A/N: I hope you guys like this. The way its set up could/might/probably will change. There's one or two more chapters, it depends how much detail I want to go into, though, I could always update it later if need be..
Anyways enjoy!
Chapter One: Where It All Began.
It was at the start of the summer holidays, everyone was still dealing with the repercussions of what has happened at the ministry. Hermione was still suffering from the unknown dark curse Dolohov had hit her with; all the healers she'd been to had been fairly stumped. They'd managed to patch her back together but she still got phantom flashes and spasms and no one knew if they were the only after effects. She wanted to look desperately for what the curse was and what it had done, but didn't know where to begin and all of her ideas had lead her nowhere. Eventually she'd regulated it to the back-burner.
She'd told the Order that she needed some space and that she wanted to stay with her parents. The ominous feeling of 'while she could' hung in the air when they'd had the discussion, and eventually they relented. She did however have Order members checking in on her ever so often. Though, she didn't really get why, it wasn't as if she was Harry, who was still reeling from the loss of his Godfather. She felt so guilty about not being with him, but when she'd last seen him, he'd told her to go and be with her family. He seemed to understand just how much she needed this.
She'd gone into muggle London to go shopping for her mother's birthday in a couple of weeks time and even though she could conjure something, it didn't feel right to Hermione. Part of giving resents was strolling around the shops and trying to find something perfect for the recipient. She'd taken precautions of course; her parents were out at work, with an Order member with them and she knew that she was being followed. But she pretended she wasn't, she pretended if only for a few hours that there wasn't a war and that the only thing she had to worry about was finding her mother's presents. But can you blame her for that small moment of weakness, of wanting normality, however elusive that might be?
She'd found some little trinkets; some perfume, a book by her mother's favourite author and a cute little tooth plush that she'd enchant to dance when she got home; it'd make her mother laugh. She was trying to decide where to go to for a light lunch when she found herself being drawn to a tea room. It wasn't just any tea room, it belonged to a Societal Club and was up-market and exclusive and decidedly out of Hermione's price range. It was at that point that everything in Hermione's life changed. She turned away from the tea room, shifting her bags in her arms as she did, when she nearly bumped into an older woman. "Oh, I'm sorry." She exclaimed, moving out of the way.
The old woman just stared at her in shock, "Jane?" She asked in a whisper.
"No." Hermione responded, but that's my mother's name, she thought to herself.
The older woman collected herself, "That was terribly rude of me." She looked Hermione up and down, "You must join me for lunch. I insist."
"I couldn't possibly." Hermione hedged.
"Nonsense. Of course you can and you will." The old lady exclaimed as if that was that, before walking up the steps and into the exclusive club.
Hermione started after the woman debating what to do. The woman seemed to know her mother, it was possible that it was someone else named Jane. But Hermione looked very similar to her mother, they had the same body shape and eyes, however her bushy hair and some of her features were more from her father's side of the family. It was when Hermione looked back at the town care that had dropped off the lady that synched it; the car was magically enhanced. And so Hermione followed the old woman into the tea room. The woman was taller than Hermione with a lined face, that was still quite beautiful, she had dark hair streaked with grey adding more character to her appearance.
A butler led them into the foyer, taking their bags and coats before leading them through to the conservatory. There were a couple of other people and parties there, mainly women who stared at them when they thought they weren't looking, it made Hermione uncomfortable.
"Don't fidget." The old woman said, smiling when she noticed Hermione's askance look, "I'll make them think you're below them and trust me you aren't."
Hermione just took her advice and calmed down slightly, not entirely sure what to say. The butler seated them at a small table, easily the best in the room. Hermione glanced around the place, trying not to look too eager or interested, though she didn't feel she managed that. It was sumptuously decorated and was light and airy and quite warm, it was a shock compared to the weather outside. Hermione was glad she'd decided to dress nicely in dark smart trousers and a purple blouse. She'd just had a feeling that she should dress nicely today, not dissimilar to the one that had drawn her to the tea room in the first place. At first she'd passed it off as a whim, now she wondered where the feeling had come from.
"May I enquire as to whose company I'm sharing?" Hermione asked, deciding to play it safe and formal, after the butler had left them with their menus.
The older woman scoffed and responded, "Lady Clarissant Renaire and you are?"
"Hermione Granger, ma'am."
"Miss Granger, you are a witch, yes?"
"Yes ma'am." She replied, "As are you and the other customer's here."
"And what makes you say that?"
"Well, for starters your car was magically enhanced and there are runes on the doorway to keep away 'unwanted' people. I suspect it appears closed to them or not even there at all."
"And the butlers?" Lady Renaire asked.
"The front of house butler and probably the ones in the other rooms are real, but the ones in here are house elves, who have glamours placed on them."
The lady smiled at Hermione's answer, "You're quite right, though the front of house butler is a squib."
Hermione paled slightly, "What is it with wizards and treating others as below themselves?" She muttered to her to herself.
"Tradition," Hermione jumped, not expecting an answer, whilst Lady Renaire continued, "Squibs are usually given a choice; they can choose to remain in the magical world, knowing that most jobs will be unavailable to them, due to not having magic or they can live in the muggle world. This establishment is one of the few that offer protection for those without magic. So any squibs working here have chosen to do so and are free to leave if they wish, obviously after handing in their notice." The old lady paused, "Trust me when I say their treatment used to be worse, they would be beaten, killed or forcibly exiled into the muggle world."
Before Hermione had the chance to respond a butler nee house elf (tea room elf?) appeared and asked if they were ready to order.
"I'll have the jasmine tea with the sandwich tower for two." Lady Renaire said.
Hermioned asked for a green tea. She was completely thrown by the woman in front of her, she was a pureblood and yet was talking to a muggle born amicably, which would be scandalous normally, let alone with how times are now. The house elf bowed and disappeared, moments later their order appeared on the table. They drank their tea and ate their sandwhiches all the while Lady Renaire asking Hermione a spattering of questions,
"Do you attend Hogwarts?"
"Yes ma'am."
"What are you doing in muggle London?"
"Shopping for a present for my mum."
There was a pause in the conversation where Hermione asked, "Why is this place in muggle and not magical London?"
"Oh, but it is, it's a bridge between the two like the Leaky Cauldron. Lord knows why that place is used so much though."
Hermione shrugged, of course there were other bridges as Lady Renaire had put it, she'd just never heard or used this one before.
"Now tell me child, you're a muggle born are you not?"
"I – uh – Yes, I am." Hermione answered warily.
Lady Renaire just smiled, "Don't worry, I'm not a muggle hater like some of my counter-parts." The older lady in a very out of character motion reached up and started fiddling with something around her neck. Hermione's eyes were drawn to the object, it was a silver filigree locket with an amethyst stone in it's centre, it was entrancing.
"That's a lovely locket." Hermione said, licking her lips, her mouth was suddenly quite dry even after finishing her tea.
"Is it?" Lady Renaire asked, "Would you like to look at it?" Hermione nodded her assent but Lady Renaire had already unclasped the necklace, holding it over the table by the silver chain. It dangled in front of Hermione, the filigree was moving; wrapping itself around the gem in the centre. Hermione didn't know when she reached out but the moment she touched the locket it warmed up and started glowing, Hermione's eyes glowing in response. But no one else around them seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.
"It is you!" Lady Renaire exclaimed, waking Hermione from the trance and causing her to yank her hand away causing the locket fall onto the table.
"I'm sorry, what?" Hermione asked looking over at the older woman, determined to not look down at the necklace nestled in its chain.
"I'll have to tell Regie and then sort out the call and invite our friends. Oh, Arrabella is going to be so vexed!" Lady Renaire said mentioning her long time best friend and rival, before continuing to mutter and parties and people until Hermione slammed her hand down on the table.
"Will you tell me what you're talking about?"
"Really child!" Lady Renaire admonished, appalled at her behaviour, "I will explain but not here." She stood up to leave before turning around and adding, "Make sure to bring the necklace with you." And with that she walked back out into the hallway and up the stairs to the private seating rooms. Leaving Hermione to catch up with her if she wanted answers, she stared down at the locket in front of her discretely waving her wand at it but the test revealed nothing, before she gingerly picked it up. It didn't glow this time but it was uncommonly warm for a piece of jewellery, it was definitely enchanted somehow. She bit her bottom lip and left the conservatory and headed upstairs to the private rooms. Silently thankful that the house elves had taken her shopping bags so she didn't have to carry them around. Her fist was clenched around the necklace, it was getting decidedly hotter, but it wasn't an uncomfortable feeling, more like the necklace was trying to get her to relax.
The private room was small and warm, it was decorated in browns and red and had comfy chairs surrounding a coffee table and next to a roaring fire on one side of the door, on other side there was a large writing desk situated in front of a window and a two stuffed bookcases.
"Sit down child." Lady Renaire said from her perch on one of the sofas.
"Will you please tell me what is going on? I get this pull to go into muggle London, to dress up, to go to this tea room and then to join you. What spell have you got me under?!" Hermione all but screamed as she paced back and forth.
"If you sit down and start behaving rationally I will answer your questions."
Swallowing back and angry retort Hermione complied, she glanced down at her fists to see she still had hold of the necklace, she put it down on the coffee table in front of her.
"What do you know about pureblood society?" Lady Renaire enquired.
Adamant she wasn't going to look at the necklace she looked up, great-full for the question, even if it was a strange one. Not much, Hermione thought to herself, she'd studied it profusely until her second year at Hogwarts. After that she'd slowly stopped looking at all, she told Lady Renaire this much.
"You have your dark purebloods and your light ones. Don't get me wrong, we're all conniving bastards, the lot of us and most of us are married to each other! But Light purebloods value kindness and equality, though more often than not, don't hold themselves in the same regard as others. One thing you must know I that there have been Slytherin Light Witches and Wizards and Gryffindor dark ones to put it in familiar terms. The houses are sorted on traits, not on morality; though there are reasons why certain houses attract a certain individual."
"Yes, I know. I've read all about that. Maddison Soltaar was a Hufflepuff and she went mad after the death of her child and slaughtered hundreds of magical and muggle folk, who had escaped conviction for crimes. It still didn't make her right."
"Ah, yes not many people know about that, or rather it isn't openly discussed. Sometimes I wonder if we talked more would the repetition stop."
"It probably wouldn't the people would just think that they could do it better. Even if someone won, eventually someone else rises up. It's part of human nature." Hermione paused, "What does this have to do with me?"
"Everything and nothing. You obviously have a lot of background information about the magical world and the pureblood population."
"Yes, I used to be fascinated by this whole other world. A new culture that I could find out about and perhaps be immersed into, but that was not to be so."
"And if you could be?" Lady Renaire asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said, if by chance you could be part of that society, would you take the offer."
"I do not know. There are many reasons why I shouldn't but that society still fascinates me..." Hermione trailed off, "Again, what's this got to do with me?"
"May I tell you a story?" Lade Renaire asked, not waiting a response she continued, "When I was younger, I married into the Renaire family, now anyone whose heard of the Renaire family knows of the rival between them and the Gavrilov family. It wasn't a feud, I don't want you thinking that; at least it wasn't to begin with. Many others wondered why these two very prosperous pure blood families would not join their families in matrimony, arranged marriages were and still are very common. Those two families did consider it, they were in negotiations and everything. Then the dark lord rose to power, the Gavrilov family joined him, if only to save their own backsides. The Renaire family; we didn't, to my shame we fled to our homeland of France. However as these things were want to happen, the two heirs of the families had fallen in love and eloped, the matriarch of the Gavrilov family was so furious she cursed them. She was at this point quite mad after being tortured by He Who Must Not Be Named. The young lovers were cursed to forget their family, their history, their magic and each other. They wandered the muggle world with no memories, only their practical knowledge, as they adjusted to a muggle life, 'memories' started coming back to them, but they were false memories created by the curse based on what happened around them. I am glad to say that they eventually found each other and married, quite happily, never knowing what had happened to them before. The curse had a price however, as they could not defend themselves, everyone who knew them beforehand would not be able to find them, be they friend or foe, so even if they were stood directly in front of that person, they wouldn't be recognised."
"How do you know that they found each other?" Hermione asked, enraptured.
"I hired a muggle private investigator when the Gavrilov matriarch had died. He found my son as he didn't know him before the curse and he told me that my son was married. I showed him a picture, and it was her. The curse didn't affect our memories or mementos of them, perhaps it was crueller in that way as we knew what they looked like but still couldn't recognise them."
"Again, what does this have to do with me?"
"Over time the curses power fades, especially if there are more people added to it."
"More people added to it, how do you mean?" Hermione asked, her face pale, she knew what was coming next but didn't know whether to cheer it on or run away and never look back. She waited anxiously for Lady Renaire to answer.
"The two elopers had a child, greatly weakening the curse as it, not knowing what to do it protected the illusion of a muggle born family; protecting the child from everyone, even itself."
"You speak of magic as if it's sentient."
"Is it not?"
Hermione didn't respond, not entirely sure what to say, "What happened to the child; how did you know about it?"
"I asked the private eye to keep tabs on them for me and as for the child, both families have a family tree which updates automatically. The curse, though strong could not stop the magic updating the birth of the child and at the same time their marriage appeared, though their new name did not. Thereby showing that they were still protected, now all we had to do would wait, eventually the heirlooms would claim their heir, as it has just done so." she finished, nodding towards the locket.
Hermione raised a hand to her head, she could feel a headache coming on, "You can't mean me. I'm a muggle born, a mudblood," Lady Renaire visibly flinched at the word, "I'm practically a figurehead in terms one the fight against you-know-who, the great Harry Potter's muggle born friend, the smartest witch of her time! I'm not a pureblood, that's the entire bloody point. If and when they find out I'm not a muggle born, then it just proves blood has something to do with it..." Hermione had stood up during her rant and was pacing back and forth, muttering to herself.
"You are a pureblood, however you were raised a muggle born. You had no knowledge of this world, perhaps even less than normal muggleborns. And yet you strove to learn to work hard and did, your blood is of no consequence."
"We both know that's not true, people will assume that I was just pretending, or that I am proof that Voldemort is right, that magic is regulated by blood! If that was true then there wouldn't be squibs! " Hermione started screaming, "That's the whole point of the pure blood mantra, isn't it? That those with dirty blood are less powerful, less worthy and therefore shouldn't be allowed to practice magic! Everything I've worked for down the drain."
"You forget that even with those valid reasons, you can still fight for your beliefs, with the fortunes of both the Renaire and the Gavrilov families, you'll accomplish a lot more than you ever would as part of 'The Golden Trio' and you know it."
"But that's just it!" Hermione exclaimed, turning to face Lady Renaire, "That whole statement just proves how vapid and superficial this society is, that they take the word of someone from a prestigious family over that of someone else who has worked hard."
"Come now, that's hardly a fault of the magical population alone, the muggle world is exactly the same."
Hermione frowned, knowing the truth in her words. "Are you positive it's me?" She asked in a small voice.
"Completely, to anyone else it'd look like just a trinket; unless you've properly shown it too them. You saw it as soon asI drew your attention to it and then the locket accepted you. Did you not say that you felt something pulling you to come here, to wear certain clothes? I admit I felt the same feeling, the necklace wanted to find you, though I suspect that it wasn't meant to do so, so soon. The coming of age in the wizarding world used to be 15, but was changed to 17, I suspect the curse would have held on until then."
"You make it sound like the one ring."
"Tolkien was a wizard after all, so there were elements of truth in his stories," Lady Renaire commented before inquiring, "Tell me child, have you ever used a time turn for an extended period of time?"
"Yes, I used one all throughout my third year at Hogwarts."
"You must have aged a fair bit then, anywhere from a couple of months to years older, it must have confused the curse and allowed the necklace to reach out to you."
"What exactly are the necklaces, I've never heard of them before."
"They are not well known outside of pureblood societies. They are tokens to show the current head of the house, the women receive lockets and the men pocket watches. Each house has a different colour scheme and when two or more houses combine the heirlooms do as well."
"How come you don't have one of your own?"
"I am not the heir to my house; my older brother is, though he doesn't have a family yet, so it could still eventually pass to me and through me to you."
"It won't pass to my parents because of the curse, will it?"
"No and I suspect if you tried to tell them any of this then the consequences would be severe."
"What am I to do?" Hermoine asked, speaking almost to herself.
"For now, nothing, due to the reasons you've just stated, though I would love a ball and to present you to society, now is not the right time. Not to mention, if the Dark Lord and his followers hear of this, they would try desperately to recruit you." Hermione shivered at the thought, before Lady Renaire continued, "However, you will be taking pure blood etiquette lessons from me in the mean time, it might be best to keep this under wraps for as long as possible."
Hermione frowned again; she seemed to be doing a lot of that. "How exactly are we doing to do that, transport is monitored by the ministry and I have people watching over me, as it is they must be wondering what is going on here."
Hermione moved to stand up when there was a knock on the door, she paused before opening it to reveal someone she knew well. Hermione froze not knowing what to say, when behind her a voice called out in greeting, "Hello Dumbledore."
A/N: I hope you liked it!
Reviews are golden!