5
06. 14. 94
Alcohol poisoning, the doctors said.
Her Uncle Henry, the 11th Duke of Northumberland had succumbed to it after indulging in one too many bottles of champagne and wine. Her father said the maids had found his brother lying face-down on his bed, stone still and blue. The coroner had told them he had been dead for hours before that.
And so Hermione found herself next in line for the duchy of Northumberland. Even though she would never inherit the title, technically, since she wasn't supposed to exist. She did not shirk from the responsibilities expected of her though, her siblings were far too young to deal with the death of their uncle.
Her father had balked at her volunteering to help with the funeral preparations at first, saying that she too, was too young, but after a long debate, he had relented and allowed her to take a small weight off his shoulders.
Henry Percy's funeral was held on a gloomy Sunday in June. Earlier in the day, the castle had been opened to the public for the final viewing before her was laid to rest, and as the hour approached, the people not invited to the funeral ceremony were ushered out. Noble men and women filed into the chapel behind the castle while Hermione kept her head down. George fidgeted in his seat in the pews next to her, obviously uncomfortable in his black mourning suit.
She did her best not to draw attention. If her identity ever came up, her father introduced her as a cousin or some other visiting for the summer. She held onto Melissa's hand tightly as they marched to the family cemetery behind the church, and kept Max close to her as their Uncle was lowered into the earth. Each of them then took turns in throwing a flower onto the coffin. She whispered a small prayer to the lily before tossing it gently onto the chestnut coffin, a tear escaping her eye in the process.
As the funeral party was ushered back into the castle for the wake, she left her siblings to one of the maids and went off to find her father, who was meeting mourners at the door of the castle. She stood quietly behind him, watching as he greeted everyone. Each face was familiar to her, having been ingrained into her memory since she was a child.
Finally, she watched with bated breath as Queen Elizabeth approached, following her father's lead, she fell into a curtsy as he bowed.
"My condolences to you, Lord Percy." the queen said regally.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. Henry will be remembered well." her father said.
The queen nodded, then Hermione held her breath as the woman's piercing blue eyes landed on her. To be observed by one of the world's most powerful leaders was something Hermione was not accustomed to, and she kept herself from reacting as the queen looked her over appraising lay, from her black suede kitten heels to her ebony lace day dress, and the mass of dark curls her maid had pinned down that morning.
"Is this your daughter, Lord Percy?" she asked in a soft voice.
"Yes, Your Highness, my daughter, Hermione." Ralph said proudly.
The queen nodded, "Pretty, and intelligent too, I hear. Pity, I would have agreed with you father, were he still alive. She would have made a fine bride to William. Unfortunate that circumstance is not in our favor."
Hermione forced herself not to allow her face to betray her shock. Of course the queen would know she had magic. The woman left a few moments later, her guards following behind her.
"Hermione?" a voice called from behind her.
She immediately stiffened at the sound. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she was met by a familiar face. The sandy haired boy was approaching her quickly, he himself clad in a dark suit that seemed so odd from how she usually saw him at Hogwarts.
"Hermione?" her father's voice called, "I'd like for you to meet James Finch, a good friend of your Uncle Henry's. James, this is my niece Hermione."
She watched as Justin's steps faltered and followed the movement of his lips as they mouthed the word 'niece' wordlessly.
"Hermione? Who is this?" Ralph asked just as the man next to him said, "Justin, do you know Lady Hermione?"
Hermione winced, looking back at her father, "We attend school together." she said softly, watching as the confusion cleared from both men's faces.
"James, may I speak with you for a moment?" asked Ralph as he led the man aside, shooting his daughter a pointed look. She nodded in understanding, then faced the still shocked Hufflepuff.
"Will you walk with me, Justin?" Hermione said as the men took their leave.
Hermione was pleased to find that even though the boy remained in a stunned silence, he retained his manners, offering his arm to her. She took it, leading him down the path towards the stables.
"How did you know my uncle? " she asked, breaking the silence.
"He and my father shared a room at Eton for years, he considered Lord Percy his best friend." Justin said.
"You're probably bursting with questions right now." she said softly, watching him from the corner of her eye.
Justin cleared his throat, "I don't quite understand the situation, honestly. You're Lady Percy? But you have a different name."
Hermione let out a soft laugh. "It's a mess, really, and a horror to explain. The gist of it all is that the Ministry of Magic intervened when I was born. I was a threat to the State of Secrecy, you see? So they kept my birth a secret and well, my entire existence as well."
"But why do you have to keep the secret at school?" the boy asked, "Turpin would eat her words if she knew about this."
Hermione huffed, "Lisa is the least of my problems." she said, "I have to keep it a secret because the Ministry thinks that if muggleborns at Hogwarts knew that a duchess was a witch, word would somehow reach the general public about a secret child of the Percy family. The Ministry can't quite trust eleven year olds to keep their word, can they?"
"But wouldn't the Statute of Secrecy apply to them as well?"
"Yes, but what if they told their parents? That's allowed. Then what if their parents told other people? It's a scandal in the making." she said disdainfully.
"That's horrible for you, then. So what, did you grow up alone?" he asked, pity coloring his words.
Hermione nodded, "I was tutored privately. Grew up here at the castle with my grandfather. Godfrey! Heel!"
"Christ!" Justin exclaimed, dropping her arm in surprise, "That's an enormous dog!"
"He's harmless!" Hermione laughed, "Godfrey, this is my friend, Justin. Justin, meet Godfrey. Sorry, her isn't used to strangers." The large dog growled quietly, watching the boy next to her with distrust in his eyes.
"He looks like he might eat me." the Hufflepuff said worriedly.
Hermione laughed, "I promise he won't. Come, Godfrey, we're on our way to see Frost, would you like to lead us there?"
The hound barked excitedly, then bounded off in the direction of the stables, stopping at the entrance to sit and wait for them patiently.
"Can I trust you to keep this to yourself, Justin?" she said, walking onwards.
"Of course," he said, eyebrows raised, "I wouldn't think of doing anything else."
"Good." she grinned, "Thank you. Do you want to meet Frost?"
"Frost?" he asked absently.
"My horse."
"Oh, I suppose you weren't kidding about that either." he chuckled, "Alright, then."
She led the both of them to Frost's booth, feeding the mare a few sugar cubes before patting her down lovingly.
"Are you ever going to tell your friends about all of this?" Justin asked as Hermione guided him in petting Rey, her brother's stallion.
Hermione nodded, "I was going to ask my father if Padma and Su could visit over the summer, but my Uncle passed so suddenly, so I don't know if it's the right time to ask."
"Of course they may." came the deep timbre of her father's voice from the stable entrance, surprising the two teens.
The new Lord Percy walked closer to them, "You may write to your friends later that they are welcome any time. Your mother and I would love to have them."
Hermione stared at her father in shock, "Are you sure, Father?" she asked, eyes wide.
"Of course, my darling." he nodded, "As long as you are certain they can be trusted."
No sooner were the words out of his mouth when Hermione pulled him into a tight hug. Justin looked on at the pair awkwardly, feeling as if he were encroaching on a private moment.
"Now, love, why don't you and Justin find your brothers and sisters, or maybe you could show him around the grounds? No need to go back inside for the wake."
"But father-"
"You've done so much already, young lady." her father said sternly, "Give yourself a break."
Hermione smiled at Justin, sharing a look that meant she was sorry for her father, he merely shrugged, offering a grin.
"Alright," she said, "Let's take Godfrey for a walk, I can show you my Potions garden."
Hermione sat on one of the tables outside the ice cream parlor a little ways down the road from the castle, waiting nervously in the shade the pink patio umbrella provided. The cup of brambleberry ice cream sat on the table melting quickly in the August heat. She had sent Su and Padma the portkeys a week before, and the girls were scheduled to arrive any minute now. She had already politely shooed away a rather insistent boy asking for a date, the ordeal leaving her a little flustered and itching to leave.
One moment later she heard the tell tale thumps of two bodies falling on their bums in the alley next to the ice cream parlor and the sound of excited feet on concrete.
"Hermione!" exclaimed the voices of her closest friends.
She stood quickly, and was soon pulled into a hug. "I missed you!" she said, laughing.
"We missed you too!" the girls chorused.
"Come on,"she grinned, "I'll explain everything on the way."
She ushered the girls into the black town car, closing the door behind her. "We're ready, Peter." she said, sliding the partition open.
"Alright, what's with the secrecy, Mione?" Su asked, pouncing on her friend immediately. "You practically said nothing in your letter! Just that you wanted us over and you had something to tell us."
Hermione breathed out shakily, "I need you to promise that you won't be cross with me, and that you won't tell anyone ever."
Padma and Su shared a look of confusion before nodding.
"I've not been completely honest with you." she said, "My real name is Hermione Percy, and my father is the Lord of Northumberland."
"What does that mean?" asked Padma, frowning.
"It means she's bloody rich, that's what it means!" Su exclaimed, knowingly, since she was a halfblood.
"Not all nobles are rich, Su." Hermione said softly.
"But you are." Su said pointedly.
"Why the secrecy?" asked Padma, brows furrowed in confusion.
Hermione sighed, "The ministry requested it. Legally, I don't even exist."
Her friends smiled at her in understanding, which was more than Hermione could ask for.
"Don't worry, love, we understand." Su said, "It doesn't change anything, really."
Hermione smiled, eyes shining brightly at her two friends, "Merlin, you guys are the best."
"Circe slap me, is that a castle!?" Su exclaimed.
The two weeks of August Hermione had spent with her best friends had been two of the best weeks of her life. The girls spent the first days with Hermione showing them every inch of the castle, taking about half a day to cover the library alone, then she taught the two witches how to ride on horseback, then she forced the two to join her in ballet lessons for fun. Both Su and Padma had balked at the thought that Hermione still spent an hour practicing ballet and piano at Hogwarts and still had the energy to be top of their class. Madam Gorotsky had cringed at the two newbie ballerinas, but allowed it nonetheless, provided that Hermione spent the last twenty minutes of class presenting a complete routine.
Her siblings had met the arrival of the two witches with endless questions about magical life, much to the girls' amusement, and Hermione's parents had just been glad to see their eldest daughter smiling more so than usual. Ralph Percy, of course had been busy since his brother's death, dealing with everything and anything that came under his responsibility.
Almost quicker than they could imagine, the two weeks had passed and Hermione was saying goodbye to her friends again, promising to meet the two at 9 ¾ the following week. Padma had sworn that she would not tell Parvati a drop of the truth, twisting it to all ends, and Su had promised not to share a word of it to anyone at Hogwarts, especially Lisa Turpin, even if she was being completely horrid.
The day after the girls had left, her mother had arranged for an appointment with a designer for the 'dress robes' that had been listed as a requirement on her Hogwarts list. Su had explained the day the letters arrived that it was just a Wizarding way of saying 'evening gown', and when her mother had heard that, she had almost burst into happy tears. Hermione knew for a fact that the woman had contacted her favorite designer almost immediately.
And thus begun the process of her mother overseeing the mutilation of her eldest daughter's body with needles while her siblings watched in amusement. Hermione winced again as Georgina's assistant once again pricked her, this time on her waist.
"Shut it, you little monster." Hermione hissed at George under her breath, only to receive a snicker from the not-quite-ten year old boy.
"I think emerald, Georgie," her mother said, eyeing Hermione up and down, "do you think she's too young for a tight dress?"
Georgina paused, taking in Hermione's frame, "Did you say she was fifteen, now? How absolutely unfair. I would have killed for those legs at fifteen. No, I don't think it would be too gauche for a tight dress, but let's see, shall we?"
"Mother?" Hermione intervened politely, "Perhaps we could go for a slit, rather than making the entire gown tight? I'd hate terribly to be uncomfortable the whole night."
"Of course, darling," her mother nodded absently.
After spending the entire morning arguing back and forth, the three women finally packed up and finished up. Hermione had thought she would finally be getting a moment's rest but her mother, of course had other plans.
"We have to do something about that hair of yours, love." she tsked, "You get that from your father's side of the family."
"But I like my curls, Mother, and they aren't as bad as they could be. I use Sleekeazy's everyday for it, now." Hermione pouted.
Jane tsked, "Yes, but we can do so much better, love. We aren't taking your curls away, just taming them. Now, come, darling, no time to waste."
"Father's going to hate that you've messed about with my hair again, you know."
"Your Father barely knows how to comb his own hair, Hermione, now get in the car."
"Yes, mother." Hermione grumbled.
By the time the first of September rolled in, Hermione had finally grown accustomed to her new hair, which now fell in glossy loose waves. She had put her foot down when her mother had started talking about changing her hair color, so the deep chocolate color of her hair remained.
Hermione refrained from tugging at her black and white tweed dress nervously as she and the disguised Auror Jenkins waited for the train to roll in. She kept her head down to avoid attention, knowing full well that Turpin would take the mickey out of her for changing her mess of curls. As a gust of early fall wind blew through the station, she gripped her black robes to stop them from billowing about.
A flash of blonde hair passed by the corner of her eye, drawing her attention to the new arrivals to platform 9 ¾ . Hermione trained her gaze to the family of three as they appeared, eyeing each individual with concealed curiosity.
The man held himself in a way that reminded her of her father's more pompous colleagues. His white blonde hair was held back by a black ribbon, and in his hand was a handsome black cane with a silver snake handle. The woman reminded her of her own mother, funnily enough, with salt and pepper hair arranged neatly in a half chignon. Hermione's eyes widened fractionally when she realized that the woman was wearing a tweed cloak that looked eerily similar to Hermione's dress.
As the woman's eyes fell on her, Hermione met the her gaze steadily, and watched as her red painted lips curled into a small smile of approval. She then turned to the youngest of their group to whisper in the young man's ear. Hermione was then subjected to the piercing weight of Draco Malfoy's stare. Unlike his mother, his lips formed a ugly sneer. Several words were uttered under his breath - all foul, Hermione suspected.
Whatever it was Malfoy said caused the woman to quirk her eyebrows in surprise. And in true Hermione fashion, unable to turn away, she watched the woman as she seemed to admonish her son, who looked at his mother with a shocked expression on his face.
The sound of someone calling her name drew her away from the scene in front of her, and she turned her attention to Su, who was shoving her way quickly through the crowd just as the scarlet train came to a halt in front of the waiting crowd.
"Hello, Su!" Hermione said brightly, exchanging kisses on the cheek with her friend - something that her friends had picked up from her over the summer. "Have you seen Padma?"
"No, she's probably late again, you know how long Parvati takes to get ready." Su said, rolling her eyes, "We should head in though, before the cabins are all taken."
"No need, Auror Jenkins left to stow my trunk in when you came up." Hermione smiled as the man in question reappeared. "Thank you for escorting me once again, sir." she said politely.
"Not a problem, Miss. I've left your things in the third compartment to the left." the man grinned toothily, "I'll be seeing you at the end of May then."
"May, sir? Don't you mean December?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
The man chuckled to himself knowingly, "I'm betting you'll want to stay at Hogwarts the whole year, lass. But if you decide otherwise, I'm sure the Ministry'll be sending me."
Hermione frowned, not knowing what the Auror was talking about, but nodded nonetheless. "Very well, sir. Thank you, again."
With one last grin from the man, she and Su walked across the platform. As they did so, Hermione got the odd feeling that she was being watched, and turned her head slightly to the side to see the Malfoy matriarch observing her discreetly. Hiding the tension that filled her body quickly, she took Su's wrist and led her friend into the train as if nothing was amiss.
Draco entered Platform 9 ¾ in between his mother and father, mildly aware of the attention his family was attracting. He puffed his chest a little, smirking to himself as several first years stared openly at the formidable sight of them.
His father was half a step ahead of him and his mother, so he didn't hear Narcissa as she whispered to Draco under her breath, "Draco, who is that charming young lady over there standing by the pillar in that tweed dress?"
Draco turned his neck to take a peek and was met with sight of warm chestnut eyes. He faltered for a moment at the sight of her, was she taller? And what had she done with her hair? It wasn't quite that god-awful anymore. Realizing he had yet to answer his mother, he sneered, spitting out the first thing to come to his mind.
"No one of importance, Mother, just mudblood filth."
Narcissa frowned, icy blue eyes flashing, "Mind yourself, Draco. Those aren't things you should say, or think for that matter."
Draco looked at his mother in alarm, "But Father says-"
"Your father," Narcissa said slowly, eyeing her husband, who was in the middle of a conversation with Aldous Greengrass, "is a man stuck in the past. It's high time we set those antiquated views aside."
"But Mother, even you've said that -"
"I was wrong," Narcissa said, cutting off her son with a sharp look that turned hazy, as if she were remembering something, "your father and I are not without fault, Draco. I have come to terms with my previous errors, though it seems your father and a few others need more time to do so."
Draco felt as if the proverbial rug had been pulled from under his feet. He waited for his mother to laugh, to smirk and tell him he was joking, but he knew better than that - Narcissa Malfoy did not joke. She held her gaze, as if she knew her words would unnerve her son - and rightly so! Fourteen years of being taught that mudbloods were abominations, now all of a sudden he was being told that wasn't quite the truth.
"Mother, are you saying that mudbloods -" he faltered at the hardening of his mother's stare, "erm, muggleborns, aren't lesser than us."
"I am saying, Draco, that no one is lesser than us." Narcissa said, "I know this isn't something you were expecting, truly I wished to talk to you before leaving the manor, but your father still has reservations on the mater. The world has changed my son, and I do not wish for you to grow up filled with preconceived hatred for people you've never met. I've failed you for fourteen years, already, and for that I apologize."
"What brought this on, Mother?" Draco asked in disbelief.
"Your Aunt Andromeda reached out to me last year." Narcissa admitted, "We've settled our differences and she has forgiven me. I didn't realize how much I missed my sister until I began spending time with her again. I've met Ted as well, her muggleborn husband. Your father does not fully approve, but he has agreed to meeting Andy next weekend for dinner."
He felt as if someone had taken the world by its axis and spun it like a top. "I - I don't know what to say." he admitted.
Narcissa smiled sadly, "I know this is too much to place on your shoulders now, Draco, but I want to help you see the truth - before the damage was irreversible. There are many things I missed out on as a young girl because of prejudices my parents ingrained to me when I was younger - the same ones Lucius and I passed on to you. It will be difficult, but you'll realize that muggleborns and muggles aren't all that different from you -"
"Cissa." the sharp admonishment came from his father, who had left his conversation to join his family, "What did I say about talking to Draco about this issue before we agreed on it?"
Narcissa glared at her husband, "I don't remember." she said innocently. "Now, Draco, promise me you'll do your best at school this year, my love."
Draco frowned at the swift change in his mother, and the knowing frown on his father's face, "I will, Mother."
Narcissa took him in her arms, "Think about what I've told you." she whispered, before letting him go."
"Good bye, son." Lucius nodded, "Make me proud."
Draco nodded absently, then jumped as the train whistled in warning. He stepped into the train, still in a state of confusion as he began to find his friends. As he walked down the hallway, his eyes paused on the image of Hermione Granger, who was taking off her cloak, as she laughed at something one of her friends said. Her tinkling laugh could be heard even if the door to their compartment was closed.
Draco frowned, quickly making his way down the train, his brain running the memory of his conversation with his mother over and over again frantically.
a/n: What do you think? I've always been kind of soft for Narcissa, and I think she could be easily swayed out of her beliefs if given the benefit of the doubt, don't you think? I'm not saying she's entirely unbiased, of course, forty or so years of prejudice will do that to you.
Also, I'm immensely excited for the Yule Ball - I absolutely love writing the Goblet of Fire! I'm thinking up her gown based on a Paolo Sebastian couture piece that I adore.
Thank you for the recommendations on Xovers! Honestly love Hermione with GoT pairings.
- china