Chapter 1: Department of Mysteries
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Masterlist
Prologue
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"Department of Mysteries," the voice announced as the lift stopped.
June 18, 1996
The teenagers didn't know what to expect as they stepped out, all frightened but putting up a brave face.
Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age, was ready to stand by her best friend's side, ready to face whatever lay ahead as a true Gryffindor would do.
"This is it," Harry breathed out, forcing himself to sound brave for his friends.
They started taking small but determined steps towards the door in front of them, with Harry leading the way through the corridor.
Hermione silently walked right behind Harry. Her heart was pounding against her chest, and her hands were becoming sweaty.
"Okay, listen," Harry's voice pulled everyone out of their own thoughts as he stopped before reaching the door. "Maybe...," he hesitated. "Maybe a couple of people should stay here as a lookout and—"
Yet, he didn't get to finish his sentence as Ginny, clearly fed up with Harry's hero act, interrupted him.
Hermione chose to let her friends deal with Harry, thankful that Ginny, Neville, and Ron took the initiative to put Harry in his place.
The brunette girl took a deep breath as she watched Harry turning the knob of the door, pushing it open.
—
"Lumos!" Harry said as the tip of his wand started glowing.
"Lumos!" Hermione and Ron followed Harry's lead.
Hermione looked around, scared at the darkness surrounding her.
Here it was cold, too cold for her liking, and it made her involuntarily shiver.
Hermione wasn't sure what she expected to find, but she clearly wasn't expecting to see thousands of shelves filled up with countless crystal globes covered in dust.
She briefly looked to her left and noticed that Ron was as scared and confused as she was, and there was no doubt that Harry felt the same way.
A rumbling sound broke the eerie silence, and all six members of the Order let out a soft gasp.
The door they had just finished walking in through started moving, as the walls started rotating.
'Clever move,' Hermione thought. 'They don't want us to know which door we came in through.'
The girl slowly turned her head to look at Harry, at the same time as Ron did, and the three teenagers shared a look of concern before Harry started to speed walk through the shelves, hoping to find the same row number he saw in his vision, praying that they would arrive in time to save Sirius.
—
"You said it was row ninety-seven," Hermione whispered to Harry, waiting for confirmation.
"Yeah," Harry breathed out, and she watched him lean forward to have a better look at the end of the closest row.
Hermione looked around, her mind racing a thousand miles per hour as she squinted her eyes to the next row.
"We need to go right, I think," whispered Hermione again as she tried to read the number of the row. "Yes," she mumbled once she spotted something. "That's fifty-four."
Harry quickly took off, almost running, as everyone else did the same.
—
"Ninety-seven!" Hermione whisper-shouted, being the first to spot the number they had so desperately searched for.
The bright witch watched with bated breath as Harry stretched out his hand towards a globe that Neville had pointed out to have Harry's name on its tag.
"Harry," Hermione warned sharply, as she felt something was not right about this globe. "I don't think you should touch it!"
But her warnings fell on deaf ears as Harry picked up the globe, ignoring her.
She internally rolled her eyes in annoyance at Harry's behavior, but her attention quickly turned to the small bluish globe that suddenly lit up when her friend held it.
She couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was about to happen.
The silence that enveloped this mysterious room was too weird.
And just then, from the corner of her eye, Hermione caught some movement and she knew that what she feared was true.
Everything was a trap.
"Harry!" She urgently called her friend, pulling him out of his trance.
Harry immediately lunged forward, putting himself in between the imminent danger and his friends.
"Where's Sirius?" Hermione heard Harry demand.
"You know..." A deep voice echoed in the silence, making Hermione sharply turn her head towards the masked Death Eater that kept getting dangerously too close to them. "You should really learn to make the difference between dreams," The figure clothed in black, its face hidden by a mask, finally stopped, only to pull out a wand and with a wave, reveal itself to them. "And reality. You only saw what the Dark Lord wanted you to see."
Hermione allowed a soft gasp to escape her lips.
The Death Eater in front of them was none other than Lucius Malfoy.
The teenagers stiffened their shoulders, their shaky hands tightly gripping their wands.
"Now hand me the prophecy," demanded the old Malfoy.
"You do anything to us and I'll break it!" Harry threatened, hoping that this would buy them enough time to devise a plan.
Suddenly, a sickening, sweet voice, filled with evil intentions, laughed.
"He knows how to play!" Laughed the female voice. "Itsy-Bitty... Baby." The figure stepped out of the darkness, her steps accompanied by the sounds of heels. "Potter!" She finished in a mocking tone.
Hermione didn't like how insanely sweet that voice sounded and the girl felt her blood freeze in her veins as she recognized the face in front of them from the Daily Prophet, yet she still took a moment to have a good look at the woman's features.
She had long, jet-black hair with untamed curls, adding to her appearance that made her look insane. Her skull-like face did little to betray the spark of life in her dark eyes. It was as if the Dark Lord had raised her from the dead to serve him, but Hermione knew it was more than that, as her pale skin was a stark contrast to her crimson red lips.
Despite her thin, Azkaban-shaped physique, Hermione could easily imagine this woman as a stunning beauty in her youthful years.
"Bellatrix Lestrange," Neville growled, moving forward from behind Hermione's back.
The shock on his face was clear as day, even in the dimness of the room, upon seeing Bellatrix Lestrange standing before him in the flesh.
"Neville Longbottom, is it?" Bellatrix faked curiosity as if she didn't already know who he is. "How's Mum and Dad?" She asked, a sadistic smile appearing on her face.
It was as if she took pleasure in tormenting the poor boy who lost his parents because of Bellatrix.
And in Bellatrix's eyes, Hermione saw the fire of hate and anger burning deep within them.
Hermione couldn't comprehend why Bellatrix hated Neville so much.
"Better now that they're about to be avenged," Hermione heard Neville growl again as the Longbottom boy lifted his wand, ready to attack.
But before things could escalate further, Harry was quick to hold Neville back, as Lucius did the same with Bellatrix.
Harry pushed Neville back, and as he did, his right foot stepped on Hermione's toes.
"Ah..." Hermione sharply took a breath in, looking down at her foot before leaning closer to Harry. "What?" She quietly questioned her friend.
"Now, let's everybody just calm down," Lucius raised his arms, trying to calm the tense atmosphere. "Shall we? All we want is that prophecy."
"What?" Urged Hermione before Lucius could finish his speech.
"Why did Voldemort need me to come and get this?" Harry inquired, pretending he hadn't heard Hermione.
"You dare speak his name?" Gasped Bellatrix. "You filthy half-blood!" She shouted, making Hermione flinch.
'There's no doubt she's insane,' Hermione internally chuckled, keeping her thoughts to herself.
"It's alright," Lucius once again tried to maintain some semblance of peace. "He's just a curious lad," he said, looking Harry dead in the eyes. "Aren't you?"
Harry turned his head, pretending to avoid Lucius' gaze. "Smash shelves..." he hissed.
Hermione's eyes widened as she understood the message.
"When I say go..." Harry continued, careful not to reveal what he was doing to the Death Eaters.
"Prophecies can only be retrieved by those whom they are made," the elder Malfoy continued, interrupting Harry, "which is lucky for you, really."
Hermione took advantage of the distraction provided by Lucius' speech as she turned to the person on her right, who happened to be Ginny, to pass down the message.
"Smash shelves when Harry says to," Hermione whispered to Ginny, making a sign with her hand for her to pass down the message to the rest, to which Ginny answered with a short nod.
"Haven't you always wondered what was the reason for the connection between you and the Dark Lord, hm?" hummed Lucius.
Hermione slightly jumped, scared, when from different sides, more masked Death Eaters stepped out of the shadows.
They were being circled, with no way to escape.
She should have guessed that they wouldn't leave this place without a fight.
'Wonderful,' she thought, trying to distract herself from the fear that threatened to overwhelm her.
She scanned their surroundings, quickly trying to come up with a plan to escape.
Hermione didn't hear the rest of the conversation between Lucius and Harry, her mind focused on the possible outcomes as the Death Eater in front of her kept getting dangerously too close to her.
She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, awaiting Harry's signal.
And just then, Harry's yell reached her ears.
"Now!" shouted Potter.
"Reducto!" Hermione yelled, her hand reflexively shooting the spell towards a shelf.
"Run!" yelled Harry again, and they all took off running as the shelves started to collapse.
The next moments were a chaotic blur for Hermione as she and her friends tried to avoid falling shelves and crystal globes from hitting their heads.
She cast spells left and right, only registering a frightened "Stupefy!" she shouted when she saw a Death Eater grabbing Harry's shoulder.
Next thing she knew, the brunette witch was falling 20 feet through the air, while the screams of her friends filled her ears.
"Arresto Momentum!" Hermione screamed, waving her wand through the air.
Then, she felt her body coming to an abrupt stop right before hitting the ground.
She let out a grunt when she was finally dropped face-forward but at the same time, she let out a long sigh of relief.
She was thankful that her quick thinking saved her life and her friends' lives.
Again.
She looked around, allowing her heightened senses to calm down for the moment, as she confusedly assimilated her surroundings.
Hermione's frown only deepened when she heard Harry mumble something as he started to walk towards a weird stone archway that was so conveniently placed in the middle of the room.
"Careful!" warned Hermione in a hushed whisper.
She was afraid this was another trick of the Death Eaters to get their hands on Harry's prophecy.
"Let's go," she urged again when she saw Harry ignoring her warnings. "This isn't right, Harry, come on, let's go..."
She followed him up the archway's stairs, stopping halfway, too scared to continue.
Yet Harry showed no signs of listening to her.
'He couldn't be that stupid, could he?'
"Harry, let's go, okay?" she kept pleading with him, fear overwhelming her instinct to go there and grab him by his hand and drag him away from there.
"Okay," the boy finally agreed.
Hermione exhaled relieved, but her relief was short-lived when Harry made no move to walk away from the archway.
It was as if he could hear and see something she couldn't, and Merlin, that was annoying.
"What are you saying?" Harry asked loudly, his gaze not leaving the archway.
"Nobody's talking, Harry!" Hermione had enough of this silly game of Harry's.
She pushed aside any lingering fear she might have had and moved towards him.
Harry's claiming of hearing whispers coming from the archway was concerning, to say the least, and it was creeping Hermione out.
"I can hear them too," Luna agreed with Harry, "there are people in there."
'You can't be serious!' Hermione thought annoyed, desperate to find a way to get Harry and Luna back in their right minds. 'That if they ever were in their right mind!' Hermione mentally added.
"What do you mean 'in there'?" Hermione angrily demanded, too sick of this. "There isn't any 'in there', it's just an archway, there's no room for anybody to be there — Harry, stop it, come away —"
With one swift move, she grabbed his arm, surprised to feel him resist her, not budging to move a single inch.
"Harry, we are supposed to be here for Sirius!" she used Sirius as a last resource.
And she was pleased to notice that the mention of Sirius had sparked something inside of Harry as he said, "Let's go."
She must have relaxed too soon because, out of nowhere, a black fog enveloped them, and she heard the unmistakable laugh of none other than Bellatrix Lestrange.
Hermione tried to fight against the fog, she really did, but when a whisper was heard, she froze in fear, unable to think of at least one spell to defend herself.
"You're next, Mudblood." The voice of Bellatrix whispered in her ear, making Hermione shiver.
—
Hermione found herself on her knees on the cold, stone floor, a hand tangled in her curls.
The young witch let out a whimper as she tried to move her head and free herself from what she guessed was the grip of a Death Eater but stopped when pain darted through her skull.
She was terrified, she isn't going to lie.
Her eyes scanned the scene that was unfolding while tiny whimpers escaped her lips, and she saw all of her friends, except Harry, were held in place by a Death Eater, unable to interfere with what was happening between Harry and Lucius.
Hermione had no choice but to watch with widened eyes the chaos unfolding as Sirius showed up out of nowhere just to punch that greasy-haired Malfoy, Aurors appearing as well to save them, and the prophecy getting smashed.
Hermione's breath came out in short ranges as she fearlessly threw herself into the fight that was unfolding.
Right after dodging a "Crucio!" casted by Bellatrix in her direction, she spotted Harry and Neville fighting side by side, having some troubles.
"Crazy witch," Hermione mumbled as she ran towards her male friends. "Stupefy!" she shouted, finally catching up with the two boys, the red jet of light hitting a Death Eater.
Spells and curses were flying in all directions, but the Muggle-born girl tried to ignore it, letting it be just background noise for her ears.
"Impedimenta!" a triumphant cry echoed, and Hermione felt herself being knocked off her feet backwards.
She groaned in pain as she tried to regain her bearings, the safety of Harry and Neville filling her mind before her own.
"We got him!" a man yelled, pulling Hermione out of her confused state.
She turned her head towards the voice, her eyes growing wider as she saw a Death Eater grabbing a disoriented Harry by his jacket.
"Silencio!" Hermione shouted desperately.
Luckily, Harry recovered quickly enough and was able to shout a "Petrificus Totalus!" at another Death Eater that was approaching him.
Hermione's heart filled with pride for Harry's fast reaction.
"Well done, Ha—"
Hermione stopped.
It was as if her heart stopped beating.
A purple light passed through her chest before dissipating into thin air.
The air left her lungs, but as she started losing her balance, she let out a single, weak sound.
"Oh!" Hermione gasped, surprise flowling in her voice.
She did not expect this at all.
The girl started to fall forward, the world around her growing darker with each spin of her vision.
Was this how her end looked like?
Was this going to be the way she died?
Who would tell her parents she died in a magical fight?
Hermione didn't feel the stone floor as she hit it, but she did hear one last cry before closing her eyes, her cheek resting against the ground, yet her mind did not recognize whose voice it was.
"Hermione!"
—
@theunchosenonee
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The Unexpected Daughter
TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE
Your 4th child with Sirius isn’t really yours, well that is to say that she wasn’t born of you and Sirius, but rather of two people that are related to Sirius. Nevertheless you love her all the same like she was made from both of your flesh and blood.
Her origins though are that of being Bellatrix and her husband Rudolph’s biological child, their second child to be precise. She was discarded and disowned by them as she did not possess any magic, she was a squib. Truth to be told, she was rescued by her aunt Narcissa who found the child severely malnourished and beaten within an inch of her life at the young age of around 5. She’s only a six years younger than Polaris and only two younger than the twins. Even though children can officially control their magic at around age 11, it manifests itself from birth and other witches and wizards can feel the magic of others. Kinda like how you can tell a flame on the stove is hot. When Bellatrix’s daughter was born, there was no such spark and to confirm it Bellatrix made her visit someone with second sight to see into her future, which showed one without magic.
Enraged she took all her hatred and anger out on the child. Choosing to make her into a slave than treat her as a daughter. Narcissa saw this and begged Bella to hand over her parental rights, which her and Rudolphus agreed to as they wanted nothing to do with her. Unfortunately, although Narcissa had compassion for her niece, her husband did not and didn’t want her around him or Draco, and since she hadn’t talked to Andromeda in years she didn’t feel comfortable dropping in and dropping a child on their doorstep.
So that’s when she gave her to you guys. Unfortunately, the girl came to you guys within no name. Thinking that “brat” or “wench” was her name which enraged you both and broke your heart at the same time.
So you and Sirius gave her a name and officially adopted her. The name given to her was Lysithea, Lysithea Artemia Black. Since you were big on meanings for names, as you helped the poor child have a proper bath for probably the first time in years you told her the meaning behind her name. With her nickname being Thea. Lysithea meant delivered by the gods, and you joked (inwardly you were very serious) that she was delivered to you and Sirius by the gods and was your “gift from Artemis” the moon goddess. All the while reassuring her that she was safe her and protected and that no one would ever hurt her again. Upon hearing this, Lysithea broke down into body shaking sobs and as you rocked her back and forth repeating the words that she was safe now and shes gonna be ok.
Lysithea was tiny for her age. Sporting the signature Black family look of long dark black hair and silver grey eyes. She had numerous bruises and cuts and was so malnourished her cheeks were sunken in and hollow, but after she continuous treatment and care under you and Sirius she opened up. To help her recover faster, at your suggestion, you had her see a therapist for children to help her cope with the big changes in her life. And it paid off entirely as she began to open up and be more vulnerable around both you and Sirius.
You and Sirius made a vow to not treat her like an outsider and do everything in your guys power so that she is best acclimated to any environment she chooses to pursue. Be it staying with the wizarding community or going off to explore the muggle world.
That being said, you enrolled her in the best muggle school money could offer as well as any muggle extracurricular activities that she might enjoy. Out of the many she tried, she really loved martial arts and gymnastics. Martial arts so she would never feel defenseless again, which James gave her some enchanted brace knuckles which could dent steal with a single punch and Sirius gave her some heavy duty nun-chucks which were also enchanted as well as a self defense bracelet that was enchanted with lots of protection charms because she was his first baby girl, and he’d be damned if anything happened to her. Never again.
Both of you made it a point to show up to her martial arts meets or gymnastics meets every single time. If both of you couldn’t make it someone from your tribe (Lily, James, Remus, Dorcus, Regulus, Mckenna, Andromeda) would come in y’all’s place. Often times carrying over the top banners and signs to cheer her on loudly.
Now were their times when Lysithea felt insecure about not being able to do magic or depressed because she was a squib? Yes. But Sirius was quick to catch that and had a way with words in able to comfort her.
As for Polaris, Leo, and Regulus they were the most overprotective big brothers ever. Polaris even got in trouble at Hogwarts for knocking the wind out of Delphini (Bellatrix and Rudolph’s not voldemorts) oldest daughter for calling her “ex” sister a filthy squib. And while the school reprimanded him, secretly you sent him a letter saying that you were proud that he stood up for his sister.
As for Leo and Regulus (your son Regulus, let’s call him Andy) from the moment she came to you guys they showered her with gifts. Stuffed animals, sweets, toys, hugs, and just pure genuine affection. Since they were closer in age they told each other lots of secrets, and always reassured her that she was loved so much.
Narcissa also secretly engaged with her too. Sending letters with muggle money tucked into the folds of birthday cards or small packages filled with treats or stuffed animals. It was her way of showing that she still secretly cared.
To Lysithea she was a lucky girl who has two loving parents and three lovable protective older brothers.
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