Chapter 10
Royal Chambers, Imperial Centre, Ministry Annex, London, England
It was early morning; Blaise hoped he was the only one up. He let his thoughts randomly drift as he showered. He had slept the night before in the room originally meant for Draco, not that his friend had used it yet, he thought with a sudden pang. He was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts today. Last night had been unbelievably…..difficult. He'd had just about all he could stand of the happy couple. Draco was lost in a bliss of joy…..and Hermione…..she was well on her way to becoming completely smitten with his best friend. Blaise sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck with soap.
That's as it should be…..you wouldn't want her to reject him would you?
No, he would not. He wanted Draco to be happy; in fact, his friend's happiness meant more to him than his own…..but still….did they have to kiss so often? And in front of everyone? And did they have to talk so incessantly about their night spent together? He knew their relationship was still relatively innocent, but to imagine Hermione sleeping in Draco's arms the entire night...
Gahh…..he wished he had some of that muggle cleaner….Corocks, he thought it was called….so he could bleach out his ears from all their sighs and giggles and whispers and…..ugh. Blaise was no masochist. Going back to school would be the best thing for him. Maybe transforming Harry Potter into a Slytherin would keep his mind from this hopeless crush that was threatening to consume him.
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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Highlands, Scotland
A typical Monday breakfast at Hogwarts was dull and quiet…a mealtime that found students blearily tying to wake up and recover from week-end frivolities. However, when Ron, Ginny and Harry appeared that Monday in the Great Hall wearing Slytherin robes and going over to sit at the Slytherin house table, everyone woke up with a bang. Gossip began to spread quicker than Neville's last failed batch of potion.
"Do you see that?"
"That's Harry Potter…."
"Looks like the Lions lost a bet.."
"It must be a joke.."
"What are they doing?"
"Ron looks sick…."
"…..so does Pansy"
"Whoa…Little Red looks mighty fine in green, doesn't she?"
The last remark came from Theo Nott, as he watched the youngest Weasley sit down at their table. He stared at her as she picked up a piece of toast and cautiously began to nibble at it.
"It's not poisoned, Red."
She looked up to see him grinning. "Thought we would harm one of our own? Whether we like it or not, that includes you, now."
"Oh hush, Theo," said Pansy. "That's just his sad attempt at flirting," she said to Ginny while chuckling at Theo's face as she outed him.
Ginny looked at the two in front of her. Both were being a lot nicer than she'd imagined they'd be. "So what gives?" she asked. "No insults? No sarcasm?"
"No patience with dumb Gryffindors who ask stupid questions," said Blaise as he sat down beside Harry. He had just come in and heard Ginny's question.
"Didn't you hear what Nott said? We're not Lions anymore….we're Snakes now," she quipped. "And why are you here? Aren't you the royal something-or-another? Shouldn't you be with your queen and little princeling?"
Blaise gave Ginny a look that immediately quelled her snarkiness. "Listen…..this situation is not our fault. It's yours. We don't like it any more than you. But Slytherin House will obey our Queen and you three will submit to her…..capisce? Lose the attitude or you'll see just how royal I can be, Darling."
Ginny didn't say anything after that. There had been an emotion underlying Blaise's words that she'd intuitively felt. A sorrow. An anger. A passion. Whatever it was, it was powerful and something she didn't want to test.
For the next few minutes, everyone gave attention to what was on their plate and ate with uncomfortable silence.
Finally, Pansy decided she'd had enough of the quiet and said, "Well…..I can't wait until our next Quidditch game. We are going to so totally paste Ravenclaw, now that we've got Gryffindor's best players on our team."
Blaise thanked Merlin for Pansy's clever thinking. It was the perfect thing to say to lighten the mood, and he and Theo nodded their thanks to her.
"I hadn't thought of that," said Ron. Secretly, he was quite excited by the idea. Everyone knew the Slytherin team always had the newest model of brooms, thanks to the Malfoys. Although he would never admit it, one of the reasons Ron had always shunned other purebloods was due to the disparity of wealth between their families and his. He hated that his family was the only poor one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. He hated his father's demeaning position in the Ministry. He hated being given his brother's hand-me-downs. For once, it would be great to be a part of something that didn't cause him humiliation or the feeling of hate.
"Won't Malfoy be coming back as Seeker?" asked Harry.
Blaise shook his head. "No…that's out of the question. He and the Queen are now burdened with affairs of state."
"They're…they're not coming back to Hogwarts?" Ginny asked.
Blaise was amazed at the ignorance the threesome were displaying. Did they know nothing? Did they think Hermione was just playing dress-up with Draco, and that they'd both come back and be students again? No wonder her friends showed her such disrespect. They obviously had no clue what being a Head of State really meant. He shook his head. Educating the Gryffs was going to be harder than he'd thought.
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Royal Chambers, Imperial Centre, Ministry Annex, London, England
Hermione was at first surprised when Blaise didn't join her, Draco and Narcissa for breakfast that morning. She had gotten so used to him being around her, his absence felt odd and out-of-place.
"I wonder how today will go when everyone sees Harry, Ron and Ginny as Slytherins," she mused.
Draco offered her the cup of hot chocolate he knew she preferred to the Earl Grey tea he and his mother drank. "This would be the one Monday I wouldn't be there," he chuckled. "Merlin….I would love to see the faces…"
"And don't forget our potions class," Hermione added, grinning. "Professor Snape won't know what to do, will he? If he docks points from Harry, he'll be taking from his own house."
"Your Majes….er….Hermione," Narcissa corrected herself when she saw the queen raise her eyebrows, "Our schedule is rather full today…..I don't mean to rush you, but the German Minister of Magic is due to be here any moment. And don't forget, the two of you have a lesson with your tutor this afternoon."
Hermione rubbed her forehead in exasperation. "I don't know why the Chancellor thinks I have more control over the Kobolds in his country than he does. Do I look like a magical law enforcement officer?"
"Um….not trying to contradict you, Love, but within your empire…you do have the ultimate power over, not just Kobolds, but all manner of magical beings."
"What?"
Draco nodded his head. "It's true…and don't give me that face," he chuckled when he saw her skeptical expression. "It's no different than the connection between house elves and the families they serve. It's a symbiotic relationship based on sympathetic magic. Their magic is influenced and held together by the authority they're bound to. If the authority doesn't use that link, the creature's magic can become….well, wild; I guess that would be the best word to describe it."
"Ugh….I feel like I'm about to become wild," she grumbled. "If I have to listen to another stodgy old man complaining…."
Draco silenced her with a kiss. "I'm not stodgy."
Hermione grinned against his lips. "And I don't hear you complaining, either."
"Wouldn't dream of it," he murmured as he kissed her again.
A soft clearing of the throat reminded the couple that Narcissa was still at the table.
Draco pulled away from Hermione and said, "Listen….if you would like….I could go in your place and meet with the Chancellor."
Her eyes lit up in hope. "You wouldn't mind?"
He shook his head no. "As your consort, it would be my place to represent you when you couldn't be present."
"Or didn't want to be present. But I'd feel like I was taking advantage of you….."
Draco's smirk and twinkling eyes looked devilishly charming. "Taking advantage, hmm? I'd like to see that demonstrated….."
"Draco…..that's inappropriate," his mother quietly scolded after seeing the queen blush at his mild innuendo.
Not the least bit remorseful, he winked at Hermione. "It's not taking advantage if I'm offering to help you. And it would let me feel like I was contributing. I don't want to be just the trophy spouse," he said laughing.
Hermione's smile at Draco became so unutterably tender after he said the word spouse Narcissa had to look away from the sight.
Hermione gently caressed Draco's cheek and said, "I…I know this isn't the time or place, but…..um…I have wanted to talk to you…,"
"Talk about what, Love?"
Hermione didn't get a chance then to tell Draco what had been on her mind. The one thing she and Blaise had discussed in great detail. Another fussy, little official had entered the breakfast area of their living quarters.
"My apologies, Ma'am, for barging in unannounced. But…..there has been an...incident. It started when the Grecian courts imposed that additional tax on copper cauldrons...if you recall, you were briefed on that last week….yes, well....the witches in Athens took to the skies in revolt. We fear the international statute of secrecy has been violated. The ministry there had to perform memory modifications on a group of muggle tourists from America who, unfortunately, had already gone to their embassy after seeing the witches above the Acropolis. They told their government they saw statues of the goddess come to life and fly around the temple….and now, we have to deal with the international ramifications of American muggles being obliviated by a foreign government….and there has already been a protest…"
Hermione smiled apologetically at Draco and squeezed his hand as the official went on to describe one political headache after another.
"Later," she whispered.
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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Highlands, Scotland
"So….is it some sort of unwritten rule that Slytherin males have to do their hair like this?" asked Harry as Blaise gave his final nod of approval to the other boy's image in the mirror. He had pulled Potter into the boy's bathroom just outside the Great Hall and had given him a comb and a sample-sized bottle of Chatwitch Custom Controller potion. On the label it read, "For Taming Troll-Like Tresses."
"No…that was just Draco, for the first couple of years. Back then, he kept his hair longer, to be like his father." Blaise smiled at the next memory. "But he couldn't stand it when it would get in his eyes….so he bought that one day in Diagon Alley. Said it worked better than a Quidditch helmet in keeping his hair out of his face.
"Well…..it's making my hair behave….I believe that's a first," commented Harry as he kept looking at himself in the mirror. He finally put down the comb and turned around to look at Blaise. The Italian lad was impressed at how well Potter cleaned up.
Wow….it's amazing what a little product will do, he thought until he realized he was sounding like Pansy. But still…..Potter…..his sleek hair complimented his new clothes….his shirt, for once, was tucked in…he was…blimey. All the Slytherin girls were going to come unglued. With his polished apparel, groomed hair and those blazing green eyes, Harry was going to become the new poster boy for Slytherin House.
"Uh….do you mind if I…?" asked Blaise before he whipped out a magi-cam and snapped Harry's picture a few times.
"Hey!" Harry yelled, surprised as the camera light went off in his eyes. "Since when have you had one of those?"
"Since I first saw them in a store in Rome last summer." He rolled the pictures forward. "Her Majesty and the Prince will love this," he grinned.
"Let me see them first!"
"Gee, Potter….are you that vain?" Blaise teased, but showed him the pics.
Harry could only repeat what Blaise had thought. "..blimey…."
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A/N: Thank you in advance for indulging me in my flights of fancy. I promise to limit them to the written word and not fly over any temple. I would hate to be the cause of an international ruckus!
I had previously never heard of them, but I read that Kobolds are a spirit (from Germanic mythology) that haunts houses or lives underground in caves or mines.