A/N Hello! This is a short chapter for you all. I hope that you had a good holiday week if you celebrate. As always reviews are appreciated. From here on out the story with be going in short scenes to get our characters to adulthood. Events from the book will happen but not necessairily in order. I know, confusing, but it makes me happy so there you go. Thank you for reading. I do not own this world.
Objects of Beauty Chapter 8
Summer 1947
"Please Hepzibah! I beg of you! Please don't make me go to this party." Hermione's eyes beseeched her guardian.
"Nonsense, you shall go and hold your head up high. You come from a magical bloodline as strong as any of theirs. And you've a fortune to match one day." Hepzibah held out Hermione's jumper.
"I'm a half blood. You know they'll never see me as equal and I don't care."
"Tsk, did I not tell you that I had the Evans line mapped? You and Harry have so many squibs in your line it's a wonder. They must be drawn to the residual magic in one another is all I can tell. No matter, you will go to the party and if they are dreadful you will kill them with kindness as I have taught you. Then you will come home and Harry will be here and the two of you can vilify them to your heart's desire." Hepzibah twinkled.
She looked Hermione over. It was still in her best interest to keep the child looking younger than her years. The girl wore simple robes in shades of purple and silver. Her still unruly curls were pulled back into a loose bun. Her teeth were a bit too big for her face. Hepzibah knew this was a simple fix but wanted to wait a few more years. There were not adornments or makeup of any kind on her person. Hepzibah closely guarded the secret of the growing beauty. Let Hermione know her self worth on the inside before people based her worth of what they saw on the outside. It would give her a solid foundation and would hopefully make her a good judge of character.
"Alright." Hermione grumbled, snatching the garment. "But I'll only stay the required hour. Not a minute more. None of your shunting me to the side while you catch up on gossip."
Hepzibah chuckled. "I'll make sure to get the goods early then." They stepped through the floo to celebrate Pansy Parkinson's thirteenth birthday.
Hermione had not been isolated or unaware of her English peers in the past two years. She saw the odious Zacharias at family gatherings. He had not improved with age. The hateful glares he sent her over the holiday plum pudding were almost comical. She had dance lessons in the summer and had connected with Neville Longbottom there at Harry's insistence. They had a rather good friendship and Neville was endlessly patient when she trod on his toes. It was because of the kind boy that Hermione could dance at all. Susan Bones was also an interesting companion. They often studied together in the summers. Her grandmother was always about to teach them about the workings of politics and would drop them juicy tidbits about what went on at the ministry.
What she thought of as the core group of unpleasant Slytherins were something else entirely. Hepzibah insisted on taking her to one or two social functions every break. With Draco at the lead the children had universally shunned her. It was through him that she learned the term "mudblood". The fact that she wasn't even a true muggleborn was still under wraps. It did not matter to Hermione. Their constant bigotry sickened her.
Today was no different. Pansy took the ornately wrapped gift that Hermione presented her with barely concealed disgust and passed it to her house elf as quickly as she could. Then she made a show of wiping her hands clean. Hermione shrugged and walked into the room dedicated for the children. She hoped that the food would at least be decent. The Parkinson's home was beautiful if not especially welcoming. Her eyes roamed about the large space taking in it's occupants. Sadly, Susan or Neville were not about.
"Ah, excellent, the Mudblood. Old Hepzibah hasn't seen the sense to kick you to the curb yet has she?" A snide voice drawled behind her.
She breathed deeply calling on patience though her blood boiled. Turning around she lowered elegantly into a curtsy. "Draco Malfoy, what a pleasure to see you. It's been far too long. How was your year?" Her voice was calm and pleasant.
The blonde's silver eyes narrowed but his manners kicked in. "It was as good as could be expected I suppose. There were a series of attacks on..er...Muggleborns. I trust you heard." His mouth smirked cruelly.
Hermione had heard and had managed to solve the mystery with Harry. A fact only known to Dumbledore, though they had not been able to discover who was behind it. Even now she was anxious to see her cousin and get all the details. She could not believe how he had managed to slay a basilisk. Endless letters by owl post and floo calls late at night just didn't cover everything. "I had heard something." She said vaguely.
"Yes, all of them recovered." Draco told her sourly. He looked her up and down in that arrogant way he had. "It's too bad you don't attend Hogwart's, Smith, you'd have made an excellent target. What ever it was couldn't have missed that hair."
Hermione's sharp intake of breath was the only indication that he'd gone too far. Did he really wish her dead for simply being born in a different situation? He was truly loathsome. She smiled and looked deep into his eyes emoting all the kindness she could summon, even if it was all an act. "That's so nice of you to say." Draco looked utterly bewildered. Hermione reached up and twirled a ringlet around her finger. "I did try something new with my hair. How sweet of you to notice." She gave a giggle that made her wince internally but she would not let this boy know he ever got to her. "I heard from a friend that you came in SECOND in your class. Your parents must be so proud." Harry had reported overhearing Malfoy being berated by his father on the subject.
Malfoy searched her face to see if she was having him on. Hermione kept a sincere and beguiled expression. He took a step back as if unsure. "Well, what was your placement Smith?" He challenged.
Hermione looked down as if embarrassed. "Oh, I don't want to say." She knew that he would suspect the worst and find the information on his own hoping to taunt her with it another time. She had actually skipped a level and was set to take her OWLS a year early. She hoped he choked when he heard the news.
Malfoy smirked. "I suppose that it is more difficult for those brought up muggle to truly understand magic."
Hermione made a noncommittal sound. Susan Bones had arrived and waved at her near a table laden with pastries. She turned to Malfoy. "Excuse me, it's been a pleasure speaking with you, as always."
Back straight and head high, she bustled away leaving Malfoy to glare at her back. She was always more polite to him than he ever deserved, but it always left him with the feeling that she was laughing at him. He despised her. One day he hoped that she would be put in her place, he only hoped he was there to see it.
...
"I still don't understand why you can talk to snakes!" Hermione marveled. Harry had just shown Hermione by conversing with a small garden snake who was now curled up on a nearby rock, observing them. They sat on a blanket on Hepzibah's back lawn warming themselves in the summer sun. There had been so much to catch up on that they had hardly left their spots all morning.
"Neither does Dumbledore. I thought I was going nutters, hearing that voice in the walls." Harry looked at her gratefully. "I'm so glad you knew what to research. Ron and I couldn't have done without you. You really are as bright as they say even if you don't like quidditch." He nudged her playfully with his foot.
Hermione had met Ron a few times during the late night floo chats. She found him pleasant enough but he was a true friend to Harry and that's all she really needed to know. "And you still don't know who was responsible for opening the chamber?"
Harry shrugged. "I've told you, all I could find while the beast was sleeping was a carving over one of the tunnels that read 'I am Lord Voldemort'."
"So strange." Hermione looked troubled, then snorted. "Lord Voldemort sounds like a villain in a children's story. Still, whoever it is was actually trying to murder muggleborns. It seems that Grindlewald's ideas about Purebloods are not going to go out of fashion easily."
Harry gave her a cautious look. "Hermione? Do you reckon that Dumbledore knows something that we don't? About the two of us I mean?"
"He does seem to take an avid interest in us." Hermione agreed. "And then there is all the secrecy about my name. The blood protections placed upon you are fairly extreme as well." She offered him a biscuit from a nearby plate and grabbed one laced with chocolate for herself. "That is to say your mother would have only placed them on you if she knew that you would be in danger after her death." Harry looked stricken and she scooted closer to him.
"I'll try my best to get to the bottom of it this year." Harry promised her.
Hermione nodded. "I hope you do. I want to trust Dumbledore. He's always been so kind to me. To us. However, sometimes Hepzibah grows sad when I mention him. I just know that there is something there." She was thoughtful. "Harry? Why do you think it is that you can speak to snakes yet you weren't placed in Slytherin? Isn't that supposedly one of his gifts?"
Harry looked sheepish. "The Sorting Hat did offer to place me there." He shoved another cookie in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.
"You never said!" Hermione was shocked. "What does Dumbledore say?"
"He said that when Gridlewald tried to murder me and failed he must have transferred that gift to me. Apparently he was a Parseltongue as well.
Hermione thought a moment. "I suppose." She pondered a bit more. "I guess I'll have to research it more. Harry? Do you hear whispers about a rising group called the DeathEaters at Hogwart's? Only, I've heard them mentioned a fair few times at Beauxbatons and when I was at vile Pansy's party yesterday some of the Slytherin kids were whispering about it."
"Yeah, I guess we did hear some. A secret group who think that Grindlewald had the right of it." Harry said. "But I should think that they wouldn't want to show their faces in public after their leader was so soundly defeated. I'm sure it's just a few loonies."
Hermione's brow crinkled with worry. "I hope you're right. I wonder if this Lord Voldemort had anything to do with it."
"I'll ask around." Harry said thoughtfully.
Hermione looked about her. The flowers had burst into bloom and everywhere there was color and beauty. Hepzibah was as particular about her garden as she was about her collections. A fountain bubbled merrily next to them. It was so large that they often swam in its cool waters. Here, surrounded by peace and order it was hard to think of another uprising brewing. A shiver went up her spine. She knew more than most how quickly this could all be taken away.