If you know, then why are ye worried?" he asked kindly.
"Because once the war starts… things will just…"
"They're go tits up, lass!" Moody barked.
"Yeah, they'll go tit's up," she said, repeated the old wizard.
"That and… you'll be going back to Azkaban, Professor," she said softly, her eyes filling up with tears.
"I've always known that I'd be going back since I got here, lass. I'll be honest, I'm not looking forward to going back either! But… I also know that the Dark Lord gets along well with the dementors and he will be staging a mass break out," he said, his eyes were hard.
Moody's electric blue eye was looking every which way, upset with the news. After getting to know the truth about Barty, he was quite fond of the young straw haired wizard. He remembered how the young wizard almost died being in that hellhole and was concerned for the lad. While they both knew it logically, it wasn't said aloud in quite some time, and it was distressing.
"When I… when he comes to release us Death Eaters I'll speak with some of them… I know some of them only joined the Dark Lord because their fathers insisted. In the beginning they were called The Knights of Walpurgis, instead of Death Easters. They did some things I know they aren't proud of, some of them are hardened warriors, but they are very smart. You'd be surprised by which ones only did what they felt they had to…" he said, his voice drifting off.
"I'll see some of them on the battlefield… which ones should I… should I avoid killing?" she asked, biting out the last part.
"Dolohov, Yaxley, and … Snape I suppose," he said, "In the event that you run into the first two without me, or if I don't see them first… Yell or whisper Siempre Daragaya. Yaxley and Dolohov are blood-bonded brothers. Only… only Snape and I were trusted with their secret. Dolohov's mother is a muggleborn. To know about her is to be trusted above all others, not even the Dark Lord knows. He hid her away as soon as the first war started."
"Two different languages? Wouldn't they just kill me for knowing?" she asked.
"No. It's like a safe-word. To be protected at all costs. 'Always Darling'. They will find you later, and you should explain about… about the horcruxes with them. Dolohov is extremely intelligent, he's ruthless only because he has to be. He does take pride in being successful, which is often misconstrued as him taking pleasure in killing and such. He doesn't, but he does like getting things right," Barty explained. Moody could be seen scoffing with his arms crossed, his opinion on them was clearly not as high as Barty's.
"You are free to tell them about being my pupil. They will respect that, if not you. You will have to earn their respect even if you don't earn their trust," he continued, pretending not to hear the grizzled wizard, "It might even endear you to them. They will keep your secrets."
Hermione wasn't sure how she felt about being endeared by confirmed murderers. Especially ones that were confirmed to be brutal in nearly every one they were part of. She didn't hide her unease from her professors.
"Lass, you have to understand that the Dark Lord expects nothing less than brutality. To be one of the best, to be an exception, you had to be brutal. Perhaps only the Lestranges are proud of that. Snape's initiation was perhaps the most brutal, which is why he was given special treatment. The more brutal you are, the more you are left alone. The Dark Lords allows those who are most brutal the most privacy. Others are subjected to constant summonings and having their minds ransacked. They're treated worse than interns unless they were gifted to him."
"Gifted?" she asked.
"Some of the Death Eaters were given or promised to the Dark Lord to help him achieve his goal in creating the utopia they had spoken of together. They weren't really given a choice although you have to be there of your own free will to obtain the Dark Mark. Regulus… Regulus was forced to be there, Walburga was a real nasty piece of work, and she promised the Dark Lord one of her sons. Sirius refused and was almost killed because of it. Regulus was made to watch and was told it was an example of what might happen to him should he refuse, but was reassured that it wasn't necessary since they had faith in him. No one knows how Sirius ended up at the Potters after that since Walburga refused to let him go to St Mungos. He was expected to bleed out and die on the parlor floor."
"That's horrible!" Hermione exclaimed.
"It is, but it was a catalyst and Black became a wonderful auror, one of the best. Until he was arrested framed for Pettigrew's death."
"What about Regulus?" she questioned.
"Regulus Arcturus Black… he discovered that the Dark Mark was like a magical leech. He's also the one who discovered the horcruxes. It was actually with the help of his house-elf… he died trying to do what was right. He was fighting in the shadows, trying to end the war, but he didn't get far," he said with a heavy sigh.
"Don't think too much into it, lass. Life isn't white and black, it's shades of grey. Regardless what I think; Dolohov, Yaxley, and Snape aren't black, they're grey, and are to be treated as such. You yourself will be grey. You need all the friendly wands you can get on your side," Moody growled, "Now off to dinner with ye."
"Yes, sir. Good night, Professors," the witch called out, as she was already leaving their office.
"Old man, when I'm gone, please make sure you keep an eye out for her," Barty asked the old wizard quietly when the witch was out long of ear shot.
"Aye, lad, aye" was his response.
The next few days were tense. Something was seriously wrong with Crouch Sr and no one could find him. While Hermione agreed with her brother that they should go check in with Professor Moody, the witch could tell straight away that it was Professor Crouch Jr.
She almost sneered at Ron, disgusted at how quick he was to discredit Harry. While they had helped Harry pass some of the obstacles, it was still Harry who went through to face Voldemort alone. She didn't mind being their brain from time to time, but half the time she wasn't sure what drove Ron.
"We helped. Me and Hermione helped."
Honestly! What did it matter that they helped? She didn't care who got the credit for that little adventure. They broke so many school rules that night, she was surprised that they weren't expelled.
Meanwhile the Grangers finally had things organized enough to be able to serve the Dursleys the papers.
Abagail was practically vibrating with excitement. She knew Petunia was a homemaker, so she was sure to be home, unless she was having tea with one of her neighbors. Either way the woman would be in the neighborhood.
Martin and Leeroy took quite well to each other, so the owl was often seen close to the man. Leeroy found it to be relaxing to stroke Martin's feathers and did so often, the owl enjoying the attention. Abagail found it adorable and took to treating the owl to pieces of bacon at breakfast. Overall Martin loved his new family.
Aside from the nice trips to Hogwarts, he found himself traveling to other parts of London.
The Grangers found that corresponding the legal documents via owl was easier than fax machine since most of signatures and such had to be on the original document, although Abagail did make copies for her binder.
But today was the day and it was decided that Leeroy would drive since Abagail was too excited to really pay attention.
One car ride later they pulled in front of a small cozy looking home with a well-manicured lawn. Abagail glared at it, knowing that even the lawn was probably treated better than Harry Potter. She took her time getting out of the car, making sure she looked absolutely picture perfect. From all the research she did, Abby knew that the Dursleys were all about appearance.
She had trouble deciding between muggle clothes and her witch robes. The duchess decided on one of her nice witch robes, the ones that looked like a well fitted Chanel dress. They were an off white color and knee length with tasteful lace around her bust, the whole thing hugged her curves tastefully. Her outer robed looked much like a nice tan color trench coat that went well with her robes. It was simple, but gorgeous on the petite woman.
She wore natural make-up; her lips were touched up with a nude colored lipstick, eyeshadow was a tasteful blend of natural browns, eyelashes were lengthened with black mascara, she also wore dangle diamond earrings and a matching necklace. She even went so far as to get her nails done the day before, a pleasant French manicure and matching pedicure.
The Duchess succeeded in her goal of looking picture perfect.
Leeroy decided it would be best if he stayed in the car. If things got bad, then he would get out of the car, but he knew his wife would be able to handle this.
Abagail let herself out of the car carefully, her open toe wedge heels delicately hit the pavement. She grabbed the manila folder that held the papers that declared their intention of taking custody of the boy they had abused. The woman walked confidently to the Dursley's doors and rang the doorbell.
It wasn't long until a thin woman opened the door with a shrewd eye. Petunia took in the strange petite woman who was dressed impeccably, looking like a model. The tall thin woman wasn't sure if she should be pleasant or if the other woman was here with plans seduce her husband. She was obviously from a higher class.
"Hello, how may I help you?" she decided on pleasant for now.
"Yes, are you Mrs. Petunia Dursley?" Abagail asked with a large smile, flashing off her perfect pearly whites.
The thin woman was caught off guard, "Yes, I am," her voice was bewildered, "Who are you?"
"Hello, I'm Abagail Granger," she said holding out her hand, which the other woman shook, "Duchess Abagail Granger."
"I happen to be here to give you this," she said, smile still in place, as she went to hand the manila folder to the tall blond woman.
Petunia took the folder looking terribly confused, "What's this?"
"Those are papers I've come to personally give you letting you know that I'm going to fight for legal custody of your nephew Harry Potter," Her smile turned slightly predatory.
"The boy?" her voice shook slightly, "What would you want with him? He's away at school, he goes to St Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys."
"No he doesn't, Petunia. See, my daughter goes to his school. She's a muggleborn, I'm sure you're familiar with the term?" Abagail said sweetly, "She's very bright, smartest of her generation they call her."
"They called my sister that too, look where that got her!" Petunia said shrilly, now uncomfortable with the woman and conversation.
"Now, now, Petunia. Do you really want to have this conversation out here in the open?" she asked, still calm.
Petunia glared at the woman, and knew as much as she wanted to slam the door on the petite woman's face, she had been give legal papers concerning the boy.
"Come inside, now."
"Why thank you Mrs. Dursley! I thought you would never ask," Abagail decided to kill the woman with kindness.
The tall blond woman quickly led the woman to the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen table.
"Since you have one of those freaks for a daughter I don't need an answer as to why you want another one of them in your house," Petunia snipped.
"My daughter is far from a freak, dear. Before going to Hogwarts she was taking high school courses. She actually managed to obtain her diploma before going to Hogwarts. As I said, she's quite bright," was her calm reply.
"You may not be aware since you yourself are normal, but the boy has to be here for his protection. We tried to stomp the freakishness out of him, but it didn't work."
"You should be glad that it didn't. He would have become an obscurial. He would have essentially developed a dark parasitical magical force as a result of his suppressed magic, called an obscurus. They usually cause massive damage to buildings and other things. They also usually cause the child to die before their 10th birthday. You could have literally killed him," her voice was light but chilly.
Petunia blanched at the new information. She didn't know any of that. The whole reason she took him in was to protect him, but she almost did the exact opposite. What else did the petite woman sitting across from her know?