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Chapter 10

The time between that evening and the meeting with Draco's parents flew by. As the day of the meeting approached I began to feel more and more nervous. I don't think I would've been quite so bad had the meeting still just been me, Draco and his mother but whenever I thought about it now, memories of the last time I had seen Lucius Malfoy would fill my head. I don't think anyone could really blame me for this after all the last time I had seen him he had been trying to kill me.

I never let any of this on to Draco of course. Since we had become mates he had become rather protective of me and I didn't wish to cause any tension between him and his father. I knew that Draco valued and looked up to him. Plus I really needed to get over this irrational, I didn't think that even someone like Lucius Malfoy would try to harm his Goddaughter in a public place.

Finally the day of the Hogsmeade trip came and I found myself in front of the mirror in my bedroom, frantically trying to find something to wear. Normally I would have put on a T shirt and a pair of jeans and be done with it but I somehow felt that the Malfoys would expect me to put more stock by my appearance. They would most likely be dressed to the nines and I didn't want to look like a tramp next to them. It was odd but I wanted them to feel proud to be seen with me. I wanted their approval and it annoyed me no end.

Having eventually decided on a skirt and blouse which were modest without being to conservative, I hurried off to meet Draco in the entrance hall. Whispered followed me through the corridors but I was used to them by now. Apparently my change of surname was all the Hogwarts gossipers had to talk about these days. Some of the rumours were hilarious, the latest was that had known about my adoption all along and had hidden it in order to get closer to Harry to spy on him for Voldemort.

Thinking about Harry made me sad, he and Ron hadn't said a word to me since they found out. In hindsight I probably should have told them about the adoption before changing my surname, or at least before Lavender Brown told them about my change in surname. I didn't mean for it to seem like I didn't trust them, I just had so much else on my mind I forgot about them.

My change in surname had brought about some good changes as well. All the Slytherins had stopped calling me Mudblood and more or less left me alone, the majority now treated me with a grudging respect. This change probably had a large amount to do with the fact the Draco and I had been publicly dating since my name had changed. He had said he didn't mind the rumours and would've dated publicly before that but I didn't want to make things difficult for him.

Another surprising change came in the form of Professor Snape's attitude towards me. According to Draco, who was his Godson, Professor Snape had been good friends with my parents and I suppose out of respect for them he had finally stopped docking me points for helping Neville and asking questions. That wasn't to say that he let Gryffindor keep those points, he still managed to find ways to dock them off other student. The fact that he wasn't docking them from me warmed my heart though.

Draco was already waiting when I reached the Entrance Hall. He smiled as I approached and pulled me into a hug, giving me a quick peck on the lips. Just because we were dating now did not mean we were comfortable with drastic public displays of affection like some people I could name, Ron and Lavender.

"You took your time." He gave me a teasing smile.

"I couldn't decide what to wear."

"What, The Gryffindor Princess and Resident Bookworm struggling over her wardrobe. Is it just me or was that sudden chill hell freezing over?" I loved his cheeky grin.

"Oh please, it's not like I don't care about my appearance and you know your parents will be dressed nicely. I just didn't want to look bad next to them." Merlin, this was embarrassing.

Draco laughed and took my hand. We got into one of the carriages and travelled towards Hogsmeade. I think I must have been unconsciously tightening my grip on his hand as we got closer.

"Ok what's wrong?"

"Nothing." The look he gave me clearly said that he didn't believe me even a little.

"Come on, out with it."

"I'm just a little nervous about meeting your parents." He rolled his eyes.

"Don't be. They're going to be so happy to see you, you are their long lost Goddaughter after all. The most you've got to be worried about is being hugged to death by my mother."

I left it at that but I couldn't help but feel that Draco was maybe being a bit too optimistic about the whole affair. Still, he knows his parents best, I guess. I knew he was excited to be seeing his father after his stint in Azkaban and I didn't want to ruin his good mood with my worries.

We got into Hogsmeade earlier than expected and so we spent the extra time looking around the shops. Shopping with Draco was definitely better than shopping with Harry and Ron who didn't want to go anywhere but Honeydukes, Zonkos or the Quidditch shop. We entered the Three Broomsticks with about half an hour to spare, intending to get a drink before meeting Draco's parents.

Draco went to order us a couple of Butterbeers has I hunted down a table for four. It turned out the Draco's parents had had the same idea because I found myself being waved over to the table they already had right at the back of the room. The perfect spot to have a , relatively, private conversation. I hesitated, not really wanting to meet them without Draco there. Looking over my shoulder towards the bar I saw that Draco had our drinks and was looking around. He spotted me and I gestured over to the table with his parents. Knowing that I now had no reason not to go over and walked across the room, feeling much like a lamb being lead to the slaughter.

As I approached the table the elder Malfoys rose to their feet. Lucius Malfoy looked to be thinking hard and was staring at me, Narcissa Malfoy seemed about to cry. Once I reached them there was an awkward pause, none of us seemed quite sure what to do. Lucius Malfoy eventually held his hand out to me, obviously intending for me to shake it. Not wishing to be rude I took his hand. After that the majority of the tension seemed to disappear.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Malfoy, M. Malfoy." Being overly polite seemed to be the best course of action in this circumstance. Narcissa was the first to speak.

"Please call me Narcissa, it's lovely to meet you too Hermione." She seemed to be telling the truth which helped me to relax a bit. Narcissa took both of my hands into hers and smiled in a friendly gesture which helped me to loosen up further.

"Call me Lucius as well Hermione. It's good to meet you under rather more pleasant circumstances." Oddly enough I was glad he had referred to our last meeting. I think I would've been unnerved if he had acted as if nothing had ever happened. I decided that if he was willing to extend an olive branch then I would also.

"I quite agree."

At that moment Draco reached the table and I took my seat as he greeted his parents and visa versa. They took their seats also and we struck up some harmless conversation, asking about school and work etc. Eventually Narcissa took the bull by the horns and started the conversation we were all here for.

"I understand that you changed your last name back recently, Hermione?"

"Yes I did. I found out from my birth certificate that I was in fact adopted and felt it only right to change my name back to what it was originally."

"Your mother was my friend you know. You look so much like her, it's quite astonishing." Her eyes seemed to have filled a little bit.

"Draco told me."

"Did he also tell you that we are your Godparents?" This was it.

"He did tell me. I just want to say that, in light of everything, if you do not wish to acknowledge the bond I would not hold it against you."

I wanted to give them the out now. If they had been rude I would have let them stew a little longer but they had evidently come here with the intention of being nice and I didn't want to cause them any grief. Narcissa looked shocked.

"Whatever do you mean? Of course we wish to acknowledge that we're your Godparents. We searched for you for so long. I don't think you could understand just how happy and relieved we were to find out that you were alive and well." She looked down, ashamed. " If anyone has a right to ignore the bond it would be you. You can't imagine how sorry Lucius and I are for the way we treated you in the past. You must understand that both of us were raised with strict values that we find rather hard to ignore." Her eyes were pleading with me to understand.

"I understand why you treated me badly even if I don't believe in it. I'm also grateful that you accept me. I was so nervous before coming here today." I wanted all the cards out on the table. Draco decided to interject at this moment.

"Mother, Father, Hermione has decided that she doesn't wish to return to the home of her adoptive parents for Christmas. It might be nice for her to come and stay with us over the holiday so you could have a chance to get to know her." Narcissa looked ready to burst.

"Of course she should stay with us. Even if you hadn't said anything I would've probably invited her anyway. Oh it would be lovely to have you dear!" Lucius nodded his agreement before speaking.

"I assume Draco has told you of your other heritage, the Veela part?" I nodded.

"Yes," everything had gone well so far. "We actually have something to tell you about that." I looked over at Draco waiting for his agreement as it was his news to tell to. He took his queue.

"You see Father, due to certain circumstances our mating genes kicked in early and well, Hermione and I are mates."

There was a shocked silence from the elder Malfoys. Then Narcissa stood from the table and walked towards my seat before gathering me into a hug and whispering in my ear.

"Welcome to the family, dear." She released me and went back to her seat smiling. I looked towards Lucius to see his reaction. He was nodding to Draco with a smug expression on his face. He was obviously not offended by this turn of events.

I couldn't quite believe just how well things were going. The rest of the afternoon passed by pleasantly as the Malfoys and I got better acquainted. It was hard for me to connect the current Lucius to the one that I had met in the Department of Mysteries, so I didn't try to. I preferred this Lucius anyway.

It was quite late when Draco and I finally left the Three Broomsticks and we had to hurry to get a carriage back to the school as there were few left. Draco was happy that I was going to stay with them over Christmas and so was I. I know if things had gone badly Draco would have stayed at Hogwarts with me over Christmas but I would have felt incredibly bad for keeping him from his family who he so obviously loved.

We parted ways in the Entrance Hall. Draco left to the Dungeons and the Slytherin Common Room and I headed up to Gryffindor Tower. Everything had gone splendidly and I was happy. I didn't stay long in Gryffindor Common Room, few people were talking to me since I started seeing the 'Slytherin Prince' most of them I didn't really care about but it did hurt that Harry and Ron weren't talking to me.

AN: Thank you for reading. Please review!