Adoption, Secrets and a French Veela
The next week flew by in a blur for Hermione as Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall worked behind the scenes with the ministry to arrange an initial meeting with her that both her parents were to attend.
The baubaxton and Drumstrang students had arrived on the third day of term and Dumbledore officially declared that the tournament selection goblet - the Goblet of Fire, was officially open for students to place their names.
What was even stranger for Hermione though wasn't just simply having to cope with her ever growing anxiety over the upcoming meeting with her parents or keeping up her pretense with her magical abilities to ensure she didn't seem to far ahead of her peers but she now had to contend with her ever growing attraction to a certain blonde.
The French Veela who Hermione had surmised as the leader of the rival school was unbelievably gorgeous. So much so that she was certain it should be illegal for anyone to look as good as Fleur Delacour did. What confused her greatly was the fact that despite the Veela thrall not having any effect on Hermione whatsoever, unlike her peers who all seemed to be unable to stop themselves turning purple and drooling at all of the French students, Fleur Delacours presence anywhere near her had the ability to render the young gryffindor speechless. What made it worse was Fleur seemed to have the very same problem around the gryffindor Princess.
All in all both girls were extremely awkward around each other and their friends were having a great time teasing the two about it any chance they got..
Like now for instance.
"Oh Hermione is that letter from your not so secret, secret admirer. Has she taken to letter writing in an attempt to overcome her inability to speak around you hmm?" Ginny teased while Harry, Ron, Neville and Luna giggled and snickered behind there hands.
Hermione sighed as she glanced up from the unopened letter that had been delivered (by an extremely pretty white owl) moments ago during breakfast.
"I'll know when I open it" was her only reply before going back to her letter. Opening it Hermione unfolded the letter within the envelope and began reading.
Dear my Hermione,
I thought I would take a chance and send you this letter in the hopes that I could introduce myself properly to you instead of appearing as the bumbling fool I have the past few days in your presence.
My name is Fleur Marie Delacour and I am 17. I am the heir of the Delacour clan and the next in line to leed our entire Veela clan in France.
I can promise you I am not usually so inept in conversation but seemingly your very presence is enough to render my vocal chords useless. I apologise for my verbal inelligence.
The reason I am writing to you personally is because as you may come to understand soon as you digest this letter you are an extremely important person to me.
You see ma petite we Veela have what we call soulmates. The one person you could say we are destined to be with. We know who this person is from the moment we meet. As soon as we catch sight if them they become our everything, our world revolves around them you could say. You for me are that one. My soulmate. Hence my complete lack of ability to form coherent sentences around you.
I know this might be rather strange and hard to digest but I feel it is important that I am completely honest with you from the beginning but I want to stress the fact that if you are uncomfortable with this knowledge then how we proceed or do not proceed from here is entirely your choice. Up until the moment we exchange mating bites you are entirely free to choose not to be with me.
However it is important for you to understand that if you choose to get to know me and to become my mate then their is no going back from that point, we will be unable to live without eachother unless there is more than just us in the mating. Which is a possibility although it is far rarer for there to be a soulmate bond that is made up of more than two individuals.
I know you are an intelligent witch, the brightest of our age my friends tell me. They say you are the brightest witch ever to have traversed the halls of this marvelous school. So I know you will take great care in considering what I have said. If you need any more information just ask one of the other Veela and they will happily provide it to you. I am sorry to say they already know who you are to me, my reaction to you has done nothing towards keeping our privacy I am afraid ma aime.
They have also told me that your professers predict that there is none among the students of hogwarts who could best you magically. If I am given the chance I look forward to testing that knowledge. You'll soon learn that we Veela are rather boisterous and passionate individuals and do not easily submit to others. It makes us quite the formidable opponent.
I will leave you with this knowledge mon ange and will not approach you again until you give me the go ahead. If I do not hear from you then I will respect that decision. I give you my word. However I will say I am holding onto hope that an eternity by my side does not sound unappealing to you as already you are all that I can think about.
I'll go for now, please think about what I have said.
Yours already
Fleur Delacour
☆☆☆☆☆
As she read Hermione couldn't help the smile that grew on her face. Merlin she thought, the most beautiful individual she had ever lay her eyes upon was destined to be with her, Hermione Granger for eternity? She didn't think she really needed to think much about her response. She would of course do her research on the topic but she knew already that her heart was set on Fleur. Still it didn't hurt to tread carefully if only not to appear too eager.
"Well?" Harry exclaimed "who's it from then?" He asked trying to reach over and snatch the letter from her hand. He wasn't quick enough and Hermione moved the letter out of his reach quickly as to avoid her entire friendship group reading the Veelas words.
"It doesn't matter Harry, you don't need to know yet, none of you do" she replied dodging a lunge from both Ginny and Neville as they too tried to grab at her letter.
Just before they could reach it the letter suddenly disappeared from her hand and flew across the room straight into Professor McGonagall's open palm.
"Thats so unfair!, old McGonagall has gone and stolen it away, now we won't know what it says" Exclaimed Ron in frustration.
Hermione laughed, sending a greatful smile up to her Professor/mentor/grandmother.
'Thank Merlin you are here' Hermione thought, opening her mind to Minerva and expressing her gratitude through their mind link.
'Not a problem mo ghràdh, you can retrieve it later' Minerva replied smiling at her granddaughter fondly as her eyes twinkled with amusement.
"Ronald I would really appreciate it if you stopped calling my grandmother old. You know fine well she isn't that much older than your mother" Hermione replied, lacing just enough ice into her tone to make it clear that she was not playing around.
Gulping slightly, Ron nodded his head quickly "You're right I'm sorry" he replied, hurriedly turning away from the brunette and shovelling food into his mouth.
"Now if you do not mind I will excuse myself, I have a few things to do before I get ready for this dreaded meeting this morning" Hermione said as she made to rise.
"Listen mione, its gonna be alright. Professor McGonagall will not let you be placed with strangers." Neville said as a way to provide comfort to his friend.
"Nevs right mione, she's probably going to fight to get guardianship for you, ya know" Harry said, both Ginny and Ron nodding along in agreement.
"The wrackspurts are nervous, they float around you as if they are too afraid to touch. The day is looking positively delightful" Luna supplied. Hermione frowned slightly before chuckling at her questionably sane friend. They had all learnt by now to go along with Luna's imaginary magical creatures and rants. She spoke in riddles but was one hell of a friend and her oddities only endeared Hermione to her more.
"Thanks guys" she replied, standing from the table. "I'll fill you all in at dinner" Glancing back briefly she turned and left the hall, making her way back to the gryffindor common room amd her shared dorm.
Once she had reached her dorm Hermione sat down at her desk and pulled forward her parchment, quill and her black ink pot.
Dearest Fleur,
I must say I was delighted to receive your letter this morning at breakfast. I'm glad we have found a way of communicating finally that is not a jumbled series of noises, blushes and weird choking sounds. I will apologise also for my verbal ineptitude. I can assure you I am usually quite verbally gifted.
I wanted to write in acknowledgement of your letter. I would feel entirely rude if I left it unanswered. Now before you think too much this is not a rejection in the slightest. Nor is it a green light. You see I have a rather difficult few days ahead of me involving my parents and the ministry. I will not bore you with the goings on at this point but I am sure if all works out I will tell you eventually. I'm currently writing this in the brief lapse in time between breakfast and a very important meeting so I do hope you will forgive me for my non answer, answer.
I ask you to give me some time not only to digest the magnitude of our situation and the implications it has on my life but also to deal with the current happenstance of my personal life. Rest assured I will get back to you.
I can tell you though that your friends are entirely right about me, I am the brightest witch of our age. Professor McGonagall suspects I'm the brightest witch alive but I suppose only time will tell if she is right or not.
I must warn you though, Professor McGonagall is my bond Grandmother. If you are uncertain if what that is take a trip to the library, first row from the back middle shelf there is a book called "Wizards and their bonds" it is quite an informative read. One I have only recently read myself. But useful none the less. If ever you need to contact me urgently it should be she you seek. In advance though she is entirely protective and quite possessive of me. So please be careful if you are discussing me in and around the castle. I can only imagine the interrogation you would be subjected to should she catch word of our bond.
I hope you are enjoying your time here at Hogwarts. I will be in touch soon.
Possibly yours
Hermione.
☆☆☆
After she had written her response to the pretty French witch she made her way to the owlery quickly sending out Harry's owl Hedwig with the letter, instructing the owl to deliver the letter to Fleur immediately. Hedwig hooted softly before flying off to look for the Veela.
Casting a quick tempus charm Hermione realised she had minutes to reach the headmasters office where the meeting would take place. Knowing this Hermione set out at a jog.
~~~~~~
Hermione was slowly losing her patience as she sat infront of Amelia Bones the Head of Magical Law enforcement for the ministry of magic, her mother Jean and her Father Thomas. Also present were both Albus and Minerva along with Kingsley Shaklebolt head Auror.
She had spent the past twenty minutes listening to her parents rant and rave about how the ministry and the school had no right interfering in familial matters and it was entirely up to them how they saw fit to treat their child. She could feel her anger building.
"Enough Mother, Father please" she called failing to get her parents to stop their ranting instead her plea caused both her parents to turn their ire onto her.
"And you that is another thing. Ever since you have attended this godforsaken school you have done nothing but change. Ratting out your parents to some old man and his merry band of witless goons!! I do not know what you hoped to achieve" her father shouted.
"Honestly Hermione, this is utter treachery, we raised you better than this. I didnt for a second suspect you a fool. What did you hope to achieve? Did you honestly hope this little stunt would cause us to think differently of you. Well you ungrateful little girl you thought wrong" her mother continued.
"Ungrateful?" Hermione scoffed. "Ungrateful for what mother, for being used as grandma's punching bag? For having my own parents watch as I was beaten unconscious on multiple occasions? To have my mother and father act as if I am below them? That I am meaningless? What do I have to be grateful for can you tell me when you and grandmother have left me with more bruises than I can count and a sense of complete and utter worthlessness" Hermione sobbed, bracing herself against her chair.
"You should simply be grateful that we gave you a home. We could have picked any child you know. Instead of the perfect little girl we hoped for we got stuck with you, a stupid little traitor" her mother retorted angrily before realisation dawned on her face and she slammed her hand over her mouth.
"Wait, what?" Hermione gaped. "What do you mean by picked mother" she asked. Her heart breaking as her mother and father shared guilty glances between them before her father turned towards her.
"You were never meant to find out like this" he told her. "Hermione your mother and I knew when we married that we would never be able to have children of our own. I have a very rare birth defect rendering me infertile. We wanted a child so badly we decided to adopt. We got you from an orphanage in down town London"
"So you mean to say that you both are not her biological parents?" Amelia asked, stepping forward and placing her hand on Hermione's shoulder in an attempt to comfort the now visibly shocked young girl.
"Yes that is exactly what we mean. She was a week old when we took her home. All she had was the clothes on her back and this envelope, we've tried countless times to open it but simply cannot" her mother answered reaching into her bag and pulling out a large white envelope, she passed it to Amelia who examined it closely for a moment before passing it to the shaking girl.
"Its addressed to you Hermione and it looks like whoever sealed it was magical I doubt anyone but you will be able to open that" she said gently.
"A blood ward?" Shaklebolt asked curiously.
Amelia nodded. "It would seem so."
"We will let you open that in your own time young one but id heavily suggest you open it in the presence of one of your teachers just incase alright? Now back to the matter at hand I have heard sufficient evidence to take this matter to trial. Kingsley I will need you to arrest both Mr and Mrs Granger here and collect the grandmother. The three will be held in Azkaban until a trial can be arranged." She commanded.
Shaklebolt nodded quickly, flicking his wand in the direction of Hermione's 'parents' leaving them motionless as they were bound in place with a well aimed incarcerous.
"We at the ministry do not take kindly to child abuse whether or not the abusers are magical or muggle" Amelia said, aiming her comment at the bound muggles in Albus Dumbledore's office.
Shaklebolt strode forward glancing at Hermione quickly. "I'll wish you luck Ms Granger, do not let the actions of others dictate your worth, you are an incredible young witch" he said gently before herding the muggle couple into the floo and disappearing.
"Now all that remains to discuss is the guardianship of Ms Granger" Amelia said.
"If you don't mind my interruption Ms Bones, I'd like to take guardianship over Hermione" Minerva asked politely, smiling at Hermione effectionately.
"Do tell me why you would do such a thing Minerva?" Amelia queried.
"We, Hermione and I, share a maternal wizarding bond Amelia so I find it extremely difficult to even contemplate letting any others be responsible for her care. She means an incredible amount to me and my only wish is to keep her safe from harm" Minerva explained softly. Pulling Hermione's hand into her own.
"I see, can you prove this bond Minerva?"
"I can indeed, write something down on a piece of parchment and hand it to Ms Granger, she will telepathically tell me what it says and I will then be able to tell you which should be proof enough of our bond. Afterall mind link only works between bonded magicals." Minerva challenged.
In luie of a response Amelia simply summonsed a piece of parchment and a quill and wrote a few words before handing it to Hermione.
'It says tricky little pixies, play together trickily' Hermione told Minerva through their mind link.
Minerva chuckled slightly. "I see" she said aloud. "Tricky little pixies, play together trickily Merlin that is a little bit of a mouthful" she smiled. Winking at Hermione as the other two individuals in the room laughed gently.
"Very Well Minerva I will have the papers drawn up and sent to you to sign when I get back to the office. I do hope you will be very happy with Minerva young one, she is an extraordinary individual who can teach you a lot" Amelia said warmly, smiling at the young witch who was beaming at her professor.
"I doubt it'll take long before I have nothing left to teach this one Amelia, she truly is the brightest witch I have ever taught" Minerva beamed proudly pulling Hermione into her arms for a hug.
"I don't find that hard to believe in all honesty. My Susan is forever singing your praises Hermione, you genuinely are the smartest yet kindest little witch I've had the pleasure of meeting. I wish you all the best" Amelia agreed before departing the office to the ministry through the floo.
---
"I'm not going to even pretend that I'm not terified" Hermione whispered as she glanced at the envelope infront of her.
"I know Hermione but you will never know what is inside until you open it, I will be right here with you" Minerva replied patting Hermione's shoulder.
"Okay" Hermione whispered. "I know you're right. Its just up until an hour ago I didnt even know I was adopted. I believed I was a muggle-born and now I could possibly find out who my biological parents are not to mention the distinct possibility that I am connected to the magical world far more than originally believed"
"I understand your anxiety fear beag but no matter what I've got you I promise" the older witch reassured and was glad when her reassurance seemed to be enough to get the young girl to begin opening the envelope.
The first thing Hermione pulled out was a beautiful green and gold velvet blanket with Hermione's first name embroidered on a corner. Hermione held it gently. Marvelling at the soft feeling of the blanket. She smiled softly before handing it to her grandmother.
"Whoever gave me up obviously cared a great deal" she whispered, wiping the sole tear that ran down her cheek from her face.
She moved on and pulled out a piece of off white parchment before she began to read.
"Grandmama" she whispered. "It says here that I must get whoever I am with to take the wizarding oath before going any further. It says for my own protection the information contained in this letter must not be passed on to any other by any means or it could get me killed." Minerva patted Hermione's hand gently sensing her fear before replying.
"Of course, anything for you" she said before sitting herself up straight.
"I Minerva McGonagall, swear upon my magic and my life that the information I am about to learn shall not be passed by me to any individual by any means as pertaining to the wishes of the letter writer. So I say, so mote it be" she said confidently. Both witches witnessing the gold glow that surrounded Minerva once she had finished her vow, sealing her promise.
With that done Hermione began to read out loud.
'My dearest daughter Hermione,
Before I go any further in explaining what has led to us separating I must get you to ask whoever is with you whom may learn the details of this letter to take the wizarding oath. I do not ask this of them lightly but I fear your life may be forfeit if this information comes into the wrong hands my dear child. Hence I must ask they do not share any of the details of this letter with anyone by any means. I cannot risk your life sweetheart.
If you are reading now I will assume that you have done as I ask and have convinced whomever is with you to undertake the oath. I hope for your sake Hermione that they have.
Now first of I want to make it clear that your father and I did not give you away because you were unwanted or unloved. Far from it. We love you more than life which is why as soon as you are born we must part with you. We will be taking you to a muggle orphanage in the hopes that you find a loving home far from the conflicts that surround us here in wizarding Britain. We must keep you hidden until the time comes that you are strong enough to protect yourself from the evils that lurk in our world.
I fear revealing mine and your fathers name to you as you probably think we are terrible people but I urge you not to believe the stories you have heard about us. The ones about me in particular. Let me explain to you the truth before you judge me and your father for our actions.
I was born Bellatrix Black, your Father Rudulphus Lestrange. I will admit that I am all to aware of my current reputation in our world but I can promise you Hermione everything is not what it seems to be.
You see my child, I was born into a very unforgiving and highly abusive home. My childhood was filled with horrors and pain I would not wish on anyone. My father Cygnius Black, your grandfather was a cruel vindictive man who abused my mother terribly when I was born. He never wanted a daughter you see. He wanted a son. Someone who would pass on the Black name. When my mother then went on to have my sister Andromeda after me, his fury at her increased. It wasn't long before he turned his anger towards myself and Dromeda. When Narcissa was born he was insenced. Mother had suffered during her pregnancy with your youngest auntie and due to complications was rendered sterile. This meant growing up our father lashed out at us. Blaming us and my mother for failing to provide him with a male hier. By the time I had reached my first year of Hogwarts I was terrified for the safety of my younger sisters. I turned to the only place I could think of to protect them - the dark arts. I found a spell that I placed on them when I returned for the summer that would make my father ill should he try and harm them. It worked as he couldn't lift a finger against them. However I had no such luck. I endured his rath every holiday and school break and by the time I had left school the dark Lord had begun to grow in power. My father believed his teachings and was all too keen to offer up his eldest daughter in service to him. By the time I was 18 I was in training with the dark Lord as my mentor. Now please do not believe that I would have followed him willingly. I find his teaching disgusting. When Narcissa graduated I attended her ceremony and it was there that I was offered a way forward. A way to help fight for the light and bring down the dark Lord. I had just met your Father and we were so very drawn to each other. He was quite a handsome man I should tell you. Albus Dumbledore approached us just as we were about to leave and asked us to assist him. He wanted us to become spies for him. To work in the dark lords inner circle and help bring him down from the inside.
When Dumbledore explained how I could use this as a means of protecting my sisters I jumped at the chance. You see, Andromeda had left home to marry a muggle-born witch named Ted Tonks and my father was furious. He called for her death and disowned her when he could not find her. Narcissa was still at home but smitten with Lucius Malfoy. So to protect them both I agreed to Albus' plan and joined the dark Lord. Albus had taught me how to fake a torture and even how to fake a kill. So that is what I did. I made a name for myself within the dark Lords ranks and quickly rose up to become one of his most trusted. He didn't know my actions were fake and Albus had arranged for all my 'kills' to go into hiding until a time where we could safely bring them home again.
Unfortunately even as I write this, days away from your due date we still have not been able to defeat the dark Lord. I fear that even if we bring him down once he will rise again in the future. No one apart from your Father and your aunts know I am pregnant. I have been using a concealment charm to hide you from everyone and I promise you there is a reason for this.
I would have preferred to tell you this myself but all I can tell you right now is that we hid you away in the muggle world because of a prophecy that has come to our attention about you and two other witches. I have the prophecy hidden so no one can find it but I must ask you to have patience with me. All will be revealed in time.
If you are reading this it means you are now of an age where you can make sense of the world around you, I urge you dear girl do not fall for the dark. It will consume you. Hold on to those you love because you will need them in the years to come. I dont know where I will be when you read this. Quite possibly I will be imprisoned or possibly dead. I hope for both oursakes it is the former not the later because my child I cannot fathom a world in which I never get to meet you. You mean more to your family than you will ever imagine.
I know you will be a bright little thing, intelligent and powerful but even the best sometimes need taken care of so I urge you my baby if you can please seek out Minerva McGonagall and show her this letter. There is not a soul in this world apart from your aunts and father I would trust more with guiding you in what is to come. If you are curious like I imagine you to be please read up on wizarding bonds. I share a maternal one with Minerva. She is the mother I wish I had and I love her dearly. Keep her safe for me my girl but do have fun in giving her a few near heart attacks every once in a while for me will you?
Now before I go I must ask one last thing of you, well three really. Please whatever you do, if the dark Lord is still hovering around do not reveal your true identity to the rest of the world. Keep it between those that you trust with your life and even then ask them to take the wizarding oath. You cannot be to careful. Secondly do not contact Narcissa. Her husband cannot be trusted and I fear that your aunt Cissa will surely fall apart with the knowledge of what is to come. She is safer in the dark. Third and lastly seek out Andromeda. She has the answers to the questions this letter will have sparked in your mind. She knows everything and I trust her. She will protect and guide you. There is no love that will ever compare to the love of your family child and I can promise you your aunt Dromeda loves you fiercely already. She is the one who made you the blanket. Always remember that you are a Black by name and most likely by nature. Trust those that love you as fiercely as your aunt loves you.
I must go for now but please know that I love you with all of my heart my dear sweet baby girl. Everything that I have done and will do is to protect you and give you a future that is filled with equality and love, not fear. I want a better world for you.
Until we meet again little one
All my love
You're mother
Bellatrix Black - Lestrange
---
As the letter came to an end both witches were left speechless openly gaping as they digested the information revealed to them.
'Well shit' Hermione thought as tears ran down her face freely. 'Things just suddenly got a whole new level of crazy'.