Chapter 12: Lady Prince Returns
Summer seems to go by so quickly when you are having fun. Hermione had spent most of her summer at the Burrow trying to create some distance between herself and Fred, although she didn't really seem to be succeeding. She was afraid of getting him involved in everything, afraid of losing him a second time; because this time it would surely break her if Fred died again. Nightmares almost every night, she'd wake up screaming, they had been getting worse and just like over the Christmas holidays Hermione often found herself downstairs, but this time Fred was nowhere to be seen. It seemed he wasn't as in tune with her this break as he had been over Christmas. Possibly because she had been doing everything in her power to make sure he didn't get a good read on her.
Most of the summer Hermione had spent in Ginny's room when everyone was awake, everyone assuming she was triple checking and rewriting her summer homework. Instead, she had been writing plans upon plans trying to figure out how she could save Cedric. It had taken her almost a month to figure out what she could do, and that Dumbledore's age line might not work on her because of her magical maturity.
All Witches and Wizards came into their magical maturity on their seventeenth birthday, it was that, not their physical age, that the age line looked for, or at least that's what Hermione figured, since Fred and George's aging potion failed. As far as she knew even if she was in a younger body Hermione's magic was still fully mature, so if all went as planned Dumbledore's age line shouldn't affect her. If it did, she would just ask Dobby for help, telling him the truth that it was to protect Harry Potter, and he would surely put her name in the goblet.
Of course, Hermione had already finished her summer homework, it had only taken her a few days, her memories of last time allowing her to write it quicker. Now she was just waiting for the boys to wake up because it was finally time for the Quidditch World Cup, unfortunately no matter how much she tried Hermione couldn't figure out a way for Hermione Granger to disappear at this time. A few days after the Cup was when she and Sirius had decided to go to the cave.
The cup had gone by quickly, basically the same, it had before in the beginning. Fred and George bet with Ludo Bagman, and Hermione pretended she didn't know what they were doing, which wasn't hard when Fred seemed to be trying his hardest not to look her in the eyes. Actually, Hermione was a little shocked that George was going through with it considering that he knew what was going to happen. Plus, he hadn't even tried talking to her about what they were going to do to save Cedric, it could be that George hadn't realized yet that they could save more people than his twin.
Harry, Ginny, and Ron had gone completely crazy over the match. Watching with bated breath and Hermione found herself bored once again. Although, she had kept an eye on Winky, knowing that Barty Crouch Jr, was beside her under an invisibility cloak. Hermione was just happy to know that the poor house elf was going to be free. She knew she could have stopped Barty Jr. from stealing Harry's wand, but she didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to herself, besides it was him casting the dark mark sign that signaled the Death Eaters and warned the Order that they were needed once again.
Truly the only difference was the fact that Bill and Charlie came with them this time, and the two seemed to be Quidditch fanatics just like their siblings. She just hoped they wouldn't end up getting in her way later when she tried to keep the damage and death to a minimum. The two of them would surely end up joining in with other light Witches and Wizards to try and stop the attack.
It was with boredom that Hermione watched as Viktor once again caught the snitch but lost the match. Looking at Viktor now it was hard for Hermione to even figure out why she had ever agreed to go to the Yule ball with him the first time around. He was hardly her type, and she hated Quidditch, so it wasn't like they had much in common, she just couldn't really remember why she had chosen to accept his offer of a date. This time around though she was just happy that there would be no reason for him to think she'd want to date him, although she would like it if they became friends again.
"Harry, I think I see someone I know from before my Hogwarts days, I'll join up with you guys again later." She wouldn't have told him the lie if it wasn't necessary. There was no way that she was going to be with them when the Death Eaters attacked. Hopefully by leading them to believe she had met a pre-Hogwarts friend they wouldn't link her to Lady Prince.
Harry barely even paid her any attention as Hermione left, she headed into the woods where no one would see her dropping her glamour. It wouldn't look good for her if Mia Prince wasn't seen before the Death Eaters attacked, so she would make it look like she had just been part of the crowd watching the game. She was certain that Arthur would wonder why she hadn't come to say hello, then again with how crowded it was, he might just think they hadn't run into one another.
A few hours later, when the screams started, Hermione was ready to fight, even if she froze for a moment before jumping into the fray. Seeing Death Eaters again in those familiar black robes and masks brought her back to the war. Reminded her of how much was at stake if she didn't allow certain events to happen, but that there were things she could do to protect as many people as possible from their fates.
Her wand felt like it was burning in her hand as Hermione sent hex after hex at the Death Eaters, careful of the muggles that were floating over their heads. She wasn't the only Wixen trying to fight the Death Eaters off, some fighting to protect their children. Hermione wished that she had finished her animagus training already, her form surely would have helped to rescue the muggles, but she could only go as far as to have one hand transformed. It was hard fighting while she had to block out the screams from all around her, at least by jumping in right away she had been able to save them from being put under the Crucitaus.
Conjuring an actual shield, Hermione was able to stop an incoming curse, but she felt like something was wrong. Through the entire battle not one unforgiveable had been cast, and it concerned her as to why the Death Eaters weren't trying to kill. The papers last time had reported ten civilian deaths, two Aurors, but no Death Eaters. Not that a lot of people knew, the deaths had been reported in a tiny column on the second last page, it had angered Hermione at the time that those who had died hadn't been acknowledged.
The battle was over almost as quickly as it had started, the Death Eaters fleeing once the Dark Mark appeared in the sky. Hermione panting for breath it had been way too long since she had to cast so many spells and move so quickly to avoid getting hit. Obviously, she had let her training go lax and would have to pick it up again or else next time she might not be so lucky.
Only seconds had passed after the Death Eaters had disappeared before Hermione realized that the muggles were falling from their spots in the sky, the Death Eaters spells no longer holding them upright. Fear powered her, she didn't even speak a word or coherently think of a spell before one left her wand, stopping their descent only a second before they would have hit the ground. No one else had noticed them falling too concerned with making sure that all the Death Eaters were gone, and they would have either died from the impact or been severely injured at least.
"Impressive wand work," a familiar voice from behind her made Hermione freeze slightly, but she ignored the feeling as she carefully maneuvered the muggles to ground, not wanting to accidentally injure them. She didn't move release them from her spell because she knew their memories would have to be wiped by the Ministry.
"Thank you, I couldn't let them fall now, could I?" Hermione replied, making it seem like her pause had been because she needed to make sure the muggles were safe. Not because she was trying to ignore someone who knew her as Hermione Granger before he had met her as Mia Prince.
He didn't come into her line of sight or say anything else as the two of them waited for the Ministry to relieve her of the care of the muggles. Her wand couldn't lift the immobilization spells on them because she knew they would try to run the second they were able to. Instead, Hermione just waited patiently and sighed with relief as a Ministry official finally took them from her. A couple of Aurors flanking the woman as they brought the muggles back to their home to wipe their memories and make them believe they hadn't left their beds.
"Bill," a frantic voice called, making the man behind her shift slightly. The voice, however, made Hermione freeze as she turned to see Arthur coming towards them with everyone else behind him. George's eyes were wide as he looked at her, although he tried his hardest to not give away that they had met before. His eyes told her that she would be getting a stern lecture later on, for not bringing backup with her.
"Dad, where's Hermione?" Bill asked, his eyes taking in the fact that she was the only one missing from their group.
"Hopefully safe with the friend she saw earlier, no one's seen her yet," Arthur replied worriedly, before his eyes went wide as he took in the witch standing behind his son. "Lady Prince, I didn't expect to see you here."
"I was helping fight those masked cowards, but originally came to watch the match," her voice was carefully charmed to make sure no one would even think to compare Mia Prince to Hermione Granger.
Bill turned to look at her in shock, Hermione figured that he knew she was Fred's betrothed. She wondered why Fred didn't seem as shocked by the identity of the witch beside his older brother, it was almost like he had already met her which was impossible. Instead, she gave them all a bright smile hoping that they wouldn't bring up the fact that she was Fred's betrothed and that she could get out of her without an invitation to the Burrow.
Luckily, she got her wish a moment later when a Ministry official approached to interview her about what she had seen. Arthur had looked like he wanted to stay, but his concern for his children won out and they went back to their tent, probably waiting for Hermione to show up. It only took her a couple of minutes to tell the official everything she knew, the official looked shocked when she had introduced herself and shown her Head of House ring as proof of her identity.
Once she was done speaking with the official Hermione Apparated to just behind the Weasley's tent, knowing she would beat them there since they would still be walking over. This way they wouldn't wonder why she had appeared only after they had seen Mia Prince, considering no one would think she could Apparat at her age. Her glamour being put back up just as the age potion wore off, making her the fourteen, almost fifteen, year old Hermione Granger once again.
When the Weasleys, plus Harry, saw her standing unharmed by their tent they pulled her into a group hug. Hermione felt guilty for having worried everyone, other than George obviously, but it had to be done. She was glad that with his curse breaker status, Bill was legally able to make them a portkey to take them to the Burrow immediately.
Unfortunately, she wasn't able to go to sleep right away because Ron and Harry decided to fill her in on everything she had missed when they were separated. Including the fact that they had run into a paler than usual looking Malfoy, who had looked like he wanted to throw up, and that he didn't act like the git they were used to. It made Hermione wonder if perhaps she would be able to save him from his own fate and punishment with Sirius being free, if Narcissa decided to leave Lucius she could appeal to Sirius as the Head of the House of Black to take her and Draco back into her maiden house. Maybe when Mia Prince met up with Sirius, she might mention that he should try to extend an olive branch to his estranged cousin.
The next morning Hermione wasn't even that shocked that she was in the papers, although she had wished that Mia Prince could have stayed secret a while longer. At least the article hadn't been written by Rita Skitter, and the article's writer didn't seem to know of her affiliation with the Weasleys just yet. Not because she didn't want Mia Prince affiliated with them, but rather because she was still enjoying the fact that no one would look at Fred wrong for spending so much time with a girl who they believed wasn't his betrothed. Considering no one had realized he was betrothed yet.
George hadn't been able to corner her yet, Molly having been suffocating all of her children with hugs since they had woken up. Arthur had let Molly sleep last night because he hadn't wanted to worry her, although that ended up with his hair being hexed off once she found out what had happened at the World Cup. No one had even bothered asking Hermione where she had been during the attack, having bought her story that she had gone to see a friend. They probably assumed that she had stayed with that friend until she was certain that it was safe to go back to the tent.
Fred hadn't left her side, except to use the bathroom, since he had woken up, even when his mother tried to suffocate him with hugs Fred seemed concerned after having been worried about her the previous night. During the brief moment he had left her side for the bathroom, Charlie had teasingly told her that it had taken both him and George to hold Fred back the night before. Fred having wanted to go and search for her he had only ended up staying with everyone else after seeing how terrified Ginny had been. No one even mentioned to her that they had run into Fred's betrothed the night before, almost like they were trying to hide it from her. Hermione sort of felt betrayed by everyone other than George, even though she knew she was the one betraying them and she had no right. Still it hurt that they were purposely keeping it from her Hermione wondered if they had realized she was in love with Fred.
Hopefully Fred wouldn't have this clingy attitude in a few days when she had to leave because she really didn't want to lie to them. She was only planning to tell them that she had some errands to run, and not even bother explaining it in detail because she didn't want to lie. However, if Fred was still being clingy, she would have to figure out some way to lie about the errand she had to run, to make it so that no one would want to go with her. Why did everything have to be so complicated?
Sorry I took so long to update this rewrite. Well going over this chapter, I realized that I still made a lot of mistakes, I still probably missed a few, so I will work on rewriting the next chapters, but I will also try to make time to edite chapters 1 to 11.