Chapter Text
“You’ve made not only front page in the British press but the international press as well.”Andromeda announced as she walked into Hermione’s office with Narcissa following behind her. Narcissa hesitated at the door then rolled her eyes at herself. Her father was dead. He couldn’t punish her for going into his office without permission. Although looking around Narcissa could barely recognize the room. It had been repainted in lighter colors, the curtains were open letting the sun shine brightly in the windows, there were numerous plants and what appeared to be a wall full of wands. Narcissa wondered what they were for when she caught sight of two very familiar ones. The Lestrange bothers’ wands were amongst many of what Narcissa now assumed were Death’s Eaters’ wands. She couldn’t believe how many of them were there. It made Narcissa wonder if Hermione killed all the wand owners or just collected them during the war. Based on the stories she heard of Hermione’s war time exploits she guessed it was from killing.
“What?”Hermione asked not looking up from the contract she was looking over.
Andromeda put the papers on the desk for Hermione to see the different headlines.”You are officially a fugitive.”
“What?”Hermione repeated as she looked at the papers Andromeda set in front her. The front page of each of the dozen papers had a wanted poster with her picture on it.”That isn’t a very flattering picture.”
“That’s your response to finding out that they want to arrest you for murder?”Narcissa thought Hermione would at least be concerned.
Hermione shrugged.”We expected this to happen.”
“Now that it has what are you going to do about it?”Andromeda asked.
“Fredrick by now has already released my statement to the press. As matter of fact I bet that we will be getting a couple special editions from various newspapers by the end of the day.”Hermione told them.
“What statement?”Narcissa hadn’t been told about a statement.
“The statement that I wrote that accuses the ministry of a witch hunt. They have no evidence against me and I have an alibi. An alibi that my beautiful girlfriend provided me. Thank you for that by the way my love.”Hermione hadn’t expected Andromeda to come to her defense but appreciated it.
Andromeda waved off the thanks.”I’m just happy that I can officially claim you. It won’t stop all your admirers from pursuing you but it will give me the excuse to fight them if I have to.”
“You aren’t going to have to fight anyone. I am completely devoted to you and Bella.”Hermione didn’t even give anyone a second glance except for Narcissa. That being something Andromeda and Bellatrix encouraged.
“Do you seriously think a statement to the press is going to make them drop the charges?”Narcissa didn’t understand why she was the only one who seemed worried.
“Of course not. It will however put the ministry under a microscope. They will have to be very careful with how they handle this. If they don’t do everything by the book the public won’t take it well. They are probably already showing their displeasure in front the ministry building.”Hermione wouldn’t be surprised if there was already a crowd of protesters in front of the ministry.
“How are you going to stop this from getting violent?”Andromeda knew that the public was not going to take Hermione being arrested well.
“If things get out of hand I’m going to deploy the big guns.”Hermione told her.
“What do you mean the big guns?”Narcissa asked.
“You aren’t?!”Andromeda didn’t think Hermione would be so reckless.
“Oh but I am.”Hermione said.
“What are you going to do?”Narcissa wasn’t sure what to make of the look of horror on Andromeda’s face.
“You need to think this through.”Andromeda wanted Hermione to think before she acted.
“I have thought it through and if the ministry decides not to play nice then I will put the plan in motion.”Hermione wasn’t going to be dissuaded.
“What do you mean?”Narcissa was getting frustrated with the lack of information that was being said.
“If the ministry decides to throw their power around then I am going to shut down Wizarding Britain starting with London.”Hermione told her.
“What do you mean shut down Wizarding Britain?”Narcissa asked.
“I am the people’s champion. All I have to do is ask and the public will go on strike. Public transportation would come to a halt. Stores and restaurants wouldn’t open. Everything that goes into running our country would just stop. I could make it so everyone’s house elves refused to work. Even if they were owned.”Hermione explained.
“You have that much power?”Narcissa wasn’t sure if she believed Hermione could do that.
“Yes she has that much power which is why she needs to think this through.”Andromeda didn’t want Hermione to do anything that drastic if she didn’t have to.
“I’m not going to jump the gun but if the ministry pushes too hard then I will have no other choice.”Hermione said.
“What are you going to do in the mean time?”Narcissa knew that Hermione wouldn’t just let it escalate without getting involved.
“I’m going to monitor the situation. I expect them to send people out to try and track me down but even if people knew where I was they wouldn’t tell anyone.”Hermione wasn’t worried about be being found. The people who knew where to find her were extremely loyal.
“Dora mentioned that she thought people were going to get hurt if you weren’t found soon.”Andromeda said.
“If they actually hurt anybody it will just piss the public off more. Not that I want anyone to get hurt it would help my cause.”Hermione didn’t want anyone to be injured because of her that didn’t deserve it but it was bound to happen.”And if someone actually did get hurt I would take care of all their medical needs and have Fredrick sue the ministry for misconduct.”
“You’re right that would help the cause.”Andromeda knew it would make the public even more angry at the government.
“Are you going to turn yourself in if things get our of hand?”Narcissa asked.
“If it gets to a point that I need to step in I’m going to have Fredrick reach out to the ministry to negotiate a surrender agreement.”Hermione told her.
“What exactly does that entail?”Narcissa had never heard of such a thing before.
“He will bring a list of conditions I have that the ministry will have to agree to legally before I turn myself in.”Hermione explained.
“Do you honestly think they will honor any agreement they made with him?”Andromeda didn’t think the ministry would stick to any promises they made.
“They will because Fredrick will release the conditions to the press and present them with the paperwork as proof the ministry agreed to everything. That way if they try to renege the public will know and will be angry about. Something the ministry does not want to happen.”Hermione wasn’t worried about the ministry. Even if they tried anything Hermione had more than enough power to get out of trouble.”What is the ministry saying about the crime?”
“They are saying that you snuck in to the prison holding Draco and Lucius and killed them. They are using the fact that you admitted to breaking in to visit Bella and that you are the new Malfoy Head of Household as proof.”Andromeda could tell that even the reporters who were not supposed to pick a side were unimpressed with the lack of evidence.
“Of course they wouldn’t mention that the killing curse came from each of their own wands or that they found those wands in each of their hands when they found the bodies.”Hermione should have taken pictures and released them to the press. She would have if she didn’t think it would have upset Narcissa.
“What exactly did you and Bella do?”Narcissa hadn’t originally wanted to know but with the ministry trying to convict Hermione of the crime she wanted to make sure they covered their tracks.
“What do you want to know?”Hermione asked.
“Everything.”Narcissa said.
“Alright first I took Bella to Draco’s cell. There Bella used the cursed dagger she used on me to slice his ear off.”Hermione told them.
“How did she get that dagger? I thought it was lost during the war.”Andromeda didn’t think the dagger had been located.
“I stole it from her during the rescue from Malfoy manor and kept it.”Hermione shrugged a the looks of disbelief she was getting from the sisters.”I had a feeling it was cursed and I would need it to heal my wound.”
“Of course even when you had been brutally tortured and in the middle of a daring rescue you would focus on the dagger.”Andromeda wasn’t sure why she was surprised. Hermione was always ahead of everyone. She would have thought about the future even if she had been brutalized within an inch of her life.
“It was one of things that I focused on during the torture that kept me sane.”Hermione told her.
“What do you mean?”Narcissa asked.
“While the three were woking me over I focused on the spells and instruments they used to inflict the pain. I knew we were going to be rescued and wanted to make sure that when we were that I had a way of undoing the damage. It was because I did that I was able to tell Fleur what was done and she and her mate were able to heal me as much as she could.”Hermione explained.
“I can’t believe you could focus on anything other than the pain.”Narcissa may not have watched the incident but she had heard Hermione’s screams and the names of the curses that Bellatrix, Lucius and Draco had cast. Narcissa didn’t know anyone who would have been able to think of anything other than the pain.
“I knew if I gave up all would be lost because their was no way Harry and Ron would have been able to defeat Tom without my help. That’s what got me though when I wanted to give up. I thought of all the people who would suffer if I failed. People like me and anyone else that wasn’t a pure blood. Giving up wasn’t an option because if I did I would be leaving all of them to a fate worse than death and I wasn’t going to do that.”That was the reason Hermione kept fighting. She didn’t want Tom to win and many innocent people to be forced into slavery or killed.
Narcissa stared at Hermione in shock.”Even then you knew that you were the one who was going to win the war for us?”
“It was quite obvious from all the meetings I attended with the order and dealing with Dumbledore and his vague instructions to Harry that no one was really focused on how to win. They were all focused on being a hero and making a name for themselves. Even Dumbledore when he went off to get the horcrux and tried to destroy it himself. The order was just as bad. Every meeting they would fight over what missions to go on and who would lead them and when they weren’t arguing with each other they sat around telling stories of their heroic deeds in the first war. I knew that I was the only one smart enough and driven enough to defeat Tom because I didn’t need anyone but myself to do it.”Hermione told her.
“I remember Dora’s frustration with the Order. She would complain about them constantly.”Andromeda had been forced to listen to many of her daughter’s rants about how things were run and the very little that got done.
“I had actually considered including Nymphadora in my plans but she was to blinded by her loyalty to the order.”Hermione thought that Nymphadora would have been a big help but she couldn’t be trusted due to her dedication to those in charge of the light side.
“I didn’t know that.”This was the first time Andromeda had heard that Hermione considered her daughter’s help.
“Nymphadora is an extraordinary person and very talented. If she ever shook off her blinders and realized that they world wasn’t so black and white she could be a great leader.”Hermione truly believed that and not just because she was trying to suck up to her girlfriend.
”Unfortunately that will likely never happen.”Andromeda expected Nymphadora to fight Hermione tooth and nail. The girl was to stubborn to admit she was wrong.
“Regardless get back to what was done to Draco.”Narcissa wanted to know what happened to her son and husband. Talking about the other stuff was just heightening her fear that Hermione was going to be put in prison.
“After Bella sliced off his ear I suggested because he didn’t really react that much that she should carve him like she carved me.”Hermione said getting back to the story.”She of course thought that was an excellent idea and proceeded to remove Draco’s shirt and carve a message on his torso.”
“What message?”Narcissa asked.
“Two words. Pureblood asshole.”Hermione smiled when Andromeda laughed.
“That is very fitting.”Andromeda thought that was the perfect thing to write on the boy.
“She carved the same thing on Lucius as well.”Hermione wasn’t surprised that the ministry didn’t mention that part to the public.
“What did she do after she carved Draco?”Narcissa thought the same as her sister. It was the perfect thing to write on the pair.
“I used the crucio curse on him for a little while then I used his own wand to cast the killing curse. After that Bella posed his body so that the wand was in his hand and anyone who checked his cell would see him.”Hermione wondered if she should eventually steal both men’s wands to add to her collection.
“What did you do to Lucius?”Narcissa wanted to know how Hermione broke her hand.
“When we got to Lucius’ cell he was cowered on the floor in a puddle of piss.”Hermione smiled again when not only Andromeda laughed but Narcissa as well.
“He always a cowered.”Narcissa would have loved to see her brute of a husband cowering before Hermione and Bellatrix. She might even ask Hermione for the memory later.
“Well that cowered decided that I wasn’t much of a threat when Bella and I decided that I would beat him with my fists before we killed him.”Hermione told her.
“Yes let’s get to why you decided to beat the man instead of using your wand.”Andromeda was extremely upset with both Hermione and Bellatrix for deciding that. Hermione for being reckless and Bellatrix for encouraging it.
Hermione slouched down in her chair a bit seeing the glare Andromeda gave her.”Well he was running his mouth about how powerful he was so I thought that I show him how a muggle born could put him in his place using muggle means.”
“Did he hurt you other than your hand?”Narcissa asked.
Hermione shook her head.”After the first punch he went down to the ground barely conscience. I then got on top of him and beat his face in. It was when I punched his jaw a little to hard I broke my hand along with his jaw. That’s when Bella took over.”
“And what did Bella do.”Andromeda was happy that at least Hermione was smart enough to stop hitting Lucius after hurting her hand.
“She carved the same message on him as she carved on Draco, hit him with the crucio curse then I cast the killing curse from his own wand. After he was dead Bella posed him then I took her back to her cell and came home.”Hermione was still kicking herself for not cleaning herself up before coming home.
“Killing them with both their wands will give you a good defense as to how it wasn’t you who killed them.”Andromeda thought it was a good move to use the wands.
“How did you get their wands not to fight you?”Narcissa was surprise that Hermione was able to get the wands to follower her instructions as wands were very loyal.
“I created a spell that can change a wand’s loyalty to the person who cast it.”Hermione had created the spell during the war to use in case she ever lost her own wand and needed to use someone else’s.
”I wonder why no one tried to create a spell like that before.”Andromeda thought such a spell would have been thought of centuries ago as it was rather useful.
Hermione shrugged.”I don’t know but it came in very useful during the war. Especially when freeing prisoners that didn’t have wands.”
“I didn’t even think of that.”Narcissa hadn’t even considered that any prisoners wouldn’t have wands to defend themselves. Hermione’s spell probably turned the tide in many of her rescues.
“Anyway now you know what Bella and I did and that the ministry has no proof either of us was involved.”Hermione said.
“The fact that you didn’t cast the killing curse from your wands proves that but how are you going to explain casting an unforgivable?”Andromeda asked.
“One of the projects Bella and I worked on was trying to figure out a way to make our wands not record what spells we cast with it. So even if we were the ones to kill them no one would ever be able to tell as our wands don’t record anything.”Hermione explained.
“Merlin.”Narcissa was very happy that Hermione never joined the Dark Lord’s side because if she had teamed up with Bellatrix the man would have been able to take over the world.
“So as you can see the ministry has no evidence nor will they find any to convict me. Even my injury is healed.”Hermione wasn’t worried about the ministry being able to convict her.
“Your plan seems full proof.”Andromeda was impressed that the pair put something so genius together so quickly. Even if beating Lucius was stupid.
“And if the ministry tries to falsify the cause of death or anything of the sort I will have the elves steal the original reports and release them to the press.”Hermione told them.
“That’s a very good idea. Maybe you should do that before the ministry tries anything.”Narcissa thought getting ahead of the ministry would be the best plan.
Hermione thought it over for a minute.”You may be right. I was only going to put out my statement but it would be good to show the public how little they have right away. It would also cause terror to the other pure blood families when they found out what was carved on them just like Bella wanted.”
“They will be calling for you your head once they find out.”Andromeda expected that the pureblood families were going to be trying to use all of their influence to get Hermione put in prison.
“You should think about hiring extra security for the manor and to take with you whenever you travel.”Narcissa suggested.
“Narcissa’s right. We all known that those families are evil enough to sent people to try and kill you and anyone associated with you.”Andromeda said.
“Then the pair of you need to make sure you have guards with you as well.”Hermione could easily take care of herself but knew that the extra security would make both women feel better so she would go along with.
“After coming forward as your girlfriend I was planning on it anyway.”Andromeda wasn’t stupid. She knew telling the public about her relationship with Hermione would garner her a lot of attention some of it not good.
“I honestly don’t think I will ever not want have security with me after everything that’s happened.”Narcissa didn’t think she would ever be completely safe in public because there were most likely people out there that blamed her for something one of her family members did.
“Well you have plenty of loyal guards that will happily volunteer to keep you safe.”Hermione said.
“And I can’t thank you enough for that.”Narcissa knew that it was only because of Hermione that she had that protection.
Hermione waved off the thanks.”You are member of my house and someone I consider a good friend. Keeping you safe is the least I can do.”
“Still thank you.”Narcissa was touched that Hermione considered her a friend as she knew that Hermione didn’t let many people close to her.
“Now then I need to get a message out to the elves to get the reports about Lucius and Draco’s deaths and deliver them to the press and look over some paperwork then I’m done for the day. What are the pair of you up to?”Hermione asked.
“We hadn’t really planned anything.”Andromeda told her.
“Well would you be opposed to spending some time with me? I can show Narcissa the treehouse.”Hermione suggested.
“I would like that.”Not only was Narcissa interesting in seeing the treehouse but she would gladly spend time with Hermione.
“I would to.”Andromeda was going to use the opportunity to play matchmaker with Narcissa and Hermione.
“Then let me get to work and I will come find you when I’m finished.”Hermione would hurry though her work so she would get as time with the pair as possible.
“Is there anything we can help with?”Andromeda asked.
Hermione thought over what she had to do.”Actually would both of you mind looking over the different muggle properties I was looking into and give me your opinion on if they are worth buying?”
“We can do that.”Andromeda was more than happy to help Hermione pick out a new home.
“These are just the ones that the real-estate agent thought would fit what I was looking for best.”Hermione handed Andromeda a folder.
“We will take these to the library so you can have some quiet while you work.”Andromeda knew if she and Narcissa stayed in Hermione’s office the young witch would be to distracted by their presence to get anything done. The fact that Andromeda so easily caught Hermione attention made her feel very smug. Then again it would make anyone feel smug if someone like Hermione was as drawn to them as Hermione was to Andromeda.
“Thank you sweetheart.”Hermione happily returned the kiss Andromeda gave her.
“It’s no problem. Just come find us when you are done.”Andromeda said as she gave Hermione a hug and led Narcissa out of the room.
“Why is Hermione buying a muggle estate?”Narcissa asked.
“When Hermione was growing up she loved learning about history. Her favorite was anything to do with Italy. I don’t know if you much about the country but there are a lot of estates and buildings that have been neglected or abandoned that have historical significants. Now that Hermione has the resources she wants to use her money to fix some up and try to bring them back to their former glory.”Andromeda told her.
“She does have a lot of money.”Narcissa figured with just the Black family vault Hermione could more than afford to buy and fix up multiple muggle estates. Following after Andromeda to the library Narcissa thought about how different her life was now than it was a month ago. Never would she have imagined that she would be helping Hermione Granger of all people to pick out a muggle estate. Not only that but that she would be spending the rest of the day being introduced to the muggle world by that same person. Narcissa took stock of herself and was surprised that she actually really excited to get her first introduction to the muggle world. It was also kind of exciting that she was going to get to spend more time with Hermione. Narcissa of course would never admit that out loud to anyone. It was to embarrassing to tell anyone about the crush she had on the young witch. Narcissa credited that crush to the fact that Hermione had done so much for her. It was only natural to develop feelings for your personal savior and that’s what Hermione was to Narcissa. Her personal savior. Narcissa still wasn’t sure why Hermione had stepped up to take that role as she didn’t believe it was only because she was involved with her sisters. It didn’t really matter though. She would never act on her feelings. It would only make things awkward and Narcissa didn’t want to do anything to disrupt her life. It was too good to mess up. Even if she wished she could have a relationship with Hermione.