Chapter Text
Chapter One
June 1996
As Severus worked feverishly to save the young witch laid out before him, his mind submerged into a forbidden place bringing up memories of the goddaughter he had failed to keep safe so long ago.
"Draco, Lyra, don't wander too far!" Narcissa called out to the twins and the little girl turned and smiled at her parents and honorary uncle.
"Yes, Mama!" She said with her brother before they ran towards the playground.
"Dwagon, race!"
She put on an extra burst of speed, laughing at her brother's shout of protest as he chased after her.
Severus was not a man known for expressing emotion beyond distaste and indifference often, but a soft smile crossed his face at the sight of his godchildren enjoying the summer sun.
The scene shifted as the girl under his wand continued to slowly fade and his heart ached at the phantom feeling of lips brushing his cheek with the innocence only a toddler could possess.
The group ate lunch as he spoke with Lucius and Narcissa about the target that the Dark Lord had placed on the Potters because of their son who was so close in age to Draco and Lyra. Suddenly his little star piped up and joined the conversation.
"Uncle Sev keep safe?" Lyra asked, her caring heart showing through in the simple question and expression of complete trust in him.
Severus smiled sadly at her as he said softly, "I am going to try Lyra, but this friend of mine and I haven't been able to talk to each other for a couple of years. We had a fight and I said some not nice things."
She stood and walked over to him, sitting down in his lap and looking at him very seriously as she spoke.
"You my favwite Uncle Sev."
"Oh?" said Lucius in a teasing voice. "So Uncle Sev is the favourite and not your Papa?" Lyra turned in his lap to look at her father.
"Shhh papa, Uncle Sev my favwite right now. He sad. If you sad then you favwite."
She turned back to her Godfather and kissed his cheek before climbing off his lap and smoothing down her skirt.
"May I be escused? Wanna see the roses."
"Yes princess, just make sure you can always see us or Flopsy," Lucius said and she kissed his cheek before she scampered off towards the maze of rose bushes excited to see her favourite flower, the nanny elf trotting along behind her.
Hermione’s vitals began to crash and Severus grit his teeth against the heartbreak from the memory that was brought to the surface.
“Lyra! Flopsy! Lyra! Flopsy!” Narcissa called, her face growing more and more concerned as the nanny elf failed to appear and the little girl failed to answer her mother’s call.
“Lyra!” Lucius shouted, breaking out into a sprint towards the flowers she had been near just moments before.
“Cissa, take Draco home. I’ll stay with Luc and look for little star.”
Cissa nodded at him and clutched Draco to her chest as she ran towards the alcove they had all apparated into. Severus spun on his heel and saw his best friend on his knees, his face twisted with anger and despair as he clutched the hair-bow Lyra had been wearing tightly in one fist, the cold body of the house elf lying next to him on the ground.
“She’s gone,” Lucius bit out through clenched teeth. “My baby girl is gone and Salazar help whoever took her from me.”
Severus occluded his mind from his own emotions and gently took the velvet bow from Luc’s hand. He cast every detection charm he knew, every tracking spell, anything that could be used to help locate little Lyra. Every spell fell flat and as each one continued to fail Sev’s heart sank further and further.
Whoever had taken Lyra had kidnapped her the muggle way. They knew enough about her family to know they would rely on magic first and the Muggle authorities second and he felt like a fool for not immediately contacting the police.
He pulled Lucius up from the ground and looked his oldest friend in the eye as he vowed, “We’ll find her Luc. We’ll never stop looking until we have answers and when we find who did this, we’ll make them pay. I don’t care if it’s the Dark Lord himself. Go home and hold your wife and son. I’m going to go to the muggle police station and submit a missing child report.”
Lucius nodded curtly and spun on his heel. Severus growled under his breath and headed off, praying they would soon have answers.
Three weeks passed and the muggle authorities had zero leads. Lucius retreated into himself and became a strict and demanding father, emotionally unavailable to the only child he had left as he grieved the loss of his little girl. Narcissa poured herself into Draco, spending every moment she could with him and always encouraging him to send his magic out to Lyra, however futile the effort was, so she would know that her family was still searching for her.
Severus buried himself in his research, rarely leaving the lab he had constructed in the basement of Spinner’s End. He wore black as a continued reminder that the colour Lyra had brought into his life was gone, and until she was returned to them only the darkness kept him company.
Gregory couldn't stop pacing in the courtyard. He had known she would go with him, stupid Potter never listened to her when it really mattered. He had made it to the front left corner for what felt like the hundredth time and turned towards the school when Potter and his little gang came running through, the Headmaster and a few other adults wrapped around them in a fast moving cocoon. They entered the school and Greg wasted no time in following them, unable to stop the fear and anger from marring his face at the sight of his witch unconscious and bleeding in the arms of an Auror. He slipped in behind the group as they burst through the infirmary doors, startling Madame Pomfrey who came running from her office.
"This is a hospital wing not a - Merlin’s beard!" She gasped as the Auror laid Hermione on the nearest bed before shoving him aside to begin a series of diagnostic spells.
As the full body diagnostic materialised above Hermione’s body, Greg's shallow breathing rang in his ears as he watched a dark violet magic spread quickly through Hermione’s system.
"Kingsley, what happened to Miss Granger?" Madame Pomfrey's voice stayed calm, but her face betrayed her collected and in control tone of voice.
"Duel… Death Eaters… Department of Mysteries," Kingsly panted, trying to catch his breath.
Greg turned and left, sprinting through the castle until he reached the dungeon and banged on Professor Snape's door. It opened and he stood in the doorway panting, waiting for his Head of House to look up. When he did, Greg said "Department of Mysteries. Potter. She got hit. Madame Pomfrey needs your help."
Professor Snape's eyes hardened and he stood from his desk, robes billowing out behind him as he swept past Greg and into the hallway. They heard footsteps coming towards them and Greg ducked into the nearest classroom, just before he heard the voice of the werewolf who had once taught them.
"Severus, we need you in the hospital wing. Hermione was hit with an unknown curse."
"Colour?" Asked Snape sharply.
"Violet."
"Damn it."
Greg heard Snape's boots begin to run and he waited another ten seconds before casting a disillusionment over himself and running after the two wizards. If that was Snape's reaction to the colour of the spell, then he needed to be in the room to make sure he could lend whatever help necessary to save his witch.
Snape stormed in, Lupin on his heels, and made a beeline for the bed where Hermione lay as if dead. Greg could barely make out the short rise and fall of her chest and his anger at Potter grew.
Snape whipped out his wand with a snap and casted a series of charms over Hermione's body before snarling, "Dolohov, you mother fucker. Poppy we need to contain this and draw it out of her body or she won't live to see the dawn."
He began waving his wand over her body and chanting softly.
"Right everyone else out. No, not you Potter, you stay put. We need to discuss what's going on with your head. The rest of you don't have life threatening injuries so go to your dorms," Madame Pomfrey briskly dismissed everyone else and then joined her voice with Snape's.
Gregory kept a silent vigil from his corner of the room for the next two hours as Snape and Pomfrey worked tirelessly to contain and then hopefully expunge the Dark Magic still running through Hermione's system. They both were sweating and exhausted when they emerged from the curtains surrounding them and he hoped he would hear some kind of good news.
Snape levelled Potter with a scowl as he said, "Miss Granger is stable, and she is going to survive. I would ask what you were thinking but the answer is clearly that you chose not to use your brain at all.
“To survive such a malevolent homemade curse is nearly unachievable. And while she will in fact survive, your friend will carry a permanent disfigurement as thanks for your reckless behaviour. You need to tell me exactly what happened, now ."
"We went to the Department of Mysteries because I saw that Voldemort had Siri…Sirius and was torturing him for information about something he wanted," Harry said in a shaky voice.
"I should have listened to her, I should have checked to see where he was or gone to McGonagall and now I can't even tell her she was right.
"There were Death Eaters and Malfoy's dad was there and we all got into a duel for the prophecy and Hermione ended up battling one of them. She silenced him right before he shot that purple curse at her and then she collapsed."
Gregory watched as Snape pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Potter, if I have said this once I have said it a hundred times: you are a fool . You continue to run into situations that endanger the lives of the people you profess to care about. Situations that could make it so the Dark Lord would easily win this war because of your stupid arrogance."
Snape turned on his heel and stormed out, leaving Potter staring after him unable to respond. Greg took some satisfaction from seeing the wanker cut down a few wand lengths. He had full faith in his Head of House and knew that Hermione would have the best made healing potions in their world. If Snape said she'd recover, then she'd recover.
Taking solace in that knowledge, he settled into the nearest chair to bide his time until Potter either left or fell asleep. His witch was going to be alright and in a few hours he would be free to hold her.
As he walked back to the dungeons, Severus mentally compiled the extensive list of potions he needed to brew to give Miss Granger the optimum chance at as full a recovery as possible. To ensure he didn't give her anything she had allergies to, as well as more easily tailor the extensive list of potions she would need to be the most efficient and effective, Severus had taken a blood sample that he would look at in his lab. The Wizarding World largely discounted things like genetics and modern biology and it was to their detriment. Severus was not so foolish though, and had made sure to take samples of his friends' blood under the guise of working for the Dark Lord to help prove his propaganda that Pure Bloods were the most powerful.
Of course magic had a large part to play in the make up of a witch or wizard's DNA, which was why muggleborn students, such as Miss Granger, were almost always descended from a squib on one or both sides of their family. The inbreeding within the Sacred Twenty-Eight had occurred for so long now that most families only carried one child to birth if they were lucky. Two was a rarity. And multiple births, those had dropped to almost nonexistent, with only three sets of twins having been born in the last thirty years. The gene for magic was slowly dying out in Pureblood families from the lack of a wider genetic pool and as a result, the children's magical cores were smaller and weaker than in past generations, if at all existent.
As he walked into the lab, he briefly let his thoughts linger on one of those sets of twins who had been viciously torn apart just a few weeks before their second birthday. Draco and Lyra had been the blessing of a lifetime and Severus had worked tirelessly to make sure Narcissa was able to carry the pregnancy to term. She and Lucius had given him the honour of being the twins' Godfather. There wasn't a day that had passed since she had vanished that he hadn’t prayed for her return.
Back in the hospital wing, Harry stared morosely at the stark white curtains that hid his best friend from view.
You have to make it Hermione, he thought. You have to make it so I can grovel and then you can hex me into next week.
Harry succumbed to a fitful sleep but woke in the middle of the night when he heard a male voice behind Hermione's curtains, softly humming a tune he didn't recognize. He got off his bed and quickly walked over, throwing the curtain open to see who was interrupting Hermione's recovery. His jaw dropped at the sight of a still sleeping Hermione tucked against the broad chest of none other than Gregory Goyle - the bloke who had literally pulled her pigtails whenever he got the chance during their second year. He sputtered and was silenced when Goyle began to speak, his voice low and menacing.
"You fucking moron. Hermione is nearly dead, again , because you couldn't think with your head for two and a half bloody seconds and instead elected to ignore her judgement. Even after all she’s done for your sorry arse these last years!"
Harry closed his eyes and shook his head before opening them again.
"Right… so I'm not dreaming.
“What the fuck is happening? You were holding her hostage not even five hours ago in Umbridge's office! Why the hell do you suddenly care if she's going to live or die? She's just a filthy mudblood to you!" He hissed back and Goyle laughed bitterly.
"Oh, the high and mighty Saint Potter, judging us all from his ivory tower,” he jeered. “You know nothing of the life I have to lead and have no right to judge the choices I’ve been forced to make. We don’t all have Albus fucking Dumbledore and his ginger sycophants making sure we’re loved and wrapped in wool safe from the cruelty of the world.
"And though it’s none of your business, I have never thought of Hermione as anything less than brilliant. I thank Salazar every day for uncommon kindness and willingness to tutor me during fourth year.
“So take your fucking stones and throw them at someone else. I don't need your condemnation."
Harry watched in shock as Goyle adjusted his hold on Hermione so she was cradled more securely against him, his expression now one of worry as he pressed a soft kiss to her hair. Giving Harry a vicious glare he waved his wand and closed the curtains around Hermione's bed once more.
Unable to sleep, he made his way towards Gryffindor Tower and spotted Ron and Ginny coming his way. He waved off their questions and trudged up to his dorm, falling onto his bed and staring at the canopy until the sun came up. At breakfast he sat between Ron and Neville and explained the whole story to them and Ginny.
"I just don't understand it? How could she not tell us she was seeing someone?" He mused and Ron snorted.
"Not just anyone, bloody Goyle! A snake! Someone who wants to see her dead!"
Coming upon them in her trademark quiet and unassuming way, Luna hummed, "Hermione has built a life outside of your circle. Too often she’s been excluded and neglected. I imagine she has many more secrets than just loving Gregory that you all are not privy to."
The blonde plucked an apple from their table before turning to flounce away leaving the others looking guilty as the truth of her words struck chords with each of them. Then slowly with even more melancholy than had already existed inside them after the night prior, they slowly left the table. Neville leaving first to find Luna, followed by Ginny who silently gathered her bag as she mumbled, "I'm going to go visit her before classes."
Ron and Harry said nothing, each choosing to stare down at their plates instead before Harry decided for the , "We'll go see her before dinner.”
Ron just nodded in reply and the boys stood and left the Great Hall, still lost in thought about just how much they actually knew of Hermione after the last five years.
Down in the dungeons Severus was pacing in his office. After he reached his personal lab he had headed straight for his microscope to examine the new blood sample from Miss Granger. As he studied it he noticed a peculiar anomaly that he had only seen once in his near twenty years as a Master. It was specific to women from the Rosier line, and something he had become intimately acquainted with during Narcissa's pregnancy. There were only two children he could think of who this would have been passed on to. One had graduated from Hogwarts five years ago and was now a junior Auror and proud member of the Order of the Phoenix. The other was the goddaughter he hadn't seen since the day she was taken.