A/N: Hello hello! I wrote this first chapter about 13 months ago but watching the reunion has encouraged me to try with this story! Posting this to see how it goes.
I'm not sure what the endgame ship should be yet. I'm thinking about Hermione/Theo Nott or Hermione/Harry, but if you have any suggestions, I'm willing to hear them!
This fic is based on a prompt given in the Plot Bunnies Facebook group two years ago:
"Ravenclaw Hermione/Pureblood Hermione/Coven-The coven wants to take down The Order and Voldemort, they know both sides are corrupt. Draco's family and Hermione's family have known each other for years. The coven consists of the Malfoys, Grangers, Parkinsons, maybe Notts, Andromeda; Bella can be a spy for the coven on Voldy's side and Andromeda being the spy for the coven on the light side; Use the quote "the magic they taught us was meant to be forgotten long ago.""
September 5, 1980
The past three months had been the most wonderful in Narcissa Malfoy's life despite the ongoing war, but now her little boy was three months old exactly, just as the ritual called for.
Today was special for more than just one reason, though. It was also the one time this year where both of her sisters would be together with her, almost as if society hadn't made them need to create a faux rift in their soror vincula. For those few hours, it would be like it was in her fondest memories. Until then, she was content to sit on her bed and hum songs to her darling boy as she rocked him gently in her arms.
This plan had come to fruition nearly a year ago, but she remembered the scene like it was yesterday. Bella had come rushing into the manor, an unusually wild look in her eyes. She knew her sister had some brushes with rage and madness (a curse of the Blacks), but this was different. She looked… frightened, uncertain even, as if her worldview had been forcefully pulled from under her.
"Cissa!" Bella's voice had been shaky as she whispered to her in a corner of the manor library, where they were unlikely to be overheard by any unexpected guests. "I was at Aunt Walburga's– on a mission for the Dark Lord– and I passed through the tapestry room." If it was possible, her voice had lowered even further. "There was a name. A new one, Cissa, next to the metamorphmagus'." She glanced down the aisle of books warily before looking imploringly back at her sister. " Hermione Jean Granger."
Narcissa had stared back at Bella in confusion. "How is that possible?" She'd hissed back, breaking several practiced rules of etiquette as she did so. "I know of no magical families with that name."
Bella had grabbed both of her forearms. "It doesn't matter, Narcissa!" She was shocked into silence by the use of her real name– Bellatrix never called her that unless the circumstances were ceremonial or severely serious. "For her to show up on the family tapestry means she is a true Black, despite her more recent pedigree of descending from a Squibbed line! And we must find her, before she becomes collateral in this war and Magic rejects us for siding against an innocent of the family!"
She'd stood in silence for several minutes, her chest heaving as she realized the gravity of their situation. "Then," she said slowly, every word feeling heavy on her tongue in this new reality she was living in, "we must tell Meda. She knows their world better than us."
Bella's grin had been smug. "I already sent word ahead."
But that had been a score of months ago. Footsteps echoing in from the stone hallways outside her bedroom door pulled Narcissa from her thoughts just before Bella came sweeping into the room. This time she was calm and poised, ever the image of a perfect Black princess.
"Let me hold him, Cissa?" She asked in greeting, her arms wide open expectantly. Narcissa carefully handed her son to her sister and watched with a small smile as Bella brushed her nose against her son's while murmuring softly to him. It had been a long time since she'd seen the dark-haired witch so serene.
"When will Andy and the tots be arriving?" Bella asked suddenly, her attention returning to Narcissa.
"I sent Pippy off to fetch her a few minutes ago. Although," she added, a wisp of a smirk slipping onto her face, "young Nymphadora is quite a bit older than toddler age."
"If she's not at Hogwarts then she's a tot, Cissa," Bella patiently explained with a roll of her eyes as she rocked the baby gently. She seemed every bit the natural with a baby in her arms; Narcissa almost forgot that the last infant Bella had held was cousin Regulus, decades ago.
They both turned as a quiet pop in the far corner of the room signalled the arrival of Narcissa's personal house elf Pippy, who was holding the hands of Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks in each of hers.
Nymphadora Tonks was seven years old and already proficient with her metamorphmagus abilities from the sight of her shoulder-length hair rotating between multiple colors. It was mauve when she first appeared, but already it had shifted from deep purple into a light pink. She was wearing simple black slacks and a blue sweater– Narcissa was just grateful that they were acceptable wizarding styles and not the overly muggle "sweatpants" she'd been wearing when Narcissa had gone to visit them several weeks before.
On the other hand, her mother Andromeda could've been a carbon copy of their older sister Bellatrix. Her black curls were pulled away from her face but still spilled free over her shoulders and down the back of her black robes. Her sharp gray eyes flickered around the room as she checked to make sure the room was devoid of threats. She too was carrying a small child on her hip.
This child was the most fascinating of the three arrivals, as Narcissa hadn't laid eyes on her before. She was almost one year old and already had a thick crown of black curls. While she was much darker skinned than most members of the Black family, as she sleepily blinked her eyes it was easy to see they were the same shade of familial gray that all those in the room had.
"Aunt Cissa, Aunt Bella!" Nymphadora gasped with glee as she caught sight of her baby cousin and rushed over to peer closely at him. "May I hold him, please?!" She reached her arms up with a pleading pout that melted into an awed smile as Bellatrix gently placed the boy into her arms.
Bellatrix's focus swiftly landed onto the young girl in Andromeda's arms. "Hermione Jean," she breathed quietly as she approached the two and peered into the young girl's eyes that matched her own. "Is she ready?" Her words were clearly aimed at her sister despite still staring at the little girl.
Narcissa could see Andromeda clearly struggle to keep from rolling her eyes at their sister's fixation on the child. They were used to behavior like this after so many years.
"She is," Andromeda assured her. "But we should begin now, before she or Draco fall asleep." Her other warning was left unsaid but was just as clear to the Black sisters: they needed to be gone before any unwanted attention was directed towards the two considered to be blood traitors and their mudblood companion.
Narcissa stood and quietly called for Pippy's attention. "Could you bring us all to the stone garden, Pippy?"
Pippy silently nodded, although her face betrayed her sly approval at what was planned, as she held out both her hands for the gathered Blacks to take hold of. Nymphadora carefully handed the baby back to Narcissa and moved to stand next to her mother, while Bellatrix and Narcissa both grabbed Pippy's other hand. With a firm nod, the little elf whisked them all away to the manor grounds.
They landed on the dewy lawn in front of a circle of tall stones surrounded by rose bushes, the manor a distant figure in the background. From where they stood outside the clearing, the stones seemed to blur, as if observed through a dreamy haze. The magic here was strong.
Pippy remained outside the circle as the three sisters carried the children into the ring and arranged themselves in its center. Draco was placed on the soft grass so his face pointed up towards the darkening sky. Hermione and Nymphadora knelt on either side of him at north and south respectively, acting as the balance for this newest generation of Blacks. Andromeda stood with her back towards the setting sun as a show of her being the eldest and Narcissa was across from her at the east, as she had most recently given birth to an heir. Bellatrix stood behind Hermione, signifying her adoption of the young girl and linking her into the present Black household.
As the three sisters raised their wands in unison, Narcissa could feel the familiar mist fall over her eyes as they pushed their magic into the stones around them. With Latin words murmured in unison, the stones began to glow faintly in the deepening twilight.
The Family recognizes its own. Let her join our House. Complete the constellation.
Each sister took their child's hand and sliced their palm open with their wands, allowing crimson blood to flow free. This sacrifice was needed to complete Hermione's acceptance to the magic of the family, as such strength came from one's own blood. It was as much their life force as their magic.
She watched as the two girls pressed her son's hand between their own, allowing their blood to intermix while some droplets fell free and speckled the grass below.
"We are of Black," Bellatrix intoned. "Toujours pur de magie."
"We are three," Andromeda followed, "and we choose three."
"We are united," Narcissa finished, "we are born anew."
As she said the final words, the light from the stones flared as brightly as a star falling to earth, and Narcissa would later tell herself that it was this same light reflected in the children's eyes that caused them to glow. But in that moment, she knew it was a manifestation of the family's magic taking root in their cores.
The light died down as quickly as it'd begun, and Narcissa found herself blinking away the haze that'd settled over them all. Her sisters all seemed to be similarly coming to their senses, while the children all seemed to snap out of it quite fast in comparison. She wrapped her fingers into her skirts to pull them up so she could bend down and pick up her baby boy, but surprisingly, Nymphadora had beaten her to it. The young girl had scooped Draco into her arms and was pressing her forehead against his. Narcissa noticed that the young metamorphmagus' features had melted away into her natural ones, her hair now chocolate and curling down past her shoulders and her nose and jaw were both a bit sharper. She was a miniature copy of her mother and Aunt Bella.
Hermione had stumbled over to stand next to them, her small hand raising to gently rest against Draco's cheek. The young girl's hair had turned a few shades darker and her eyes seemed a brighter shade of gray in the twilight. She was every bit a true Black as the rest of them– especially now.
Narcissa had hardly ever let Draco be held by others during the past weeks, and it spoke a message louder than any words that she watched calmly as his eldest cousin cradled him and led the newest full Black out of the stone circle.
"They are our new hope." Narcissa turned to look at Andromeda as she came to stand next to her. "Reminds me of the three of us– the ages are almost the same, too."
"And the hair," Narcissa murmured in response, a slight smile quirking at her lips. "Only the youngest is blonde."
Bella's cackle was softer than normal but still filled with mirth. "Wouldn't expect anything else from a spawn of yours, Cissa." She wrapped a lock of Narcissa's blonde strands around a long, pale finger and tugged on it. "They will rule this world one day."
"Not this one," Andromeda corrected her as she brushed past to follow the children to where Pippy was waiting to transport them back inside. "A better one."