Her hand rose to the leather pouch around her neck — the jar containing the magical signature of her virginity inside.

The mother cleanses, the father bleeds her. It wasn't a metaphorical phrasing. They had claimed her during that ancient ritual.

Hermione turned to Narcissa, but she was blinking down at Lucius's letter again, lowering herself back to the sofa.

"May we continue?" Gnarland warbled.

"I don't understand," said Hermione suddenly. She opened her mouth, and closed it.

"Forgive me, but neither do I." Narcissa looked up, extending the letter back to him. "Lucius and I have a son, Draco. I would have thought the male line would carry the inheritance and Manor. And Draco— well, he— "

"We questioned that as well." Gnarland took the next letter Boggleben was handing him. "But on the evening of 26 July, we received a second letter from Lucius Malfoy III, requesting that the Male Line Proviso and the Pure-Blood Heir Clause, both signed by Armand Malfoy I, be overridden and replaced with an Eldest Progeny Rider."

Hermione's mind swam. She braced her hand on the sofa as Gnarland passed the letter to her..

She was nine months older than Draco. If Lucius claimed her as his heir and signed the paperwork for the Manor to be passed to his eldest, then Draco's deal with Dolohov—

Narcissa cleared her throat. "Last summer, my son signed over the rights to his full inheritance to Antonin Dolohov. I'm not sure if you've communicated with his estate—"

"We're well aware." Gnarland's mouth twisted. "A claim on the Malfoy holdings was filed by Mr. Dolohov on 9 May. It was legitimate at the time, but recall, that was a contract signed by Draco Malfoy I. As of Miss M— Granger's adoption, and the paperwork filed 27 July 1998, Draco Malfoy I is no longer the heir, and all legal proceedings assuming said designation are null and void."

Hermione's fingers shook as she brought them to her lips. She wasn't sure if she was about to laugh, cry, or vomit out of pure nerves.

Lucius Malfoy had left the Manor in her name. That was why she could cross the estate line while the mob was repelled. That was why she could enter Lucius's study when only Narcissa and Draco should have been able to. Draco had bled for her in Romania, but he never needed to.

As far as Gringotts was concerned, she was a Malfoy. A blood heir.

"Ahem." Boggleben set down his pocket watch, looking cross. "Lucius Malfoy also requested the following: Property records are not to be released to the Ministry for five years upon transfer of assets to the heir, and Miss Hermione Granger's true surname is sealed and not to be passed to the Ministry until she requests it."

"My true surname?" said Hermione weakly.

Narcissa looked over at her, a small, exasperated smile on her face.

"Miss Granger?"

She stared up at Gnarland, dazed, as he unrolled a scroll and extended a quill to her. She struggled to process the legal jargon through the fog in her brain, her eyes popping at the itemized list of her inheritance at the bottom — the Malfoy assets, totaling an astronomical sum, and the Malfoy estates in the U.K., France, Monaco, America, Brazil, and Japan.