Disclaimer: obviously not mine. Why would it be on a fan fiction site?

NOTE: this story was written before the sixth book came out so you'll just have to ignore everything that doesn't seem to fit. Enjoy!

Chapter three

As it got deeper into the night, Hermione found herself talking to more and more people. She wasn't sure if it was the five glasses of champagne but she was defiantly feeling more confident.

It was probably just after midnight when she found herself in a corner of the garden, talking to a group of young males.

Malfoy, unaware to the drunken Hermione, had been watching the princess all night and had become quite intrigued by her current position. The boys she was with were quite harmless but they were pressing in tightly around her, making escape quite impossible. Hermione's dress had fallen off the shoulder, giving the elder of the group a good view of her cleavage. The boy nodded to one of the other boys standing behind Hermione and he gave her a gentle nudge.

Hermione tripped forward into the elder and he caught her, pressing one of his hands, 'accidentally', against her breast.

"Are you ok, princess?" he asked, giving it a gentle squeeze before setting her back on her feet. The group around her tightened and Malfoy realised it was time to step in.

He strode over to them, cool as hell, and pulled the closest boy away. When the boy saw who it was he tapped his neighbour and slowly the whole group parted, leaving Malfoy a clear view of Hermione and her abuser.

"You better back off, Nigel" Malfoy said calmly. "I don't think that's the way to treat a Princess."

"I was just…"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow and the boy backed away quickly.

"Sorry, Draco, it wont happen again."

Malfoy linked his arm through Hermione's and led her away.

"C'mon, Granger. I think it's time you went to bed."

"You can't tell me what to do!" she said shrilly, earning herself a strange look from a few girls.

"Shut up! You're making a fool of yourself!" he took her back to the main room where the elder nobles were sharing a quite dance.

"Excuse me" Malfoy said to a waiter who was cleaning up. "Could you go and get the Princess' maid for me?"

While they waited for Kellie to arrive Hermione practically fell asleep on Malfoy's chest.

"What happened?" Kellie asked, hurrying out of the dining room and over to her charge.

"She had to much to drink" Malfoy explained. Hermione pushed herself away from him and attempted to stand on her own two feet.

"I did not drink to much I just-"

Malfoy caught her before she fell sideways into a duke.

"Dear me" Kellie clucked, shaking her head vigorously. "Hand her over. I'll take her to bed before her mother sees her like this."

Hermione spent the next week exploring the castle. Her mother had found out about her drinking and had banned her from leaving the castle grounds. Hermione didn't mind though, she was content to simply hang around the library, or laze by the pool. She wrote to Harry and Ron, telling them her news. Harry already knew about it, having read the muggle newspaper, and was extremely happy for her though Hermione suspected that it was because he would be out of the lime light for once in his life. Everyone would be talking about Princess Hermione Granger, the muggle born from London who turned out to be royalty and not Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived and had saved everyone's Asses from Voldemort's destruction.

When September first rolled around Hermione was having mixed emotions. She was happy to be returning to school, nervous about what people would say and excited to see her friends again.

She got up early in the morning to find her bag packed and waiting by the door. She had a nice hot shower and got Kellie to do her hair in a ponytail that looked casual but elegant at the same time. She dressed in her jeans and a tank top, had a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs on toast before getting on the jet with her father.

"Your mother sends her best wishes." Alfred said as they zoomed across the land of England towards London. "She couldn't make it today because she was having a meeting with her advisor."

"That's ok. I don't think she likes me much anyway." Hermione said quietly, though her father heard.

"Your mother loves you, Hermione. She's just getting used to having a daughter in the house."

"I heard you talking that night, you know, about the vote and how I'm not a decent princess."

"It doesn't matter to us, Hermione" Alfred took her hand in his. "You're our daughter and as long as you don't come home pregnant that's all that matters."

"We've arrived in London" Charlie poked his head around the curtain and grinned at Hermione. They had bonded well over the week and he was the only one, apart from her parents, that called her by her first name.

The plane landed and Hermione entered the city. It had only been a week but it seemed so long ago that she was boarding this same plane, terrified out of her mind at what might happen.

People were lined up along the fence of the airport, screaming Hermione's name.

Charlie put a huge arm across Hermione's shoulder and led her through the crowd to a waiting Limo.

"Hermione, oh my god! Hermione!" Mel was waving to her from behind a barrier. She was wearing a blue polo shirt and a checkered skirt; her public school's uniform.

"Let her in" Hermione muttered to Charlie who walked obediently over to Mel and helped her over the barrier. Mel screamed and ran at Hermione. They embraced, laughing loudly before Alfred called them into the car.

"We'll drop you off at school." Hermione said as the white car pulled onto the street.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a princess?" Mel screeched, grabbing Hermione's hands and squeezing them. Alfred smiled from right over the other side of the car.

"I didn't know! Honest! I found out when I got home that day then they came and kidnapped me!" she jerked a thumb at Charlie and Troy.

Both men laughed as they pulled up outside Mel's school.

About fifty teenage girls ran over screaming as Hermione got out to give Mel a hug.

"Make sure you don't forget about me" Mel said, giving Hermione another squeeze. "I'm still your friend, even though you're all high and mighty!"

Hermione waved out the back window of the limo until the high school was out of sight.

The muggles at the train station weren't as wild as the last two crowds Hermione had seen. They whispered to each other and pointing but no one came up to her.

She had to wait a long time for people to stop staring so she could slip though the barrier. When she did she found the tension on the platform almost unbearable. People were staring at her reproachfully and no one spoke to her. She said a quick goodbye to her father, Troy and Charlie before lugging her trunk and Crookshanks' cage onto the train.

Harry and Ron were waiting for her in an empty compartment and when she entered they stood up clumsily, blushing deeply.

"H-Hello, Hermione" Harry said. Ron didn't know what to do. Finally he bowed.

"Oh sit down," Hermione said gruffly, plonking into a seat opposite them just as the train took off.

"So hows the high life?" Harry asked, grinning because he already knew. Ron continued to blush and fidget with a hole in his faded muggle shirt.

"Not as high as I expected" she glanced out the window as the city disappeared then at Ron who blushed even harder under her eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked crossly. She hated when he got like this around her.

"N-nothing" he stammered.

"You look nice, Herm." Harry took the liberty of shortening her name. As much as she hated this, she found it quite reassuring. Harry hadn't changed at all. "New hair or something?"

It was Hermione's turn to blush.

"Oh hello Her-Princess" Parvati and Lavender had just stumbled into the compartment and Parvati didn't know how to address her roommate.

"Don't call me that," Hermione growled.

"No need to be modest, Hermione" Harry laughed as she clenched her fist. This was becoming extremely irritating.

"I'm not. I just hate being called that and I hate how everyone is avoiding me! I HAVEN'T CHANGED!" she got up and stormed out.

Two carriages down someone reached out and pulled her into their compartment.

Draco Malfoy.

"Jeez, what's up with you?" he asked, pushing her down and sitting opposite.

"I'm sick of being called princess."

"It's all a bit fake, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know that you're not a princess. What made you realise? Surly it wasn't me."

Hermione heaved a sigh and looked out the window. She couldn't believe she was actually having a civilized conversation with a Malfoy. He tilted his head so he caught her eye and she turned to face him.

"Are you going to tell me, Granger, or not?"

She sighed again then told him about the conversation she had over heard at her 'coming out' party.

"Ouch" he said when she had finished. "Well…if there's anything I can do…"

They stood up as Hermione prepared to leave. She got a sudden brainwave.

"Maybe there is!" she looked at him excitedly and he raised an eyebrow, a gesture for her to continue. "You can teach me! You can teach me how to be a princess! You rule a country, the girls respect you heaps. You can show me how to be like one of them!"

He simply stared at her and her eager smile slowly faded. "For-forget it," she said, turning towards the door, blushing furiously. "I shouldn't have asked. I was stupid. Of course you wouldn't help me. You'd rather see me suffer…"

"Hey, hey, hey! Slow down a minute, Granger!" he grabbed her arm and jerked her roughly back into the compartment. "I didn't say anything. I'll help you. When you suffer I prefer it to be at my hands."

She gasped. "Oh my god, thank you!" she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him for a second before realising what she was doing and pulling away, deeply embarrassed. Malfoy didn't seem to have minded all that much.

"When do we start?"

"What do you need to learn?"

"Everything!" she emphasised.

"Right-o" he thought for a moment before continuing. "When some one calls you princess, just ignore it. They'll soon realise that you're still the same, snotty little Gryffindor that you always were and forget about the royalty thing."

"Gee thanks," she said sarcastically, though his information did make sense.

She soon returned to her compartment where only Harry was left waiting for her.

"I'm really sorry, Hermione" he said sombrely "I was only stirring you, I didn't mean to get you upset."

"I'm over it. I just don't like being called princess, ok?"

"Ok"

The rest of the train trip passed by quietly and when the Hogwarts students finally filed into the great hall Hermione was feeling like her old self again.

A few people would back away from her, blushing. The Slytherin girls were laughing from across the hall and taunting her but Harry told her to ignore it and she soon found that when she did ignore it, there was more people in the hall treating her like her old self than people treating her different.

The sorting was the same as always, though there seemed to be fewer students then usual. Dumbledore made his welcoming speech, introducing the new defence against the dark arts teacher, Professor Lilly Harpin and he even put in a snide remark about Hermione, that only she got, and it left her giggling feebly into her hands.

The feast was as extravagant as always and Hermione was feeling full and content when she, Parvati and Lavender climbed the staircase to the girls' dorm.

"So tell us, Hermione" Parvati said. (Wow, Draco really did know what he was doing!) "I saw a picture of your castle in witch weekly. Is it really that big?"

Hermione nodded as she began unpacking her belongings.

Parvati and Lavender looked at each other in excitement.

"You guys can come and visit over Christmas" Hermione offered. She'd never really been close to these two girls and she took this opportunity to stretch their friendship further.

"Really!" Lavender squealed, jumping up and down, clapping her hands.

"Oh my god, did you girls see the new hair styles in Teen witch tomorrow?" Parvati asked, spinning around and grabbing the subjected magazine from her bed and flipping through it.

"My stylist did that one on me for my ball" Hermione informed them, pointing at a picture that showed a blonde girl dancing on the beach, showing off her beautiful new Hair-doo.

Lavender's jaw dropped. "You have your own stylist? That is so awesome!"

Maybe being a princess wouldn't be so bad after all.

All the, small things
True care, truth brings
I'll take, one lift
your ride, best trip
Always, I know
you'll be at my show
Watching, waiting, commiserating

I am a shameless review whore so please review. For my sanity?