AN: REPOST DATE 18/01/2019
Part way through this chapter, Hermione will known as Harmony and that is how it will be from now on. I know some people don't like the whole name change thing but I hope you'll keep reading especially since I kept the name pretty similar.
Thank you to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed myself and this story, y'all made me smile LOTS!
Disclaimer: I don't make money off of this. JK Rowling owns the characters.
Love Ya! xoxo
Chapter 2 – Family Reunion
Giovanni and Maria Zabini were seated quietly in their study playing a game of Wizard's Chess. Neither of them spoke, they simply enjoyed each other's company, plus their game had hit a tense crucial moment. Both stared at the board, contemplating their own and their opponent's next moves when a loud crack sounded, startling them, Maria jumping out of her seat, knocking the chess board on to the floor.
A house elf stood, wide eyed and staring up at them, tears already forming in its tennis ball eyes. "I be sorry, Master and Mistress. Really, I be sorry. A fire call is for you, Goblin of Gringotts wishes to speak with yous immediately. He be asking if he may be coming through to talk to yous personally."
"Must be important, darling." Maria said, placing her hand on her husband's arm.
"Yes. Bammie, tell him that he is welcome to come straight through." Giovanni was already waving his wand to reset the chess pieces.
"I be doing that now, Master," and with a crack, she left.
"I wonder what this is about. You don't think anything bad has happened, do you?" Maria said, standing slowly.
"I guess we'll find out in a minute." Giovanni remarked.
Just at that moment, they felt their home's wards bend and a goblin appeared before them. He bowed to the pair silently. Maria gestured for him to take a seat, which he gratefully accepted. Once they were all seated and comfortable, the silence was finally broken.
"Forgive my intrusion, Lord and Lady Zabini. My name is Fireclaw, I am the Head Goblin for the Ancient Family Vaults and Inheritance department at Gringotts."
"Has something happened to our vaults? Or is it Blaise? What has happened?" Maria interjected. She was wringing her hands nervously, fear and apprehension was rolling off of her in waves. Giovanni pulled her hands apart and gripped them between his own.
"Oh, nothing like that. In fact, I come bearing good news. The reason that I am here is to do with your daughter."
"Harmony? What about her?" Giovanni leaned forward, not taking his eyes off of Fireclaw.
"We have found her." Fireclaw smiled, causing Maria to gasp and begin to cry. "It seems that when she was taken, she was covered with some powerful glamour charms to conceal not only her looks, but also her magical signature. Last night, her glamours began to falter, alerting us at Gringotts of the change. We have already performed the Bloodline Ritual and I am glad to be the one to tell you that it is definitely her."
Maria broke in to body shuddering tears at the news. Giovanni moved in to hug his wife, his own tears – as few as there may have been – fell gracefully.
"My baby. You found my sweet Harmony. Where is she? Can we see her?" Maria said through a handkerchief.
"Of course. She is in my office at Gringotts. I'll give you some time to compose yourselves. Your son should be here for this, too. You should inform him of this before you come to my office. The direct floo will have you spelled in so you will not have to venture through the bank." Fireclaw stood from his seat. "I must tell you, not all of her glamours have been removed yet. I thought that it would be something that you would prefer to do. I will see you shortly." He bowed and disappeared from the room.
"Oh Gio, they've found her. She's alive. She's so close. Oh, what do I say to her? Will she even like me?"
"Maria, calm down, love. We need to get Blaise and tell him. Where is he today?" Giovanni asked.
"He is with Draco, I believe." Maria said, fixing her makeup in a large wall mirror.
"Bammie!" The house elf popped in. "Go to the Malfoy's and get Blaise. Tell him that he must come home immediately."
"Yes, Master." And she disappeared with a crack, returning 10 seconds later with a rather dishevelled Blaise.
"Mother, what's wrong? Have you been crying?"
"Blaise, calm down. Have a seat, we have something to tell you." Giovanni said, pointing Blaise to the armchair that had been occupied by Fireclaw not too long before.
"Father, you're worrying me. What's going on?"
"We have just had word from Gringotts Bank. It's about your sister."
"Harmony? What about her?"
"They have found her."
The words hit Blaise like a tonne of bricks. His breath caught in his chest. "She's… She's alive? You can't be serious. Where is she now?"
"Gringotts. If you want, we can go and see her now." Maria said, walking over to Blaise and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, which Blaise automatically covered with his own.
Blaise couldn't move, except his thumb running along the back of his mother's hand. He was full of complete disbelief. His twin was alive. She was alive this whole time and he couldn't find her. He couldn't feel her presence. Where had she been hidden? Far away? Or maybe right under his nose. Was she in Hogwarts with him? If she was, then who was she? How had he treated her? How had everyone else treated her? He began to feel distressed at the thought that Harmony had been at school with him and he hadn't been able to protect her.
"Blaise." Maria's voice broke through his thoughts. "We are going to Gringotts now. Are you ready?"
Blaise took a deep breath, stood up and straightened his robes. "As I'll ever be."
They all gathered at the fireplace and gave each other a supportive glance before going through the floo network one at a time.
* TJIY *
Harmony was sitting in Fireclaw's office alone. Fireclaw had left 5 minutes ago to go to the Zabinis to tell them of her reappearance. She kept her eyes in her lap, wringing her hands continuously. What if they don't like me? I'm a Gryffindor, will they resent me? MY GOD, I HAVE A TWIN BROTHER! Just then, she felt someone's presence before her. Her body tensed as she slowly raised her head. Fireclaw was standing, eyebrow raised and smirking at her.
"Merlin! I thought you were them. What happened? They're not here, they don't want to see me, do they?"
"Calm down, Miss Zabini. You are just like your mother, I must say. They are simply informing Master Zabini of the events before they arrive." Fireclaw was taking his seat once again.
"Oh. Ok." Harmony slumped in her seat.
"You have nothing to worry about, Miss Zabini. They are excited to see you."
Harmony gave a small smile and lowered her head once more to stare at her hands. Bloody nervous habit. At that moment, she heard the fire roar to life, the sound immediately pulling her up to stand. Before her brain could register anything, a blur flew across the room and collided with her. She found herself enveloped in the most comfortable hug she had ever felt. She wrapped her arms around the body and felt herself relax into their arms.
"I never thought we'd find you, Harmony." Blaise whispered in to her hair. She couldn't reply, she just squeezed her arms tighter around his waist. After a while, Blaise pulled back and placed his hands on either side of her face, leaning her up so she could look into his eyes. As the eye contact was made, Blaise's widened in shock. "Granger?"
Harmony lowered her eyes to the floor. "Sorry to disappoint you."
"Disappoint? You're my sister, you could never disappoint me!" Blaise pulled her in to another hug. "You're the brightest witch of our age. I'm proud to say you're my twin, Harmony Zabini."
"But I'm a Gryff…"
"You really think I'm in to all that house animosity?" Harmony shrugged at the question. Blaise took her hands and led them over to sit on the seats provided. "Think back, whenever you were being ridiculed, did I ever say anything?" He asked, looking directly into Harmony's eyes.
"No, actually. You didn't. You stood there at the back of the group."
"Exactly. I'd never hurt someone who doesn't deserve it. However, I do owe you an apology for being in that group. I wish I had known that you were you. If I had, I would've stopped them. I should have stopped them anyway…"
"If you had known, they probably wouldn't even be saying anything. You don't need to apologise. You didn't know."
Harmony squeezed Blaise's hands and they smiled at each other. A hiccough and sniff broke them out of their moment. Harmony looked up to see her parents still standing by the fireplace, cuddling and watching the exchange. Harmony suddenly felt nervous. She looked to Blaise, who chuckled and leaned towards her.
"They won't bite. Go and say hello, they are dying to see you." He whispered in her ear, squeezing her hands once more before letting go and sitting back in his chair.
Harmony took a deep breath and got up from her seat. She walked slowly over to Giovanni and Maria, a small nervous smile on her face. "Mother? Father?"
Quickly, the gap between them was closed, Harmony was held between her parents, her mother crying and her father buried his nose in to her hair. Feeling this amount of love finally broke Harmony down. The flood gates opened and she finally cried. She didn't know how it happened, but she felt content and safe with these new parents. She didn't expect to be accepted so easily and didn't expect to accept them so easily, it just felt right. Her parents squeezed her tighter, only causing her to cry more. Blaise was quickly there behind Harmony, immediately calming her down.
"I can't believe you're here. You have no idea how happy I am." Maria leaned back, wiping her eyes.
"I think I have a small idea." Hermione sniffed, also wiping her eyes. "If it's ok, would you be able to remove the rest of my glamours, please. I don't feel right yet. I want to know what I really look like."
"Of course, sweetheart. Stand back." Giovanni reached in to his robes, pulled out his wand and waved it in front of Harmony. She suddenly felt herself grow a couple of inches and her skin tingled. When it was all over, she saw the looks of admiration from her family. She turned to look towards Fireclaw who pointed to the left wall, where a full length mirror was situated.
Harmony ran and gasped when she saw herself. She was now a taller 5'7" compared to the 5'4" that she had previously been. Her body had gained perfect curves and she was much shapelier. She walked forward and inspected her face. It wasn't too different, her cheekbones became more defined and her nose slightly more pointed. Her skin had darkened slightly, due to her Italian heritage. The most startling change was her eyes. They were glowing blue. "I'm beautiful." She whispered to herself.
"Yes you are. I wouldn't expect any less from my twin. I mean, come on! You look like me! Of course you're gorgeous." Blaise said, sliding in to the mirror behind her.
You could tell they were twins. Their faces were very alike, Harmony's only slightly more feminine. Their hair was the same jet black and their eyes the same startling blue. Despite her growth spurt, Blaise still towered over her with his 6'2" structure.
Fireclaw clapped his hands, "now that the initial introductions are done, why don't we all take a seat and discuss a few things."
They all nodded. Maria and Giovanni sat on the long loveseat and Blaise took the chair next to them. Harmony looked around, pondering where to sit. As she went to sit on the chair beside Blaise, he grabbed her arm and pulled her in to squeeze in beside him on his chair.
Fireclaw stood and made to leave the room. "I believe you have some private matters to attend to. I will return once you are finished, then I will continue on with my business." And on that note, he left the room.
They all sat in silence for a few moments. "So…" Harmony muttered, attempting to get the conversation going.
"Yes, well I believe that we should explain. I'll start from the beginning." Giovanni began. "When we discovered that Maria was pregnant with twins, we were overwhelmed with excitement. You see, bearing twins is a blessing from Lady Magic. We were continuously congratulated, everyone remarking on the power that you both would hold."
"Power?" Harmony asked.
"Twins, when together, hold an immense amount of power. Almost as strong as the power between soulmates." Blaise responded, giving Harmony's shoulder a squeeze.
"Wonderfully put, honey. Anyway, you must know that Albus Dumbledore isn't the man you think he is. When he discovered that I was carrying twins, he felt threatened. We Zabinis have always remained neutral during any wars, but Dumbledore has always seen us as dark, no matter what." Maria looked to her husband for support.
"Dumbledore was threatened by you even before you were born. He began hatching plans to either separate you or kill you both. When you were born, everyone adored you both…"
"You were the most adorable babies ever. You'd always cry if you were separated…" Maria cut in, cooing away like they were babies again.
Blaise blushed, "MUUUUUM!" Harmony found herself laughing as Blaise hid his face in her hair.
"That's how we knew something had happened. One night, after we put you both in your bed; yes you shared a cot, we couldn't separate you at all, we felt a bend in the wards. Someone had somehow got in. Next, we heard Blaise crying." Giovanni turned to Maria, who had new tears running down her face." We rushed to your room and you were gone, Harmony. The veranda doors were left open and only Blaise was left." Giovanni got up from his seat, motioning for Blaise to go and comfort his mother.
Giovanni stopped in front of Harmony, placing his hands over hers and looking her directly in the eye. "From that night on, we never stopped looking for you. We used everything in our power to try and find you but it wasn't enough. We had no idea where you were, we scoured the entire Wizarding World for you."
"Well, that's why you didn't find me. Dumbledore took me into the muggle world and gave me to a couple who couldn't have children. He put glamours on me to make me look like them and obviously covered my magical signature."
"Baby, we are so sorry…" Giovanni pulled Harmony into his arms.
"You don't need to apologise. I was kidnapped, you worked for over 15 years trying to find me and now I'm here. I'm back with my family."
Blaise and Maria joined the embracing pair on the floor and they all kneeled there. None of them knew how long they were there for, the next thing they knew, Fireclaw had returned and was sitting behind his desk. The family all took their previous seats and gave the goblin their attention.
"I take it everything has been explained?" The group nodded. "Wonderful. I only have a few matters to go through with you. Firstly, now that Miss Zabini has returned, her vault is reactivated. Here is your key." Fireclaw slid a small key across the desk.
"I have my own vault?" Harmony asked, staring at the key in awe.
"Yeah, sis. It's next to mine in our family vault." Blaise informed, nudging Harmony's shoulder.
"The other matter at hand is your living arrangements."
"Oh, uh, well…" Harmony spluttered. She hadn't even given this a second's thought. Everything had been so overwhelming, she hadn't even thought about what would happen when they left this office.
Sensing her internal struggle, Maria turned to Harmony, "well, sweetie, we were actually hoping that you'd come and live with us. Now that we've found you, we don't really want to let you go again."
Harmony's eyes filled with tears. "Really?"
"Of course, sis. You have a home with us." Blaise smiled, hugging Harmony close.
"Wonderful. I believe that is all of the business attended to for today. Lord Zabini, I believe I can compile any evidence you may need against Albus Dumbledore, should you require it."
"Thank you, Ragnok. That would be wonderful. I will owl you later in the week. There is no need to rush at the moment. We have our daughter back and that is all that matters right now. We cannot go rushing into things like this with such a powerful man."
Quite right. I look forward to hearing from you, Lord Zabini. Thank you all for coming in, and may I be the first to say congratulations."
They all nodded and made their way to the fireplace happily until Harmony stopped, causing Blaise to walk straight in to the back of her.
"What's wrong?" He asked, making Maria and Giovanni turn around worriedly.
"It's just… I promised my parents, my adoptive parents, that I'd be home for dinner. I need to go and see them. I need to explain everything and say goodbye." Harmony muttered nervously.
"Oh, of course dear. Is the floo network connected to their house?" Maria said as she made her way next to Harmony.
"No it's not, I'm afraid."
"No trouble at all, we will apparated there." Giovanni took Harmony's hand and lead the group from the office.
Any other time, Harmony would've felt patronised by the gesture, especially at her age, but at that moment having her father hold her hand felt comforting and reassuring. It felt like it was his way of beginning to prove that he would not let her go again. Harmony smiled at the thought.
They made it to the apparition point, Harmony explained exactly where they would need to go to and they were off. They apparated into the side alley for Harmony's back garden. It was blocked off from all of the neighbouring windows so they wouldn't be seen just appearing and it was just rude to simply pop in to the Granger's living room. Harmony led them through the gate and around to the front door and opened it with her keys, drawing slight looks of amazement from the other witch and wizards.
"Mum? Dad? Are you home?" Harmony called out as she walked through the door.
"In the kitchen, dear. How did it go today?" Jean called out.
"Fantastic," Harmony called, making her way to the kitchen. "I know who I am now." Jean and David turned to see the new Harmony.
"Hermione? Is that really you?" Jean asked, staring in awe.
"It's actually Harmony. Harmony Zabini. These are my parents, Giovanni and Maria. And this is my twin brother, Blaise."
David stepped forward, "it's a pleasure to meet you."
David and Jean shook hands with Giovanni and Blaise, as they got to Maria they found themselves enveloped in to a bone crushing hug.
"Thank you so much for taking such good care of our baby. She's grown up to be a fantastic young lady."
Jean was in shock. She had not expected such a warm reception from the Zabinis, after all, she had raised their daughter.
Harmony laughed as she noticed Jean's face. "Why don't we have some tea and talk?"
Jean snapped out of her stupor, "oh yes, good idea. Herm... Harmony, why don't you lead the Zabinis in to the living room and we will be through in a second."
For the rest of the evening, they all discussed the past. How Harmony came to them and her achievements at primary school and Hogwarts. As the evening wore on, Harmony got more and more uncomfortable. Blaise sensed the tension in his twin and placed his hand on her arm, instantly relaxing her.
Harmony got up, excusing herself to the bathroom. Blaise immediately followed her up the stairs.
"You'll have to tell them, Harmony. They'll understand. They are your parents, too. All they want is for you to be happy." Blaise hugged his twin tightly and kissed her forehead. "You ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
When the twins re-entered the living room, the four parents all looked up to see the nervous glint in Harmony's eyes.
"Harmony, dear. We will go upstairs and collect your things, we'll leave you three to talk." Maria said, making her way to the door.
"You… Wait, what?" Harmony started.
"You looked so nervous, sweetie. We thought maybe we could break the news for you." Giovanni said, joining his wife and son and they left the room.
"I'm so sorry…" Harmony began.
"No need to apologise, dear. To be honest, we were expecting it." Jean said surprisingly calm.
"You were?"
"Of course. You've found your real family, why wouldn't you go and live with them?" David said, patting the space between himself and his wife.
Harmony sat down. "You're really ok with this?"
"Of course we are. We want you to be happy."
"Told you, sis." Blaise laughed as he suddenly appeared in the doorway, but seeing Harmony's glare he muttered, "sorry," and ran back upstairs.
"All we ask is that you keep in touch. I need the odd owl flying through the window to help me stay sane." Jean laughed through her tears. The trio embraced in silence until they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Are you ready, Harmony?" Maria asked cautiously.
"Yeah, I am." Harmony gave her adoptive parents one last squeeze before she got up. "Hey, with me gone, maybe you guys could do that Australia move you've been dreaming about." Harmony smiled.
Jean's face lit up. "I guess we could. What do you think, Dave?"
"Why don't we let these guys get on their way and then we can talk." David's face was glowing as much as his wife's.
"Once again, thank you for raising Harmony so well," Maria said as they walked out of the front door.
"I love you both." Harmony said, tears welling up.
"We love you, too." David said, hugging his crying wife close. "And don't forget to write."
"I won't."
With a last wave, The Zabinis made their way back around the side of the Granger's house.
"Next stop, Zabini Manor." Blaise said, grabbing Harmony's hand.
