The Ties that Lead to Trust

Chapter 22~ The Truth Hurts

After Severus’ revelation, Hermione had wanted immediate action, but was restrained. As much as she or Severus wanted to apparate back to the house and contact Kingsley, it would do nothing to ease her parents’ worries which at the moment seemed to be mounting exponentially. The doctors were waiting for the worst of the swelling to subside around the injury site before operating, so tomorrow would be soon enough to have an investigation come in. Hermione wanted to admit her grandmother to St Mungo’s that afternoon, but too many questions would be asked on both ends, and it was decided that she could stay where she was. By the time Grandma Brooks woke from the potion, everyone was too strained to want a visit. For manners sake, they stayed for a half hour longer and Hermione’s parents seemed relieved that the potion had worked as predicted. The old woman commented several times how she was completely free of pain and hoped to have another dose of the ‘miracle medicine’ to help her sleep that night. As they left, Severus ensured she had a full dose in her cup to drink that evening. Much to his embarrassment and surprise, she pulled him in for a kiss on the cheek and told him what a sweet young man he was. Despite the worry and tension that pervaded, Hermione barely stifled the giggle at the look of shock bordering on horror written on his face.

The car trip back to the house was completely and utterly silent. There wasn’t even a pretense of polite conversation. Once back inside the tidy Granger home, Mrs Granger put on the kettle and they sat around the kitchen table. Hermione wasn’t sure if giving everyone scalding tea was a good idea, but accepted the cup none the less. Unsure of how to start, she took a sip and burnt her tongue on the hot liquid. Her mother was looking at her intently, and her father was trying, but failing miserably, to keep an angry scowl from his face each time he looked at Severus. It was her mother who finally spoke. “Well dear, are you going to tell us what is going on?”

Hermione took a deep breath before beginning. “I’m not sure how to explain this all, so I think I had best start with our trip to Diagon Alley the summer before my second year at Hogwarts. Do you remember the horribly rude and arrogant man with the blonde hair Mr Weasley got into a fight with in the bookshop?”

“Yes,” her father said tersely, “What does any of this have to do with him?”

“Quite a lot actually. You see, he comes from an old and very wealthy wizarding family and his name is Lucius Malfoy. He has a lot of friends in high places at the Ministry of Magic because he gives money at the right time to the right people. He is also under the opinion that old wizarding families, purebloods, are superior to everyone else, magic and muggle alike. He hates muggles, people that have anything to do with muggles and particularly anyone with muggle families. He hates me especially,” she started to explain as tactfully as possible.

Her mother looked sad. “He doesn’t know you. Surely he doesn’t hate you.”

“Don’t fool yourself, he is a perfectly evil man. And by evil I mean that to the fullest extent of the word. About thirty years ago now, there was someone who tried to take control of the magical world. You probably remember the papers rattling on about unexplained deaths and serial killers, but in fact it was a man named Voldemort and his followers,” Hermione placed a hand on Severus’ when he shuddered at the name. “It’s only a word now.”

He nodded and she continued. “During this time, Lucius became a follower of the Dark Lord and did horrendous things to witches and wizards who wouldn’t side with him and tortured and killed muggles for sport. My friend Harry was just a baby when the Dark Lord killed his parents and tried to kill him, but the curse didn’t work and rebounded on V-Voldemort. Everyone celebrated because they thought he was gone, and Lucius, the slippery snake he is, put money in the right places and covered his tracks. Everyone with power at the ministry believed that he was innocent of any allegations brought against him.”

Both of her parents looked like they were about to interrupt, but she kept talking. “Lucius didn’t stop being a horrible bigot, and raised his son to be one as well. He hates me for a great number of reasons. Firstly for my friendship with Harry and the Weasleys, but also because I always beat Draco’s grades by a healthy margin. More recently he despises my role in the war that finally did defeat the Dark Lord.”

“What war?!” both her parents exclaimed.

“Well that is a bit of a tale... um.... I think I’ll start with the diary... That probably will give you the best idea of how all this came about. You see, after Lucius fought with Mr Weasley in the bookstore...” and Hermione began to pour her story out. Years of secrets, omissions and lies began to tumble out as she explained the real events of her time away from home. Her mother gasped when she told the part about being petrified by the Basilisk and her father shouted when she explained the incident at the Department of Mysteries, but both were completely silent when she described the last battle at Hogsmeade and the truth about Ron’s death.

As she talked, Hermione felt tears spring up behind her eyes and roll down her face unchecked. Telling this part of the story was hard, but she hadn’t yet gotten around to mentioning Act 275 and how Lucius fit into the situation. After stopping for a moment to compose herself, she fisted away the tears and took a steadying breath. “Unfortunately, that isn’t everything. In the middle of all this chaos, Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge receives a report from St Mungo’s Hospital Research Team that incidents of squibs, non magic children born to magical parents, stillbirths and barren children are on the rise. The report suggests a publicity campaign and government incentive program to encourage young men from old, pureblood families to marry women of mixed or muggle parentage. Fudge, who never does stupidity by halves, pushed through a highly controversial and perfectly primaeval bit of legislation against all advice during the fall before last. Marriage Act 275 forces all muggle born or half muggle witches and all pureblood wizards between the ages of eighteen and seventy-five to marry following Ministry guidelines. Any who refuse lose their licence and have their wands broken.”

“Hermione-” her father said dangerously, but she interrupted him.

“Just wait until you hear it all before you get upset. When I used the time-turner during my third year, I not only did an atrocious amount of homework and classes, but I also added time to my life. Nearly a year. The reason I was able to get my apparation licence so soon was because in the eyes of the Ministry I was already of age. When Act 275 came out that fall, I knew I would be subject to it. Ron would have been too, so we decided to help each other out if the law didn’t get rescinded. So many people, muggle born and pureblood alike were angry with it, but when people refused to comply wands were broken and licences were revoked. Those who turned eighteen and were still in school were given a ten month grace period. Even though I had an extra year of school to complete, my grace period was still only ten months, which expired at the beginning of September. I was sent an official advanced warning in August, so I wrote the Headmaster to see if there was anything he could do to help me,” the dangerous look on her father’s face had grown more frightening as she continued to talk.

She winced when he pushed away from the table and stood up. It wasn’t often that her quiet, fun loving father raised his voice, but when he did it was something to behold. “Are you telling me that HE-” a finger pointed at Severus, “was what your Headmaster came up with?! That hardly seems like help to me!”

Emily Granger put a hand on her husband’s arm to try to calm him, but he shook it off. Severus had stood as well and he was leaning over the table menacingly. “And what, precisely would have been a better solution? Have her flee the country? Break her wand?”

“Better to lose her wand than her freedom!” Greg Granger boomed.

“Freedom to lose everything she has accomplished?! Do you have no idea of how brilliant and talented Hermione is? There hasn’t been a student with her abilities at the school since the Dark Lord himself attended!” Severus’ voice was not dark and menacing, but loud and angry, not unlike the way it had been the night Sirius had escaped so many years ago, Hermione noticed.

“And I suppose you would know, being her teacher. Clearly your Headmaster lacks common morals!” her father yelled back.

Hermione felt a flash of anger, stood and pushed her father away from Severus. “Don’t insult Albus Dumbledore! You have no idea how difficult all this is! Would you rather I became a slave to Lucius Malfoy?! Would you rather HE owned me?!?”

“What does he have to do with any of this?” her father snapped angrily.

“Before I was able to meet with Professor Dumbledore a letter arrived with a petition from Lucius Malfoy on behalf of his son. Malfoy has been playing this act to his advantage. He is trying to look all compliant with it so that his Death Eater charges won’t stand up in court. He still hates me, but he knew that by backing this controversial bill the Ministry and all the people he can buy look favourably upon him. By using me it gives him the added bonus of being able to ruin my life, because under magical law a woman’s rights may be revoked by her husband. I would have likely been removed from school, locked in a house, raped and tortured. Is that better?” she wasn’t yelling, but the rage in her voice was clearly evident.

Her father seemed to be at a loss for words and Mrs Granger used it as an opportunity to clear the air. “I think we all need to calm down. Hermione, what happened when you met with the Headmaster?”

Severus seated himself again and Hermione shot an angry look at her father. “He told me that my options were to leave the country, either for France or the United States, where I could finish school but likely not be able to ever return home, leave behind magic, wait and hope for better luck when my name was put in a lottery after the grace period, or find someone who could file an official proposal. Two of Ron’s brothers offered, but I couldn’t do that. I didn’t want to use them as a stand in for Ron, so Dumbledore told me that perhaps Severus and I could come to an understanding. You see, he doesn’t have anyone who can submit a formal proposal though he is subject to the law. It would have been a lottery with no choice. It seemed agreeable enough to both parties. After all, neither of us wanted anything to do with the other.”

“And this is nothing to do with each other?” her father shot at them.

Her mother took his hand, “Now Greg, what’s done is done. I’m not happy about this either, but there is no sense getting angry at her. Clearly its not either’s fault. What I do wonder though, is what all this has to do with my mother’s accident.”

Severus shook his head. “It was no accident. When a person suffers memory loss from a concussion or trauma they appear scarred or damaged but what I saw was a blockage. Neat and precise, indicative of a memory charm. Lucius Malfoy has been sending threats against myself and Hermione since the day we married. His son attacked her at school and was suspended for the term, but somehow he has been spying on us. A friend who works in law enforcement at the Ministry is looking into the matter and collecting evidence with the hopes we will be able to get a charge to stick. Lucius, however, is slippery. I’d like to contact Kingsley and have a healer from St Mungo’s look at your mother, Mrs Granger. The hip should be simple for them to fix, but the memory charm is not. I understand if you have reservations about magical medical professionals, but it would be impossible for a muggle doctor to give evidence in court.”

“Greg, this sounds very serious. If this is something that the doctors can’t deal with-” Mrs Granger began but was cut off.

“Fine! I can see it doesn’t matter what I think. See if magic can get you out of this one!” He shouted and stormed out of the room. A few moments later the front door slammed, shaking the pictures on the wall, then all was quiet.

“Oh dear,” Hermione gasped. “This is all my fault.”

Severus put an arm around her quivering shoulders. “It isn’t. Place blame where it belongs.”

She shook her head and tears began to run down her face again like tiny rivers. “If I had been honest to begin with, none of this would have happened.”

“If you had told us everything when it happened, we would have pulled you out of Hogwarts long ago,” her mother stated, “but I know you would have hated us for it. I’m terribly upset that you felt you couldn’t tell us, yet it was the kind of logical choice I expect from you.”

Hermione looked at her mother in shock. “You must be so very angry.”

“Your father is angry enough for the both of us. I may not condone your decision, but I can understand it and when your father has time to calm down and think about it, he will too.”

“Everything started so small... I told myself that if you didn’t ask, it would be alright if I didn’t say anything. At first it was just omitting things and little fibs, but the little lies became bigger ones and they got away from me like a snowball rolling down a hill. Every year I promised to come clean, but then things would get worse and I just couldn’t bear to. I was going to tell you everything after the war ended, but then the act...”

Hermione felt someone take her hand and pull her into a hug. Hermione clung fiercely to her mother and cried until she was spent. When the tears subsided, her mother said, “Best go have a bit of a rest. I should put something on for lunch. Your father is bound to be chilled by the time he has calmed down enough to come home.”

Severus had been edging towards the living room door, feeling like an intruder, and said quietly, “Perhaps I should go.”

Both women turn to him and said emphatically, “Don’t!”

Hermione smiled weakly and her mother suggested, “Why don’t you show him where the guest room is and take up your things. I’ll let you know when lunch is ready.”

“I rather think I have worn out my welcome,” he said.

Mrs Granger shook her head, “Greg might think so, but he is cross at the moment, and family is expected to overstay their welcome.”

“I’m not-” he started but was interrupted.

“You did marry Hermione, didn’t you? That was the impression Greg was under or I doubt he would have stormed off like that,” she asked.

“I did, but-”

Hermione’s mother extended a hand, “Well then, that would make you family whether we wish it or not. I suppose it is myself who has been rather rude in not offering congratulations.”

Severus took the hand cautiously, “Not the sort of first meeting one expects, is it?”

The woman smiled, “No, I don’t suppose, but hardly anything with my daughter has been what I expected.”

Watching the tentative gestures reminded Hermione of the first days of marriage with Severus. Tiptoeing around each other, testing boundaries. She could tell by the tension in her mother’s shoulders that she was far from pleased with the situation, but a handshake was a step in the right direction.
*********

Hermione’s father didn’t come home until late in the afternoon. Sitting quietly in her childhood room reading a dog-eared novel with Severus, she could clearly hear the conversation in the kitchen.

“Is THAT MAN still here?”

“Yes he is. They are upstairs reading, I think.”

“It takes some nerve to stay.”

“You’re right, it does take nerve. He stayed because I asked him to and because he is here for a reason.”

“What? Next you’ll tell me he knocked her up.”

“Gregory! That is an awful thing to say! It isn’t any of our business, but I don’t think she has...”

“Emily, I don’t want to hear it.”

“You should. You should hear how upset she is. I know you’re cross and I am too, but that doesn’t help matters. It must have been so difficult for her to keep all this from us, but it says something that she told the truth now. If they had arrived and she told us that the school insisted on a teacher as an escort would you have questioned it? He came because he cares about our daughter and she told us because she didn’t want to hide from us any longer.”

“She shouldn’t have lied in the first place. We brought her up better than that.”

“I agree, but at least try to see her side of things. Would you have done the same in her place?”

There was a long pause of palpable silence.

“How long is he staying?”

“I expect not past tomorrow. The medical person and the investigator will visit mother in the morning. Hermione said something about leaving straight from the hospital.”

“Hermione? Why is she leaving?”

“I’m not sure. You should ask her yourself. At the very least don’t let her go without clearing the air a bit.”

“I’m cold. What’s for dinner?”

Hermione sniffed and moved closer to Severus. Listening to her father had nearly started tears flowing all over again, but she held them back. The gentle arms holding her were such a contrast to the harsh words spoken downstairs. It seemed to her the world had been turned topsy-turvy. Until recently Severus had been the cruel, intimidating man who made her cry with his biting words and her father the epitome of soft words and kind action that was one of the few things she longed to come home for. Now her father was being harsh and unforgiving and she admitted she had been wrong about Severus. He had his reasons for being insufferable in public, but had been delightful to spend time with away from students and staff. She looked forward to the nights she spent with him, as they were easily the highpoint of her week.

A hand cupping her cheek interrupted her thoughts. “Are you alright?”

She nodded, “Just thinking.”

“He’s only angry because he cares. It’s in the tone of his voice,” he said quietly.

“I wish you didn’t have to hear all that shouting.”

“I’ve heard worse.”

“That’s why I wish you didn’t have to hear it now.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Hermione looked into his dark eyes. He looked so concerned. She traced a finger along one of the lines of his furrowed brow. “We can go home tomorrow.”

A brow raised under her finger. “You are home.”

“I don’t fit in here anymore,” she said shaking her head. “I realized that this summer. I’ve just been delaying the inevitable. I know you’re thinking it’s because of the fight, but it isn’t. Looking back, it started quite a while ago, little things that didn’t feel right. I want to go home with you tomorrow, to our Christmas tree and to enjoy what’s left of our holiday.”

He kissed the palm of her hand. “I’d like that. Despite everything, this has been the most enjoyable Christmas I can remember. I’m glad you stayed with me.”

She kissed him, searching for stability in the world spinning out of control around her. His lips were gentle, his mouth warm as it opened to her. It was nice to find security in what seemed like the most unlikely of places and she poured her emotions into the kiss. Severus held her tightly but allowed her to be in control. After several lingering kisses, she pulled back to look at him. Her eyes met a look of such tenderness she felt as if she might melt from the gaze. Placing a small peck on his cheek, she leaned closer and whispered in his ear. “I’m glad you asked me to stay. I’ve really enjoyed being with you and I’m looking forward to going back.”

Severus kissed her softly before they each returned to their reading and neither noticed any movement at the partially open door where Greg Granger had been listening to them.
*********