Chapter 33: Bastards

Bern, Switzerland

Sirius knocked on her door that morning. Alas, Gil was not there so she could not rub it in his face what he had missed.

Not that she would do such a thing. Inwardly, Claire smirked as she took in Sirius's form. Like with her, the resort had been good to him. She knew he liked to work out on the slopes and it showed. He was even starting to get a tan he had been so pale when he first came here. It looked nice against his grey eyes.

"Good morning," she said. "Do you always knock unannounced?"

He looked at her, "Well , you're dressed this time and I don't hear your boyfriend in the other room so it's probably okay. Plus, I bought you coffee."

"Actual coffee?" She asked, "The stuff this place declares to be contraband."

"That's the stuff," he said. " I have my ways. I may have even put a little dusting of cinnamon on top. Hope that's okay it's…"

"It's my favorite," She said.

He thought an odd look came over his face, but it quickly disappeared. "You want to come in?"

He nodded. Her suite may have been smaller, but it was equally luxurious. She really loved the lodge even though some of the rules like the no coffee rule got under her nerves. Of course, until a few weeks ago she probably shouldn't be consuming coffee.

"Where's Gil?" He asked.

"Working, I suppose." She said with a shrug.

He had apparently a big interview at Hogwarts of all places. At least that's what he told her. Honestly, she didn't care to listen too much to him. He had a tendency to repeat himself anyway.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "I still can't believe Gilderoy Lockhart is your boyfriend."

"I didn't know you were such a fan, I can get you a signed book." Not correcting him that Gil was more or less just her fuck buddy. Not that Gil saw it that way.

Sirius laughed, "Maybe you should get Harry a signed copy…he'd love that. Yes, if he could sign Year of the Yeti that would be perfect. Well, Harry will probably kill me or you, but that's besides the point."

She gave him a weird look.

"Have you ever read Gil's stuff?"

"Why would I read his stuff?"

"He's your boyfriend."

"I don't think that means I'm required to read his stuff. Nor would I want to."

It was his turn to give him a weird look.

"I met him when he was researching Vacationing with Veela!"

"Wait, is that an actual book title?"

She shrugged. "I'm sure it will be revised a few times. I've been promised an entire chapter about my lilac eyes."

"Your eyes are not lilac," He said. "They're violet. They look like amethysts."

"Ooh, flattery who knew you had it in you, Black."

"I'm just saying the flop doesn't know his colors. If he wanted to woo you, he'd get you some amethyst to match your eyes. Maybe a nice pendant." He said before adding, "Sorry for calling your boyfriend a flop."

"Well, he sort of is a flop." Claire said, "I'm taking this is not a social call, you usually avoid those sorts of things."

"Sorry again," He sad. "Though the last time I took you somewhere it sort of ended in disaster."

"You were grieving," She said. "Are grieving."

He smiled sadly. "Still, I felt bad leaving you in that wand shop that day. I just sometimes…well, sometimes I have extreme reactions to things. Bella died in a fire."

Fire. Everything burning.

That blasted voice. When would it just go away?

"Oh, that explains a lot that night…."

He nodded. "Did you ever get a wand?"

"Actually, I did." She said as she took her walnut wood wand out of its holster.

"Is that walnut?"

She nodded. "Walnut and phoenix feather oddly enough."

She thought he was going to say something but didn't. "I was actually surprised walnut worked so well. Dueling isn't exactly my forte."

He nodded she saw the look on his face, "Please don't tell me your wife had a walnut wand too and was bad at dueling."

"Did I get that look on my face again?"

She nodded.

"Sorry. But yes, she had a walnut wand. And no, she was superb at dueling."

She shrugged. "You have nothing to be sorry for. What's going on that it caused you to emerge from your lair? Is it Narcissa?"

He nodded, "Her husband took the news worse than expected. She…she had me annul the marriage last night."

Claire's eyebrows went way up.

"He demanded she end the pregnancy. Tried to invoke the marriage contract to get her to do it. Never mind, he broke the contract first by impregnating her with a daughter."

"He can do that? Invoke a marriage contract and force her to terminate?"

"You will sign the contract. Or so help me, Crucio!"

What the….

"There's a lot of things you can do with a marriage contract." He said with an unpleasant look of his own on his face. "The one good thing is there's no need for her to go through legal procedures. Once I declared the contract invalid it's like they were never married. She's free. Though she had more or less already broke the bond herself after he hit her and tried to cause a miscarriage"

"Wait, he hit her? He tried to kill her babies?"

A dark look came over Sirius face. "Yes, and I could kill the bastard for it. I know Bella would've. She probably would've done a lot of nefarious things."

"Well, I can't exactly blame your wife if she did." Claire said shuddering as she thought back to Rafael. "What a bastard. I still can't believe he tried to force her to end the pregnancy without her consent and to hit her…."

"You don't know Lucius."

"Wait…Lucius?"

"Yes," He said, "Lucius Malfoy. Be glad you don't know the bastard."

"Actually, I do." She said, "He's my bastard of a half-brother."


He hated interviewing candidates for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. None of them ever lasted a year and most of them were awful. It didn't help that this year the board decided they were going to at least have one member sitting in on the interviews and it was Lucius.

Lucius who was in a particularly bad mood.

He had seen the papers and the bombshell that Narcissa Malfoy—no, Narcissa Black—had their marriage annulled. There weren't really many details released about why just that there was a violation in the contract that rendered it void and rendered Draco as a bastard. The roll had automatically updated itself to list the boy as Draco Black now.

He hadn't dared said two words to Lucius, but he was interested. He figured Draco would probably have a lot say to his father now. Though he supposed Lucius at least legally speaking was no longer the boys father.

It might actually do him good, though he really couldn't stand Narcissa much either. She was too much like Bellatrix for his liking even though she had never taken the mark.

"Hopefully, we actually have some candidates with actual experience." Lucius smarted off.

He groaned. "Gilderoy's backlist alone."

"That guy is a certified moron," Lucius said not holding back with words.

Admittedly, Lucius had a point but so far Gilderoy had been their best candidate. The only one that had something on his resume relevant to fighting the dark arts.

"Really, Vacation with Veela?"

"Well, we did ask him about his current projects. I must say I was fascinated with some of the tidbits about coven culture."

"You would be fascinated by studying those creatures," Lucius said a particular ugly look was on his face. "All you need to know if they're a glorified succubus."

Leave it to Lucius to be bigoted towards a race an entire race of people.

"Well, he at least has relevant reading material unlike Delores." Dumbledore said, "I know he isn't perfect. Are you okay, Lucius? I must say I read the…"

The look he was shot made him shut up.

"We don't discuss my personal life here," He said. "This is purely school business."

"Well, if you're insistent on me talking about school business, I'm here to inform you that Severus resigned officially this morning."


She was as crazy as a bitch as her two sisters.

The bitch had the audacity to have their marriage annulled. He heard her say the words, but he hadn't felt their bond break at the time. He had just been too angry at the time to realize what happened, but it was over. When he tried to feel her through their bond she wasn't there. The bitch's name and Draco's were no longer on the Malfoy family tree.

And he had found out from his son of all people who ambushed him in the hallways of the school asking if the letter he was sent by Gringotts declaring him a bastard was true.

It was.

His son was essentially not his son anymore, nor was the monster she was carrying. Not that he'd acknowledge the monster. As he thought this for a slight second he imagined what their little girl would be before he threw out those thoughts. They did not have any children together. As far as the law was concerned and magic was concerned they were never married. They were nothing.

He had gone back to the manor to confront her, but every single sign of her had been gone. Stripped. She had taken everything that belonged to her and the Black family with her.

The only thing associated with her that he had paperwork that Gringotts had sent declaring the marriage void. He had broke their vows by impregnating her with the monster funnily enough—she had called him out on it after all when she threw her bonding and marriage rings at him. It was ironic the bitch had used this provision to exit their relationship when she had been the one so insistent on having the blasted thing.

The worst thing about it was per the terms of the agreement she had invoked the no contact clause. He couldn't find her and attempt to reconcile, not that he was even sure at this point he wanted to. She had cut him off to become one of those creatures.

He forgot how cold the bitch could be. How Slytherin she could be. He wanted to scream at her to have reason, but he couldn't. She was within her rights to do what she did and he hated her for it.

He frowned thinking about how upset Draco was when he confronted him earlier. He didn't know how to explain to the boy that he couldn't use the Malfoy name that he was no longer his heir by law and couldn't even adopt him without the bitch's consent which he knew she would never give.

He still couldn't get the look out of her face when she parted from him the other day. The hate that filled her eyes. That was not the woman he married. They eyes weren't even her. Maybe it was the change….he couldn't help but throw another one of his empty fire whiskey glasses against the wall shattering it. He was probably going to have to buy some more soon. He had thrown out a lot of them in the past few weeks.

He had been royally screwed by the person he loved the most when all he had been trying to do was save her life.

The woman he loved was dead. In her place was nothing but a cold hearted monster.

A bastard.

He still couldn't believe it, yet Father had confirmed it when he asked.

He couldn't use the name Malfoy anymore. Father wasn't even Father…..

"I can't acknowledge you." He had told him when he confirmed what happened. "Your mother has to allow it, and she won't."

"But…"

"I have no choice in the matter, Draco." His father looked at him. "I do love you, but I do not have any rights."

"But why…"

His father just shook his head.

He tried floo calling Mother and he was told that she was no longer living at the manor. Meanwhile, somehow it had gotten around the school that he was no longer a Malfoy.

Luckily, his house knew not to mess with him. At least outside the common room. However, he heard the whispers around him when he was called Mr. Black rather than Malfoy.

At least Black was a respectable family he supposed. Or used too. He knew how people whispered about his aunt.

He grimaced Aunt Bellatrix's funeral was the last time he had saw both his parents together. He hadn't really focused on them too much since he had been more focused on his cousin's son.

The Black heir.

Harry Black seemed very quiet and solemn. He hadn't really said much to Draco and Draco really hadn't said much to him. It was a funeral after all, not the sort of thing you'd socialize at and Aunt Bellatrix's funeral had been an exceptionally short one. Just a prayer really had been said and then her ashes were interned.

It was sort of sad really. He knew they had to have it in France because she was…well, infamous.

Mother really never had talked about her much, but he could tell her death upset her. He grimaced thinking of how she had looked that day. He had barely recognized her. She looked so puffy and pale. He had noticed she had been eating a lot more since Aunt Bellatrix died. The one time he said something about it he got hit with a stinging hex and admittedly he deserved it. He had been a little shit to her, but things hadn't seemed that off between her and Father. Not that you could really tell much about those sorts of things in public.

And now he didn't even know where she was…Term was going to end in a couple of months and where was he even going to go?

This was not how he had expected his first year of Hogwarts to be. Not at all. Then again, he hadn't had the worst year. No that probably went to Ron Weasley and Harry Potter who were both dead now or worse Hermione Granger who as far as he knew was still a rat.

They had done the first transfusion today almost as soon as she transformed back into a girl. He really hadn't even gotten to look at her much since they were taking his blood and admittedly it made him a little woozy.

"I can't look at it," He told Narcissa who was doing the honors noticing she looked a little green herself.

He needed to ask Sirius if he was okay. He saw the article in the paper, heard the whispering. He didn't try to press Narcissa about what happened but she knew she was upset with Lucius and he knew she took the international floo in each day.

"I'm staying with Sirius for now," she said when he asked.

"That has to be an adjustment."

She shrugged, "It's the penthouse. He's actually thinking about buying it. I told him to go for it and make the ministry pay for it."

He laughed. "I don't even want to think about the cost of such a place."

"Well, don't worry I have plenty of space to think through things. Plus, it helps he's often visiting his new girlfriend and asks me to watch Harry."

"Girlfriend?"

Apparently, Sirius was seeing the veela or Cissy had suspected as much since they were always seen together. Honestly, Remus wasn't too surprised based on how much Sirius had lost it when Gilderoy Lockhart entered that coffee shop with her, but it still seemed a little weird seeing his friend with someone other than Bellatrix.

"Do you need any juice?" Narcissa asked.

He shook his head.

"Now, what do we do?"

"Now we can begin the transfusion," She said. "You can join Emma if you want."

He nodded his head but honestly felt awkward around Emma. He didn't even know what to say to her. It was hard believing but it was actually easier to talk to Sirius's cousin the designated Slytherin ice queen than it was to talk to Emma.

"Are things really that awkward between the two of you?" Narcissa said seeing the look on his face.

"It just seems forced," He said. "I get we're parents together and that I at one time loved her but now…she's like a complete stranger to me that I share a kid with."

"You don't have to be with someone just because you have a child, Remus. I mean, look at me and Lucius. I don't think she expects that."

He nodded her head, "It's just that sometime she looks at me and hopes I'm that guy. But I'm not that guy anymore."

"Then tell her," Narcissa said.

He shrugged then looked at her and asked, "Is my mustache really that bad?"

"What?" She was caught off guard.

"Emma told me it looks ridiculous."

"Well, she's sort of right, it does."


"You were talking to Healer Black for quite a bit," Emma said when he came into the room to look at their daughter.

He shrugged. "I felt a little woozy from having my blood taken out and I wanted a second opinion on my mustache."

"You trust her opinion more than mine?" Emma asked.

He rolled his eyes, "Honestly, I trust neither of your opinions. How are you holding up?"

"Nervous," she said. "I thought about calling her father….er, I mean, Dan."

"Your husband."

"Soon to be ex-husband."

"I'm sorry,"

Emma shook her head. "It's been a long time coming. I still am attempting to co-parent with him though."

"Did he…"

She shook her head, "Anything magical and him do not mix. He wanted to pull her out of here, so now he didn't get a say about any of this."

"Have you thought about how we will tell her?" He asked.

"That's something I actually wanted to talk to you about," Emma said. "I don't want to reveal that you're her biological father at this time."

"What?" He said confused. He wanted a relationship with his daughter. He thought Emma was okay with that, but she didn't want him telling his little girl the truth?

"She's been through too much," Emma said. "I'm sure Narcissa and Andromeda told you everything."

He nodded. Narcissa had told him quite the earful.

"Well, for now I don't think she needs another shock in her life," Emma said. "I don't want to cut her out of your life, but I'd rather we say you're her uncle of something."

He frowned he didn't want that, but Emma did have a point. Hermione's life had been in disarray for way too long and soon she'd be having to live life as a werewolf. Perhaps, it would be better to wait.


When she opened her eyes she found she was in the hospital again. It always happened when she woke up. She usually tried to fade away as soon as she could she just couldn't handle it. Handle life. She knew Mummy had wanted her to stay but it had gotten too hard. Fading away had gotten way too easy even though Healer Chang and the others tried to keep her from doing it.

Didn't they want her to relax?

All she usually had to do was close her eyes and know no more except when she tried to do that today she couldn't. She was still there.

She grimaced as she took in her surroundings. Her vision seemed clearer. Lately it had seemed so blurry they had been giving her potions to try to help her see , but she could see clearly everything seemed super focused and she could smell things too. Not that she couldn't smell things before but usually she usually could smell the corn and cheese in her cage…

Thinking about the mere thought of corn made her want to vomit. She did not want to see another piece of corn or cheese in her life, the thought of eating such things repulsed her when she knew the last time she was somewhat aware all she had wanted to do was eat to nibble at corn with her teeth.

She grimaced knowing how she looked in the mirror. She knew they didn't think she saw herself, but she had it had caused her to fall back to the abyss when she saw just how rat like she had become. She looked even worse than she had the last time she saw herself even though she had hair now. It was now Mummy's color. There was that at least even though it was still ridiculously short and made her beady eyes and teeth stand out as well as the rest of her and her cheeks had gotten so chubby. She looked just like a rat. She really wish she could just fade…

She couldn't. She took in the room a little more noticing that something was hooked up to her that looked like blood almost like an IV but there were no needles holding it in place.

"Oh, you're awake?" A tall man said entering the room.

He wasn't dressed like a healer. He was tall and fairly thin. In a weird way he reminded Hermione of a librarian or a professor. There was something familiar about him that she couldn't just pinpoint.

"I…I feel different." She said. "I can't…"

He raised an eyebrow before he said, "You can't fade away."

She grimaced.

"It's okay."

She shook her head. "No, no, it's not. You wouldn't understand. No one does. I can' t simply empty my mind like Healer Chang says. I still remember what happened. Everything."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head, "What's the use nothing will change. I can't even change. At least then I didn't have to face it."

The man sighed as he walked to one of the chairs and sat down near her. "You blame yourself for what happened last fall, don't you?"

She nodded.

"You didn't tell those boys to rescue you." The man said.

"I know but everyone…."

He shook his head. "Not everyone. Not me. Not your mum. Not a lot of people. Not everyone is Gryffindor house, Hermione."

She grimaced, "But I still have to go back…."

"No. No, you don't."


Chapter 34 Preview: Someone has a stunning revelation.