Blaise
For a moment, Hermione was overwhelmed by the blurring green flames and the sudden bout of nausea that came with them. Would she ever be able to travel by Floo without feeling like her stomach was trying to empty itself?
She slid, somewhat gracefully, into the room and thanked whatever god was watching that she did not land flat on her face like the last time. While her stomach was settling from the carnival ride that was the Floo system, Hermione took a moment to investigate her surroundings.
The room was, surprisingly, decorated tastefully and not just stuffed with expensive items meant to intimidate. Frankly, Hermione fully expected the over the top items since they would support the pureblood manner that existed in her head. She was now coming to grasps that there was more to a pureblood than being intolerable and prejudiced. It would take longer though to abandon her own prejudice. After all, over years of her Hogwarts career, the Slytherins gave her plenty of nasty incidents to associate with the pureblooded wizards, especially the self proclaimed prince of Slytherin: Draco Malfoy.
You do realize that not all purebloods are Slytherin and vice-versa, correct? What about your dear friends, the Weasley tribe- er family? The Longbottom boy? Sirius Black? Really, find a more stable group to base your conclusion upon, since clearly, deciding that all purebloods equate evil goes against some of your other views.
Oh, shut up. Your logic is flawed.
Well, yours is hypocritical. Need I remind you of another pureblood you actually like? Yourself, possibly Ms. Zabini?
Go to hell.
Although, you do have some buried self-esteem issues, but you like yourself well enough...
Hermione determinedly ignored the voice in her head, as she should have done from the start. She was no longer concerned with the decorations of the room and the only thought that registered in her mind was that it was a nice, calming shade of blue. All she was concerned about now was the whereabouts of Edmond.
He invites me to his home and then he does not even bother to wait for me. I'm sure I only arrived a minute after him.
She was, however, a bit wary of traipsing around a stranger's house so she instead settled for pacing a short line in front of the fireplace. Hermione did not have long to wait for moments after she started her walk Edmond came into the room.
"There you are." He said with an expression of polite interest molded onto his face "Faery has the tea set up in the garden, just in case there is a shouting match. The Manor has excellent acoustics and we wouldn't want the noise bouncing around in the room. If you would follow me."
Without pausing for Hermione to register what he said, Edmond started walking at a brisk pace out of the room. Hermione scrambled to follow him even though she felt like a faithful dog trailing behind its master.
"You know," she said while following Edmond through the odd turns of the Manor "most people would consider it rude to abandon a guest after inviting them to tea." Edmond's lips twisted into the slightest of smiles upon hearing the word "guest".
"Please accept my most sincere apologies for leaving you alone in a room for five minutes, but I had a message to send to your brother." Did he have to remind her of the relation between Blaise and herself at every turn?
"So I take it he will be arriving soon? What, do I have five minutes to prepare myself?" Once again, there was a slight twitch of his lip before Edmond spoke.
"Sorry figlia, but you have until we arrive at the garden to prepare yourself. I do hope that won't take you very long."
Hermione nearly tripped over her own feet. Of course she knew this was coming, but a small part of her brain was currently in full frontal denial mode. Needless to say she did not take the news very well.
"What?! How is that possible? You've only just told him about it!" All the doors in Hermione's brain that contained important information about Wizarding communication and transportation snapped shut.
"Technically I sent him a letter right before our previous conversation and then sent my Patronus with a message when I arrived home. Whatever you have to say about Blaise it cannot be denied that he is a prompt boy. He arrived by Floo via his room here about the same time you did. Now, I was forced to decide whether it would be best to have you sitting and Blaise walk up to the table or the reverse. Either way the only surprised party in this is your brother so I figured we can allow Blaise about ten seconds of confused conclusions as we walk up to him. Sound alright?"
The question was very clearly not a question at all and Hermione was tempted to voice just how the plan was not alright. It would take ten whole seconds to walk to Blaise. Ten seconds in which her legs could give out beneath her. She would be lucky if Blaise did not take it upon himself to do so with a Jelly-Legs Jinx.
Edmond looked at her and inclined his head in the direction they were heading. He started walking without warning and it took Hermione a few seconds to register that fact. Hermione blew a loose hair out of her face and followed him to her... brother…ugh.
x HNL x
The aforementioned brother was waiting not so patiently in the garden. He was still trying to figure out the whys and whats of his current situation, but was coming up with very little.
After arriving at the Manor, he was instantly greeted by Edmond. Once they had gone through the general pleasantries that were expected of purebloods, Edmond had Faery escort him to the garden. Edmond failed to mention the only things that Blaise did care about, so he was once again left pondering the unexpected invitation. The fact that he had already analyzed the spacing of the sentences in Edmond's letter did not go unnoticed by Blaise. However, he refused to admit he was acting like a girl as Malfoy had reminded him several times throughout the day.
At the sound of approaching footsteps, Blaise sat up and patted his hair down nervously.
Maybe he was acting like a girl.
With less hair patting than before, Blaise still watched the path coming from the house anxiously. Any sign of stress was gone from his face when his father was about twenty steps away from him. He was so focused on the calm faced man in front of him that he missed the girl following a step behind him.
This was probably for the best since it was evident already that Blaise had an issue with over analyzing.
He stood up as Edmond approached the table and inclined his head towards the other man.
"Father." Short, bordering on polite, yet with a distinct cool tone: Mother would be proud. Blaise thought wryly.
"Afternoon Blaise." Blaise concealed a frown at his tone. While he had seemed distant a mere five minutes and 46 seconds ago (Yes, he did count.), now he seemed warm and chipper. Chipper… what a strange word to describe his usually enigmatic father. Yet, he was still a mystery as always. "Please sit." Blaise did and tried to shrug off the feeling they were not alone.
"I meant you as well Hermione."
Apparently they were not alone.
Blaise looked past his father for the first time and saw the small… blonde? Since when was Granger blonde? And why was she glaring at Edmond like he had killed her cat?
Actually, the most pressing issue was her presence to begin with. There was no explanation that allowed for her to be here and judging by her expression she really did not want to be there at all.
Blaise watched as Hermione stiffly sat in the chair opposite him. Hermione watched the tea pot and appeared to be attempting to burst it into flame. His father sat down next to her and turned his head from one of his children to another. Edmond had somewhat of a sad smile on his face as he observed them, yet he began the soon to be awkward conversation quickly.
"Blaise, Hermione I believe you know each other."
"Unfortunately." Hermione muttered. Edmond pursed his lips and continued.
"I brought you here because of a conversation the three of us must have before your return to school. I am fully aware of the…tenuous relationship that exists between your two groups, but I ask that you attempt to push that aside whilst you are here. It is important that you have a somewhat good relationship before returning to Hogwarts as things will be harder than usual whether or not you decide to be friendly."
Hermione had stopped glaring and now looked at Edmond with resignation in her eyes. As much as she hated to admit it, eventually Blaise and herself would eventually need to come to a truce of sorts. Although, judging by their pasts, it would be awhile yet before they would have one.
"Blaise, I believe you are currently more in the dark about our current situation than Hermione and myself. This is hard to say, but it is for the best to tell you outright. You might be a bit shocked-"
Hermione snorted not too daintily and spoke with sarcastic curiosity.
"Why was I not given a disclaimer?" Edmond looked at her with a small smirk.
"Would one have really helped?"
"No, merely curious about your word choice."
Blaise watched this with a raised eyebrow. Apparently his father and Granger had a conversation prior to this one. Something about that fact gave Blaise a sense of unease. Later, he would think that he should have been warned by this, but at the time it seemed rather inconsequential.
"As I was saying," Edmond continued "You may be shocked and unconvinced, but trust that everything I am telling you is the truth." A brief sigh and… "Hermione is my daughter and your half sister."
Silence.
"Excuse me?" Blaise managed to get out although his stomach was twisting in an unpleasant manner that made him want to vomit. If it was true, then yet another person had lied to Blaise all his life; was there no one a Slytherin could trust?
"I am not lying Blaise and I regret not being able to tell both of you sooner, but I was not completely sure of this until recently."
Blaise slumped back into his chair forgetting all the manners that were carefully drilled into him and gaped at his father. Hermione was partially worried about his further reaction, but mostly amused as she had never seen Blaise act so freely. She had certainly never seen him act so bewildered.
"My sister." He mumbled "Is that even possible? Has she not been living with Muggles all this time? Did they know?"
He might try using inner dialogue sometime.
For his part Edmond did seem a bit amused, but was trying to keep a straight face for Blaise. Somehow, he doubted he would like to be laughed at.
"How? Just…how?" Blaise asked, no longer mumbling. Edmond appeared thoughtful for a moment before answering.
"Even I do not know all of the details at this point, but I know enough. With that said, merely answering "how" is rather difficult."
Blaise stared at Edmond blankly before speaking in a monotone.
"Try to."
"If I were to over simplify matters I could say that I was in a relationship with Hermione's biological mother, but something bad happened causing her to run away from me and have Hermione in secret. Her mother, Cassandra, made it nearly impossible to find Hermione so it was not until recently I had the good fortune of discovering her. That, in a nutshell, is the majority of what I now know and all that you can know at the time."
"What do you mean all I can know? Is that what you told her as well?" He jerked his thumb towards the "her" in question.
"I told Hermione what she needed to know and I have told you what you need to know, nothing else is important right now. I don't wish to discuss this any further Blaise." Edmond's tone was warning, but Blaise ignored it.
"Of course it is bloody important! Do you realize how much this changes things?! My sister is a fucking Gryffindor who my whole House so happens to hate! You act as if this doesn't complicate things." Blaise finished with quiet loathing lacing his voice.
"I never said it was not complicated," Edmond hissed "but you would do well to remember to whom you are speaking." He stood up and gave each of his children harsh gazes. "I realize that you both are in possession of old prejudice, but you must work past that. When you return to school, everyone will know of your relation. Many will be skeptical of the truth, and those who believe may not trust that either of you did not know about this until recently. It is up to you if you want to face this together, or be divided by hate and go it alone."
Hermione eyed Blaise warily as he opened his mouth to speak again. Fortunately, he used a calmer tone this time.
"Why will everyone know? Do we have to announce it to the world?"
"You both know who Rita Skeeter is, correct?" Hermione and Blaise nodded "I thought so. Now while she is no longer a feature writer for the Daily Prophet, her stories are possibly more vicious than ever before. No matter what, she will eventually discover that Hermione is my daughter. I would much rather have the story come out of my own volition with a trusted journalist than have her "break the news" and launch more speculation than necessary. Besides, a huge article is not needed. I think it would be best to give a statement shortly before your return to Hogwarts. I'd prefer if we all had privacy this summer."
"What makes you think she won't be able to eavesdrop like she always has and find out before your announcement?" Hermione asked skeptically. Blaise snorted at this and spoke to her a bit too condescendingly for her liking.
"Really Granger, do you not think there are protective spells on this Estate? They are mostly for privacy, but the spells could rival that of Hogwarts."
Hermione pursed her lips. "It was not that difficult for Skeeter to get onto Hogwarts grounds as I am sure you know Blaise." She said with a note of accusation in her voice. Although she was nearly certain Blaise had never directly given Skeeter information, he had stood by and allowed the rest of the Slytherins to spread the lies. "Do you have any spells against illegal Animagi?"
Blaise scowled, but Edmond only seemed interested.
"Am I to understand that Rita Skeeter is an Animagus?" Edmond's question was answered with a nod from Hermione. She appeared to be smug about the information.
"Interesting, but as the wards here are different from those of Hogwarts you don't need to worry about her unwelcome presence anytime soon."
Hermione sat back in her chair some, but was obviously not entirely pleased with the assurance.
"Are we going to tell anyone before then?" She asked.
"I have no one who cannot wait until the announcement, but I suppose you both want to tell someone. It would be in your best interest to cast a simple spell to prevent them from sharing the story with anyone else. Understand? Now, who do you think should know about this before the announcement?"
x HNL x
Draco dropped the book he was reading when the fireplace roared to life and out came Blaise Zabini. He looked quite flustered yet he somehow managed to collapse onto the seat opposite Draco.
"I have something important to tell you."
x HNL x
The Burrow was relatively quiet, well as quiet as it gets anyways, until an owl burst into the room where Ron and Harry where playing chess. It dropped the letter right on top of their game and then sat on the back of a chair waiting for their responding letter. Harry grabbed the letter and read it out loud.
Harry and Ron,
I need to talk with the two of you as soon as possible. Could you meet with me at the Muggle village near the Burrow? If the owl does not return to me I am going to assume you said yes. I will already be there once you read this.
Hope your holiday is going well,
Hermione
~TBC~
This time I am not going to offer my most sincere apologies as Edmond said, for the long wait since I'm sure most of you know I'm sorry anyways. If it helps this is the longest chapter I have written yet. I got a bit wordy with this one, but being wordy is fun. Since I was not here for the 1st, happy one month and a week into the new year! How many people told you that today? xxxxxxx