Remain Nameless

Chapter 44

Hermione picked up her mobile. Never before had she needed to have the device constantly on her person, but she'd promised her friend to answer any and all concerns, day or night.

"You're famous," Sasha stated bluntly when Hermione answered. "You're a war heroine."

"One of many."

She'd fielded a call every night this week from Sasha. It seemed the other woman would spend her day reading some of the materials Hermione gave her, then would call Hermione in the evening with all the questions she'd stored up as she took in more information.

"Nice try, Hermione," said Sasha flatly. "But you helped end a war. You and two of your friends."

Hermione scowled into her mobile. "That's a massive oversimplification, but it unfortunately means I do attract rather a lot of attention in the wizarding public."

"Right, like I said," chuckled Sasha. "You're famous."

The first night's line of questioning began with the second wizarding war and the Battle of Hogwarts. Each night carried a different theme as Sasha studied the different facets of recent and ancient magical history.

The third night's topic was blood hierarchy.

"This pureblood shite... is this actually real? People really believe all this? This is barking, truly."

"Very real," Hermione affirmed sadly.

"I'm... I'm tired of this. Theo and I... we've already had the hard conversations about skin color but I just..." she sighed and seemed to hesitate before asking, "How did you and Draco move past the blood issue?"

Her question caught Hermione off guard and stunned her silent for a moment.

"I read about his family too," confessed Sasha. "I know why he and Theo are friends."

"We've talked about it," divulged Hermione. "At length. You should do the same with Theo if you're up to it. It takes a lot of mental and emotional fortitude to overcome that type of brainwashing, but if you allow Theo to tell you his story, you can decide for yourself if that's enough for you."

The fifth night's topic was magical genealogy and inheritance of abilities.

"If we have kids will they be like Theo?"

"You won't know until they're about 6 or a little older. It's impossible to know until they begin having instances of accidental magic and it won't be officially confirmed until they receive their Hogwarts letter."

"And if they're Muggle?"

"Then they will live just as fulfilling a life as their own mother," Hermione stated firmly. Sasha didn't respond for a few moments. "Thank you, Hermione."

On the sixth evening, Sasha called with a confession.

"I caved and called Theo. I wanted to hear it from him that... that being a Muggle doesn't matter to him. That he wanted me for me. That I'm not a rebellious phase or a fetish or a social experiment or... or... just a way to prove his horrible dad wrong. I wanted to know if we had kids and they didn't have magic... that he'd love them just the same. That it didn't matter if my blood or their blood wasn't 'pure.'"

"What did he say?"

"He said... well he said a lot of things... but he told me, 'You are pure in all the ways that truly matter.'"

Hermione thought she heard a quiet sniffle as Sasha said goodbye and hung up.

On the eighth night, Sasha called with a statement.