Love, Lies and Lucius
Chapter 1: Finding Out
Hermione thought that she was so lucky, after all, the war was finally over! They had won! There had been casualties - good and bad - but it was now finally over. Hogwarts had added a temporary 8th year for the students whose study had been disrupted and she was now engaged. She first met Harry Potter in her first year at Hogwarts and after growing closer in their 5th year they had stumbled into a relationship. In all the festivities after the fall of the dark lord, Harry finally mustered up the courage to propose to her and when he did, Hermione's existence was transformed into the perfect fairy tale.
Yet, with all fairy tales, there had to be an evil witch. This one stayed on the good side of all of them, until the third week of school. As head girl, Hermione was doing her 6th patrol duty of the year with none other than Draco Malfoy who, by some miracle had become head boy.
"Come on, Granger, just tell me. What the hell happened to you?" Malfoy taunted her. "Spill it. You can trust me."
"Malfoy even if there was some deep dark secret...I wouldn't tell the likes of you," Hermione snapped, glaring at him. "Now fuck off."
Following the death of the dark lord, the celebrations and the award ceremonies, Hermione left England to go looking for her parents in Australia and had come back almost empty handed. She hadn't told anyone what had happened on her two-month trip, not even harry.
Over that time, Hermione had changed - a lot, and everybody had noticed. The initial change to be noticed was the change in her appearance. Over the past few years, Hermione had started to fill out but that couldn't be seen through the clothes she had worn. However, after her trip abroad she came back flaunting her new figure by wearing daring, tighter clothes. She had also come back with some new traits; she cursed more frequently, was more confident and daring, but the biggest change was how careless and reckless she had become. As if she was acting out, against what – Nobody knew.
There were mixed views on her personality makeover. Harry hated the new Hermione; he stood by her though, because he loved her, all the while trying to dig up why she had changed. He was constantly letting her know that he was here for her, which in turn bugged Hermione and push her further away. Draco Malfoy however seemed to get along with this new person. Over the past 3 weeks sharing a living space, Draco and Hermione had started to get to know each other. Although Draco was sure it is because of the personality change and not due to the living arrangement. To which he was glad, as all summer he had been dreading the idea of sharing a common room solely with the book worm. But instead he had seen a new side of her.
"Come on, Granger. You know you can trust me. I didn't tell anyone about your little trip to Hogsmead the other night… Wait what was that?" Malfoy looked around looking for the source of the sound that had intruded upon their exchange. "I heard something. I know I did."
"It's coming from in that room, dumb shit!" Hermione stated witheringly, thinking that Draco sounded like a scared little girl. Hermione neared the door. "It sounds like someone's having fun," she added, listening closely. "Come on, Malfoy. We're going to burst their bubble."
They were both smirking at each other. The change in Hermione had made her more tolerable to Draco. "One, two, three!" she whispered.
They burst through the door and used a spell that would pull the culprits apart, both laughing at the students being caught red handed. The spell pulled the two apart and to face the Head boy and girl. However, Hermione saw who was in the room and stopped laughing
"Harry?" she gasped.
The girl who Harry had chosen to be with was revealed to be Hermione's best friend Ginny, looking way too pleased for herself.
"H-Hermione! I, erm, this isn't what it looks like!" Harry stuttered looking to the ground. "I didn't mean for-"
"For what, Harry? For me to find out? For me to see? For us to be together? Well?" Hermione cut in.
"I don't know, Mione," Harry whispered
"You don't know or don't care?" Hermione shouted back before stalking out.
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Hermione ran all the way back to the head common room and broke down into tears in front of the fire. Draco, after docking house points and issuing the two cheaters with detention, ran back to the head dorms too. She gazed up at him with mascara trailing all down her face. She forced herself to offer the widest smile she could, but that only made her weep more.
Draco didn't know what to do. He looked around awkwardly before nodding, clearly having decided on something. He then knelt down next to Hermione and picked her up, carrying her through his messy bedroom and into their conjoining bathroom where he sat her on the toilet lid. He then silently grabbed a damp cloth and started to dab her face to rid her of the mascara. By the time her was done, she had calmed down. She was now not crying or shaking but perfectly still. Numb.
"Do you do this a lot? You seem to be an expert," she observed. Recovering her manners, she amended, "What I mean is…thanks."
"It's okay. I always help a damsel in distress." He grinned awkwardly. "But to answer your question, yeah, I do…with my mum." He stopped short revealing too much of himself.
"If you don't mind me asking why?" she inquired, staring at him curiously.
"I'll tell you what," he smirked. "I'll do a trade: I'll tell you why, if and only if, you tell me why you changed so much over the summer. Deal?" As the last word emerged from his mouth, he extended his hand for her to shake.
"Oh, I see a secret for a secret." She deliberated momentarily before decided it would be good to tell someone. "Deal." She shook his hand smiling the first genuine beam in a long time.
"I don't know who my real mother is. Father was in love while in school and had a child with a girl that disappeared a few months later. She was never found. No one knew what happened to her." He stopped for a moment playing with the cloth in his hand. "Then My father's family and the Black family arranged a marriage between him and Narcissa - my 'mum'. She loves him, always has. She kept the secret of me and raised me like I was her own but my father – Well he's still looking for my real mum. And Narcissa found out that he is still looking and she finally realized that he'll never love her back," he murmured, never breaking eye contact until the end when he studied his hands as if they were very interesting.
"Oh, erm, I don't know what to say," she stammered, trying to let it sink in.
"You don't have to say anything. It won't help us find her. Anyway, what's your big secret, Granger?"
"That's just it – I'm NOT a Granger." she admitted. "I― my mum died while we were at school. She was killed. I didn't know. Last year I took my parents away to Australia so that they couldn't be hurt by Voldemort. I went to Australia to find them. Only I found a man living in the house who told me that the woman who lived her before him had died and that her husband was living in a different state. Lucky for me he had the forwarding address." She took a breath and more tears started to flow. "I raced to find my dad thinking he would be in pieces. I was wrong. He invited me into his new house and, -" her breath was becoming uneven. She clenched her jaw and pulled out her wand. It took her a moment to compose herself but when she did she uttered a charm that would reverse the concealment charm she was currently wearing to reveal her actual skin covered in cuts and bruises, "He beat me and told me the truth. He had killed my mother. And he wasn't my real father. My mom was a witch."
Draco was speechless. All he could do was to pull out his own wand and try to heal some of the damage that idiotic muggle had caused. As he did Hermione was lost in thought with tears still rolling down her face. He felt very guilty now for making her relive that event. He also now realised that she wasn't a muggle born but a half breed. Or was she?
"But who is your father?"
Hermione forced out a cough to clear the lump in her throat. "That's the poetic thing. After spending the past few years trying to kill lord Voldemort I now find out – it's him. Lord Voldemort. He's my father. Isn't that ironic?" she let out a sadistic laugh. "The will had already been read out and my father got what seemed like the most of it. But she had given me some possessions that were to be collected from a Muggle safety deposit box. There was a Gringotts key. I went there and she must have been someone special, the volt was full of money, gold, jewels. It was incredible. Then I found a box full of paper – letters, documents, birth certificates and name changing contracts. My birth certificate. My name change. Everything – in fact Dumbledore was the one to witness the name change. It was all there in black and white. Hermione Jane Riddle is actually a Pureblood. Can you believe that?"
Draco just stared. It was a lot to take in. "I- Im sorry. I don't know what to say either…"
"Er, thanks," she mumbled as he finished working on her last cut, they were now all healed but she could still see a small pink trace where they had been. But no one else would know they were there. Except Draco.
"No problem," he informed her with his back turned. When he turned back to her he had a sly grin on his face. "I'm sorry I think we should start again. Hi I'm Draco Malfoy. Pureblood."
She smiled too, liking where he was going with this, "I'm Hermione Riddle. Also Pureblood."
After that they talked about all the documents Hermione had found and what it all meant. They moved on to talk about Draco's real mother and everything he knew about her. What sharing this intimate information meant – they were almost friends. Draco now understood why the sudden change. Although kept a secret he always knew of his parentage, but to find out so much information in such a short space of time. Hermione was clearly rebelling. But for what reason? She had no parents left to rebel from. And then it hit Draco – she seemed to be rebelling from the good side. Could that be possible?
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Hermione awoke earlier the next day and took a long, hot shower. She enjoyed the way the water seemed to clean her of the events from the night before. She got out and charmed her hair, her clothes, and her make –up, anything that made her feel better. Looking at the mirror at her new look she felt horrible, slutty but she didn't look like her and that's what she was aiming for. She wanted to be someone else for the day and that's what she achieved. If it weren't for the Gryffindor tie she had around her neck, she would have fit perfectly with the Slytherin Sluts, as Lavender and Parvati referred to them.
On the outside she was ready, but not so much on the inside. She packed her bag slowly and walked into the common room hoping to see Draco. And there he was sitting doing some homework before class, unfortunately for her so were a group of his friends. They all looked at her as she strode in, and she saw Pansy smirk.
"Well, well, Granger. You're all alone with no bodyguards to save you," Pansy sneered.
"Leave it, Pansy!" Draco snapped before Hermione could retort. "She's under my protection."
At that, all the people in the room gaped at Draco like he was crazy, but he ignored them and addressed Hermione, "Look I know you don't want to go into the Great Hall by yourself and sit with him. As such, I'm offering for you to come in and sit with us under Slytherin protection. Take your tie off, and no one will notice." After a brief and awkward pause, all the Slytherins took their lead from him and agreed to the proposal.
"Okay," she leered. "Just imagine how pissed of Harry will be. I just want to be someone else for the day."
"See," Draco pronounced, handing her a spare Slytherin tie. "She'll fit right in! Erm, everyone this is Hermione. Hermione this is Blaise, Lucy, and you know Pansy, Vincent and Greg. Well, that's finished. Let's go to breakfast."
All three meals that day she sat with the Slytherins. Then the rest week too. She got stared at the first few times by people sitting near her as they could tell she didn't belong there, but soon they didn't even bat an eyelid. No one else seemed to notice either which was exactly what Hermione wanted.
On Sunday morning, she woke up later than usual. Preferring to stay in her room and tidy up instead of going anywhere, she rarely left her common room now without Draco and as he was at Quidditch practice, she was here alone, tidying her room. As it was pretty tidy any ways she then moved on to sort through her closet. When she had become Head Girl all of her things from her old dorm were transferred here and until now she hadn't had a chance to sort through it all. As she was nearing the back of the closet she found a broken watch from third year, an old sweater from Mrs. Wealey and a small pendent on a long chain. She looked at it for a moment before recognizing what it was: her time-turner. It seemed a little wonky like maybe she had stood on it at some point, but it should still work the same, right?
If she turned it back a few times, she could stop herself walking in on them, and everything would be okay, right?
Unfortunately, as she examined it, someone knocked on her door and opened it straight away. It was Draco, and, when he glimpsed what she was holding, he went mental.
"Hermione. Tell me that's not what I think it is?" Her silence confirmed it, "what are you doing? You can't seriously be considering going back to him. He'll only do it again, and you know it! You can't leave, Hermione. Not to him."
Hermione sighed and put the time turner away. He was right of course. But that didn't stop her mind from wondering What If. Draco kept her distracted for most of the day but it was still in the back of his mind. And then a bigger thought crossed her mind. What if she stopped herself from going to Australia in the first place? Then she would still be happy. Right?
Well, she would have to find out. Her mind made up, she twisted it ten times – once for each week. As she watched the pendent spin, she noticed Draco by her door. However, it was too late for Draco to stop her, and she watched him fade away as darkness engulfed her…
