Chapter 6
The last few weeks until Christmas just flew by.
The Occlumency lessons became increasingly more challenging. Snape didn’t take it easy on her anymore, he tried to truly force his way into her mind and she had a hard time keeping him out. Her main problem was that she tended to start getting frantic when she felt like he was getting the upper hand. But with practice, she got better and better.
Draco was busy with practise of his own – Quidditch. He was determined to beat Potter in the first game against Gryffindor, so the rumours that his father bought his way into the team would stop once and for all.
Lucius and Narcissa came to watch the game, so did all of the parents of the others, whom Hermione had already met last summer and her and her friends sat with them in the stands. Hermione caught Dumbledore’s eyes on them now and again when Draco flew by where the teachers sat. She made a point of avoiding to look over to the headmaster without Draco as an alibi, but she couldn’t help but wonder very briefly, and when her eyes were in danger of meeting Dumbledore’s she pushed the thought aside immediately, whether this was their intention. Lord Riddle’s most prominent followers, his most trusted, all still sitting together, right under Dumbledore’s nose. Maybe it was a reminder that they were still watching him or maybe a warning to leave their children alone after he had approached Hermione directly – she had felt like Lucius had navigated her discreetly to sit between him and Narcissa before the game instead of with the other children. Maybe this was part of the message. Maybe she was overthinking and this was just Draco’s parents and their friends, who had seen him grow up, coming to his first game to cheer him on.
Whatever it was, for the spectators, the game was disappointingly short, as Draco caught the Snitch after not even an hour and Slytherin won 180:20.
That evening, Snape did not make her come to ‘detention’ so she could participate in the celebrations in the common room.
In return, however, the next lesson was twice as long and her head felt like a herd of Graphorns had stomped all over her brain.
When Christmas finally came, Snape received a Patronus from Narcissa, asking him to send Draco and Hermione to Malfoy Manor via floo instead of making them take the train.
Snape went along and when they arrived and Hermione looked up at Lucius to greet him while Draco hugged his mother, he locked eyes with her and she immediately felt a strong presence in her mind, trying to force its way in, to get to the information he had shared with her that summer.
She kept them well hidden, in the furthest shelf of her library, showing him one memory after the other, information about the war she had read about, the lies everyone believed in.
Lucius was as strong a Legilimens as Snape, maybe stronger, but she managed to keep the information hidden, no matter how hard he pushed.
Then, after quite some time, he finally retreated.
She felt a bit shaky, but he smiled at her when she looked up again. “Very impressive. And welcome home.”
Narcissa regarded her husband with a disapproving look and hugged Hermione briefly. “It’s good to see you.”
“Why did you want us to floo?” Draco asked.
“Because your father would not have set foot into his study all day otherwise.”
Lucius raised one eyebrow at her. “I didn’t see you take it somewhere else.”
Narcissa looked truly appalled. “I’m not touching that thing. Also, it’s not my study.”
“Whatever it is, I think I should have stayed at Hogwarts,” Snape drawled.
“And I should have joined you there.” Narcissa said. “He must have lost his mind.”
Hermione looked at Lucius questioningly, but he shook his head. “She’s not talking about me.”
“But it was funny how you backed out of your study, not taking your eyes off the desk, until you slammed the door. At least until you told the about the reason; it wasn’t quite so funny anymore then.”
Lucius uncharacteristically ignored his wife and looked at Hermione instead. “This morning, a Christmas gift arrived for you and it shouldn’t wait until Christmas morning.”
“Alright,” Hermione said, a little nervously. Lucius had fought in a war and she had never seen him letting anyone have the upper hand. He certainly wasn’t the kind of person to be scared easily. Neither was Narcissa for that matter. “I assume it’s in your study then.”
“I certainly hope so, otherwise we’re going to burn the Manor down with Fiendfyre,” Narcissa said with a perfectly pleasant smile.
“Can we move the library first?” Draco asked in a sarcastic tone of voice.
“No.”
Hermione knew Narcissa was joking, but the thought of the library and all its treasures going up in Fiendfyre wasn’t pleasant.
Lucius led them all to his study, opened the door and gestured for her to enter. “Talk first, touch later. Keep your distance until you’re sure it’s a good idea to get closer.” With a hand on his shoulder, he held Draco back from following her.
On the desk stood a box that had been opened and hastily closed again. The lid was slightly ajar.
She heard movement inside. Something alive.
Carefully she reached out to open the lid and when she looked inside, from as much a distance as she could and ready to jump back, she saw the most beautiful animal … no, Magical Creature … she had ever seen, whether in books or real life.
It was a snake-like creature, not exceptionally large. Its exact size was hard to tell, as it was coiled up in the box, but she guessed not more than a metre. It had shiny blue scales in different shades of blue and when the sunlight from the window fell on them, they shimmered like diamonds. Its eyes were red and so was its belly, as she now saw as it lifted its viper-like head to get a better look. It didn’t look threatening or defensive, as the adder at Hogwarts had, just curious.
“Hi,” she whispered and instinctively knew that she had spoken in Parsel.
“Hello,” the snake answered and she could tell it was a male. “Are you Hermione?”
“Yes. How do you know my name?” She automatically reached out as he lifted his relatively thin body out of the box and he slithered onto her arm, gently wrapping himself around it and lifting his head close to her face. His flickering tongue tickled her nose and she giggled.
“They’re both mad,” she heard Snape’s dry voice behind her. “I take everything back; they’re definitely related and both completely nuts.”
She wanted to ask what he meant, but the snake spoke first. “I was told to stay with you. To protect you, always.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know his name. He found me and asked me whether I wanted to belong to a girl who can speak to me.”
She turned around. They all still stood by the door. Draco’s eyes were huge.
“Don’t worry, he’s friendly,” she said with a grin. Why were they all overreacting like that?
“And if he decides not to be friendly any longer, your body will rot from the inside out within ten minutes or less. No antidote.”
She looked at Professor Snape for a moment, then at the snake, whose head was still close to her face. She couldn’t bring herself to be afraid of him.
“He said he was told to stay with me and to protect me but he doesn’t know what the name of the man was who told him that. Who is he talking about? Do you know another Parselmouth?”
Lucius gestured to his desk. “There’s a letter for you next to the box. I haven’t read it, of course. Other than Dumbledore, I don’t read other people’s post. But I assume, it will explain a little. I shall tell you the rest then.”
She couldn’t help teasing him a little. “Alright. But to be fair, it doesn’t look like you would have gone back for the letter, even if you had wanted to.”
Narcissa laughed lightly and Draco grinned. Even Snape’s lips turned up, just a bit.
Lucius just lifted an eyebrow at her. “Do you want to know who wrote the letter or not?”
“Of course!” She turned back around to the desk and took the envelope she hadn’t noticed before. The snake’s tail was still wrapped around her upper arm, the rest of him lay around her shoulders now.
She broke the neutral seal, no family crest, and took out the parchment inside. The handwriting was flawlessly elegant.
Dear Hermione,
I hope you don’t take offence by me addressing you with your given name. I’ve heard much about you and there is, after all, a strong possibility of us being related, however distantly.
The snake I sent you is of a rare and relatively unknown species that is native in Japan and I hope he will be as trusted a companion to you as Nagini has been to me for a long time.
Nagini … She had heard the name before. But where?
Her eyes widened as she remembered Dumbledore’s words as he had spoken to her in his office when he had thought her to be under the influence of Veritaserum. “Do you know what I always found particularly fascinating about Lord Voldemort? … His ability to talk to snakes. He had a large snake familiar. Nagini, I think.” But that wasn’t possible! He was dead!
Hermione continued to read.
The Japanese call this creature Shinohebi, which means death snake. No, I did not choose him because of the name of his species, it’s merely an amusing coincidence. Shinohebi are exceptionally intelligent and have a very long lifespan of up to 500 years. They spend a lot of time in caves and burrows, so he will be perfectly comfortable being carried around in your expanded bag much of the time (congratulations on that, by the way, that’s very advanced magic for one so young). Also, I’m sure you agree that he looks rather striking.
The name is due to the creature’s venom. They are said to be the deadliest creatures on earth, magical and non-magical. However, there is no reason for you to fear him. He will never attack anyone unless upon your order or to protect you. As I mentioned, Shinohebi are very intelligent and he will easily be able to determine whether a situation is truly dangerous and if his interference is required. Your friends and anyone around you, who does not attempt to do you serious harm, have nothing to fear.
Do tell Lucius to teach you the Personalisation Charm. It makes sending letters safe; if an unauthorised person attempts to open it, it bursts into flames. When you have mastered it, I hope to hear from you. Please do not write to me when you are at Hogwarts, unless it’s absolutely necessary and no one else is available to you. Dumbledore will find it suspicious, if he finds out you are sending letters which burst into flames when he tries to read them.
I’m also looking forward to hearing about the results of the Ancestry Retrace Lucius wants you to undergo and to see how far your relations to Salazar Slytherin go back. Severus claims to believe you may be a descendant of Herpo the Foul instead. Don’t listen to him, his sense of humour is questionable and yes, you may tell him I said so.
Take care of yourself, Hermione, and enjoy your holidays. I hope to meet you in person one day.
Sincerely
Tom Marvolo Riddle
“He’s alive,” she whispered, slowly turning around to Lucius, Narcissa, Severus and Draco.
It was Lucius who nodded. “He is. I’m sure you understand that we could not tell you that earlier.”
“Of course I do. If Dumbledore knew, he’d have an excuse to start another war.”
“Exactly.”
She thought for a moment, her finger absentmindedly stroking over the smooth scales of her new companion. “Is that why he went into hiding? Everyone thought him dead after whatever happened with the Potters and so he left them in that belief, so that the war would end.”
Lucius smiled appreciatively and turned his head to Snape. “It must be boring to teach her.”
“Potter, Weasley and most of all Longbottom more than make up for it.”
She couldn’t help but smile proudly at the praise. Lucius turned back to her. “He’s not exactly in hiding, though. Dumbledore, in a twisted sense, did him a favour by making everyone believe he looks like the monster-like creature you saw in the books. Except for Dumbledore and very few others, no one would recognise him even here in Britain. To be safe, he avoids Europe altogether for the time being, but moves freely in the other countries he travels.”
“We visit him sometimes,” Draco chimed in. “Last time right before I started Hogwarts. The others do, too. Sometimes with us. Remember when Pansy and her parents were away for two weeks last summer?”
Hermione nodded. “They were with him?”
“Yes, he was in South Africa then. When he knows some of us are coming, he usually meets us in a country he thinks would be nice for us to go to for a holiday.”
She nodded again. “He … thinks we may be related.” She went to Lucius and handed him the letter. To his credit, he didn’t flinch away from the Shinohebi around her neck, but his hand moved very slowly as he reached out for the letter. Hermione grinned. “He also writes that he will not harm anyone who does not represent a threat to me.” The Shinohebi’s tongue flickered out and touched Lucius’ hand. Letter firmly in his grip, he pulled his hand back. Hermione’s grin grew wider. “I read somewhere that this is how snakes smell. With their tongue.”
“Well, maybe I’d prefer him not to smell me,” Lucius replied smoothly and quickly read through the letter. Narcissa behind him was trying not to laugh.
When he was done, he turned to Severus with a wry smile. “Since I don’t think Hermione is going to relay that particular message: He thinks your sense of humour is questionable.”
Snape looked unimpressed. “That’s only fair. I think his sanity is questionable,” he said with a pointed look at the Shinohebi. “Is she to bring that thing to Hogwarts?”
“Obviously. He writes ‘I hope he will be as trusted a companion to you as Nagini has been to me.’ And she can carry him around in her bag.” Lucius looked amused. “As to your question, Hermione, I also think you may be related or probably are. Except for Salazar Slytherin and his descendants, the only known Parselmouth was Herpo the Foul. And he lived in Ancient Greece and had, as far as we know, no children. It is the most logical explanation that one of your ancestors was a Slytherin. I first thought it likely that they were a Squib. If a Squib marries a Muggle, the children are unlikely to have magical power to speak of. But it often happens that sometimes generations later, a child is magically powerful again. They are often mistaken for Muggle-borns, if no one looks into their family history. Maybe, and this is just a thought, all Muggle-borns have an ancestor who was a witch, a wizard or a Squib, since magic is undeniably passed on through the generations. Except for the occasional Squib, most children with at least one magical parent are a witch or wizard themselves.”
That made sense. Hermione nodded thoughtfully. “That sounds logical. But you said ‘you first thought it likely’ …”
“I did indeed. When we found out you are a Parsemouth, Narcissa had the idea to use Legilimency on your parents. We did not harm them, of course.” Hermione found she didn’t particular care about that little detail. “But we found out something quite interesting.” He looked at her for a moment, and, despite the Shinohebi, put a hand on her shoulder. “This may come as a bit of a shock, but you are not their daughter. Not by blood. They thought you were. Someone brought you to them and I suppose somewhat hastily, because otherwise I would not have been able to find that memory, obliviated them and modified their memories so they believed you were theirs.”
That did indeed come as a shock.
Narcissa too overcame her distrust to her new familiar and gently led her to the sitting corner in Lucius’ study. The others followed. As they all sat, she looked at them and Draco was the only one who looked as bewildered as she felt. Professor Snape had apparently already known.
“But who were my parents then?”
“I could not see the woman’s, maybe your mother’s, face. It was a woman who brought you to them, but that was all I could see. As they were obliviated, it wasn’t easy to see even that much,” Lucius explained.
She felt a flickering tongue on her cheek, as if in comfort. “Are you alright?”
Was she? Yes, she found that she was. Mostly at least. Since her parents, or adoptive parents, had never treated her well, it wasn’t exactly loss she felt at the reveal. She nodded. “I am, don’t worry.” She looked back at Lucius. “So there’s no way to find out who my parents were … or are?”
At that, he smiled a little. “Actually, there is. Remember the Ancestry Retrace Tom mentioned in his letter?” She nodded. “That is something that can be done at Gringotts by the Goblins. It basically traces your magical signature back to your ancestors. If someone has ever been known to the Wizarding World, whether they’ve gone to a School of Magic, like Hogwarts or any other, or worked in a magical establishment, or even only have a vault at Gringotts, their magical signature is registered with Gringotts. They developed this method to avoid disputes regarding as to who inherits which vault, for example. They also offer the service for those who want to find out about their family history. The register goes back hundreds of years, so if your parents were not complete rogues who never had anything to do with anyone, the Goblins will be able to tell you who they are and who came before them.”
It sounded good in theory, but the more she thought about it, the more it scared her. For the first time she felt at home, was with people who cared about her and treated her well. Would she be left with strangers again when it was clear who her parents were? Strangers who had left her with Muggles.
Narcissa seemed to understand, though, as she put an arm around her shoulder, trying not to touch the Shinohebi, and pulled her a little closer to her. “We are not going to make you leave, dear. If you want to stay, you stay. When we find out who your parents are, you are not obligated to even contact them. And to be perfectly honest, we are not even sure, if they’re alive. Your mother, or whoever that woman was, left you with Muggles and in haste. Maybe she was fleeing from something or someone or maybe you were a child born out wedlock and she could not keep you. But no matter, you’ll always have a home here.”
Hermione smiled gratefully at the older witch as she leaned against her just a little. “Thank you.”
“Narcissa is right,” Lucius said now. “We’re not doing this to get rid of you and I’m sorry, if it came across that way. You are not obligated to undergo the Retrace. We can forget about all of his now and let it go. But if you want to know, that doesn’t mean we are sending you away.”
“I want to know,” she said quietly. “I was just worried I’d have to leave, if I had any living relatives. I’m happy here,” she finished very quietly
“And we are happy to have you.” Narcissa smiled at her, which she returned.
Suddenly, Hermione remembered something, something she hadn’t thought about for quite a while. “It sounds crazy, but when I was sorted, the Sorting Hat spoke to me, in my head.”
“That doesn’t sound crazy,” Snape said. “It does that often, usually when there is no obvious choice for a student.”
“That was different for me then. It said that there hasn’t been one like me for decades and that Slytherin is the only choice for me. I later thought it meant that I was the first Muggle-born who was sorted into Slytherin for decades.”
Now Lucius and Snape looked interested.
Before they could say anything, Draco spoke up. “And before the Sorting, when the ghosts all went into the Great Hall, the Bloody Baron stopped in front of her and just looked at her for a long time. I thought that was weird.”
Hermione nodded. “Yes, that’s true. And then he caught up with another ghost, said something to him and they both looked back at me.”
Lucius smirked and looked at Snape. “So much to your Herpo theory. I suppose that settles it, Salazar Slytherin’s blood is running through your veins. Both the Sorting Hat and the Baron knew that. And just so you know, you would have been the very first Muggle-born to be sorted into Slytherin, not the first for decades. But the Hat certainly knew that you were not Muggle-born at all and being in Slytherin is your birthright.”
“So I was the first descendant of Salazar Slytherin since Lord Riddle,” Hermione concluded, still in awe.
“I suppose that’s what it meant, yes. What do you think about going to Gringotts tomorrow?”
“Alright.” With the assurance that she wouldn’t have to leave, if they found out her parents were alive, she felt much better about that.
“Can I come?”
Lucius shook his head. “No, Draco, your mother and I are going with her. This isn’t a family excursion.”
He sulked just for a moment and Hermione had to grin at the familiar expression. Then he perked up. “What will you call the Shinohebi? I really have to tell Tom that I’m very disappointed that he never thought of getting me a snake.”
Lucius closed his eyes for a moment and Hermione had the distinct feeling that he would write to Lord Riddle first, probably today, making it perfectly clear that his son was not to receive any kind of snake. “He lets you play with Nagini when we’re with him, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, but she’s his,” Draco insisted, then turned back to Hermione. “So, what’s his name?”
“I don’t know.” She looked into the Shinohebi’s red eyes. “Do you have a name already?”
“No. Will you give me one?”
“Yes, but I will have to think about it.” To Draco, she said, “I don’t know yet. I think I’m going to look into Japanese names. That’s where he comes from, after all.”
~tbc~