The Last Gryffindor (Sirius Black)

Sequel Ch VIII

A/N
So this chapter ties back in with the second epilogue, more or less it follows directly after the events in THAT chapter and several months after the previous chapter where Snape has Caius sent back to Beauxbatons. For those who don't necessarily want to go back and read the second epilogue (though I recommend it) the TLDR is basically that the golden trio are at Grimmauld Place at the beginning of the Order of the Phoenix celebrating ron and hermione becoming prefects, when Moody gives Harry a picture of the old Order that included his parents. Harry has questions about some of the people Moody didn't mention in the photo so he asks Sirius and Remus.

Without further ado...

~*~*~*~*~*~

Just as Sirius was concluding his version of Aeliana Gryffindor's life, with intermittent assistance from Remus, who clarified and added details as the story progressed, Hermione crept up behind Harry, peering over his shoulder at the photo that brought the long story about.

Something like recognition sparked in her eyes as she took in the former Order of the Phoenix.

"Oh, this is interesting. That's your parents, isn't it?" she asked, tapping lightly at the black and white picture. "And that looks like Sirius, Remus, Pettigrew... Dumbledore is there, too, of course... And, if I'm not very much mistaken, that's Aeliana and Caius Gryffindor towards the middle, right?"

"How do YOU possibly know about the Gryffindor family and I didn't?" Harry spared her a sour side glance, agitated that Hermione, as with most things, knew something that he didn't.

She shrugged, not at all abashed by his obvious annoyance. "Hogwarts, A History," she replied simply, like it was the obvious answer. Maybe it was. "The family also comes up sporadically in History of Magic, if only you didn't use that class primarily to catch up on your sleep."

"Why didn't you mention it?"

She cocked her head. "Should I have? It hadn't seemed important until last year. And maybe if you actually read the book..." she trailed off, her point clear.

If Harry had been the sharper sort, he might have noticed her peculiar wording. Until last year...

"Leave it to Hermione to be privy to this obscure bit of recent history," Remus cut in amicably. "Clearly, she deserves her new prefect status. Congratulations again. I can think of no more suitable a witch for Professor McGonagall to choose."

She tried to wave away his compliments, her embarrassment apparent in the light dusting of pink spreading across her cheeks. "It's not that big of a deal. I doubt I could forget their faces after all the research I did on them."

Ron, coming over for another round of praise over his own unexpected rise to prefect status, exclaimed with an air of extreme disbelief, "Hermione? Doing research? Frankly, I am shocked."

"Be quiet, Ronald." Hermione continued to stare thoughtfully at the old photograph. "I didn't know she'd been a part of the Order, though I suppose it makes sense at this point of her life, since her family was still alive. I wonder if he knows... I'll have to send him an owl," she murmured, mostly to herself. Clearing her throat, she said matter-of-factly to the others, "I met her son, you know."

Harry had thought Sirius far too self-medicated by firewhisky to register anything beyond that brooding, far off place he'd gone to upon revealing the incomplete truth of his childhood friend, so Harry was surprised when his godfather let out a dismissive chuckle at her words, darkly edged and devoid of any humor. "That's impossible, Hermione. Lia had no children before she..." He struggled a moment to complete the thought, before abandoning it altogether. "She had no children."