A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! Huge thanks to lanamarymack for her efforts alpha/beta reading this chapter! I am so excited that you guys enjoyed the last chapter so much — I really can't get anything past you guys, huh? To be honest, I was very worried to post the last chapter, worried that you wouldn't like the twist. So, I am so pleased to hear from so many of you that you liked it! You can find me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twenty-seven and be on the lookout for chapter twenty-eight soon!
A few hours later, Walburga and Orion had been relieved when they returned to Grimmauld Place after the meeting with the Black family and found that Hermione had only gone as far as her own bedroom. She wasn't sure what Cassiopeia would have told the rest of the family, but she was grateful for the bit of peace before they would try to talk her into throwing her life away on a marriage with a wizard that she wasn't even sure she could stand to look at!
Regulus looked like a kicked puppy, leaning against her door frame, still smarting about being called a traitor. But, that's still what he was to her right now. She couldn't begin to understand why he had thought to name Rabastan as the worthier wizard for her hand, but she didn't want to give him the benefit of the doubt at the moment.
Sure, maybe she and Rabastan did know each other at least and they seemed to be well suited in terms of intelligence, but those factors all seemed far too reasonable for her. Marrying her off to some wizard she hardly knew did not seem like a sensible decision to begin with. Regulus probably just suggested it because he was friends with Rabastan and he must think that she ought to be friends with him, too.
A small part of her wanted to rub it into Regulus's face, to make him understand what he had offered her up for. Didn't he know what married people did with each other? Didn't he know that these insane magical pacts were done in order to produce pureblood children? Didn't he know how children were made, or had sexual education not been a priority in this house? Based on what Cassiopeia had revealed about Pollux and Druella, she wondered if they didn't need to brush up on the topic.
Her parents gave her space for an evening, but the following morning, Orion could tolerate the unknown no more. He called her into his office — blessedly alone, as she could not stand to look into Regulus's sad eyes at the moment, begging for forgiveness — and over the course of the day and two meals, they hammered out an agreement in which she wouldn't fight her part in the betrothal.
She was pleased with her success and got him to bend on quite a few points. Most importantly, she would not get married before she graduated from Hogwarts. Orion informed her that the Lestranges were likely not keen to wait, seeing as Bellatrix had slipped her own match by pushing off the wedding again and again and they would push to move the wedding sooner. Hermione had snapped back at her father that she was not the one who'd backed out of the agreement and, as such, she shouldn't be held for someone else's misdeeds.
Orion had confirmed with her that he felt Rabastan would be the preferable brother to marry, given the choice. That had knocked the wind right out of her. While she didn't want to admit it aloud, she could see the merits. She'd barely said two words to Rodolphus and he was already a marked Death Eater. How much leeway would he give her, if he was her husband? Ultimately, she had to agree that Regulus's logic had been sound — they knew each other, they were the same age and they could at least talk to one another.
He promised to propose the switch to Edmund, but couldn't guarantee that they would go for it. The thought had her stomach turning with nerves.
And, Hermione had gotten him to agree that they would come clean about who her grandparents were. She couldn't enter a marriage with that sort of secret hanging over her, though she wasn't going to tell them about coming from the future. Maybe someday she could trust Rabastan with that information, but she certainly wasn't going to entrust the knowledge to the Lestranges. She had no idea where they stood on Voldemort at the moment.
She had wanted to demand that the Blacks drop Voldemort after taking something so precious as a daughter from the family. When she brought it up with Orion, he seemed to think that it wouldn't be a great sacrifice for the family, considering, but he didn't make any promises. Their primary concern was smoothing things over with the Lestranges, which Hermione thought was a bit short-sighted. Tempers were extremely high about the whole situation, so she thought that it wouldn't be much to get the dominoes to fall. And Orion promised that he would be fully on her side when they brought this up eventually.
She felt satisfied once their agreement was done. Hermione was certain that there would be enough friction in her proposed demands that she could make the Lestranges back out of the pact all together, leaving her free to remember this nightmare as nothing more than a silly little dream.
And, if that didn't work, she could always hope that Sirius was resourceful enough and was able to figure out a way to travel forward in time.
Apparently time was of the essence and it seemed that everyone wanted to get this deal hammered out as quickly as possible because the following day, Hermione was going to be meeting with the Lestranges, with Arcturus, Orion and Regulus accompanying her. She let Walburga dress her up like a little doll, in a set of china blue robes, her hair artfully styled until she was certain that it was the best her hair had ever looked.
While she still hadn't spoken to Regulus, she did take his arm like she was instructed to do and followed behind her father and grandfather in the Floo, stepping out of the comfort of Grimmauld Place and into the parlor of wherever the Lestranges lived. Looking around, Hermione hoped that she was not showing she was too in awe while she took in the expansive home. She couldn't even begin to imagine how many bedrooms the expansive home had, but it felt much more comfortable than the Black family manor — more lived in, less like a museum.
Edmund was there to greet them, looking disdainfully at the Black family contingent that stood guard around her in their severe black robes. "Orion, Arcturus," he greeted, a sneer barely hidden by his impressive mustache. "I wish we were meeting in better circumstances."
"You know that we do as well," Arcturus said, frowning.
"We were to have been celebrating a wedding this evening, if it was not for your family's inability to control themselves," Edmund said, apparently ready to offend wherever he could.
"Bellatrix is wild," Arcturus agreed, looking mournful. "I'm afraid that Cygnus has allowed his daughter too much freedom and Pollux in turn allowed his son to sleepwalk into a preventable situation. You will find that I will not take the same approach as my cousin."
Hermione frowned, wanting to tell Edmund that she had nearly escaped this arranged marriage as well, and that it was only some insane sense of duty she felt for the family that had taken her in that had kept her there. That she could have gotten away, too. But that would be silly. They were trying to smooth things over.
"Bellatrix is mad," came another voice.
She looked up — it was Rodolphus. Hermione had not seen him since the Yule party last year and she'd barely given him any consideration at the time. He was a hulking figure, much larger than his younger brother, with massive arms that he had crossed over his chest. He looked a bit like he could crush her like a twig and with the blazing look in his dark eyes, she thought he might have half a mind to.
"We are ready and set up in the office," he added gruffly, before turning on his heel to guide them down the hallway.
When they arrived, Rabastan was already waiting there, looking miserable at his place on the couch. He barely looked up to greet them, but when he saw her, he stood up abruptly, giving her a half-bow. Hermione could hardly stand to look at him. They had not parted on good terms at the beginning of summer and now her family was scheming to marry her to him.
Once seated, Hermione was positioned between Orion and Regulus again, on an uncomfortable chair. She did her best not to cross her arms over her own chest, not wanting to match the energy that Rodolphus was bringing to the table.
Arcturus would be leading the negotiations and he waved his hand in her general direction. "I know that this is an uncomfortable situation. Bellatrix has wronged you with her behavior. She has shamed our family as well," he said, clearing his throat. "It is no surprise that you would no longer wish to pursue matrimony with her. However, the Black family is prepared to make this right. We can keep up our end of the bargain — a bride for house Lestrange."
She felt the weight of every eye in the room on her, appraising, like she was a piece of meat at the butcher. Heat blossomed in her cheeks and she was determined not to meet anyone's eye, the situation feeling too demeaning at the moment.
"A rather convenient witch to just stumble into your laps," Edmund said with a frown on his face. "It almost makes one wonder if this wasn't orchestrated from the start. Who is she really, since no one can figure it out?"
It was Orion's turn to sigh. "Last year, Hermione Floo'ed into Grimmauld Place," he started. "Although we were not aware of her before, we knew that she must be family because of the strength of our blood wards. It took a bit of blood magic, but we determined that Hermione is Marius Black's granddaughter."
The room was silent. "Marius Black?" Edmund asked, with humor in his voice. "The squib that you blasted from your family tree? Oh, this is too good to believe."
"Hermione is the product of the Black, Selwyn, Urquart, and Montague families," Orion said slowly. "Her bloodline is as pure as mine or yours."
"She's the product of squibs," Edmund said, disdainfully.
"And, we do apologize that the witch we are offering you is of squib origin, but I promise you that Hermione is an extremely capable witch," Arcturus said in a rush. "Her OWLs were beyond impressive and I understand her marks this year were even better. You cannot question her magic."
"It's true, Father," Rabastan said quietly. "Hermione is easily the best in our year and she's very talented. She even took on Rosier in a duel. She is a natural."
Unknowingly, hot tears began to slide down Hermione's cheeks after hearing the way that they were talking about her and apologizing for her — making excuses for her mere existence. Bitterness twisted in her stomach once again that she was being made to do this at all. The Lestranges weren't doing her a favor by accepting her, she was doing them a favor by agreeing to marry them in the first place! She couldn't even face the thought of looking at Rabastan and seeing the disappointment that he probably wore on his face, having to admit to her skills.
"If you do not want her, I suppose the only other option would be Tamsin Crouch? I assume you do not want Cassiopeia," Arcturus asked, a sharp eyebrow raised.
"My only other options are witches well past their prime, not suitable for House Lestrange, you mean," Edmund said with a frown. "I suppose Hermione will have to do, though I insist that she change her name and start going by Black. This Granger nonsense has caused too many questions about her legitimacy."
"Done," Orion agreed, a genuine smile on his face that had Hermione wondering if it was something that he'd been wanting for a while. "I will register the paperwork today."
"Good," Edmund answered sternly.
"We did have another suggestion, if you are amenable," Arcturus said cautiously. "Regulus thought that since Hermione and Rabastan are known to each other and friendly with one another, that he might be a better match than Rodolphus."
"Me?" Rabastan asked, looking up in surprise. He hadn't been expecting that at all.
"Do you have any objection, Rodolphus?" Edmund asked his heir, who had still been looking furious up until that point.
Rodolphus relaxed and leaned back into the couch with a smirk on his face. "She's alright to look at, but I'd rather not have any Black witch after what the last one did to me, Father," he said, perhaps thinking that Hermione would see it as a great offense. "I don't know if their family is worthy of marrying the Heir to House Lestrange."
"And you, boy?" Edmund questioned. "This is your future wife you'd be agreeing to."
Hermione kept her eyes down and couldn't stand to look at Rabastan, even though she could feel his gaze heavy on her skin. She didn't want to see the way that he would look when he agreed for the good of his family, but not because he wanted her. He couldn't. She was little better than a squib after all.
"I don't mind," he said, hopefully. "Though, I would ask that Hermione and I not be married until we have graduated Hogwarts. I see no reason to rush things and it would give us time to get comfortable with one another."
"I was going to suggest something similar," Orion said, relaxing when he saw that Rabastan was of the same mind on the topic. "Hermione takes her studies very seriously."
"The moment they graduate," Edmund said with a frown. "I want the wedding planned. I won't have this one delaying and delaying until she can figure out some way to slip out of the pact, too."
Everyone was pleased with the compromise, though it did make Hermione wonder what exactly the Lestranges were getting out of this agreement besides a bride that they were so committed to keeping it intact. After the offense of Bellatrix running away from the engagement and the Blacks having only a granddaughter born of squibs to offer to them, she couldn't see why they would want to agree. She'd been so sure that they would walk away, that this nightmare that she was betrothed to marry Rabastan would end.
"Do you have anything else to add?" Edmund asked sarcastically, obviously thinking that he'd made a lot of sacrifices so far. He was not actually expecting anyone to answer.
But, Hermione took the opportunity to do what she could. "I actually have one request," she said — the first thing that she said all day.
"What is it, girl?" Edmund demanded, exasperated — not very welcoming for the witch who was to become his daughter-in-law, possible mother to his grandchildren.
"Promise me that you will not force Rabastan to take the Dark Mark," she said, ignoring her classmate and staring only at Edmund instead. "I would not have a Death Eater for a husband."
Edmund began to laugh heartily. "It's a good thing that Rabastan agreed to you instead of Rodolphus, then," he said with a sneer. "You will find no argument from me on that front, after what that man did, stealing our proper bride right out from under our noses. I should have known — Tom was always selfish. I'll agree not to force him to be marked."
She couldn't believe that he'd actually agreed to what was almost certainly an outlandish request by a Black witch. She couldn't believe that he'd actually called Voldemort by his given name! But, she hadn't missed that he'd only promised he wouldn't force Rabastan to become a Death Eater. It seemed that the choice was still an option, should Rabastan choose to take it.
With the unpleasantness of the situation largely smoothed over, the Black contingent waved off all half-hearted offers from the Lestranges to stay for refreshments. Hermione was glad. She didn't want to pretend like she was happy to go along with the betrothal. Just because she'd agreed to it didn't mean that she was happy she was being made to. She'd left without so much as a glance to her betrothed.
They returned to Grimmauld Place and she felt completely exhausted. Shooing off Regulus and his puppy dog looks, she retreated to her room with Orion's permission, ready to sleep until it was time to return to Hogwarts.