I DON'T OWN ANYTHING…kay, thanks.
CHAPTER 5
The silence in the Great Hall probably would have persisted for much longer if it had not been for one Ronald Weasley. Often one to be lead purely by his emotions, this new development proved to be a little too much for him to handle, rather than a boisterous outburst as would be expected, the poor boy had fainted. He fell right off the back of the bench and landed on the unforgiving stone with a resounding thud.
"Won Won! Baby, are you okay?! Someone get help!" Lavender's pleas fell on deaf ears as all the eyes of both professors and students were glued to the screen.
"It's so nice to meet you all, again I suppose." Mia's little comment earned her a chuckle from the group that effectively broke the ice.
"Oh you have grown into such a beautiful woman, my dear. Your parents are so proud of you. I am so happy that we can all be together again. Too bad the girls are at school, but I suppose you will be seeing them again soon enough. Oh, you three were so darling together." Rachel Greengrass was carrying on, much the way her younger daughter had the tendency to. Quieted by her husband, Roger, the Greengrasses greeted Mia warmly, each giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
No one would make the mistake of calling Isabella Zabini a warm creature, but even she managed to give Mia a kiss on each cheek.
However, it had to be the reactions of the Malfoy's that most shocked the Great Hall. Narcissa embraced Mia, holding her close and murmuring something softly into her hair. It was the most affectionate everyone, aside from Draco, had seen the matriarch since the start of the second war. It would forever be speculated what Narcissa had said that had both in, albeit, happy tears when they pulled away. Looking at each other they laughed and Narcissa gave her one more hug before fully releasing Mia.
Mia nervously glanced up at Lucius, as did the audience at Hogwarts. It was one thing to be accepted so readily by the previous witches and wizard, but it would be Lucius' reaction that would confirm or deny everybody's hunch. Warm greeting meant pureblood, and cold greeting meant muggleborn.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again under much more favorable conditions. I cannot tell you how often I have apologized to your parents for my actions during the war. But, I'm sure once all is revealed, you will realize that all actions, even the unfortunate ones, were orchestrated for the well-beings of those close to us." Lucius ghosted a kiss over Mia's knuckles.
"I…um…okay. I know we all did things driven by the war that we aren't proud of." Mia hadn't known how to react at first. She knew that her father had kept quite a bit from her, only releasing information that was important to her role in the war. Join Harry Potter's house, earn his trust, and keep him alive as long as it took to kill Voldemort.
The Great Hall sat in stunned silence. Gryffindor, as a house, looked crestfallen. Their star student, the muggleborn underdog, was so not that. She was very much a pureblood who had entered Hogwarts a year early, not a year late, and played them all as pawns in some mysterious plan. Harry sat deep in thought as to what all of this would mean for his friendship with Mia. Glancing at Ginny, he could tell precisely where her friendship with Mia, and now him, was going…and that was absolutely no further.
Poor Hufflepuff looked far too confused, later someone from Ravenclaw would come over and explain the situation, slowly, for them.
"Hell! I wish we had placed that bet Draco, I could have the whole Malfoy fortune. Your parents, my mother, Daphne and Astoria's parents, they are all there! Apparently Astoria and Mia were playmates!" Blaise was cracking under all the news. At this moment he found everything hilarious, it was easier to laugh than think.
Rosalie looped arms with Mia and Theodore excused their family from the group, saying that they had to make other greetings before dinner. It wasn't long before food was being served in the Grangée household and the Great Hall.
Mia found herself sitting between her mother, who was seated at the left hand of Theodore (the head of the table), and Narcissa Malfoy. Across from them sat Lucius Malfoy at her father's right hand, and down the table were the heads of powerful pureblood families from all over Europe.
Mia recognized, vaguely, some of the faces from her childhood. Others she could place because their child was a classmate of hers. So far she had been able to get through the evening quite well, many former Death Eaters apologizing for how they had acted, explaining that they could not act as though they recognized her for fear of messing up her father's plan. There were even a few pureblood witches and wizards who had worked with the Order of the Phoenix .
However, it was most surprising the face that was sitting across from her. Seated next to Lucius, was her the Hogwarts potions professor himself, Severus Snape.
"Ahem! Excuse me, I just wanted to have a quick word before we eat." Theodore's voice boomed from the head of the table throughout the dining room and the Great Hall.
"I want to take this moment to thank and honor you all for your valiant effort during the war. Our victory could not have happened without a single person sitting at this table. Most notably, I would like to thank Lucius and Narcissa, Severus, and of course our daughter Mia. She sacrificed the childhood she was entitled to in order to protect Harry Potter and make sure that our little problem was taken care of. It is my pleasure to reintroduce both my family and my daughter back into society, and it is with great pleasure that I announce, with the help of Severus, that my daughter will be resorted and undoubtedly sorted into her proper house. Long live the Grangée name in Slytherin!"
Theodore sat back down with a self-satisfied smirk amongst loud cheers from his companions. Mia wore a smirk to match her father's; finally she would be in her rightful place.
The cheers were not echoed in the Great Hall. Some sobs could be heard coming from Gryffindor, Harry sat very stoically, worried about losing his best friend. Before anyone could open their mouth to say anything, Harry just shrugged forlornly and looked down, there wasn't anything he could do. It had always struck his as odd that curses seemed to curve around Hermione and her advanced knowledge of magic. Books couldn't teach you all that.
Across the Hall, the green and silver were rearranging themselves and going through some changes of their own. As more families were revealed on the screen, their child at the Slytherin table made their way down to sit with Draco, Blaise, Astoria and Daphne. The move to the end of the table had originally been so Draco could distance himself from the whispers and collect his thoughts on the situation, however he again found himself sitting at the head of the group, all eyes looking on to him for the next move. It wasn't until Theodore Nott spoke that Draco was able to understand and take charge.
"Think about it mate, she took care of us, she is one of our own and more than likely will be a member of our house. If nothing else, Slytherins look out for each other." Theo had said it under his breath, not wanting to speak out of turn, but hoping that Draco would hear.
"Regardless, she is one of us. Dumbledore hasn't announced to the school the Heads yet, but I'll tell you right now I've made Head Boy. It's a safe bet to assume that Mia will be Head Girl. We'll look out for her, not make it any tougher than it needs to be when she comes back, and she and I will protect the house."
Draco's voice was not raised but commanded the attention of all those around him. He nodded to himself, quite pleased that he had put sort of a label of ownership over Mia. If they were both Heads, they would be sharing living quarters, and rule the school so-to-speak. He couldn't understand it, but he felt insanely jealous thinking of her in another house or with another male. He already had problems controlling his emotions when his classmates had talked about the wanks they had to visions of her on the screen clad in only her lace undergarments.
He hadn't noticed it before, but the students on his left had unconsciously, or consciously, moved down the line, leaving his left hand place open for her arrival. She would live with him, and she would be his. Grangée was one of the very few Malfoy equals. Draco would ensure equals ended up together.
Would it really be a challenge? Maybe. Or maybe not.
Dumbledore clutched his hand to his chest. If wizards suffered from heart attacks he would be sure he was having one. His whole view of the war was turned on its head. Correction, his whole view of the world. Previous to this weekend, if Dumbledore had been asked he would have said that the Grangée family was sadly wiped out in a Death Eater attack and Hermione Granger was an exceptionally talented muggleborn, who worked hard and deserved a trip home, her normal middleclass life would be the perfect example for his Muggle Studies project. But now…he could not even claim a victory in the war. It appeared it had all been orchestrated by purebloods, playing both sides. Blood status had not made any advancement in society.
He couldn't handle any further surprises, after this weekend the project would be terminated. Muggleborn students would still get their promised weekend home, however it wouldn't be broadcasted. Unfortunately, Severus had arranged for a student to be resorted, name left unmentioned. He couldn't very well take it back, and he also couldn't take back his Head Girl appointment. It looked like Mia Grangée of Slytherin would be taking Hermione Granger of Gryffindor's place as Head Girl. With a heavy heart he sat up from the table, better alert the house elves to make the whole suite green and silver.
Mia smiled when she walked up to her room that night. Finally, she thought, as the Great Hall watched her slip out of her dress and her naked back strut into the bathroom.
Draco and his group were some of the last few people sitting up watching, it was 2:00 in the morning. Boy, did their parents know how to party hard and close down a place. Draco tried to relax the grip on his glass, soon that would be a view only he would see.
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I hope you enjoyed it! I know this one was kind of boring, but the backstory had to be told. In the next chapter she's off to school, into the real action! I am so excited to write it!
PLEASE, PLEASE review. Good things only! Any problems or criticism please send them to me in a PM. But hopefully lots of reviews!
Next one coming soon!