Disclaimer: I lie so much. I am J.K. Rowling. You know what I mean. :p To make it simpler, I don't own anything!

A/N: Chappie 9, here it is! Enjoy. :p And by the way, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger are meant to be together, right?


Chapter 9: Princess-napping

The next following days were still the same. Wherever the brunette went, she's being talked about. Now, Hermione doesn't care so much about it. All she wished now was to see her beloved parents just for a day. And that faithful day came.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were having Transfiguration class with the Slytherins (again). While Professor McGonagall was lecturing them about transfiguring big, inanimate objects to small creatures, a house-elf apparated (yes, house-elves shave the ability to apparate inside Hogwarts) from nowhere and whispered something to the Deputy Headmistress. The house-elf disapparated and Professor McGonagall looked around.

"I would like to talk to Miss Granger," she said. Hermione stood up and walked towards her teacher, ignoring the snickers of the Slytherin students, death glares of some Gryffindors (thinking she did something wrong again), and the questioning looks from her friends.

Once she and Professor McGonagall were outside the classroom, the Professor looked around first then said in a hushed voice, "You're Highness (Hermione felt uncomfortable), I had received an order from Professor Dumbledore that you should go straight to his office. A surprise is waiting for you there."

Hermione looked curious. 'What could it be?' she asked herself. "Thank you, Professor," she said. The teacher nodded her head.

The Head Girl then went to the Headmaster's office.

Once she arrived there, she was welcomed by Queen Helen's hug. Hermione was really surprised that she stared at the Queen. "What are you doing here, Mother?" she asked, smiling.

Queen Helen positively looked thrilled. "You called me 'Mother'!" she exclaimed.

Hermione chuckled. "Of course," she said, smiling widely. "Now again, Mother, why are you here?"

"Oh, I'm here, my dear, to take you to the castle for a week in preparation for your exposure on the 19th. And of course, for you to see your new home," the Queen answered. "Albus here already agreed, am I right, Headmaster?"

"Oh, yes, you're Highness," the wise wizard said. "Princess Hermione (the brunette felt awkward again), you are going to be excused for a week. You are excused in attending your classes, doing your assignments and projects. I already informed all of the teachers and of course, only Professor McGonagall knows the reason."

Hermione smiled. 'I'm finally going to have a break,' she thought. 'I'm finally going away from this rowdy school just for a week.' "By the way, Mother," the brunette said, "where's Father?"

"Well, you know, my dear, your father's growing old already so he chose to stay at the castle," Queen Helen said. "Now let us go already. I promised Troy that we would be back as soon as possible."

"Okay, but first I have to pack my things."

"No need," Queen Helen said, stopping the brunette. "Many spare clothes are waiting for you in the castle."

"Oh," Hermione said. "I need to get something then."

"Then, make it quick, my dear," Queen Helen said.

Hermione smiled then rushed up to the Heads' Dormitory to get her diary.


"Now, welcome to your new home, Hermione dear," Queen Helen said after apparating to an extremely large castle.

Hermione stared at the castle with awe. 'Oh, Sweet Merlin, I'm going to live here?' Hermione asked herself. 'I bet it is way bigger than Malfoy's Manor."

"Come on, your father is waiting inside," the Queen said, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts.

Mother and daughter went inside. They were greeted by King Troy himself.

"Oh, my dear Hermione," he said, hugging the brunette. "Welcome home."

Hermione grinned and looked around the house. The entrance hall, she supposed, looked beautiful with a red carpet on the floor, a beautiful and big chandelier hanging on the high ceiling, enormous windows and many things more. All in all, the room was breathtaking.

"Now, I suppose you are already tired, my dear," Queen Helen said. "Mindy! Come here immediately!"

And then a faint pop was heard. A small house-elf appeared. Hermione thought the house-elf resembled Dobby (a house-elf friend and apparently, the ex-house-elf of the Malfoy family) but she quickly recognized it was a girl because of her long eyelashes.

"What does Mistress what from Mindy?" the house-elf asked.

"My dear daughter," the Queen said, "she is Mindy, your personal house-elf from now on. Just call her name and she would appear no matter where you are."

Hermione nodded. 'A personal house-elf?' she asked herself in disbelief. 'No way!'

"Mindy," the Queen said, now directing it to the house-elf, "bring Princess Hermione to her room right now."

The house-elf bowed for her understanding.

"Now, my dear, there's a wardrobe in your room. Inside the wardrobe are dresses. Choose something for you to wear. We will just call you for dinner," King Troy said.

Hermione nodded.

"Follow Mindy, young Mistress," the house-elf squeaked.

Hermione did as what Mindy said and followed her as she climbed the stairs.

While they were walking in silence, they passed numerous portraits that whispered and looked at the brunette curiously. Then one portrait by the name of Arthur Gardner, suddenly asked, "Excuse me, young miss, but who are you?"

Hermione was shocked. 'They haven't told them about me yet,' she thought. "Stop Mindy," she ordered gently and the house-elf followed. The brunette then looked at the portrait of the old man and bowed, "Sir, my name is Hermione, Hermione Gardner."

She then heard gasps not only from the portrait of Arthur Gardner but also from the other portraits.

"Dear Merlin Almighty!" Arthur exclaimed. "You're my… you're my lost granddaughter!"

Hermione only smiled for her answer.

"Oh, welcome, my dear granddaughter! Welcome to the Gardner's castle!" the grandfather of Hermione said.

The brunette bowed again and they (she and Mindy) continued to walk towards Hermione's new bedroom.

Once they arrived, Hermione felt like fainting. Her room was more beautiful than her room in Hogwarts.

"Mindy will leave young Mistress now," Mindy said. "If young Mistress needs Mindy, just call her name," and with a faint pop, Mindy disappeared.

"Oh Merlin! Oh Merlin! Oh Merlin!" Hermione shrieked softly. In her room, there was a white bed with red bed curtains (bigger than her bed in the Heads' Dormitory). There was a red carpet on the floor, a terrace too, a big vanity mirror with beauty products, a big wardrobe, an oak-wooden desk with an oak-wooden chair, and to her utmost delight, a big bookshelf that reaches up to the high ceiling which contains hundreds of books. 'This is a dream come true.'

She went towards her new wardrobe and opened it. Hermione was dumbfounded when she saw a number of beautiful dresses. Remembering her father's order, she chose a simple, light blue dress and changed into it.


"Hermione hasn't come back ever since Transfiguration," a frantic Harry said while looking at his watch. "And it's almost dinner already!"

"Where in Merlin's name is she?" Ron asked out loud.

"Oh no!" Ginny exclaimed. "What if… what if…"

"What if what?" Harry asked.

"What if 'Mione's Princess-napped?" Ginny said panicky. "Merlin, what if someone already knew that Hermione's a Princess and she was Princess-napped?"


"Young Mistress, dinner is ready," Mindy said, popping suddenly out of nowhere.

Hermione, jumping slightly because of surprise, looked at the house-elf. "Thank you, Mindy. I'm going down in just a minute."

Mindy bowed then apparated. Closing the drawer she was examining, Hermione stood up and walked down the stairs. That's when she remembered that she doesn't know where the dining room was. But following the aroma of food (Hermione's starving already), she arrived at the dining room. Lo and behold, there was a long table, as in long table, filled with many foods. She saw some food she hadn't eaten before like caviar and all that expensive foods. At the high ceiling, there was an illuminated chandelier hanging. She tried to find her parents until she saw both of them sitting opposite at the ends of the table. At one end was her mother and at the other was her father.

"My dear, you look gorgeous!" King Troy exclaimed.

Hermione blushed and smiled shyly. "Thank you."

The brunette doesn't know where she would sit and that's when an idea formed in her mind. Approaching her mother, Hermione pulled her up.

"What are you doing?" the Queen asked, curious.

"Mother, I don't know where I would sit down. And besides, we are a family and we should sit and eat together," Hermione reasoned.

The King and the Queen laughed together. When both of them were seated beside King Troy, they started eating.

"Now, my dear Hermione," Queen Helene said, "you very well know that this Saturday is already the Welcoming Ball and of course, your 17th birthday. So I made many appointments with different kinds of witches and wizards in the field of fashion."

Hermione coughed. She drank pumpkin juice. "What?' she asked after the coughing sensation was gone.

"We need to give you a new appearance, my Princess," King Troy said. "We want you to be more beautiful when you are going to be exposed on Saturday."

"Of course, we would give your face and hair a new look," Queen Helen said. "Have you heard of braces in the teeth, my dear? It's a Muggle thing so I presume you know about this."

Hermione's eyes grew wide. "You want me to have braces?!" she exclaimed, forming a conclusion.

"We have set an appointment with the Grangers," the Queen said. "And don't worry, you'll only wear that for two months. We don't like to use magic with your teeth, it is too risky."

"And your eyes," King Troy said. "We know that your eyes are starting to get blurred, my dear. What do you call that? Astig-something?"

"Astigmatism," Hermione said, horrified. "I'm going to wear glasses too? Oh no!"

"Oh yes," the royal couple said in unison.

"And tomorrow, we will start all these things," the Queen said. "We need to put braces on your teeth first before anything else."

"And of course, you'll see the people who adopted you," King Troy said.

Hermione nodded. 'Oh my god!'


Dear Diary,

I'm already here in my new home, in the Gardner's castle. This place is enormous, I tell you, bigger than Hogwarts itself! And more beautiful. Everywhere I go, I see so many beautiful and expensive things.

But I have to tell you something more. My parents said that they would give me a total make-over. Well I wasn't surprised. I expected one when I became a Princess (all right, I wished it. Badly). But I didn't expect to have braces attached to my teeth or wear eyeglasses because I have astigmatism. I don't want to wear braces because I know it would look hideous (I only think, I'm not that sure) because that's what I see from shows. I would only wear it for two months so I quite trust my parents. I rather have braces than ugly teeth. But I prefer using magic even though they prefer the contrary.

Well, about the glasses, that's not a problem (but I still don't want to wear them). I only have astigmatism (my father says astig-something, mind you) so it means I can only wear it when I'm reading. Wait, I just remembered. I'm always reading! Now, Ron would be different because like Harry, I would wear glasses too.

Merlin, I think those two things would ruin my total make-over. What's the use to have a new look when you have to wear braces and glasses?

Anyway, I miss my friends. I wonder if they know I'm out of Hogwarts for a week. Oh, I hope those three won't go ballistic and I hope they have some common sense to ask Professor Dumbledore. I am perfectly sure that Professor Dumbledore would tell them the reason because he knows that the only people that know I'm a Princess are Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Wait, and Luna too.

Changing,
Hermione

P.S.
Have I already told you that I would already have braces tomorrow?


A/N: End of chappie 9. More to go… review please.