(January 25th, 2012)

Hello y'all! Thank you for all the reviews! As promised here's the new chapter! Please Read, Review & Enjoy!

Disclaimer: see chapter one


Chapter Two

Hermione was awoken the next morning by a banging on the door. She groggily got up and pulled her bathrobe on before answering it. She opened it to the inn's owner.

"Yes?" She croaked. The grey-haired man held out a letter for her.

"I apologize for the early hour Miss Griffle. This came for you just now. I was told it was the upmost importance that you receive immediately." She took the letter and noticed the coat of arms of the lawyer's office she visited yesterday. He turned and walked down the stairs.

Closing the door she pulled her robe a little tighter around her as she walked back to her bed. Her stomach was in knots. She sliced under the wax and pulled out a letter on fine paper.

Miss Granger,

Please come to my office at 8am this morning. I have found your family and they wish to meet you.

Sincerely,
Rod Tilthworth

"Oh my god." She said out loud. That was so fast. I thought he wasn't going to talking to the Prophet until today. My photo's not even out yet. How could they have found me? Suddenly she got a shot of adrenaline when she realized that today, she would meet her real family. Her magical biological family. It wasn't that she didn't love her parents, it was just that maybe, she could get some answers. Hermione looked at the time and gasped. It was already seven o'clock! She popped into the shower and for the next half an hour she tried to make herself as presentable as possible. Finally she walked over to the office, her hands were shaking and she almost turned around to go back and forget this whole thing. When she opened the door Rod was already waiting for her. He gestured her to his office.

"Good morning Miss Granger. If you would please step into my office." She halted for a moment and looked at her. "Miss?" Hermione looked at him nervously.

"Are they… are they nice?" She whispered nobody else would hear her.

"Yes miss Granger. If fact I've met them before. They are a great family." She nodded feeling re-assured. So she stepped into the office. Sitting on the plush chairs were a olive skinned man and woman. The woman was beautiful. She looked almost identical to what Hermione looked like now, only her eyes were a light blue. She looked to be in her mid-forties. The man was also striking. Tall with strong features and her chocolate eyes. He looked vaguely familiar. They both stood up when she entered the room. The woman had her eyes brimming with tears and they both smiled at her. She felt a tug at her chest and even though she hadn't even said two words to them, she felt this pull to them. Rod ushered Hermione forward by giving her a small push on the back. She found herself walking towards them. The woman was crying and holding her mouth, partially hiding a smile. Rod finally cleared his throat.

"Hermione, these are your biological parents, Mister and Misses Zabini." The slight smile that had been forming at the corner of her lips dropped.

"What?" She couldn't have heard right. Zabini? No way.

"Yes, your mother, your father and their son, Blaise."

"Is this some sort of cruel joke?" She was getting angry now and the woman took her husband's hand. Her wand was whipped out in a fraction of a second, pointing it at Rod. "Who put you up to this?" She demanded and he raised his hands in surrender.

"P-please, miss Granger. These are your real parents. They have the birth certificate; your name is Audrey Nyssa Zabini, born September 19th 1979 at St. Mungo's Hospital. They even have an enhanced photo of what you would look like now. The resemblance is undisputable. Please miss Granger, just calm down and let's all talk about this." Hermione scowled and pointed her wand farther so it touched his throat.

"There is not way in hell that I'm related to Blaise Zabini! Nor would I want to acknowledge that I am if I was. That boy and his little Slytherin friends made my life a living hell and there's no way that I could be related to someone that cruel. I'm not someone you can manipulate Mister Tilthworth. And I'm not going to stick around to play your sick game. Goodbye." With that she ran out. She could hear the woman crying openly now and mister Tilthworth calling out her name. She ran all the way back to the Leaky Cauldron and up to her room. After slamming the door she placed an extensive locking charm on the door and crawled onto the bed. She couldn't help the tears that rolled down her cheeks. Life was cruel if this was the hand it dealt her. The Zabinis? Really? Anyone would be better than them. Actually, only the Malfoys would be worse than them. Hermione hugged a pillow to her as she sat on her bed crying. Slowly, she found herself lying down and falling asleep.

There was a knock on her door and Hermione shot up wand pointing at it. She creeped over to stand next to it, but didn't open it.

"Who is it?" She asked hoarsely; her throat was sore from crying.

"It's Blaise." The voice was deep and familiar. A voice that taunted and insulted her so many times.

"Leave me alone!" She demanded.

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me. So if I have to wait here all night and all day until you have to leave for Hogwarts then so be it."

"I have nothing to say to you." She tried to keep her voice strong. There was a pause.

"Then you don't have to say anything. Just hear me out." Hermione just laughed.

"Yes I'm going to open the door so you can hex me or insult me or God knows what. No thanks, I'll pass."

"Please, Hermione, you have to understand I had no idea. I'm so sorry." His voice was sincere but she wasn't going to give in that easily.

"You can't just say sorry and expect all to be forgiven. Do you know how you made me feel? Between you and your Slytherin cronies my self-esteem is non-existent. You can't just make it all better by apologizing."

"I know. And I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Please, this is just killing my— our parents. They've been searching for you your entire life. They never recovered from your disappearance. Please Hermione…" She could hear him place his forehead on the wooden door. After a moment of silence she spoke again.

"I don't see why you care so much. I can't see you being happy that the Mudblood Granger actually being your sister." Another pause.

"I wasn't when I found out. But when my parents told me what happened this morning, how upset you were and how it was all because of me… I love my—our parents. More than anything. I've seen how this has affected them. And it's all because of me… I need to make this right, not just for them but for you too." More silence. "Please just open the door." Hermione's resolve was dissolving much to her dismay. This couldn't be real could it? It was just some weird dream from that bad bowl of soup last night. She couldn't actually be a Zabini. But the resemblance to the two people she saw this morning was uncanny. Even if she was, and Blaise was right, maybe she should give them a chance?

She muttered the counter-locking spell and slowly opened the door. Blaise looked surprised that he had managed to talk her into letting him in. He took a step forward, being wary of his actions. He took a hard look at her, surveying her new features.

"We look so similar it's scary." He muttered and she couldn't help a dark chucke escaping her.

"Well, we are suppose to be twins after all." They stood there sizing each other up for several minutes before Blaise spoke again.

"Will you come and meet our parents?" She thought for a moment before nodding. They walked downstairs and out to the muggle streets to a disserted alley. He held out his hand and reluctantly she took it. There was that odd feeling of being pulled inwards as they apperated to the gates of large Victorian mansion. They dropped their hands immediately and together they strolled to the front doors. A house elf opened the door, bowing low.

"Good afternoon mister and miss Zabini. Can Ratchet take your coats?"

"No thanks Ratch, just bring us to our parents." The elf bowed low.

"As you wish." They walked to the corridor to what looked like a seating room. "Masters." The elf bowed again, gesturing to the room before he disappeared with a 'pop'. Surely enough the man and woman from this morning were sitting by the fireplace with a tray of tea and biscuits.

"Mum, Dad." They both stood up at the sound of Blaise's voice. Rita Zabini cried out in joy when she saw Hermione and walked over to her. She took Hermione's hands in hers, she looked like she had started to cry again.

"Audrey! You look… you look beautiful darling." Hermione flinched and Rita's husband came over and took his wife's hands away from Hermione's.

"Sweetheart." He said warningly and she sniffed.

"I'm sorry dear. I know we're just strangers to you, but we're so happy that you're back with us." Hermione didn't say anything. Henry Zabini cleared his throat.

"Blaise told us of your... relationship with him at school." He looked over and gave Blaise a stern look. "I presume you two talked?"

"Enough." She stately simply. Rita wiped her cheeks with a handkerchief.

"Audrey—" Hermione cut her off.

"Don't call me that." Her voice was harsher than she had intended. "My name is Hermione." Her parents gave each other a look, but her mother nodded all the same.

"Of course, I'm sorry. It's just we've been looking for Audrey this whole time. Old habits die hard I suppose. You can call me Rita until you get to know me better alright?" She gave Hermione a smile and Hermione felt a tug at her chest again. "How about we have some dinner?" Hermione just nodded and together they walked down the hall to a dining room. The table was covered in different dishes. Suddenly Hermione's stomach growled; she hadn't eaten much these past few weeks. They gestured for her to take a seat at the head of the table and how whatever food she wanted. While they ate it was many her mother that talked, telling her of family holidays and asking her questions about her life. She carefully avoided questions about her muggle parents.

Finally during dessert a house elf appeared. She bowed low to Henry before speaking.

"Master, misses Malfoy wishes to visit tomorrow for tea and drop off mister Malfoy at the same time." Henry nodded.

"Yes of course. Eleven o'clock is fine." The elf bowed again and left. Hermione stiffened; suddenly she felt nauseous.

"Hermione?" Rita leaned over and placed her hand on hers. Hermione put the back of her hand to her mouth, bile rising in her throat. She pushed back the chair and ran to the washroom down the hall. After spilling the contents of her supper in the toilet she splashed her face with water. This can't be happening. It was all too much. She was now a pureblood Zabini living in a mansion. Her family were friends with the Malfoys and it was perfectly normal for them to invite themselves over for tea. Too much change. She thought as she stared back at her strange appearance. She took a moment before her dried her face and walked back to the dining room. She stopped just outside the door when she heard the raised voices.

"What were you thinking Dad?" Blaise demanded.

"I'm sorry I didn't really think about it." Henry replied and Rita sighed.

"Too late to tell them not to now. Cissy leaves for France tomorrow afternoon and we told her we would take Draco to Kings Cross with us."

"They'll have to deal with each other soon enough." Henry agreed.

"Clearly you haven't heard a word I've been telling you. They loathe each other. He treated her worse than I did. I looked like her best friend in comparison." Hermione saw Henry rub his head.

"Look I'm sorry Blaise. But we've been family friends since the fifteenth century. We do a lot of business with them; we can't just put that all on hold. Besides wouldn't you rather them get along?"

"Fat chance they ever will." Blaise muttered.

"Well let's just see how tomorrow goes shall we? They know how long we've been waiting for this moment. Maybe Draco will be courteous enough to apologize. You did and she seems to have forgiven you somewhat."

"Whole different situation mum. Believe me, you'll understand when they see each other tomorrow." At that point Hermione decided to enter the room. Rita looked up with a concerned look on her face.

"Hermione dear? Are you alright?" She nodded her head.

"I think it was the fish. I'm not use to such rich food." Blaise gave her a curious look. "I'm fine. I'm just a little tired I guess."

"Of course you must be exhausted. Why don't I show you to your room?"

"But what about all my things?"

"Not to worry, Joules will get it from the inn for you." Rita got up, leaving the two men at the table. Hermione shifted from foot-to-foot.

"I guess I'll see you in the morning then." She said quietly.

"Yes we will, good night love." Her father smiled and Blaise gave her a nod. She turned and followed her mother down the corridor and up the staircase. As Rita took her down the hall, Hermione noticed that the rooms were labelled; the Sapphire Room, the Diamond Room, the Topaz Room. They finally stopped at a room with the title "Ruby Room". Her mother smiled at her when she read the name.

"We thought you might like this room better than the Silver Room. Because of your Gryffindor roots." She pointed to the door diagonally to hers. "That's Blaise's room." Hermione could see "Emerald Room" on his. She gestured for Hermione to open the door. When she did she had to sign in admiration. It had high ceilings and the walls were a perfect ruby red colour. The décor was trimmed with gold and in between the ceiling high windows was a plush bed with gold sheets entwined with a royal purple. There was a white marble fireplace with a very comfy looking arm chair and the entire wall was covered in books. Rita watched her survey the room nervously. "You're more than welcome to change anything. Blaise told us you like to read so we thought—" Hermione interrupted her.

"It's perfect. Thank you." She smiled at her and Rita beamed.

"Your bathroom is over there," she pointed to a white door, "feel free to draw a bath. If you need anything just call for Joules." She turned around a headed for the door only stopping a moment to say goodnight. Hermione let out her breath when the door shut. A moment later her clothing and trunk arrived with a little female house elf, who only stayed long enough to bow. She did end up taking a long bath followed by picking a hefty novel from one of the shelves and sitting by the fireplace to read.


So there you are! Hermione is offically screwed! Hahahaa just kidding. But how will Malfoy react to Blaise's newest family member? Review to find out! (hahaha)
Please continue to review and leave me your thoughts! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :)

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~FunkyMonkey