A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! Huge thanks to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter, too! You can find me on tumblr (nauticalparamour).
Please let me know what you thought of chapter fourteen and be on the lookout for chapter fifteen soon!
Next, it was Regulus's turn to be Hermione's savior, the morning after the Black family's Yule party, by sneaking into her room with a Sober Up potion in hand. Hermione's head felt like it was full of cotton wool and her stomach was turning until she took the potion, leaving her clear headed and wondering what exactly had happened.
"I tried to warn you about the punch," he said, sitting on the edge of her bed. "We were really lucky that Rabastan followed you outside."
Hermione sat up slowly, pulling her knees to her chest, as the memories bled back in. She'd gone outside with Bernie and then Rabastan had rescued her, before scolding her for being stubborn. It really had been poor behavior for her to drink more just because Rabastan recommended to take it easy. And after Bernie had tried to touch her, maybe she would have been better off listening to Rabastan, despite the wizard she knew he'd become in the future.
"Bernie, he —" she wanted to explain to her brother, but she couldn't get the words out.
"Don't worry, Rabastan told me," Regulus said, a dark look on his face. "We will be having words. I can't believe one of my own friends could do something so vile. He hasn't been..." She noticed that he was trembling with rage simmering under the surface. She felt oddly touched to know that he cared so much for her that he was this upset on her behalf.
Hermione shook her head, not wanting his mind to wander too much. "He's given me the impression that he was... interested in more than friendship, while simultaneously telling me my mysterious origins make me less desirable," she said, rolling her eyes. "He seems to think that I'm Alphard's secret daughter?"
"Well, that's certainly more plausible than the truth," Regulus answered with a grimace.
"You don't have to warn me away from him. I don't want anything to do with Rosier," Hermione insisted. She was going to avoid him like the plague from now on. Something she should have been doing from the outset. "And you don't have to worry, he didn't touch me there, he just... well, petted my legs?" A blush erupted on her cheeks, hating that she was even having to have this conversation.
"Don't make excuses for him. It's still fucked," Regulus insisted. "We should tell mother and father though."
Salazar, Hermione didn't want to imagine telling them something like that. Orion and Walburga weren't exactly warm in their affections and she still somehow felt like it was her fault that she'd found herself in that situation. She didn't want them to be disappointed with her. "I'll trust your opinion on that," she said weakly, knowing that Regulus probably did know best about what sort of lines Bernie would have crossed.
"It can wait another day or two, but such offenses against our family cannot be allowed to stand," Regulus said, giving her a gentle squeeze on her hand. "Today we have to get through festivities with the rest of the family. So, make sure that you look impeccable or I'll have to avoid you the whole time," he teased, before standing up and leaving the room so she could get ready.
Hermione took her time in the bath and then got dressed in the pretty dress robes that Walburga had selected. They were a deep, forest green that didn't entirely suit her complexion, but they were flattering. She didn't feel like it, but she did use some of Mallory's tips and tricks to do her makeup, before starting on her hair. She didn't get far before Walburga was breezing into the room and working her magic on Hermione's hair, securing the perfect waves with a linen ribbon.
"You look perfect," Walburga said, staring indulgently at Hermione through the mirror. Obviously, she didn't know what Bernie had tried the night before yet.
The four Blacks met in the parlor so that they could Floo over to Arcturus's manor together. Regulus looked a bit too perfect, more like the photographs that she'd seen of him in the future, than the way that he looked on a day to day basis. Hermione didn't like it. It made her heart ache and for the first time in a long time she was overwhelmed with the melancholy of all she'd lost in the future.
Helplessly, she stepped through the Floo after Orion, keeping her head down. There were many more people at the Manor this time than the first time she'd been brought there. Now, it seemed that Black family relatives were coming out of the woodwork.
Arcturus was there to greet them and complimented her on her end of term marks, which had been delivered via owl early in the holiday break. Hermione didn't know that her marks were going to be fodder for gossip, spread around the family, but it wasn't as if she was ashamed of them. "Thank you, grandfather," she answered mechanically, wondering how she was going to make it through the whole day — pretending like she fit in with these people, her family, when she was so adrift.
A squeal caught her attention and before Hermione could process it, she was being pulled into a hug by a beautiful blonde witch. "So you are the cousin I've heard so much about," she gushed. "I was so jealous when I heard that Bella got to meet you last night!"
Hermione pulled back and looked her over. She was young, but she was obviously Narcissa Malfoy. "Narcissa?" she asked, hesitantly. "It's... nice to meet you."
It wasn't nice to meet her. Not exactly. Not when this witch was going to become the mother of one of Hermione's biggest bullies, even if she didn't know it. It was unsettling to see just how enthusiastically this version of Narcissa was embracing her.
"Yes, of course. I just am sorry that we haven't crossed paths sooner, with you being shut away at Hogwarts," Narcissa continued, acutely unaware of Hermione's awkwardness around her. "And I so planned on coming to Aunt and Uncle's party, but unfortunately, Lucius and I are really coming down to the last few months before our wedding and there is so much planning left to be done."
"It's no problem," Hermione said, weakly, looking to Regulus for assistance, only to find that he and Orion had sauntered off with Arcturus.
"And of course, you'll get to meet Lucius as well — my fiance. He was unable to attend today, you see," she kept rattling off. "He will be jealous that he didn't get to meet you, too. He was so intrigued when I told him I had another cousin."
"Well, we have all the time in the world," Hermione said, trying to be charitable. "I can imagine how busy your social calendars are right now and, as you said, I have school."
"Oh, look at you," Narcissa gushed, pressing her hands to Hermione's shoulders, looking at her like she was something truly precious. "Now that I see how beautiful you are, it seems that the answer to my dilemma is right here, standing in front of me."
"What?" Hermione asked, barely able to keep up with Narcissa's rapid-fire chatter.
"Well, our wedding parties were going to be so uneven, because of, well... you know, Andy," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And I was just going to have Bellatrix as a bridesmaid, but now that I'm seeing you, it seems like the most obvious thing in the world — you should be my other bridesmaid!"
"Oh!" Walburga said, suddenly, her hands pressed to her cheeks. "Oh, that is such a marvelous idea, Narcissa!"
Finally, her mother deigned to speak, but it was not helpful to Hermione in any way. She couldn't be one of Narcissa's bridesmaids, while she got married to Lucius Malfoy! She couldn't stand up with Bellatrix Lestrange! "Oh, thank you so much for asking, Narcissa," Hermione said sweetly. "It's just... I don't think I will be able to devote enough time to your wedding as a bridesmaid should. I am going to be at school until June, after all."
"Nonsense!" Narcissa said, completely ignoring her. "I don't expect you to do anything but show up in your dress. We can get your measurements before you return to Hogwarts and then we can do your alterations when you return. After all, my wedding isn't until August, seeing as Bella and Dolph will be getting married in July."
"It's settled then!" Walburga said, sounding absolutely thrilled. She quickly began asking Narcissa about her wedding colours and other wedding minutiae.
Hermione saw her opportunity to escape Narcissa's clutches and slipped away without them noticing. She felt like she was suffocating amongst her family and she wondered if this was the same way that Sirius felt. Like they were planning every aspect of her life with little care for what she actually wanted. She found a room off of the main drawing room, which she easily slipped inside.
Taking a deep breath in, Hermione felt like she could actually relax now that she was well and truly alone. She looked around at the reading room she'd found, immediately taken by the snowy scene she could see out of the window, with the sun already attempting to melt what blanketed the ground. She thought this might be a pleasant place to grow up, if it didn't come with the attached family.
"So, you are the one who finally convinced Regulus to abandon that folly about taking the Dark Mark," a voice croaked, from one of the wingback chairs by the fireplace.
"Oh!" Hermione jumped, pressing her hand to her chest. "Aunt Cassiopeia. You frightened me. I didn't know that anyone was in here."
"Eh, we all need moments of solace in this family," she said gruffly, arching an eyebrow. Cassiopeia was still a beautiful woman, even though her hair was heavily streaked with grey and she had a grumpy disposition. "So, how did you do it?"
"Do what?" Hermione asked.
"Convince Regulus not to take the Mark," Cassiopeia repeated. "Salazar knows that I've been telling Arcturus for months now that this Voldemort is no good, but Orion was at school with him for a time, when he was called Tom Riddle, and he seemed to think that it was a good idea."
"Oh," Hermione said again, before sitting down in the open chair.
"Is that all you say? I thought you were meant to be an intelligent witch, but all you do is answer me with more questions," Cassiopeia said, sharply.
Hermione smiled at her, not at all offended. "I am not so often surprised as when I am speaking with you," she explained. "Well, it's a bit unfair of me, but well, you know where it is that I've come from. I have... an unfair advantage as I know the events that unfolded from Regulus's choices."
"Yes, but he is young and dumb and foolhardy," Cassiopeia explained. "He thinks he knows best."
"He isn't as dumb as you think. It didn't take much from me for him to figure out that he was obviously not around in the future that I came from," Hermione said, pointedly. It felt wrong for her to just come out and say that Regulus was dead in her time.
But, Cassiopeia could certainly read between the lines. Her eyes widened in surprise. "An existential threat, I see," she said with a frown. "And, how fares the rest of the Black family in your time?"
Hermione dropped her gaze to her lap. "I don't know how much I should say," she answered, feeling helpless once again. "Time is a dangerous thing to mess with, even if I know now there is no going back."
Cassiopeia scoffed at her. "You have something extremely precious, Hermione, something that countless wizards and witches long for in cartomancy or divinations! You have insight into the future," she said. "A future that you obviously don't like that much."
"There are many... injustices that will happen in the coming years," Hermione agreed, thinking of Sirius, sitting in Azkaban for thirteen years. Even if she and him were at odds, it still wasn't right that an innocent man should be imprisoned for something that he didn't do.
"So make a future that you want to live in," the older witch said, slapping a hand against her leg, enthused.
"Even if it means putting the Black family at odds with Voldemort?" Hermione asked, pointedly.
Cassiopeia hummed, like she was thinking about it. "That is a tricky one. Our family is certainly aligned with the things that he wants," she said, after a beat. "But if your changes can make the Black family stronger — better? If you are convinced that tying our fate to that of the Dark Lord will mean destruction of our mighty house? Well, even Pollux wouldn't be able to argue with that!"
"You've given me a lot to think about, Aunt Cassiopeia," Hermione said, feeling lighter than she had all holiday. She had been wobbling, agonizing over the question of trying to make changes with her future knowledge. But, now that someone had given her permission, it felt like the most obvious thing for Hermione to do.