Truth
Book One of the Shadowed Comings Trilogy
An Author's Note: From La Reine Royale Hello again. As you can see, this is another story that I am writing. I promise that I will try to keep this one going, since everyone stopped reviewing my other story. If you do want me to keep that going, just review it (it is called Living Death for any new readers.)
Mwah!
Disclaimer: As much as I would like to, I do not own any characters in this story. J.K. Rowling does; so unless you don't recognize a character as one from her books, I don't claim any of them.
Background/Summary: Pre-Final Battle. Hermione is perfect. Life is good. But changes ruin all that, and not only for her. This will be a Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger story eventually.
Hermione Granger was perfect. Her life was good, her grades excellent. Even her teeth were perfect, thanks in part to the long-ago curse of Draco Malfoy. Nothing could change her perfectness, except if she changed.
Change of any kind was not currently welcomed by Hermione. If something went wrong now, everything she had worked for would be lost. Thus, there was no point.
Despite her perfectness, seventh year was still up ahead. Hermione, being prepared, had been ready for her NEWTs since second year. While everyone stressed, she stressed extra hard so as not to let an Outstanding NEWT get out of reach. Not that it would, of course.
Her friends, Harry and Ron, were not perfect. That didn't matter. If she ditched them now, her perfect life would change. Change was not good.
It was the end of summer now. Hermione had packed all of her school clothes that she would need when her week at the Burrow was over. She walked downstairs to say good-bye to her parents.
"Mum, Dad, I'm going to go now!"
Her parents rushed out of the kitchen; her mother was still holding a dish towel that she'd been wringing in anticipation.
"Have fun, darling," her mother beamed as she pinched Hermione's cheek.
"Oh, Marla, she's so grown up now! Now Hermione, stay away from boys that could ruin your…virtue…without you knowing, you hear me?"
"Yes Dad. I'll write to you every month when I'm at Hogwarts. And I'll see you during the Christmas Break! Bye!"
"Bye dear!" her parents said as she waltzed out the door.
A blue Ford Anglia was waiting outside for her. As soon as she got in, a tall red-headed boy grinned.
"Ready to go, Hermione?"
"Ron!"
"Yup."
"You're…driving. Isn't that a Muggle thing, to be driving?"
"Dad taught me yesterday. It's not so hard, easier than riding a broom at least. Are you all ready to go?"
She buckled her seatbelt. Taking this as a signal, Ron pressed a light blue button. "Need invisibility in case any kooks see us."
The car rose up into the air. Not wanting to look out the window for fear of getting sick, Hermione laid back and went to sleep.
By the time they arrived at the Burrow, it was nearly 5 o clock at night. Ron parked the car in the garage of the house, and they carefully stepped over Mr. Weasley's plug collection on the way into the house.
As soon as the door opened, Hermione could smell Mrs. Weasley's cooking from where she stood. Utensils were zipping through the air as she worked.
Ginny was sitting at the kitchen table playing Exploding Snap with Harry. Fred and George were making the final touches on their inventory for this year while Charlie and Bill looked on, making comments. Percy, another person who believed in perfection, was busy editing official documents.
The house gave an overall aura of happiness. Hermione stepped in the kitchen, only to be immediately swept into a hug by Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh Hermione! You're just in time for dinner. Ron left too late, and he drives to slow. Only about 80 miles per hour, hmm?"
"Oh, it was fine. It smells great in here."
"That's nothing. Just a little experiment I'm trying with our new oven."
Harry looked up from his game and grinned.
"Hey, Herms! Ron drive slow enough for you?"
Ginny slapped his arm playfully as Hermione walked upstairs to put her things away.
Dinner was fairly uneventful, only briefly punctuated by the twin's obnoxious jokes and stories. The rest of the week went by quickly, and Hermione soon found herself on the Hogwarts Express.
Hermione, being Head Girl this year, had to sit in the Head's compartment on the ride over. She read her books on the trip, not bothering to see who the boy sitting next to her was.
"Mudblood, do you mind moving over? You're soiling my new robes."
Great. It was Malfoy.
She ignored him, even though her hand ached to slap his perfect little cheek. Couldn't he grow up during the summer, even a little bit? No, that would ruin things. Unbalance them. But, wait, she had punched him before, hadn't she? Hermione was getting confused. Luckily, she left the Head compartment before anything happened.
When they disembarked, Hermione met back up with her friends. She sighed. She would have to share a room with Draco Malfoy for the entire year. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad if all they were in the room for was sleeping.
Maybe not just sleeping, in Malfoy's case.
Hermione unpacked. All of her books filled the shelves provided for her. She hadn't memorized them all, yet. She enjoyed saving one course's books for the year, so she could get through without her hand in the air all the time.
This year, that class was Transfiguration. They would be working on human transfiguration this year, which everyone looked forward to. More danger was involved with this subject than the rest combined. Like the Tri-Wizard competition of fourth year, when Krum had transformed into a shark, things could go wrong.
Krum had nearly snapped Hermione in two that day. It didn't matter, though. They had kept correspondence for a while. In fact, she had just written a letter to him when she found out she was Head Girl. He was still playing Quidditch professionally, and she knew that they weren't dating. No chance of that whatsoever.
She didn't want anyone knowing who she shared a room with, though.
Hermione knew that some people despised her. Take her Common Room-mate, Draco Malfoy. People hated her for being so perfect all the time. She didn't let anyone know that she wasn't always perfect. For example, boys. She didn't a thing about them. She had never had a boyfriend, although deep in her mind she wanted one.
By the time she finished thinking, it was time for dinner. She went to the Great Hall and shook with anticipation-now, everyone would know that she was Head Girl. As she sat back and waited, Malfoy walked in, sneered at her, and sat down at the Slytherin table. Pansy immediately attached herself to his arm.
Hermione knew that of all the boys, she would not pick Malfoy as the one to be her boyfriend. In truth, they were too similar. He got wonderful grades, passed everything, and was just…perfect. Not in a romantic way, of course.
On the other side of the Hall, Malfoy was personally disgusted. First, he had to share a room with the Mudblood, and second, his arm was falling asleep. He sat back as Dumbledore announced the Prefects and Heads.
"…Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, please come up to be recognized!"
Both students walked up to the teacher's table, and turned around for the applause.
"In hopes of setting a good example and ignoring House prejudices, these two will share a common room for the year."
Great, so now everyone knew. Hermione wanted to faint. And she did.
La reine…What do you think? Should I continue? If you want me to continue, give me your email address so that I can email you with updates-these chapters take me a while to do. A long, long while…
Note: I know that Hermione seems kind of OOC, but I promise that there is an actual plot purpose for that…and this won't be a story where she gets abandoned, either.