Mistaken Identity
(A/N): This is a Dramione fan fic though it might take a few chapters to get there. This is my first fan fic so all support, suggestions and constructive criticism will be appreciated. No Flames Please If You Don't Like It You Don't Have To Read. This is Rated M for possible scenes in future chapters, however it is only a T at the moment. I will warn readers when the story develops into an M.
Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to J.K Rowling and whoever holds her copyrights. This disclaimer is for the entire story and I will probably not repeat it.
Chapter 1: Accidental Encounters
Hermione Granger had changed over the summer. Anyone who had known her in her sixth year and saw her now would quickly come to the conclusion that she was a late bloomer. For over the past few months she had definitely bloomed. Unlike most girls however Hermione had not noticed the change except that her robes had become exceedingly tight up top. Hermione, clever as she was had not realised that this meant she had filled out quite pleasingly, instead she assumed she had put a bit too much weight staying home for once and assumed she would shed the weight as soon as she got back to Hogwarts. She hadn't noticed that her stomach had stayed as flat and naturally toned as ever. She did however realise that she needed new robes and had left her parents at Gringotts Wizarding Bank changing their Muggle money into Galleons, so she could start shopping and search for her friends.
Hermione was oblivious to the appreciative looks and jealous glances she got from fellow sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts. Hermione Granger had become drop dead gorgeous over the length of a summer holiday. Many girls, usually Slytherins, on seeing her, bitchily remarked to their friends that she was so clever that she had probably found some way to change her appearance. Her figure was not the only thing about her that had changed. Over the summer her hair had changed from her usual mousey, bushy brown into a wavy, soft black. Hermione had worriedly watched this change taking place slowly as if a charm had been wearing off as it lost its power. Only she had never charmed her hair and neither of her parents had black hair. She had become so worried about the sudden change that she had contacted Professor Dumbledore about it, only to be told not to worry about it. Her hair was left open tumbling in soft waves half way down her back, soft curls framing her face as she walked down Diagon Alley in search of her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
As she walked she noticed the changes that had taken place in Diagon Alley since the last time she had been here. As usual the alley was packed with witches and wizards of all ages, generally buying school supplies for themselves or their children. In the distance Hermione could see a crowd of people huddled together as if queuing up, she had seen a similar queue of people last year and knew instinctively that it was for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, the joke shop run buy Ron's brothers Fred and George. During the last year the prefects had had a much harder time controlling the younger years as Fred and George came up with new and in Hermione's mind; more annoying inventions which were harder to remove than they had been last year. Their latest inventions were so numerous that Filch had a hard time keeping up with the items and trying to ban them. Towards the end of the last school year Filch had given in and banned all items bought at Weasely's Wizard Wheezes. This did nothing to stop the use of the Skiving Snack boxes though which still sold out in the hundreds every term and were still as undetectable as ever. In fact Hermione remembered how useful they were in helping her, Ron and Harry to get out of a lesson last year as they prepared for their next battle with Voldemort.
Hermione thought about the events of the summer that was drawing to a close around her and found that hers had been quite uneventful compared to previous years. For one she had never felt so far away from the action, stuck at home with her parents instead of at number twelve Grimauld Place with Ron and Harry. Her parents had insisted that she came home after the first week of the summer as they had missed her over the last few years and were seeing less of her than ever before. Guiltily Hermione had agreed and spent quality time as it were with her parents, however she couldn't help feeling slightly resentful and jealous of Harry and Ron knowing what was going on and her not.
She finally understood what had made Harry so angry the summer after fourth year as she too had been receiving tantalizing letters from Ron hinting at what was happening but revealing nothing. Harry's letters were different and although they gave her no insight in to what was happening they weren't filled with annoying hints, Hermione strongly suspected that this was due to his own experience in receiving letters. Hermione could see that from what she remembered of the letters she had sent Harry the summer before fifth year had looked a lot more like Ron's letter, unknowingly cruel.
Hermione was snapped out of her reverie by a loud voice in the distance. Thinking it might be Harry or one of the Weasleys Hermione quickly looked behind her but all she could see was a crowd of people and she couldn't see for sure where or who the voice was coming from. She shrugged to herself and continued walking. As she continued the voice seemed to be getting louder and nearer but she still couldn't make out what it was saying. Suddenly the booming voice was directly behind her. "Stop Sophia!" The voice was commanding, deep and definitely male, panting from running with a hint of an accent that Hermione couldn't place. She turned around to see who the man was calling to just as the man had put out an arm to stop Hermione the force of the man's running and Hermione's sudden turn sent both toppling to the ground. The man sat up quickly two beefy men suddenly showing up behind him and standing on either side reminding her distinctly of the way Malfoy stood between Crabby and Goyle. The man reached down a hand to help her up and she kept her face down turned as she brushed off her denim skirt.
"Sorry Sophia, I didn't mean to push you over but I did ask you to stop." The man said, confusing Hermione, why was this man she did not know referring to her as Sophia and acting as if they knew each other she looked up at the man shocked and saw the man give out a gasp. The man was in his early to mid twenties. His hair was dark brown and he had ice blue eyes that were extremely familiar yet at that moment she could not place where she had seen them before. He was a good head or so taller than her and quite well built. He was heavy too, this much she knew from her aching muscles after falling over. She still didn't have a clue as to who the man was.
"Oh, Dear Lord, I am ever so sorry I have the wrong person," the man said still looking intently at Hermione, he paled then smiled as if he had just realised something, "and then again maybe I don't, you aren't Sophia, you are way too young but you look too much like the two of them to not at least be related." He looked at Hermione again and must have realised how startled she was. "What is your name?" the man asked, still watching Hermione. Under his constant gaze she began to feel extremely self conscious. "Hermione Granger," she replied feeling almost none of the reported Gryffindor bravery as the ice blue eyes filled with an emotion she could not name was looking into her eyes as if searching her very soul.
The man smiled, "Oh I see they thought a simple name change would keep them hidden, well they were mistaken!" he stated happily. "You are here with your parents, yes?" the man asked a triumphant gleam coming into him eyes as she nodded. "Take me to them!" he demanded waiting for her expectantly to lead the way. Something in his stance made Hermione snap. Who did this man think he was to command her to take him to her parents when he hadn't had the decency to introduce himself or even say please? The nerve of some people. All the tension she had been feeling suddenly rushed into her head as she let the pompous stranger have it.
"Who the hell do you think you are to order me around?" she asked her voice deep and angry. "What in the world makes you think I'm going to take you anywhere, I don't even know who you are? And out of curiosity, have you never been taught manners and how to use the words, 'please' and 'thank you,' because if you haven't you need to realise that you are a grown man and it is about time you learnt. Common courtesy can get you further in this life than flashing your money, and threatening people with your body guards you pompous fool." Hermione's ranting came to a sudden stop as she realised what she was doing. She was shouting at a random stranger in the middle of Diagon Alley because he hadn't said 'please' oh dear lord what had gotten into her. Luckily not many people had noticed the exchange and for that she was grateful, it did not create a good impression for new students if the head girl was seen shouting at people in public.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. …"
"Labello," the man filled in as the name rang a bell somewhere in Hermione's mind. "Right, Mr. Labello, I don't know what came over me, I have no excuse for shouting at you like that, and I hope you will accept my apology." To Hermione's surprise the man was grinning.
"You are just like her, she used to blow up as well when she was extremely stressed then apologise for about an hour even if you said it was okay. I can still remember them you know, thing is that when I last saw them they were around your age and that's why I thought you were her."
The man was still not making any sense. "Who did you think I was, Mr. Labello?" she asked curious as to who he kept referring to as she and them.
"I thought you were Sophia, my sister in law, well your mother might be an easier way to put it."
"I'm sorry sir but my mother's name is not Sophia, her name is Alice," Hermione stated clearly confused.
"As a said, a simple name change is not enough to fool me, I might not have seen any of you for over eighteen years but I never forget a face, and you my dear have your mother's face and hair and your father's eyes, emerald green they were, just like yours, there is no doubt about it."
"Mr. Labello, I…" She began only to be cut off by the man.
"No Dear, you should call me Uncle Robert."
"Mr. Labello, I will not start calling a complete stranger my uncle and for your information my parents were my age long before you were even born, they started late in life and I was their miracle baby. Both have brown eyes like me, you need your eyes checked, forI have never had green eyes and I never will, my mother's hair is brown not black." Leaving out that it was only recently her hair had changed to a different shade from her mothers'.
Robert Labello snapped his fingers and one of his bodyguards immediately came forward. "Tell me Rupert what colour is her eyes?"
"Green, sir," the man stated immediately.
"Well, Hermione I would suggest that is you need more proof we should ask someone in the crowd, but believe me, not one of them are going to say your eyes are brown."
Hermione suddenly realised that something else must have changed, for she had believed the body guard's answer. The only conclusion was that her eyes had changed in colour just like her hair.
The man's voice broke through her thoughts. "Would you please take me to your parents now, I have been searching for them for almost eighteen years?"
Hermione nodded, none of this was making any sense, the man's descriptions of her parents were all wrong, but she decided she would let him figure that out for himself. She saw her parents walking down the steps of Gringotts and approached them with the three men in tow.
Mum, Dad this is Mr. Labello, he claims he knows you under different names." As she expected her parents looked blankly at the man then back to her. Finally her father stuck out a hand to shake the man's hand and said "I'm sorry but I don't believe I have met you before my name is Terry Granger." Robert Labello looked at the man in horror then pulled out his wand. Hermione quickly pulled out her wand to ready to defend her parents if he attacked.
"What are you thinking Mr. Labello, they are Muggles!" Hermione screamed at the man. But the man simply said, "We shall see, and don't worry I wont hurt them."
He started muttering countless revealing spells and gave a frustrated growl when none of them changed the Grangers' appearances.
"Oh no," the man muttered to himself, surprising Hermione, "What if…Hermione would you mind if I carried out a paternity test, I mean your sure these are your parents so it shouldn't really matter should it and all I need is two drops of your blood." Hermione was beyond shocked, she realised that now was the time to leave and quickly but regardless of what her brain said her feet would simply not move. Instead she held out her finger. The man pricked my hand with a needle he conjured up and said the spell. "Recthum Evadanu." The two droplets of blood flew into the air but instead of hitting her parents like it was meant to they stayed in the air. One droplet hovered close to Mr. Labello signifying that they were related but were not father and daughter.
Hermione's heart pounded in her ears. 'What they hell was going on!' she thought, 'If the Grangers were not her parents then who were?' She looked at the man confused.
"So you are my Uncle," she stated dumbfounded. "Who were my parents?" she asked not really wanting to know, but trying to distract herself from the feeling of wanting to throw up.
At this point the Mrs. Granger interjected sounding hurt, "We are of course honey, I remember the night I gave birth to you very well, you were our miracle baby." But Hermione knew that the paternity test that Mr. Labello had just performed was the most accurate paternity test in the Wizarding world. Hermione looked at Mr. Labello who muttered, 'Implanted memories.' Hermione felt like crying, her whole world was breaking down around her, but somehow the tears weren't coming.
"Your father, my brother was Alexander Labello and your mother was Sophia Labello they were married for less than a year when they went missing, it was reported that your mother had delivered a still born child and they had disappeared soon after your birth. Sophia was originally a Karenna before shemarried my brother. Maybe you can tell but we originated in Italy. Your mother and father were next in line to the throne when they disappeared, and I had to take their place, but now that we have found you there is no reason why you can't take over. You are the rightful heir." The man stopped seeing Hermione's overwhelmed appearance.
"Heir?" she asked confused, "What throne?"
"The Throne of Italy of course, it is rightfully yours." Suddenly Hermione realised why the name Labello had rung alarm bells in her head. They were one of the purest blooded families in Europe followed by the Malfoys and Blacks. However they were not known to have any dealings in the dark arts and were known to have ruled the Italian people; magical and non-magical fairly, for many hundreds of years. She was the heir to the throne of Italy! With her heart beating violently Hermione was vaguely aware or a familiar voice calling her name, before her vision clouded into emptiness.
(A/N): I am not sure if Italy has a Royal Family, but I don't think it does, and I'm really sorry if the names don't sound very ItalianI'm using creative licence here, don't flame. Please Please review and tell me what you think. If you see any spelling or gramatical errors please feel free to point them out as I don't have a Beta. Does anyone know how to get one?
