(A/N): OK I'm really sorry everyone…but this may be my last update for a while, unless I lose my will power and update anyway (which I probably will), honestly I hope you will forgive me but I have REALLY important exams and next weekend is like my last weekend before my first exam and I have not revised for any of them. Wish me good luck. OK anyway, I was going to update on my birthday which was last Thursday but as usual I had next to no time…oh well. This chapter is my favourite chapter so far. In fact I hated the last chapter because I couldn't wait to write this one so writing that one was like a chore.
Don't worry, I will let you carry on reading in a moment but first I need to give a big shout out to all my wonderful reviewers. I probably would have stopped ages ago if it weren't for all of you. And honestly if I don't update soon just know that I will continue this by the beginning of July when my exams are over, well as a new Dramione fic which I have all planned out called Poster Paint.
Chapter Four: Plans in Action?
Isabelle ignored Draco's outstretched hand as she jumped down from the carriage. Her hasty jump to avoid him caused her to stumble and she felt his arms wrap around her waist to steady her. She squirmed in his grip until her bodyguard pulled him away. She glared at him and straightened out her clothes as the other carriages arrived around them. She walked towards the carriages making sure to keep the bodyguard in between her and Draco. One of their duties as the heads was to make sure none of the students got sidetracked on the way into the great hall. This was a lengthy process as most people ran towards friends they had not seen all summer and had been unable to find on the train, hugging and screaming. (This was mainly the girls though; the boys just nodded their heads slightly in recognition of each other.)
As Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna passed the heads they stopped to converse with the girl, while shooting suspicious glances at Draco who just smirked at them. Finally Isabelle managed to convince them that she was safe as she had Rupert, her bodyguard with her, and they made their way into the hall telling her they would save her a seat. Sharing a compartment with them on the train had been hell for Hermione, all three of her best friends had wanted to know what Draco had been doing there but had been appeased when she had told them about heads' duties. However unlike normal the compartment was filled with an uneasy silence, and bursts of somewhat forced conversation compared to the usual easy chatter. Ginny kept giving her pensive glances as if trying to determine what she was thinking, whereas Harry gave her happy smiles and went on about how glad he was that they were related and that he finally had some real family.
Hermione was happy for him in all her honesty but she couldn't yet feel happy about the connection as thinking of being related to Harry just reminded her that her entire life so far had been a lie and that she was actually Isabelle Marie Labello and not Hermione Jane Granger. She felt like the ground had been stolen from underneath her feat and she was actually falling through space but she hadn't admitted she was falling yet. Because admitting it would mean too many incomprehensible things, things she didn't want to think about just yet. She hoped she would always be Hermione inside regardless of how she would have to act to fulfil her new role in life. Ron however was the one who made her feel that she couldn't be the same and also the person who made her even more determined to not change. Throughout the train ride he had shot her glares, acting as if it was her fault she was born, and had repeatedly started up arguments with her trying to make her deny her heritage, something she felt she couldn't do if she wanted to be true to herself. But Ron did not understand, in fact he wasn't even trying to.
Isabelle watched the last few students walk into the hall and followed behind with the head boy and her bodyguard. She could feel Draco's smirk as she walked through the entrance hall towards the great hall. She decided to ignore him as she walked through the large doors. As she entered she felt an excited intake of breath from the students. In one huge movement the entire Slytherin house stood, facing the doorway and where she stood. Each student lowered their heads towards her. Isabelle stood dumbfounded in front of them not quite understanding what was going on. Even some Ravenclaws were standing with their heads bowed. It wasn't until Draco pressed his entire body against her back and bent his head to her ear to say, 'take a seat, your highness.' That she finally caught on. She looked towards the standing people again and felt like crying yet not one of them was looking towards her. At the teachers table she saw Snape looking at her as if he was arguing with himself as to whether he should stand or not, while Professor Dumbledore simply watched everything with the most serene look upon his face and Isabelle was sure that he had just winked at her.
Isabelle looked towards the Gryffindor table to see a few giving her confused glances, Harry was smiling at her, while Ginny was once again looking at her as if trying to read her mind. Ron was however looking at her with a look that obviously said 'See, I was right.' On seeing this Isabelle quickly stepped away from Draco and marched towards the Gryffindor table, not once looking up at any of the standing people. Rupert followed quickly behind her and when they reached the table Isabelle took out her wand and conjured up a chair for him to sit on, making other students shuffle their seats down the table to make room for him, and quickly taking her own seat before the sorting started. It was only when she had sat, her back turned on all the standing students that they too sat.
The sorting was a quick process and Isabelle paid little attention to it, only noticing when the last girl, a Zephyr, Adele was sorted into Ravenclaw. She watched the Headmaster stand up and make a speech and then the feast began, of course had you asked her what was said in this speech she would not have been able to tell you a single word. Isabelle was of course one among many not listening to the sorting or Dumbledore's speech. In fact over at the Slytherin table Draco Malfoy was staring intently at Isabelle's back ignoring everyone and everything around him. He was worried, Isabelle did not seem to be succumbing to his charms as easily or as quickly as he had thought she would. Maybe it was because he still did not like her; to him she was still Pothead's best mate and a Mudblood. Her blood may have been the purest but she grew up around Muggles.
He supposed she was OK looking, in fact she actually looked vaguely good now compared to the bushy haired, know it all that she was. He knew she was still the same though, she was still a know it all, still Pothead's best mate, hell she was actually related to Pothead. This plan was to ensure that he spent the rest of his life with her; he knew that he wasn't turning on the charm enough to actually make sure that she would fall for him; he didn't actually want her to fall for him. He couldn't tell his father that though, because if he did there would be hell to pay. He guessed he would just deal with that barrier when he got to it, until then he at least knew that he could annoy the hell out of her just by keeping close, and making her eyes flash with anger and annoyance was something he lived for, something that made this whole stupid deal worthwhile.
When the feast was over Dumbledore once again stood and everyone fell silent. This time even the Heads were listening to him as he repeated several of his normal notices, the forbidden forest was forbidden, Filch had managed to find more things to ban, and finally the names of the head boy and girl. Isabelle felt the dread fill the pit of her stomach as her name was announced, her new name was of course announced and she had to stand. Dumbledore carried on talking, "Of course many of you may be wondering where Miss Granger has gone, but let me tell you she is still here but has had a little identity change Miss Labello and Miss Granger are one and the same.
At this revelation there were of course several startled gasps, mainly from the Ravenclaw table as not everyone had been informed of who Isabelle was. The Slytherin table seemed unaffected by the news, although the newer members of the table regarded her with certain awe. Those who had had older siblings in the school had of course been told that she was a mudblood and sadly also the cleverest witch in the school. Knowing the cleverest was also had the purest of blood filled them with the arrogance they had been taught to feel. Of course she was the best, how could she not be when she had the purest blood. By this time the implications of these words had been understood by the whole school or at least the clueless had been filled in by their neighbours. Isabelle felt her face turning red as many looked upon her unflinchingly while continuing to talk in heated whispers with their friends.
From across the hall she could feel Malfoy smirking at her, he had of course known this would happen. He too was of course standing, but the whispers around him affected him little after all they were not about him. He was instead studying Isabelle with an amused interest. He was in fact laughing at her pink tinged cheeks as she fought to control her embarrassment, but of course he couldn't show that on the surface. Laughing at his new found queen and wife to be was not something that he could do if he wanted his fathers' plan to work. Well ok he didn't but that didn't mean he wanted to subjected to an unforgivable repeatedly either. Making Granger…Isabelle fall for him was definitely the lesser of two very big evils. He noticed her looking at him and decided to swallow his pride and give her a smile, one that looked genuine instead of his trademark smirk. She looked at him confused for a second, just managing to stop herself from smiling back out of reflex.
Then the confused look cleared her face. Of course why wouldn't he smile at her, she was his Pure-blooded Queen, there was no longer anything about her for him to hate, even her cleverness could now be put down to the genetic make up of her blood, her hair was no longer bushy and best of all she was no longer a mudblood. In fact, she realised, her only fault, in his eyes, were her friends, and by the way they had reacted to her so far she had a feeling she would be doing her best to avoid them. Well maybe she wouldn't avoid them completely, only if they became too much for her. She supposed they would in fact start acting normal around her once they had accepted the change.
She glared at Malfoy; he had just managed to remind her of all her problems with one uncharacteristic smile. Around her people started to get to their feet as the headmaster ordered the prefects to take the students to their common rooms. The head boy and girl were summoned towards the teachers' table. As Isabelle stood she noticed a surge of movement to one side of her and realised that the Slytherins had remained seated until she stood. As she turned towards her they bowed in her direction and quickly left her presence. She made a mental note to murder Malfoy the first chance she got. As she approached the table Draco fell into step behind her.
"Well, I expect you two would like to know where your quarters are and what your password is so if you would follow me." With that Dumbledore led them out of the great hall. The walked through several corridors until they finally reached a painting of the night sky, filled with stars and a full moon. On the moon was a small man who appeared to be sleeping.
"Corbis, I have the new heads, wake up!" she man woke up and took in his surroundings. Then he stood.
"Yes, of course Headmaster, What is the new password?"
"Celestial Providence, until they choose to change it, but I would of course remind you that you may only change it if you are both here together and agree on the new password," he said turning towards the heads, "Oh and of course I would like to request that you refrain from changing the password for at least this term if possible, unless of course the password becomes public knowledge, then by all means change it." He had his usual twinkle in his eyes as he bid them farewell, still standing outside their new dorms.
Draco stood forward, "celestial providence," he said as the portrait swung forward admitting the two into a spacious common room.
Isabelle muffled her gasp; she couldn't let Malfoy think she was affected by money or luxury, although she was. The common room was beautiful; it was filled with shades of dark deep shades of red. Deep crimson couches and blood red walls, all accentuated with shades of silver. The carpets were a thick fluffy white. Isabelle actually felt her feet sink into it over in one corner was a large glass table with intricately designed silver legs, at the centre of the table was a dark red vase holding white lilies. Over the mantle piece hung a large mirror with a silver rim. She heard the door swinging shut behind her and looked round for the first time noticing that Rupert was no longer with them. In fact she didn't think he had been with them since they left the great hall. This made her feel vulnerable; after all she was now alone with Malfoy.
Draco too realised that they were alone and began to walk towards her. Isabelle resisted the urge to back away from him as he came towards her. He stopped directly in front of her, and bent his head to look into her eyes. They were a startling emerald green, a green he associated with Potty. He swallowed his sudden anger and began to speak.
"I'm going to the Slytherin common rooms, is there anything you want me to pass on to your loyal servants?" his breath was hot against her cheek. She nodded starting to get annoyed.
"Yeah tell them to stop standing up whenever I leave or enter a room, it's annoying. Although I do believe you had something to do with it in the first place." She glared at him while he smirked, his face still close to hers.
"All right, but they'll be upset, they were only showing their respect you know." He stood even closer too her so they were nose to nose but she resisted pulling back as he would think it showed fear.
"It doesn't matter, you have to tell them to stop." He only nodded staring even deeper into her eyes, he realised her eyes on closer inspection that her eyes were really nothing like Potty's, and actually they were an entire different shade. She watched her pupils dilate turning her eyes a dark forest green. He wondered what she was thinking as they stood nose to nose. He noticed her breath was hitching and finally stepped away from her unsure what he had planned to do in the first place.
"Bye then," he said as he left their common room once again.
Isabelle breathed a sigh of relief as he left. He was acting stranger than usual and it was unsettling. In fact she thought she preferred it when he had hated her, because at least then she knew where she stood. She made her way up a set of stairs to a door marked with her name. She opened the door to find a room decorated in midnight blue and silver, which were her favourite colours. In the middle of the room stood a four poster bed, there was a large wardrobe and dressing table to one side of the room and another door which she assumed led to the bathroom. Her head was pounding, and she felt grimy from the day's travel. She picked up her mint green bathrobe and night clothes and went in to have a shower.
When she came out she felt drained of the stress that had filled her the entire day. She left her bedroom and sat on one of the crimson chairs in front of the fire waiting for her hair to dry. Still wearing her robe she curled up on the couch and thought about the day. Everything that had happened filled her with a helplessness that she could do nothing to dispel. She felt the first few tears leak from her eyes despite her desperate attempts to wipe them away. She felt slightly lost, she hadn't changed on the inside, only on the outside, but everyone treated her differently, did appearances really matter so much to everyone? Ron, one of her best mates was now acting like her enemy while her worst enemy was pretending to be her best mate. She couldn't handle it, her parents first and now her friends; she felt like she had nothing from her old life left but she didn't know how to live this new one.
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The common room was packed and Draco was standing on a table. He had just delivered the message their queen no longer wanted them to stand up every time she entered or left a room. Instead he told them that they could just bow their heads. As he got off the table he was approached by Blaise and Pansy.
"What's she like mate?" his best mate asked him. Draco almost didn't know what to say.
"She's ok; she talks less which can only be called an improvement but she still acts like her usual mud… Potty's friend, the book wormself." Blaise only smirked, whereas Pansy threw herself at him, saying how sorry she was for him having to spend all his time with a mudblood. Draco felt the need to defend Isabelle. He violently threw Pansy off himself.
"Don't you dare call her a mudblood again Parkinson! Her blood is purer than yours; now get out of my sight." Pansy whimpered and ran through the gap the gathered crowds had made for her Draco marched towards the door as first years quickly shuffled away.
When he had reached the portrait of the common room, he paused, he was breathing heavily, and still angry though he wasn't quite sure why he had blown up at Pansy when he himself had almost called her a mudblood. Yet somehow he felt it was ok for him to do it as he no longer always felt the venom that used to be behind those words. Pansy deserved it in his eyes, after all, even if it was unknowingly she had just insulted his future wife, and that would not be tolerated from anyone.
"Celestial Providence," he said as the little man in the painting who had been watching him for quite some time nodded and swung forward. Draco entered and felt immediately that there was something wrong. He looked round. Curled on one of the couches in front of the fire was Isabelle, she was wearing a white bathrobe over pyjamas. As he approached her he noticed she was asleep, here breathing was laboured, and her cheeks were glistening and red in the firelight. The olive skin around her eyes was slightly puffed.
He kneeled in front of her sleeping form and gently reached a hand forward to stroke her cheek. He wiped her tears away, gently so as to not wake her. Some part of his brain realised she would be uncomfortable if she spent the night sleeping on a couch. He stood and leaned down to pick her up. He held her bridal style and was amazed at how light she was. In her sleep she nestled her head into his shoulder. He walked towards the set of stairs that led to her room and started to climb. On the third step he felt the ground shift beneath his feat. He slid down the stairs stumbling backwards as the stairs had turned into a slide. He felt himself falling backward and immediately tightened his arms around Isabelle.
Draco closed his eyes as he hit the floor, his arms securing Isabelle in place so she wouldn't be hurt. He kept his eyes closed as the pain washed over him. He slowly opened them to a wide awake Isabelle looking into his eyes while struggling against his tight hold. He let her go and she stood up quickly. He slowly started to get up and he faced her.
"What do you think your doing Malfoy? Trying to kill me wont help you know!" her voice loud and her face red, she placed both hands on his chest and pushed him back as if to make her point. Draco watched her unsure what to say as she turned and stormed up the stairs to her room, not looking back. He heard her door slam shut. He could still feel the imprint of her hands across his chest. Draco would have to work harder on the charm. Much harder.
(A/N): How is it? I made this chapter much longer than usual because I may not update for a while. If you are all really good and review I might update during half term in I can find some time. I would do personal responses to reviews but I hate scrolling past replies to find the story and seeing that the replies are longer than the story, it depresses me. However if you have any questions I will reply.
I am creating a family tree for the Labello family so any name suggestions would be great, I'm not promising to use them but I will definitely consider any suggestions. Oh just another point I won't refer to Hermione as Hermione again because she has changed her name, this is the last chapter I will do so unless I have a reason to do so.Trust meI do have my reasons.
Lots of Love
Danish
Ok so there is the fourth chapter…
You know what to do…
Review…Review…Review