AN:Lalala...ok Sapphire is in the house. Everyone jiggy it up. Yep it's true, I'm on a sugar high. Ignore me. Read the chapter and drop me a review. I have decided that in a bid to get more reviews this time, I shall set an ultimatum. No chapters until I get twenty more reviews. Yeah yeah I know all about writing for yourself and not for the public but guess what? I get a ego boost when I see them and so what if it morally wrong. I shall do anything for review. Your favorite rabid author signing off. As I said ignore me.
"Professor Dumbledore, I'm extremely sorry to interrupt but there is a mad couple in the great hall raving about how we kidnapped their child, a lion and god knows what else. I don't really understand as they're speaking half in French and the man's accent affects his English as well," Professor McGonagall interrupted saying the whole thing without taking a breath.
She looked in disarray. There were blotched of bright red on her cheeks making it seem as though she had ran all the way from the great hall to Dumbledore's office. Her glassed were askew and her hair which usually was held up in a tight bun was coming loose and framed her face.
The robes that were always crisp and never had a crease in them seemed to have so many wrinkles and even a tiny tear at her knee. Feeling Hermione's eyes on the tear on her robes she just muttered, "Trick step."
All in all the 'perfect' Professor McGonagall now seemed like what they all were, normal human beings. Of course the word they excluded Malfoy.
"Oh dear me...This is definitely not the time but we must treat our guests well. Send them up Minerva," Dumbledore said absent mindedly. Professor McGonagall raised an eye-brow when she saw the head-girl and boy in Dumbledore's office and the fact that Hermione was seated in Dumbledore's chair surprised her more.
She hoped the pride and joy of Gryffindor was not in trouble. She turned on her heels and made her way to the great hall where the extremely stressed couple had been waiting for more than a few hours.
They had arrived minutes after Dumbledore had departed to the Ministry of Magic, going on and on about their daughter and a lion. Professor McGonagall was usually known for her prim and properness and also for keeping her head in trying situations.
But unfortunately this time, she had been extremely infuriated by the couple that she too had lost her cool and calm demeanor, giving in to frustration.
She rushed to the great hall, shaking her head to clear out her thoughts. Once there she saw the woman's voice was getting higher and higher as she grew more annoyed, depressed or whatever it was that she was feeling.
The man had his arms around her calming her. Slowly whispering to her in a low voice.
Danielle Grenaldi was royally pissed and also desperate. She had had a vision of her daughter using magic. Of course she had thought of Hogwarts right away seeing that Dumbledore always appeared on the news even in France.
Her husband had insisted on going to the Ministry of Magic in England so as to make sure of the facts. There they had met with an annoyingly stupid and unhelpful information counter manager.
It had taken them almost two hours to confirm that their daughter was from Hogwarts. They Ministry officials were unwilling to help until they gave up their identities. She was known well in France and was used to royal treatment. Only after finding who they were did the Ministry officials fawn over them.
They had even dared to suggest giving her and her husband an auror to keep them safe. How dare they mock her and even worse her husband? Did they not know what her powers were? Did they not understand the powers that one possessed when coming from the Halliwal lineage?
After finally confirming the facts, she and her husband had then apperated to Hogsmeade and flew all the way to Hogwarts. There they had been greeted by the McGonagall lady. She obviously knew who they were but chose not to treat them any differently than normal school parents.
This had greatly angered Danielle who was close to blasting her to pieces more than once. It was only with her husband's calming down that she didn't loose her cool.
"Mr. and Mrs. Grenaldi they headmaster has arrived and agreed to see you," Professor McGonagall said crisply.
"Agreed to see us? AGREED to see us!?!" Danielle's husband Cameron near shouted. He was used to being treated like royalty back at home and here this woman dare say that someone had to agree before they could see him.
Professor McGonagall who had her back turned on them just rolled her eyes and started walking in the direction of Dumbledore's office. She hated dealing with pompous people as such and they were getting on her already frayed nerves.
Danielle grabbed hold of her husband's arm and near dragged him after the woman. She saw that Professor McGonagall was waiting for them at a statue of a gargoyle.
Once they neared her, she muttered a soft, "chocolate ice-cream." The gargoyle jumped to a side and they staircase started moving upwards. They followed her in and once they came to the door, Professor McGonagall knocked sharply at them and pushed it open.
There Danielle saw her. She was gorgeous just as she had expected her to be. Her baby had grown up so much and even though they couldn't see her true features, the Halliwal features were there, subtle but there. There the daughter that she had seen in her dreams stood looking at her curiously, not recognizing who she was.
"Oh my baby, my darling daughter" she gushed, running to Hermione and wrapping her in a bear hug. Hermione was shocked.
She wondered who that woman was. Could it be her mother? She looked at Professor Dumbledore with raised eye brows but unfortunately, he wasn't looking at her but at the man that was standing at the door.
Not knowing what to do to the sobbing woman who was clinging onto her like her life depended on it, Hermione hesitantly patted the lady's back for a while but then dropped her hand as there seemed to be no response other than more hysterical sobbing.
"Er...Pardon me but who are you?" Hermione asked tentatively. All three men in the room turned to look at her. Malfoy raised an eyebrow and had to control himself from snorting. He knew who these people were but, he was wondering how Hermione was connected to them.
The Grenaldi family. Known for their mastery of the fine art of wandless magic, there were much like his family, known for their extreme prejudice against muggles and muggle borns.
That of course until the heir to the Grenaldi fortune married a charmed one. Muggle lovers and living in the muggle world the charmed sisters had been saving mortals or innocents as they called them from evil. The charmed circle had been broken when Danielle Halliwal left to marry the Grenaldi, turned evil and became one of the people in Voldemort's inner circle.
They had been close to his family once before the moved to France after Voldemort had been defeated. There were pictures of his father and the man at the door in the manor. His father and Mr. Grenaldi had been friends since their days in Hogwarts. He had never personally known the Grenaldis but knew as much as needed.
He also knew of some information that at that moment devastated him. The reason his father was looking for a bride now was because of the Grenaldi's missing daughter. It was usual for wizards from pure blood families to be engaged from young and guess who he was lucky enough to get engaged to?
Sighing he shook his head slightly wondering what would befall him now.
The woman pulled away from Hermione and whispered, "Don't you...don't you remember me?" Danielle's heart ached. Her own daughter couldn't recognize her. She couldn't see her real features as the spell concealing them had not been lifted. If her eyes had been the same from when she was young, they would still be gray lined with blue.
She tried to look past the outer covering, closing her eyes and concentrating as she wanted to see her real daughter.
"What the..." Hermione thought as the lady's eyes fluttered close and she went into a trance like state. She suddenly felt someone prodding at her. Looking around bewildered, she saw that there was no one except for the lady who had now let go of her.
Danielle felt her powers flow through her veins warming her as they rushed around her. Then a mental image popped into her head. There was a tall brunette with gray, blue rimmed eyes aristocratic features like an upturned nose and small full lips. She was petite just like the girl who stood in front of her and also a little curvier.
"Oh god she looks just like my mother..." Danielle thought remembering her beautiful mother who after her father's death had been the most sought after woman in Britain.
That was one of the reasons why they had altered her look when she was a baby, she looked too much like a Halliwal and being young and unable to defend herself, they had been afraid of the dangers posed by the enemies that she inherited together with her lineage.
Snapping out of her trance, Danielle smiled sadly at her daughter. She was devastated; she had missed the first time her little girl had taken steps, the first word she spoke, her first ride on the broom, her first crush. She had missed so much of her daughter's life that she seemed almost a stranger to her. A stranger that she loved so deeply and unconditionally that it hurt.
Love like this she had never thought she could possess. An unconditional love that only a mother could have for her daughter.
A tear slipped down her face as she realized that the girl in front of her did not know her as her mother, she had most probably referred to another woman as mother her whole life. Another woman lucky enough to bring up the gorgeous girl that stood before her.
Cameron saw his wife crying and his heart too ached. He didn't know this girl in front of him, yet, he loved her. He knew that he would give his life to protect her and save her from the unforgiving reality. He knew that Voldemort would want her in his ranks and he knew that if she did not accept there would be hell to pay for.
He was lost in thought, thinking about what was about to happen, finally the charmed circle would be complete but this time they would be on the side of evil. He looked at Albus Dumbledore, a muggle loving fool. The man was powerful and could have put his powers to good use but he preferred to stay in his school and teach mudbloods and half bloods.
Dumbledore cleared his throat slightly, breaking the silence. "Why, I'm you mother Antoinette," the woman said her voice shaky and cracking as though she was keeping in sobs.
"Er...umm...I'm not Antoinette, I'm Hermione...Hermione Gran...no. I don't know my surname," Hermione said hanging her head. She was trying to keep in the tears. She wanted to believe that they were her parents and that they wanted her back; but life had thought her that hope only brought on disappointment.
Also she was angry. They had left her, not caring one bit about what would happen to her. She had lived seventeen years of her life not knowing who her real parents were and now they came back just expecting her to want to be part of their family
"B...But my vision. Your powers. They only occur in people of my decent." Danielle stuttered. More tears were pricking at the back of her eyes and she was trying to keep them from spilling. Grenaldi's do not show emotion. It was something she had learned when she married Cameron.
She had to undergo hundreds of poise and confidence lessons so that she could be accepted by those of her husband's social circle. She had had to go for a makeover and her whole wardrobe was managed by the reincarnation of Gianni Versace who now designed robes for the wizards once being reincarnated by her and her sisters.
"You...You're a Grenaldi?" Malfoy said to Hermione, in desperation hoping that he was wrong. He had called her a mudblood for the six years that they knew each other and now, he finds out she might be a Grenaldi.
"I think you should leave Mister Malfoy," Dumbledore said, knowing that Hermione would not like Malfoy intruding on this moment. He had only just realized that she was a Grenaldi as she was showing all the powers that Danielle and he sisters possessed and since none of the other sisters had married, he realized that she could only be Danielle's long lost daughter.
Malfoy scowled at him and turned on his heels, walking towards the door. "Mr. Grenaldi, I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," he said smoothly, sticking out his hand to shake Mr. Grenaldi's. Mr. Grenaldi smiled warmly at him and shook his hand.
He remembered his childhood alliance Lucius Malfoy; he used the word alliance as neither he nor Lucius possessed enough caring to care for another as a friend at that time. He smiled. This was the boy he had chosen for his Antoinette, they had been betrothed since they were born.
"Ahh...a Malfoy, It's good to see that my daughter associates with people of good status," he said smiling at Malfoy. He wondered how his daughter would take it but he decided that he would leave that for someone else to worry about as they were not planning on being the one to break the news. At this Hermione nearly snorted but remembered her manners at the nick of time. How could the man that dubbed himself her father even say that Malfoy was a good person to associate with? Discretely she rolled her eyes.
Malfoy sidled past Mr. Grenaldi, about to leave. Mr. Grenaldi tapped him on his shoulder and asked him if he could have a word with him after he spoke to his daughter. Malfoy nodded and told him that he would be waiting downstairs at the gargoyle.
He left Dumbledore's office with much to think about. He knew of the Grenaldi's and their lost daughter but never had he thought that it would be Hermione. She was a mudblood. A muggle lover. Oh god his life was going to turn upside down from now on. Why did they have to find her before he was married and why not a little later, after he was married to a less annoying counter part?
He knew the best course of action would be to write to his father. His father knew the Grenaldi family and he would know what Draco should do regarding this matter. He might not like his father but he knew that he would incur his father's wrath if his father found out that he had withheld important information as such from him.
He wondered if this was what his father had meant when he said he had found her a new bride. Could it be that he knew about Hermione being a Grenaldi or was it someone else? Suddenly something clicked.
Voldemort. Voldemort most probably knew of the fact that Hermione would be able to use her powers when she turned sixteen and made a wise guess that Danielle would have a premonition. That meant that he had no way out of it. He would have to marry the ugly, know-it-all witch.
He wondered what would happen to him when his father found out that he had been making the life of a Grenaldi hell. Sighing, he leaned against the wall, waiting to speak to Mr. Grenaldi.
Back at Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore was trying to make sense of the situation which was undeniably difficult due to the fact that Danielle was near hysterics as he daughter did not recognize her. Mr. Grenaldi too was not much help as he was trying to calm his poor wife.
"Please everybody calm down and take a seat. Please that way we can get things done!" Dumbledore's voice boomed. Everyone froze and strangely they followed that course of action as everyone in times of desperation seeks for a dictator and now Dumbledore had assumed the role of one.
The couple sat on either side of Dumbledore and Hermione sat opposite them. She took the time when everyone was in silence to observe them. The man, Mr. Grenaldi she had deduced was tall. Taller than Malfoy and he had raven black hair.
His eyes were green, not emerald like Harry's but an almost aqua color. He was extremely muscular and looked much like a Quidditch player. His thin lips were forming a smirk like smile at the very moment as he assessed Dumbledore and right away Hermione took a dislike towards him.
He reminded her much of Lucius Malfoy and to put it nicely she and him weren't on the best of terms. His hair was neat and falling at his chin. Clean shaven, he obviously was concerned about the image he presented to society.
His facial features were striking and seemed to command respect, Hermione instantly deemed him an aristocrat as he looked much like one. From his posture, Hermione saw that he didn't slouch, yet did not seem to sit straight up. Both his and his wife's posture seemed to contain grace and elegance that would obviously take ages to attain.
She turned to look at the woman only to find that she was being inspected by the woman. She looked into her blue rimmed gray eyes. They had a certain intensity that caused the hair on Hermione's back to stand.
They seemed to be looking at her, assessing her and looking deep into her soul. Hermione broke eye-contact as there were many parts of her that she didn't want people looking into. Parts of her that she herself had not figured out.
The lady was extremely petite, a huge contrast to her husband. Her features were also aristocratic and she seemed like she had been born with poise. Her eye's traveled up to the woman's strawberry blonde hair, it was pulled into a chignon, a French hairstyle that woman of upper class frequently sported. The woman held a natural elegance and was beautiful naturally as Hermione realized that she wore minimal makeup.
"I wonder if her hair's bottle and natural," Hermione wondered to herself. "It's natural dear," a voice sounded in her head.
"WHAT!!" Hermione exclaimed, shocked at hearing the lady's soothing voice in her head.
"It is confirmed. You are my daughter. Only charmed sisters and mother's can communicate through mind talk," the lady said, smiling. Danielle heaved a sigh of relief when she realized that the conversation was finally going somewhere.
"Wait! I don't understand?! Charmed sisters. I've read about them before...Are you really my mother?" Hermione said, losing the ability to form coherent sentences.
"Yes Miss. Granger, I believe they are your parents. This is Danielle Halliwal and Cameron Grenaldi. Danielle chooses to go by her marriage name though," Dumbledore said placidly, hoping that Hermione would realize what that meant without him having to explain everything.
"Wait. That would make me a..." Hermione thought aloud trailing off. She was reeling from the shock of finding her parents and now it was slowly and surely sinking in; the two people in front of her were indeed her parents. She looked at them and finally figured out what was amiss.
"Yes that would make you a charmed one," Danielle completed for her daughter. She loved the girl so much. Years of heartache and searching and finally they had found her.
"B...but I don...don't look like either of you..."Hermione said the flame of hope that flickered in her heart a moment before burned and died out.
Danielle smiled at her. A genuine smile that neither contained sadness nor the usual fake smiles that she had pasted on whenever in public. Her features lit up. "Oh. That's because we put a concealing spell on you when you were a baby and we never got a chance to lift it," Danielle said.
"But...why? Was it because you didn't want me to find out that I was your daughter? Why did you leave me?" Hermione screamed choking on her sobs. Her happiness at finding her true parents had ebbed away leaving an emptiness and she felt angry. They had left her, their own daughter. How could they have subjected her to such pain? How?
Now after fifteen years they appear out of nowhere. And hadn't her parents mentioned that they had gotten in touch, how come it had taken them so long to find her. Danielle felt her heart break for her daughter.
She arose from her chair and walked beside Antoinette. Kneeling at her side, she touched her daughter's arm gently. Immediately all the thoughts flowing through Hermione's mind were transported to her.
One thing confused Danielle. Her daughter had mentioned them contacting her adopted parents beforehand but truth be told, neither her nor her husband had done anything of that sort. Who could have done it? Could it be a well wisher or someone who wished to harm her precious daughter?
"Oh darling. We didn't leave you and we love you so much...You...you were taken during the war..." Danielle said trailing off and her face contorting as though she was pushing back the memory that was threatening to resurface.
Hermione unfortunately was unhappy with that answer. She didn't want to push the lady but at the same time she felt a need to find out why? Why her parents had left her.
"I'll show you..." Danielle said after thinking it over. She understood Hermione need for an explanation as she too had experienced it more than once in her life.
"Professor Dumbledore do you by any chance have a pensive?" Danielle asked her voice shaking as she knew she would have to relive the night she had lost her daughter; her only thought was that she now had her daughter with her.
Dumbledore nodded at Danielle and summoned the bowl with many carvings along its edge. Touching her wand to her temples, Danielle withdrew a silver strand most probably of the memory. Once the wand came into contact with the contents of the bowl, light emanated from it, it formed a screen and Hermione watched as the beginning of her life as a supposed orphan had begun.
She saw a huge room grand and elegant. There was obviously much thought put into the interior design of the...nursery. "What a big room for a baby," Hermione though to herself. Suddenly she saw the door swing open and a younger version of Danielle walk into the room.
She sat of the elegant chair and held a bundle of cloth close to her, on closer look; Hermione saw that it was a baby. It had brown eyes and was tiny. It had tiny tufts of light brown almost on its head.
"Hush little baby don't say a word, Mama's going to buy you a mockingbird and if that mocking bird don't sing, mama's going to buy you a diamond ring," the Danielle in the screen crooned to the baby which was gurgling happily.
A toddler came running in. "Mummy! Mummy! There are aurors here. Run!" she shrieked as she had seen her father dueling the aurors. Danielle gasped and immediately grabbed hold of the toddler's hand and held on to the baby.
She closed her eyes in concentration. Suddenly a auror appeared at the door. He seeing no chance against the charmed one decided to go for her weakness. "Accio baby!" he shouted and the baby flew out of Danielle's grasp and towards the auror.
Danielle tried to take a step towards the baby but it was too late; the spell was cast and she screamed, "NO!" just as she and the toddler disappeared into thing air.
Her scream echoed around the room and the auror looked down at the baby his face holding only a look of compassion. Suddenly there were death-eaters surrounding them. "Give us Antoinette!" Lucius Malfoy commanded.
The auror apperated away and suddenly the screen went black.
"That's all I saw," Danielle said. Hermione was in tears. The desperation in Danielle's eyes when her younger self had been accioed spoke for itself and Hermione was convinced. She squeezed her eyes together tightly, trying to remember, but instead a vision hit her.
The auror who had taken her stopped in front of an orphanage. "This way, you won't be evil. Rest child, your help will be required in the war to come," he said smiling at the child. Leaving her at the doorstop, he rang the doorbell before apperating away.
He apperated to Hogsmeade, wanting to get to Dumbledore to tell him of the charmed one at the orphanage at once. Suddenly out of no where Lucius Malfoy appeared. "Where do you think you're going? Where is the child?" he demanded.
The auror looked around and realized he was surrounded. "Tell me! Crucio," Lucius Malfoy said pointing his wand at the panicked auror. The auror fell to the ground writhing in pain. Hermione felt bile rising up her throat as she saw Malfoy's malicious grin as though he took pleasure in delivering the unforgivable curses.
"I will not tell you," the auror wheezed when the spell was lifted.
"Then you are of no use to us," Lucius Malfoy said, then adding, "Avada Kerdavra."
Hermione gasped as she came out of her trance like state. "He took me to the orphanage..." Hermione said trailing off. Danielle still had a hold on Hermione's arm and thus, she too saw the whole thing. Tears sprang forth threatening to spill. She used her fingers to brush them away.
Sighing lightly, she stood up.
"We have lot's of things to explain, Antoinette but everything cannot be done today, You will floo to the manor every weekend to have princess lessons where you will be taught grace and poise and also your wandless magic will be honed. We expect you to be there by 7.00 in the morning on Saturday and will leave on Sunday evening." Mr. Grenaldi said in a monotone.
He had been taught since young to not show feelings in public and right now he was trying his best to mask all of them. He loved his daughter, but yet his learnings told him not to show it.
"I will be leaving to sort out some things with Mister Malfoy, Danielle, stay with her and explain all you can," Mr. Grenaldi said before departing. He hated himself for doing that but he knew that if anyone, anyone at all found that he care for the girl, it would endanger her life. As a death-eater, he had to conceal the fact the he cared for his family.
"Oh...Miss Granger, why don't you take your mother to your common room and catch up on things, let's say I'll conveniently busy Mister Malfoy with duties until around ten at night. Well, have fun," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Err...Okay. I mean thank you professor," Hermione said before turning to the woman who called herself her mother. "Umm...follow me please," she said to Danielle. Danielle Grenaldi nodded to Professor Dumbledore before leaving his office.
She couldn't believe they had finally found her. After so much searching. She loved her so much that she thought her heart might just burst. Her daughter had grown up to be a fine lady, she was perfect and Danielle knew that she would have no problem fitting in with the family and social circles.
AN:Ok guys. I know it's a day late but my stupid computer refused to work yesterday so I only completed it like now. I think it is one of the longest chapters and I tried my best to not make it like a information dump. I gotta go the apprentice is up next and I wanna watch what happens this week. Guess what? I thought up a new story line that delves into the inner politics of the slytherin house. There will be a own character but I will try my best to not make it a Mary-Sue.
Anyone out there who thinks that they could give me and idea on what to do next. I need a few linkage chapters between a certain engagement. Guess whose??? Hahahax. Malfoy will torment Hermione. He has not gone soft nor will he ever. BWHAHAHA. evil laughter
Buaiz I'm outiez...
I'm going now....
Won't you miss me...
If you will...
drop me a review...
If you don't...
still drop me a review...
Now I'm leaving...
for real.
Sapphire out.