Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

139

Hermione stood in the middle of the room still confused at what had just happened when she heard voices down the hall. 

"What are you doing?" Sirius voice echoed. 

"Kreacher is cleaning. Kreacher lives to serve the noble house of Black," Kreacher replied. 

"Likely story. This house is still pretty filthy." 

"Master always liked his little joke-- Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart--" 

"My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher."

"Whatever Master says. Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother's boots, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was--" 

"I asked you what you were up to, Kreacher. Every time you show up pretending to be cleaning, you sneak something off to your room so we can't throw it out." 

"Kreacher would never move anything from its proper place in Master's house. Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if the tapestry was thrown out. Seven centuries it's been in the family. Kreacher must save it--" 

"I thought it might be that." Sirius voice said as he was moving closer where she was then popped his head in the door way, "She'll have put another-- Oh! Hello Hermione." He paused as he waved to her and she waved back before he turned to face Kreacher, "Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it, I don't doubt it. But if I can get rid of it, I certainly will!" 

Hermione could hear Kreacher mumbling under his breath as he scurried away. Sirius turned towards Hermione. 

"He's been alone too long. Taking mad orders from my Mother's portrait and talking to himself, but he was always a foul little--" 

"If you don't like him, why don't you set him free?" Hermione asked him. 

"We can't. He knows too much about the Order and he so much as meets up with just even one Death Eater, he wouldn't waste another moment in opening up our secrets to them." Sirius explained to her. 

"Well then you could be a bit nicer to him. He probably just doesn't know how to handle the house now being lively with people again, and with people he's been told his entire life are bad. He just needs a bit of adjustment. Like Winky did when Mr. Crouch fired her." Hermione advised Sirius. He merely shrugged his shoulders before changing the subject. 

"I see you've seen the Black Family Tree." Sirius said pointing at the tapestry. 

"Yeah-- but you're not on it." Hermione pointed out. 

"I used to be right there," Sirius pointing up to a small charred hole that looked like a cigarette burn, "My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home at sixteen-- Kreacher's quite fond of muttering the story under his breath." 

"Where did you go?" 

"James's place. Harry's grandparents were really good about it. They sort of adopted me as a second son. Yeah, I camped out at James's during school holidays, then went I was seventeen I got a place of my own. My Uncle Alphard had left me a decent bit of gold-- he's been wiped off here too, that's probably why-- anyway, after that I looked after myself. I was always welcome at Mr. and Mrs. Potter's for Sunday lunch, though." 

"Why did you leave?" 

"I hated the whole lot of them. My parents with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal... my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them... that's him." Sirius said pointing at the name of Regulus Black, "He was younger than me and a much better son as I was constantly reminded. He jointed the Death Eaters. The whole lot of them believed Voldemort was right. All for the purification of the Wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-Borns and having purebloods in charge." Sirius mumbled as he scanned the tapestry, "I haven't looked at this for years. I see Tonks isn't up there-- nor her mother, Andromeda. She was my favorite cousin. Her sisters are still up there. They had respectable pureblood marriages. But not Andromeda. She married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so--" 

"Sirius-- do you know if your family met any of mine?" Hermione asked him. He shook his head. 

"Couldn't tell you for sure. Why?" 

"Because Kreacher called me as the 'child of the Betrayer' and stated that I had some nerve of standing here in the House of Black after what that Ancestor had did. So I was wondering if maybe there was an incident that may have happened that you remember?" Hermione said. Sirius shook his head. 

"I'm not entirely sure. I think maybe the only person that knows would be Kreacher. You might want to ask him about that," Sirius advised her. 

During dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley proceeded to explain what Hermione and Harry were going to do for tomorrow. 

"Arthur will be taking you two to work with him. Arthur has been chosen to sit in on Hermione's interview along with another official the Ministry has chosen. We don't entirely know who it is." Mrs. Weasley explained to them. 

"You two can wait in my office till we send Harry to the hearing then Hermione I will walk with you to the interview room." Mr. Weasley suggested to them. Harry glanced over to Sirius but Mrs. Weasley answered. 

"Professor Dumbledore doesn't think it's a good idea for Sirius to go with you and I must say I--" 

"--Think he's quite right," Sirius mumbled. 

"When did Dumbledore tell you that?" Harry asked, clearly upset Dumbledore had been here without seeing Harry. 

"He came last night, when you were in bed." Mr. Weasley said. 

Hermione woke up early along with Harry the next morning. Hermione dressed in a nice pair of sneakers with jeans and a blue blouse. She didn't want to seem like she was dressing for Barty, but at the same time, she didn't want to look terrible. Hermione and Harry proceeded down to the kitchen for some breakfast. She had expected it to be empty but was stunned to find Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Lupin and Tonks all sitting around the table like they were waiting for them. 

"Breakfast?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she proceed to the fire. 

"M-m-morning you two," Tonks yawns, "sleep all right?" 

"Yeah." Harry answered for them. 

"I've b-b-been up all night. Come and sit down," Tonk said with another yawn. Hermione and Harry sat down beside Tonks as Mrs. Weasley asked what would they like for breakfast. Harry asked for toast as Hermione for a simple muffin. 

"What were you saying about Scrimgeour?" Lupin asked Tonks. 

"OH! Yeah! Well, we need to be a bit more careful, he's been asking Kingsley and me funny questions..." 

Hermione drone out of the conversation as as Mrs. Weasley placed down a muffin and toast in front of them. Hermione tried to eat as much as she could but she felt nervous... and scared. She was going to face the man that had been hunting her down since second year. How would that not frighten her? 

"How are you two feeling?" Mr. Weasley soon asked them. Hermione and Harry merely shrugged. 

"Don't worry, this day will be all over soon." Mr. Weasley assured them, "I mean possibly not the last for you Hermione, but it will be for you Harry." 

"The hearing will be on my floor in Amelia Bones's office and the Interview will be down in a private room down with the old courtrooms. Amelia is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and she's the one who'll be questioning you." 

"Amelia Bones is okay, Harry," Tonks assured him, "She's actually fair and she will actually hear you out." 

"Don't lose our tempt," Sirius stated, "Be polite and stick to the facts." 

"The law's on your side. Even underage wizards are allowed to use magic in life-threatening situations." Lupin claimed. 

"And Hermione, remember what you were told. Keep the questions about the other person and You-Know-Who and their plans. Whoever this 'she' is, she may be trouble for us. And know he will probably try to get into your head, so do as best as you can to block him out." Mr. Weasley told her, before checking his watch, while Hermione nodded in understanding. 

"I think we'll go now. We're a bit early but I think you'll be better off there than hanging around here." Mr. Weasley stated to them. Hermione and Harry stood up as she finished her muffin. Everyone proceeded to wish them good luck as they leave through the front door.