Unspeakable
“Miss Granger.” Hermione's eyes grew wide at the sight of Professor Snape standing on her doorstep.
“Professor. I….what are you doing here?”
“Might I come in?” He asked, his eyebrow quirking, a look of what she thought was amusement on his face.
“I….why did you have to brew speciality potions for me in second year?”
He smirked, a definite look of genuine mirth on his face. She wasn't sure she had ever seen it before. “You turned yourself into an anthropomorphic cat using polyjuice. I don't think I've laughed that much in years.”
Hermione blinked at him as she spoke without thinking, “You laugh, Sir?”
“Indeed Miss Granger.” She flushed bright red.
“I’m sorry!”
He snorted, “Might I come in now?”
“Oh. Yes, of course.” She stood back to allow him entry, ushering him into the cheerful sitting room. “Why are you here sir?”
“Where are your parents?”
“They’ll be back shortly.”
He nodded. “Very well, we will wait on them then.”
She looked faintly alarmed to be alone in his presence he thought with amusement. “Tea?” she squeaked, “I mean ah, would you like something to drink?”
Schooling his features so he wouldn't laugh at her, he nodded. “Tea would be appreciated. Milk and four sugars.”
“Four!” she exclaimed before she could stop herself before blushing again. “Sorry! My parents are dentists.”
“I am aware, Miss Granger. And yes, four.”
Nodding she scurried from the room, breathing out a sigh of relief in the kitchen, even as her mind whirled with possibilities. She had no idea why he was here, although she was hoping it was because he was going to help her protect her parents, she’d been worrying about it, afraid she was going to have to do something extreme.
Taking a deep breath, she took his mug out to him and sat awkwardly in the chair next to the sofa he was sat on. “They should be back any time now.”
He hummed, his eyes flitting about the room before landing on a picture. “Miss Granger….are those your parents?”
“Oh. Yes.”
Frowning, he got up to examine the picture more closely, his mind racing. “It can't be,” he murmured.
“Sir?”
He shook his head, “Forgive me. I am….making connections that are not possible. Nostalgia perhaps.”
She nodded, even as she frowned. “Alright, Sir.”
“Your father…reminds me of someone I used to know.” He explained, his brows creasing again, “Your mother too. Miss Granger, when exactly is your birthday?”
“Oh, I…..”
“Hermione!” Severus froze at the sound of the voice as a woman who looked remarkably like her daughter walked in. Her face went curiously blank as she took in Severus standing in her living room. “Anne Granger.” she introduced herself, holding out a hand, just as a man came in behind her.
“Severus Snape.” Severus returned, his eyes darting between her and the man who had frozen behind her. “But you already knew that Mari, didn't you?”
“Well fuck.” she muttered.
“Is someone going to explain what's going on?” Hermione demanded.
Let's… let's sit down.” Her father suggested sounding strangled.
“Who knew!” Severus demanded.
“No one.” Mr Granger replied softly. “No one was allowed. It was…one of the conditions. If they figured it out and were trustworthy, we could speak, but otherwise, the magic prevented us.”
“Magic!” Hermione repeated, her voice shrill. Both her parents winced.
“Sit down, sweetheart, we’ll explain.” They flanked her on the sofa, each taking a hand as if afraid she’d bolt.
“I…Gods this is harder than we expected.” her father muttered. “I was born Regulus Black.”
Hermione wrenched her hand from his, turning to stare at him in horror. “Sirius’ Death Eater brother?”
“How in the name of Merlin do you know Sirius?” her father barked.
She let out a laugh that was borderline hysterical. “Oh you know, Harry and I saved him from being Kissed with a time turner and a condemned Hippogriff.”
“Don't be flippant Hermione!”
“I wasn't!”
Her father paled, “What the hell were you doing anywhere near him!”
“He's innocent and he didn't deserve to be Kissed. We’ve spent this year smuggling him food because he's been living in a cave to be near Harry.”
“Fuck.” Regulus hissed. “Who else knows he's innocent?”
“Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, Professor Lupin and ah….” she looked sideways at Severus who kept his features schooled. “Well….”
“Dumbledore knows?” Regulus frowned, “Why the fuck is he living in a cave then?”
“He said no one would take our word for it,” Hermione replied softly. “Peter Pettigrew escaped so we had no proof.”
“You have memories!” he protested looking outraged.
She shrugged, “How was I meant to know he was lying! They don't teach muggleborns anything about how the world actually works, we’re just meant to guess!”
Regulus flushed, and then sighed, “So we’ll be fixing that. After we sort Sirius. Christ.”
“I’ll go and speak to Amy.” Hermione's head flew to her mother.
“And your real name?”
“Marrianne Dagworth-Granger.”
Hermione huffed, her eyes closing, “Of course it is.” she muttered.
“And yours….” Regulus looked hesitant. “Yours is Adhara Hermione…I assume you’ve figured out the Black bit.”
She looked at him scathingly. “Yes, I’d noticed. I’d also noticed you didn't contradict me when I called you a Death Eater.”
Regulus winced, “I was.” he admitted.
“Was?”
Rolling up his sleeve he flashed a bare forearm. “The Department of Mysteries is a wonderful thing.”
“They can remove it?” Severus sounded strangled.
“Yes. For a price. Ours was a lifetime of questionable robes and having to lie to our daughter.”
“You're Unspeakables?”
“Oh yes. It's rather fun, all things considered, certainly better than the alternative. We never wanted to lie to you though.”
“So why did you?”
“We had to." he replied gently, "We can only talk about this now because Severus recognised us. They were going to allow it once you’d left school because we didn't really want anyone to know who we were. Of course, that ships sailed. We’ll need to get Amy and Croaker here. And then, young lady, we’re going to have a really long chat about all those things you’ve apparently missed telling us about your school years.”
Severus snorted. “What do you know?” Marrianne barked.
“She spent an awful lot of her second year with fur and a tail,” he replied the amusement clear in his voice.
“What?” Regulus yelped. “Explain! Now!”
“I might have brewed polyjuice and used the wrong hair,” Hermione muttered.
“I don't know whether to be impressed or hex you,” Regulus muttered.
“I'd prefer impressed,” Hermione admitted.
“I’ll give you the memory.” Severus offered, “It kept me amused for months.”
Regulus grinned back at his old friend, “Yes please.”
“No!” Hermione whined. “I had a tail!”
Severus looked genuinely amused, “I know.” he replied with an unheard-of amount of glee.
“I’ll contact Amy now.” Marianne offered, “The sooner we sort this the sooner we can get some answers.”
Regulus nodded, “We’ll save the school year's discussion until your back. Severus, how on earth did you recognise us and why are you here?”
He sighed, “You still hold yourself like you and there's….a look in your eye, I suppose. I’m here because He's back.”
“Huh. Not a huge amount I can do about that. And we know.” Regulus agreed.
“I thought you were muggles. Miss…Granger…Black?”
“Black.” Regulus sighed, “We’re going to have to come out of hiding, I think. Remove the glamours.”
“Glamours?” Hermione yelped.
“Ah yes….anchored to that necklace you’ve never taken off. Mild compulsion charm, sorry about that.” Regulus winced, “It was sort of important.”
Hermione glared back, yanking the chain from her neck. Severus watched in stunned silence as her hair darkened and settled down, her eyes changing from brown to grey. It was a well-done glamour, subtle enough to throw someone off while allowing her to look like her, nothing else changed.
“Gods you look like Andy.” Regulus breathed.
Severus laughed, “She does not. She looks like Mari with your colouring.”
“Remove yours,” Hermione demanded. Sighing Regulus complied, morphing into a man who looked startlingly like a healthy Sirius. The thought alone made her want to cry.
“Hermione?”
“You…you look like how Sirius should look,” she said softly. Regulus winced.
“We’ll sort it. I promise. I…I know it's a lot but we really didn't want to lie to you. We’ve been trying to keep you safe.”
She nodded, “Logically I know that…I…it's just a lot. I don't…I don't know you at all.”
Regulus visibly flinched, “We're still the same people, sweetheart.”
“You're hardly two middle-class dentists,” she replied pointedly.
“No.” he allowed, speaking slowly so as to organise his thoughts. “But…we were the parents we wanted to be….minus the lying. Pureblood parents tend to leave the raising of children to the elves, we didn't want that. We were…around, weren't we?” he could hear the pleading tone in his voice as his daughter sighed before sitting back down beside him. Cautiously, he wrapped an arm around her. “We love you so much. I…I know the lying was shit but the other option was death.”
He felt her nod against him as her head fell to his shoulder, as he exhaled slowly. Apparently, they hadn't fucked up entirely.
“Is it..wise to change her name given your lack of regrettable tattoos?” Severus asked softly into the silence.
“It's….a layer of protection, I think. We can let him think me dead, if she's not muggleborn it’ll make her less of a target.”
“Until he tries to recruit her.”
“I’m hoping we have a couple of years at least. We made an assumption when we went into hiding that we now know is wrong. Clearly, a chat with Dumbledore is needed.”
Severus hummed. “Wonderful. Regardless, I came because you are a target due to her friendships.”
“Harry?”
“Yes.” Severus sighed, “And she hasn't exactly been inconspicuous. We should have guessed after three first years took down a fully grown troll.”
“What?” Regulus barked, swivelling to look at Hermione. “What in the name of Circe have you been doing at school?”
“I don't think you really want to know,” she muttered.
“Of course I bloody do!” he barked. “Do we need to consider homeschooling?”
“Yes.” Severus muttered at the same time Hermione yelped, “No!”
“What the fuck were you doing near a troll!”
“Professor Quirrell let it into school.” Hermione muttered. “I was…in the wrong place at the wrong time. Harry and Ron came to help.”
Regulus closed his eyes, “And then?”
She shrugged, “Harry shoved his wand up its nose, Ron levitated it club and knocked it out.”
“Hermione,” Regulus whined as the heard the telltale pops of apparition. “Amy, Saul” Regulus greeted the two newcomers, wrapping an arm back around his daughter as he attempted to process how close she’d come to death as a first year.
“Regulus….Snape.” Amelia Bones nodded, “Mari said it was urgent.”
“Severus recognised us and apparently Sirius is innocent. Albus knows but appears not to want to do anything.”
Amelia blinked. “Right.”
“Saul Croaker.” Saul introduced himself to Hermione, holding out his hand.
“Hermione.” she returned warily, shaking it.
“Hermione Granger?”
“That would be me.”
Saul grinned, “Oh I've been wanting to meet you, dearie. Min sings your praises. I hadn't quite connected the dots. Tell me, how was the year with the time turner?”
“Exhausting.” Hermione admitted.
“Time turner?” Mari barked, walking into the room behind the two newcomers.
“Oh yes, clever little witch you’ve got. Want to follow in your parent's footsteps Miss….Black?”
“No!” Regulus growled.
“Yes.” Hermione grinned. “Although not time. I don't think I want to see another time-turner ever again.”
“Explain!” Marianne barked.
“I…ah took all the electives and was given a time turner,”
Mariane went very still as she looked over her daughter. “You did what now?”
“Ah, she was fine.” Saul waved it away. “Min vouched for her.”
“Saul croaker, are you telling me you gave my fourteen-year-old daughter a highly regulated magical artefact?”
He flinched at her tone, “Yes well….I didn't realise she was yours. You call her Addy!”
Mariane deflated, “So we do.” she sighed. “We’ll be discussing this young lady!”
“Yes, Mum,” Hermione muttered. ”Are you removing your glamour too?”
Marianne shrugged, “I can. I didn't change much. I was always much less conspicuous than your father.” Taking the bracelet off her wrist, her hair calmed much like Hermione's had, darkening slightly as her eyes changed to blue.
“Huh. You still look like you.” Hermione mused.
“Yes well….how about we sort your Uncle and then we can have a proper chat about school.”
Hermione pulled a face but nodded. “Will you explain Miss Black?” Amelia asked. “Amelia Bones, director of the Department of law enforcement. Saul is Head Unspeakable.”
Hermione nodded, “At the end of our third year Ron….Ronald Weasley’s rat turned into Peter Pettigrew. He's a rat animagus. He escaped but not before we learned he was a Death Eater who had been the Potter's secret keeper. Sirius escaped Azkaban because Ron had been in the Prophet with the rest of the Weasleys. They won galleons and so had gone to visit Bill in Egypt.”
“I remember,” Amelia murmured.
“Anyway, he was trying to protect Harry. Pettigrew cursed the muggles, not Sirius and then cut off his little finger so he could escape.”
“Biggest piece of him ever found,” Saul murmured.
“Yes. Sirius never got a trial. Pettigrew was at the graveyard this year when Harry was portrayed. He cut off his own hand to resurrect Voldemort. He was the one who has been keeping him alive.”
Amelia winced. “You have memories?”
“Yes. So do Harry and Ron. Professor Lupin does too but….well he transformed once we were out of the shack. It's how Pettigrew escaped. We were trying to take him to the castle.”
“How in the name of Merlin did you escape a fully grown werewolf?” Saul asked.
Hermione winced as she took in the expressions on her parent's faces. “Ah…time turner really. Sirius tackled him and then the…second me might have howled to distract him? And ah Buckbeak the Hippogriff helped a bit.”
“You're….you're…we’re homeschooling you,” Regulus announced his voice sounding strangled.
“Shall we tell them about the petrification via Basilisk and the Philosophers stone now, Miss Black?” Severus asked with a grin. “Oh and perhaps some discipline for having set me on fire.”
Hermione's head dropped into her hands. “Or we could not,” she whined.
“What the fuck were you doing near a Basilisks? Why did you set Severus on fire and what the fuck was the Philosophers stone doing near the school?” Regulus barked.
“Chamber of secrets reopened, I thought he was jinxing Harry's broom, I got the wrong professor and Dumbledore thought it would be safe,” she mumbled, her voice hampered by her hands.
Marianne shot a deadly look at Severus. “Explain. Now.”
Severus winced, more than well acquainted with the witch's temper. "Quirrell had Voldemort on the back of his head. He was jinxing Potter, I was countering it. She bumped into him when she was escaping the teacher's stand. I have no idea why Albus had the stone, just that the protections were beaten by three first years. I sometimes wonder if it was a test for Potter. The chamber of secrets did indeed reopen via Voldemort's diary. I may be wrong but it was…unnatural.”
“Where is it now?” Regulus barked, looking at the other wizard intently.
“Destroyed.” Hermione answered, ”Harry…killed it? With a basilisk fang.”
“Sweet Merlin. Proves the theory.” he looked at his wife.
“Partially.” Marianne allowed. “But how many?”
“I don't know,” Regulus whispered. “But I bet Albus has an idea.”
“What in the name of Salazar are you talking about?”
“They shared a look. “Horcruxes,” Regulus answered. “Kreacher was given one. It's the reason we had to hide. I destroyed it, but not until after his downfall at the Potters, so we were never sure he was completely gone. Apparently, he made more than one.”
“Three or seven.” Marianne mused. “Powerful numbers, it would have appealed.”
“Let's hope it's three, “ Saul murmured.
“What is Horcrux?” Hermione asked, her eyes darting between the adults.
“It's…magic at its worst,” Regulus explained softly. “You tear your soul and anchor it. It grants immortality but requires an act so abhorrent that no one with sense would consider it.”
“Oh,” she replied softly.
“Miss Black?” she startled when she realised Amelia was talking to her. “If you give me your memories, I’ll sort the situation with your uncle. Do you know where he is?”
She shook her head. “I have no idea. I can owl him though, we don't use his name.”
“Smart.” Amelia nodded. “Can you extract a memory?” She shook her head, “Then think of it clearly, you’ll feel my wand at your temple.”
It felt strange, like a cold slippery sensation but she watched in fascination as Amelia dropped a silvery substance into a phial.
"We'll leave you to your ah...discussion." The witch fidgeted slightly, "Let us know your decision, obviously if Mari plans on coming back from the dead we'll need to sort the paperwork."
There was a ringing silence as Amelia and Saul departed.
"Now. Which of you wants to go first?" Marianne growled, her eyes darting between Severus and Hermione. Neither of them spoke.