Chapter three

The next morning when Draco went down for breakfast he saw Hermione already sitting there and drinking a bowl of soup. She didn't even regard him when he entered. However, Pansy did.

Must she come here every weekday? sighed Draco.

"DRAKIEE!" Pansy squealed and walked over to him.

Draco felt hands on his chest and he realized he forgot to put on a shirt before coming down. Mental slap.

"Hey Pansy, here to see Uncle Lucius?" Draco walked away from her and sat down opposite Hermione. A house elf appeared and took Draco's breakfast order. Pansy, of course, took a seat beside him.

"No, I am here to see you. Anyway, Drakie, why is the mudblood here?" Pansy motioned with her chin to Hermione.

"Meet Princess Maia Riley Riddle." Draco said.

"WHAT?" Pansy exclaimed.

Hermione finally looked up, lifted an eyebrow and said, "Told you so, bitch."

"Drakie, did you hear that? She called me a bitch." Pansy whined.

"There's nothing I can do." Draco shrugged.

Hermione snickered and left the dining room.

"Oh. I almost forgot. Your Hogwarts letter came in today. Must have been delivered wrongly, came into my room instead. You are welcome to come in and collect it anytime. Another thing, I am going to muggle London for a shopping spree, and you are coming as a chaperon. We leave in 15 minutes. Dress appropriately. Do not embarrass me. By the way, congrats on making Head Boy. I'm Head Girl." Hermione said before stepping out of the room.

"She opened your letter without your permission and she is going to make you go to muggle London." Pansy seemed hysterical. Draco just shrugged, finished off his breakfast and went into his room to bathe, with Pansy hot on his heels.

"How could she do that to you? Draco, you can't let her lord over you like that," Pansy shouted from his bedroom as Draco took a bath, thankfully, alone.

"Work against the Dark Lord? Nah," was Draco's reply from the bathroom.

"Time's up Malfoy, we're due to go," Hermione entered Draco's room uninvited, just as Draco was pulling on his shirt. "Aww…who knew you had muggle clothing."

"Do not underestimate me, Princess. Say, you do not look half bad yourself." A faint flirtation tone could be detected in Draco's speech.

"Just this time, I shall allow you to bring your little girlfriend along. More hands mean more shopping bags, works to my advantage. We'll be back by dinner time. Father knows about it already." Hermione turned to leave but was stopped by Draco's voice.

"Your father actually gave permission for you to go to muggle London to shop?" Draco seemed dubious of her rattling.

"He says I look better in muggle clothes than robes, simple as that." Hermione delivered smoothly. "Okay, move your butt, let's go"

Clothes, handbags, books, accessories and make up. They shopped for nearly seven hours. Pansy was sulking all the way while Draco seemed happy to give comments to Hermione. Pansy had left somewhere during the seven hours and honestly, none of the other two cared, leaving Draco to carry all the bags.

By 5.30pm, they had returned to the Malfoy Manor for dinner. Dinner was conducted in the same manner as of yesterday's lunch, however, Hermione did not manage to excuse herself, and instead, she was told to follow Voldemort to the dungeons.

"I believe you have learnt well in that school of yours, Hogwarts, isn't it?" Voldemort asked.

"Yes father, indeed I have. Dumbledore had seen potential in me and had given me much care and opportunity to further my studies beyond the textbook." Hermione replied.

"I see. But there are things which I want to teach you that that muggle-loving school of yours can't," Voldemort said crudely.

"Please understand that I am still not used to your point of view, Father. I love my school dearly." Hermione regarded her father with a strong look.

"I understand. Lessons will begin tomorrow afternoon, after my meeting, I will send someone to get you."

"Yes father."

And so lessons began. Parsel tongue, flying, dark arts. By September the first, Hermione had mastered all of them. Going back to Hogwarts as a brand new person, Hermione was ready to start the year.

Voldemort had assigned Hermione to spy on Harry and the Order and Hermione had agreed.

Dumbledore had anticipated this. Smart man, that Professor.

Voldemort also wanted Hermione's parentage to be kept a secret for obvious reasons, thus he made sure Draco and Pansy would not leak that piece of information out with an ancient sort of magic. The Binding Handshake Charm.

At King Cross station of September the first, Hermione looked around desperately, trying hard to find her friends in the sea of people. Given her short height of 5'2, it was quite a difficult task. Her father had not sent anyone to chaperon her so as not to destroy her cover.

From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a flash of red and she heaved a sigh of relieve. She egged her way through the crowd in search of the owner of that red mop of hair.

I hope Ron had forgiven me for taking up that assignment.

"Hermione, how are you? You didn't even write to us at all. Were you bullied in any way? Anything bad happen? Did Voldemort buy the story? Oh don't just keep quiet, say something already!" Ron rattled when Hermione got close enough.

"Slow down Ron! I believe you have forgiven me? Anyway, to answer your questions, fine, I can't, no, no and yes," Hermione smiled and answered.

"No, I still haven't forgiven you yet, and maybe I never will. But I am more worried about you to care about that now," Ron sheepishly looked away.

"All right Ron, stop being selfish, we want to talk to Hermione too," Ginny said as she pushed Ron out of the way and emerged from behind with Harry, holding hands.

"Oh… someone's dating my best friend," Hermione teased.

"Whatever," was Ginny's reply as she hugged and kissed Hermione on the cheek.

"Hello Harry. I see you have been pretty busy as I was gone. What with talking Ron around and taking care of Mrs Weasley, you found time to win Ginny around. Talking about Mrs Weasley, how is she?" Hermione started looking around.

"Stop teasing me Hermione. Mrs Weasley couldn't make it today because Fred and George are having an opening ceremony for their new branch," Harry explained.

The final whistle of the departing train sounded and the gang went on board to find a compartment. Talks of the summer went around and Hermione told in great details of her time in the Malfoy Manor.

"Shit! I got to go. I made Head Girl and I have to go the Heads meeting," Hermione stood up to go.

"I knew it! Actually, we wanted to bet on whom would make Head Girl, and everyone chose you. Who made Head Boy?" Ginny probed.

"You wanted to bet on me? Hell. But come to think of it, it's a compliment isn't it? Oh, it's Malfoy," Hermione slid open the compartment door and left, leaving her friends wide eyed and mouth gaping.