This fanfic is a Dramione, Au, where Voldemort doesn't exist (for sake of the plot), and Hermione only made friends with Harry due to her dislike and contempt for his red-headed sidekick. A bit of Ron bashing in later chapters, but the rest of the Weasley family are fine. Blinny, Thuna, Hansy, and Longstrode implied.
Not timeline or HPCS, HPPA, HPGF, HPOF, HPHBP, or HPDH compliant. I don't own Harry Potter or anything in the HP universe, that belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 1: A Jaw-Dropping Revelation
The Malfoy family was a prestigious wizarding family and they prided themselves on it. However, when one was at the top, one tended to entertain friends in low places to gain the dirt. The three of them were going to visit one such friend of the family. They hated how he chose muggle places, but he was inconspicuous and he hated being caught at his dirty dealings. It suited his purposes to live in the muggle slums with a few of his informants (also wizards and a witch, as far as they knew he had) and that seemed to be where he would stay. They hated visiting this part of the community, but none of them really had a choice.
"Remember, this part of town is extremely, increasingly, dangerous for people like us. Cissy, Draco, stick close." Lucius Malfoy was the family patriarch and he refused to let anything happen to his family. Especially his son, Draco- who had only just finished his first year in Hogwarts, a prestigious wizarding school just for the gifted as his son was.
"We know, father. This place gives me the creeps anyway. I feel a bit bad for those unfortunate enough to have to live here." His son glanced around as people began to come out and stare at the trio as they walked. One group of tough looking men stood in front of them with arms crossed. There were only about four of them, but they were huge and jacked- all three of the Malfoys took notice, but none more than young Draco.
I watched as they came in front of us looking like a small group of hungry wolves. Father pushed me and mother behind him.
"Well well well, wha' do we 'ave 'ere?" A gruff voice barked. My blood turned cold at the sense of hostility there.
"Nothing of your concern, bastard. These people are on my territory, so bugger off you wankers!" A familiar voice yelled. My head snapped to the right as whoever was speaking parted the crowd just walking a jaunty strut at a deliberately slow pace. My jaw dropped as goody two shoes Granger swaggered through the crowd.
"We don' 'ave to listen to ye!" One of the men snarled, but you could tell he was nervous. She laughed darkly as she made it to them.
"Really? 'Cause I recall being able to kick your arse multiple times. I'll deal with them, you get back to your own territory. Unless you'd rather have me make you pay for it?" Her tone was icy, threatening, and making me nervous. She seemed to radiate dangerous energy that everyone could feel.
"Come on boys; we won' ge' anythin' 'ere." Said the obvious leader as he lead his men away. She glared at their retreating backs before fixing us with a piercing gaze. She looked so different in this setting than in school.
"Are you trying to get yourselves killed? Coming right through the front entrance of the slums of town! I always thought Malfoys had better self-preservation than that." Granger scowled at my family.
"Hey! No need for quips!" I protested at her. She glared at me and I shut my mouth.
"You all better get yourselves out of here. Or at least out of the streets. You're gonna get jumped." She said with a glare at all around us. They kind of backed off and some of them even refused to stick around outright.
"Jumped?" My mother echoed. She looked at her.
"Yeah. Have you ever read about the revels Voldemort would have in the first war?" She asked, her darkly circled eyes and loads of scars all making the insinuation more sinister. My mother looked like she was going to be sick.
"You seem to have a lot of pull down here." My father commented. She straightened her back and puffed her chest out a bit.
"Yeah, and proud that I do. I had to earn every ounce of fear and respect I get in these parts. Hence the scars. Some fights they bring knives, the bastards. They hate to play by the rules. That's actually where I get most of the respect; I play by the rules most of the time and am a formidable foe to someone with a knife while using my bare hands. Especially when I'm not even twelve yet and taking down bears like the ones you saw regularly." She shrugged. My mother looked mortified.
"And no one does anything about it?" She asked. Granger shrugged again.
"No one really cares and I refuse to tell Ronald Weasley, and Harry has no way to help. It'd be more annoying for him that he can't save his friend than anything else." She replied.
"What, don't like Weaselbee?" I taunted. She gave me a glare that actually scared me a bit more than those men did.
"No. He has the emotional range of a teaspoon and the brains to match. I know what type he'll be and don't want to deal with it." She said finally. I nodded in agreement.
"I think that is officially the first thing we've agreed on ever." I said to her coyly. She rolled her eyes.
"We're looking for Dagger. Do you know him?" My father asked, he'd been unusually silent during the conversation. She looked at him.
"Dagger was killed just yesterday. His people are still alive though. I'll take you to them." She motioned us to follow her and we stuck close. She got us to the front door of the place when a girl of a young age was being accosted by a bunch of tossers on the side of the street. She looked furious.
"I'll be back. Don't stay outside too long." She growled, before making her way down the poorly kempt walk. The way she walked into battle with no fear awed me into watching a little more. She stood up to the bastards while the girl got away to her family. One of the big guys pulled out a knife and I felt my eyes widen as she fought him. She used her small size to her advantage and weaved around him to try and avoid the knife while making him tire, his swings getting slower and slower. He did catch her shoulder blade with the blade and it now bled a crimson red, the same color as my own blood. She was now even more furious if that was possible. She finally managed to kick him in the face hard enough to send him flying backwards and to hit the ground unconscious. She then came back to the steps and we went inside.
"Slick! Grim! Anys! You got some of Dagger's old clients!" Granger shouted. My mind was once again drawn to her blood. It looked no different than my own. I wondered what they meant when they said her blood was dirty. Why were purebloods so superior? Well, they were rich, but there were muggles that were just as if not more rich than purebloods. We were physically inclined, but looking at Granger's previous performance, so were they. We were magic, but so were muggleborns. My life felt like it was turning upside down and all because of Granger. It wasn't right. I shook myself out of my thoughts when three people joined us. The two boys I recognized as Daggers sons, Johnny and Amos. The woman was his wife, Jo-anne.
"Lucius! Cissy! Draco! Nice to see you all! Thank you for ensuring their safe passage through here, Strike." She turned to Granger.
"I told you that you can call me Hermione, Anys." Granger said softly. The woman smiled slightly at her. Then she saw the shoulder that Granger had been trying to hide.
"Oh my! Let me have a look." She reached forward and Granger stepped back.
"You have little med supplies left, Anys. There is no sense in using it on a scratch." Granger said quickly.
"You just don't want to take your sleeves off. You know I don't mind." Jo-anne said gently.
"I know you don't. I just don't need it getting out at school." Granger said, glancing at me. Jo-anne huffed angrily.
"I wish they'd allow magic here. Or that you'd go to someone! You don't deserve to be left in such a condition, especially at a young age like you are." The woman pouted. Granger sighed and rubbed her face tiredly.
"I have been out there since I was four. I don't know what anyone can do for me now." She said, the weariness in her voice making me wonder what she had been through. My mother watched the interaction with beady eyes.
"What are you hiding under your sleeves?" She asked the girl in a tone that brooked no argument.
"That is none of your concern, Mrs. Malfoy." She said, her face impassive and her voice stony. Her mask even impressed me, and I grew up building one to use on a whim. It wasn't flawless by any means, but hers was. She fixed me with an unsettling gaze.
"In this part of the world, having a flawless mask is a necessity. Don't have one and it could very well bring about your end." She said blankly, as though what she said had no earth shattering development in it.
"Merlin's beard! You're a Legilimens!" I exclaimed, immediately putting my shields up. She looked at me and smirked in a way I thought only the Malfoys could do.
"Indeed. Your shields are a little weak, you may want to work on them." She said, examining her nails. Jo-anne took her momentary distraction to get the boys to restrain her and get her sleeves off.
"ANYS!" She shouted in indignation. Jo-anne glared at her as she looked at the cut.
"It's for your own good! And this is not just a scratch! It'll most likely add to the scars you're gaining!" Jo-anne scolded. I then noticed all of the scars all on Granger's person. The sight made me sick, her skin deathly pale from all of the white. My mother gasped in mortification.
"You are not staying here, young lady. You are no longer staying in this unholy predicament that no adult, much less a child, should have to experience." Mother cried out sternly. My father nodded.
"While we may spout all of that pureblooded farce that muggleborns are lower than us, we don't actually believe it. None of us do. The world expects it, however, so we give it." He said to her. She actually smiled.
"That means I was right again. Pay up, Slick!" She laughed. He grumbled and pulled a bunch of pounds from his pocket.
"She got you, again! You'd think that some sort of lesson would've pounded itself into your head by now, but nope!" Amos laughed at him. Johnny flipped him off and let go of Granger. Amos did too and they both gave me a high five before flanking the hallway door as they had upon entering. My mother went over with Jo-anne.
"Oh my! And your skin looks as though it would be lovely too." Mother fussed over Granger and the girl looked like she'd rather get hit with another knife than be where she was at that moment. I turned to my father.
"When were you going to tell me?" I asked him, referring to the whole 'purebloods are better thing is shite'. He looked at me.
"We wanted you to have your own opinions, son. If you truly wanted to believe in that stuff, we'd let you choose your own path. If you wanted to be like us, we wouldn't care if you married a muggle as long as you were happy." He shrugged. I nodded, a little offended that he had me believing in something he himself didn't.
"Wow. What I would give to be in your place right now." Granger said glumly. The entire room looked at her. The Calvins looked on in sympathy and the Malfoys looked on confusion.
"What?" I asked. She looked at me and the sadness and pain in her eyes threw me for a loop.
"What I would give to have a family who loves me unconditionally, who are open to my choices so long as I am happy, who don't abandon those that are different. What I would give for parents that didn't love me for a price, who didn't care I was different." She looked at the ground as her voice wavered.
"Don't you ever listen to what they said to you." Jo-anne said quietly with a gentle but fierce quality to her voice. Granger laughed bitterly.
"It's all I could ever get from them. 'Not good enough. Make it better.' 'How did we end up with you as a child?' 'You'll never be good enough.' Those words theme my nightmares." The bitterness and resentment in her voice.
"Don't ever listen to what they had to say!" Johnny growled.
"They were a couple of right arseholes, nothing they say matters anyway." Amos agreed. Granger grimaced.
"But to a fragile heart such as that of a child, it does matter. I was so young and craved their approval. Then one of them got themself murdered and the other killed themself in the gutter. I never got it." She said lowly, her face showing how dejected she felt about it.
"Child, you listen to me. The little girl I first met you as was the perfect daughter any parent could wish for. Your parents had to have been blind not to see it, or something was seriously broken inside their heads. You are a wonderful young girl and they were wrong to treat you as anything less. There is no need to beat yourself up over something people who needed serious mental help." Jo-anne forced Granger to look at her. The sincerity in the woman's eyes was heart melting. It made me feel like a sap.
"Thank you, Anys. It's just hard to shake what they said from mind." Granger said softly, her voice like the duvet on my bed at home; it was soft and warm with just a tad bit of silkiness to it.
"You poor child! You cannot stay here. I forbid it. Lucius, we must have somewhere she can stay!" Mother looked at father anxiously. He thought for a second.
"Well, the old caretaker's cottage can be fixed up. We haven't had a person servant in a few years, so it needs a bit of use. Once done, she can stay there." Father shrugged. Mother beamed at him.
"And of course you must see a Healer. We may be able to do something about those scars." Mother clapped happily as she took Granger's arm in her own.
"Mum, I think you are forcing yourself on her a little bit." I drawled calmly. Mother looked sheepish.
"Sorry, I just don't have any other girls at home and the thought is exciting me." She smiled coyly at me. I rolled my eyes at her in amusement.
"Why do I have a feeling I'm in for it?" Granger groaned, looking at me. I smirked.
"Because you most likely are." I said slowly, seeing the glimmer of dread in her eyes.
I looked at the cottage they had ordered cleaned up for me. Who knew the Malfoys are compassionate people? It was cozy and had a feeling of warmth that just couldn't be explained. Lovely earthy tones and artwork were all around me. The house smelled of lavender and vanilla, two of my favorite scents. Flower boxes on some of the window and a vacant flower beds on the little property let me hope for a little gardening on my part. The house was awash in light and made it feel like the perfect place to be. While simplistic, it held a beauty far greater than splendor can achieve.
"Does young Miss like Mipsy's work?" The little house elf that the Malfoys had assigned me squeaked. I smiled at her.
"Yes, Mipsy. It looks amazing." I said softly. She beamed at me in earnest.
"Young Miss is kind, she is." She squeaked at me. I smiled again at her.
"Thank you Mipsy. My name is actually Hermione, if you wish to use it." I offered. The house elf looked like she was going to cry.
"Missy Hermione deserves this! Missy Hermione is very very kind. Mipsy is lucky house elf to serve Missy Hermione!" She exclaimed, hugging my legs. I felt a small giggle bubble up out of nowhere.
"You're very sweet, Mipsy." I said. She excitedly popped away, most likely to tell the other house elves of me. I grimaced as I felt one of the scars pull on one of my legs.
"I saw that. We are going to Healer Mary today." Narcissa Malfoy sniffed in disdain at all the scars still visible on my arms. She didn't like them one bit.
"It will be weird not to have all the scars anymore. Maybe I'll be able to stand looking in a mirror again." I said slowly. She looked at me with sympathy, not pity.
"No one should have to suffer as you have, child. I hope we can right the wrongs done to you in the past." She said quietly. I looked at her.
"I am sure you will, no matter if you think it or not." I said gently. She smiled at me and brought me to the edge of the cottage's property.
"No one can apparate in or out of that cottage. You have to get to the edge of the property to do so. The floo only connects when needed. Otherwise, no one can get in or out without your knowledge. The last person to live here was very thorough and good with their wards." She told me. I nodded. That was reassuring. We apparated to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries as soon as she was finished talking.
"Narcissa, wonderful to see you!" A rotund witch with sandy blonde hair and pale blue eyes hugged the tall, elegant woman beside me. She then spotted me and all of the scars on my arms and gasped.
"Yes, as you can see, I have brought you an extreme case that needs attention as soon as possible." Mrs. Malfoy said primly.
"Oh you poor dear! Come with me, now, and I'll get you all fixed up. Healer Arran, I would like your help!" She gently tugged on my arm and called to a dark haired man who followed immediately. She sat me down on a patient bed and asked me where exactly the scarring was. I blushed and looked down.
"Everywhere." I whispered, ashamed of how I'd never stood up to poor treatment from others. I took it if I had to to save others, no matter how horrible the beatings were. She looked at me in mortification.
"Sweet Merlin! You poor child!" She cried out, pulling me into a tight embrace. I stiffened, not really used to being hugged. She pulled back and I saw the tears and sorrow in her eyes.
"Relax, Mary, we can heal her." The dark haired man she had called with us said softly, gently prying the crying woman from me.
"You're right, it is just hard to know that such a young girl has been through so much. Much more than she should have, and no one put a stop to it." She said sadly. She busied herself making preparations for healing me.
"I will not lie to you, child, this is going to hurt like a sonofagun." The man said cautiously. I looked at him.
"More than knives held by the thugs you see in the slums?" I asked bitterly. He swallowed a bit hard after that bombshell.
"No no, I think you'll be fine actually." He said, his face a bit pale. We were lucky enough Mary didn't hear.
"Well, we are ready, are you dear?" Mary came back, to me with a sweet smile on her face. I nodded and they began to wave their wands in intricate patterns and saying complicated healing spells only the best of Healers can accomplish. It stung slightly, but it was nothing compared to the knives I'd taken before. Like the one I took this morning. I felt a small twinge in my head and immediately knew one of them was doing a mental assessment. What for, I was unsure, but they were nonetheless.
When they finished, they let Mrs. Malfoy in. She looked anxious. When she saw my face and arms scarless, she sighed in relief.
"Mrs. Malfoy, there is something we must notify you of." Said Mary nervously.
"What is it?" She asked worriedly. Mary looked at Arran and he cleared his throat.
"While we did a mind assessment on her, we found some….interesting results. Apparently, since she has had a lot of mental trauma since four years of age, her mental capacity and magic ability were reduced drastically. With the corrections we've made today, both of those should double to maximum capacity and ability. She is a very powerful young lady, even at such a young and hardly taught age." Arran said primly. Mrs. Malfoy looked at me.
"Well, that'll be very impressive. She's top of her year at Hogwarts already and she is only in her first year." She said. The twinge of pride in her voice made my stomach somersault. I'd never had someone observably proud of me before. It was very satisfying.
"Oh, is she now? Well, with the improvement she'll have experienced, I would not be surprised if she had the top marks Hogwarts has ever seen." Said Mary happily. Mrs. Malfoy smiled at me.
"Thank you both very much. We must be going now. Lucius will be absolutely brimming with pride to hear this." She declared, grabbing my arm and apparating away. At the Manor, we accidentally startled Mr. Malfoy in his study.
"Cissy! You alarmed me. You look excited about something." He sat back in his chair, relaxing his tense stature. She nearly squealed.
"Yes, I am! I found out today that Hermione's mind, while brilliant, was not actually performing at maximum capacity. Also, on a similar note, her magical ability was inhibited as well. That's all fixed now, and apparently her performance will double. She may be the smartest girl Hogwarts has ever seen, from what the Healers say." She was nearly jumping at this point. From the raised eyebrows of her husband, I could tell this was unusual. He then looked at me with a smirk.
"Is what she saying actually true or is she exaggerating? She is prone to doing so." He said with the flash of a teasing smile at his wife.
"She's actually being accurate. That was what the Healers said." I admitted with a shrug. The glimmer of pride I saw in his eyes was enough to make my breath catch for a second. I was easily making others proud here. It made me feel absolutely amazing.
"Are you kidding me?! Now I don't even stand a chance at beating her?!" A voice came from the hall outside the study. I smirked smugly.
"Nope. Not that I'd have ever given you one anyway." I called to Malfoy. He was muttering as he came in. His father chuckled and his mother stifled a laugh at my words. He came up next to me with a glare on his face. He hadn't seen me without the scars marring my appearance or some glamours on. When he saw my face his glare dropped to a blank face. I grinned.
"Yes, she looks marvelous without the scars, doesn't she?" His mother cooed. She was fawning over me an awful lot. This was going to be an interesting experience.
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Yes, I know, I am not done with A Different Beginning, but the idea for this one pooped into my head after hearing of something in my family history and I thought it screamed Dramione. I'm not sure if I should continue it. Review with your opinions, please.