Chapter 5 - Conspiracy
Tom got up and walked to the front door, only one person should be able to pass through his wards. He opened the door and let out a relieved smile.
"Alphie! Come in, I have a guest you need to meet." Tom greeted him with a one-arm hug and lead him to the living room.
"Right, Alphard Black meet Hermione, I still don't know her last name actually..." he trailed off.
"I'm so pleased to meet you Alphard Black." Hermione said with a beaming smile that had Tom narrowing his eyes at her, "Do you know him Hermione?"
"Heard of him but never met him, I trust him fully."
"Right, I think you should tell him everything you told me."
A couple of hours later, Alphard Black was caught up with the time-traveller story and how she knew of Tom.
"You mentioned earlier that you knew of me but that didn't appear in your tale, so how have you heard of me? I'm not that old so I imagine I could still be there in 60 years but you didn't recognise me when you saw me, just the name."
"Your nephew, he loved you so much. You protected him from his parents' wrath, you left everything to him when you died. He idolised you." Hermione replied with a sad smile.
"Walburga's son?"
"Yes, but aren't you the brother of Orion?"
Alphard started laughing slightly, "Orion is my cousin, Walburga my sister."
Hermione wrinkled her nose in distaste, "Figures, marrying cousins seems to be the thing to do in pureblood families."
"Not at all of them, but yes it's a big thing to keep the line as pure as possible, usually it doesn't go closer than first cousins, but the Gaunts" he nodded in Tom's direction, "were much worse with uncles marrying their nieces. It was seen as acceptable to keep the line pure."
Hermione snorted "Yeah, pure but weak or no magic. That's how Squibs are made, inbreeding leads to disaster."
Alphard nodded, "Yes, if you knew my nephew I assume you may have seen the Family tapestry, it's more a wreath than a tree, but not as bad as the Gaunts, no offense Tom."
Tom shrugged, "I'm pretty sure the only reason I don't resemble a troll and am powerful is because I have a Muggle father, he brought new blood in the line."
"Yes, that's likely, also why Miss Hermione here is powerful, as a muggle-born she is likely descended from Squibs.
Which reminds me, have you given some thoughts on your name? You can use your real name of course, but you'll face even worse prejudice than what you left behind.
Your idea for Tom to claim the Gaunt name is good, and changing Tom to Thomas is fine as well. It will help him a lot in the long-term."
Hermione thought for a few minutes, unsure on what she should tell them but decided to trust Sirius and his judgement on his uncle, "Tom mentioned the heritage test done at Gringotts earlier, I have actually already done it before, a couple of years ago for me."
"Didn't it help you then?" Tom asked.
"It was too late, I didn't claim the family name, even if they believed me it wouldn't have done much."
"What family are you from Hermione?" Alphard asked impatiently.
"The Blacks." she answered with a smirk.
Alphard's eye were wide, "Which one?"
"Marius Black, your uncle, he was a Squib and thrown away in the Muggle world in 1919, they changed his name to Coal but eventually he married a Muggle woman named Ophelia Clark, and had a daughter in 1951, my mother, Rosalind Coal. She married my father, Orlando Granger and took his name. And had me in 1979, Hermione Jean Granger."
"How Shakespearean." Tom murmured lowly.
"I'm glad he wasn't killed, that's what we were lead to believe if someone ever said his name. Tell you what, since you're a Black we can make it official!
Marius is too young to be your father, so am I, but thankfully dear father moved abroad a few years ago. He isn't the best man and I know for a fact he cheated on my mother quite a lot. How about being my bastard half-sister? What languages do you speak?"
"French." Hermione stuttered, flabbergasted.
Alphard clapped his hands, "Perfect! Your mother was French, Pollux met her on a business trip aboard, wasn't aware you existed, your mother just died so you came here to find your family. If Pollux ever comes around and find himself with a new daughter, I'll make sure to add a few memories to make the whole thing believable.
Sirius is technically the Head of the family right now but he's dying and won't mind if I take charge of the situation as your closest male relative in Pollux's absence. I've kept my dissenting opinions to myself so far so I'm good.
How do you feel about a blood adoption? You're already a Black technically, but I'd like to officially blood adopt you as my sister. Your hair might get a bit darker but your curls are all Black and your eyes will likely turn grey."
Hermione was frozen still in shock for a while, "Sure, that's fine yes, will my name change?" she asked, grasping for some semblance of control.
"Well you can keep Hermione, but you'll need a constellation middle name and your last name will be Black of course."
"What about Nyxie? For the Phoenix constellation, it feels appropriate for the situation."
"Yes, that works for me, Hermione Nyxie Black." Alphard nodded, then looked at Tom, "Tomorrow is Sunday, you're not working so you're going to Gringotts and claiming the Gaunt name, while Hermione and I will do the ritual to enter her in the family officially."
Tom nodded, "Sure, I'll do that. What about changing Tom to Thomas?"
"You just need to magically make the change, it's a variant on an oath, I'll show when you get back.
Right, children, time for bed it's the middle of the night and we have much to do tomorrow. I'll come by early afternoon Hermione."
And with that, Alphard left the Manor without looking back and Hermione and Tom were left by themselves, trying to understand just what happened in a few hours.
"Right, I need to sleep, I'll see you tomorrow." Hermione finally said. Tom got up as well, and right as Hermione was going to turn a corner to go to her room, she kissed his cheek and murmured good night, and left.
Tom was frozen in shock in the hallway, touching his cheek in disbelief.
The next day Tom left before Hermione woke up and headed to Diagon Alley. Alphard Black sauntered in at half past one and shouted "Hermione sister dear, I'm here!"
Hermione came down from the library to a grinning Alphard, "I have everything we need, Tom has an unused room towards the back, we can turn it into a ritual room, follow me."
They both went to the back of the Manor, bypassing many closed doors and finally entered an empty and dusty room. Alphard got to work cleaning up the room, adding wards to make sure the ritual would be contained and placed a ceremonial bowl in the middle of the room, then took out some white chalk and drew a pentagram around it.
"Right, the room is cleansed, I have everything we need. We'll both need to bleed into the bowl once I've added a few ingredients and I'll recite the adoption ritual chant while holding my bleeding hand with yours above the bowl. Are you ready?" At her nod, he started adding the ingredients while talking out loud so she could follow the process, "7 drops of dragon blood for power and protection, 2 unicorn hairs for purity and binding, 1 phoenix feather for rebirth, 1 teaspoon of moonstone powder for calm and stability, 2 drops of diluted basilik venom for an unbreakable bond, a tear from me for family connection. Right, here is an athame for you to cut your palm.
At my signal, you'll cut your palm while I do the same, both above the bowl and I'll start the chant."
They both got into position, an athame in both their hands, "Now!" they both cut their hand and held each other's bleeding hands, palms facing downward so their blood would go into the bowl.
"In Nomine Magicae Anticae,
Nos hic convenimus ad sororem adoptandam,
Ut vinculum sanguinis creetur inter nos.
Per potentiam draconis et puritatem unicornis,
Per renascentiam phoenix et stabilitatem lapidis lunae,
Te nunc, Hermione Jean Granger, sororem meam facio,
In corde et anima, in vita et magia.
Magia antiqua, testis esto huius iuramenti,
Sanguis noster nunc et in perpetuum coniungatur.
Te nunc, Hermione Nyxie Black, sororem meam facio,
In corde et anima, in vita et magia."
A bright light enveloped them both and Hermione fainted, Alphard was able to stop her fall, he carried her back to the living room couch. Both their palms having healed, and now he waited for her to wake up. He knew it could take a couple of hours while her core stabilised from the change and her features changed.
He got up and made himself a cup of coffee, took out a book and sat himself on the armchair to the right of the couch, while he waited.
Almost two hours later, Tom came into the room with a new ring on his finger. "How did it go?" Alphard asked him.
He ran his hands through his hair, "It was tedious, the blood test on parchment proved my claim quickly and I was offered the change immediately but then I had to deal with the Gaunt holdings and that took hours... and I know have a shiny new ring.
How is she?"
"Vaults? Plural? I thought the Gaunts were completely broke and had nothing left.
And she's fine, she should wake up soon, her hair already turned a few shades darker, her eyes are probably already grey too, we just have to wait."
Tom groaned and closed his eyes, "They weren't broke, not really. Turns out, Ominis Gaunt, my Great Uncle, cursed his brother, Marvolo Gaunt around 1900. He cursed his brother and his line to lose access to the Gaunt vaults, Wizengamot seat and Lord Gaunt title until they had children with someone who wasn't a pureblood. Ominis wasn't the heir and was disowned because he didn't enjoy being crucioed as punishement as a kid or something like that. He left a journal in one vault but I barely had time to skim it.
Anyway, all that means I get access to everything again because I'm a half-blood. Ominis was killed by Marvolo right after he cursed him, as revenge I would guess but it didn't break the curse, which is why Marvolo was living in the Gaunt Shack with basically nothing to his name. Of course, he could have married a half-blood but no, he preferred to live in abject poverty and a social pariah than have children anything less than pure. Never mind that both my mother and Morfin were so weak they were basically Squib."
Unknown to both men, Hermione had woken up a few minutes after Tom had come back and had heard the whole tale, "Does this mean you're Lord Gaunt now?"
"Yes it does, Miss. Black." Tom answered with a smirk while flashing his new Lord ring with the Gaunt coat of arms.
"Right, we need to do the oath for your first name now, I wrote it down earlier, you just have to read it out loud with your wand in your hand." Alphard picked up the parchment and gave it to Tom, who got up and recited the oath:
"In Nomine Magicae Potentiae,
Nomen meum mutare volo,
Ex Tom ad Thomas, nunc et in perpetuum.
Quod iuravi, nunc sit factum.
Sic fiat."
Hermione had sat up during this, and had conjured a mirror to check her new features, darker hair and grey eyes as expected, she felt tears stinging her eyes as she could see a bit of Sirius in herself. She was glad to have this reminder, she would save him this time, Regulus too.
She cleared her throat to bring herself back to the present, "Right, does that make it official? My change too from the ritual?"
Alphard nodded, "Yes, your name will be written down somewhere in the Ministry archives as Hermione Nyxie Black, and the ritual will have you added to the Family tapestry as well. As for Thomas," he smirked at that, "from what he did at Gringotts and the oath just now, his name has officially changed at the Ministry as well, he is now Lord Thomas Gaunt.
Although unless someone is snooping, no one will really be made aware of the changes. Except the Gaunt family seat on the Wizengamot will appear again and you can claim it Thomas."
Thomas nodded, a bit distractedly, "Right, I need to think about it. We made Hermione an official part of the present time, but we also need to talk about the whole Voldemort thing.
Technically Voldemort doesn't get back to Britain until the early 1970 so we have almost 20 years, but I would rather we take care of it sooner than later."
"Why?" Hermione asked, wondering where the urgency was coming from.
"Think about it Hermione, they made me the fall guy for Voldemort, Dumbledore was convinced he was me and although the man dislikes me I have to imagine he had real reasons for it, so while they made Voldemort wage war on Britain, my name was whispered as his real name and if things got out of control I was to be blamed, and I was according to you in the way Dumbledore gave you information about my life, albeit a bit twisted but still. I was the scapegoat, and likely a distraction from the real puppet master.
Where was I during all this? You said Tom Riddle disappeared for years before coming back as Voldemort, I'm not planning on going anywhere nor am I planning on being the monster you've described, so where was I?"
Hermione gasped and whispered "They kill you, don't they? That's why you disappear."
Thomas nodded, "Yes, that's the only thing I can think of for my disappearance, it's probably not for years but I would rather avoid a premature death if I can."
Alphard was pacing while they talked and wondering how they could proceed, "Right, we need to find the who, when, why, where.", he then conjured a board and wrote down who? when? why? where?
A/N - The blood adoption ritual chant translation:
"In the Name of Ancient Magic,
We gather here to adopt a sister,
To create a bond of blood between us.
By the power of the dragon and the purity of the unicorn,
By the rebirth of the phoenix and the stability of the moonstone,
I now make you, Hermione Jean Granger, my sister,
In heart and soul, in life and magic.
Ancient magic, be witness to this oath,
Our blood now and forever joined.
I now make you, Hermione Nyxie Black, my sister,
In heart and soul, in life and magic."
The name change oath translation:
"In the Name of Magical Power,
I wish to change my name,
From Tom to Thomas, now and forever.
What I have sworn, let it now be done.
So mote it be."
Both translation are likely not perfect, my Latin years are beyond me, apologies but blame ChatGPT if you wish.
For the Black genealogy I've used the Black family tree JKR hand drew in 2006, and for the Gaunt genealogy I used the story from the video game Hogwarts Legacy and the books.
Also, I'm not sure if Tom M. Riddle was born in 1926 in canon but it's what I found and accurate to this story. He's 23 going on 24, while Hermione is 28 going on 29. I haven't said when in 1949 the story is taking place, but assume it's not September yet.