/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Narcissa was quite pleased with the article, one would never know how rushed it had been. In fact she hadn't planned on ever bringing the girl into the mix, but sometimes the unexpected worked out for the best.
"Lucius, I think this is fine, though you should read it as well. But, before you do that, we need to discuss Miss Granger." Lucius looked up from his reports to take in the witch who stole his heart when he was a mere boy and refused to give it back.
"Of course love. What do you need me to do? I'm not sure it will be so easy to make her disappear, but maybe we can buy her off." Lucius began to think of ways to separate the girl who'd somehow gotten in close with his son. He'd been furious when he heard the head girl would be a mud….muggleborn. Narcissa would hit him if he slipped and ever used that term again. Whether he was at home or not. With an unconscious movement, he rubbed where the vase hit him. He still had a few gaps in his memory, but he knew why.
"No, she's staying. It's actually a good angle for us. Makes us look more progressive with very little work on our part. And it helps to offset your indiscretion last year, it will be years before that is fully forgotten." Lucius nodded in contrition at the glare sent by his wife. Narcissa watched him with narrowed eyes, he was now on a very short leash, "The girl is quite a surprise. I spoke to Severus about her. He was quite complimentary and told me a few things I'd not known."
That surprised Lucius, very little got past his wife. "What could that be?"
"She is already powerful and has a number of sacred twenty-eight already on her side along with others within the Ministry. Severus believes she could force her agenda through without our support. I didn't believe it of course, but after this interview, he may be right. The girl is very impressive."
Narcissa went on to describe the pre-interview meeting and how easily the young witch fell into the expected role. Her faux confusion on how to navigate their world and her reliance on her friends were all well placed, as were the comments pointing out her connections. Lucius quickly caught on to Narcissa's admiration.
"There was something else Lucius, something Severus helped to put into perspective. I think Draco is attracted to Miss Granger. As she is to him." Narcissa sent Lucius another glare before the man could start to complain, "Severus said if we took the hard line approach, she would use her power to stop anything you wished to have done and truly push her agenda."
Knowing how the politics of the world worked, Lucius nodded, not knowing what to say. Lucius got nervous when Narcissa paused and licked her lips, "Severus also said if we pushed, we would lose Draco. He asked me if I truly believed a dying ideology was worth losing my son. Were those beliefs worth risking the continuation of the Malfoy line? Worth everything my mother went through with Andromeda? Worth me losing not only my sister, but son?"
Narcissa no longer looked like the strong woman who commanded any room. She now was a mother scared of losing her child, "Narcissa what are you saying?" Lucius thought knew but he needed his wife to say it aloud.
"We need to decide what we do. I'm his mum and I have a pretty good idea he's going to choose Hermione in more ways than one."
"We do what we have to, we will keep our family together no matter what adjustments we have to make. You're right, our son is more important. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I will try and will tell Draco as much."
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
While the Malfoy parents were coming to some life altering decisions, Harry returned to Gryffindor Tower with his own mission. He didn't think it would be too hard, the only stumbling point would be the inclusion of Malfoy, but if it helped Hermione in the end, there would be no issue. The four wizards he needed were all in the common room.
"Oi Harry, did you find her?" Ron finished setting up the board for wizarding chess, although it appeared no one wanted to take him on.
"I did, let's all go upstairs and talk for a bit." Harry looked at each of the seventh year boys. It was a silent walk up to their room, once there Harry closed the door and warded the room, "This doesn't leave the room even after tomorrow morning. None of us knew anything even when everyone else finds out." This made the boys all the more curious.
"What is it Harry? Is Hermione ok?" All of the seventh year students grew close to their peers over the years and those in Gryffindor would fight to the death for their housemates. They may annoy each other much like any family, but they were very protective of theirs. Plus they all acknowledged her bit of tough love, as she called it, the year before was needed. As much as they hated to admit it, they would't always be so close to each other in a few months.
"Mione is actually fine, I think she's a little tired. She has everything in hand. Just like always." Harry smiled and giving the rest a bit of relief. Though Harry didn't actually know how to explain the odd situation to his friends. "Ron told you all about what we heard Parkinson say right?" The boys nodded with anger etching each of their faces. No one attacked Hermione.
"It turns out Malfoy worked out a plan to stop her and it was already well in play by the time I got to their dorms. Malfoy and his mum set up an interview with someone from the Prophet. Hermione is going to be announced in some big role with Malfoy and his Mum's support. She seemed really happy about it, so that's a good thing. It's the excuse Malfoy will use if Parkinson tries to say the time they spend together is untoward."
Ron growled at the reminder of what Parkinson was planning to do. "As long as Malfoy isn't taking advantage of Mione I can deal with him. Are you sure he'll back Mione over one of his lapdogs?" Harry chuckled at the image.
"She still looks like a pug doesn't she?" The boys laughed until Harry started to talk again, "Yeah Malfoy is all in with Hermione. There was something different about them tonight. Maybe it's just the privacy of their dorm, but he didn't look constipated and in constant pain. He actually looked happy. It was an odd expression to see on his face."
None of the boys asked the question every girl would have asked.
"So why did we need to have this meeting Harry?" Dean Thomas, another muggleborn who'd found Hermione a great source of support, wasn't beyond a bit of muggle fighting if that was what they needed.
"As odd as it sounds, we are fighting on the same side as Malfoy. Team Lion's Force is a go, at least when Hermione isn't around, she said we couldn't give ourselves a name. Malfoy called himself the captain of Team Hermione. I told him we were Lion's Force and that's when Hermione called us both idiots. But the gist of it is, we are both for Hermione. It means I no longer have an archenemy. Sort of a hard night for me." The boys laughed and agreed to drop the animosity they held for the Slytherin until such time as he turned on Hermione.
"All bets are off if that happens Mate."
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Hermione finished the second letter to Narcissa Malfoy that evening. In addition, she smiled at the other letter waiting to be sent. It seemed Rita forgot what happened when she tried to take on Hermione Granger. Too bad the younger witch would miss the expression when the informant was revealed to be Narcissa. It seemed Draco's mother found the plan quite appealing.
So much so, Narcissa made a few tweaks to it and offered her name as the informant when the inevitable follow up reports appeared. Those articles, of course, would be full of hearsay and no one, no one in their right mind, would believe them. Only those who knew Narcissa would know the unsupported rumors held more than a grain of truth.
Draco offered to take the letters to the owlery after seeing Hermione's exhaustion. His dorm mate's emotions varied over the evening and now seemed to settle on exhaustion. She smiled and accepted to offer for him to send the letters to his mother.
Narcissa smiled the same smile as Hermione when Draco's owl arrived with two letters. The game, as they say, was afoot.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Pansy Parkinson rose early the next morning, she wanted a prime seat to watch the chaos unfold. After dressing carefully, she knew Draco would be at her side and wanted to look the part, she left the dungeons and made her way to the Hall. As it was earlier than she'd ever arrived for breakfast, it surprised her to see so many students already sitting at the tables.
The seventh year Gryffindors, with the exception of the Head Girl, were seated Pansy lifted her chin when the sound of their laughter reached the Slytherin side of the hall. She took the first open seat nearest to where Draco normally sat. It also gave her a clear view to the Gryffindor table the open seat saved for the Head Girl.
Pansy wanted to be close to offer her shoulder in support, of course she would have preferred to sit closer but apparently at this time of the morning there were different assigned seats. With a petulant sigh, she settled in the seat and wondered how quickly the ring would be on her finger after this. She was sure Narcissa would be here soon as well. The note to Malfoy Manor was a bit of a stretch, but claiming to have witnessed Draco's ill-advised kiss, Narcissa would have no other option.
Pansy hummed to herself as she plated her breakfast and waited.
While Pansy fantasized about the outcome of her plot, Hermione doubted Draco. "I'm not sure, I mean, isn't this too much for just classes?" Draco requested Hermione to put her hair up as she had the day before. Not only had the style held her curls away from her face, but it made her look like an adult. A witch who was ready to take the magical world by storm. He thought on ways he manipulated his mum over the years and decided the reluctant honesty angle would work well here.
Hermione watched Draco's face as he thought about her question. There was a moment of confusion and then a flicker of sadness, before she heard his sigh. He looked up and gave a small, sad smile, "I'm sure this doesn't mean much to you coming from me. I've known for a while how lovely you look, but when you did your hair like this yesterday, it, you, —" He quietly cleared his throat, "— you looked stunning. I noticed Mum when she came in, she liked it as well."
The boy brought his hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it while forcing his cheeks to redden to appear slightly more than pale blush. "It's just, you're going to have a lot of attention on you today. We all know you are capable of handling everything, but this gives everyone an idea of your future. They are seeing the new head of the Black Family Trust. They will see the woman who will pull our world into the future."
Hermione listened and his compliments caused her to blush, only this was a real blush. She wondered if his reaction the day before was real, and it seemed it was. If he thought it was this important, there were probably things in play she didn't realize. Catching his eye, Hermione smiled and nodded. "I'll wear it. Thank you Draco."
A short while later, the pair picked up their bags and left the dorm. Just before they reached the doors to the Great Hall and separated, Hermione murmured to him, "It does matter Draco. I, I mean, thank you." She quickly entered the room and went to her table while Draco stood back for a moment with a smile. He saw her second not-faked blush of the morning and wondered about her feelings.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Narcissa was annoyed when one of the house elves informed her Posy Parkinson wished to come through the floo. But she wasn't all that surprised, in fact it would make for great entertainment to watch Posy realize her little plan failed. "Let her through. Make her wait a bit and then bring her to the solarium." The little elf nodded and was gone. Narcissa summoned her patronus and sent the silvery cat to Lucius with the message. She then stood and made her way to the sun filled room.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Lucius sighed when he heard what his secretary said. It was then Narcissa's patronus stood before him. The kneazle looked around the room before opening her mouth. Lucius nodded at the message, the directive really, and the image faded away. "Send him in and make sure you bring me the Prophet as soon as it arrives."
Lucius sat back in his chair waiting for the wizard who couldn't find his own arse even if it was handed to him.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Draco took his seat, making sure he had a clear view of Hermione. She glanced up and smiled. He smirked back before tucking into his own meal. His thoughts were on what his mother said to him before she left. After he went to bed, Draco admitted to himself he liked Hermione in a way more than as just a friend. She was a pretty girl and carried herself with more poise than most of the pureblood witches who'd been after him.
By the time he fell asleep, he knew he would like to see where the relationship could go. He also acknowledged his weariness of spoiling what they had. His sense of self-preservation kicked in and decided it was better for him to remain friendly than risk losing her altogether. His heart sputtered a bit at the thought of her being with someone else.
But, the display outside the doors made him question her feelings. Could it mean she saw him as more than just the head boy who helped her to attain her goals. He licked his lips at the thought. His eyes lifted again and found Harry Potter looking at him with an odd expression.
Draco lifted an eyebrow. The other boy, who had been a thorn in Draco's side since day one, shook his head and moved his attention down the Slytherin table to the dark haired witch sitting about a half dozen seats away. Draco caught a glimpse of her preening. Her attempt to try gain his attention, again. He sighed heavily and heard Potter's loud laugh.
Draco looked up to see Hermione slapping Potter on the back of the head, but all their attentions shifted to the flurry of owls bringing the Prophet to those with a subscription. The owl assigned to the Slytherin table landed next to Draco and he pulled a copy of the paper, before placing it face down on the table. The owl moved onto the group of the seventh year before delivering to the rest of the table. Draco leaned back and watched his mates open their papers.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Hermione glanced at her friends as they watched the owls arrive. She noticed in the few minutes since she took her seat, they each held a look of excited anticipation. She assumed it related to whatever Harry asked of them the night before.
The little owl who delivered the Prophet gave a soft hoot and Hermione took her paper, "Come back when you're done, I've put some food on the plate here for you," the owl quickly hopped down the table eager to receive it's treat. Hermione didn't rush to lift her paper, once she held it aloft she glanced at the story and smiled behind the paper.
Harry leaned in bumping Hermione's shoulder and winking at her, before loudly asking about the picture, "Why are you standing with Malfoy and his mum?" The question started everyone grabbing the paper nearest to them and beginning to read the front page story.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
The smirk fell off Pansy's face as soon as Theo Nott opened his mouth. "This is a great idea Draco. I know my mum was an advocate for a bunch of organizations and I've been pushing Dad to start our patronages again. Maybe this will help move him." Draco wasn't sure if Theo was telling the truth, but he didn't bring up his mum unless he was serious. It was an offer Draco wasn't going to miss.
"I wish I'd known, I would have brought you in earlier. Hermione and I have been working on this for over a year now. Why don't you come by the dorms after dinner tonight? I know I would love to get another family on board and Hermione would be quite excited as well." Draco gave his friend a smile, a true smile, one that passes between friends who know each others secrets. Theo nodded and went back to reading the paper.
By the time breakfast was over, a few other prominent heirs mentioned speaking to their parents and wondered if they could contact Narcissa to facilitate setting up something similar to what he had done. Draco, pleased with the response, told them his mum would happily assist in setting up the trusts and how to determine what the various groups actually needed versus a cash grab.
Draco ignored Pansy as she pouted. He knew she'd try to do something else, more importantly Draco knew Hermione already had some plan in mind to neutralize Pansy. He wanted to ask, he really did, but he also didn't want to know. His dad always told him how important plausible deniability could be. So Draco didn't comment on Hermione's pleasure after receiving a letter late the night before. She even stopped glaring at him, after he'd woken her, in order to read the letter.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Narcissa Malfoy watched the Prophet owl fly into the room. She took the paper and placed it on the table, right side up. While she gave the owl some scraps, her attention was on the witch who choked once the paper was visible.
"It's a good picture, I was surprised at how nice the two of them look together. Draco has really come into his own after taking the mantle of the Black family. Don't you agree?" Narcissa acted as if she just saw the picture. She did enjoy watching her enemies suffer.
"You are aware she is a mudblood? Why would you allow yourself, let alone your son near her? She will only bring his stock down." Posy Parkinson wasn't the most intelligent of people and had no idea how her statements would be taken.
"Of course I know she is muggleborn. The head girl with the potential to score some of the highest results the NEWTs have ever seen. This young woman will be taking our world by storm soon. And the Malfoy family has her with them. Do you plan to stand against her and by extension, us?" The censure in Narcissa's voice caught Posy's attention. It was only then Posy noticed the hard glare and realized the question was serious.
"I'm not sure about taking our world Narcissa. She is just a single witch. Once Pansy and Draco marry, Pansy will take over this charity role and the little mudblood will end up on the street where she belongs." Narcissa blinked, had Posy really said when Draco married Pansy?
"Draco will not be marrying your daughter, as Lucius and I have repeatedly told you and your husband. Draco also informed your daughter of the same thing. Apparently her tendency to stalk wasn't something she learned at Hogwarts." Narcissa kept eye contact with Posy. "If you, your daughter or husband try anything, or attempt to attack Miss Granger again, I will take retribution on your family personally. Aster!" The little elf appeared, "Take Mrs Parkinson back to her home and make sure none of the Parkinsons have the ability access any Malfoy property."
The shocked witch and elf were gone. When Aster returned a few moments later, Narcissa smiled at her elf and sent her back to whatever she had been doing.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Lucius laughed, straight up laughed, when Robert Parkinson started yelling about the front page story on that morning's Prophet. "You expected something else then? Maybe, your daughter's ridiculous story trying to destroy the reputation of a girl who bested her at every turn? Yes, we know about it, apparently your daughter has the tact of a, oh what did the letter say, —" Lucius paused and tapped his chin as if he was in deep thought, "— yes, a drunken troll."
The sputtering wizard stood in fury. "How …" whatever he was going to say was stopped when Lucius casually flicked his wand and the man stood bound and barely able to maintain his balance.
"Now you will listen. Narcissa and I have told you repeatedly, since the children were toddlers, there would be no way we would allow our son to marry your daughter. At first, it had nothing to do with Pansy. Neither Narcissa nor I want anything to do with you or Posy. But, as Pansy grew into the worst characteristics of her parents, we realized, we didn't want her either."
Lucius stood, as any good arch villain does, and started to walk around the bound man. The difference, the bound man wasn't the hero and Lucius would win. "This little game you tried to play will come back and bite you. Narcissa is on the war path with the Parkinson family in her sights. If I know Miss Granger, and I suspect I do, she has her sights on your daughter. Apparently there are some old scores to settle. It might do you and Posy good to look at moving to one of your other homes."
Lucius flicked his wand and sent the wizard to the floo. "One of your out of country homes. Given your inability to understand the subtle, I decided to make it very obvious." Picking up a handful of floo powder, Lucius sent the other man home. It felt good to finally be rid of them. Now he had to make sure Narcissa and Miss Granger were planning something. He didn't want to know what, but they would make sure his statements were true.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
Hermione's attention the paper up after Harry's declaration and she flipped past the story on her. She'd lived it, she didn't need to read it. Plus Draco didn't react which told her all was good. She skimmed the other stories while the rest of the Great Hall gossiped about the front page. When she reached the section related to law and order, Hermione slowly smiled. She laid the paper on the table and smoothed out the creases.
The single action told Harry and Ron something else happened. Something Hermione planned and wanted to revel in seeing. The boys watched as Hermione's finger ran down each short blurb until it stopped on one in the middle of the page. Both boys saw the shift in her expression and looked to each other. That was her look when everything went as she expected and someone was suffering. The rest of the seventh years fell silent when they too noticed.
Her brown eyes looked up and glittered with victory. "I believe there's only one left now." Hermione picked up her bag, glanced once at the Slytherin table and smirked at the unsuspecting witch. All the seventh year Gryffindors knew that look. In addition, one of the seventh year Slytherins did as well, when he tracked her gaze he saw it land on Pansy. He smirked as well.
After Hermione left, Harry ran his finger down the page of the Prophet until he found what caused his best friend such pleasure.
10 pm (GMT), Office of the Daily Prophet - Last evening aurors from the DMLE arrived at the offices of your very own Prophet with a warrant for the immediate arrest of Rita Skeeter. Prior to presenting the warrant the aurors placed a spell over our offices and then advanced on the reporter. After her quick arrest, the managing editor reviewed the documentation left by the aurors and discovered multiple charges leveled against the now former Prophet writer, Rita Skeeter.
The most serious charge, and the one requiring her to be sent immediately to a special cell in Azkaban, was a claim she was an unregistered animagus. In addition to this, Miss Skeeter is also charged with multiple uses of unforgivable curses.
After taking Miss Skeeter into the Ministry, the DMLE collected all documentation on any stories Miss Skeeter had either been writing or waiting for editor review. The auror in charge, Kingsley Shacklebolt, stated additional charges may be brought against others who supplied erroneous information or provided Miss Skeeter access to spy in her unregistered animagus form. Another writer overheard an auror state Miss Skeeter's form is a beetle. It is unknown at this time if Miss Skeeter has retained counsel.
Harry chuckled darkly and passed the paper around the table. Looking up, Harry noticed Draco's interested expression. In answer, Harry lifted up seven fingers and pointed to the paper. Draco wondered what had the entire Gryffindor table so pleased and when he saw Potter lifting seven fingers before pointing at the paper, Draco figured he would soon know.
Flipping to the correct page, Draco realized it was the section dedicated arrests and convictions. The blond suspected he knew what made the lions so happy. It took him only a moment before he found it and reacted as expected. Theo and Blaise, always curious at what could make the head boy smile like that, flipped to the same page and found the article.
"So they've arrested Skeeter. I always wondered how she got that dirt." Theo paused, partly for effect and partly to ensure Pansy heard him, "I guess the DMLE will investigate all those stories now. I wonder what will happen to her informants." Those sitting around the table chuckled and paid no attention when Pansy screamed and stormed from the Hall.
/*\\*/ /*\\*/ /*\\*/
That evening, the seventh year Slytherin girls found a little extra space in their room. Shortly before classes ended, Posy Parkinson arrived at the school and demanded Pansy be pulled from class. When Pansy arrived, Posy informed her daughter she would be coming home immediately. A Parkinson house elf appeared and was directed to gather Pansy's things and bring them all to the family home.
No one was actually aware of any of this until Daphne Greengrass entered the dorm room after dinner and found not only Pansy's things missing, but also her bed. Concerned for her dorm mate and curious at the undoubtedly good gossip, Daphne spoke to their head of house about it. Professor Snape informed the seventh year of Miss Parkinson's departure from the school. He also commented on the fact Miss Parkinson would not be returning to Hogwarts.
The news made to all the houses within an hour of discovery. The news of the Parkinson family's departure from Britain didn't garner any attention. Those who knew more about the story smiled at how the mere threat of Narcissa Malfoy drove an old family away. Those with the most knowledge discovered the combined reputation of Narcissa Malfoy and Hermione Granger should send a ripple of fear if they stood against you.
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A/N: Hello all, this is the last chapter of the story and there is an epilogue. That will go up on Tuesday. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed, favorited and followed, it's nice to know others like the plot bunnies that refuse to die.