A/N: Thank you all so much for your comments, kudos and bookmarks! Huge thank you to lanamarymack for alpha/beta reading this chapter! If you'd like, you can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter fifty-six and be on the lookout for chapter fifty-seven soon!
It had taken a little bit of arguing on her part, but she finally got Regulus to agree not to send Rabastan on his way so quickly. With his large hand tucked in her own, she was going to bring her betrothed with her to Orion's office, because if her family was going to talk about what had happened, she wanted Rabastan with her. He was an important part of her life and he needed to be part of the discussions, too. It hurt her a lot to hear him say that she didn't trust him.
Even worse than that, was realizing that in truth she hadn't trusted him fully. Not really.
But, that was going to change from now on. Hermione wouldn't keep him in the dark again, especially not when she knew that they needed all the help that they could get.
Sirius and Orion were waiting in her father's office when Regulus brought her and Rabastan with him. Sirius was flustered and upset to see that she had company, but her father's eyes were narrowed on the way that she held Rabastan's hand in her own.
"Hermione," he said, tightly. "I didn't realize that you had a guest."
"Yeah, what the fuck is he doing here?" Sirius demanded, chest puffing up in distaste.
To her surprise, Rabstan answered for her. "I received two invitations to celebrate Hermione's birthday with her," he said, not bowing down for a second. "When I received the second, I could not decline again."
"Well, you can leave now," Sirius said, waving him away. "We have family business to discuss."
"Sirius!" Hermione admonished her brother. "Don't talk about him that way. Rabastan is my betrothed and he will stay."
Sirius let his head drop back and groaned. "Not this again. I thought we agreed to explore ways to dissolve your betrothal," he said, confused at the turn of events.
"No, we had not agreed," Hermione answered imperiously, staring him down. "Besides, I thought you were on my side. You were the one who brought him to me in the first place."
"I'd hoped that seeing him now would make you realize that you aren't suited anymore," Sirius revealed hotly. "He's so much older than you. Please, be reasonable, Hermione."
Hermione could feel Rabastan toying with the Lestrange ring that she still wore on her ring finger and could tell that he was nervous. That Sirius's words were actually getting to him. "Well, I don't see it that way. In fact, I find Rabastan only to have improved since we parted after Hogwarts," she answered, leaning her body into Rabastan's, willing him to understand what she was saying.
"Darling, perhaps it would be better for Rabastan to return to his home," Orion said softly. "We have important matters to talk about after tonight's...excitement."
She shook her head. "No, Rabastan is going to be my family, so if there is any family business to discuss, then we can do it with him here," she argued. "Unless you will also drop me from the family once I become a Lestrange and am no longer a Black."
It was Regulus's turn to look affronted. "How could you even ask that?" he demanded. "You are part of this family now — forever."
Hermione was pleased, a little smile on her face when she looked at her big brother. Rabastan gave her hand a tentative squeeze, perhaps realizing just how much it meant to her.
"Rabastan can stay," Orion agreed after a moment, before waving his wand to decant more firewhiskey into five glasses, so they would each have some liquid fortification. He sat down heavily at his desk, the worries of the growing conflict revealed for once.
Rabastan guided Hermione to one of the open chairs on the other side of the desk, encouraging her to sit. He remained standing, with his hand pressed to her shoulder in silent support. "You said that you had some excitement today?" he asked, tentatively broaching the topic.
"Yes, Cygnus found us at dinner," Orion explained.
"Threatened us is more like it," Sirius added. Obviously Cygnus's actions had bothered him much more than any of the others. He'd wanted to do more to their former family member, but his impulsivity was kept in check by Orion's presence. She wondered what he'd have done if he was the Head of House. "He grabbed her and called her a squib for anyone to hear it and even drew his wand against her."
She could feel Rabastan's noise of displeasure, the muscles in his jaw tight as he fought off his initial response. "Were you hurt?" he asked her, looking at her with fire burning in his eyes.
"No," she promised. She'd been caught off-guard, but she felt that she could handle Cygnus on her own. "He barely tugged on my hair. He was nothing more than an annoying little wasp." Just because they were older than her now, she didn't want Rabastan and Regulus to think that they had to go around protecting her all the time. She could protect herself. She wasn't some helpless flower.
Her father sighed. "It doesn't really matter now that others know Hermione has returned. I had hoped to keep it more secretive from the broader public until we had a better handle on things. I don't know how Cygnus found out. I took great pains to keep our business at Gringotts and the Ministry quiet," he said, sounding tired.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, eyes narrowed at her father.
"He means that people should know better than to gossip about matters involving family members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight," Regulus explained, flippantly.
"And if they can't be trusted, a couple of galleons don't hurt either," Sirius drawled, lazily.
Hermione was shocked. "I can't believe you bribed people!" she said, wondering what else they had done on her behalf.
"If you think that's the worst thing I've done, you are in for a rude awakening," Orion said with a snort, leaning back in his chair. "Now, it will be difficult to determine who betrayed me. Maybe the goblins? They've always been fickle."
She chewed on her lower lip, remembering that she hadn't wanted to worry them about seeing Rosier. "I — I think I know who it was," she said, softly. "I didn't tell you before, but while we were at the Ministry, I saw Bernard. He saw me too and he definitely knew it was me."
"What did he do to you?" Rabastan demanded, turning to look at her, almost checking her over for any sign of injury.
"Nothing," Hermione reassured him. "He didn't even approach me, just stared at me across the way and well... he would certainly not have any reason to keep a secret for us."
"Rosier is a Death Eater," Regulus said, frowning.
"As if that was any surprise," Hermione quipped, rolling her eyes. He'd been so fanatical about it while they were at Hogwarts, but she supposed she was a little bit surprised that Voldemort would actually have a use for him. He seemed spectacularly useless to her.
"If he's realized that it's you, there is a chance that the Dark Lord knows as well," Regulus continued softly.
She could feel her heart hammering away in her chest, with worries. Only, it wasn't as if he didn't know about Hermione Granger, before, right? "We've crossed paths before," she said, darkly.
"Yes, but if they realize that you are a time traveler, there is a chance that they realize you've had effects on various events," Sirius explained. "He might think that you hold some secret knowledge to ensure his victory. It's... it's dangerous."
"I'm confident Bellatrix knew who I was when she sent me back," Hermione said, drawing her eyebrows together. "Why wouldn't she reveal my secret?"
Rabastan hummed low in his throat. "She recognized that you were the catalyst to get her out of a betrothal that she didn't actually want. Maybe she didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that," he mused.
"She got out of her betrothal all on her own, thank you very much," Hermione said, remembering how Bellatrix had disgraced the family by falling into bed with the Dark Lord.
"And now, he's scorned her, left her in Azkaban to rot for years," Regulus continued. "She might be a devoted fanatic, but perhaps she found reasons to keep certain information close to her chest, if it would benefit her."
"And perhaps she did not intend on ever coming back," Sirius said, with a frown on his face. "After all, it's not as if she would have known... what I did." He looked at her with a stricken sort of look, remembering all the hurt he'd put everyone in that room through.
Hermione felt Rabastan's hand tighten on her shoulder again and she wondered just what relationship there was between him and her elder brother. "Ultimately, it doesn't really matter what Voldemort knows or doesn't know about me," Hermione said, boldly. "I — and our family — will never find peace if he is still out there, trying to seize power!"
"What would you have us do, Hermione?" Regulus demanded, running his hands through his hair. "He grows stronger every day. We've been thwarting him from behind the scenes for years now, but there is a limit of what we can do without putting ourselves in harm's way."
She took a deep breath. That was the difference between Gryffindors and Slytherins, wasn't it? "You have been excellent stewards at the Ministry, from what I've seen," she said, soothingly. "I am sure that it would have fallen into his hands already if it weren't for your work in the Wizengamot. But we cannot remain neutral any longer."
Hermione could see the way that the others bristled. Even Rabastan sighed heavily, knowing what she was asking them. He drank the rest of his firewhiskey in one go.
"To align ourselves openly against him is... dangerous," Regulus said, with a frown.
"Sure, but do you really think that he is going to care if we were neutral?" she demanded, feeling frustrated that they couldn't see the bigger picture. "We might be spared at the beginning, but there is no one he won't step on to get what he wants. Just look at what he did to Rodolphus and Bellatrix — some of his most loyal supporters. What do you think he will do to us?"
"Do you really think he will be successful?" Rabastan asked, falling into a chair of his own so that he could look at her.
She turned to look at her father. "I am going to tell him everything," she said, knowing that she had to let him know about the horcruxes.
"I'll take a blood oath, if you'd like," Rabastan suggested, holding up his hand. "Anything you need to show that I'd never betray you," he added, looking in her eyes significantly.
Hermione gave him a shy smile. "There's no need. I trust you," she answered, pleased at the delight in his blue-green eyes. "At the moment he is pretty invincible. We believe that he's made horcruxes — plural. That's how he came back to life in the first place."
Silence filled the room as the facts of the situation began to sink in.
"You know Dumbledore," Rabastan said, looking at her with some interest. "And Potter. You can't possibly think that they will welcome our assistance."
A grim look came over her face. "I will just have to make them understand," she said, after a moment. "I do know Harry and Dumbledore and... well, I am concerned that they have no idea about the horcruxes. Harry told me everything and Dumbledore never shared any reason why Voldemort might have come back. Harry doesn't know and he won't know that Voldemort can't really be defeated until the horcruxes are gone, too."
"So you will tell Dumbledore what we suspect," Regulus said, after a brief moment. "And then what?"
"Well, we will just have to help them however we can," she said, stubbornly. "There is going to come a point when Harry or Voldemort kills one another. That's what the prophecy at the Ministry said. And, I am going to be behind Harry when he does that, supporting him however I can. I'd like to have my family behind me, too."
"You know that I am with you, Hermione," Sirius said, the first to agree to help her. "But, you have to remember, the Order dropped me so quickly when I returned to my family. Even when Pettigrew's treachery was revealed, they still wouldn't have me. I think that you need to accept that they might not embrace you with open arms."
She sighed, remembering how mistrustful Dumbledore had been of her in the past, too. "Harry will understand," she said, though she no longer felt as confident as she had before. Would Harry have any reason to believe her, when she wasn't the Hermione Granger that he remembered?
"I'm with you, too," Regulus said, after a beat. "He's been a pall over our world for too long. It's time we got rid of him for good — roots and all."
Orion stared at her, his grey eyes mercurial as ever. "You were right about our family in the past," he said after a beat. "I won't let it falter any further. The Black family does not bow to anyone, especially not the Dark Lord."
Hermione gave him a soft smile, pleased that she had Orion's support as well.
"But, Hermione, we cannot be openly defiant as you wish," he continued after a beat. "You might know the right path to choose, but we have been living in this society much longer than you have. Let me be the guide. To go out with wands drawn would mean almost certain death. Our family was extinct once before. I won't let it happen again."
It was hard to hear, but Hermione trusted him. Orion and Walburga had taken her in by Arcturus's order and since then they had taken her under her wing, protecting her and caring for her, despite all the baggage that she brought with her.
"And you, Rab?" Regulus asked, looking at her betrothed.
Rabastan looked her in the eyes, a bit dazed with everything that he'd learned that night. "You know my father is no friend to the Dark Lord," he said after half a beat. "And while he might not battle against him, I would never leave you undefended, Hermione."
She felt her heart skip a beat at the unexpected reverence. She knew how important his family was to him, but here he was choosing her. Now, she just needed to make it all worth it by ensuring that Voldemort would be gone for good. Then, they could have their happily ever after.