Chapter 1
My life is not what everyone makes it out to be, I am not perfect, hell I'm not even a muggle-born anymore.
My name is Hermione Granger, or at least it was. I found out I was adopted 2 hours ago and was freaking out. I locked myself in my bedroom and cut my wrist. It wasn't like it was new, I had scars all over my wrists but it was nothing a glamour charm couldn't hide, I was still perfect to everyone on the outside. I felt the feelings running out of me, in the form of blood. I was calming down quickly. I like this feeling, I know I shouldn't but I do.
"Mione, come down here. We need to talk to you," my dad called from downstairs. He might not be my biological dad, but he would always be "dad" to me.
I stood up and put a band-aid on my wrist; I wasn't 17 yet so I couldn't do magic outside school. I slipped a bangle around my wrist before walking to the door. I unlocked my door and headed down the stairs, looking at all the pictures on the wall. They showed me my past- the family I was raised with and how it all seemed so fake now.
When I reached the living room, I was shocked to see another family there.
There was a woman who looked to be about 40, holding a young boy, a man who looked a little older, and, to my shock, Blaise Zabini.
"Wh-wh-what's going on?" I asked timidly.
"My darling!" The woman exclaimed before embracing me tightly.
"Uh…who are you?" I asked after she let me go.
"My name is Aurora Zabini; I'm your Mother! This is Carlos, your Father," she said, indicating to the man beside her. "This is Christian and that is Blaise, your twin," she finished indicating to her two children.
I must have looked like I was about to faint because Blaise walked over and guided me to the couch. I looked up at him and as he whispered, "It'll be okay," in my ear before taking a seat next to me.
"We know you must be shocked by this sudden news, but we would like greatly to get to know you, our daughter, before you return to Hogwarts. We were wondering if you would like to spend the remaining three weeks of summer with us in Italy?" Carlos spoke, looking at me with obvious hope in his eyes.
I looked at my adoptive parents who were nodding encouragingly. "I suppose I could..." I replied quietly, still in shock.
"Alright then, would you like Blaise to stay and help you pack?" Aurora asked gently. I looked at Blaise and nodded. I figured I needed to have at least one conversation with my twin before I left to live with him.
"Excellent! Well, we will be back in three hours to collect you," Carlos said, taking the sleeping Christian from his wife before Apparating away.
His wife soon followed after one more bone crushing hug. "I have missed you so much, Daughter!"
My parents, obviously upset, escaped to the kitchen. This left Blaise and I alone in the living room.
"Shall we?" Blaise asked, nodding towards the stairs I had recently come down.
"Yeah," I replied. The sooner I was ready, the better.
We walked into my room where I moved over to the closet to retrieve my school trunk. As I reached up I realised I couldn't reach the trunk; my dad had put it there at the beginning of summer. I moved to get a chair to stand on, but Blaise moved behind me, reaching up and grabbing my trunk. He placed it on the floor before moving back to sitting on my bed.
"Thanks," I said, realising we hadn't spoken to one another since his whispered words earlier.
"No problem, although I suspect you will grow a bit when the charm is removed," he replied with a smirk.
"Yeah probably..." I replied. It had already occurred to me there was an Appearance Charm on me. I didn't have the straight, dark hair, olive skin, or the unusually coloured eyes like Blaise, Christian, and our father.
"What is my name?" I asked, assuming my name had been changed at the point of my adoption.
"Morgana Alyssa Zabini," he replied as he examined the books on my shelf.
"Okay… This may seem a little random, but our parents aren't death eaters, are they?" I prayed he would deny it; I didn't need any more stress placed upon me at this point.
"No, they aren't, but we are fairly close to the Malfoy's, who are," he replied.
"Is D-Draco?" I don't think I had ever said his name before then.
"No, Draco isn't nor does he wish to be. He will be staying with us for the rest of summer as well."
"Oh, so when does the charm come off?"
"When we are at the manor most likely, I'm not sure really... I guess we'll have to wait and see."
"Alright"
I looked at the clock, realising we had been talking for about half an hour and I hadn't started to pack. I began running around the room, collecting seemingly random objects and throwing them in my trunk. Blaise laughed at me, but I ignored him; I needed to pack.
When I had finished packing I turned and looked at Blaise. He was playing with Crookshanks on my bed.
"All finished," I said, before moving to sit on the bed beside my twin.
"Finally! We still have about an hour before Mum and Dad come to get us though," he replied.
"Yeah, is there anything I need to know about the family? You know, before I'm thrown in?" I asked
"Uh, not really, we are a fairly close family I suppose."
"Okay so no skeleton's in the closet for us?" I asked, using a Muggle term.
"Uh, skeleton-in-the-what now?"
"Oh, never mind then,"
"Okay then..."
I looked at the clock that was sitting on my bedside table. It read 5:30, which meant we still had another 45 minutes.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" I asked.
"Sure, as long as we are back here in time for Mum and Dad."
"We will be."
With that, I led Blaise to the front door. He opened the door for me and we walked outside.
"You know... I know next to nothing about you," I said to Blaise after about two minutes of silence.
"Yeah, me neither... about you I mean," he replied
"What is your favourite colour?" I asked. I was intent to learn everything I could about him in the forty minutes we had left before being picked up. Favourite colour seemed like a pretty good starting point.
"Probably blue... Yours?"
"Um, Black. What is your favourite food?"
"Pasta. Yours?"
"Probably pasta too. What is your favourite animal?" I asked.
"Hippogriffs, but only because of what happened to Draco," he replied with a laugh.
"Yeah, that was pretty funny."
"We better head back; we have about five minutes to get back," Blaise reminded me.
"Yeah I suppose we should."
When we walked in, we headed straight to my room to get my trunk. Blaise lugged it down the stairs for me since it was horribly heavy. When we got it to the front door, we walked into the living room and found everyone waiting for us. Christian was wide awake this time.
"Are you my sister?" he asked, tugging on the leg of my jeans.
"Yes I am. And how old are you?" I asked, kneeling on the floor so I could be level with him.
"I'm three and a half," he said excitedly.
"Wow! So you're nearly a big boy then, aren't you?" I asked him.
"Yep."
I stood up when Blaise tapped on my shoulder and indicated to the adults. When I stood, Christian reached up to me with a puppy dog look I couldn't resist. I picked him up and sat him comfortably on my hip.
"We had best be going; Draco will be arriving in a few minutes," Carlos said, reminding everyone of why they were here.
I walked across the room and hugged my mum and dad as best I could with Christian on my hip. "We love you! Don't forget about us!"
"I won't; I love you so much!" I hugged both of them tightly. "I'm ready," I said, turning towards my new family.
"Let's go then. Blaise you can go with your mother and I will take Morgana," Carlos instructed.
"Yeah," he replied. He took hold of our mother's arm and they disappeared.
"This will be easier if you let me hold you Chris," Carlos said, trying to convince his son to let go of me.
"But I want Anna to hold me," Chris pouted. He obviously wasn't going to give up so Carlos just sighed and wrapped both Christian and I in his arms before Apparating us to the Zabini Manor.
As soon as we landed Blaise came to find me. We entered another room and saw Draco sitting in an armchair waiting for us.
"What the hell is Granger doing here?" Draco shot up from his chair looking like he had been electrocuted.
"Hey! Watch your language there; that's my sister your talking to," Blaise said, scolding Draco.
"What! Granger is your sister! What the hell is going on here!" Draco yelled.
"Hey, I said watch your language in front of her!" Blaise yelled back.
"I AM right here!" I couldn't believe they were yelling about me when I was right in front of them.
"But she doesn't even look like you! How can she be your sister!"
"She's got a charm on her, idiot! I didn't know she was my sister until today either so stop being a dick! She's my sister so get used to it!" Blaise looked furious as he defended me.
"Hey!" I jumped between them as I saw their fists clenching. "No fighting now... please...?"
Draco eyed me up and down while Blaise backed down. Draco's eyes were the dark grey I was so familiar with due to our previous fights. There was also something unrecognisable in them; it confused me.
"Herm- Morg- err... Sis? I'm sorry you had to see that," Blaise struggled out, obviously being raised a gentleman. "Would you like to see your room now?"
"Oh yes; I would love to get unpacked!" I looked around. "Where's my trunk?"
"Dad had it sent to your room. I can take you there and then we can go swimming."
"You- I mean, we have a pool? How big is this place?" I said, looking around.
"It's pretty big," Blaise chuckled.
"Alright, let's go."
"Gran- Hermione..." Draco said.
"It's okay; you can call me Morgana since I guess it's my real name..."
"Alright, Morgana... I want to... apologize... for how we acted earlier." It seemed that Draco had been raised a gentleman too.
Blaise grabbed my hand and began to lead the way. He took many turns and in about three minutes I was completely lost. It was another minute or so before he opened a door, revealing my bedroom.
I walked in slowly, taking in my surroundings. The walls were soft beige with a soft purple feature wall behind my bed. The carpet was white and extremely soft. My bed had a dark purple cover on it and contrasted with the rest of the room.
There was a House Elf in there already unpacking my clothes. I began to dismiss her when Blaise stopped me. "Please just let her do her work. I know how you started SPEW, but we do pay our Elves and they enjoy the work they do."
"I- alright..." I was happy that my family at least paid the Elves; it was a start.
They left me and I took the bikini the Elf handed me. The bathroom attached to my room was bigger than the Girls' Dormitory at Hogwarts. The walls were a soft pink-purple colour that went with the theme of my bedroom. There was a large pool-like bath and a walk-in shower. I walked around the room and found a obnoxiously large golden vanity decked out with every kind of expensive makeup, perfume, and beauty crème imaginable.
I quickly changed my clothes and re-entered my room. Draco and Blaise had left a note on my bed, instructing me to wait for them and they would take me to the pool.
About two minutes later, they walked back in carrying a towel. Blaise handed me a luxuriously soft towel for my use as well.
We made our way back through the maze of corridors until we were outside, standing before an enormous pool. It was three times the size of my bedroom, massive as it was.
I dropped my towel on a chair and jumped in, the water was warm and refreshing. Blaise and Draco laughed at my eagerness before jumping in themselves. I realized I had never seen Draco without a shirt on before and, wow, he looked good. His abs were wonderfully toned and his arms were obviously strong from Quidditch.
"Morgana?" Draco called, his voice laced with the concern of someone who had been trying to get someone's attention for an extended period of time.
"Sorry... What?"
"We were thinking that you need a nickname. Morgana is too long, and we're too used to calling you Granger," Blaise replied.
"Yeah I s'pose I do, what with my appearance changing soon. Do you have any ideas?" I asked.
"Well there is Anna, but Chris kind of stole that one," Blaise laughed.
"What is your middle name?" Draco asked.
"Alyssa," I replied, "Why?"
"I'd call you that, but it is still too long," Draco replied. "What about Mya? That fits for Hermione as well, so we can use it at school."
"I like it," I replied before looking at Blaise for his approval.
"Yeah me too..." he said seconds before moving to the edge of the pool and climbing out. I looked at him questioningly until he said, "Our parents are back and wish to speak with us."
I nodded and climbed out, grabbing my towel. I started wrapping it around me, but Draco grabbed my wrist. I winced in pain as he held where I had cut it this morning. I felt him loosen his grip and turn me to face him. I looked up at him, a little worried about what he might do; he was obviously looking at it. As he began to turn my wrist so he could see it, I wished I had put a on another bandaid.
"Why?" he asked softly. Blaise had moved up beside me and had a look for himself.
I shook my head. I could feel the hot tears silently streaming down my cheeks. I didn't know why I cut, well not in a way that is easily explained.
I realised that Draco had let go of my wrist and was pulling me into his arms, stroking my back and hair, calming me down as Blaise paced next to us.
When I had stopped crying Draco pulled away slightly, asking, "Do you want to talk now or after we go speak with your parents?"
"Later..." I knew I would try to get out of it, but I also knew I wouldn't have a choice.
With heavy tension in the air, we dried off and headed back up to the manor. Draco walked with his arm around my waist while receiving dirty looks from Blaise. Draco smirked at him and grabbed hold of my waist tighter. It was weird having Draco Malfoy touching me, but the faces Blaise was making was worth it.
We walked into the kitchen to meet out parents for dinner, which was an impressing array of traditional Italian food.
"So, how was the rest of your day?" Carlos asked us as we walked in.
"Great; we went swimming," Blaise replied as Draco and I took our seats.
"Excellent! Morgana, Missy has informed me that she finished unpacking your things for you," Aurora said, smiling at me. "Boys, would you like to take Morgana shopping tomorrow?" Aurora asked.
"Of course; where would you like us to take her?" Draco asked politely.
"Paris, Venice, Verona... all the good places. If you run out of time to go we can finish another day," Aurora replied.
I was in shock. A simple shopping trip was becoming a travelling ordeal. 'Well I better get used to it. I'm a Zabini now; I live in luxury,' I thought.
"Mya, are you finished?" Blaise asked, breaking me from my thoughts.
"Yeah."
"Great, we still need to teach you how to get to your room. Not to mention we are still in our bathers," Blaise chuckled in a way that said we should be embarrassed.
"Good point," I replied.
Together we stood and made our way back to my rooms. I walked inside as the boys assured me that they were going to get changed and then would meet me back in my room.
I quickly got changed into a pair of black and purple polka-dot pyjamas before climbing into bed. I sat up, leaning on the headboard and pillows, taking in my surrounds once again. I was like that when the boys walked in.
"So are you going to tell us why?" Draco repeated his question from earlier.
"I don't know how to explain it..." I said, shaking my head.
"Try. Please," Blaise said, in a brotherly-sort-of-way.
"It... I... Feels good? It lets me feel something in the abyss. It's like light in a black hole... Hope in a hopeless situation" I said, trying to verbalise a feeling.
"I don't understand," Blaise said with a sigh. "But I will try. Does anyone else know?"
"I don't think so. I haven't told anyone, but Harry and Ron can surprise me with their observance skills sometimes. And I think Ginny suspects something is going on, but simply hasn't confronted me yet." I replied.
Draco's eyes were on the floor. "Is it... is it because of... me?"
"I- Draco, no!" My heart broke at where his thoughts had been. "I- I've actually never cut after we've fought."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Promise me you won't do it again. Please. If you feel like you need someone, come see me. Please," Draco pleaded. It was the first time he had showed this much emotion in front of me. I was so shocked I almost missed Blaise's comment.
"Me to; we are here for you when you need us."
"I promise I will try. But, that's the best I can do," I said honestly.
"Alright." Draco nodded his head. "Change of subject; what do you think of everything?"
"I think I'm beginning to be okay with everything... It's a big shock to find out you're adopted; I think it'll be a little while more before I'm totally fine with it though."
The three of us stayed like that, talking, for the next few hours. To lighten the mood, Blaise had asked Missy to bring us some Butterbeer.
I'm comfy and I don't want to move," Draco whined, moving to lie closer to me.
"Yeah, well, me too and I'm also tired, so how about a little shut eye?" I said; playing Draco's game. I could see Blaise getting more and more annoyed.
"Drake you are not sleeping there." Blaise practically had steam shooting from his ears.
"Says who?"
"Me, that's who; that's my sister you're next to."
"Hey; said sister is right here," I said. I didn't like being talked about, especially while I was in the room.
"Yeah, but she's mine, aren't you Mya?" Draco said, pulling me down so I was lying next to him with his arm over my stomach.
"If I can get some sleep, then sure I am," I said, yawning, and giggling at the same time.
"Whatever but I'm staying to. I can't have you two in a room alone together. Especially if one of you is Draco Malfoy; he is just plain dangerous," Blaise said with a smirk as he climbed into the bed on my other side. I was glad the bed was massive- bigger than king-size, I was sure.
"Whatever. Now can I sleep? Apparently we have a big day tomorrow."
"Oh yeah. Alright, see you both in the morning." Blaise said as we got comfortable. Comfortable was apparently pressed with my back against Draco with his arm around me. I didn't think much of it, maybe I would in the morning.
"What on Earth is going on in here!"
I opened my eyes and lifted my head slightly. Carlos standing in the doorway and he looked pissed.
"What?" I asked. I wasn't awake enough to realise that Draco had an arm around me and I was sleeping on his chest.
"Blaise, Draco, wake up," he growled, ignoring me.
"What?" Blaise groaned, before opening his eyes and realising where he was. "Uh..."
"Why the hell are you two in Morgana's room! And in her bed no less!"
"We fell asleep. We were talking, but we must have drifted off," Blaise said, lying smoothly.
"Then why are you all under the covers?"
"I was cold; they came and sat next to me to warm me up," I said, going with Blaise's story.
"Alright... Morgana, Blaise, your mother wishes to speak with you."
"Okay," Blaise replied, getting up as our father left. , "We may as well go. Mya we don't need to get dressed yet," he added as I arose and walked to my cupboards.
"Alright, shall we go then?" I asked as Blaise dragged Draco from my bed.
"Hold on; sleepy head has to get up first."
"But why? Carlos only said you two were needed. Not me," Draco complained, clinging to my blankets. They wrestled, neither gaining an advantage, for several seconds.
"Fine, but you better be out of here by the time we get back." Blaise said dropping Draco's muscled arm in the process.
As we were walking out I asked Blaise what he thought out mother wanted to speak with us about.
"To give us a shopping list and some money I'd assume, why?"
"Just curious."
"Okay," Blaise said as we walked into the kitchen.
"My darlings," Aurora engulfed both of us in a hug. "As you both know, your birthday is this Saturday and, as such, we will be throwing a party! You may both invite whomever you wish."
'Whomever we wish, really?' I thought. I cleared my throat, "I know this might not be appropriate, but will any death eaters be present?"
"That depends on why you ask," Carlos replied as he entered the room.
"Well, for my entire life, I was Hermione Granger, the brains of the 'Golden Trio'. That means my best friends are Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Pretty much all death eaters want us dead. If we can invite whomever we wish, I would like to know it is safe for my friends to be here... That's all," I said, explaining the situation. I realised that in order for my friends to come, I would have to reveal my adoption to them.
"No, there will be no death eaters will be in attendance. You may visit you friends today if you wish and go shopping tomorrow instead," Aurora replied with a look at her husband.
"Really? Thank you. I think I will get ready now then."
"Hey, I'm coming too. I know how much they hate Slytherins," Blaise said with a sarcastic laugh.
"Whatever, we have to go get ready then."
"Ok, cya later, Mom, Dad," Blaise said as I hugged each of them.
"Have fun and take Draco with you if that isn't a problem."
"Of course," Blaise said, without really thinking.
We began walking back to my room, where we expected Draco to be, but we ran into him on the way there.
"So, what did they want?" he asked.
"Just to tell us about our party on Saturday night. Oh, we decided to talk to Mya's friends today instead of shopping," Blaise replied, moving behind me slightly so he wouldn't have to face an angry Draco.
"Yeah whatev- wait... Mya's friends? As in Pothead and Weasel?"
"Yeah, and mum said you have to come too." Blaise said.
Draco's nostrils flared for a moment. "Fine, but if I'm killed, I'm taking you with me, " Draco replied.
"I'm going to get dressed and then we can go, alright?" I asked, wanting to get it over with. I had no idea how they would react since I still hadn't told them anything.
"Yeah alright. We'll meet you out here in twenty minutes," Blaise said.
"Okay."
Twenty minutes later, I emerged from my room wearing a black skirt and a purple t-shirt. I thought I looked good. I was a little concerned about what I would look like after the charm wore off.
When I stepped out I saw Draco's jaw drop. I smirked; I guess he wasn't used to seeing me in anything other than my uniform.
"You might want to close your mouth before it becomes a fly trap, Ferret."
His mouth snapped shut as he stepped to the side to allow us to leave.
I could tell Blaise was slightly annoyed by our exchange, but he chose not to voice it.
I was slightly shocked when Christian came running down the hall towards us.
"Anna! Can I come with you?" he asked in the cutest voice imaginable. Pair that with the puppy dog eyes he was giving me, and I was mush. I had to look to Blaise, silently asking for help.
"What did mum and dad say?" he asked our brother.
"We said no," Aurora said as she walked up behind us. "Off you go. Christian, come here."
"Thanks, cya later," Blaise said as we turned the corner, which would take us to the travelling room.
"I'll Floo first and you two can follow behind." I threw the powder into the flames and shouted, "The Burrow," and was off.
"Hello?" I called, as I tumbled out of the fireplace.
"Hello Hermione dear! What brings you here? Did Ron know you were coming? He didn't tell me to expect you. I'll get you something to eat; you look too skinny!" Molly was talking at a mile-a-minute.
"I- No, Mrs. Weasley, Ron didn't know I was coming. I actually have something I need to talk to everyone about. Can you gather everyone? I really only want to say this once."
"Of course dear," she said in her motherly way. She turned to call up the stairs when Draco and Blaise came barrelling through the fireplace. Her wand was drawn in a second, "What are you doing in my house!"
"Molly, they're with me. It has to do with what I need to tell everyone," I jumped in before anything else could happen.
She nodded and proceeded to call everyone down. "Kids, come here" she called out. Immediately, I could hear the pounding of the footsteps above us. "Arthur and Percy are at work, and Bill is with Fleur; I hope that is alright."
I nodded.
Ginny entered first, followed closely by Harry and Ron. She squealed and jumped at me. She hadn't noticed my companions, but the boys had. They began to drawn their wands, but a firm look from Molly stopped them. Quite quickly, the entire family had assembled, ready to listen to whatever I had to say. So I began; I told them what had happened yesterday. They stayed quite through my speech.
"So now, you are all invited to Blaise and I's 17th birthday party at the Zabini manor. If you don't want to come, I'll understand," I said, looking at each of their faces. These were the faces of my friends, my second family. That might change, though. It all depended on how they react to the news.
"I'll come." Ginny said eagerly, before standing to hug me tightly.
When she released me, I realised that I was crying. Not with tears of sadness but with tears of joy. Joy that someone accepted me, that I wasn't alone.
"Hey, I'll come to." Harry said from next to me. He wrapped me in his arms while wiping away my tears. He was murmuring comforting words in my ear when Ron exploded.
"How could you let this happen! They are death eaters! You are a traitor now! I can't believe you wouldn't try to fight this. You're a bitch! A Mudblood bitch!" he screamed, before stomping back up the stairs.
I couldn't believe he had exploded like that; I couldn't handle it. I knew he would be angry, but to call me that word; I never thought it possible. I collapsed on the floor, sobbing. Draco and Blaise moved to sit on either side of me, to calm me. Harry stayed in front of me, drawing patterns on my hands, trying to calm me.
I felt Molly move behind me, "It's alright dear, Ron will come around. The rest of us would be delighted to attend your birthday party though," She said in her motherly tone.
"Shhh, you'll be okay. Listen to Molly, he'll come around," I heard Blaise whisper in my ear. I leaned against his shoulder, my tears slowing.
"Can we go home now?" I asked softly.
"Of course, are we bringing anyone with us?" Blaise asked and I realised I could have some friends stay the night.
"Harry, Ginny, do you want to come stay the night?" I asked.
"Yeah, of course! Mum can we go?" Ginny jumped.
"Yes, you may. Bye, Hermione, well will see you at your party," Molly said as she left the room with her family. Harry and Ginny had left at the word 'yes' to pack some clothes.
"You ok?" Draco asked quietly.
"I will be," I said.
"You won't…?" he asked, pointedly.
"No, I don't think it would help..."
Edited 18/6/10
Thanks for reading, please review,
Beta'd by Audrey414
Love Scarred Princess