Author's Note;
Once more I would really like to thank all of you who have read my past two chapters and reviewed accordingly. You have no idea how much moral support you lot gave me! During a particularly boring lesson in school today I went through the previous two chapters with a fine-toothed comb (I think so anyway) and edited some details such as the part about lunch with Severus around. I felt that my previous description was far too platonic should I aim for this to be a romantic and fairly hot –wink- SSHG so changes had to be made.
For questions as to whether I would be including Hermione being tortured in the Manor during the war and if she should be plagued by it; I am honestly not so sure if I should include it here. I did mention that The Other Pureblood would be non-DH compliant so I really do not know if it would be wise to add in a flashback or two about the torture? What do you think? Leave a review/comment with your thoughts please!
Disclaimer; I do not, in any way, intend to steal the limelight and ideas from JKR. Just borrowing her characters for a whirl and returning them without a hair out of place. I promise!
Hermione was awoken a few hours later by a pair of huge black orbs staring down at her fetal position. "Miss Hermione m'am, are you ok? Master Draco is asking Mimsy if Miss Hermione would like breakfast?" Eyes still clouded with sleep, she struggled to push herself up and only with the help of the tiny house elf did she manage to maintain her sleeping position. Lesson #1; do not sleep on the floor no matter how beautifully carpeted or tired one happens to be.
"Breakfast, what breakfast?" she asked between yawns.
"The meal that we is eating when the sun comes up Miss!" Mimsy squeaked.
With a start, Hermione bounded off the floor and out of the closet, eyes staring at the scene outside the window. The sun was up and shining; she had only been asleep for an hour or –yawn- two. Right? She got her answer when Draco knocked and poked his head from the side of the door, eyeing her mane of hair, which, frankly, looked as if Crookshanks, her old cat, had been sleeping in it.
"Good Morning Sis. Shouldn't you be showered and dressed by now? Your meeting is in less then an hour and Severus is already in the living room waiting for you."
Hermione yelped and pushed Draco out to the hallway, running into the bathroom and shouting at a startled Mimsy along the way to pick out one of her mother's robes. Her hair may be less frizzy now but boy did the curls love to get tangled up. She struggled for a good 20 minutes under the jet of hot water, tugging at her hair and attempting to untangle it.
Finally deemed sufficiently clean, she stepped out of the shower, cast a drying and warming spell over herself and pulled on the dress and matching robe that Mimsy had picked out, rifling her hair as she rushed towards the West Wing. Severus and Lucius were in the midst of a very heated discussion on the legal uses of Veritaserum when Hermione marched in, flushed from the early morning exercise. In response, Severus drifted off mid-sentence, staring at her with his jaw hanging open. Lucius, who had his back to the doorway, twisted round to see what had caused this interruption and broke out into a grin when he looked at his daughter. She squirmed under the scrutiny of the two wizards and gazed down at her robes, as astonished as they were that it was a dark shade of emerald and the inner dress consisted of a body-hugging bodice, which clung to every delicious curve that she possessed. Severus was positively drooling and Draco wolf-whistled playfully from the doorway.
Hermione grumbled something under her breath about that elf has no sense of ugh and turned to head back to her room for a change of attire. But as she passed the arched doorway a hand grabbed her wrist, sending slight electric jolts through her, stunning her to a stop. Those smooth long fingers wrapped around her wrist, tender even after long years of cutting various ingredients for potions, now tugged her back into the room slowly. "Hermione, we haven't got time for you to change!" he said in a low voice that perhaps, in her own mind, was just a tad hoarse and sultry, her knees weakening, causing her to stumble backwards to his chest.
Lucius cleared his throat from his vantage viewing point at the sofa, trying to hide the grin that was forming on his lips. "Should you two not head for The Burrow now?" Hermione immediately pushed off Severus' lean chest and straightened her robes, cheeks ablaze, as she avoided her father and brothers gaze. "Yes Lucius," Severus grunted. "We will see you back here for dinner, then?"
He nodded and Severus cupped Hermione's elbow, apparating them both to the fields of The Burrow.
The Burrow was all cramped up with the majority of the members already present, each holding their own private conversations and each trying to hear and be heard above the din. There was laughter, both outraged and amused and the atmosphere was carefree, easy. But when Severus walked in with an aristocratic brunette on his arm, the atmosphere immediately tensed and the crowed shushed, at least 20 pairs of eyes trained on the couple. The tension was so thick one could most likely cut it with a butter knife.
Arthur Weasley finally managed to clear things up, pushing through the crowd till he stood in front of the couple that had caused the mood to change so abruptly. "Ah, Severus, who might this young lady be?" Hermione's eyes widened at this amazed that with a slight change of skin tone, hair do and the colour of her eyes, she was unrecognizable. She stepped away from Severus and smiled. "Good afternoon Mr Weasley. I've missed you." With that, she reached forward and gave him a warm hug. Everybody started whispering, wondering who this strange girl was and why was she so undeniably familiar? Molly Weasley, outraged that her husband was in the arms of this strange woman pushed forward and pulled them both apart. "Now who do you think you are?" she hissed, teeth clenched and cheeks ablaze with rage.
Smoothing down her robes, Hermione took a deep breath and said "Don't you recognize me, Mrs Weasley?" Molly sniffed, scrutinizing every inch of her and grimacing at the robes that were so blatantly Slytherin. "Just another Slytherin slut then, the likes of which I would not want to be associated with." A gasp echoed through the crowded kitchen and with an angry, almost guttural growl, Severus had pulled out his wand and trained it on Mrs Weasley. "What did you just call her?"
Harry and Ron chose that moment to walk in the front door, right into the scene where Ron's mother was furiously struggling against Bill's strong arms and a girl dressed in emerald was holding back Snape with a thunderous expression. "Oi! Snape! Get away from my mother!" Ron yelled, pulling out his own wand.
"Alright, that is ENOUGH!" Kingsley boomed. "Snape, take your companion and sit down. Molly, you come with me."
The Weasleys and Harry congregated around Mrs Weasley, occasionally. Shooting the couple, who had retreated to an overstuffed couch, the evil eye. Frankly, Severus just felt like hexing the lot of them and taking Hermione back to the Manor. She had barely had the change to explain herself and here she was, being called a slut for wearing the family's colour. Well Slytherin's colour but seeing as the majority of the Malfoys were Slytherins at one point or another, they had simple adopted it as their own.
Hermione leaned closer to Severus, brushing some dirt of his sleeve as she whispered, "Thank you for standing up for me back there, I appreciate it." Severus managed to crack a grin and mutter "If I didn't, your father would have more then my balls floating around in my own cauldron, fully put." Hermione began giggling but her laugh backed up in his throat the moment she saw the Weasleys stand as one and move towards them. Fear gripped at Hermione and she considered the possibility of just apparating back to the Manor. But Severus' hand snaked down to her back, his thumb stroking gently as though sensing her fear.
"So who are you then?" Mrs Weasley demanded the moment she got within a metre of them.
"Hermione. Hermione Granger. Well, Malfoy now."
The room fell silent once more as everyone tried to gauge if this girl was joking or not because she looked nothing like Hermione Granger! Harry and Ron exchanged bewildered looks and pulled out their wands, squinting at her. "Prove it." Harry whispered menacingly.
Hermione took a deep breath, looked at them straight in the eyes and began. "In the first year, there was a troll in the school grounds and would it not be for the both of you I'd be dead now. Ron, you stuck your want up its nose and I levitated his club and knocked it out. In Second Year, we made polyjuice potion and I was turned into a cat/human hybrid, obviously a mistake, instead of the Parkinson girl. In Third Year, we saved the lives of both Buckbeak and Sirius…." She blabbered on, recounting memories, not realizing that everyone was just simply staring at her open mouth and that the two boys had dropped their wants. ".. Before the war we camped ou-ooooof!" her analogue was cut short by the tight embrace of the two boys. Mrs Weasley looked as if she was about the throw up. Did she just call that sweet girl a slut? How could she? But what of her robes? Her eyes!
Ron managed to sate his mother's curiousity when he asked her "So what's with the pale skin, blue eyes and Slytherin robes? Playing dress up, are we?" Harry gave Ron a resounding slap upside the head and have Hermione an apologetic look. She just smiled then muttered "Immamalfoy
Ron raised an eyebrow. "What was that 'Mione?"
"I'm a Malfoy you annoying sod!"
With a look that expressed their shock, Hermione launched into an explanation, starting off with how Lucius saved her in the Forbidden Forest during the war, to the visit to Jane and Albert's house.
By the time she was done, Mrs Weasley had assumed the smug look of superiority and Ron looked shell-shocked. "You. And Draco. Half-siblings." Harry muttered. Hermione nodded uncomfortably.
Harry moved towards her, as if he wanted to say something but run cut his route short when he screamed "So you're no different from Malfoy then. All pureblood nonsense, death eaters and the likes of it."
"Ron!" Hermione cried, outraged. Severus had drawn out his wand once more, on his feet, ready to spring.
"Hah!" Ron snorted. "You've even got this traitor here to serve at your feet."
"You don't understand Ron! Let me explain!" Hermione begged, tears streaming down her cheeks now.
"There is no explaining to do." With that, he stormed into the Kitchen.
"So I was right, wasn't I? I should have known something was wrong with you when you dumped my Ronnie. Which girl in the right mind wouldn't want my Ronnie? (Ginny snorted) I was right, you're just another little slut." Mrs Weasley spat out, following Ron into the kitchen, the other Weasleys trailing behind. Harry made to stay so that he could hear his best friend out but he was unceremoniously dragged away by both Ron and Ginny. All he could do was cast her a helpless look.
Remus Lupin, who had been quietly observing the exchange, stood up. "You had better take her away, Severus. This was inevitable. The fact that she would find out about her roots and return to it would drive the Weasleys positively crazy. But Mrs Weasley's reaction and her words were unnecessary." Hermione nodded numbly at Lupin's direction, still staring at the Kitchen's doorway with glazed eyes. A sudden suffocating sensation of being squeezed into a tight tube overcame her and two seconds later, her view changed to that of her bedroom with Severus' fingers wrapped tightly around her wrist.
Hermione's inside was jumbled; her heart, emotions and memories thrown into a cocktail shaker and vigorously tossed about, served in a tall glass of anguish and pain with a topping of tears. Tears, cascading down her cheeks as she slumped against a warm body, sobs that she held down now racking through her body as she grieved for her best friends betrayal. She sank down onto the floor, lying in a very unglamorous heap, staining the floor beneath her with a flood of tears.
A gently hand moved her into a warm lap, gentle fingers stroking her hair and a low, silky voice whispered soothing things into her ear. He was bent so low cradling her, his breath tickling her ear. "Hush Hermione…" he murmured into her ear. "Forget those dunderheads who thinks that a change of features and last name would change who you are deep down." He placed a finger on her chest and whispered. "You're still the insufferable know-it-all that I know."
Hermione snorted and pushed herself up, still on his lap. She dried her tears and smiling slightly, she snuggled against his chest, tilting her head up to examining his features; his dark hypnotic eyes, like a vacuum, pulling her deep. His smooth skin, so unexpectedly smooth beneath her fingers and his lips, a little thing but still sensuous. And it was these lips that were just inches from her own, the distance diminishing by the seco-
"My, am I disturbing something?" The bedroom door swung open, revealing Draco with a huge smirk on his face. Severus cleared his throat and hurried to stand up, sliding Hermione off his lap.
"Draco." He nodded towards his Godson.
"Father was wondering where the pair of you were. He's looking for you Sev'."
Severus nodded stiffly, pushing past Draco and leaving Hermione on the floor.
"Do I even want to know?" Draco questioned, raising an inquisitive eyebrow at his sister and eyeing her flustered state. Hermione looked up and stared at him with her puffy and bloodshot eyes. Shocked, he joined her on the floor, throwing one arm around her shoulders and squeezing tightly. "I know the Weasleys could have been unreasonable but Potter? Pfft." Hermione just shrugged and leaned her head on his shoulder.
The remained in that position for what seemed like hours, Hermione staring off in the distance and Dracon stroking her hair gently, as if frozen into place until Draco pushed her off and jumped to his feet. Hermione look at him inquisitively. "Come on, up! We're going to Diagon Alley."
"B-but –"
"No buts." Draco grabbed her hands and dragged her up, apparating them both to the steps of Madam Malkins.
Three minutes later, there she was, standing on a small raised platform with Madam Malkins instructing a roll of black silks to drape her this way and that around her. If Madam Malkin was surprised when Draco and Hermione walked in hand in hand, she chose not to show it. But she did stick a random pin into Hermione's calf when Draco mentioned her debutante as the long lost Malfoy. Hermione had positively spluttered at the idea but soon warmed up to it after a few Butterbeers over at the Leaky Cauldron. She's a Malfoy now and after the Weasleys reaction, she was determined to be as Malfoy as it gets and extravagance and grandeur runs in her veins, no?