A/N- Insert standard disclaimer here __________. Now that that's out of the way, enjoy my offering.

June 8, 1997 11:00 pm

Blaise could be described as quiet and unobtrusive. He was usually calm and not prone to the senseless prejudice that existed between Slytherins and the rest of the school houses. He wasn't exaggerating as he commented on his lack of insults to others when speaking to Draco earlier in the day.

Blaise and Draco had been best friends since they were toddlers. They had always looked out for one another the best that they could. Blaise had provided Draco with a real friend that understood him and his problems. He had been there to lighten the mood when Draco's life situations had been almost too much to bear.

Draco in turn had provided a certain level of protection for Blaise. The Malfoy family had been known for generations as ruthless, power hungry and cunning. Whether or not it held true was irrelevant as long as people believed Draco was what a Malfoy was supposed to be. No one messed with Draco and in turn no one messed with Blaise.

When Blaise had his arm healed earlier in the day he had been grateful for Draco's presence, he needed someone there with him as his arm felt like a hundred daggers were piercing his flesh.

What he hadn't expected was the unexpected comfort of Hermione Granger. He had opened his eyes as he felt Madam Pomfrey's spell working and had locked eyes with a pair of hazel eyes.

At first he was confused. He saw that pair of hazel eyes and immediately thought of his mother. Hence the inexplicable comfort.

But then he saw the face that was accompanying the eyes and realized something was off.

Just yesterday he had gazed at Hermione's BROWN eyes. There had been no hints of green at all. Today they had been different. Today, they had been his mother's eyes.

She had been holding her left arm to her chest, cradling it as if she were in pain. Yet, as soon as Blaise had turned back to her after glancing at Draco she had been gone. A proverbial cloud of dust left in the wake of her speedy exit.

Blaise was a deeply intuitive individual and he realized yesterday in the infirmary that there was more to Hermione Granger than he ever thought possible. He felt something when he was near her. Like she belonged.

He had to talk to her. With that thought in his mind he finally drifted to sleep. A pair of hazel eyes played around the edges of his consciousness for the rest of the night.

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June 9, 1997

Hermione was not a stranger to waking up in the library. She found that her favorite hidden corner of her sanctuary was overlooked when Madam Pince closed up for the night, and she had accidently stayed the night there before. So when Hermione lifted her head and her eyes focused on book cases filled to the brim with tomes she wasn't startled.

She glanced down at the book she had found the most helpful the night before as she was researching her 'problem'. The Ins and Outs of Glamour Charms by Delia Chameleon had provided some information that seemed relevant if not wholly more confusing.

In some cases, when a glamour charm has been set for long term use the effects begin to recede before the spell is set to officially end. This usually occurs when a glamour has been in prolonged use; years for example. Hair color could begin to change gradually, darkening or lightening depending on what the glamour was concealing. For a glamour to have a long-term effect (years) it would take an enormous amount of power that is generally abandoned in favor of less energy consuming short term spells that are reapplied at given intervals.

This passage had been read and re-read by Hermione several times the night before. Her eyes had finally dropped after her 267th read through.

Now Hermione refocused on the words and more importantly the meaning. She could possibly have a long-term concealment charm on her. But why?

And why was she suddenly sharing pain with Blaise Zabini?

Yes, Hermione had deduced that she was sharing pain with the Slytherin. She had a theory in her head as to what was going on but did not even want to articulate it in her mind without further testing.

She looked at the clock near the check-out desk, it read 9:00 am. Instead of rushing to breakfast to meet up with her friends she stayed in her seat, wondering how she could prove her theory correct or incorrect. She closed her book with a snap and scurried of to a book section that she had never thought she would be interested in before.

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Blaise and Draco had grabbed some toast from the Great Hall before quickly exiting. Draco knew something was up with his best mate, as he had barely said a word all morning, only now and then mumbling about needing to find someone.

Blaise had noticed Hermione's absence from the Gryffindor table and figured that she was either still sleeping -unlikely considering it was Hermione- or in the library.

"Where are we going?" Draco asked Blaise as he picked up speed again to catch up with Blaise.

"Library." Blaise answered shortly.

"Why in Merlin's polka-dotted boxer shorts are we going to the library on a Saturday, the day after our last exam of the year?!"

"No one said you had to come."

This response almost stopped Draco in his tracks. Blaise almost never used that tone with him. It only meant one thing to Draco: something was really bothering Blaise.

"No mate, I'm coming with you. Whatever is up with you I'll get your back." Draco stated seriously.

Blaise rewarded him with a small, yet strained smile. They approached the library and almost stormed in, startling the librarian. She shot them a disapproving glare that caused them to slow their steps to avoid any loud footfalls.

Where would she be? Blaise thought.

He cautiously began looking around, weaving in and out of the stacks getting closer to the back of the library away from the hawk-like eyes of Madam Pince.

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Hermione reached into her bag silently retrieving the object she knew would help her prove her theory once and for all.

She silently set down the book she had been poring over and tip-toed cautiously to hide behind a large bookcase. She felt like a jungle cat, observing her prey, preparing to pounce.

She saw the approach of Blaise, with Draco close at his heels.

She fingered the item she had retrieved from her bag and took a deep breath before casting a silencing spell on herself and plunging the object into her left palm.

She heard a strangled scream come from the boy in her line of sight.

Her experiment was not done yet. She watched as he glared at his left palm with a mixture of pain and confusion. His eyes began to water and dart wildly around the library. She saw him looking in her direction and she decided it was time for the truth.

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Draco stopped behind Blaise abruptly as he heard his cry of pain and watched as his best friend held his left hand and began to look wildly around the library as if searching for the source of his pain.

Suddenly something emerged from the shadows and began to glide over to the stunned boys.

Hermione Granger approached them, her now hazel eyes streaming with tears. He saw a glinting silver dagger piercing clean through her left palm. The blood was dripping crimson as it pooled in her hand and dripped down her wrist and onto the floor.

She stopped directly in front of Blaise, her eyes never leaving his and his never wavering from her own watery ones.

Abruptly she yanked the dagger out of her palm. Her mouth opened slightly but no sound came from her. Instead and another strangled cry of pain came directly from Blaise.

To say that Draco was alarmed would be an understatement. He was scared shitless for his best mate. Standing in front of his best and only friend was Granger, her hand dripping with blood and yet it was Blaise that was twitching in pain.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" Draco yelled.

Finally Hermione spared Draco a glance. Her eyes were filled with pain, yet they seemed determined.

"Hermione. What does it mean?" Blaise weakly asked, dragging Hermione's gaze back to him.

She said nothing.

The blood was coming faster now. She was beginning to pale. Draco was beginning to worry about her and a glance at Blaise told him that he was as well.

She turned away from them. They could not see what she was doing with her back to them. Suddenly Blaise burst out, "Oh thank Merlin! It doesn't hurt anymore!"

Hermione turned back to Blaise and Draco. Her hand was clean and mended from the unsightly picture of before. The only reminders that she had indeed stabbed herself were the blood stains on her robe sleeve, the tear tracks on her cheeks and the bloody dagger that was in her right hand.

"I think we should sit down to talk about this," Hermione said simply as if she hadn't just stabbed herself and somehow inexplicably caused Blaise the same pain she had experienced.

The boys sat down immediately, open mouthed with shock.

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While Draco was staring intently at the book that Hermione had set in front of them, Blaise was staring at the bloody dagger that was now lying on the table.

"This is a pureblood genealogy book." Draco interrupted the silence.

"Yes."

"It's opened to the genealogy of the Zabini Family."

"Well spotted."

Draco was getting tired of the silence and the mysterious way that Hermione was presenting her theory. He was getting close to retorting sarcastically when Blaise spoke up.

"Where did you get this dagger?"

Hermione looked surprised at first, as if not understanding how it was important.

"My dad gave it to me. He said to use it if ever the need arose and I couldn't use my wand."

"Where did he get it?" Blaise asked quickly.

"He said it was passed down from his father to himself and his siblings. I suppose it's an heirloom. Why does it matter? I just used it to prove that we are linked somehow."

"It matters. I have one exactly like it. I got it from my dad as well, along with that same story of other daggers being given to his siblings." Blaise pointed out a small coat of arms that Hermione had never paid too much attention to. It was crossed wands that Hermione had mistaken for swords set in just below a lion's head. "This is the Zabini family crest."

"Huh." Blaise and Hermione's matching eyes swiveled to Draco. "What?!" He cried.

"That's your response? 'Huh'?!" Blaise questioned.

"Well forgive me if I don't have a perfectly prepared response to the knowledge that you and Hermione are somehow related!" Draco retorted.

"Enough." Hermione said quietly.

Blaise and Draco looked over at her with concern in their eyes. When she glanced up she was taken aback at the tenderness she saw in their eyes. She could understand that look from Blaise now, but Draco was another story. Why was he looking at her like that?

Hermione decided to push that thought away for now until she figured out exactly how she was related to Blaise.

"I believe that someone cast a long-term glamour charm on me, and it's effects are fading for some reason. Obviously my eyes are now hazel and-" She was cut off by Blaise.

"Your hair is darker than it was yesterday."

"What?!" She cried as she dove into her bag to pull out a small mirror. She saw that Blaise was right. Her hair had darkened from light brown to a rich, dark chestnut that matched Blaise's perfectly.

"Great. Just lovely." She muttered under her breath.

"I think it looks nice." Once again all eyes swiveled to Draco. He tried to fight off the blush that threatened to overtake his face. He felt Blaise's piercing gaze as well as Hermione's confused one.

"Well, aside from the apparent glamour fading and our new found sharing of pain, I noticed in the Zabini genealogy a name that seemed like it could match my dad's. Apparently your grandparents Giovanni and Vittoria Zabini had three children. Dante was their first-born-" Hermione was cut off again.

"My dad."

"Yes, Dante was born first followed by Carlo and a couple years later, Allegra. Its possible and very likely that my dad is a Zabini and he changed his name when he married my mum and decided to be a dentist. My dad's name is Carl." Hermione finished.

Blaise raised his eyebrows at her.

"Maybe. But look under Carlo's name. He has a thread connecting him to someone named Diana but-" It was Blaise's turn to be cut off.

"My mum!" Hermione interjected.

"BUT, there is no indication of children. But under Dante and Belladonna, my mum, there is a line that leads to… wait. It looks like its concealed. I should be under here, but its like my name is protected. Maybe both our names are protected. You could either be my cousin or my sister." He said finally.

"We should contact our parents and demand an explanation."

There, a mystery had been semi-solved. Hermione Granger was either the sister or cousin of Blaise Angelo Zabini.

The three teens continued to stare at each other almost dumb-struck by the information when they were interrupted by Ginny, Harry and Ron.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?!" Harry demanded, His eyes on the still bloody dagger.

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A/N- I couldn't stop myself from getting this chapter out today. I thought it was time to really get this story started. There is more mystery, adventure and romance afoot! Any reviews are very welcome. Questions and constructive criticism is also something i look foward to. Please hit the review button and tell me what you think :)