(A/N): Sorry for the long wait, I have been a bit busy. I have also decided that I will probably update every weekend at the minimum I will probably be too busy to update during the week. I will also warn you that I have extremely important exams soon and so if I disappear suddenly don't be surprised, just know that I intent to finish this so I will be back. So here is the next chapter...ENJOY!
Chapter Three: Mutual Understanding
Hermione quickly settled herself into an empty compartment. She was early and she liked it this way, the station was empty and silent. Perfect if someone wanted to think. But that was something Hermione could not do. Every time she tried to think her head filled with a deafening roar until she gave up. No, Hermione liked it quiet because it meant she had some precious time left before she had to face her best friends again. She had never in her life dreaded seeing her friends but that was in the past. They had been there, they knew. So it wasn't as if she could hide it from them, or even escape their pitying glances. No one seemed to understand that she didn't want to talk about it, not even Harry. She was meant to go to Grimauld Place to stay with Harry and the Weasleys. She had spent most of her summer at home and they could see that she was getting bored. But after seeing Ron Hermione had changed her mind. He was talking to her as if being hidden away by her parents was her fault and that the fact that she hadn't realised was also apparently her fault.
She wasn't in the mood to handle him or anything else so she politely told everyone that she had changed her plans and had gone home. Now thinking about it she didn't know whether she had made the right choice. Her parents unsurprisingly had distanced themselves from her as much as possible. Hermione hadn't been upset at this; she had expected it in truth. They had to come to terms with the fact that the child they remembered giving birth to was not their own, just an implanted memory. They must have felt tricked and yet she knew that they loved her, how could they not when they thought they had brought her up from day one. Hermione too had been willing to stay away from them for a while; she had to come to terms with the fact that she was in fact the daughter of two people she had never met. She was related to her best friend and probably every other pureblood she knew in one way or another. Worse than all of that was the fact that she was a royal. She was the rightful heir to the throne of Italy and her uncle the king at the moment only seemed too happy to move aside for her and his willingness did nothing to settle her doubts.
Hermione was not gullible; she knew not to take everything at face value. No she had seen the spell herself to know that it had indeed proved that the Grangers were not her biological parents. But she also knew that even powerful things could be hoodwinked... she had seen the goblet of fire produce four contestants when only it should have produced thee because it had been hoodwinked by a powerful wizard. So she knew that even though she had seen the spell for herself she could not trust it. Proving whether or not the Grangers were her parents had been her aim over the last week of the holidays. She had done various spells and made several potions and it was only when all the results showed that the blood seeker spell her uncle had performed was right did she stop. She was indeed a Labello, and with that came so many responsibilities and problems.
Her first problem was the body guard standing watch outside her compartment. She was too rich for words and a royal; there would be enough people who wanted to kill her. Her uncle had made her take the bodyguard with her the day they met and that was that. Where ever she went a silent figure followed two paces behind, and this was how her life would be from now until she died. Her uncle seemed to be a nice man, at least that was her first impression, but she knew so little about him. You couldn't learn how a person was inside from a book. That meant that she would have to spend time with her Uncle in order to find out if she could trust him. He had however realised that she would need time to get used to this discovery and had said that she would not have visit Italy until Christmas so she could get used to the idea. What could she do but agree she knew that even a few months was something she should feel grateful for. She knew that he was technically her actual legal guardian and if he had wanted he could have refused to let her sit her final year and taken her to Italy straight away, but he hadn't and that showed that he was at least trying to ease her into her eventual fate.
There was a knock at the door. Hermione looked up to see her bodyguard watching her.
"Miss Labello, there is a young man to see you." Hermione had gotten used to this, even her parents, well the Grangers, had to get past the bodyguard. Even the presence of the bodyguard made her feel as if she was under the threat of constant attack. At first it had simply annoyed her, but now she was beginning to realise that it was vital, because she was indeed under the threat of constant attack, just like Harry. Kingsley Shacklebolt had been Harry's guard that day and had of course been in the room when her uncle had broken the news. His presence meant that the order had a full report of everything that was said and done.
"Who is it, Rupert?" She had a ball of nervous energy in the pit of her stomach and of course she knew who it was. He had after all said young man not a group of people.
"He says his name is Draco Malfoy, Miss," she nodded her head, though she knew not whether it was in acceptance of who was outside or because she had been proved right when she thought it was Malfoy. But her guard took it as her allowing the young man entry and stood aside to let the man through.
Malfoy looked at the guard and said, "Leave us." His voice was commanding but the guard did not blink or even move. The guard looked from Malfoy to Hermione, she nodded in defeat, and she had known this would happen eventually. The guard bowed and left.
"What do you want Malfoy?" she asked making him spin to face her.
"Well Isabelle, I needed to talk to you," the girl flinched visibly at the name.
"Malfoy, don't call…" but she stopped; she couldn't get him to call her Granger, or Mud blood, because she wasn't either of those. She didn't want him to call her Labello, because then everyone would realise what had happened and she didn't want that. The only thing her uncle had demanded was that she changed her name. Lucius Malfoy now knew of her existence, although he had had his memory wiped as to her parent's reasons for giving her away, and who they had worked for before they died. She had remembered reading somewhere that during the wars Italy had been neutral, but that was wrong as her parents had worked for the light in secret. He was smirking at her.
"What do you want?" she asked, fighting to control her anger.
"I want to talk to you." He looked at her as if taking in all the changes. "Your skinis tanned." She looked down at her hands and they now had a faint olive tint that she presumed was due to her Italian heritage.
"What did you want to talk about?" she asked fighting the urge to tell him to leave as she would have done in the past.
"You, your Highness." She looked up at him in shock, expecting to see a smirk on his face but there was none, and his tone had been serious. Indeed, Malfoy had bowed his head a little at the words. She wondered for a moment what he was playing at before realisation struck. She was of course pureblood royalty; her line was the purest around. The Labello family did not rule over the world but she was still considered to be royalty much in the same way Prince William would be when he went abroad.
She stuttered, "I, I, but, no." She wanted scream at him to stop, but she couldn't, she had not had her coronation yet but she had been royalty since the day she was born and arguing with Malfoy was pointless. She stopped and took a deep breath.
"What about me Malfoy?" She all but growled. He smirked at her again.
"Well, I presume you are head girl and as such we need to discuss what we will say to the prefects in the meeting, it was in the letter your Highness." Now she knew he was doing it on purpose just to annoy her, so she decided to ignore him. He was of course right, they did need to discuss what to say to the prefects, and of course it had been in the letter she had received during the summer informing her that she was head girl, the one she had forgotten about due to the events at the end of summer. Malfoy wanted to talk about what to say to the prefects, that meant he was head boy, the horror of this though hit her like a ton of bricks. She looked up at him once again, startled. It was well known that head boy and girl had their own quarters. It was one of the many perks of the job that Percy had refused to stop talking about. Head boy and girl had to share a common room and bathroom and each had their own rooms.
"Yes, Isabelle, I am the head boy." He was of course the first to actually call her by that name, but she preferred Isabelle to your Highness, so she did not comment on it, instead she nodded at him and drew out a paper and pen from her bag, read to make notes.
They managed to decide that they would draw up proper schedules for the patrolling once they got to Hogwarts, but until that was done each house prefect would be required to patrol twice a week, once before curfew and once after as well as one hour on an alternate weekend. They managed to assign prefects times and days which they could sort out among themselves if problems should arise. The head boy and girl of course where required to patrol alone for half an hour after curfew on alternate weekdays and together for and hour after curfew on the weekend. Once they were finished Malfoy stood to leave, he got to the door before he turned around once again to face her.
"Listen Gra- Isabelle, I know this isn't easy for you, and I know you can't forgive me for all the things I have said to you all these years, but I am sorry, I can't say I like you, but I can see now that you didn't deserve to be called a mudblood, and we have to work together, for the whole year, Isabelle. What do you say to a truce?"
She stared at him speechless, Malfoy wanted a truce? Then she realised what he meant, she would not survive the year with him in close range if she had to fight every time she saw him. She nodded her head in agreement and he looked at her slightly surprised as if he had been expecting her to say no. he smirked at her and went to the door. "Well I better go then." He stated, as he opened the door and left.
It was then that Hermione realised that the level of noise coming from outside had increased drastically. Malfoy had barely been gone a few minutes when there was another knock on the door.
"Miss Labello, there is a Harry Potter, and Ron and Ginny Weasley to see you," Hermione nodded she could not delay the inevitable any longer. "Let them in," she said with a sigh.
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Draco had just left Hermione's compartment to see Potter and the two Weasleys standing outside arguing with her bodyguard.
"We want to see her," that was Pot-head.
"She is in the middle of a meeting; you can go in when she is finished." The Bodyguard replied.
"Could you tell her we are here?" the youngest weasel asked. But the guard shook his head.
"Listen, we are her friends, she would like to know we are here, no one she is meeting can be more important than us." That was the Weasel.
"Are you sure about that?" Draco asked in a drawl from the closed door of the compartment a smirk on his face.
The three looked at him shocked.
"Was this who she had such an important meeting with?" Pot-head asked while the Weasel came closer as if he wanted to hit him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you Weasel, I am the Head Boy, I wouldn't bother going in there if I were you, Isabelle, had she been allowed her biological parents who have been brought up as a girl of class and standards, something you are not or ever will be associated with Weasel, still it's not too late for her to re-evaluate her circumstances, I doubt it will be too long before she tells you too stay away for fear of being contaminated by the diseases you have picked up from the dustbin you call a home." With this he walked casually away froma red facedWeaselette anda Weasel being held back by Scar face.
Once he reached his compartment he sat down and sent his minions A.K.A Crabbe, Goyle and Parkinson to tell a few important Slytherins from each year to meet him in his compartment. He was setting his father's plan in motion. Of course he had not filled his father in on what else he had learned before his memory had been wiped and his father knowing nothing of it had not asked. His father of course knew who Granger had turned out to be and that she was taking the throne instead of Draco, and although he had been disappointed at the news, he had for once seen the positives. Even if Draco wasn't on the throne now he could be, all that was needed were some 'I dos'. For this they needed trust and mutual respect. This was where Step 1 came in. he had to earn her trust and respect and make it look like he respected her.
The Slytherins were gathered in the compartment and Draco stood on the seats towering over the occupants. They were silent, waiting in anticipation.
"I have an announcement to make about Granger," the room watched him eagerly expecting him to have come up with a new form of torture. "You will not under ANY circumstances call her a mudblood, you will all bow your heads to her when you enter or leave her presence and refer to her as your highness."
This announcement set off many whispers across the room, but they were quickly quietened when Draco began to speak once again. "You may no longer call her Granger, her name is Labello and she is the rightful heir to the throne of Italy." The latest announcement was met with a startled silence. "You do not have to change the way you treat Pot-head and Weasel, but remember that her Blood is one of the purest on this earth and you will not undermine that." He looked round, meeting the gazes of many of his fellow housemates. "I need you to pass this on to your friends, she does not look as she once did, she now looks as if she if Pot-head's sister, except tanned, do not draw attention to her resemblance to Potter," he said this with an air of distaste. "Today in the great hall, you will ALL stand once she enters and only be seated once she has, this is for always, not just for the feast, and I don't care if you feel stupid or foolish for bowing to someone you have hated for six years, she is to be your Queen and you will treat her as such. Have I made myself clear?" he asked his tone so commanding that no one would have dared to argue even if they wanted to.
As soon as the group had left his compartment Draco had gone to the Prefect meeting. As requested the Slytherin prefects had bowed at Isabelle's entrance and remained standing until she herself had been seated. As she began to speak he noticed that her voice now had a silkier tone that wasn't faked, something else about her had changed. She was unrecognisable as the bushy-haired, bookworm he had known for the last six years. When she introduced herself, she only said her name was Isabelle Labello, and did not proceed to explain that she was also Hermione Granger. A few prefects, especially those from Ravenclaw had given her startled looks, though the remained silent. Hufflepuff prefects on the other hand where looking around focusing on the bodyguard that stood in the corner of the room, as if to see if Hermione was hiding behind him.
Isabelle did not however let the restless prefects disturb her as she explained the rough schedules for patrolling, or the prefects ability to dock points and give out detentions. She even managed to explain the concept of how they would decide on when Hogsmead weekends were, which was a majority vote that could be overrules by the head boy and girl or the heads of the houses. Overall she remained calm, until the end of the meeting when the Slytherin Prefects had all stood and bowed to her, as did a few of the Ravenclaws before leaving quickly. The Gryffindor prefects all left quickly and the first one out was the Weasel, Draco hoped this meant that either she had come to her senses already as to her choice of friends or that what he had said to the Weasel had struck a nerve and that they had argued and fallen out over it. Draco really hoped it was the latter, as he would have loved to be the cause of the Golden Trio's break up.
She turned to Draco her expression furious, "You told them didn't you?" She asked him. He nodded then stood and bowed before he abruptly left the room before she could take out her anger on him. He heard her frustrated howl as he walked down the corridor.
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All too soon they had reached Hogsmead station and after once all first years had safely made it to Hagrid the head boy and girl went to their carriage. Isabelle was first to enter and her bodyguard entered behind her. The bodyguard took the seat opposite to her and when Draco entered, he had no option but to sit next to her as the carriage was designed to hold only two people and was therefore rather small. There was no space left next to the body guard and as he sat next to Isabelle he felt her move as far away from him as possible. He smirked and thought of her reaction to the Slytherins earlier. He couldn't wait to see her face when she entered the Great hall.
(A/N): Well, how was it? Tell me what you think. I love the next chapter so I will post it as soon as it is finished. By the way what do you think of m referring to Hermione as Isabelle, Does it confuse you? I know Draco is a bit OOC but well he is following his father's orders so he has to act like this.