Chapter 1
Two people Apparated in a small dark alleyway behind a shop in Paris, France. The girl was wearing a dark tank top and faded light blue jeans. Her thick brown hair was swept up into an elegant bun, her graceful pale neck leaning over to make sure her belongings had survived the trip across the English Channel. She propped her dark sunglasses on the top of her head, and peered around the corner. The boy was wearing a loose striped shirt, and dark jeans with sneakers. He was also wearing dark sunglasses, and seemed uneasy in his surroundings.
"Hermione," he said, running his hand through his silver blond hair. "Are you sure that-"
"He's going to meet us, Draco, don't worry," she said soothingly. "He wouldn't just leave us in the middle of France without a guide or a wizard in sight."
"It's Blaise," Draco said nervously. "You don't understand, do you Hermione? The guy isn't as great he seems, he's a Slytherin!"
Hermione grinned. "Darling, aren't you a Slytherin too?"
"Yeah, Draco," someone piped up sardonically. "You don't seem like the type to call the kettle black."
They turned around to see Blaise Zabini leaning against a brick wall, looking at his nails with a rather smug expression on his handsome face.
"How long were you there?" Draco hissed.
"Long enough," Blaise replied coolly, "To hear you act like a complete prat. Since when has Draco Malfoy been afraid of anything besides spiders?"
"You're afraid of spiders?" Hermione asked, snickering. Draco flushed instantly, his cheeks bright red.
"Not overtly," Draco replied snappishly. "Blaise, stop acting like an idiot. Hermione has faith in you, but I most certainly don't."
"Relax," Blaise said, waving his hands smoothly. "I'm not going to get your father to come trail you all over France. First off, he's in Azkaban, and might find that rather hard. Plus, I'm a changed man."
"Changed?" Draco replied as if he hadn't heard correctly, though Hermione knew very well that he had heard the entire speech quite clearly. "Please repeat that."
"Shut up Malfoy," Blaise said carelessly. "You used to be one of my best friends, but I'm not doing this for you. Your girl happens to be a rather charming, and she sure knows how to convince people to do things."
Draco turned bright red and looked as if he would choke Blaise, but then thought better of it when a bunch of loud French teenagers passed by.
"Draco, stop over reacting," Hermione sighed, clearly tired of their bickering. "We have to go to the hotel, and then we're eating dinner with a French wizarding family that I met here a couple summers ago."
"Do they know anything about English politics?" Blaise quipped slyly. "They might recognize the Malfoy nose, and then Draco's disguise would be useless."
"Blaise," Hermione said, hiding a smile. "Don't antagonize Draco, he's already having a bad day."
He grinned, and motioned for them to follow him down the dirty alleyway out onto the sidewalk.
Hermione pulled her sunglasses back down, and hurried after Blaise, Draco right behind her.
"The hotel's just a block away from here," Blaise explained, as they passed by several rather confused looking muggle tourists. Circe, Draco's owl, hooted nervously, causing a few Parisians to cast them unbelieving looks.
"Les touristes," a man said disdainfully as they passed. "Ils sont tres stupides, n'est pas vrai?"
"Hey," Draco said, angry. "They just said-"
"Hush," Hermione said, grabbing his arm, pulling off her glasses so she could see him better. "We're tourists, and we're invading their home land, they have the right to be angry."
Draco was still angry. "But, we're not doing anything to them! We're just walking by, minding our own business."
"Shut up," she muttered, dragging him down the street. "We have better things to do than bother that poor man. Just calm down."
Blaise was waiting at the revolving doors of a rather fancy looking hotel. He pushed them through into the lobby.
The floor was made of marble; the counter was gilded with gold.
"This place is really nice," Hermione said, smiling at Blaise. "Thanks for taking us here."
"My parents own it, so it's all on me," Blaise said with a grin, straightening his designer shirt with a flippant gesture. "You two are my guests, and although Draco is still acting the jealous lover, you are my friends."
"Thank you so much Blaise," Hermione said, smiling. "We really appreciate it, right Draco?" She elbowed him, and he nodded willingly. Now he was feeling guilty about suspecting Blaise of misbehavior.
"Well, I'll get you two in your suite, and then I'll see you guys tomorrow, so I can show you the lesser seen side of Paris. You guys think you can get to your friend's house tonight without my help?"
"Sure," Hermione. "Thanks for everything Blaise."
"It's not a problem," he said graciously, ushering them up to the counter, and turning to the pretty woman at the computer.
"Marie, this is Hermione, and this is Draco," Blaise said. "They're friends, so give them a room in the east wing, and everything's on the house."
"Oui," she said, her fingers flying over the keyboard.
"What's that thing?" Draco asked, pointing to the computer.
"Shush," Hermione muttered.
Blaise laughed. "No, it's okay, Marie is a witch."
"Do I have to restate my question?" Draco asked testily, crossing his arms across his chest, trying not to pout.
"A computer is like a book," Hermione explained patiently as Marie handed over a set of keys to her. "It stores information, you're able to write on it, and you can play games on it."
"Interesting," Draco remarked, peering over the counter to look at Marie's computer. "I want one."
Hermione smiled fondly. "Maybe you can have my dad's old one, he's getting a new laptop soon."
"You two are on the second floor, the east wing," Blaise said, pushing them toward the elevator.
The elevator was your standard muggle elevator, with marble flooring and red satin walls. The bellhop stood lazily by the buttons, hipshot, leaning against the elevator, clearly bored.
He immediately straightened, seeing Hermione and Blaise.
"Monsieur," he said to Blaise, and then bowing deeply to Hermione. "Mademoiselle."
"Ah shut-up Pierre, she's with me, but now with me, if you get my meaning," Blaise said, giving Draco a significant look. "These are friends who've come from England to spend some of the summer here in beautiful Paris."
"Friends from school?" Pierre asked, giving Blaise a knowing look. When Blaise nodded decisively, Pierre grinned cattily.
"East wing, no doubt," Pierre continued, closing the elevator door behind Draco.
"Second floor," Blaise said.
"Bien," Pierre muttered, opening a little compartment next to the buttons. He pulled a long handle from the compartment, pressed the large red button on the top, and then punched the two button.
"Pierre goes to Beauxbaton," Blaise explained as the elevator made a rather unnerving groaning noise. "He's just getting some work experience here in L'Hotel Magnifique."
Pierre twisted the handle around three times, and then said excitedly, "Here we go!"
"Here we go where?" Hermione asked, and suddenly, the elevator began to twist and stretch. Everything blurred before her eyes, colors mixing dangerously, and it seemed as if Draco was somewhere near the ceiling, and Pierre was around her hand.
Suddenly, everything snapped back into place and Hermione found herself reeling, nearly falling over. Draco steadied her, and she smiled up at him gratefully. Then the elevator door opened, and they stepped out into the hallway.
The carpet was plush and the portraits were gilded with gold. Just then Hermione realized that the portraits were moving, and a woman in a dark painting wearing a starched wimple had just winked at her!
"Welcome to the Magic Wing!" Pierre said enthusiastically.
A/N: So this is the first chapter to Prophecy, the sequel to Disfigurement. If you haven't read Disfigurement, you'd better go read the first one asap. Everyone else, leave a review!
