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Part 1 of The Pureblood Regime
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2021-03-14
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2021-06-15
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The Pureblood Regime

Summary:

During the Battle of the Astronomy Power, Severus Snape broke free from his bond from Voldemort, and joined the Order of the Phoenix to help Harry Potter defeat the Dark Lord once and for all. Hermione and Ron came together in the tragedy, but could never make their relationship work.

Seventh-year. Hermione is in love with a dead man. Ron is focused on Quidditch and joining the Auror Department after graduation. Harry is sneaking around with Severus. Dumbledore agrees with newly-elected Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, that the Death Eaters still on the loose must be dealt with but, in the meantime, the Golden Trio must be kept safe. Which is why the Pureblood Regime must be reenacted, to ensure the protection of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.

Notes:

Chapter 1: Interfering Old Wizards

Chapter Text

Hermione set aside her charms homework and sighed; Professor Flitwick had asked them to write about their Patronus animals, if they were able to produce one in Corporal form, and why they thought they got the ones they did. Her otter had changed to that of a dog, and Hermione wouldn’t allow herself to fully comprehend the reasons why that was. Swallowing, she picked up her quill again, writing another sentence for her conclusion, looking up as the portrait hole opened, and Harry and Ron stepped inside, filthy from Quidditch practice.

She didn’t really have to study in there, but she knew that Harry and Ron had experienced so much upheaval of late, as had they all, so it was better for her to do her revisions there. She affixed a smile onto her lips as the pair approached. The haunted look in the green and blue eyes stared back at her, one that they couldn’t shake at all, no matter how much fun they’d attempted to engage in.

“Does Hufflepuff stand a chance at all, then?” Hermione asked, mentioning the final game of term, which was due to take place in one-weeks’ time.

“None,” Harry confirmed, hovering above the couch. “Do Ron and I have time to shower and change before dinner?”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Please. You both are seventeen now. Surely you know how long it takes for you to shower.”

“Now, that’s not fair, ‘Mione, and you know it,” Ron whined, causing Hermione to purse her lips; she had little to no patience for Ron’s antics nowadays. “Water-fights are required—”

“If you’re going to launch into yet another needless lecture about how water-fights are a required right of passage, you needn’t bother,” she huffed, pulling her potions homework towards her, and caught Harry’s flush at her grip upon Advanced Potion Making. “Yes. The pair of you have plenty of time to shower, but best get a move on.”

Ron grinned. “You’re the best, ‘Mione!” he crowed, dashing past them both and running up the staircase to the seventh-year boys’ dorm.

Harry turned back to Hermione and sighed. “‘Mione?”

She looked up from her work. “Yes?”

“I’m not wrong, am I?” he asked.

Hermione swallowed. “About what?”

“Something’s going on,” he said softly. “I’m not wrong about thinking that, am I?”

Hermione sighed. “I don’t think you’re wrong,” she whispered. “Headmaster Dumbledore hasn’t been this distant towards you since fifth-year.” She shook her head. “Don’t think too much on it, Harry, please. It’s only been six months since the attempt on his life, and everything else that happened,” she said.

Harry nodded. “I know. I...I’m afraid...”

“Don’t let it show,” Hermione told him. “Just because one duty is done, doesn’t mean you won’t be signed up for another.”

Harry sighed. “That’s what I’m so afraid of,” he muttered, before turning on his heel and making his way up to the dorm himself.

Hermione concentrated as much as she could upon her homework, managing to finish the remainder of her potions essay assignment before Harry and Ron returned to the common room from their shower, and was scanning her Arithmancy text for any new ideas. They made their way to the Great Hall immediately, Hermione retaining her hold upon her Arithmancy book, with several other students of all houses grouping around them as they went. Once down the stairs and inside the hall, they took their customary places at the Gryffindor House table, waving at Neville just beside them, Ginny next to Hermione, Luna at the Ravenclaw table, and Draco at the Slytherin one. It was not lost on Hermione that Neville was making eyes at Luna, nor that Draco was giving the same expression to Ginny, and she smiled to herself, hoping that everything would work out between the would-be couples.

“How is Draco?” Hermione asked casually, serving herself some roast chicken.

Ginny flushed becomingly at that as she picked at her salad. “Very well. Mum and Dad have already invited him to the Burrow for Christmas.”

“Things are becoming serious, then?”

Ginny smiled, catching at an olive and a lettuce leaf. “Yes, I think so,” she said, looking around, before she said, “He’s a really brilliant snogger—”

Ron choked from across the table. “Bloody hell, Ginny!” he squawked. “You’ve nearly put me off my dinner!” he moaned, pushing his mashed potatoes and peas around his plate.

“What did you ever see in him?” Ginny asked, amused.

Hermione clicked her tongue, pouring some gravy onto her chicken, before helping herself to some boiled potatoes. “No idea,” she responded.

Ginny patted her arm. “Nothing is for certain, not anymore,” she said, her eyes sweeping upwards towards the head table, and her eyebrows came together at that. “Merlin, I wonder what is transpiring now...”

“What do you mean, Ginny?” Harry asked, catching onto their conversation and following her gaze, where they could plainly see Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape in deep conversation. “Perhaps the governors are at it again, or Kingsley sent an owl before dinner...”

“Looks a bit more complicated than that,” Hermione said softly. “The headmaster looks pleased as punch, whereas Professor McGonagall looks worried, and Professor Snape looks...”

“He’s scared,” Harry said softly, and neither Hermione or Ginny made any move to disagree with him there. “I’ve studied his face often enough to know his emotions.”

“Sure, Harry,” Ginny said with a nod. “We believe you.” She gave a small smile then, turning and looking down the long table, where Dean and Seamus were cuddling. “Just like the look on Dean’s face before he told me that he thought we’d be better off as friends. The poor thing actually thought I’d be angry with him!”

“He still broke your heart!” Ron thundered heatedly.

Ginny sighed. “Yes, well...”

“And Malfoy was there, quick to pick up the pieces,” he growled.

Ginny slammed her palm onto the table. “When are you going to get it through your thick head, Ron? I am crazy about Draco, as he is about me! Nothing is going to change that!” she cried out, her voice breaking at the end, before her fork clattered down onto her plate and she got to her feet, dashing out of there with a sob, Draco immediately following in her wake.

Hermione sighed. “And you wondered why things didn’t last?” she asked.

Ron turned red to his ears. “That was because...”

“I know why it didn’t, Ron,” Hermione said, stabbing at her chicken in her frustration, and doing her best to eat the rest of her dinner quickly. Once she had done, she barely touched one of the puddings on offer that night, despite it being her favorite, Arctic Roll. Pushing her plate away from her after barely eating a quarter of it, she picked up her massive tome again, reading about the theory behind Arithmancy, in the hopes of calming herself down.

Dinner was slowly but surely winding down, and Hermione was beginning to feel the affects of the day. Even though NEWTs were months away, she was constantly keeping odd hours in order to revise for them. Their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was a joke, although not nearly as bad as Lockhart, and she wished that Harry could simply take over the class. She knew quite well that he wanted the position after graduation, in order to be closer to a certain potions professor. As for Ron, he wanted to be an Auror, and was hoping that he passed his NEWTs in order to receive a coveted spot in Auror training. As for Hermione, she was plenty confused about what it was she wanted. She had been sheltered so long—first by her mother and father, and then by the protective walls of Hogwarts—that, even though she spent plenty of time reading about the world she was now a part of, she felt woefully unprepared when it came to a final decision, a decision that would affect the rest of her life. Her one desire, a desire that she had kept a great secret from both Harry and Ron, could potentially ruin everything. And besides, it wasn’t as if it could ever come to pass, now that the one thing, the one person, she truly wanted was completely out of her reach...

Hermione didn’t think anything of it when Professor McGonagall stopped them in the corridor just outside the Great Hall, telling them that Headmaster Dumbledore needed to see the three of them right away. Ron shrugged, while Harry informed their Head of House that they would, of course, accompany her to the headmaster’s office. Off they went, with both boys relieved that they had eaten their dinner already; Hermione merely rolled her eyes, her attention gravitating towards the heavy tome beneath her arm, Numerology and Grammatica, which Harry had purchased for her the Christmas before, after misplacing her copy during the Triwizard Tournament their fourth-year, and having to rely on the library’s copy.

Things had changed drastically since the trio had begun their seventh-year at Hogwarts; for one thing, Severus Snape had been hailed a hero, after thwarting the Death Eaters last June, fighting them off with the members of the Order of the Phoenix, with Harry delivering the fatal Killing Curse upon Voldemort, banishing him from their world forever. Minister Fudge had been ousted, and Rufus Scrimgeour, who would have normally taken up the title of Minister of Magic, as he was the current Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had stepped aside for Kingsley Shacklebolt. Kingsley had proved to be a capable minister, reversing the stigmas connected to werewolves, vampires, and the like, with landslide votes within the Wizengamot, although the pair were saddened that Remus Lupin wouldn’t see it, as he had been one of the casualties at the Battle of the Astronomy Tower.

Upon arrival at the gargoyle, Professor McGonagall straightened up and said, almost in a breathless tone, “Cauldron Cakes,” and the stone being promptly jumped aside. “The headmaster is awaiting you three upstairs,” she said gently, although Hermione could detect a sadness in her eyes. “Good luck.”

Hermione followed the boys, both seventeen, and sighed to herself; at eighteen, she was the oldest of the bunch, while Ron was the tallest and strongest, and Harry the best at Defense Against the Dark Arts and Quidditch. Pursing her lips, her mouth promptly fell open as the door opened automatically for them, and three people stood around the room, who were all speaking in hurried tones to the headmaster.

“Sirius?!” Harry yelled out, stumbling over the threshold, tears falling down his face as he rushed forward, ignoring Severus Snape and Tonks, who immediately moved out of the way. He was grabbed up by the man and clutched in a massive bear hug, and Harry yanked himself back, staring up at the man. “But...how? Why? You went through the veil fifth-year, and I thought that you were...”

Hermione then felt as if her entire world had fallen apart all over again. She felt cold all over, and she trembled at the sight of Sirius Black embracing her best friend. Her knees knocked together as she shook, and she mentally cursed herself to pull herself together...

“Your godfather was kept in stasis behind the veil, Potter, until the magical world could assist in bringing him out,” Severus Snape told him, his voice not nearly as hard, now that he didn’t have dual roles to play, which ultimately brought Hermione back to earth as she saw the softness within his eyes as he addressed her best friend.

“Snape is correct,” Sirius said softly, and Hermione was amazed to hear no animosity from either wizard. “The Department of Unspeakables managed to drag me out a week previous, and I’ve been in St. Mungo’s recovering,” he went on.

“We didn’t want to rush in and tell you right away,” Tonks put in gently. “The department had no idea if Sirius was brain damaged. The mediwizards and witches, plus the healers, worked on him as much as they could.”

“I remember falling into the veil, and, the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a bed at St. Mungo’s, asking if you were all right,” Sirius went on. “Mad-Eye was there to explain everything to me, of course. As Deputy Minister, I was more than pleased that he was able to make such a call to me, an invalid, in a hospital bed...”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Severus told him with a genial smirk. “Invalids drool. You only do so while puttering around as Padfoot.”

“Now, now, boys,” the headmaster said before a row could break out, and shook his head at the pair of them, before turning to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. “I’ll bet the three of you are speculating as to why you’ve been brought here.”

“It wasn’t to reunite with Sirius?” Harry asked, still standing close to his godfather.

“No, Harry,” said Dumbledore gently, “although I’m quite sure you’ll get to see more of him, now that the Christmas holidays are approaching.”

“I’ll live with him?” Harry asked, and Hermione could see how excited her best friend was, and smiled over at him.

“No, Harry,” the headmaster said, “although, now that Riddle is gone, and you’ve reached your majority, you need not return to Privet Drive.”

“Then, what’s going on here?” Ron demanded, crossing his arms.

“Ronald!” Hermione hissed, shaking her head at him; after his fiasco with Lavender, she and Ron had attempted being a couple after the incident last June, but soon found that they were better off as friends. “Please. Don’t be rude.”

“Thank you, Miss Granger,” the headmaster said, his eyes twinkling, in a way they’d not done since she and a reformed Draco Malfoy had been announced as that years’ Head Boy and Head Girl respectively. “Anyhow, my reasoning for calling you all here was to inform you that you need a different form of protection.”

“What kind of protection, headmaster?” Harry asked.

The elderly man sighed. “No doubt you’ve seen the issues of The Prophet and The Quibbler over the summer, as well as since the start-of-term...”

Ron’s eyes darkened. “We’ve seen them.”

“We have,” Hermione responded softly. “How Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, and the rest of the surviving Death Eaters escaped Azkaban again, and are now on the run...”

“But what does that have to do with us?” Harry asked. “Surely the Hit Wizards and the Aurors are close to finding them...”

“I’m afraid they’ve remained elusive,” Tonks said softly; she was in training to take over as Head of the Auror Department, but felt that she was lacking in some way, considering that they’d always seemed to be one step behind the evasive Death Eaters, which Hermione didn’t blame her for, due to their abundance of safe houses.

“Because of this,” Dumbledore continued, “the three of you will be at the top of the list for the Death Eaters hoped-for eradication process. As such, Kingsley has reenacted an old law, wherein younger wizards and witches will seek protection from those meeting in power to them, or of a higher Blood Status, to ensure protection...”

“The Pureblood Regime,” Hermione whispered, shuddering, having read many texts pertaining to History of Magic about it, about how young virgins were sent off to wealthy families, raped, and then left to die as their magic was siphoned off... “Why would the minister agree to such a thing?!” she demanded. “It’s archaic, and it’s just...wrong!”

“I knew she wouldn’t take it well,” Severus uttered softly.

“Now, now, Severus, none of that,” Dumbledore said, holding up his hand to his potions master, before turning back to Hermione with a serious expression. “It is true, Miss Granger, that there weren’t protections in place to ensure the safety of the younger of the bonded pair in the past. However, Kingsley has amended the law to ensure maximum safety for all involved. No magic will be stolen; rather, it will be combined to ensure safety for both the bonded pair, and any heirs that are brought forth from the union,” he said gently. “Do not despair. As it happens, I have documents from all your families, which were drawn up years ago, selecting someone for you to bond...”

“What?!” Ron sputtered. “Bond? But we’re still in school...”

“All of you will take the Christmas holidays to become bonded and properly acquainted with one another, while the Easter holidays will act as a short honeymoon for the bonded pairs. You will graduate two months after that, and will have plenty of time to settle into bonded life.”

Hermione gripped at her tome so tightly that her knuckles were becoming white. “And... And who have our parents chosen for us?” she whispered.

Dumbledore smiled, clearly pleased that she was beginning to come around to the idea, and summoned three inked parchments towards him. “From Lily and James Potter, to be presented to their son, Harry, when he has reached his majority,” he said, reading from the first. “Harry, your betrothed is to be Severus Snape.”

Harry flushed and smiled at the man, while Severus ruefully returned the smile; only Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the headmaster had known that Harry and the potions professor had harbored feelings for one another since their Occlumency lessons, but had not acted on them completely until after the events of the astronomy tower. “I accept,” Harry said, and Sirius sighed, obviously looking annoyed, but nevertheless pushed Harry towards Severus, who pulled him close, and kissed his forehead.

Dumbledore smiled rather indulgently at the exchange and pulled the second piece of parchment towards him with a nod as he read its contents. “From Arthur and Molly Weasley, to be presented to their son, Ronald, when he has reached his majority,” he said, before looking up at Ron. “Ron, your betrothed is to be Nymphadora Tonks.”

“Don’t call me Nymphadora,” Tonks growled, her hair, and her face, turning red, before she peeked over at Ron. “I’m sorry if this isn’t...”

Ron promptly stepped forward, taking her hand and kissing it. “I’ve always admired you, Tonks,” he told her, smiling. “And, since I want to become an Auror, and we both hated Riddle, we have more than enough in common. I think it’ll be a successful match.”

Tonks’s cheeks turned a flattering pink. “Thank you, Ron,” she replied.

Dumbledore pulled up the final parchment, and Hermione’s heart entered her throat as he read the scrawl upon it. “From Colin and Demeter Granger, to be presented to their daughter, Hermione, when she has reached her majority—in the Muggle world, that age is eighteen,” the headmaster informed the group. “Hermione, your betrothed is to be Sirius Black.”

Hermione’s knees buckled, her joints quivering at the prospect. “But... But, I am a Muggleborn, and Sirius is a Pureblood,” she whispered. “Surely there’s some mistake...”

“Since you are a Savior of the Wizarding World,” Dumbledore said, as Sirius slowly came to stand beside Hermione, “Kingsley believed that an exception should be made.” The man peered at Hermione from his half-moon spectacles. “Do you hold disapproval towards your parents’ choice of husband for you, Miss Granger?” he asked.

Hermione bit her tongue, knowing that, if she wanted to appeal to the Wizengamot, Kingsley was more than likely to at least hear her out. However, as much as she hated to admit it, she had found Sirius attractive from her third-year, and had been devastated when he had fallen through the veil, never allowing her to reveal her feelings. As she ran her fingertips along the spine of her tome, she whispered, “No. None whatsoever, headmaster.”

“Excellent!” Dumbledore said, clasping his hands together. “Well, as it is a Friday night, perhaps Harry and Severus could speak at length in the dungeons. Mr. Weasley, you have permission to Floo to Tonks’s flat until curfew. And as for you, Miss Granger,” he continued, “perhaps you may show Sirius your own quarters.”

“Certainly, headmaster,” Hermione said softly, watching as Tonks and Ron chattered as they walked towards the Floo, and Severus promptly ushered a flushing Harry out of the headmaster’s office. She turned to Sirius, raising her eyebrows when he offered her his hand, and accepted the gesture. “My rooms are a bit away,” she said, and guided him out of the office. Once they were down the stairs in the deserted corridor, Hermione kept her mouth shut all the way to the portrait of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, Weaving, and War Strategy, who guarded her rooms. “Good evening, Athena,” she said, smiling up at the maiden with long red hair and blue eyes, who kept an owl upon her shoulder in the warm woods she was painted in.

“Good evening, Hermione,” Athena said with a smile, and turned towards Sirius. “Well, hello there,” she said, grinning down at him. “And who might you be?”

“Sirius Black,” Sirius told her, “Hermione’s fiancé.”

“Oh, how lovely!” Athena said, clapping her hands, before she turned to Hermione. “Were you wanting to go in, then, dear?”

“Manteia,” Hermione said softly.

Athena smiled, spreading her hands as the portrait popped open, thus permitting the couple to step inside the room.

As soon as the portrait closed behind them, Hermione dropped Sirius’s hand and crossed the sitting room, arriving in the small kitchenette attached to it. “Something to drink?” she asked, as she set her tome down upon the counter, not looking at Sirius.

“Gillywater, please, but only if you’ve got it,” Sirius said, and Hermione summoned the bottle from the cooling cabinet, plus a pair of glasses. Once filled, she banished one towards the man, and leaned up against the wall, staring into the clear liquid. “I didn’t know, you know...”

Hermione peeked up at the man, not wholly trusting her words, but also knowing that they had to communicate sooner or later. “Didn’t know what?”

“I didn’t know that Tonks and I would be getting paired up tonight as well,” Sirius said softly, as he sipped his drink. “I mean, I knew that Harry was betrothed to Severus, and suspected that Albus would inform them of the betrothal tonight...”

Hermione swirled the Gillywater in her glass. “And the rest of us?”

“I thought he brought me in so that I could stand as Harry’s family, as well as reunite with my godson,” Sirius said softly. “As for Tonks, I thought that Albus would want a representative from the ministry to be there.”

“And what about Ron and me?” she asked softly.

“Perhaps he wanted you there to witness the betrothal of your best friend?” Sirius asked, lowering his glass and spreading his hands.

“Surely you knew about the dangers, what with the Death Eaters on the loose again, and Ron’s and my rather obvious connection to Harry,” Hermione whispered. “I would never regret being Harry’s friend—I consider him a brother, as I do Ron, and I love them both. However, I can’t fathom why you wouldn’t at least think...”

“Mad-Eye informed me of the return of the Pureblood Regime,” Sirius admitted. “However, I believed you would be paired up with someone...younger...”

Hermione’s brows pulled together at that. “You are the same age as Professor Snape, and Harry is nearly a year younger than I am...”

“Don’t remind me,” Sirius said softly. “I am over two months older than Severus, which puts me at nearly twenty years older than you...”

“Wizards age differently,” Hermione said.

Sirius scoffed. “That is true. However, I know that you cannot possibly be happy with the match presented to you...”

Hermione rolled her eyes as she sipped her Gillywater. “Please,” she said. “You heard that Ron and I tried for a relationship?”

Sirius looked uncomfortable. “I did hear something about that, yes...”

“It didn’t work, couldn’t work, because we weren’t right for the other,” Hermione told him. “It was too safe with Ron, too familiar. I need a challenge when it comes to a relationship, Sirius, and you seem pretty complex to me...”

Sirius laughed. “I have been looking for an excuse to keep Kreacher here full-time. I know you wouldn’t like to live somewhere with house-elves.”

Hermione gave him a small smile. “You’d be right.”

“I also know that you loathed Divination your third-year, so much so that you dropped the class, and it’s the only class you ever dropped.”

“How would you...? Harry,” Hermione said, shaking her head.

“Exactly. Which is why I find that you use the word that directly translates to divination for your personal quarters to be utterly fascinating.”

“It is because I don’t enjoy it,” Hermione explained. “People who break into your rooms will usually attribute something you like to be its password. This way, they will have to know me quite well in order to guess at what I despise.”

“I always thought Trelawney was a fraud,” Sirius put in. “Harmless, but a fraud.”

“Precisely,” Hermione said, finding herself grinning at her future husband. “What was your favorite class while you were here?”

“Defense,” Sirius admitted.

Hermione giggled. “Of course. Perhaps we can have a duel sometime.”

“I would like that,” Sirius said with a nod.

Hermione worried her lower lip then. “The headmaster mentioned something about our bond producing heirs...”

Sirius sighed. “In old families, providing an heir and a spare is required. Unfortunately, even though I am Head of the House of Black, I cannot undo the magicks that put the proclamation there. However, blood adoption is quite lucrative, so perhaps...”

“No,” Hermione said quickly. “I mean, yes, we can adopt as well, but I always fancied carrying children,” she said softly. “I know that I’m not much to look at, but you’re...”

Sirius slowly stepped forward then, tucking a stray curl behind Hermione’s ear. “How can you even say something like that, Hermione?” he whispered, shaking his head. “Not only are you the brightest witch of your age, Hermione, but you are also stunningly beautiful.”

Hermione found that she couldn’t call back the small gasp which escaped her throat, and she tilted her head, so that it rested in Sirius’s palm. “Buckbeak looked white when the moonlight hit him,” she whispered.

Sirius smiled. “What?”

Hermione mentally scolded herself, but continued, “In Muggle fairy tales, a damsel in distress is frequently rescued by a knight, who comes in riding a white horse,” she explained. “A horse is an Abraxan without wings, or a unicorn without its—”

Sirius chuckled. “I know what a horse is, Hermione.”

Hermione chided herself. “Right,” she said. “Anyhow, the knight will save the damsel, and they ride away on the horse, to live happily ever after...”

“So, you’re saying, that you believed me to resemble a knight?”

Hermione’s teeth dragged upon her lower lip. “Yes,” she whispered.

“You were attracted to me from the time you were fourteen?”

“Yes,” she whispered again.

“I will admit, I did find you attractive, Hermione, but did not become attracted to you until you were sixteen, when you spent the Christmas holidays at Grimmauld,” he said, and slowly dragged the pad of his thumb along her lip, freeing it from the confines of her teeth. “I thought I’d be damned for it, but now... Now, I see it is not so wrong...”

“If my parents betrothed us, then no, Sirius, it is not wrong. Besides, I’m eighteen. No one can take me away from you, be it Wizarding or Muggle authorities.”

Sirius smiled. “I am pleased about that.”

Hermione lowered her eyes. “Ron wanted...while we were dating but... I couldn’t,” she said softly, melting into Sirius’s embrace. “Even though you weren’t here anymore, I thought it wouldn’t be fair to you...”

Sirius embraced Hermione, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “We shall save our first kiss for our wedding day, Hermione, and, for the rest, for our wedding night...”

“Shall you contact Molly, to take charge of cleaning Grimmauld?”

“No,” Sirius said, pulling back and gazing down at Hermione. “I won’t have my wife walking around a house that is a virtual death trap, with a portrait of my mother, who would scream abuse whenever you take a step. No. No, Albus has given me my fortune back, and I am in the process of selling Grimmauld, and we may find a proper home.”

“Might I go with you to look at the properties?” Hermione asked.

Sirius smiled. “Yes, of course, you may. I have secured meetings at Gringotts, and I am staying in the upstairs lodgings at The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. All the properties are wizarding, so we may have a Floo Network... I, of course, will ensure that we have a reliable owl, and you should know that I would never bar you from seeing your family, Harry, Ron, or the other Weasleys...”

“I am also close with Draco now, we all are. As for further friends, I adore Ginny, Ron’s only sister, plus Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood.”

“All exceptional friends,” Sirius said with approval.

Hermione turned then as a small meow distracted her, and she immediately smiled when her beloved Crookshanks sauntered into the room. “Don’t be rude, love,” she said, squeezing Sirius’s hands before letting him go, and crossed the room, scooping up her feline companion, and turning back towards her betrothed. “You remember Crookshanks, don’t you?”

Sirius’s beautiful blue eyes immediately lit up as he stepped closer, and Hermione was shocked when Crookshanks launched himself out of her arms and into Sirius’s. “He seems to remember me,” the man said lightly, a chuckle escaping his lips as he gently scratched the feline hybrid behind one ear, and Crookshanks shut his eyes, meowing indulgently. “He was a delight, both times he was at Grimmauld...”

“I couldn’t leave him,” Hermione said quietly.

Sirius looked up at her. “As if I would ever ask you to do so.”

Hermione smiled at that. “Good. He is like my own child, and I treat him like the little prince that he is.”

“As well you should,” Sirius said with a nod, nuzzling Crookshanks beneath his chin. “I hear that cats of all kinds can become temperamental when they’re not given their dues.”

Hermione giggled as Crookshanks playfully nipped at Sirius’s fingers. “Be gentle, darling,” she told him softly. “Have you spoken to my parents yet?”

“I’ve not,” Sirius told her. “Once I was cleared to leave St. Mungo’s, Mad-Eye escorted me directly to Albus’s office, just before dinner. He wanted the meeting to begin immediately, but Tonks, Severus, and I agreed to have you enjoy your evening meal beforehand.”

Hermione wetted her lips, considering for a moment. “Well, perhaps the weekend we have to go and meet with the goblins, we may go and see them. They live in Knightsbridge,” she said quietly. “Their dental practice is in Kensington, but its closed during the weekends.”

“I think that is a fantastic idea,” Sirius replied with a nod. “Your last day of term is the nineteenth, a fortnight from now. I have an appointment with my account goblin on the thirteenth, if that is agreeable.”

Hermione nodded. “I’ll write to my parents in the morning,” she said softly. “Perhaps Professor Snape can give us some Polyjuice. I wouldn’t want either of us getting spotted and potentially abducted by Death Eaters.”

“Quite right; a brilliant idea,” Sirius said, smiling.

Hermione stepped closer to her fiancé, and saw a tremor within him then, leading her to believe that his mind had yet to be completely mended. “It will be all right,” she told him softly, wanting more than anything to be supportive of him. “It has to be all right...”

Sirius smiled. “I’m hoping it will be,” he responded, reaching forward and enveloping Hermione’s hand in his.