Disclaimer: Not mine… not mine… not mine… not mine… not mine… not mine… (after hundreds and thousands of years…) still not mine. :p

A/N: Chapter 38 is here! Goodness, only 2 chapters to go and then I'm done. (sigh) I'll miss this work of mine after I had finished this. Anyway, in this chapter, it would all be happy, happy! Oh, and the brief real reason why Hermione was separated from her birth parents. Anyway, just read this chappie. Enjoy!

Chapter 38: Blaise to the Rescue

Morning came and Draco got out from his bed. He refreshed himself, took a bath, changed into new clothes, and went outside his bedroom.

He was about to go straight to the Great Hall for breakfast but then stopped as his eyes landed on Hermione's door. The memory about yesterday came back to him and this made him worried again.

'I wonder if she's awake already,' Draco thought as he brought his hands up to knock the door softly but then, he stopped mid-air.

'Should I do it or not?' he asked himself. He battled about this for minutes until he released a frustrated sigh. 'Darn it, Draco. She's your girlfriend, you idiot. Of course you should see if she's all right or not,' he scolded himself. Again, he was about to knock on the door when it suddenly swung open and out came the brunette herself.

Draco's hand fell limply at his side. "Oh, um… good morning."

Hermione made a small smile for her answer and started to walk towards the portrait hole.

Draco looked at her back worriedly. He ran to catch up with her which he did because of his long legs.

The walk towards the Great Hall that day was a quiet one. Hermione wasn't talking at all so Draco' wasn't talking, too. He kept on sneaking glances at the brunette, worry still evident on his face. Slowly and silently, he reached for her right hand, holding it not too tight or too loose, and looked straight ahead, having a feeling this might calm her down.

Hermione was startled when she felt her right hand warming up. She looked at her hand and saw Draco's holding hers. She looked ahead again, now a small smile on her face.

They arrived at the Great Hall. Draco brought Hermione's right hand to his lips and kissed it before releasing it slowly and going inside the Hall first.

Everyone became silent once Draco went inside the Great Hall followed by the Princess. They went to separate ways: Hermione to the Gryffindor table and Draco to the Slytherin one.

The Head Boy again sat down beside Blaise. He noticed that his best friend was smiling at him, the smile he knew too well that meant he was up to something.

"What?" Draco asked in a whisper, noticing Pansy as she gave him a pointed stare with her red, puffy eyes.

"You'll see, Draco," Blaise said, his smile growing. "You'll see."

And then, the owls came.

Hermione, in the other hand, was ignoring the glares Harry and Ron were giving her. Ginny and Luna (she's eating in the Gryffindor table today) were both looking at Hermione curiously and worriedly.

"Ron, can you please pass the cheese?" Hermione asked.

Ron's glare darkened.

"Ronald, I said, can you please pass the cheese?" the brunette repeated.

"What's happening between you and Malfoy?" Harry asked, coldness in his voice that made Hermione flinch.

"Harry, please, not now," Ginny pleaded.

"Let him be, Ginny," Hermione said using the same cold voice that Harry did. "Tell me what is in your head now, Harry."

"How can you look as if nothing had ever happened?" Ron suddenly asked angrily. "How can you look as if you weren't two-timing and acting so calm and collected?!"

"You actually believed Skeeter's article?!" Hermione demanded, cheeks turning red because of anger. "Honestly, you believed Rita Skeeter's article?! Oh, unbelievable!"

Soon, the trio attracted the whole student's attention… except Draco. The owl post had just come and Draco got his new edition of the Daily Prophet. He was too shocked when he saw the headline in the newspaper. He looked at Blaise who just smiled at him smugly. Draco then started to read the article.

Back to the fighting trio…

"Well, Hermione," Harry said, "Skeeter wouldn't write an article if she hadn't witnessed something."

"But her article is a lie!" Hermione cried.

"You don't have to explain," Ron said.

"Well, how will you know the truth if I don't explain?!" the brunette shouted.

"Enough now, Hermione," Harry said. "Just tell me… us that there is nothing happening between you and Malfoy. Just tell us that Blaise is still your fiancé. Blaise might be a Slytherin but Malfoy's a hundred times worse than him!"

Hermione was fuming and shook her head. "I'm sorry I can't. I would be lying, then."

Ron was fuming, too, his girlfriend had noticed it. "Traitor," he said.

Luna gasped. "Ronald!"

The Princess gasped too and glared at Ron. Because of anger, she banged her fist on top of the table and stood up. "I love Draco and you won't change that!"

"You… love him?" Harry asked.

"I thought you were my friends and you would understand!" Hermione continued. "I thought you won't believe Skeeter's article because you know I'm not the type of person who would… who would two-time! But I guess I was wrong." And with that, she left.

Draco, who was still clueless about the fight Hermione had just with her best friends, stood up and ran after her to tell her the good news.

Blaise looked around and saw the stunned faces of the students, except the she-Wealsey, he pointedly had noticed. Ginny was reading the Daily Prophet, too. He stood up and followed the young couple. Once outside, Blaise heard a scream of 'no' from the inside. He has a great feeling that Pansy Parkinson and Zacharias Smith were the one who shouted.

"Merlin!" Ginny exclaimed, her voice overpowering the wailing of Pansy and the cursing of Zacharias. "Everybody, read the Daily Prophet!"

And everybody did, curious as to why Ginny was acting like that.

Hermione went near the lake, mumbling furiously under her breath.

"Oh, honestly!" she exclaimed.

"Hermione, wait!" Draco suddenly shouted, running excitedly towards her. "Good news! There's good news!"

The brunette looked at her boyfriend curiously. Draco gave her the latest edition of the Daily Prophet, which Hermione eyed curiously.

"Read the front page," Draco ordered gently, smiling.

Hermione followed the blond and read it.

Royal Clarifications

Yesterday, an article came out about very intriguing news about the Princess having an affair with Mr. Draco Malfoy. We all have to admit that this news was indeed quite shocking since Princess Hermione is already about to be engaged with Mr. Blaise Zabini next month, June 10, 1997. But Mr. Zabini clarified the real relationship between the Princess and himself to me. I, Dorothy Blythe, aged 25, will tell you about my interview with the "supposed" fiancé of Princess Hermione Gardner.

"There's nothing happening between Hermione and me anymore," was what Mr. Zabini had initially told me. Now, Princess Hermione and Mr. Zabini's relationship is official over. Reason? Mr. Zabini had told me the reason, too. This is what he had said: "Hermione, before choosing me as her fiancé, already loves someone else and that is Draco, my best friend. You see, I was just chosen by Hermione as her fiancé because she has no other choice since Draco confessed his feelings when it was quite too late. But in the end, they got together and I know that they both love each other so much."

Mr. Zabini was asked by me if he has any feelings for the brunette Princess. "Of course, I do. I love her very, very much. I hadn't felt this way before with any other girl. Actually, I was just a simple admirer of hers, admiring her intelligence and beauty, but it just grew into love. But I know that she won't be happy with me so I had let her go," was what the slightly saddened Mr. Zabini answered.

So for clarifications, Princess Hermione is not two-timing unlike what the article had said yesterday but she was happily in a relationship with Mr. Draco Malfoy. (For more information about the interview, see p. 24).

After Hermione had finished reading the article, she looked at Draco with tears in her eyes.

"Hermione, why do you have to cry when the article is good news?" Draco asked as he wrapped his arms around the brunette.

"We should thank, Blaise," Hermione said as she wiped her tears. "We should thank him, Draco."

"No need, Hermione," Blaise suddenly said. "I did this just for the two of you."

The Head Girl released from Draco's hug and hugged Blaise instead. "Thank you so much, Blaise. Thank you so much."

Blaise chuckled as he looked at the blond's uncomfortable face. He slightly pushed Hermione away from him. "Now, now, Hermione, don't hug me too tight. Draco might get angry with me because I'm hugging his property."

"I will not," Draco protested, cheeks turning red making Blaise laugh.

"I'm no one's property nor possession," Hermione said as she went back to Draco and wrapped her arms around him.

"Okay then, 'girlfriend' might be appropriate," Blaise corrected, chuckling.

"Hermione, dear."

The three whipped around and saw the royal couple.

"Mother," Hermione said. "And… Father."

Queen Helen smiled. "We've read about the article and I think it was good news, wasn't it?"

"Yes it is, you're Highness," Draco said, smiling, too.

"Draco dear," Queen Helen said. "Can you come with me? We'll talk about some things."

"Err… all right, you're Highness," the blond said as he looked at Hermione worriedly.

"I think I should go inside, too," Blaise said as he bid the four goodbyes and went inside the Hogwarts castle.

Once he was gone, Queen Helen looked at Draco again. "Draco, follow me."

The blond nodded and followed her. They arrived at the Hogwarts garden.

Queen Helen sat down on a bench she conjured and Draco sat down beside her.

"How do you feel now?" Queen Helen suddenly asked.

Draco looked at her, startled and curious. "Err… I feel fine, you're Highness."

Queen Helen smiled then sighed. "You know what, Draco? I always thought that you would take our greatest treasure away from us."

"What do you mean, you're Highness?" Draco asked. "And I didn't know I took something very important from you and the King."

"Someone, Draco," Queen Helen corrected. "And I very well know that you know who's this someone, right?"

"Hermione," Draco said.

"Exactly, dear," the Queen said while smiling. "I secretly wanted you to be Hermione's fiancé."

Draco blushed.

"I had known Hermione for years already since she is one of the best friends of Harry Potter," Queen Helen said. "From what I had heard, Hermione is the best witch Hogwarts had ever had. She was intelligent and a proud Gryffindor. You see, I grew quite fond with this girl."

"And then Albus told me she is the one they suspect as my lost daughter," Queen Helen continued. "I was overjoyed because after so many years, I will find my daughter already."

"Hermione means a lot to Troy and me," the Queen said and smiled at the blond. "She's such a sweet and loving child that I greatly thank Merlin she is my daughter."

"You're Highness, if you wouldn't mind me asking, how did Hermione become separated from you and the King?" Draco asked.

"What do you know about this, Draco dear?" Queen Helen questioned.

Draco's eyebrows knitted together. "Well, as what I had remembered, Professor Dumbledore told us she was kidnapped by a maid who betrayed you."

"Well, that's not true," Queen Helen simply said.

"It's not true?" Draco asked.

"Albus kept his promise," Queen Helen said. "What he said was just a lie, it is not the truth."

"Then, what is the truth, you're Highness?" the blond asked, very intrigued.

Queen Helen had put her hand on Draco's shoulder. "We haven't told this to anyone, not even Hermione. Only Troy, Albus, and I knew the real truth. But I will tell you, Draco dear, since you love my daughter."

"I had a sister by the name of Elizabeth Gardner," she said. "She was supposedly the crowned Queen because she is the eldest between us. But the title was taken away from her when her fiancé died just before their engagement because of a fatal broom accident. Since Eliza hadn't fulfilled the rule of the Gardners, the title then was bestowed upon me and then I became engaged with Troy."

"Eliza hadn't accepted this decision and she got really angry," Queen Helen said, her smile disappearing. "She threatened us that on the day our first child turns 2, she would take our child away from us. After that, she left. We hadn't heard anything about her except that she joined You-Know-Who's circle of Death Eaters."

Draco's eyes enlarged. "She's a Death Eater?"

Queen Helen nodded. "I'm afraid so."

Silence was heard between the two for minutes until Queen Helen started to talk again.

"And then Hermione came to our lives," Queen Helen said, the smile returning on her face. "She was such a beautiful child. Because of her, we had temporarily forgotten about Eliza's threat."

"Then, Hermione turned 2," she continued. "Of course, she's a Princess so we organized a grand party. At first, everything was all right. Hermione grew tired so I gave her to a maid to put her to bed. It was then after the party that we soon discovered that the maid was actually my sister in disguise and took our daughter away from us."

Draco started at the Queen and noticed how sad she was, remembering those painful times.

"We had managed to capture Eliza but before she had told us where she brought our daughter, she killed herself, swearing that she won't tell her where she brought our sweet Hermione," she finished with a pained look on her face.

"So that's the reason why King Troy hates Death Eaters," Draco said, understanding it.

Queen Helen looked at him and smiled. "Dear, you shouldn't be worried that Troy wouldn't like you because you are a son of a Death Eater," the Queen said. "Troy just greatly loves Hermione but he wants her to be happy so if Hermione loves you, he'll accept it then."

Draco nodded. "Okay, you're Highness."

Hermione sat down on a rock while King Troy just stood up beside her.

The Princess was feeling very uncomfortable so she was just fidgeting with her school robe.

"So, there is nothing happening between you and Blaise anymore?" King Troy asked, breaking the silence that was heard between them.

"Yes, Father," Hermione said.

King Troy sighed. "Do you like Draco Malfoy?"

The brunette looked at her father with tears in her eyes. "I like him very much, Father… I love him."

"Oh, come here, dear," King Troy said, arms wide open. Hermione stood up and hugged her father.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, Father," the Head Girl said. "I'm really sorry."

"No, no, my dear," King Troy said. "It was not you who was at fault. I didn't mean to slap you. I'm sorry."

Hermione wiped her tears.

And that's the time when Queen Helen together with Draco came near the two.

"So, father and daughter had reconciled, then," Queen Helen said, smiling.

The brunette smiled while wiping her tears.

King Troy was looking at Draco sternly. At last, he said, "I warn you, take care of my daughter."

Draco smiled. "Don't worry, you're Highness, I will, no matter what," he said, making Hermione smile.

"Well then, welcome to our family, Draco!" Queen Helen said happily.

"Well, all is settled," Hermione said as she and Draco were walking back to their dormitory.

"Yeah, your parents had accepted the situation, then," he said, smiling. His smiled disappeared suddenly, though. "Except them."

"What?" Hermione asked as she looked at where Draco was looking. There was Harry and Ron together with Luna and Ginny. Hermione looked at them questioningly.

"Go on," Ginny said, urging Harry.

The dark-haired young man cleared his throat. "We – err… we are sorry, Hermione. For acting like that this morning, I mean."

"We were wrong," Ron added. "We're sorry."

A smile was slowly growing on Hermione's face. And then she hugged the two. "Oh, you two! You know that I can't bear not to talk to both of you for several days. You're my best friends after all."

Ginny and Luna smiled.

"They're just worried, Hermione," Luna said. "They didn't mean to say those things to you this morning."

"Yeah," Ginny said. "I remembered them saying something this morning like 'Malfoy will feed you to the Giant Squid' or 'Malfoy will lock Hermione up in a box and throw her to Mars'."

Draco frowned. "Nice imagination." Hermione just laughed.

"You didn't have to tell them!" Harry exclaimed.

"What was that, Harry?" Ginny asked, eyebrows rising.

"Nothing, Ginny, nothing," Harry said hastily.

Draco scoffed. "Coward."

"What was that, Malfoy?" he asked, glaring at the blond.

"Harry," Hermione said, making Draco smirk at him.

Harry scowled. "Oh, come on, Hermione! It doesn't mean that if you will marry Malfoy someday then we should be goodie-goodie around him!"

"Yeah!" Ron strongly agreed.

Hermione frowned then went towards Draco who wrapped an arm around her waist. Harry and Ron pointedly glared at it.

Luna suddenly slapped Ron's arm.

"Ouch!" the red-headed young man said.

"You just apologized!" Luna scolded.

"All right, all right, we're sorry!" Ron said. "But we wouldn't be friends with him!"

Harry nodded while Hermione glared.

"Fine, is having truce with him all right?" Harry asked.

Hermione smiled. "Truce is fine, but that's a promise."

"All right," Harry and Ron said in unison.

"That's settled then!" Luna exclaimed. "We should be going now, Hermione. Goodbye."

"Goodbye," Hermione said, smiling.

"Remember this, Malfoy. Take care of Hermione or else - ."

"Come now, Ron," Luna said as she pulled her boyfriend.

Once they were gone, Hermione looked at Draco and smiled. "Everyone accepts it now, Draco."

That night, Draco and Hermione went back to their dormitory together.

"I'm tired," Hermione announced, followed by a yawn.

Once arriving inside, the brunette immediately went towards her door. She stopped as she turned around and gave Draco a kiss on his cheek. "Goodnight, Draco." She was about to go inside her room until Draco stopped her and pulled her arm.

"I'm tired, Draco," she said. Then, he suddenly kissed her lips. Once he pulled away, Hermione was slightly in a daze.

Draco smirked. "Now, that's a proper goodnight kiss." And with that, he went inside his room.

Hermione went inside her room, too, shaking her head while smiling.

Hermione grabbed her diary and sat down on her bed, too tired to go to her terrace.

Dear Diary,

Everything is settled. Everyone accepted our relationship. I guess I can say luck is now on my side.

Anyway, my engagement with Draco will be next month. No more delays, I hope.

I wanted to thank Blaise, my diary. He loves me, I can feel it, but because he loves me, he had let me go. He's also the one who somewhat 'rescued' Draco and me. Because of him, everything is settled. Slytherins have hearts too, you see. They'll do everything just to make their love ones happy. Blaise proved it to me.

Father, too, I greatly thank him. He accepted that I love Draco because he just wants me to be happy.

Mother - she had helped me with these love problems of mine. I guess I'm lucky I have a mother like her who loves me. I admit, she's the most intelligent person I had ever known. I, my intelligence just came from books but my mother's, it just didn't come from books. Her knowledge is wider than mine.

I want to thank so many people that I can't write it in just one diary entry.

Anyway, I'm tired. Goodnight.

Love,
Hermione

P.S.
Oh, I had almost forgotten. I want to thank my beloved ferret for surprising me again with his 'proper' goodnight kiss.

A/N: End of chappie! I don't have anything to say to you except… review, please:p