Sighing slightly, Hermione looked at her calendar one last time. Tuesday September second 2008; the first day of four children's secondary school education. Hermione was the only one left alive who was originally entrusted with the secret of Remus and Sirius' children. Remus and Severus had been murdered on the last day of the war. In the hope that Ebony, Severus (Junior) and Stella would be at Hogwarts, Hermione had offered to take over teaching Transfiguration for a year. She already knew that Romulus would be attending Hogwarts, because his foster parents, the Montgomerys, had written in to the school, concerned that the half werewolf, renamed Fleance, would not be able to enter the school. Of course, he had been accepted at once by Headmaster Flitwick. She glanced around the almost bare study once more, and stepped out of the room to where Harry and Ron were both waiting.

"OK, I'm ready to go," she announced to the room at large.

Nervously, Harry grinned at her, and Ron wrapped his arms around her waist in an embrace. "You don't have to leave," he said, trying one last time to convince her to stay.

"Ron, how many times must I tell you?" said Hermione, admonishingly. "I have to go and help them come to terms with their identities. I was there at their birth. Everyone else is gone."

Ron ran his hand through his hair, and said, "You shouldn't have to."

Shrugging, Hermione told him, "I know, and it's not like I want to tell these four poor children that their fathers are both dead, that they were born illegally and that I am their only guardian left. Or that they had a sister that died,"

"And I'm not very keen on telling them that I abandoned their fathers when they wanted help the most," added Harry. "But it's the right thing to do."

"They need to know the truth, blah, blah, blah, I get it," groaned Ron, and then pressed a soft kiss to Hermione's forehead. "I'll miss you, so come back soon."

"Every weekend and all holidays," reassured Hermione, "And it's only for a year, nine months really. I just want to keep an eye on them, that's all. I'll be back before you know it."

Ron released her and stood back, "I'll be waiting for your return, pining by the door."

"No you won't," said Hermione, mockingly. "You'll be drinking, and leaving the house in a state, and getting up late."

"Speaking of getting to work late," said Harry, "We should leave."

"Off to teach," sighed Hermione, as she planted a kiss on her husband's lips, and left. Together, Harry and Hermione apparated to the front gates of Hogwarts, luggage in hands.

ooOoo

She took a deep, shuddering breath to calm herself. Much to Hermione's annoyance, Headmaster Flitwick had inherited Professor Dumbledore's secretive tendencies, and had refused to disclose any details about the day before when the first years had arrived and been sorted. So Hermione was stuck in the dark, with a class of eleven year olds outside the door, waiting to be taught by her. It was the last lesson of the day, so normally Hermione would expect to be exhausted by five hours of teaching, but she was far too jittery and nervous to feel tiredness.

Her hand hesitated on the door handle, as she realised that this was the first moment in ten years that she would be seeing one of Remus' children. The last she had seen of any of them was when Ebony was eighteen months old and Hermione had been forced to take her to an orphanage, because of Remus' death. It had been difficult, but no one could care for a baby in the aftermath of the war, and certainly not Hermione. She thought of the young girl often, and now she was going to meet her again, along, probably, with her siblings.

Forcing a smile onto her face, Hermione pulled the door open. "Come in class," she pleasantly said, "Take your seats in house order please." So I can see where on Earth you Lupin children have been sorted into.

The class filed in and took their seats, as Hermione walked to the front of the class room, and surveyed their faces. At once, she recognised Romulus, and then she stopped herself. Fleance was a spitting image of Remus at a younger age, except his face was slightly fuller, and this made Hermione smile. At least the half werewolf was not suffering as his carrying father had, though he would probably look slightly worse for wear when it came to full moon. He was Gryffindor, like his fathers.

When she realised that no one else was identical to either Remus or Sirius, she started the lesson. "If everyone could please take out your textbooks, we're going to begin by reading about the basics of transfiguration before we start the practical part of the lesson," she said.

Once more she scanned the students and realised with a shock that they had twins in the class. She scanned the register for matching surnames, but there were none. Scrutinising, the small boy and girl, she saw dark blue eyes and black hair, so much like Sirius'. From across the classroom, they were sending confused look sat each other, the boy in Ravenclaw, the girl in Gryffindor. Hermione pointed to the young boy, "You, what's your name?"

Nervously, the boy glanced around him and said, "Me, I'm Severus."

Hermione's heart jumped in her chest, but she fought for control over her voice, and steadily said, "Please could you start the reading at the top of page five. Continue until I say to stop." That made three. The Gryffindor girl would either be Ebony or Stella then, but which one?

After a few minutes of Severus reading aloud, Hermione pleasantly said, "Thank you Severus, well done. For the last half, erm… you." She indicated the girl, "Please continue, from where Severus left off…" She trailed off expectantly.

"I'm Rosalie," she said, and Hermione nodded to her to start, though the muggleborn's mind was racing. She had been assured that Ebony would keep her name, and the toddler who she had taken to the orphanage was just old enough to recognise her own name anyway. That made her believe that this would be Stella. Ebony had Remus' amber as well as Romulus/Fleance, so it made sense that this would be Stella.

When Stella/Rosalie got to the end of the passage, Hermione set the class to try and transfigure a length of string into an elastic band. Slowly, she walked around the tables, scrutinising each female face, trying to identify Ebony. She was the one that Hermione wanted to see again the most, the one that she had helped to raise. She passed by girl after girl, who looked in no way like Remus or Sirius, until she got to the last girl.

She was in the corner of the classroom, in the Slytherin row. She raised large amber eyes from her thread when Hermione knelt by her table. Her long, chocolate brown hair fell by the sides of her face, and she was a petite build. Also Slytherin, defiantly Slytherin, according to her badge.

"Hi," said Hermione, trying to crush down the feeling that she'd done something wrong by taking Ebony to the orphanage, "I'm coming round and checking that everyone's OK. How are you finding it?"

"It's alright," the girl said, "I think it's becoming stretchy."

"That's great! Who are you?"

"I'm Ebony."

"Are you now?"

That was it then, all four of them were at Hogwarts. Stage one of the plan was complete. The minor complication of Remus and Sirius stirring in their metaphorical graves (Sirius' body was lost, Remus had been cremated) because their daughter was in Slytherin would have to be ignored.

ooOoo

At the end of the lesson, Hermione picked out the four Lupin-Black children and asked if they would stay behind. The rest of the year filed out with concerned glances at the others.

"I've been asked to speak with all of you," she said, and in a sense it was true. "Could you all bring your chairs and come sit up here?"

A few moments later she had four somewhat confused children seated by her desk.

"What is it Professor? Have we done something wrong?" asked Stella/Rosalie.

"No, not at all," said Hermione, hastily reassuring them. "All four of you have something in common. You need to know this."

"We're all in first year?" said Ebony.

"No," said Hermione guardedly, and then said, "Tell us about yourself Ebony, then maybe we'll find out." She didn't want to flat out tell the children about their heritage, in case they… freaked out.

"Well… my name is Ebony, I'm in Slytherin, I have two younger brothers, except they're not really my brothers. I was given up for adoption when I was one and a half. I…"

Severus interrupted and exclaimed, "Wait, you were adopted too?" He glanced nervously at Stella/Rosalie and said, "I was as well, except I was taken from my mother when I was only a day old."

"Me too," said Stella/Rosalie, "I've never known why though." They continued to stare at each other with a confused expression on each of their faces.

Gently, Hermione spoke to the one person who hadn't said anything yet, "Fleance? What about you?"

"I'm adopted too," he shortly said.

"But so what?" Ebony demanded, "So we are all adopted? Where do you come into all of this?"

Hermione stood and said, "If none of you protest, would you mind coming through to my rooms? I have someone who wants to meet you, and some things I want to show you."

Uncertain though they were, they followed her out of the classroom, into the Hallway and into her quarters opposite. They arrived in a plush looking living room, and Hermione waved them in to seats. "What I am about to say, you may not believe, but every word is the truth," she said, as stood in front of the fireplace and lit a fire behind the grate. "You are all siblings, firstly."

She turned around to find Ebony gaping up at her in disbelief, Romulus just looking up at her with his wide honey eyes, and Severus and Stella/Rosalie looking at each other, grinning. "I think the two of us guessed that," Severus said.

"How is that possible?" stuttered Ebony. "Those two, maybe, but me? They were abandoned at birth, me at eighteen months!"

Restraining a flinch at the word 'abandoned', Hermione sat down and said, "Please let me explain, without any interruptions," She drew in a deep breath and began, "Your parents had a difficult time. When one of them became pregnant, it was a shock indeed, but their love brought them through the difficulties that they were facing at the time. They weren't supposed to have children, you see, and then your Father died…" She explained how their other parent had been forced to go into hiding, and how at the birth there were problems that led to the discovery of the children, which led to them being taken away, except for Ebony.

At that point, Romulus/Fleance softly interjected, "Who were our parents? You haven't said."

"Your fathers… Remus Lupin and Sirius Black," Hermione sighed, "Let me…"

"Our fathers?" exclaimed Stella/Rosalie, confusing creasing her forehead, "What in Merlin's name do you mean?"

"Let me show you," Hermione said, and she walked out of the room with a glance at them to stay. No one moved, and no one talked until she came back, four identical books in her hands. "I go this idea from a friend of mine who lost his parents. In here, you have pictures of your fathers, and I know you will see parts of yourself in them. There's also the house you were born into, and own between you, and you Ebony were raised there. There's a photo of your first birthday in there…"

Severus cut across her and said, "A photograph of a grave?"

"Yes, your older sister. Only by a few minutes, but she was the first born. She died."

Running his fingers over a picture, Romulus/Fleance said, "So it was my father who was the werewolf. I always wondered."

"Well technically, it was your dad. Remus was your dad, and Sirius was your father. Remus was the lycanthrope," she came nearer and knelt on the floor, so she could point out who was who.

"Werewolf? What do you mean?" demanded Stella/Rosalie, looking slightly scared.

"Remus was a werewolf, and we all loved him nevertheless. They were both great friends and great wizards," Hermione said.

"It must have been terribly hard, to be a pregnant werewolf back then. I read that the laws were brutal," said Romulus/Fleance.

"His greatest fear was that they would take you away, so he hid himself."

"You keep saying 'was'," said Ebony, "Did he die as well?"

Hermione nodded, "On the last day of the war, he died defending Hogwarts and Harry Potter. I was the only one left, and I'm afraid to say that I had to take you to the orphanage Ebony."

"I don't understand," interrupted Stella/Rosalie. "It says here that the children were called Lily, Ebony, Romulus, Severus and Stella, and I'm none of these."

Patiently, Hermione explained, "You were taken from Remus in a Moses basket, which had your name engraved on it. Your adoptive parents must have changed your name."

Romulus/Fleance raised a hand and said, "I can attest to that. Frankly, I prefer the name Romulus."

Hermione laughed quietly and said, "Both of you can choose what you want to be known as, I expect. But there's someone who wants to meet you."

Harry walked in, and all four children squeaked their surprise at the appearance of the tall, broad Auror, who nervously grinned. "Hi, I owe the four of you an apology. Your father and your dad were always good friends to me, father figures in a way. I mean, your father was my godfather, and I'm babbling, and I've wanted to get this off my chest for years." He took a deep, steadying breath. "I was too caught up in my own troubles to help them, and then were Sirius died, I didn't want to talk about it. So I didn't speak to your dad when he was pregnant, alone and in need of help. I haven't been able to forgive myself for that, so I want to make it up to them by being here for you."

Suddenly, he turned to Hermione and asked, "What did I say?"

Hermione looked over at the four children, and found Stella/Rosalie crying openly, Ebony sniffing, Severus had his eyes covered, and Romulus looked pale, shaken. "This is difficult to come to terms with, isn't it?" Hermione whispered. She took a place on the sofa between Ebony and Romulus, and Harry did the same with the other two, wrapping his arms around them and letting them sob into his shoulders.

He realised how shocking this day must have been for the four children. They had learnt that their parents had died, though no doubt they had hoped they would come one day and find them. They found they had siblings, who they never knew about, and that Harry Potter of all people was going to be like a brother to them.

"It's alright," Hermione whispered, gently rubbing up and down Romulus' thin arm, and Ebony's shuddering back, "You have a family now. We found you."

A.N: I chucked finding the line, I'm no good at writing adventure stories. Or romance, or humour, or parody, or… well anything particularly jovial or too complicated. God I'm depressing. Anyway, that's actually it. I need to end this fic.