A/N – Welcome to my new Dark Hermione story. As I always do with these stories, I want to put a warning so that people who don't like Dark Hermione know what this story entails. As I said, it's a story where Hermione is dark so if people don't like that, I politely suggest that this story isn't for them.

For those who do like Dark Hermione stories, this is a pretty long one and it stands at a whopping 50 chapters. This story is a big AU with a lot of differences from the books, and a few characters alive who were dead in the books. It's also a fairly slow burning story with the majority of the action taking place over seventh year at Hogwarts and the summer leading up to it. The first few chapters deal with some back story, then we flick forward to the summer before seventh year and proceed from there.

Updates will be the usual dark days of Mondays and Fridays. I hope people enjoy Goddess of Vengeance as much as I enjoyed writing it.

In a large, darkened room a man silently cast several spells on the floor, creating a magical golden circle on the dark blue carpet. Stepping back to admire his handiwork the man known as Lord Voldemort turned to address the second man in the room.

"Well Lucius it's time, are you sure you want to go through with this?" He asked. "There's no going back once the spell is cast."

"I'm sure," Lucius Malfoy replied with a sharp nod of his head. "I can think of no greater honour than having my son bonded with your daughter."

Voldemort kept his private life separate from the rest of his life. While most people knew he was married very few people had met his wife. Even fewer people knew of his year old daughter, and apart from Lucius and his wife, Narcissa, no-one had even met her. It had only been in the last month or so that Voldemort had informed his inner circle of most trusted Death Eaters of her existence.

"Let's just hope the children agree when they're older," Voldemort said.

"I'm sure they will, Tom," Lucius said just as the double doors to the room swung open. The Malfoys and Voldemort's wife were the only people who dared to call The Dark Lord by his given name, and it was mark of how much he cared for all three of them that he allowed them to do so.

Voldemort and Lucius turned to greet the two women who had entered the room. Lucius's wife, Narcissa Malfoy, was a tall, elegant blonde woman while Voldemort's wife, Adelaide Riddle, was a petite brunette with long curly hair. Both women were carrying their children as they entered the room. Narcissa had hold of a sleeping four month old boy with a shock of white blond hair while Adelaide had hold of a squirming one year old girl with large brown eyes.

At the sight of her father the little girl in Adelaide's arms started to wriggle even more and call out for her daddy. Voldemort scooped his daughter out of his wife's hands and hugged her tightly as the four adults began discussing the upcoming ceremony. The ceremony was being held to bind the two children together for life, it meant that they would both do anything to protect the other one and that one day they would eventually marry. Both families had agreed that the bond would be beneficial to both parties as it ensured their children would always have someone who would protect and love them, not to mention the two families would be linked permanently and would become a force to be reckoned with in the wizarding world.

Voldemort was already known to be one of the darkest wizards of his time and was feared by a lot of the wizarding population. Lucius was his right hand man in private but in public he had a respectable business empire and substantial influence at The Ministry for Magic. While both men knew they already had a lot of power they felt that by combining their families they would be practically unstoppable in their pursuit of dominance over the wizarding world.

"Are we ready?" Voldemort asked, handing his daughter back to his wife.

Everyone nodded as Narcissa and Adelaide moved to place their children in the centre of the circle. Adelaide sat her daughter down and cast protective spells around her so she wouldn't fall, Narcissa did a similar thing with her son as she placed the sleeping baby beside the young girl. Once their children were safely ensconced in the circle both women returned to their respective husband's sides as the bonding ritual got under way.

G.O.V.

Albus Dumbledore stood at the head of a crowded table, holding his arms up in the air and calling for quiet. The Order of the Phoenix were having their weekly meeting and Dumbledore was ready to begin. He had formed The Order himself as a way to fight against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

"Thank you," Dumbledore said once the room was silent. "Tonight's meeting will just be a short one as there is only one thing to discuss. The upcoming attack against Voldemort."

"I'm still not sure attacking is the right option., Molly Weasley sighed.

"Attacking is our only option," Dumbledore said forcefully. "With the prophecy and the new information we have at our disposal we have to act now."

Nearly a year ago Dumbledore had discovered a prophecy but until recently it had made little sense to The Order. The prophecy spoke of a powerful girl, she was the spawn of the dark and brought with her wisdom and war. The Prophecy then went on to say the girl would rule the world with her dragon at her side.

The spawn of the dark immediately had The Order worrying about Voldemort procreating but until recently it was thought the dark wizard was childless. The Order knew he had a wife, even though she was rarely seen and very little was known about her but it was only in the last month that a captured Death Eater had mentioned that Voldemort was a father to a little girl named Athena.

The name of Voldemort's daughter had The Order worried as she was named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, both of which were mentioned in the prophecy. The discovery that Voldemort did indeed have a daughter was worrying enough for The Order but combined with an event a few months previously they were seriously worried. Four months ago one of Voldemort's most loyal supporters, Lucius Malfoy, had become a father for the first time, to a little boy named Draco. Draco was the Latin name for dragon and The Order were worried that he was the dragon spoke of in the prophecy.

"Are we sure the information is accurate?" Frank Longbottom asked. "After all, we now have our own spy in Voldemort's camp and he hasn't mentioned anything about him having a daughter."

The spy in question was Severus Snape the new Potions Professor at Hogwarts. Snape had joined Voldemort's ranks just after he left school but he had recently switched sides after his childhood friend, Lily Potter, had begged him to join The Order. Snape, who was in love with Lily and had never being able to refuse her anything had agreed to spy on Voldemort and pass information to the Order.

"Snape's useless," James Potter snorted. He wished Snape was actually present as it was so much better to insult him to his face. "I'm sure he's not important enough to know such things."

As Snape was distrusted by most of The Order, Dumbledore had agreed not to mention the current meeting to him. Dumbledore swore that Snape wouldn't try and save Voldemort and his family but he had listened the majority and not informed Snape of the meeting. He had however asked Snape to drop by headquarters later that night when the mission would hopefully be already completed.

"Or he could have chosen not to tell us," James's best friend, Sirius Black, added. "After all he is a Death Eater and probably can't be trusted."

"He can be trusted," James's wife, Lily said, sticking up for her childhood friend. Apart from Dumbledore she was the only person who genuinely trusted Snape and believed that he was on their side. "If Severus knew of the child he would have mentioned her."

"What's going to happen to the child, if she exists?" Remus Lupin, another close friend of James's asked.

"We'll have to see what happens tonight," Dumbledore said non-committedly. "But whatever happens we can't let her be raised by Voldemort, if she is she will be more evil than him and possibly more powerful."

"We can't let that happen," Arthur Weasley said, shuddering at the thought of someone more powerful and evil than Voldemort.

"We won't," Dumbledore said. "We strike tonight and wipe Voldemort from existence. James, Sirius, and Arthur you come inside with me. Remus, Frank you're going to remain outside and keep us covered. Everyone else will remain here and we'll return as quickly as possible."

A few people looked as though they wanted to argue with staying behind but Dumbledore quickly shut down any protests. Giving the men a few minutes to get prepared he arranged to meet them outside of Voldemort's house before leaving to get prepared himself.

G.O.V.

It was a little after midnight when the men assembled outside the large house that the Riddle family resided in.

"Is everyone ready?" Dumbledore asked and the men all nodded. "Once we're inside we head straight to the main bedroom, hopefully Voldemort will be asleep and won't see us coming."

"What about the girl?" Arthur asked.

"We deal with Voldemort and his wife first," Dumbledore said. "Then we'll decide what to do about the girl."

"Are you going to kill her?" Frank asked. He was unhappy with the entire plan but he was hoping that Dumbledore would spare the life of an innocent girl.

"I hope not," Dumbledore replied. He had a plan for the girl already in place but he was only planning on informing a select few. "Are we ready? Frank, Remus, you know what to do if trouble occurs."

"Yes, don't worry," Remus said.

"Good, let's go." Dumbledore gestured to the men who were entering the house with him and they began moving towards the property.

Dumbledore had been studying the house and its wards for months and he was confident they could slip into the property unnoticed. Sure enough after ten minutes or so Dumbledore dropped the wards long enough for the four men to enter the back of the house. Once in the house the men cast spells on themselves to keep them quiet and undetected.

With Dumbledore in the lead the men began to head to the main bedroom. Dumbledore had managed to bribe someone at the Ministry into letting him study the blueprints of the Riddle house so he knew exactly where he would find the master bedroom.

Once outside the room Dumbledore stopped as the men drew their wands and prepared to fight. They were all hoping fighting would be unnecessary but they needed to be prepared. With a nod of Dumbledore's head the men moved behind him as he slowly opened the door to the master bedroom. Tiptoeing into the bedroom the men were relived to find both Voldemort and his wife lying undisturbed and unaware of their presence.

Dumbledore raised his wand and pointed it at Voldemort while James did the same to Voldemort's wife. Taking a deep breath Dumbledore gave the signal and simultaneously the two men cast the killing curse. Both Voldemort and his wife were dead without ever having woken up.

"Now for the second part of the plan," Dumbledore said, turning to the other men once he checked the couple in the bed were really dead.

"What second part?" Arthur asked.

"The part that only you three and your wives will know about," Dumbledore said. "I'll explain properly when we return but for now I'm going to take the girl and get her somewhere safe. I want you three to make it look like Voldemort and his wife caught us and a fight broke out. As we leave we'll burn the place down and tell everyone the whole family has perished."

"Why don't you want anyone to know the girl's still alive?" James asked.

"We'll discuss it later, right now we have to make it seem like a fight is taking place," Dumbledore said, hurrying to the door. "Make it good, I'll be back soon."

As Dumbledore hurried off to find the nursery and kidnap a child, James, Sirius and Arthur began to make it appear as though a major fight had taken place.

G.O.V.

When Severus Snape arrived at the headquarters of The Order of the Phoenix he was surprised to find most of the Order in residence, an anxious tinge present in the atmosphere. When Lily explained what was happening Severus was outraged, he couldn't believe that Dumbledore and The Order would put an innocent woman and child in such danger.

Severus was even more appalled that even Lily thought Dumbledore's actions were justified. He was amazed that someone with a small child themselves could be comfortable with the idea of staging an ambush when a baby was in residence.

Severus was so disgusted he was just about to leave but as he turned for the doorway Dumbledore and his team arrived back. The moment the group returned the men with wives were embraced by their worried partners while questions were rapidly thrown at the group. Wanting to know exactly what had happened Severus decided to stay a while longer.

"Why don't we all sit down and I can explain what happened," Dumbledore said.

Almost immediately the room quietened down as people took their seats, eager to hear what had happened.

"First of all I'm pleased to announce the death of Voldemort." Dumbledore broke the news to a collection of cheers and celebrations. "He fought hard but in the end he was no match for us."

"What about the rest of his family?" Molly asked.

"I regret to inform you that both his wife and daughter also perished," Dumbledore announced sadly. "During the course of our fight with Voldemort he conjured a fire that got out of control, both his wife and daughter were caught in the flames and there wasn't anything we could do. Voldemort fell shortly after their deaths and we barely escaped the house alive as the fire took hold."

There were several gasps and whispers as the group took in the fact that Voldemort was gone. While the group regretted the death of an innocent little girl they couldn't regret the death of her father and the celebrations began.

As shouts and cheers rang around The Orders headquarters no-one noticed Severus slip away. The sight of The Order celebrating was sickening, he knew he had made a terrible mistake by joining the group. He'd joined thinking the group were fighting for justice and equality in the wizarding world, instead it seemed that Dumbledore just wanted Voldemort gone, at any cost apparently. The Order had attacked knowing full well that a young child was inside the house and what was worse was that none of them were overly concerned by the fact she had been killed, she was just collateral damage as far as they were concerned.

Hoping to make amends for his defection, Severus apparated to Malfoy Manor. He knew Lucius was close to Voldemort and he felt he deserved to know what had happened to his friend and his family. Severus was determined to help Lucius in whatever way necessary, if he was interested in seeking vengeance than Severus would be more than happy to help.

G.O.V.

In the first rays of sunlight Lucius stood amongst the rubble of Voldemort's house. He'd been shocked when he was awoken in the middle of the night to find Severus wanting to speak with him. Lucius had been even more shocked when Severus had informed him of what The Order had done that night. Immediately rushing to Voldemort's house Lucius had been devastated to find the large house ablaze and almost destroyed.

Several hours later and Lucius was finally able to search the ruins. He knew finding the bodies of his friends were remote but he had been hoping to find something so that he could arrange a proper burial for the family. So far his search had proved fruitless and even numerous spells couldn't detect any human remains in the rubble of the building.

As far as Lucius could see the only thing that had survived the fire was a magical safe box. The box was indestructible and Lucius knew that Voldemort and Adelaide used it to store all their documents, important paperwork and anything else they wanted to keep protected. Lucius himself had a similar box for all his families' treasures so he knew that it would be impossible to open the one belonging to his friend. The boxes had an extra special safety feature so that they could only be opened by the immediate family the box belonged to.

As Lucius prepared to return home he picked up the Riddle's magical safe box. Even though he knew it was useless as the entire family were dead something compelled him to take the box home with him. Lucius stored the box in his office when he returned home before he went to find his wife and son.

Finding Narcissa sitting in the front room feeding Draco, Lucius sat down next to his wife.

"Did you find anything?" Narcissa asked, hopefully. She was still hoping it was all a mistake and her friends wouldn't be dead.

"No, nothing." Lucius shook his head sadly. "I can't even find any remains, the fire must have been extremely strong."

"I still can't believe it," Narcissa sighed. "It was only last night that we performed the bonding ceremony."

At the mention of the bonding ceremony Lucius looked down at his son, he was drinking his bottle and looked perfectly happy.

"How's Draco been since last night?" Lucius asked.

"Fine. Why?" Narcissa was puzzled by her husband's sudden change of subject.

"He's bonded with Athena so now that she's dead he should be having some sort of reaction," Lucius explained, studying his son. "The ending of the bond is a painful process so Draco really shouldn't be fine."

"Well he is," Narcissa said, also studying her son. "What does that mean? Did the bond not work properly?"

"The bond worked fine," Lucius said as he removed his wand from his robes. "I just don't think it's broken."

"How is that possible?" Narcissa asked. "Athena's dead."

Lucius didn't respond as he waved his wand over Draco, who continued to drink his bottle happily. Lucius muttered a few spells over Draco and within minutes a golden glow surrounded the baby.

"The glow means the bond is still active," Lucius said to Narcissa. "Athena's alive."

"What are we going to do?" Narcissa asked, pleased that at least one member of the Riddle family had survived.

"Try and look for her. It looks like Dumbledore has taken her, he might place her with someone either in The Order or associated with them. I'll start investigating as soon as possible."

"What happens if we don't find her?" Narcissa asked, wondering what would happen to Draco if they never found Athena. With the bond still in place he wouldn't be able to get involved with another witch and would always feel incomplete as his other half wasn't by his side.

"I'm not sure," Lucius admitted. "I think if we can't find her the best we can hope for is that Draco comes into contact with her at some point and the bond activates."

"I hope we find her," Narcissa sighed, taking the empty bottle off her son. "I hate to think that Draco will spend his entire life alone."

Lucius nodded, agreeing with his wife. When he and Voldemort had discussed the bond they had assumed Draco and Athena would grow up together, they had never discussed the possibility that they could be separated and potentially go their whole lives not knowing the person that completed them.

G.O.V.

"What I have to say is strictly confidential and must stay between us," Dumbledore addressed the five other people in the room.

It was the day after Voldemort's demise and Dumbledore had arranged to speak to Sirius, James, Arthur, Molly and Lily. The previous night he had given James and Arthur permission to tell their wives the true story of what had happened with Voldemort's daughter, although he made them promise it would remain secret.

"As you know Voldemort's daughter is alive. No-one outside this room is aware of that fact and that's the way I intend to keep it," Dumbledore said.

"Why the big secret?" Molly asked.

"If people knew she was alive some of Voldemort's followers might try and find her," Dumbledore explained. "It's imperative that she grows up away from their influence, we don't want the prophecy coming true."

"What did you do with her?" Arthur asked.

"I took her to an old friend of mine, Richard Granger. He's a squib and his wife is a muggle," Dumbledore answered. "They're going to raise her as a muggle until it's time for her to go to Hogwarts."

"You're allowing her into Hogwarts?" Sirius exclaimed. "Surely that's too dangerous."

"Not if we do it right," Dumbledore said. "She'll end up in the same year as Harry and Ron so all we need to do is make sure she connects with the boys and becomes friendly with our group." Harry was James and Lily's son while Ron was Molly and Arthur's youngest son.

"Surely the Malfoy boy will be in the same year," Lily said. "What happens if she befriends him?"

"She won't," Dumbledore insisted. "First of all she'll already be friendly with the boys and by then you can have subtly dropped into conversation about the bad reputation of Slytherins. Secondly I've deliberately placed her with a muggle family so everyone will think she's a muggleborn, we all know the Malfoys opinions on muggleborns so there's no way their son will befriend one."

"I hope this works," Molly sighed.

"It will, with the right direction we can keep Voldemort's daughter away from the dark side and firmly on ours," Dumbledore said.

"What happens now?" Arthur asked as Dumbledore seemed to have finished speaking.

"Nothing," Dumbledore said. "Although in ten years' time we need to befriend a little muggleborn named Hermione Granger and keep her from finding out who she really is."

A/N - Currently fan fiction isn't alerting followers to story updates, which was what happened to my other two stories in progress when I updated them this week, so there will be a small pause in my updating. Hopefully it will be sorted soon, and I'll post some bonus chapters when this is all sorted, but until then I'm not going to update until I know all my followers are getting their notifications as half the people reading the stories will end up missing half of it.