Chapter 8

Sometime in August, Hermione received an owl from the Ministry of Magic. It stated:

Miss Granger,
Since two families have claimed the right to 'add' you into their families. There will be a hearing on August the 22nd at 2 o'clock between the families. The two families include:

The Malfoy Family
AND
The Weasley Family

We believe that lately you have been staying in Diagon Alley, and we would like you to stay there until the current situation is compromised.

Sincerely,
Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic

'Oh no,' Hermione thought. 'I told the Weasleys no. Don't they understand that?' She asked herself as she walked out of her bedroom in Malfoy Manor. She wasn't actually staying in Diagon Alley like she told the Weasleys, but her father had rented a room under her name to use as his headquarters.

"Draco?" Hermione called to Malfoy as he turned out of his room (which happened to be right next to her own).

"Yes?" Draco asked her impatiently. (His friends were waiting downstairs).

"I need to talk to you," Hermione said.

"Can it wait?"

"No. August 22nd is today."

"I know the date, Hermione. Is it your birthday or something?"

"No. But I just received THIS in the mail." She waved the letter in the air in front of him. His face had a puzzled look on it. waved the envelope in front of his face. He gave her a puzzled look. Hermione continued, "THIS is a letter from the Ministry of Magic. It says that there is a meeting on AUGUST 22nd at 2 o'clock. If you haven't noticed, two o'clock is in twenty minutes. Do your parents know anything about this?"

"I don't think so…" Draco's voice drifted off because Hermione had started to run down the stairs to look for Narcissa.

When she finally found her, Narcissa was in the living room talking to Blaise and Pansy. Crabbe and Goyle were busy talking on the other side of the room.

"Narcissa?" Hermione didn't wait for a reply. "You do know that you need to be in the Ministry in fifteen minutes, don't you?"

"What?" Narcissa exclaimed. "Why?"

"There's a hearing about who is going to house me."

"Okay, let's go," Narcissa replied and told Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle to leave the house. Then, she side apparated with Hermione and Draco to the Ministry.


Hermione, Draco, and Narcissa walked into the Wizengamot at the same time. Hermione just happened to be holding Draco's hand and whispered something in his ear when Narcissa exclaimed, "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley! Ron, Ginny, how nice to see you again." She was trying to fake a smile, but it didn't work very well.

Hermione glanced away to look at Ron and Ginny. Then she looked directly at Ginny and directed her thought to Ginny, 'Hey! What's up?'

Ginny looked as though she'd seen a ghost. Hermione and Draco cracked up at the site of Ginny's face.

"Miss Granger?" Fudge asked as he sat down in the judge's seat.

"Yes sir?" Hermione responded.

"I would like you and the other students to sit in the back of the room."

"Mrs. Malfoy, please sit in the chair on your left. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, on your right. First, we are here to discuss who Miss Granger…"

"Miss Riddle," Hermione muttered. "Miss Riddle."

"… will be taken home with. Now, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley? I would like you to go first. Please state why she should be under your care," Fudge told them.

"Well," Mr. Weasley stated, "Hermione has been coming to our home during the summer for the past five summers and has grown into the family. She is one of us and right now we are the closest thing to a family for her."

"Okay, Mrs. Malfoy? You do the same."

"Sir, her parents wrote in their will that if anything happened to them, she would return to her true parents," Mrs. Malfoy told Fudge.

"What?" Ron asked Hermione. "The Malfoy's are your parents?"

"No. Just listen," Hermione whispered. Malfoy just sat there next to Hermione thinking.

Hermione accidentally tapped into Draco's thoughts. 'If mother doesn't tell them about the Dark Lord being her father, how is she supposed to prove it?' He turned to look at Hermione, whom wasn't looking at him but was talking to Ron about their adventures last summer in the Department of Mysteries. 'She looks so hot when she sits like that. So innocent…'

"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed. "Did you really mean that? What you just said?"

"Hermione? He didn't say anything," Ginny informed her.

"You didn't?" Hermione asked with a puzzled look on her face. Then she sent him and only him a message via thoughts. 'Didn't you just say something about me being hot?'

'Umm… no,' Draco answered. 'I didn't say it…at least not out loud.'

'Did you think anything like that?' Hermione thought.

'Not about you.'

'Oh.'

After a few minutes of complete silence, Draco forgot about trying to guard his thoughts. He hadn't taken occulmency yet. (Voldemort was supposed to teach him in next year). 'She is so hott. I can't believe that I've been mean to her all these years.' Hermione smiled, but didn't interrupt his thoughts. 'I wonder why she's smiling. Her smile is like the sun. It brightens everything and everyone around it.'

Hermione interrupted his thoughts. 'Are you thinking about me again?'

'Uhh… yes?' He thought back knowing that she already knew.

'Awwe. That's so cute,' Hermione teased him. He glared at her. 'Sorry, just kidding.'