Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/6539461. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage Category: F/M Fandom: Harry_Potter_-_J._K._Rowling Character: Harry_Potter, Tom_Riddle, Severus_Snape, Draco_Malfoy, Albus_Dumbledore, Other_Character_Tags_to_Be_Added Additional Tags: Other_Additional_Tags_to_Be_Added, Evil_Dumbledore, Manipulative Dumbledore, Swearing, Tom_Riddle_is_Harrys_father, Alternate_Universe_- Canon_Divergence, Female_Harry_Potter, Dark_Harry, Ron_Weasley_Bashing, Child_Abuse, Gender_Issues, Identity_Issues, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Self-Harm Stats: Published: 2016-04-14 Updated: 2016-08-07 Chapters: 14/? Words: 39055 ****** Sins of a Father, Tales of a Child ****** by Fenrix_Shadowbane Summary Albus Dumbledore had Set a trap for Lord Voldemort when he switched Mirabelle Riddle and Harry Potter at birth. He feared her, feared what she may become, and as such resolved to use her to destroy her father forever. Notes a word of warning off the top- this whole story as i have been writing it has seemed to come out darker, and darker as i have continued to write it. ***** Setting the stage. ***** ~October 31st, 1981~   Albus Dumbledore was not having a very good day, he was extremely distressed and pissed off today, all his plans seemed to fall apart, he spent a long time getting this plan together in order to destroy Tom Riddle, and his bastard Lord Voldemort name. It was pure chance he came across the information that Tom Riddles wife, he couldent remember her first or last name.. the Purebloods tended to inbreed so much did it matter? he could point to any one of the 'sacred twenty eight' or other idiot pure blood's, and likely the bitch was related somewhere. She was pregnant, and so  were the potters, with luck. there children were born on the same day, sadly Harry Potter came into the world stillborn. He regetted spiking  lilys tea like that, but he needed a newborn babies body- it was a price they had to pay to be free of that evil bastard and his cursed bloodline. So after disabling the distraught parents and the crying Godfather, Sirus Black, he took the body of the boy with him as he came to where Voldemort was Hiding his wife and there child, she begged for Mirabelle's life, and that was when he slaughtered everyone there but the child. Then he got to work, it was easier to change the boy to look like the girl, then the other way around- cause he needed to keep the little bitch alive till his trap was ready to be sprung, where his alternations to him were gonna get largely covered up. It had taken hours, and his Spell work with her- now him, with the glamours and charms woven into the evil child's very being, to alter the child's very essence so completely to match that of Lily and James Potter, he was so confident that even if muggles did one of there DNA test's right then, it would come back positive that the girl- would be believed to be there son. He left the stillborn in the home, which he burned to the ground to hide his passage, you think the idiot would think to use a fidelius charm or something- but he guessed he assumed no one knew about the kid- or the wife. But i guess cause he kept them so private, and so out of the way-, where as all that magic might draw someones attention, where as hiding in plain sight it seemed to be what he was going for. He returned to the Potters home and charmed there memory's as well as Mr blacks memory's to remember, that he never was there, and they had a healthy baby boy, and that it seemed like time escaped them, because Lily's labor lasted so long. Then he had that drunk Sybill Trelawney seem to recite that damn prophecy he charmed into her, while he knew that Idiot Snape was listening, Hoping beyond hope that the fool would tell his master. With luck he would pick the other half-blood as enemy's and not the Longbottom's, if he did.. well he would just manipulate the bitch anyways, another prophecy perhaps, he had thought at the time. Albus did get lucky however, it circulated very easily that  Riddle was Targeting the potters, all he was supposed to do was wait and let that traitor Pettigrew oust there hiding spot, it became even better for him when they thought Lupin was the turn coat, and made it appear to everyone that Sirus black was the secret keeper, quietly handing there death warrants to peter when they made him the secret keeper. And even better he got Snape under his thumb in exchange for protecting the potters, even though the reality was he only really cared about was lily, well he would be useful for now- could always get rid of the death eater scum himself later if he needed too. But then, something went wrong, Riddle was missing, and 'Harry Potter' survived, and was the only one to survive, the bitch was still around, and sadly there was Way to much interest in the child right now to put it in a burlap sack with a rock and toss it off a bridge somewhere into a river, and there was still the fact the charm he Wove into her could still be useful, that tom may come back to kill her, and end himself and his cursed bloodline once and for all. And now he was heading to Lily's Sisters home, he had Hagrid  pick up the child, maybe he would sit on her, it really bothered him he was letting that cursed and evil blood live.  Professor Mcgonagall came out of her animagus form to tell him how wonderful those muggles, the Dursley's were, how they were sure to treat 'Harry' so well. Guess that would make Mcgonagall easier to convince that leaving the child here away from the wizarding world was a good idea. Also seemed Petunia had grown up since her younger years and may be nice to the little abomination. Not if he had anything to say about it, he had charmed the letter he was leaving them to explain what happened and why he needed to make them feel the express need to Beat, starve and generally mistreat the little shit. He watched them coo, and look so lovingly at the Child left on there doorstep, he so wanted to scream at them it was pure evil, like its father and to kill it now. but with luck- the treatment at the hands of the Dursleys would make befriending and twisting her- yes gotta remember its a him, to do what I want when 'he' gets to Hogwarts- or maybe he would get really lucky and she would be a squib, but no. that would mean the charm would never be activated if Voldemort returned. Least he would be rid of it for a number of years.         ***** Time passes by. ***** July 24th,1991 Albus Dumbledore was a bit disappointed that the name Harry Potter had been on the scroll indicating who needed acceptance letters, Rumors her father was still hanging around, or his followers were still around. 'Suppose the little bastard could still be of use' he thought as he sent out that entry.   July 31st, 1991  Dumbledore was a bit pissed off he had to dispatch Hagrid to pick up the little shit, but he needed to be able to keep an eye on 'him'.   September 1st, 1991 'Harry' had been sorted into Gryffindor, Albus supposed it could help isolate 'him' later if he needed to by isolated.   October 3st, 1991 He and one of the Weasley's children fought a troll on behalf of another student, Dumbledore figured rather quickly that they were going to be friend, but if he needed to break up there friendship later, just making the 'boy' a Slytherin might work, or he could disarm the glamours... that might fuck 'him' up badly..   June 4th, 1992 Dumbledore At last figured out why that curse rebound back on Tom the way it had, Lily had believed 'Harry' was her son so badly, that she managed to cast a powerful blood ward on the child.. 'Need to be careful not to touch him' he thought, in case it burned him like it did Quirrel     September 1st, 1992 'Harry' and Ron stole a flying car, were seen by muggles, and hit a endangered tree.. Albus Dumbledore So wished he could expel them, but he needed to keep an eye on 'him', so detentions it was   May 29th, 1993 The Chamber of Secrets was found, the Basilisk inside was dead- somehow Tom had used his diary to put part of himself in there, and possess the body of the youngest weasley child, he now had another Job of figuring that out, both Miss Weasley and  'Mr potter' survived, he wondered why his Phoenix would bring the sorting hat to that monster, or why the sword of Gryffindor came to 'him' either, it made little sense, it was a fluke- just like 'him' killing the basilisk, or surviving the bite thanks to his big dumb bird, it should be able to tell 'he' was evil!.   July 30th, 1993 Sirus Black had escaped prison, this could ruin alot of things for Albus Dumbledore if it became widely known that he was Innocent, but luckly- everyone's been assuming he meant to kill harry, it was easy to convince the minster to Deploy dementors on those grounds, that he was gonna kill there hero, then Lethal force was needed, as it turned out he had needed to get another defense professor, and he chose Lupin, mostly to help him kill black- not that he would know it.   November 6th, 1993 In some ways Albus wanted to let the little bitch die this time, either from the dementors kissing 'him' while on that broom of 'his', or the large drop towards the ground, but everyone expected him to save 'harry', so he did.. hair seemed a bit longer when he saw 'him' in the infirmary.   June 6th, 1994   Harry slowly begin to stir, the very first thing he felt- was a deep ache all over his body, when his eyes opened the first thing he saw, with the blurred vision that indicated he was without his glasses, was the familiar ceiling of the infirmary in the hospital wing. he wasent sure what about reaching for his glasses felt weird, just that it did- as well as why his hair was long enough to cover his face some. once he pushed the hair aside and his glasses were on that's when he noticed the stares- Ron from the bed beside him, Hermione on a chair between them, Madam Pomfrey and Professor Mcgonagall and of course Dumbledore. "Hello" he weakly said, but it did not sound like himself, why did he sound like this? "Do you remember anything to what happened to you dear?" Madam Pomfrey said as she moved to the bedside and began weaving dignostic spells "No.. maybe... Lupin... transformed, and Sirus.. tried to save us.. and peter Petigrew escaped.. and, Dementors.. wheres Sirus?" he was still getting used to the current sound of his voice as he ground out a reply. Dumbledore stood forwards "I'm.. afraid the dementors... have given him the kiss, as they would have done to you.. if it had not been for... certain spells wound into your being by your parents" he nodded to Hermione who handed him a hand mirror, that was when he noticed his fingers.. and arm, they looked longer, but also smaller.. he had a bad feeling about this. It took a second of looking at the mirror to register that he was looking at himself, because 'he' was in fact her- features softened some, the most Impact heavy change- was his mothers eyes were gone, replaced with just as striking but blue eyes- her hair was about shoulder length now.. and looked as unruly as it ever had, glancing past the mirror down her chest she noticed the tell tale lumps of breasts. he glanced between each person- and each looked surprised, all except Dumbledore. Her eyes watered a bit and she felt her stomach churn in on itself as her mind registered something, he had said Dementors  had got Sirus.            ***** Eyes opened, reality's shattered ***** The mirror Harry was holding shook a bit in her hand before she tried to sink into bed and disappear, Mcgonagall murmured in Pomfreys ear before declaring she would return shortly, Pomfrey returned to her office. That left Harry, Hermione, and Ron alone with Dumbledore who stood at the foot of the hospital bed "I must say, i am surprised they actually dident tell me.. about this... safeguard..." he said as his eyes looked up and down her form "One of the last things I had your parents working on before they went into hiding.. was a rumor that Voldemort planned to steal the female children from powerful Family's that opposed him, in order to continue the bloodline.. and get himself the strongest possible mate, one he could mold into whatever he wished" He let the words linger in the air a moment, before harry turned to the side and threw up in one of the bins left by the bed for just such a thing. after a few minutes she stopped and slipped back to the bed took a breath, her body Ached not to move but she struggled againsted the pull of sleep "Sirus... was Innocent... it was Peter Petigrew... he was posing as a rat- he was a animagus and was hiding with the Weasleys all this time.." "I'm quite afraid however, that the kiss was administered to him, if Professor Snape had not arrived when he did, I am quite certain you would have been.. dealt with in the same way" Dumbledore said with a nod. "At any rate... I do believe visiting hours are nearly over, and I think you need some rest, I do also believe the... change would have taken alot out of you, and I expect you to be here till the end of the year, goodnight" he gave one of his faint smiles and left the infirmary ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- He was rather happy that shortly after that hippogriff was killed, and it was found Sirus black was, for all intents and purposes dead- Fudge left in a hurry to go try and get the story in the hands of the Prophet as soon as he could, saying that they would apprehend the rogue werewolf in the morning. Dumbledore drew his wand from his robes and slipped out of the castle into the forbidden forest, he had a werewolf who could contradict his statements to the little evil cunt to kill and frame it as a accident before anyone could question him. What he did to Destroy that evil man and his bloodline. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- She felt a hand reach out and clasp her own, eyes opening up to look at Hermione, the girl smiled at her and squeezed a bit harder "I was so worried about you.. you were nearly dead when they brought you in.. and.. oh harry" she shifted and let go of her hand to give her a full on hug, Ron however Stayed quiet as he watched them carefully. Pomfrey returned and shooed Hermione from the wing for the night, who promised to visit later, just as Mcgonagall returned and moved to Harry's side "I have arranged for your belongings to be brought down to one of the Private Hospital suites, you will be remaining there till the End of term.. ive just seen Miss granger, and told her to keep... quiet about Miss Potters.. condition, and I expect the same from you Mr Weasley, i expect you will be moved there tomorrow morning, after Mr Weasley is discharged" "my... clothes likely wont fit well.. if at all" Harry muttered a bit shyly, causing Mcgonagall to nod "I'l see about transfiguring you some from tonight that you can use, at least until can go and purchase your own." She nodded and thanked Professor Mcgonagall left, and the embrace of sleep took over again, despite the heavy ache of her new body, when she woke in the morning Ron was gone, her body still felt extra sore to even lift her arms, Madam Pomfrey was forced to Levitate her to the private suite. She was keeping her meals down at least, it was lunchtime when Hermione came to visit, sitting on the edge of her bed and taking harry's hand. "Rons... i asked him to come visit... and... i dont think hes taking this.. change... well" she squeezed softly, and harry let out a bit of a whimper "How exactly does he think i feel...and.. how do you feel about it" she asked suddenly worried. "i think.. ive always wanted a sister" she said with a smile that swept up across her face "I will be there for you... when.. when the other students find out, I suspect that.. some wont take it well either." Harry let out a bit of a breath and sunk into her bed "I.. wonder.. what girl name... my parents picked out for me" "it... sounded to me.. like the.. magic to do that, was.. so woven into you, that you might never.. have found out if.. you dident get so close to dying.." Hermione squeezed her hand again. "how.. are you feeling anyways?" "very sore... stilll.. tired" harry said with a bit of a sad smile "Alot of.. your Biology... suddenly changed... i we... haven't really gotten a good... look at you... you may be.. taller.. shorter, i.. honestly couldn't tell you how these... changes will effect you long term.. or.. effected how you were growing already.." Hermione took a breath, as Harry took the information in, eyes drooping a bit. "I will be back later, let you get more rest." and with that, Hermione was on her feet and out the door, and the darkness took over again. ***** Welcome to the Manor ***** Chapter Notes I suppose i should put in a bit of a warning that this chapter may be a bit, upsetting to some. As i have continued to refine it, i've found its just gotten darker and darker. See the end of the chapter for more notes As the week wore on towards the end of term, Hermione kept coming to visit, Ron however did not. It was a question he wondered, did he feel now hermione was gonna be her 'best friend' now, and.. leave him.. well, sadly the way hermione may have felt, the third wheel. The other Gryffindors seemed to all accept Professor Mcgonagalls explanation that harry needed rest, because the experience very nearly killed 'him'. She still wondered who was gonna turn there backs on her when they found out, presumably next year, maybe she should ask to be allowed to pretend to be someone else completely?, but no... that would be far to hard with that big dumb scar across her forehead, the damn thing remained- despite all the changes. It was three days before she could even properly stand in front of a mirror. She seemed about the same height as before, her hair, when combed out actually stayed very straight, it had the effect of making her wonder why her hair always seemed unruly before, was her hair just more like her mothers now in straightness, or was that all charms. Hermione had estimated she was already well into a A cup for bras- even showed her how to put one on, she dident quite like the feel of it, but then again it was her first experience with them. She was also told where and given a few things from cabinet she never noticed before, where female students got there womanly supply's- pads, tampons and pain potions, Hermione insisted she take some to put in her bag now because as she put it "Your lucks rotten enough sometimes, that you will get it sooner rather then then later." She also had her practice a sticking charm for the pad. She also found out that there were charms that were used to straighten hair, clean makeup, preserve it, dry hair.. she had felt a bit overwhelmed but it was the fact she was learning several things she had learned over the years of her life, all at once- mostly because hermione dident trust the girls aunt to bother to teach her, and she quite agreed with her. That was when she first thought about the Dursley's and how they were gonna treat her now, it had caused a mild panic attack, Hermione had told her she was there to talk when she wanted to reveal all they did to her, because all she had to go on right now was what she observed, or heard about- like the bars on the window, or some of the bruises just after term started she saw. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ Rather then let her on the train, Dumbledore apparated them directly to privet drive the day before the train was set to leave. His explanation to explain her... transformation was rather brief. Vernon was reading a news paper with Petunia while they were sat at the table and Dudley had sat down after he let them inside "As it turns out, Jame's and lily had a daughter.. who they enchanted.. to be a son for her protection... until a bit of a slight accident this year dispelled the magic, which i'm confident was supposed to be permanent." Dudley looked confused, Petunia looked disgusted, however it was Vernon who alarmed Harry the most, and his lack of reaction, he just looked at the old man, then his niece, and then back, while Harry tried to hide behind Dumbledore who ushered her out carefully to stand in front of them. And then he was down the hall and gone, Vernon looked her over a moment "get anything non-magical out of your trunk, put that in your room, put the trunk under the stairs and cook our supper tonight." As she was leaving she heard petunia light into him "how can you be ok with that thing walking around our house?!" she spat out "Now dear, fact its a transvestite is actually the least weird or freaky thing about it, not like we have much choice with allowing it about" he grumbled some. As it turned out, dinner that night was steak, mashed potatoes and green beans- she waited on them like a server would at a restaurant, cleaned the dishes and the table- and that's when he announced it "well, time to punish you for overcooking my steak" he said as he loomed over harry, her body shuddered some "But.. you always take your.. steak medium-rare" she said somewhat quietly as she watched Vernon turn on the stoves burner "I like my steak rare" he corrected "now give me your hand" "please dont..I'm sorry I-" He cut her off sharply "lashes with my belt too, now give me your hand" it was shaking a bit when she raised one up and he roughly seized her wrist and pressed the palm of her hand, her other hand was over her mouth trying not to scream out in pain before he turned the burner off and dragged her up by her wrist into her room. Harry was tossed againsted the desk with a whimper. "Out of your clothes, they wont protect you from me"he ordered "but im a girl now.. i.." he cut her off again with a backhand across the face "Was just going to do 20 lashes before, now its 40, Out of the clothes- now" he growled a bit, freeing the belt from his waist as he glared at her.  She dident remove the cotton undershirt or her knickers Her bottom and back were bloody when he was done, the fabric of the undershirt and the panties was torn, ripped and soaking in her blood as she lay half way on the desk sobbing softly, every sob of pain causing her to wince. He had never been that rough with her before and gripped her hair and  tugged her head back so she had to look at him "When we do this tomorrow, you will remove your clothes- all of them, or il be just as hard on you, because you are gonna start showing me your gratitude for us keeping you around, clothing you- feeding you, with use of your body- like the little whore you are now" he growled again and left, the sounds of each lock shutting her in after he left the only thing she could hear between her crying. She managed to pull out an old towel she had around when some of the other.. lashing sessions broke a bit of skin, she sleept without sheets for a month for bleeding on them a little last time, and so, she curled up on the floor on the towel that night.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- Severus Snape apparated home the First chance he got, he had to be careful... what he had seen at the school with potter, had alarmed him some, he went through all his old documents from years passed until he had found it, his mouth opened in shock, horror and rage before he used the floo network to reach Malfoy Manor. He walked the halls with purpose, normally he would have been- more civil in the matter, but this was Urgent, Narcissa Malfoy had met him half way between the entry hall where they kept there floo connected fireplace, and Lucius Study, when she tried to stop him to figure out why he was there, and what that one piece of parchment he was holding was, he motioned her along, but said nothing. Lucius was going over some ministry work in his study when the door flung open, a slightly soot sodden Severus Snape moved into his study, trailed by Narcissa, and that's when he put the document down over his work, he remembered it well, it was a old pureblood godparent contract. The very one Tom Riddle had them draw up so many years ago.   Parents of child: Tom Marvolo Riddle- December 31st, 1926- Charlene Riddle (née Snape)-  June 4th, 1961-July 31st, 1980   Child's  Name: Mirabelle Eileen Riddle- July 31st, 1980-    Godfather: Lucius Malfoy- April 3rd,1954-   Godmother: Narcissa Malfoy (née Black)- May 24th, 1955-   Witness: Severus Snape- January 9th, 1960-     He dident pick up on it right away on why Severus was throwing this old thing in his face, looking grave about it all before at last, Severus said it "Shes alive.."   His eyes went to the paper, and that's when he caught it, just as Narcissa rounded the desk to look at it as well- Mirabella's date of death was gone. Both looked up at him expectantly- and that's when he recounted the tale, of the shack, and Black and Lupin- then potter knocking him out and when he came too, coming out to find lupin had turned into his 'wolf' and leading Granger and Weasley a bit towards the castle before returning to look for Potter, and on him coming to them near the pond, the swarm of what looked like all the Dementers from Askaban that had been sent  to guard the school, they kissed Black as he was casting his patronus- and would have gotten Potter as well, if the glamours around Her as it turns out, dident shatter and drive it back with a brief flash of light. just long enough for his patronus to emerge and drive them away.  She dident remember looking up at him, but the eyes reminded him of his dear sister, and the hair, but he kept that part to himself, but explained he kept himself apart of her, and checked up on a few things "According to the School register.. Harry Potter died July 31st, 1980, and one Mirabella Eileen Riddle, appeared on the register... im not sure Albus knows i made a duplicate of that.. to double check things are in order for.. coming Slytherin, but i am rather... thankful... that it just lists the childs name.. and there births or deaths, graduating year- I stayed away from her, as much as I wanted to jump in..." he trailed off and paced the room a bit, Narcissa moving and placing a hand on his arm in a bit of support. Lucius thought about it a moment "Someone seems to have gone to quite a bit of trouble to hide the dark lords child, and the fact the boy the dark lord marked as his equal- was dead" Lucious paused in thought. Severus nodded and took a breath "The prophecy called.. for a boy to be marked his equal, and that they had to kill one and other.." Narcissa choose this time to speak up "This all looks like.. a set up by someone to do wh-" Severus cut her off "It was Dumbledore, he wasent surprised by the change back, he honestly looked.. annoyed" he sneered before continuing "He had said something about it being for the child's protection.. from enslavement"   "Well perhaps he thought to use her as a weapon against her father" Lucius said thoughtfully "Would the werewolf friend of potter have known about this?" Cissa asked "it wasent released yet, but Lupin was found dead in the forest today by the aurors looking to ask him some questions in regards to Sirus Black... apparently, as a werewolf, he managed to impale his brain through the eye with a simple branch" Severus said with distaste "It sounds, far more like someone tied up a loose end..." Lucius looked thoughtful once more before Narcissa cut in to there thoughts "Do you know where she is now?" "With Lily Potter's sister- a muggle by the name of Petunia Dursley, you cant take her you know... to the rest of the world she is still Harry Potter, im sure a few things will still magically recognize her as Harry Potter." Snape said, turning half way back to her.  "I want to check to make sure she is safe there, tomorrow- and I will, and neither of you will stop me" she said defiantly.  "A wife and daughter were not common knowledge, so besides Dumbledore likely having a grudge against her for being.. Riddles child, alot of the dark lords followers may still see her as a obstacle, we should tread lightly " Lucius added   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Narcissa Malfoy was not a fan of Privet drive, everything here looked strange to her- she cast a disillusionment charm on herself before she apparated to the drive and went looking for number four, the numbers on each property at least made it easy to find, Snape had mentioned a blood ward had been in place, it no longer was in place now. As she was glancing in through the windows in the back of the home, noting a distinct lack of adults, a bit of a shriek of the word 'stop' coming from the window above caught her attention and with a flick of her wand the back door opened and she moved through the small house, it was rather easy to find the stairs up. It was a bit of a shock to her, to see the multitude of locks on the door, a quick flick of her wand told her only one had been re-locked, the sight when she opened the door caused her blood to boil in rage. There was a rather fat and bloated boy using his size to pin 'Harry' to the bed, and she was trying to get him off herself, her clothes were ripped and it was quite obvious the boy was trying to get the girls clothes off. one hand wrapped around her neck, the other hit her in the face- her nose was bleeding, one of the lenses of her glasses was shattered and the frames bent, she could see that much from here, in the moment she watched in shock before the boys words woke her senses "I dont believe your really a girl" he growled "Your just a freak!" the girls struggle for a breath was what caused her to lightly stun him, to remove his grip on her throat, then with another flick of the wand- his somewhat limp body crashed into the broken wardrobes door, then as she moved in a flick up and down caused a hard hit to the ceiling and the floor and another one bounced him off the door frame as Narcissa moved towards the girl, she was gasping for breath and sobbing, there was a slight sound of something rolling down the stairs- likely her attacker. She repaired the girls glasses, one hand griping hers as she tried to sooth the girl- she was obviously in shock and that was when  Narcissa chose to do a brief glance into the childs mind- the first memory she saw, and the one that brought her resolve that the girl was leaving with her then, was the scene from last night She looked familiar, Harry thought, looking at the woman perched on her bed, saying she was safe and if she could show her where all her stuff was, so she could gather it and leave- she gathered her clothes, told the woman that her wand and schoolwork were all under the stairs currently, locked in- the woman's eyes flashed in rage a moment, what? the blood covered clothes too?- she was just asked to bring those as well wasent she- she retrieved them too and the woman gabbed her hand- she dident own much so packing was easy, as the reached the top of the stairs with her, she noticed her cousin laying at the bottom of the stairs, her body shivered as she hid behind the woman, who carefully led her past the downed form of Dudley, retrieving trunk and confirming that she had everything, what was the woman's name, she seemed familiar- she was kind.  _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Narcissa aparated with 'harry'- who was still in shock right to the manor, leading her inside and up to a room close to her own, she started unshrinking the belongings of the girl, she wasent even sure she noticed it- that's when she suggested the girl get undressed for a bath, she just did- yep, shock, what she saw shocked her, she was too thin for one, likely starved most the time. Narcissa made a note to book a healer to come take a proper look at her, but began healing the Multiple scabs, merlin she wondered how the poor girl was moving with that many scabs on top of each other. She stayed with the girl, washed her hair- it actually felt soothing- she loved Draco, but she had to admit being Motherly to a girl had its own appeals, once the girl had eaten something the house elves made, she  burst into Lucius study, Severus had stayed overnight and they both looked like they were waiting on her return. That was when she Dropped the bloody Ripped undershirt and panties on the desk "the Older man did that, Promised to do it every night until she let him rape her, use her body to repay his kindness"  she sneered. There was a sudden flush of questions, how did she know that-legilimens, she recounted the conditions, the locks on the door, the fact there was a flap- Severus confirmed it was to allow cats to go into and out of a room without the aid of a human, and that some muggle prisons use gaps to feed inmates without locking the door . The attack by the boy- each thing recounted caused a hardness in the mens eyes, and that was when she chose to reveal she already removed the girl from the house, she was bathed, had eaten, and was currently asleep- down the hall from her and Lucius shared room. They took the news well enough, but both men looked like they wanted to go murder that family "I think the boy lived, never checked, but at any rate i do believe she may wanna kill them herself later." "it... was obviously the right call..." Lucius conceded, he knew if the dark lord found out they could have stopped the girls abuse and dident, he may as well kill themselves. "This does.. however present us with a few... problems, like what to tell her, and what to tell Draco, surely he will find out there's another guest here soon enough" Severus drawled "It can wait, for now... I'm going to keep an eye on her.. let her rest for now, recover- this wont get easier for her either way." Narcissa said as she left, leaving Severus and Lucius to pour over spell tombs.       Chapter End Notes Seems to be one of the longer chapters I've written, and im rather curious how it will be received. ***** Will reading of Sirus Black ***** Chapter Notes Seem to have been getting beaten over the head with sacks full of inspiration lately, that has me writing longer chapters then i usually do See the end of the chapter for more notes When Harrys eye's opened, she could tell something was off, and as her senses reconnected themselves- everything seemed more and more out of place. It got worse when she spotted her glasses on a nightstand and put them on.. were they not broken last time she saw them?.. she remembered vaguely they had been, that was when she returned her attention back to the strange room. First, the rooms ceiling looked lavish- and the light fixture was a chandelier, the crown molding looked to be hand carved, and in a light color, to go with the cream color of the paint. There were floor to ceiling bay windows, both of them looked like they had benches built into them, this was a four poster bed she was in with sheer curtains, unlike the ones at Hogwarts, it had to be a king size at least.. she was in a silk nightgown, on silk sheets. Her mind wrapped around one thing as she took in the Desk, table and chairs and the built in bookself- as well as her trunk at the end of her bed, this wasent privet drive- in fact she had no clue how she even got there, there were two doors she could see from the bed. as she moved off the bed, one of them- the one across from the foot of the bed, opened and a woman let herself in, causing Harry to sink back into the curtains of the bed- as if those would protect her. "I am not here to hurt you child" the woman implored, her hands were free of a wand, but Harry knew wandless magic existed, she moved to and sat on the edge of the bed, pushing the curtain aside so she was somewhat covered by it, but also leaning in so they were looking right at each other. "Where am i?" Harry began, Narcissa recognized the body language as someone who was nervous, so she smiled and gestured with one hand "My home- of course, you.. were in a rather poor state of health when I.. removed you from those.. muggles yesterday, you have been asleep since you got here." It was Harry's turn to notice something, the way she said muggles- the venom and hatred of it caused a bit of a shudder, then her mind raced, how much of there... treatment had this witch seen, who was this witch... that sounded like a good thing to ask next "and.. who exactly are you?" Harry kept her eyes trained on the woman, and seemed to be in a postion on her knees to pounce away if needed. "I am your new guardian, Narcissa Malfoy" she dident do more then watch the girl, her mind seemed to race a bit as this.. information kinda sunk in, before she had a burst of her voice "How the Hell can you be my guardian?!" she spoke loudly in shock. "Language, but as the eldest member of house black, you became my responsibility the moment my cousin Sirius died" she said, careful to not expose the half truth, they had time to explain if further. Narcissa had seen this emotion too, fear "I have no plans to harm you" she added in, she wanted to move in and comfort the girl- but of course at this stage that could be a disaster. "No, your just gonna keep me locked in here till your husbands Lord returns, the he will just kill me." the tone in Harrys voice was slightly bitter, but also a bit shaky, Narcissa smiled and shook her head "Your not a threat to him anymore you know." "And how would you know that!" She snapped back right away. "Well I know the reason you were targeted in the first place, there was a prophecy about a boy who could destroy him, you had a lovely bath yesterday i helped you with and I could clearly see that you are no boy" Narcissa was trying to keep her tone a bit playful, Harrys face went completly flush as she sunk down into a sitting postion "There was a prophecy..?" she stumbled the words out, causing Narcissa to nod and continue "I dont know the exact details, besides it clearly stating a boy would be capable of defeating him, but since you are not a boy anymore, either the prophecy's now about someone else- or broken." "He is just gonna kill me for stopping him last time." She murmured, hugging her knees to her chest as the two stared at each other. "i doubt that, but now that you are awake- i have someone i want to.. take a look at you, your condition when you got here was... very terrible, and i wanted a second opinion that you dident need a emergency visit to St Mungo's." She nodded, and that was when Narcissa got up and went to the door, Harry looked less then thrilled that the person she returned with, was Professor Snape. "I thought you wanted a healer looking at me" Harry questioned with disdain, causing Snape to cut in "To truly practice the potion makers art, one needs to know a large volume of biology, as well as healing spells and incantations" he Sneered in return as he drew his wand, casting different diagnostic spells and light healing spells, there was still some Internal bruises of tissue that would have been rather clearly noticeable once she started moving more, maybe they were noticed and ignored? "Where is your wand, I have one more spell to cast, and it requires you to do it at the same time" Snape said sharply, Harry got up and went to her trunk, wand was clearly on the top where she left it, when she returned to her seat- he showed her the wand movement, there was no incantation it seemed, just the need to do the wand movement, and concentrate on forming a ball of light, they did it flawlessly, a violet ball of light hung there, that wass when he removed a small book from his robes and went to a page he had bookmarked and showed it to her. It was a paternity charm, with a flow chart of each one meant, white was full sibling, blue was dad, red was mom, violet.. was Uncle on the mothers side. Her mouth hung open a moment before she looked at the ball- then Snape- then Narcissa- then the ball again, the first words out of her mouth being 'What the fuck?!' in a exasperated tone both Adults Tsked but it was Snape who spoke "Watch your language young lady" "No no.. Your both gonna explain what the hell is going on, cause... I cant be related to you.. and I dont think god-parents change the way you implied they do!" Harry was now standing on the bed, watching them both very carefully, a rather tense grip on her wand. "Please calm down, I know.. this is all.. going to be... very confusing, maybe even hard to accept right away, but its.. not like we could keep the reason why your here, and not till with that muggle filth" Narcissa said, the tone when talking about the Dursleys told Harry, she dident like them much at all. "They.. arent" the mumbling excuse of harry was brought to a sudden halt when Narcissa pulled the blood drenched, torn undershirt and held it up for her to see "Dont you dare defend them, they are filth. No one- NO one should do this to a child, should lock them in a tiny room... underfeed them" Narcissas tone was again one of contempt and sorrow as she eyed the girl carefully. "There were some bruises on the muscles, and besides the obvious need of nutritional supplements a professional healer should prescribe, nothing else is wrong with my niece- Physically at least.." Snapes tone was far softer then it had ever been with her before. She took a breath "This why you been so hard on me all these years?, Dad got mom killed at Voldemort's hands and you thought to take it out on me?" she said with a bit of a growl. Both adults cringed a bit at the use of the dark lords name as such, before Snape spoke again. "I was hard on you, because I had thought you were James Potters son, not my sisters daughter.." he took a breath as she looked at him dumbfounded "Lily Evans, was not my sister, just as James Potter was not your father." "Someone took you from your mother the same day she was murdered and her house was burned down, they took you and left what we.. have assumed from some research was the Potter brats dead body as a stand in so no one would look for you- we did search the grounds, and we found... the remains of an infant in the arms of Charlene- that was your mothers name." "So... if.. Charlene.. was my... mothers name, Who exactly... is the father?" she still stood there staring at them, wand still in her hands, Narcissa Spoke up this time "His name was Tom Riddle, and he and your mother named you Mirabelle Eileen Riddle." She watched them for a moment before she Spoke up, rather loudly "Hes not my father!, your lying.. your bloody lying, he has been trying to kill me for years!" she spat out full of anger. "Actually he has been trying to kill Harry Potter for years, had he any clue who you really were.. he would have whisked you away to safety the first chance he got, Myself- Narcissa, Lucius- we all would have.." Snape said a bit Irritated. "S-stay away from me..." tears were clouding the girls eyes as she retreated into the bathroom, that was when Snape rose and left, Narcissa stood and moved to the Door, calling in slowly "Mirabelle... if you need anything, Just call for Tipsy, she has been asked to help you... and please see you eat something.. will.. leave you for now." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- Narcissa dident quite feel right leaving the girl like that "Did you really have to drop all that on her at once- when she was like that?" "She would have questions.. I felt it was best she had all the answers at once.." Snape responded casually- at least for him, as they moved away from the girls room. "Besides, I think she needs some time to process everything, as you said- it was a large amount to take in" Snape entered Lucius study, the man was still deep in whatever research they both started the first night Severus came over. "And what do you suppose we should tell Draco, hmm?" Narcissa pressed, looking between both men. "The truth, eventually, but for now that Miss Mirabelle is a guest here, and will remain a guest well into the future." Lucius answered a letter, and put it into his outbox after sealing it with wax, the house elves would make sure it was delivered to the owlery promptly. Narcissa let out a bit of a huff as both men settled into whatever they were researching once more. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- Harry, or would she start calling herself mirabelle now?- for now harry stayed in the bathroom till she was certain they were gone, taking the time to brush her teeth and wash her face- seeing things like her toothbrush and hairbrush in the bathroom here looked strange- all the lavish designs, and then there was the cheap brush and cheap toothbrush, looked very out of place. There was a bit of porridge waiting for her when she got out of the bathroom, which she ate rather quickly- and with less manors then anyone in the manor they were in would likely care to see. She dressed, simple black long sleeved shirt, black jeans, old trainers on, her wand slipped into her back pocket as she slipped out of the room, the halways- of course looked ornate. She wandered the halls a bit before managing to find a way outside, she decided that finding her room later, would likely be a pain in the ass, the grounds and the gardens were lavish, to say the least- she was glad it wasent her job to care for them like she had the Dursleys, there were those white peacocks that draco had boasted about before, seeming to wander in any direction it liked, just like she planned too now. "You seem a bit more threadbare and plain then the girls mother usually try's to set me up with." a voice drawled behind her, she looked to see a slightly bored looking Draco Malfoy, right this prat lived here.. and she was likely going to have to play nicely with him from now on, like she could count on him to be the same. His eyes moved up and down her form before she spoke "Excuse me?" One eyebrow raised up as he watched her "I'm surprised you were allowed in here to meet me wearing that, Id have thought Mother would turn someone away dressed like that in an instant." "and why, do you believe I would be here to meet you?" she said slowly "Mothers been inviting all sorts of girls over to see if they would be a good match for marriage" he was finding it hard to keep his curiosity under wraps, because less face it- a girl, in ratty over-sized muggle clothing that looked, well threadbare was the right word, who wasent anyone he remembered meeting before was wandering the grounds of his home. The face she made at the idea of her being there to marry him had him feel a bit offended, and even more confused "Well who are you, and why are you here, if it is not, to perhaps marry me?" he said loudly and boisterous. "Apparently, I am Mirabelle Riddle, a guest of your mothers until I'm of age I suppose" she shrugged, and Malfoy gave her a look making her believe the boy thought she was touched. "What do you mean you are 'apparently?', do you not remember or something?" his tone wasent teasing, or mean- just confused. "It, my son is very confusing, Mirabelle- some goblins from Gringott's wish to speak to you, its the will reading of Sirus Black, as well as your adopted parents, the state of the Riddle estate.. likely some other forms" Narcissa walked out to where they were as Draco noticed the sharp intake of breath this Mirabelle had took as she ran a finger through her hair. "Before you dismiss them- the goblins dont make many house calls, and you cant put this off forever." it was true, the goblins found it very interesting when Narcissa Malfoy told them that Harry potter was with them, and they insisted on a appointment right away, to clear up all this paperwork as quickly as they could. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- Mirabelle sighed and nodded- herself, Draco and Narcissa all made there way to a sitting room at Narcissas lead, where Severus and Lucius were watching the three goblins on the Sofa, from two chairs near the side, Narcissa led Draco too another set, while Mirabelle sat on the sofa across from the goblins, being the first to speak as she eyed the goblin on the left "I remember you, Griphook- you took me down to my vault the first time." The goblin smiled and nodded "Very good, while we do introduce ourselves every time- we goblins always find it a rare treat, that wizards Occasionaly remember our names" he pulled a Sheet out of his pocket and unfolded it on the table between them- it seemed to have a gold thumb tack stick in the center of it "We will need proof of blood you are who you are, press your thumb against the center point". Mirabella pressed her thumb againsted the tack, likely a bit harder then she needed too, but today was turning out a rough day, the tack seemed to desolve into her blood with a glow that filled the page with the goblins native tongue, they passed it between themselves and spoke there tongue before Griphook spoke again. "You are who we thought you were, this is Bogrod and Ragnok" he indicated that the center one was bogrod, and the right was ragnok, it was Ragnok who spoke next "Its a bit curious, but your magical signature.. says your both Harry James Potter, and Mirabelle Eileen Riddle" the goblin eyed her carefully Dracos eyes bulged out of his head at the information, they had started to have a bit of tea "Apparently according to Uncle Severus and my godmother, Mrs Malfoy, i was kidnaped the day i was born and forced into the form of Harry Potter" she said bitterly "Must have been a rather strong spell, to be so... complete in the changes" Bogrod declared, before nodding again. "We have the Final wills of three people that need addressing, we can do this Privately, or.. you can let them remain if you wish" Griphook stated before Mirabelle nodded "they can all stay..." "First- you never viewed the final will of- I suppose your adopted mother and father would be the description, It leaves the vault- that you already have the key too, and the home at godrics hallow, which has since Lily and Jame's potters death- has remained a memorial" Griphook said as he got down too business and handed over the first will, Mirabelle read it over quickly "the... house in Godrics Hollow... that was where they died isent it.." she said a bit sorrowfully, causing the goblin to nod before she continued "Says here in the event of there death.. I was to be placed with either Sirus Black, or Remus Lupin... and the witness was Albus Dumblemore" "You will find that he was the Witness to all three wills" Griphook continued, and a gasp escaped Lucius lips, everyone's look on him had him look.. rather uncharacteristically Vulnerable before he spoke "i was looking through old files, to see if there were any.. clues that could have- revealed you sooner, and I came across a bill pushed forth into law.. in the 1980s, that.. one Dolores Umbridge takes all credit in the masses mind.. for making, but it was.. in fact Dumbledore.. who put it out there, that werewolves should not be allowed to have custody of a child... i could never figure out why...until now i suppose" Mirabelle looked far more Haggard then any girl her age should and nodded for Griphook to continue "There was a Small deposit that was made by the potters on there death, to the next Will we have here, Remus Lupin- which he never touched, or let go below the balance that was there." She paled a bit further, mouth in a slight o before a bit of a strained voiced Mirabelle asked "how did he die?" "on the night of the full mood, he.. allegedly implaed his brain through the eye while running at full speed in his lycanthrope form, his will gives you all the funds in his vault" Ragnok spoke this time. It was Bagrods turn this time "The third Will, is one of Sirus Black, and it Enthralls the title of Lord- or in this case Lady, Black to you, as well as his family home and all of the Black forune, that was about.. all the business we had with the Malfoy's on the matter- was all given to another, it was just so fortuitously we caught you while in the wizarding world, would have been months before we may have had another chance to meet with you.. Dumbledores never wanted us to bother you at school, and said you dident need to see your parents will- as you had what you needed most out of that, and you likely would not need the shrine as it were.." Mirabelle held out her hand a moment, mind seeming to race "May i have my copy of all three wills?" when handed them, she flipped between them "So if my adopted parents, and if Sirus were to die- id go to Remus, if them and Remus died...Id go.. to Sirus..., Dumbledores currently has a lease that lets him use the black family home, twelve Grimmauld place for a knut a month...has.. he been doing anything else with the account?" "Dumbledore was authorized by the late Lord black, to withdraw a maximum of ten thousand Galleons a month- which hw has been withdrawing every month for the past thirteen years" Bogrod announced The three adults in the room were.. a bit.. surprised at how calm she was taking all this in currently, Draco however was trying to not keep he mouth open as he listened- he figured Mother, Father and Uncle Severus likely had a better grasp on what she was being told- and even to him it looked like Dumbledore was screwing her over badly, and she was of course far to calm to be hearing this news. "So when I come of age, I can claim the Black family seat on the Wizengamot" she added, to which the goblin nodded "What other Vaults am I entitled to use? or if authorized can use?" "Well, if your Uncle.. Severus Snape authorizes it, you could have access to the Prince Vault, and if he has no heirs on his death- you would get Prince Manor, and the Prince vault- assuming he doesn't enthrall it to another in his will" Bagrod said, measuring the girl in front of him again in his eyes. "Besides a small bit going towards my godson, Draco- the whole of the Prince estate will pass to her upon my death" Severus spoke up. "And while your...Father, is not dead- you are entitled to a key to the Riddle vault as his heir- with some limits, on his death- you will get access to it in full and ownership of Riddle Manor." Bagrod continued. "Could it be possible, that... that Mrs Malfoy claims proxy as oldest black sister- please tell me you are" she looked to where Narcissa was and she nodded before Mirabelle continued "So that the offical record reads that shes just sitting on it, but revoked the lease, revoked Dumbledores rights to access the black vaults, and my guardianship?" "Well, there are blood rituals she could do to take a regency as Lady black, in order to... secure such things, but are you certain... telling.. or asking her to do such is wise, she could empty the vaults on you if she wanted" Ragnok warned "Would that be the only way i can stop other peole from tampering with the Black estate till I'm of age- is a proxy?" she asked, and the goblin conceded a nod "I promise the seat will be yours when your of age, and I wont touch a single thing in the vaults or home" Narcissa said, before the the goblin got a nod- pulling out another sheet of parchment with a tack on it, and walking Narcissa through the ritual, and then confirming the proxy's wishes to shut Dumbledore out of the home, vault and confirm 'Harry'- as a ward of House Black, and her place as 'Harry's' guardian "Should you wish to dispel this, you would now need a full Wizengamot gearing" Ragnok informed them "but i do believe our business with you in now concluded." As the goblins stood and each shook Mirabelles hand as they showed themselves out. They all sat in silence a moment before Severus spoke "id like to hear your.. thought process.. on.. making Cissa a blood proxy" She took a breath and in a Distraught, quivering voice that told everyone she was starting to buckle- she spoke "Im lord Voldemorts daughter, I have been hiding as Harry Potter- someone who as supposed to be the one to defeat him- for thirteen years, living as a punching bag and more like a house-elf then a person in my adopted mothers sisters home, while both other people who could take me in were made unable too by Dumbledore, who has been stealing from one of those who could have helped me.. then the very same day i find out he was framed- and the man who betrayed them was still alive, he dies, as does the other man who cared for me as the Potters child, in a way- that sounds, rather stupid in terms of how i think a werewolf is likely to die." She takes a breath and talks louder in a bit more of a panic "So thinking on it- who is strong enough and dislikes Voldemort enough that they could change someones being enough they come out showing they are someone else entirely, so what does that mean- that either Harry was already dead, or killed soon after being born, and that someone strong enough- went to my house, killed my fresh from childbirth mother, changed me to be him, and gave me back to the Potters- GEE, I wonder who is powerful enough to do that!" she had stood and started to pace a bit with deep breaths "Then my father- thinking im someone else who could kill him- try's to murder me instead, and seems I blow him up up and he disappears if Hagrid's description of the big damn hole in the roof is true!" her hands interlock behind her neck as she Paces and speaks. Draco was watching the exchange with a bit of tea, having not remembered ever seeing a meltdown like this, Severus and Lucius also sat enjoying tea, Narcissa was the only one on her feet- not sure if.. any signs of affection or comfort offered by her would be rebuffed, but so longing to try. "So, since today seems to be the day we drop all sorts of things on top of me?!, maybe now is a good time to remember you have some marriage contract laying around that you drafted up the hour after I was born saying i marry Draco there or some shit" this Statement from Mirabelle with a half hearted wave of her arm to gesture towards him, while Draco was taking a sip of tea, caused him to do that telltale spit up of surprise, and look as her a bit horrified and a bit impressed she knew about such things. "No dear, we would have waited till you and him were one, before even thinking about doing that... now... I... really think you need to go rest.. your still.. recovering" Narcissa put gently, lightly wraping a arm around the girl and guiding her out of the room as the men watched on in silence, it was draco who finaly spoke first, using all the years of language studies, etiquette training and speaking classes he did growing up to great use, as his mind wrestled with all the new information, it finally came up with a sentence to describe the situation, one his Mother and Father should be proud all there money on teachers and time spent on the classes homework showed it had paid off. "The Fuck?!" Chapter End Notes again another chapter I'm not sure how it will be received- but I'm still curious. ***** Reality of a situation ***** Mirebelle stayed in her room the remainder of the day, and when pressed about it- the house elf Tipsy admited she ate- but not as much as either of them could wish she would. The following day, rather early- Narcissa let herself into the girls room and simply watched her for a while, when mirabelle stirred eventually, the confused look she gave the woman made her chuckle a small bit. "Why- are you in here so early... watching me sleep." she grumbled and hid under her covers again. "Well, sweet child- i wanted to see how you were this morning, we have a slightly busy day planned for you, two medical appointments this morning- and this afternoon, we need to fill out your new wardrobe." the woman said with a smile. "I have clothes already" Mirabelle said, lifting her head out of the coverings of her bed. "Well, we are going to need to make people believe a few things about you living here- for one, there is no way id let you be seen with us in such dismal clothes, I can only guess you haven't completely accepted everything, despite it being confirmed by the goblins, as well as your uncle- but to keep you safe- we need to play some high stakes acting, to some its gonna look like a publicity stunt, some are gonna read it as me grooming you to be a future Mrs Malfoy- and others still- may see it as us giving the Dark Lord easy access to slay you on his return" she kept her eyes on what of the girl hiding in the curtains and sheets of her bed. "Cant we... just pretend I'm still living with... at privet drive?" she asked curiously. "we could try, but between all the events we go to, people that come to the manor- it would be hard to hide- not to mention the paperwork the goblins filled will be public domain- and there are reporters like that Rita Skeeter woman who sometimes browse some of those documents looking for a scoop- maybe it doesent get discovered your here- or maybe it gets plastered all over tomorrows prophet, you and your... change from a Mr, to a Miss is sure to be big news- and it would seem more of a Malfoy move to show you off like a prize anyways" she continued. "Ron.. Wouldn't even come to... visit me after the accident... he and Hermione were the only people who... saw me that were students- only visitors i was allowed cause of that." she sniffs a bit and takes a bit of a breath. "Most of the other children will pick on you for the change over, because they wont understand, or care to know this was not your choice- eventually however- I can safely say that Slytherin house wont- it will take a bit of discreet filtering around that your not to be touched, once the children of your fathers supports all understand who you are- they will stop the others- at least if they know whats good for them they will, but that will not be right away" she slipped in closer to sit on the bed beside the girl, not really able to help herself, she reaches in to brush her fingers through the girls hair, choosing to not comment on the muggle born or the Weasley brat. "How are you so calm about all this, this whole situation?!... its all fucked up" she let out a bit of a whimper "Language young lady, but... my mother spent years building me a mask, to hide my emotions, Andromeda was always the rebellious elder child... she had a fascination with muggles that.. my parents thought was.. unhealthy, while Bella.. was always a bit.. morbid, she only listened to them when she felt like it, So of course I got crafted into the perfect pure blood daughter, that way everyone in the room could ignore... either of my sisters antics- which everyone was happy to do" she gave a bit of a sorrowful smile "When Sirus ran away, Andy decided to... use that as a excuse to- at a dinner party at Christmas, to walk out- but not... before letting everyone know she had spent the last half of the year of her last year at Hogwarts in broom closets and empty classrooms with a muggle born wizard named Ted Tonks, I had to watch my family pretend that they dident exist after, even though both... I used to be close to both..." Narcissa wasent sure if the story would help answer the question, but it... helped herself to finally tell someone about it, and hoped the context that... life throws things at you would help her goddaughter. "What was... my father like..?" she finally asked, trying to distract herself some. "Well, before he met your mother- he was a charismatic young man who rallied a large amount of support towards keeping the power in the upper class.. there were a few... more extreme blood purists of course, but he kept them at bay, he was so powerful, and he met your mother- who was my best friend. and they hit off so well, he resolved to build you both a perfect world so you could grow up being his little princess... he had a non existent family life growing up.. his mother, drugged a handsome man with love potion, and when she believed he would stay around with out it, she stopped giving him it and he left her, and she died of a broken heart.. leaving him in a home for orphaned children, he really wanted to be the father and husband he never had- but after he found the state of the home- I can say now it likely wasent, but at the time it was staged to seem.. that muggles had destroyed it, and killed everyone there- so that was when he embraced the hardliners of the blood purists, he was very...very broken at the loss, that caused him to lash out.." she was still stroking the girls hair who was watching her with interest as she spoke. "And my mother.. what was she like?" she quickly asked. "Charlene was Brilliant and passionate- while Severus has always been.. rather serious and stiff ,Char was always more loose and playful.. shes the reason our dorm room was always Stocked with Wine and spirits, could never figure out how she could keep it so stocked either." she smiled at a thought "After Tom had taken Lucius into his ranks, much like he did his father, I was hosting a party for his followers as a bit of a congratulations, and since I invited Severus because he was inducted at the same time, I invited Charlene too, because she was his sister - and Tom decided that this.. one Vintage of wine would go well with the meal- i cant remember what it was exactly, but Char stunned everyone by saying it would make the meal taste like dirt- so during the meal- it turns out she was right, it paired terribly, so we all are awkwardly drinking and eating a badly paired meal when Charlene of course pulls a bottle of red wine from her bag, pours out her glass which she had not touched onto the floor- pours out mine in the same fashion, and pours out her brothers, and refills the glasses with her choice of vintage- which worked so much better with the meal, so everyone is just staring and you can tell Tom wants to be right, so he stubbornly keeps drinking the dirt while everyone else there were watching us with envy." Mirabelle couldn't help but giggle a bit at the story. "That was actually where you were the day you were born, a vineyard that had been bought for your mother to keep her happy" she smiled and looked up, drawing her wand to cast a tempus charm "we seem to have been chatting a lot longer then i intended, so you best get up and get ready- otherwise we will be late for your healers appointments" Narcissa rose from the bed and left the young woman to prepare herself for the day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Walking around Diagon Alley with Narcissa Malfoy, she couldn't help but notice all the eyes watching her, she was glad her hair covered the scar on her forehead, but everyone was watching her- and that made the posture and manner tips, and corrections of speak Narcissa was throwing at her a bit awkward , she was wearing a white sundress- one that Professor McGonagall had made for her- she really wished she had bothered to try it on before now, because the way the breeze of the day fluttered up her skirt was a bit weird to her, oh well- at least she was in flats and not heels. The first healer she met that day, concluded that the girl needed some supplements to offset the years of being malnourished, she also looked alarmed at all the scars and broken bone heals that she needed to go over and re-heal to make her healthier, all of them were made without the taint of dark curses, so it was more time consuming then difficult, another appointment was set in a few weeks to show if the supplements were working. Second healer was rather surprised, saying the girls eyes were in a terrible state- those lenses should have been updated years ago- as the prescription had changed, and your lucky there was not more damage that needed healing. She picked a set of glasses of similar design to her old ones, however these ones were silver instead of black and a bit smaller to fit her face better, and enchanted to be much more durable and enchanted to repair themselves back to the current state- the lenses were self correcting, so they would not need adjustment again, they were also made of crystal, and as such would be nearly impossible to scratch or shatter. It was hard to hide she was in fact Harry Potter from either woman, the first healer dident seem as awestruck as the second that it was Harry, more interested in the bodily effects of what being trapped as a boy for so long did to her body. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Mirabelle followed Narcissa from store to store, there purchases getting more and more numerous, makeup, underwear, sleepwear, spring wear, summer wear- fall fashions, clothes suitable for winter, it was an overwhelming amount of things to get- on top of new school robes, which Narcissa decided they should get out of the way now- because of course she would not be wearing the male uniform anymore. And of course she also got a dozen formal dresses, she considered the fact she was still growing, but Narcissa was getting so many seemed to be insane to her- likely could be all stacked in a pile and it would be taller then she herself was. And shoes, Mirebelle wondered why she needed so many, it was all overwhelming- and as it turned out time consuming. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- When they returned home to be served dinner, Draco, Severus and Lucius were already waiting for them to get started, Narcissa looked as peppy as ever, and rather pleased- Mirabelle however, looked like she would rather sleep in the Forbidden Forest, then step foot in a clothing store again as long as she lived. "So, the Minster sent a owl today." Lucius began "He Invited Myself, Draco and Harry- to the Quidditch world cup." "Well, that was much faster getting around then I hoped it would be" Narcissa said as she dug into her meal, eyeing Mirabelle to make sure she took in her table manners "there were a few photos today, and everyone saw me leading around and idly correcting the posture and manners of a young woman who saw two healers and a few tailors- if you take her to the cup, there will be no getting around the world finding out he is a she now- not like that wont get sent back by hundreds of owls when she returns to school." "i dident see any cameras" The girl said paling a bit and sinking in her chair. "Doe not mean they weren't there child" Narcissa shot back. "Well- at any rate he was rather insistent in us attending- and bringing Harry along, he did send you a invitation as well my dear, but i declined on your behalf" Lucius cut in smoothly. Draco ate in silence as he listened, occasionally glancing at Mirabelle, not having a chance to get a good look at her before. "Have you gone over the.. acting your going to have to do when your forced to bring her out in public?" severus inquired. "To her, yes, but i have not had the chance to discuss it with Draco yet, no" Narcissa said, eyeing her son closely "you mean i'm going to have to continue to be a taunting prat for a while arent I" draco said once he looked at his mother, he saw the intense stare of his mother out the corner of his eye. "the very least, indifferent- because perhaps the lure of the world cup in the minsters box- has more allure then bugging Harry Potter every moment of that day" Lucius added in. Mirabelle looked down with a deep sigh. "It will be hard child, but Lucius, Narcissa and I had a planning session about this already, and if what we think is true- then we need to make it believable that they couldn't care less about your happiness- but still insist on certain standards so you wont embarrass them" Severus couldn't help but look at the slump of her posture- basically telling his niece that in order to save her, she needed to be treated a bit like a ornament. After the meal, she quietly excused herself and slipped away. "that... doesent seem.. at all like the person I knew.." Draco commented to the adults. "And you knew her so well before?" Severus quipped back. "She doesn't look.. well.. in more then one sense.. and she looks like someone who is gonna snap under pressure come school time.." he looked between his mother and father and 'Uncle Severus', hoping one of them would tell him wrong, but the silence flowed through the room instead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- Once Mirebelle had returned to her room, she had gone into the bathroom and started punching the mirror- damn thing was enchanted not to break however, her sobs echoing through the bathroom with the thunk of her fists off the glass, as her energy and frustration gave out, her knuckles were bloody, the glass was bloody- and she had no more tears, she cleaned up her hands as best she could, and cast a few simple healing spells- deciding that the purebloods children- or guests being able to cast spells while a house elf four feet away could get him a letter telling him not too do it was unfair and bullshit. Out of everything she had not wanted from her life- it seemed like it was just going to be worse and worse for her. ***** Tea time ***** It Seemed a bit out of place for Theodore Nott to find himself, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle as well as there fathers, Thoros Nott, Edmond Goyle and Irving Crabbe all seeming to be requested to join the Malfoys, as well as severus Snape for tea. But here they were, two weeks into the holiday, and a few days away from the Quidditch world cup, and that's where they found themselves, there was a few interesting storys going around the papers about Harry Potter's Guardianship being seized by Dracos mother, as well as images of her dragging some girl around from shop to shop in Diagon Alley. it wasn't apparent right away that the six of them had been invited, Thoros and Theo arrived first from apparation, then Edmond and Gregory Goyle, then Vincent and Irving Crabbe, they all gave a bit of a puzzled look as Draco came down to unlock the wards of the gate, he gave each a rather polite greeting, and led there fathers to a meeting with the other adults , while he led his freinds to his wing of the Manor to what amounted to his study and play room, as that's where all the games he received when he was younger were stored, and books, when any of them pressed to why they were here- he lied, he did know.. but Vince and Greg weren't all that bright to notice, so they played what amounted to poker for candy- to be paid on the train back to school, waiting on the adults to finish. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- Severus chose to remain standing, and near the bookcase, Narcissa and Lucius sat across From there guests and, tea was offered, and unusually it was the older Goyl who Opened "So, the newspaper says you have Harry Potters custody shackled to your wife, and with Severus here- you must have a plan, id like to hear it." It was more thought out, thought severus, then most things the Goyle's came up with, they were more known for there Violence and loyalty, then there intelligence- course even a broken clocks right twice a day "We require you and your sons help with something, something that if done poorly, on the dark lords return would mean certain death in the most brutal and painful way he can imagine." Severus opened the floor. Lucius set the godparent contract on the table, and waited for them to read it, there had been rumors the dark lord had married someone, and he had only ever showed interest in three woman, the two former black sisters- and Severus Snapes sister, who had tragiclly died in a fire, it had been a open secret that the dark lord may have married- and promptly snapped. Crabbe Gulped a small bit "Hell of a thing to.. find.. where was she?" "Someone.., changed the child to be Harry Potter, and we suspect... we know where that person is- and its a place come September, we will all have to have our children return too," Narcissa said coolly, there was a moment of silence as the three men took the information in. Nott spoke first "I suppose your wishing our children to help shield her- at the very least from some of Slytherin?" Snape nodded "I will be doing what i can as well.. but we have to be... careful" "Dumbledore will hurt her if he knows wont he" Mr Crabbe spoke somewhat knowingly and the other adults stared at him before he spoke " I was found out to be a Death Eater while still at school, and Dumbledore let Flitch use corporal punishments on me all the time during detentions.., its why he stopped marking school aged children and im not that special. She is the Dark Lords kid.., I'm... honestly surprised shes still alive." "She was set up to destroy her father- one way or another" Narcissa agreed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ After a time, Vincent left Draco and the others to go to the bathroom- and that was when he encountered the strange girl, she tilted her head to the side- it was potter- only potter had that lightning scar, the prophet was right, means he could get in a few punches when there was no one to save her- or is it him? looks like a girl but whatever, he muttered something about it being payback for being a prat and chased her- she was shrieking at him to stop and leave her alone- no one should wanna protect her round here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- When Draco heard the distinctly female scream, his eyes traveled over his freinds and went wide as he jumped to his Feet "Shit, Vincents making a big mistake!" and off down the hall as fast as he could, with greg and theo in tow. "Whys that?" Theo managed to call up, before Draco called back "He is picking on Severus niece!" Both theo and greg looked surprised at that- they would find out who daddy was later, but uncle Sev alone should ward them off for now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- Tipsy popped into the room and promptly told the Adults that the fat kid was trying to chase the young miss down, and there was a bit of a stampede of adults followed each other, damn quiet enchanted rooms, was actually rather easy to find them, Vincent was sitting on Mirabelle and was slapping and punching and pinching her while laughing, the rest of the boys arrived as Irving Crabbe Kicked his son in the side of the face and he drew his wand, Mirabelle scrambling away some. "What in Merlins name do you think your doing Boy?!" Irving bellowed Vincent pointed at Mira and shakily answered "Its Harry Potter!" "So that gives you a right to attack a guest of the host you are a guest of?, No that's normal fucking manners, and that's nothing to say what her father will do to you if he finds out.. what he could do to me!- 'Crucio'. " Vincent began to flop around under the effects of the unforgivable. Mirabelle Stood and got Closer to Irving, everyone else seemed either impassive, or in shock at the scene. "Stop." She pleaded. "He Hurt you My Lady, im afraid I must" Iving replied, still Focusing the spell intently on Vincent, who stopped being able to do anything but a wordless scream at this point. "Did.. my father allow you to second guess him often?" she shot back quickly. "N-no my lady, he- he never did" his concentration wavered a bit. "Then stop" she said more firmly this time, he did, turning and taking her hand in a bow and kissing her knuckles, even though she was weary of being touched, she let him. "Your not to punish him anymore for this when you get home either." she eyed the man carefully, was he that.. faithful to her father, he would torture his kid- or was it simply fear of the man- her chain of thought was broken by a sudden bark of orders. "Boy, you get over here and kiss her foot and thank her for her mercy, Merlin knows what the Dark Lord would do to you- and me if he found out you started attacking his daughter!" Irving barked out as Vincent struggled to crawl towards her and kissed her foot, tryingg to get his voice up high enough to have the thank you heard. Greg and Theo were greatly surprised, and Draco was wondering if his father or Severus would have done that to him if he had been.. a bit meaner in meeting her. "I think your.. demonstration.. will have ensured the others wont.. cause me any issues." her voice was a bit shakey, soon Mr Goyle and Mr Nott had bowed to her and kissed her hand, both motioning for there sons to do the same- which they did. "Uncle, can you walk me back to my room... I think id rather read a bit then, try and be social right now." She asked and Severus nodded, offering his arm as they departed, she heard Mr Crabbe asking Draco and the others to 'drag my sorry excuse of a son back to where you were playing.' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- She waited till they were in her room to burst into tears, her own experiences being attacked by her guardians haunting her as she say on the bed, hugging Severus "you may need to get used to that... your apart of a chess game now, and as a Queen of the board- others will try and use you, some to gain favor with your father, some to get back at him... some will see you as a prize to be won, a weapon to be guided towards enemys.. you did so well with them, I am proud of you" he said and gently stroking her hair as she slowly fell asleep, he carefully let her down to the bed and slipped out of the room to rejoin the adults, and it occurred to him, he wasn't.. gruff or sneering at all with her, was he losing his touch?. ***** Quidditch World Cup ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes When Mirabelle opened her eyes this morning and stared at the ceiling, she debated the merits of trying to get in as much sleep as she could, she really had no desire to get up today- it was Quidditch, the world cup in fact- and she was gonna view it from one of the best seats in the house, the ministers box- of course she was just being paraded around as a trophy and that left a bit of a sour note on the affair. Well, as long as public perception told everyone the Malfoys were only doing anything for her cause she was famous- a prize. Tipsy popped into the room- and all the sheets popped off the bed and left with her,all she was left with just the pillows- the pillow cases also missing. This was Tipsy's subtle cue to get up.. Dobby would let her sleep in.. her mind wandered a bit, would he accept her now.. if he popped into the manor right now cause she called him, would he have a heart attack, would he reject her, try and hurt her if he found out more about her? She got up and went into the bathroom that was already prepared and disrobed and climbed in to soak. One hand on the steak knife she slipped out of the dining room and had been hiding among her things, gently tracing the blade along the skin, she wondered most days.. why she should continue like this when it seemed easier to just, plunge the knife into a artery, wouldn't be painless- but if done right, could be fast.. The idea of being the daughter of the dark lord still sat wrong in her mind, being the daughter of a man who inspired a man to Torture his own son in plain view of a several adults and several other children... She confronted 'Uncle Severus' who was unhelpful.. 'Use your influence to make your father change' was his advice, what influence.. they had tried to kill each other on three different occasions now. How would he react to the knowledge that his basilisk was dead? or that Diary.. or that Dumbledore knew about both, would he kill her out of hand, just keep her locked up? That thought had popped up, what if he was so off the wall- his idea of now keeping her safe was to lock her away somewhere warded to high hell to keep her safe. She nicked herself with the knife while letting her mind wander. Not bothering to heal it till after she was out of the bath was back into the room was both a chance to watch the blood swirl in the water a bit- and not a choice at all, as she left her wand by the bed.. when had she become so comfortable to do that? Narcissa had been teaching her Hair charms.. it kinda bothered her how easy she could magic her hair into a seamless braid, that was something else she had noticed- was her magic under chains before, and now it wasn't? As the thoughts were shaken from her mind she opened her wardrobe, it was a very good thing Narcissa had gone out of her way to get so many clothes, she pulled a pair of black leather pants, a white tank top, black leather jacket and some boots that resembled combat boots more then anything else, course they looked goo- every outfit in here had a pair of shoes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- When she came down to the early breakfast, Narcissa had opted to fiddle with Mira's outfit and makeup and hair- insisting she has to look perfect on whats her debut to the world as a woman. Lucius was neutral about it and Draco was amused by it. A private portkey was booked and they flooed first to the ministry, luckily no one ever seemed to pay Lucius much mind, or his son- the girl with them however got all the lingering looks. The portkey brought them to what looked like a manor, or villa- Mirabelle noted it looked like it was trying to be as grand and lavish as Malfoy Manor. It was announced by- she suppose someone who worked there. That they would be staying here during the course of the game if it lasted for a long time, and that a banquet would be held there at the end of the game with the players present. She Found that politicians from all over Europe were here, as well as former and current stars from other teams- or so thats who she thought they were, some were wearing really old team jerseys. She was Wheeled around by Lucius Malfoy who introduced her to person after person, and she had to keep saying the same thing- her parents changed her gender at birth, none of them looked at her strange for it however. The usual answer was that the process has been around for generations and pureblood's Practiced it alot in order to keep the family name going- and of course the potters were pureblood's, many seemed surprised that Jame's convinced Lily to do it- seeing her birth status and all, and those who try not to give a answer on way or another, simply say 'I see' and move on. After a While of this Draco had moved off to talk to the Quidditch stars of old as it were, and Lucius was off too talk to- she thought some Hogwarts Governors, or maybe they were ambassadors- 'Harry' had slipped off to the side to and was sitting on a bench that looked over what looked like a scenic valley view- complete with a river running between it as well as trees, she wondered who owned the place, mind wandering once more. Her thoughts were Interrupted by a sudden shadow and a voice "You are Harry Potter yes?, the one who lived through the killing curse?" Her first though was at least she wasn't being called the boy who lived still- but that would change to girl who lived soon enough. Her eyes glanced over the features of the Boy who stood before her "I am Viktor Krum." Before she could protest- he had taken hold of her hand and brought her knuckles to his lips and gave her a rather confident smile. "Yes Mr. krum, I am Harry Potter.. its a pleasure to meet you" she forced a smile as Narcissa had been teaching her too, she wanted to jab him in the eye with a salad fork for touching her though. He continued to hold her hand far longer then she would have liked, his eyes examining her closely "Pleasure is all mine, do.. you know who I am?" smiled before asking cautiously. "Haven't the foggiest I'm afraid." She answered truthfully, usually while she was in the wizarding world she had to only think about school- or something trying to kill her, but it was usually both of them if she was being honest with herself. So this boy.. man? he looked a few years older then her at least- was someone famous- or from some family that was importent from some Shit-hole country she likely has never thought of before- at least judging by his accent and mastery of the english language- and who seemed to expect her to know all that. He Released her hand and sat on the other part of the bench without asking and visibly relaxed "That is good..., I was afraid you might start... swooning like everyone else does, despite fact they do the same to you- I am Seeker for Bulgaria National Quidditch team, youngest professional in years- and I know you are youngest seeker in a century" he had leaned back to look at her with a smile as he explained himself." "As usual, someone who knows more about me then i know of them" she said a bit bitterly "I hope your not expecting anything outta me in return for not swooning as you put it." she shot back sharply with a pointed stare that made him grin "Just your company, i'ts nice to be around someone who doesn't expect anything from me, or who Isn't after something.. like the rest of them" he waved a hand dismissively towards the rest of the room "Oh- that's a feeling I get alot- you at least got to be famous for something you do well, I am only here cause I'm an orphan, that's why I'm famous.." she hung her head a little bit at that and he placed a hand over hers that drew her gaze again "You helped save people, think that is why they heap fame on you- but enough about others- we shall talk like normal people yes?" he shot her another smile and she couldn't help but smile as there discussion went towards the weather differences in there home country's, to Quidditch, to just which animals they liked. Before long, someone came over and informed Krum that the game was gonna start soon and that he needed to get ready, then Lucius came over and informed Harry they needed to head toward there seats soon also, Krum promising to seek her company after the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ They apperated towards the stands, and as they were weaving between the tents and people- that was when it occurred to her, no one else bothered either of them till they really needed too that whole time, it was a bit- refreshing to be normal for once. As they were heading up the wall of what amounted to bleachers, she was stopped by a sudden surprising scream and hug as Hermione wrapped her arms around her, and then it was Hermione explaining- rather fast what had happened to Harry last year to Mr Weasley, Ginny- the Twins and a Quidditch player harry did remember- Cedric Diggory- the Hufflepuff teams seeker, and she supposed his father- who was Introduced as Amos. Ginny looked disappointed- Ron still seemed put off with the change to herself. They separated soon after but after they got to the box and there seats, Draco let out a large sigh "I thought the Weasel.. was gonna burn a hole in you" "He.. has been like that since I.. changed back.." she admitted quietly to him, she had wanted to talk with him and Hermione more, but with hermiones little recap- it left very little time before the game started. She didn't really pay attention during the game.. the.. meeting with Ron still seemed to bother her, she had been sure he was her friend, why was he being this way? After a while of the game starting and going at it. She excused herself to go down to the bathrooms that had been put in place on the ground floor, everything appeared normal- until a rather upset looking Ron Weasley rushed her, pushing his forearm under her chin as he pushed her back into the Woman's bathroom and shoved her painfully against the wall. "What did you do with Harry?" he snapped, pressing his forearm harder into her windpipe a moment before letting up so she wouldn't black out. "Ron, I a-" she yelped as he punched her in the side- kidney shots is what Dudley had called them. "Your a lying impostor bitch who is trying to spy on us, now wheres Harry?" he snapped again. She stared at him, thinking how to answer, the blow to her side again made it clear he wasn't gonna be patient about this. "Quit fucking around and give my best friend back you Slytherin whore!" he pressed down on her throat a moment with his firearm,as she struggled to push him off her, he punched at her side another couple of times. "longer you pretend to be him- and i know your not a him, but lets make sure" he grabbed roughly at her crotch, she was wondering when he grew into having this much strength? "Nope, lying cunt accounted for- as I was saying, the longer you pretend to be harry- more I'm gonna make your life a living hell- I want my best friend back!" he gave her a shot to the cheek as he released her and she flopped to the ground as he fled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------ She winced her way back towards the box, as she entered, she rested her hand on Dracos shoulder- he looked alarmed at the limp and bit of blackness growing on her cheek, her grip of his shoulder and the Postion of her fingers was a Signal to both Malfoys- as lucius was watching her too. It was a signal to discuss it at home, the minister had noticed the injurys and she lied easy enough, cramps and a rowdy Quidditch fan made her tumble a bit. It was at that moment Krum caught the snitch and the game ended with a loss, and thats when the diplomats and whatnot started going back to the same villa as before for dinner. The match had taken a while, but at least it had not been days to end, she tried to remain looking serene during the dinner, and was thankful only Draco and Lucius were sitting with her, the black mark on her face being healed by Lucius before they left the box and trying not to let her side bother her as much- everyone would freak the hell out if she said anything about it now. After the meal, before anyone else could- krum had come to collect her from the table as he promised and walk her around the grounds some, saving both of them from talking with the rest of the 'party' as it was, where they had slipped back into there previous conversation about mundane things- he even started asking about some 'muggle artifacts' as he called them. They dident get far beyond how shampoo and conditioner worked before Draco rushed up and informed them they were evacuating- someone was attacking the stadium grounds. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- Lucius had only stayed a few minutes to get some information from fudge- who promised to get more for him tomorrow, someone from the team pulled away Krum rather fast- that left Lucius to portkey and floo back him with Mirabelle, who colapsed at last, causing Narcissa to lift her shirt while it was facing away from the boys to see the blackness of the bruises growing there. "It was Ron.." she answered quietly "Weasley?" Draco asked in a bit of shock before she nodded "He.. thinks I'm an impostor.. and he was gonna.. make my life hell till we gave him 'Harry' back.. he.. dident give a reason to why he thought that however.." her eyes watered a bit as she struggled to hold back tears, Narcissa was too busy healing her side to notice and both malfoy men were rather not looking at her as she was worked on. Rather then answer anymore questions- Mirabelle retreated to her room. "Death Eaters attacked the venue after the game was over.. so they said, someone left 'His' mark at the scene, hanging in the sky.." Lucius said when Draco wandered off to entertain himself. Narcisssa took in a breath "Any of the others... try contacting you yet?" He shook his head, it was to much to ask for this to all wrap up nice and neat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- Mirabelle went into the bathroom crying, and not because she kept digging the steak knife into the palm of her hand and healing it, no she knew Ron was going to carry out his promise- Ginny likely would listen to him, while she seemed indifferent now, that was likely to change. Hermione had pointed out that she had a crush on her- when she was a boy. Her watching Hermione led her to find she had a crush on Ron, and if he ever figured that out he likely would do that to Isolate Mira from her. That was more planing then Ron had brainpower, no he was gonna stumble into that trying to find away to keep Hermione away from her anyways. Fuck, why was she thinking like that now... when had that happened?.. she didn't remember thinking like that before. well sneaky like to be able to try and Predict someone like Rons moves, even if he was Predictable and if it wasent for Hermione- would be up to his ears in troll grades. Did her brain change with the breaking of the spell, or was it simply the chemical balance in her brain that changed? Her father was supposed to be brilliant, Severus was brilliant in some ways, was her mom that as well? The question caused her to slide the blade of the knife along her wrist and watch the blood drip out, gently and painfully moving her fingers as she watched. When she started to feel tired and dizzy she cleaned up and went to bed, wouldn't do for her to be caught passed out and bleeding out on the bathroom floor with her stolen knife- assuming she didn't bleed out enough to die in the first place. As she felt the embrace of sleep take over she wondered how fucked up she was that her own blood and was a comfort. Chapter End Notes I'l admit, i dont think I can do Krum's or Fluer's accents well enough to attempt to try and write them the way other writers have, so I didn't bother trying. ***** Professor Moody ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Mirabelle was rather thankful of the return to school, since the attack at the Quidditch world cup- both by Ron weasley and by the other Death Eater's- Narcissa was treating her like a porcelain doll. she had informed Mirabelle that ladies dont play Quidditch- so while draco got to play on the private pitch, she wasn't allowed to go up, hovered and generally annoyed her with lessons on how to be a pureblood lady. Hermiones owl for wishing harry a happy birthday was late, and and she blamed busyness with her homework, Mira suspected the real reason was Ron. This had caused a huge fuss about the house- if Narcissa had gotten her way, she would have hosted all the Slytherins in a ball in Miras honor.. a very short noticed hap-hazarded party. She had asked instead to go to a Cinema instead. Narcissa, Lucius and Draco turned green at the idea of going- willingly to a muggle business like that, luckily her 'uncle' Severus was not so squeamish about the idea of going to such a place and took her to one near his home in spinners end, despite it having been shown for a few weeks there already- they saw a American comedy called 'The Mask'. Now she was on the train back to Hogwarts, sitting alone in a compartment, Ron had dragged Hermione into compartment with Ginny and Neville, and so she left and took up a box by herself- there wasn't supposed to be 'Set compartments' that only certain houses were allowed, but the train always seemed to split that way anyways. She sat right in the center of the Slytherins, and Crabbe and Goyle seemed to Patrol the door often enough that no one from first years up to seventh seemed to wanna go near it. Pansy Parkinson slipped into the compartment that Theodore, Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy were lounging, he was flanked by both friends- where Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, and Millicent Bulstrode all squeezed in on the other side. "No games Draco, why is Potter hanging around us?" pansy cut in "Shes not.. really hanging around us.." he mused with a smile "Shes a Gryffindor, sitting in the dead center of our section, why hasnt she been Hexed into next week?" she pressed. "You saw the news of my mother leading her around shopping and taking her guardianship?" Draco was doing his best to look bored, and Theo found that amusing- but Blaise had yet to press the issue himself. "Yea, everyone has seen it by this point, being forced to be a gender your not explains you and how you can get so pissy sometimes, but what does that have to do with her now?" the Irritation of the vague and unhelpful answers was starting to annoy her. "Well do you want to cross my mother?" he asked with a frown "Fuck no, anyone willing to cross her would either have to be insane or have such a... better position.. a ungodly better position then hers..." pansy stopped a moment and thought "Shes not making you marry her is she?" Tracey injected herself in the conversation, Draco shook his head. Daphne grinned "That must be it, you have always had such a big crush on Potter as a boy, that mother dearest Jumped on the chance to get you her- just to shut you the hell up!, it makes perfect sense." "Except for the fact 'She' is a half-blood who hangs around with a mudblood and a blood traitor" Millie said stepping in at last. "Well, Weasley already attacked her-" draco was interrupted by the sudden gasp of the girls. "What do you mean attacked, what did he do?" Pansy was eager to hear the gossip now, concerns thrown to the wind. "At the World Cup, he punched her hard enough to leave bruises in a few places, I do believe mother wishes to flay him alive" Draco continued sounding to be bored answering questions. "And how did your mother get involved in it.. i mean really involved, and not that shite the prophets been speculating on?" pansy pressed once more "Nope, I"m not stupid enough to cross my mother either, everyone will find out- but not yet." he grinned that cheeky grin that everyone in Slytherin knew meant he knew more- or was at least pretending he did. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- When Harry arrived at the great hall for the feast, she looked at the table, not sure where to sit- Ron and hermione were already sitting, and Ron looked like he wanted to kill her on the spot- while debating, Lavendor Brown grabbed one arm, Parvarti Patil grabbed the other and sat on either side of her, both smiling at her in a way that made her weary. They were talking over her about there summers.. and it drew all the attention of the table- enough that she considered trying to drown herself in the onion soup. She does notice the defense professor isn't there yet, then the ceiling thundered and lightning before a shambling mess in a overcoat moved in to stop the cieling, he had a fake leg and a fake eye, and moved to the front to greet Dumbledore, that eye is Obviously magic, as it swivels around the room and settles on het. Ron is loudly declaring he is a Auror named 'mad eye' Moody. Harry looked to both Lavender and Parvarti again, who both smiled to her in turn when she heard Albus mention that Quidditch was cancelled in favor of the Triwizard Tournament, and the two other schools would be here to compete- and a age you needed to be.. she wasn't paying any attention to the old mans words anymore after Quidditch had been removed as a thing she could do- Flying had brought her mind some peace, when Narcissa actually let her do it... Before she could get up- Professor Mcgonagall had come to collect her- Lavender, Parvarti and hermione and took them off to the side, letting them into the fact Harry- was going to be in the girls dorms from now on and would there be any issues, the no from Hermione was expected- the other two.. Harry was rather curious as to why they were being nice.. she wasn't thick enough not to see whispers, or the stares or points towards her, fact she was a girl now Made the front page on the Prophet and bumped the attack on the world cup back to page seven. They still had there arms wrapped around her arms, big smiles plastered on there faces- and Hermione trailing about 6 steps behind asking 'why do you have Harry's arms like that, and where are you taking her', and other such obvious questions that made the normally bright witch- acting like Ron. With bright smiles on there face she was paraded through the Common room towards her new dorm, going up this set of stairs was gonna take some getting used to, seeing as for many years it was go right up the stairs- now it was go left. Ron was talking low to shamus, Dean and Neville as they had passed by- and by the whispers as they trudged up the stairs- more then a few were expecting the wards on the stairs that rejects boys to turn on her. They sat on the bed with Harry still wedged between them as Hermione stood by and watched. "Welcome to the better gender, I.. we always had wanted to.. get to know you better, but you never made yourself.. approachable" Lavander begin "Mind you, kinda still look that way now.. we had some.. questions" Parvarti had started in and she could see the tactic already, pepper them with questions so the one your asking stumbles into a answer.. She hated the idea she knew or learned about it at all. "Firstly, the bathrooms are all large and closed off enough that we four could fit into one shower stall, and there would still be room, so no need to worry about privacy in here" Parvarti continued "Now onto other questions" "Like Why you have been staying at the malfoys?" Lavender came into it again "What are they like with you there?" Parvarti continued "And are you gonna be pressed to marry Draco, seeing as he doesn't shut up about you?" Lavender finished, well she had to tell Hermione this shit anyways- may as well mortify them while she was at it- maybe then she could get some god damn rest and respite.. "They have been Indiferent to me living there, Over His dead body am I marrying Malfoy, and living there was preferable to being beaten, starved, raped and treated like a house elf" she tried to keep her statement as dry and monotone as she possibly Hermione was the first to speak in a rather Startled and horrified 'WHAT?' "i know everyones seen the Winces, and at times the bruises, how small and frail looking i always seem to be, how i seem to out eat ron during meals when hes nothing more then a pig with freckles some days, when when uncle vernon found out i was a girl, I found suddenly he had a big interest in having me- as he put it 'Pay him back like the whore I am', but i was pulled out of there before he could, and so learning manner's with Narcissa Malfoys been a picnic by comparison, can i go to bed yet?" she was annoyed and wanted sleep "Why the hell dident you tell anyone?!" hermione shrieked, Lavander and Parvati both looked stunned to silent as the two friends went at it. "Uncle vernon and Aunt Petunia have spent years lying out there asses that I am a Dangerous liar who they took in out of the kindness of there heart's, the adults I told, got persuaded by my aunt and uncle I was lying, and then beat the hell out of me for trying to get them to stop." her somewhat uncaring look to Hermione as she described the horrors of her relatives caused all three of the other girls to give her a group hug, she sighed "try not to spread it around much please." was all she said before she was up and into the curtain of her new bed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Hermione spent some of her time with Harry and some time with Ron, who still glared death at her, Lavander and Parvarti however looked at him and the other Gryffindor boys there year smugly as they- at least played her friends, Harry had decided early on that they likely wanted something. Herbology was normal- as normal as dealing with magic plants could be, Hagrid seemed to be Breeding Some other messed up creature he called Blast ended Skrewts for care of magical creatures- which suddenly made her question how ever got along with Fang, when he had Fluffy... then she wondered what the hell had happened to that big three headed dog. Ron was boasting in the common room that night how moody had swept in and punished Draco when he cursed him from behind, (Lavender after filled her in it was cause Mr Weasley bailed Moody out of a situation.. that made him look unstable as all hell and Rita Skeeter reported on it.) But then McGonagall stopped him sadly. "Heard a nice smack against a stone- oh hey, Potter- your boyfriend got his ass kicked by Moody earlier!" he was loud and suddenly standing right in way now- and every eye was on this, it had been noticed that Ron did not go near Harry or the other way around, and that Hermione floated between the two- and that was just the observations of the other houses at meal time- this was full on proving a fallout. She gave him a tired stare and sighed "One hes not my boyfriend, two I bet the only people in the school who could beat him in a fight are Flitwick, Dumbledore, and maybe McGonagall." she tried her best to not to sound too enthused about it and tried to step past him to get to her room. Of course he stayed in her way, Glaring down at her. "But you must be, seeing as your living a his house- or doe's that mean your a Slytherin whore instead?, that is if your not gonna marry him!" he seemed far too cheerful about attacking her "That how you got into the Ministers Box at the world cup then!, a gang bang?" She wondered where he got that term from, because it decidedly didn't sound all that Wizarding to her- ah well, time to fuck with him a bit she supposed- he was pissing her off. "No, I was Invited there by Fudge, who had wanted to meet me and said the least he could do for me getting rid of Voldemort was get me a decent seat, and as it turned out- many of the team owners and politicians also seemed to want to meet me, and I had a very lovely escort for the night in the form of Victor Krum... ya know, I'l go write him now." she moved again and so was he, but he was growling some too now. Seizing her arm "You never met Krum you lying Slytherin whor-". Harry had enough and somewhat silently had drew and with a whisper cast the stinging hex on his balls causing him to scream out in agony and causing everyone's eyes to go wide, but his grip on her just got tighter. "Ron your hurting me, let go" she said calmly and clearly, they were all still watching her and his noisy exchange, out of the corner of her eyes she noted a pile up at the portrait of students just gawking at them. "Ron, Let go and stop causing a scene!" she snapped and that was when he tried to backhand her. Dodging bludgers was the only reason she managed to escape the hit- Hermione, Lavander and Parvarti, Katie Bell, Wood- the twins, they all started to move and Shout there 'Stop, that's enough', but she ended it herself by Stepping back into him and Kneeing him in the already hexed ballocks, which combined with the twins dragging him off was what released his grip, she had her sleeves rolled up, so everyone could see the force at which he was griping her arm by the already bruising and pale flesh as she retreated to her dorm, Hermione, Lavender and Parvati all on her heels. "Ok, first he says you rejected going to the world cup with us, now he did that, whats going on Harry?" Hermione stood in front of her, arms crossed in concern- thankfully the other two just hung back and listened on Lavs bed. "He didn't invite me to shit Hermione, and he knocked me around in one of the world cup bathrooms cause he thinks I'm an impostor, someone from Slytherin pretending to be Harry Potter" she snapped, a bit more defensively then she should. "He.. said you were acting weird.. and your eyes changed.." she mumbled as she went into thought. "Ya cause Finding out the man who really helped murder your parents was posing as one of your friends pet rat- escaped, and finding out he framed your Godfather to get him sent to prison, and that he had his soul sucked out shortly after you find out he was innocent- and then the next thing they know, your waking up as a girl after being a boy for thirteen years makes everyone act so normal." she had moved to pace a bit as Hermione looked on, it was a bit of pity in her eyes, before lavender spoke up- sounding smart for once. "Well, the eye change was easy enough, could have just been a way to make Mrs Potter connect to you- in case she was having second thoughts about your change-over" She offered. "at any rate, I don't care- he can think whatever he likes- but i'm not gonna sit back and let him have his way of thinking if it means he is gonna attack me over it." she said defiantly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- Defense Against the Dark Arts- or as she was thinking of it- teaching with crazy cripples. Moody had walked in the room, spelled his name badly- she figured he wasn't one for paperwork, then proved that his magic eye could see in every direction around him when Shamus put some gum under his desk, and that he had good enough hearing that he could hear Shamus complain that he could see that while facing the other way. Fred and George had been singing praises all week, since it was there opening class. So of course the idea that Moody would open the class asking about the unforgivable curses caused her mind pause, surely he wouldn't start the class with them?   But he did, Ron answering that his dad mentioned the Imperius curse- causing moody to enlarge and then Imperius a rather lethal looking spider which started Jumping from person to person- which amused the class some, and then the laughter died when he started explaining ways it could be used for evil, like compelling someone to kill themselves or another. The next one to mention one was Neville- who was too sweet and innocent for his own good, he had told harry what had happened to his parents last year, and now Moody- an auror himself was using the Cruciatus curse on a spider sitting on Nevilles desk. Harry stood with a growl "Can you see its bothering him with that Swivel eye?, or are you that cold- as an auror yourself im sure you know all bout it, so why don't you try picking on someone else you one legged, one eyed bully" she snapped at him, eyes Glaring. Moody looked at her and smiled a wicked Smile "Gladly" and with a point of his wand, threw a Imperius at her, she felt comfortable in her mind, as if she didn't have to worry about anything, a voice in her mind was telling her to 'Strip down to her underwear and then kneel', it didn't sound like moody, but then again was it supposed to? She dug her nails into her left palm, the wetness she felt there with the pain began pushing the feeling of bliss out of her- and was very telling that she drew blood, the voice told her to do it again, she growled and punched the desk, those around her recoiled as the impact had caused blood to splat out in most directions from the gaps in her fingers and fist. "Thats two, why dont you try that last one on me, that way when I explain to Professor McGonagall why i Hexed your balls off and threw your fucking leg in the fireplace, she may get a laugh outta it and I get another stupid nickname" she spat out in anger. he glared at her at first before breaking out in a laugh and pointing at her"Ha- now that is the level of resolve and nerve you need to Fight people who use these curses. 100 Points to Gryffindor!, for Miss potters constant vigilance- now, who can name the last curse that we consider unforgivable?, miss potter you can sit down." No one answered him, and she did in fact sit down, still glaring as he used the killing curse on the spider and he explained one person is known to have lived through it and was in this room, well no shit. He was clearly out of his mind, Harry wondered if he had shown all the upper classes the curses, or if as usual- her presence caused it., he dismissed the class and harry was the first to Neville's side to help the shocked young man from the room, her hand was clearly still bleeding as she helped him away, before Hermione stepped up and healed the wound this time. This was gonna be a long fucking year, as she had to deal with a aggressive ex friend, a mental patient who was teaching them, Some stupid contest- and whatever the hell Lavender and Parvarti were planing, as they had yet to reveal anything to her yet. Chapter End Notes Here's a treat- another long chapter, rather soon after the last one. ***** Champions: Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Hogwarts and Fuck it! ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Harry let out a bit of a sigh, it was well into the evening the day the other two Schools were supposed to show up for this tournament. She wondered first if by some miracle they arrived at the same time, it was a bit chilly out today and she honestly didn't care, she wanted to go write another letter to Krum, who she started sending owls back and forth on a more regular basis since her fight with Ron, he kept saying a surprise was gonna arrive soon. They talked more about the landscapes around there schools, rather then schoolwork, mind you that was in there. She had asked what his schools name was but he seemed to keep forgetting to mention it as he started talking about some bird he saw instead. And that was when her thoughts of writing her next letter to Viktor was interrupted when in the sky, someone spotted something, and it was a Carriage- being pulled by several Fat arsed winged horses- or Pegasus as it were. It only became more apparent how fat these animals were when the carriage landed, the first person out of the thing was- what to harry looked like another half giant, a woman, followed by a bunch of students in these stupid looking sky blue uniforms- well stupid to her, some of the girls and boys looked chilled to the bone already, making her think this school- Beauxbatons must be hidden in the south of France, or they were stupid enough not to cast warming charms or get jackets. Course while those students got to go inside to the warmth of the castle, they had to stay out here- freezing there asses off while waiting for the other school, thankfully a ship pushed out of the black lake, it looked very much like something you would see in the mist sailing or in bad weather in a pirate movie- that was crewed by pirate ghosts. it got closer to shore and a plank uncurled itself and rested on the shore as people came to deck to get off, least these ones looked dressed for winter, the Durmstrang students, she looked beside her to Hermione. As much as the girl liked Ron, he had been more a more an ass lately and so Ron had managed to push her away lately. She felt something grab her hand and turned to see it was Victor, and he was kissing her knuckles- in front of her whole damn school and he was wearing the uniform of Durmstrang. His headmaster was telling Dumbledore the boy had a cold, but Victor wasn't seeming like he did, continuing to hold Harry's hand, and who had to give Hermione a bit of a shrug when the boy pulled her along "You will be sitting with me yes?." His grip on her hand made her think it wasn't really a question, so she smiled and nodded and thought, Did she give him some impression they were together?, did he assume they were?, or was he just that eager to see someone he thought as a friend and the ways of his home country were different, or was this a Pureblood lesson Cissa hasn't covered yet. Viktor was stopped by a crowd while trying to find a seat, leaving harry standing there beside him awkwardly while he signed autographs. The Durmstrang headmaster luckily moved in and ordered everyone to there seats and the crowd dispersed. She felt his hand in hers again and shyly smiled, that's when she noticed where Viktor planned to sit- the Slytherin table.. ah hell. They were up near the sixth and seventh years, one of the seventh years Sniffed and looked to Viktor before Speaking "This.. is the slytherin table... It is not welcome here" with a vague gesture in Harrys direction, causing Krum to raise an eyebrow and speak something in Bulgarian, and that was when the other Durmstrang students began snatching back autographs from the slytherins and presenting them to Viktor, who drew his wand and let them be eaten in flames, throwing the ashes in that seventh years face. "If shes not welcome, i'm not sitting here either" and he took Harry's hand and led her along towards the Hufflepuff table, several of Viktors friends followed before he asked her in a low voice "Know anyone here?" Making harry think he either got lost to the Gryffindor table, or was trying to prove a point in that harry would be Welcomed elsewhere, so she pointed out Cedric Diggory, commenting he was on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and was also a seeker, and so the group of them settled down there. a Glance towards the Slytherin table had alot of glares go that one boys way, but just as many go towards her or Viktor, where as the Gryffindor table was glaring at her, apart from Nevile and Hermione. "We will have to sit at my house table tomorrow, and maybe squeeze in with the Ravenclaws later in the day" she was trying to be diplomatic about it as they all settled into talking, before Professor Dumbledore started his welcome feast for the other schools- introducing there Headmaster and Headmistress, and then welcoming two more judges for the tourney, and then unveiling the cup- it looked like some wooden piece of crap, the blue flames didn't help that assessment. When food arrived she started to get helped to food by Viktor, and of course the Hufflepuff Quiditch team who all seemed to like the idea of sitting and talking with Krum. The Gryffindors looked upset at her, the Ravenclaws were talking with those French School's kids, and the Slytherins looked super pissed, at both her and the boy who drove Krum away. When she looked at the high table, McGonagall looked rather proudly at her, Professor Sprout also looked rather happy, and she had spoken loud enough that hopefully Krum sitting at any of the tables would stop being news, the other thing she was noticing was the way the girls all looked at her cause of the Quidditch star leading her around. She sighed, figuring she couldn't fucking win. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- The other girls were Jealous, well most were jealous that Krum seemed interested in Harry Potter, that fame seeking slut- that was one of the nicer things she heard about her, other things criticized her appearance, lack of breasts, lack of butt- bony, the damn list went on. She kinda wished they thought her to be the murderous heir of Slytherin from second year again, then it occurred to her that- damn it she kinda was. They left the cup in its place for three days, Fred and George tried to fool it and got white beards for there troubles cause of that 'damn age line', many students of each school put there names in- including Cedric and Viktor, he waited by the door of the great hall for her arrival, and insisted she do the same for him, so they could sit elsewhere. They rotated tables, the Ravenclaws didn't seem to notice there table was least selected, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuff seemed to enjoy getting Viktor the most. And he seemed to enjoy her attention most, until that boy from Sytherin had come up to apologize and let slip he thought harry was a 'It' again and one of Viktors friends- Ivan swung his legs out to get up and hit the boy between the legs which caused him to topple over. He said sorry, while he leaned down to lift him up, but leaned in to whisper something else in the boys ear that made his eyes wide and caused his retreat from the Hufflepuff table, and Ivan refused to tell what he said. Most of the freinds were polite but she had no idea what there damn names were, they never spoke in English- besides Ivan. The night the cup was supposed to have its results for who was each schools champion for Beauxbatons- Fleur Delacour was selected, for Durmstrang- Viktor Krum was selected, Cedric Diggory was selected for Hogwarts. Harry was about to tune out the headmasters boring speech when the flames of the goblet suddenly flashed again and flicked out another parchment scrap, and she sat there in silence- stunned as everyone else searched the crowd, headmasters voice getting louder in calling it, Hermione was beside her trying to push her along to the Summons of Dumbledore, but Harry was Shaking her head and lightly repeating 'I didn't put it in.' Hermione however pushed her up to her feet and it was a light hand on her shoulder by Professor Moody to guide her towards where the champions had disappeared to her that caused her to snap and she began crying, cursing her newfound emotional spectrum- why cant i have a normal year. "I never put my fucking name in that wooden pile of flaming shit!" was her first reaction when she was steered into the other room. The Heads of house to the school as well as the three headmasters, Bagman and Crouch and the other champions were a bit taken back by the display before them, as the girl began pacing and hyperventilating a bit as she repeated the line between sobs but refused to let anyone get close to her- which Krum did at first. If that wasn't odd Enough she started begging everyone present who wasn't a champion to get her out of this, cause she wasn't the one who put her fucking name in. Crouch told them that even if she was innocent of putting her name in the cup, it was a binding magical contract- and would kill her if she tried to withdraw- and that was what had her slide down the wall and hug her legs crying in great sobs. Fleur was the first by her side, sitting beside the younger girl and hugging her to herself as she kinda glared up at the staff who had just told a girl who went to every staff member there and the judges begging them to get her out of it. That she had to compete or she was gonna die. Viktor of course was the next one be her side to comfort her, and Cedric.. well he didn't believe she was a good enough actress for this not to be real. Cedric whispered that he was gonna let people know it wasn't her choice, both other champions nodded and whispered the same. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- It took every ounce of Severus Snapes resolve to not break down and comfort his clearly distraught niece- and he swore he saw during the the whole thing the old mans mask crack a bit and he smirked, before going back behind the mask. He wasn't sure if it was cause he was the one who put her in this situation, or if he just enjoyed watching her snap, but he needed to be careful- there may well be a Death Eater in the school who did this, but he wished he realized why and who so he could take her safety into account. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------- Professor McGonagall escorted her back to the tower, by now all the houses were back in there respective dorms and common rooms, she was likely a debate topic on everyone's minds now. Climbing through the portrait hole, she dident hear Ron yelling, just felt him rush her, smash her into the wall, and pin herself there with his forearm. That was when she started to wonder how healthy her mind really was that he could be six inch's away yelling, and she didn't hear him- or care. But with a slight bit more focusing from her place- the crack of all the voices came in, Ron Yelling about me being a glory hunter whore who dishonored the name of Godric Gryffindor, who would have told his best friend about entering the tournament. Then Hermione started screaming back at him on how she wasent told about it, so clearly she was set up, "Because as you say Ronald- she would tell her best friend" the tone of her voice rather clear that she thought Ron was an idiot. He didn't look to enjoy the idea Hermione just implied Harry Potter wasent his friend and looked to wanna step against Hermione for another verbal round. McGonagall however decided this had gone on long enough and made the announcement that Ron lost 30 points for attacking another student, and was gonna get detention- Seamus and Dean both booed her for that, as Lavender, Parvati and Hermione helped Harry up the stairs, her eyes were puffy and looked like she had been crying, so a whole lot of people just got to see there brave person-who-lived, somewhat unhinged- that was gonna boost house spirits. As she was sat on the bed and fussed over a bit, she finally managed a whisper of a statement. "I didn't put my name in the cup.." Harry confessed, Hermione agreed that Dumbledore's age line would have stopped her, the expressions on Lavender and Parvati's faces while they talked lightly over on Parvati bed told her they were reconsidering being friendly with her, at least that was what Harry assumed they were talking about, lately they had hovered near her as much as Hermione did, at least giving a impression of friendship, when all but Neville and Hermione had stopped, at least from her year. The Quidditch team would likely back her as long as she caught Snitchs, but seeing as there wasn't any games this year- she expected them to treat her like crap till next year, when they needed her to win games for them again. And even then she wondered how long Neville and Hermione would stay by her, her father being who he was. She didn't notice that Hermione was holding her in a hug, for a while at least and decided this would do till she could slip away with the knife she lifted from the great hall, she wondered if they were tracked and no one bothered to come for it?. Tomorrow was gonna suck so much. Chapter End Notes Took me a while to get this Chapter close to how i wanted. Still not 100% on board with it, but it will do i think. ***** Ron can fuck off. So can Dragons and the Press ***** Chapter Notes See the end of the chapter for notes Fuck Harry hated being right. When she woke up in the morning, Lavender and Parvati were back to being there cheerful selves towards her and Hermione. Outside there dorm was another matter, as it seemed Ron's campaign of 'She is a cheating bitch who is running Godric Gryffindors name through the mud.' Some sent glares her way, some just ignored her, some sent snide remarks, she was dragged into the great hall by Viktor, who sat her across the table with Cedric and Fleur taking up the seats across from them, she felt very tense being in the middle of this sea of yellow and black, but they were at least just ignoring her- the Ravenclaws had seemed to have sided with Ron's assessment, if there comments were anything to go on. Herbology with Hufflepuff was again rather quiet from the puff side, Hermione, Lavender and Parvati were starting to get flak from the other Gryffindors for supporting her, she hoped- that the girls hope was well placed, the idea something new would drive there attention elsewhere, at least that was how Lav the gossip guru put it as happening. Care of magical creatures had the Blast ended skrewts needing to be walked, though they all seemed to just drag the student in charge of them instead. Potions that day was by far the worst, Draco had decided to go after Ron in potions before Snape entered the class, for being a poor savage who would turn on his own family if it gave him a Knut , seeing as he turned on Harry that easily. Well in his fucking haste to hit the boy with a spell, Ron instead hit Harry in the nose, causing her glasses to get flung off to the side as the stunner broke her nose in a rather morbid splash of blood that soaked into Hermiones shirt. When she fell off her stool was the exact moment moment Snape entered the classroom. Malfoy quickly spoke up and said that Ron attacked Harry unprovoked, Seamus countered he was aiming at Malfoy- for being a git, which earned him a detention and Ron five, and also minus seventy five points. The death glare at Harry by Ron made it clear to anyone watching he blamed her for that and not, ya know- Malfoy. Hermione had retrieved her glasses and all there bags as Parvati and Lavender helped carry Harry to the hospital wing, and also try not to let her bleed all over everything so much. Madam Pompfrey was able to correct the nose easy enough, and was forced to give the girl a blood replenishing potion. Mind you Harry was out cold almost as soon as the stunner hit her nose. When she does wake up, Hermione is of course there- and damn it, so is Colin Creevey. who has been tasked to bring her to a press event for the tournament, a wand weighing whatever the fuck, she didn't feel like caring. She is still feeling weak and according to Hermiones hand mirror that she keeps in her bag since the Basilisk incident, looks about as pale as the Hogwarts ghosts. She figured all she had to do now was learn to float and be see thru, and next death day party of Sir Nicholas she would fit right the hell in. The other champions had moved to her side in concern when she dragged her pale ass through the tents door for the wand weighing, there was that bagman asshole,some fucker with a camera, and a bitch, well she was first just a woman- then her attempts to drag Harry into a broom closet for a interveiw made her elevated to bitch. She refused the interview, and Krum got defensive over how petulent the blonde woman was being over the obviously ill girl declining a interview, as had hermione- who stayed on Madam pompfreys instructions to make sure she took it easy, else she would have to come back and skip the event. That skeeter woman however just gave them a smirk as Mr Ollivander with the four other judges entered the tent. The only interesting thing the wand weighing taught her was Fleurs wand had a hair of her grandmother powering it, this of course made harry comment that was awesome, and that made Fleur blush and hug her. It seemed other people found that weird, or that was at least the impression Harry got. After the event, the other champions and Hermione escorted her back to the hospital, where after another dose of blood replenishing potion, passed out for the night- ya know after Pompfrey shooed her friends away. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- Harry was rather furious when she made her way to the great hall the next morning- or was it her heading from? man blood replenishing potions fucked with your head. That Skeeter bitch's article was implying she was using her new found feminine charms to seduce Cedric, Viktor and Fleur, because of course she was pretty enough to seduce a half-veela, while she didn't outright say it- her comments of touching each of them and whispering and them laughing apparently gave that reporter the impression she was doing that, and that she was succeeding. Admittedly, she was rather low on blood at the time and didn't remember much, she likely looked drugged up too and she wondered if that was the next days headline. This however was the point the other students started calling her a a variety of things implying she was both a lesbian and a slut, and a scarlet woman, skank, whore, tramp, floozy, hussy, tart, harlot and hooker. and that was just the fucking gossip she could hear coming off the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables that also didn't go after her looks. If this was what it felt like to be loved, other people could fucking keep it. The other champions looked about as pleased as she did, she kept eyeing the bowl of oatmeal that Ivan was eating and wondered if anyone would try and stop her if she tried drowning herself in one of her own, and sadly she thought they all would, at least at the Hufflepuff table- given the chance she suspected Ron would hold her down, well after she made some lie on where the 'real' harry was of course. Harry had trouble caring about her classes with all the negativity directed at her, Fleur and Viktor had corralled Harry and Cedric into the corner of the library to announce that, there first task would be dragons. Fucking great. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------- After a potions lesson a few days later, Snape had asked her to stay behind after class just before Dinner, causing Ron and a few others to let out a snicker, least it was the last class of the day. He made sure that everyone had left with a few spells to make sure they were the only ones there before he led her back into his office, the door was spelled heavily, including silencing charms, locks, locking spells and anti- animagus charms. "How.. are you fairing child?" he said in a rather concerned tone, the girl looked haggard, the black under her eyes told him lack of sleep. He supposed the crying and sobbing and moving to sit and curl against him was all the answer he needed at the moment. when she was ready, she started recalling all that had been happening. Snape wished he could get away with murdering a student, not like Ron Weasley had some great future in line, or was the last of a family line- but of course he would be missed, at least by his family-unfortunately. So he did all he could do right now and comforted her. She had looked up at him and he sighed, having many questions, and thinking most of them were not ones he could answer easily if at all. "I know you want to stay like this, dear Niece, but I am afraid we must venture back out into the world under the veils of our masks" he said sincerely. "Do.. you know who put my name in the Goblet.. or that id be facing dragons?" Mirabelle asked, because in these private moments she could be Mirabelle again, felt nice not to be under the weight of Harry Potter, at least for a little. "No, and It has not come to my attention who it is, and under.. Moodys watchful eye, it has been a bit hard to discover who that might be." he brushed a bit of her hair aside "As for how to deal with a Dragon, as I understand it- your only meant to be retrieving a object from it- and you are a Seeker" She had been learning to summon objects in charms, her eyes flashed in thought as she moved to her feet, straightening herself out "Thank you professor" she did a bow and curtsy Narcissa would be proud of and hurried out of the room. Hermione was waiting at the entrance to the dungeons for her and pulled her aside "you've been crying.. what did he say? what did he do?" she asked quickly and defensively. "He.. remarked.. i had been doing better lately.. and was... checking to make sure my book wasent altered, that I wasn't cheating.. and the.. weight of everything just.. made me cry and he sent me out in disgust.." She hated lying but, it was a half lie, or maybe one fourth of a lie? Hermione hugged her regardless "Do.. you need anything from me?" "I need to get good enough to summon my broom from the castle- to wherever the first tasks taking place..." Hermione nodded to that and the two of them entered and moved to where the other champions sat at the Hufflepuff table. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------ The four champions and Hermione were seen in the Library together- it having been confirmed by the fan-girls that tracked Victors presence, many didn't understand why the other champions stayed close to this obvious rule breaker, others used skeeters argument that Harry's new found female body and Narccissa Malfoy's lessons turned her into some bi-sexual siren Lavander and Parvati would show up at times- but really would only pick Fleurs brain for french fashion tips and makeup questions. Fleur talked a bit about her little sister Gabrielle when it was just the two of them, Harry felt a pang of jealousy for the absolute love fleur oozed about the girl, but it was a nice conversation otherwise, besides ducking questions about her home life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- As the first task approached her mastery of the summoning spell got better, but she got the feeling deep down that simply bringing it in and flying off were gonna be alot harder then she thought it was gonna be, not to mention her worry about what the other champions would end up doing, they had not actually discussed strategy with each other, in fact the only reason that harry got away with practicing that spell right under there noses was it had been the current lesson, it seemed a unwritten rule between the four they were going to keep each other in the dark for strategy. The day of the task, they had been brought to a tent. They had been given athletic looking clothes with there names on the back like jerseys, and then in came Mr Crouch and the other judges who watched as they picked there dragon, and of course she got the meanest and biggest looking fucker of the lot, why would her life start being easy now? She had left her firebolt on her bed and her window open to try and make this Easier, but between dodging the rather pissed off Dragon, and waiting for her broom to arrive took ages, the tail on this fucker was sharp- was the first thought as it bit into her right arm barely as it tried to use it to impale her just before her broom arrived. What didn't take ages was getting on the broom and flying up. The Plan was to do a loop around and skim in and grab the golden egg and fly off, what actually happened was the chain holding the beast in the arena snapped like a toothpick and the dragon chased after her in a attempt to eat her alive, or burn her out of the fucking sky, so she flew up in a loop- had she been trailing smoke she would have made a spirial up- it was so the dragon had to try harder to hit her with bouts of flame or the snap of its jaws. She had not gone up in a straight line, so she found herself over one of the nearest mountains when she took a steep dive, the Hungarian Horntail taking a bite out of the air beside her before it dived after her. She was heading at almost top speed towards the peak of the nearest mountain she could, the angry roar was one of the only indications it was still back there, the sound of the wind blowing past her head muffling most every other sound. Skimming close to the peaks tip as she flew down the mountains surface made her rather alert to pain in her left shin. It had left a sudden shock to her system as she felt her leg drag across the rough rocks and stone surface, a crash was heard behind her as she pulled up a bit, looking back behind her in time to dodge a bit of flying stone. It seemed the dragon wasn't able to slow itself in time, nor was it able to adjust itself to skim the surface like she had. No, it had quite clearly smashed into the plateau of the peak and was slowly rolling down the mountain face, she wondered if it had just died, or simply rendered itself unconscious. She didn't take any more time then that however to fly back and pick up the egg on a flyby of the stadium, there was some cheering all around. When she looked at her left leg, it was absolutely dripping blood from the large skid mark where she scrapped the skin off, she stayed on her broom till madam Pompfrey got to her, because as she predicted she collapsed trying to put any pressure on her leg at all and had to be floated on a stretcher back to the castle after the wounds were staunched. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ As it turned out most of the Gryffindors that had been siding with Ron till now broke away from his negative outlook to embrace there champion, the Hufflepuffs had to admit the idea that task one was combating dragons made them more warm to her presence, she was competing with folks more skilled then her, and yet she managed it. Slytherin of course had surprisingly stayed neutral while Ravenclaw stuck to there previous thoughts on the matter. Apparently the fickle bunch that was Gryffindor broke out in a party when her pale white ass limped its way through the portrait hole and into the common room with hermiones help, except for a few noticeable absences- which quickly included herself and Hermione, who stressed that Pomprey had said needed more bed rest, and who harry enforced the idea of not looking forwards to the idea of being locked back in the hospital wing, it seemed to amuse the masses of her house enough to let her pass. She let slip to Hermione that the only one she truly still trusted in the house was her, in a rare moment when they were alone in there dorm. Of course she answered 'well your like a sister to me, you said so yourself?, or was it me?- at this point it doese't matter' Harry was caught in thoughts of her father, the supposed dark lord, was it true her aparent loss was what drove him to attack muggles, and muggleborns.. those that opposed him? Would there be reason left in him, or was she going to be forced to choose? Her answer was muffled in contentment, as Hermione sat behind her and tried to teach her how to braid ones own hair as well as brush it, in the hopes when harry had use of her arm fully again she may attempt it with her. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Professor McGonagall had pulled Harry aside, who was still somewhat Injured from the first trial and informed her of the roll champions would take in the yule ball(opening dances, Requiring a date for that purpose, wearing a pretty gown in her case)- which she assured the younger girl would be announced and posted in the common rooms by the time she got up to them. When the Yule ball had been announced she found herself surprised, Victor had asked her to accompany him. But that wasn't what surprised her- what did was how many other Boys of all ages had asked her to accompany them. She of course politely declined them all. She had found out from Lavender and her connections to the gossip mill that most the boys thought her Victor were only friends, since they had never been caught kissing in public like any normal couple, she neglected to comment that Vic did ask- but she got her answer as to what that something Lavender and Parvati had wanted from her was. They had the dream to open a Salon when they graduated. As it turned out seed money wasn't an issue, nor was a space to start up- no what they wanted was a spokeswoman as it were- and has Harry was likely one of the most famous witches in the world, them doing her makeup and hair for the ball would showcase there talents to the world, especially if she started saying they were the only two besides herself she let do her makeup and hair. They brought out all kinds of papers and business plans that they wouldn't be able to do till years in the future. While in classes Lavender and Parvati seemed to skirt by on gossip and barely acceptable grades- it seemed more to Harry that if it was lack of interest that led to the poor marks at this point. That was when she remembered few transfiguration lessons, few charms and some potions that one could consider beauty products that they scored higher then Hermione on- and everyone seemed to think were dumb luck. Speaking of Hermione, she seemed to be so in awe at the other girls meticulous planning, she didn't notice she just agreed to Harry's prompt that they should do Hermiones hair and makeup as well until it was too late. On the grounds that Harry would want her best friend to get the best treatment as well, and it would increase visibility of there skills if more then one witch was sporting there work. That and Harry knew Hermiones grasp on these beauty spells was at a practical level at best. They had a practice sessions that saturday to get an idea of the the exact look both girls wanted- but also suited there dresses. It seemed they weren't incorrect in Parvati and Lavenders skill with these sorta spells, it seemed almost unmatched, and the planing on what each girl needed, meant they could time manage better to make sure all four of them would look dazzling. As it turned out they got the idea of such close time management tactics, from how Hermione treated exam studies. Hermione and Harry in one of the rare moments it was just them had confided there dates to each other. Turns out Neville had asked Hermione. It seemed the Yule Ball was going to be a good one, unless luck somehow fucked her over again. Chapter End Notes Noticing a pattern where I seem to keep posting longer and longer chapters, which I hope everyone enjoys. ***** A Magical Yule. ***** 'Harry' had been pleasantly surprised. The there was a week left until yule and since she had been successful in the task, it seemed everyone had decided to fuck off and leave her alone, which had lead to the champions doing a tour of all the great hall tables but Slytherin, Ivan glaring so hard at that boy who was offensive to his friends friend that he stopped trying to get close to say sorry. Even Ron was laying off his shit lately, he still was glaring and staying away, but she would take that over his earlier attacks against her. Hermione had discovered House Elves, and the fact they were magically indentured servants- she thought of it more like slavery, Harry resolved to ask Narcissa more about it when she could, and remind them to not treat there other elves like Dobby. So the older champions were in class, Hermione was likely down in the kitchens arguing with creatures that dident seem to want the rights she wanted to give them, and she was studying alone in the Library when a shadow was cast over her book, and she looked up to the face of Draco Malfoy, looking like whatever he was doing here was a bother. "So, when am I going to pick you up for the ball?" his gaze looked somewhat disinterested if she was being honest with herself. "Excuse me?" She raised an eyebrow and he looked at her. "Don't play dumb, the Yule Ball- when do you want me to pick you up?, I want to be a little early personally." he sniffed a bit as he looked at her. "I'm not going to the yule ball with you Malfoy." she was about to go back to her book when the shocked outburst happened. "Of course you are!, who else would take you?- besides mother would expect me to escort you to keep you from doing anything inappropriate." he was staring now, and she wanted to hit him with a book. "I dont do things like that"She growled a bit as her voice got louder as she narrowed her eyes. "You never said a thing, your mother never said a thing, and Someone else did ask me!" she snapped back at him, begining to pack up her stuff "Because it was expected, you are not going there with anyone but me!" she knew that old bat of a librarian was gonna be on there ass soon if they kept this up so she slung her bag over her shoulder and stormed out, well of course blondie followed, gtabbing her arm and turning her roughly around to face him. "Storming off before you answer is impolite!" "So is assuming your going to go to the ball with me when you haven't said a god damn word to me all fucking year so far, not a 'hi', not a 'how are you', not a 'would you mind accompanying me to this upcoming ball'. No words at all about it, you just act like a entitled little shit about it" "When mother he-" She cut off his retort swiftly "When she hears you said nothing to me but expected this shes gonna think your an Idiot." she turned to leave when he grabbed her arm again, she was done with being touched "So who ARE yo-" he was cut off again but this time by the fact she turned and slapped him as hard as she could, her hand throbbed in pain, damn his bony ass cheek, but he found himself off balance rather quickly. He let her leave this time, standing there in shock. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Theo couldn't help but fall out of his chair laughing when Draco had turned up to the common room with a big red hand print on his cheek. Well to be fair, he did that after he told him, Greg and Vince what had happened- and merlin bless them even they thought not talking to a girl at all but expecting her to go with you was stupid. That was when his date Daphne showed up with Millie and pansy. Pansy practicality threw herself at the boy as a possible date option the moment she saw the hand outline, and he accepted, Blaise came over to proclaim how much better he was at getting girls then Malfoy was cause he had yet to be slapped. When Daphne asked later when they were- well more alone what had happened, she couldn't help but grip the bridge of her nose at Draco's idiocy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- When Harry returned to her the dorm she found Hermione on her bed, staring at a red mark on her forearm crying. she quickly moved in and took a breath "want to tell me what happened?" "it was Ron... he thought.. he thought no one else would ask me to the ball.. and..he suddenly remembered that I was a girl, and when i said no, I had a date, he.. grabbed my arm and snapped at me I didn't have to lie cause I was hanging out with you all the time." she sniffled and rested her head on Harrys shoulder, who started to play with the girls hair a bit. "Ron has been nothing but a dangerous brute for a while now... back.. when he.. made you cry in first year, he didn't think going after to warn you was a thing we should do... I was always... surprised you hung out with us." harry admitted softly "Put up with him mostly for the sake of you.. and I never had any friends growing up, thought this was how they acted...." she sniffled a bit. "I had been hoping he would.. smarten up soon, but i doubt I'l ever be his friend again at this point." Harry shrugged and hugged the girl again "suppose its you and me now, the Gryffindor duet." Hermione giggled a bit at that and the both of them flopped back onto the bed, looking up at the ceiling of it and her pushing Harry back with her. "Malfoy just came up to me assuming that I was going with him" she admited "What, Malfoy?, how did he come to that conclusion?" she glanced towards harry. "he assumed his mother would match our robes and expect him to accompany me, she said shit on it- and that was literally the first thing he said to me all year." "So what did you do?" "Slapped him with all my might." Hermione giggled "Feels good to hit him right?" "That it does" harry smiled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ The rest of the week had been uneventful, and as the sun started to rise on yule, Harry and Hermione found themselves woken rather early Christmas day- and they all had gifts pilled at the ends of there beds, guess the house elves didnt want gifts stolen if they left em in a pile in the common rooms, seeing as so many students stayed. Harry had gotten Hermione a new Quill set, and she got her a book of more advanced defense spells. The dorm mates all exchanged candy in one form or another Draco had given her a bar of honeydukes best chocolate. She had given him one as well, but not before she shaped it into a hand that was molded to look like it was fliping the person off who opened the box (She was still mad at him.) Mrs Malfoy gave her a manners book, and Mr Malfoy a book on pure-blood genealogy, she wondered if this was a joke set of gifts from them or if she was actually gonna be made to read the damn things. The new cauldron and instruments for precise potion brewing had no name on them, but it didn't take a genius to figure it out who it was from. Hermione and her were missing the usual Weasley jumper, so they both figured that they were no longer welcome at the burrow at any rate by that happening. Breakfast looked normal, and they lounged for a while after, Lav and Parvati however had started to get everything ready for them- announcing that after lunch they were gonna begin there makeovers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- She looked like one of those story book princesses, Cinderella perhaps. The gown had a bit of puff to the skirt and came with gloves that went past her elbow, the whole thing was different shades of white. there was lace in some places, and what appeared to be some clear crystals attached in some places, her hair was up with several more of those crystals hanging from whatever they wrapped her hair around to get it into a somewhat tight bun. She kept the Cinderella comment to herself because they may think glass slippers were a good thing and the next thing she knows- crippled feet! Hermiones dress was more.. modern looking in a pretty Pink, Parvati wore a traditional Red East Indian garb- so she said, girl could say they wore burlap, and for all Harry would know about that part of the world meant she would believe the girl would be right. Lavander wore a rather deep green gown, she wondered when those girls had time to do there own makeup when they spent so much time making there projects cleaned up. She had to leave to go meet her date elsewhere a half hour before the ball was to begin, when she left no one was in the common room but McGonagall, who escorted her to where the durmstrang students were, since she had to enter with them. When Victor found her, the Cinderella comparison was apt, he looked like prince charming had a cape wrapped somewhat over one shoulder. With the fur on it in places he maybe looked like a more Rural prince charming as they linked arms. When they entered, she clearly heard Ron "Cheating Slag cleans up well." she made no attempt to look him out, and they walked on, moving up to the head table, which she supposed tonight was the champions table. When her eyes found Ron, his dress robes were a feathered monstrosity that looked like a Patchwork of garbage cloth scraps that would beg for being burned if someone ever enchanted them to talk, his hair looked like he rolled out of bed- and he seemed to have brought his little sister to the ball with him. She hoped they weren't really that kinda purebloods and Ginny was the pity option to not look like a complete fool showing up alone. Her eyes also found Pansy firmly attached to a miserable Draco Malfoy. Lavander was with Dean, Seamus was with Parvati, and Hermione with Neville all at a table. At the Champions table, Cedric was with Cho Chang- the Ravenclaw Quidditch teams seeker, And somehow Ivan had roped Fleur into going with him. Victor was seated to her left, and Fleur to her right, Ivan on the other side of her, then it went Cedric and Cho to fill out the table. The meal went fine, then there was the first dance- As soon as she had been healthy to walk from her first task McGonagall made her take so many extra hours dancing so she wouldn't be a laughing stock. Her dance with Victor was fun, so she then danced with Cedric when he asked to switch partners, a and then ivan as each one got a chance to dance with each others date, but retired back to the table to talk and recover before they would dance more- the night was young still and was being absolutely perfect. Until it wasn't. While recovering at the champions table as it was now, somewhere above her a bucket flipped over. And suddenly gallons of blood was dropped on her head, splashing right and left as it slopped down on her. It soaked her head to toe- good bit hit Fleur, good bit also hit Victor. And surprisingly there was no laughter to this, there was the sound of a few people throwing up though as she was getting to her feet. The boys were all mortified it was blood dropped, maybe there would be laughing if it had been green slime or something else. The real gasps came from the girls- most guessed that was something Mrs malfoy got the girl- and likely cost a fortune- as you could not easily magic away blood, it always left stains, and she was soaked. The blood soaking off her made her stumble and fall off the slightly raised platform where the head table was kept. "Look at the Cheating Slag!, she cheated her way into being a Champion just for fame, and now look at It! " Ron had stepped up, a malicious glint in his eyes as he pointed at her, everyone gave the boy some distance, the teachers had not responded quite yet as Ron quite quickly found a fist in his jaw causing him to drop like a sack of potatoes. Her glasses were also blood covered in places, so she had a hard time seeing anything clearly, it looked like Victor was sitting on Ron and repeatedly punching the bastard in the face, the vague image of two other red heads trying to kick Victor off Ron turned into a sea of Durmstang dress robes all piling on the fight. Something was pulling her to her feet and she turned in time to see her ruin Hermiones dress too as the girl speed walked her out of the room about the time the boom of teachers voices came in around the location of the fight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- Ron sat glowering in the headmasters office, holding ice to a black eye, that asshole Quidditch star had broke his nose also and knocked out a tooth, that had been easy enough to fix, but the other bruises were another matter. As Professor dumbledore entered and sat down as he spoke "Am i right to assume Mr Weasley, that the.. sheep's blood was your doing?, I have to wonder why you would target your friend?" Course he had seen Ron giving the girl hell- he remembered those looks of absolute hate from james days- and addressed to snape. But this boy was stupid. "Everyone else i told thinks I'm Loony, but that isent my friend, doesn't act like Harry, certainly doesn't look like HIM, I think it was some plan by the Malfoys to get all our secrets" he waits a moment for the headmaster to call him crazy too. "I.. have my own suspicions of.. several theory s, including harry being.. swapped with a inexperienced shape shiftier, there hasent been any solid evidence to go about trying to prove myself however, so I have just been keeping an.. eye on this miss potter." he gave the boy a Innocent looking smile, but inside he was happy to have someone available to help him get rid of the Riddle bitch if he could just prod him right, boy was so so stupid compared to his brothers. "Great, find someone who believes me, and I,m going to get expelled!" Ron growled. "I find I'm not planing on expeling you yet Mr weasley, because I'm going to need you to help me keep an eye on.. miss potter, but you will find.. you will be serving detention with proffessor McGonagall till the end of term- at her request" he said calmly, making Ron calm too. "We need to do something about the impostor sooner, rather then later headmaster, I mean- who knows what they are doing to Harry!" Ron implored. "We have no idea who may have them, where he is, or if he was even still alive Mr weasley. This is the sad reality of the situation, and I find my self begging a apology from you. Id have told you to get close to them again if I knew you and I had the same theory, as it stands we will find it impossible for you to.. fit back in, unless we find the real harry unharmed." he looked at Ron over the top of his glasses, if he was fishing he would be reeling the poor bastard in at this point. Ron let out a sigh and nodded "I'l.. keep an eye on her headmaster, let you know if I found anything else out, if it comes to a point we can.. rescue harry you would let me help right?" "Of course, now if anyone asks, this was you trying to out prank your brothers, and your.. shouting was because unlike them, you received no laughs- now off you go my boy" Dumbledore gave a smile, that turned more sinister after the boy left. That stupid bastard was gonna murder her if he really needed that evil bitch gone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- The dance had been called off, and Harry sat in her shower in shock, she refused to let the others in, so she sat there on the tiles as the blood swirled down the drain with the water. She really wanted to add her blood to the mix, but there was no way she could sneak the knife in, not with her dormmates knocking on the door every five minutes to make sure she was ok. She so wanted to tell them to fuck off, but it was out of concern- well in one respect, the other two likely only saw her as a model that got fucked over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- Everyone could tell she was miserable the next day, and she stayed rather withdrawn through classes till at the end of the day after dinner. Fleur dragged her off for some as she put it 'Girl champion time.' and led her up to what she knew as a prefects bathroom from the twins throwing at Percy a few times last year there idea that he should bring another prefect- Penelope Clearwater there. well, apparently Fleurs idea of relaxing was a naked bubble bath with another girl, Fleur was a very pretty girl, and said harry was as well- but she wondered a few things, if she was being polite as the first, if this was a french thing, if this was a girl thing, or if this was solely a Fleur thing. Also wondered if it was ok to.. appricate the female form in her new body, but thats cause she couldn't not, other girl was talking about her day and trying to engage her the very least. Beside the towels that Fleur brought and there bags and clothes was Fleurs egg- they all had been trying to crack what it said inside there having opened one after another and maybe heard they were all the same ear piercing shrieks of hell, but none of them had managed to figure out exactly what it said yet. Her mind returned to the nakedness problem before her. The very least Fleur was unafraid to be naked in her presence. When she got out and picked up a towel she knocked her egg into the water where it opened on the bottom of the tub and something of a melody seemed to be playing from in the water, when Harry put her head underwater to retrieve it she pulled her head up right away. "Its saying words!, not the screeching" before Harry dunked her head back in, and despite being mostly dry, Fleur dropped back into the water to get a better listen as well. Well the clue was one that was quick to understand, an hour in a body of water, looking for a lost item they cherished. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- It was the next morning before they got a chance to tell the boys to take a bath with there egg as it would help. Hermione was already trying to help her figure the clue out more completely, with Neville listening while he was reading a book he got on plants given to him by Professor Moody- he gave her the idea of Gillyweed. She said she knew where to get some, but wouldn't let them know. she secretly sent a message to Snape telling him of her need of Gillyweed by passing him a note with her homework. One of the times he was leaving his private stores he saw her hiding, but didn't acknowledge he did- so she 'snuck' in and 'stole' the Gillyweed within moments of him returning, ignoring the idea he saw her at all- for both there safety's. Now all she had to do was practice spells she could cast underwater with some success. Things were going up again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- Until they weren't, somehow- SOMEONE sighted the two female champions entering the prefects bathroom together and told that skeeter whore, who was implying they were two timing there Bulgarian dates with each other. And so that morphed back into Harry being the top and Fleur the bottom, or how she was three or four timing, Hermione- first with Vic, then Fleur- and of course Cedric got dragged back into the mess as if she was sleeping with them all and not mindful of say- Cho Chang. There were now alot of lewd comments going on about maybe taking them for a ride next- or things to that effect- as if she was the school broomstick. Merlin she was gonna see if Lucius or the blacks owned that damn paper to have that cunt fired. she had a few quick moments of imagining murdering her, but felt a bit ill afterwords, was that normal for members of her family? or was she just.. being actually normal, to the woman who kept attacking her in the papers. There had not been any hate mail.. as she feared, but she wondered if something was stopping it, or if the fact she stopped voldemorts blood bath last time gave her just enough leeway to avoid it. Fuck she just wanted to go back and hide in her room at Malfoy manor, she was already so tired of playing the Potter they all wanted, she just wanted out of the spotlight. Maybe it wasn't the potter they all wanted, if the lewd comments were anything to go by. Did all womans head swim in emotions and thoughts like this, or was she just that fucked? Would that water to rum spell Seamus used in first year work for her, or would it blow up like it had for him?- Would it make her drunk like real rum or not?. These were the questions she had in her mind that night. ***** The Second task sucks as much as the first ***** It had become rather evident, that the black lake was likely going to to be the place the second task took place in. And it was gonna take something from each of them they valued, but was rather vague. Mostly cause the stupid song mentions the damn thing- and the logistics of moving that many students to any other body of water and keeping them concealed while they watched would be a logistical nightmare. Harry had gone back to the prefects bathroom to practice a few spells underwater- thankfully stunners were a good and easy thing to cast in the water. She had remembered that Narcissa had gotten her a swimsuit- it was likely going to be one of those one piece things from years ago- well that was what she thought, apparently swimsuits turned out to be progressive as fuck, it was a two piece fucking bikini that she only tried on in front of Hermione- the girl thought it was nice, it was black with red stripes and skimpy as hell. She felt so very very exposed in it- Hermione realized that really quickly when Harry broke down and started crying, before she helped Harry into normal clothes and then proceeded to trying to transfigure it into something she had worn when she was younger. The wet suit it became was black and looked like it had red racing stripes at places. It also looked like a one piece shorts and t-shirt combo, and Harry thanked fuck for that. The other thing may be something she wears later, if the spell was removed- good thing it will turn into that skimpy ass thing anyways, instead of doing this with a sheet and having to wear nothing but that.. she had at least one nightmare of someone missing a finite and shes suddenly just in a sheet in front of the school. That would be more Rons thing to try then anyone else, but he just seemed to be staring creepily these days. It actually was a reason she considered the possibility the wetsuit would suddenly turn back, the idea he would do it in hopes of embarrassing her in front of the school. Also made her feel paranoid. It seemed like a stupid thing to suddenly pop into her head, but Hermione had noticed her being self conscious and what it was doing to her- if being within earshot of there schoolmates didn't clue her in already. Between being a champion, her 'peers' continued comments and her schoolwork- she was a high strung bundle of nerves. Everyday her mind was distracted by questions, from when will they leave me alone to How hermione would take her dad being the Dark fucking Lord, or if she could convince him to not kill or hurt muggleborns, and it spiraled into thought after thought from there that didn't help her at all. All of the thoughts of daddy also brought up questions of when to tell certain people who he was, and if that would backfire spectacularly. None of this was helped by the fact that Lav, Parvati and Hermione all seemed to hover, so she had no time with her knife, since they were worried- it seemed she bonded with the other girls to make them all friends as weird as it sounded. It had come up that before Harry joined them in the dorm, that it was Hermione and them, and now they all seemed one front- mind you she still felt Lavender and Parvarti were doing it more on a business sense then anything, but she figured that would likely stay a while. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- By the time the second task arrived, she wanted the fucking year to be over. She wondered if this time that giant fucking squid would try and eat her and she would have to fight that this time instead of a dragon. Her choice of swimwear as it were made her stand out compared to Fleur- who was wearing this, well assuming Harry guessed right, trendy silver one piece backless suit, and that meant that all the boys were staring at her instead, all the girls were all focused on Victor and even Cedric in there trunks and the undershirts they were wearing, only Fleur didn't have her name on anything, and Harry was thankful of that, only material back there meant that would have been plastered on her ass. Hermione saw her off just before the start, and Fleurs parents and sister had come up and met her as well, which actually made her question what they took as they set up at the starting line. Harry and Hermione had quickly guessed three out of four of the relationships that would be missed, Cho for Cedric, Fleur's sister-Gabrielle, Hermione for her. Only problem with this would be who would victor rescue, except maybe Ivan? It kinda left a slight gap because everyone would assume she would be what he missed most, but there they were- the ones that would be missed cheering them on. So what the fuck did they actually take? Moody leaned in and told her to put the gillyweed in her mouth, chew and swallow... how the hell did he know she had it?, and she did, but suddenly found herself unable to breath as the starter cannon was fired and the other three champions dived in- she was pushed in unceremoniously by Moody. The water was murky, and the fact her fingers and toes were now webbed caused her a moment to realize, and the gills, she assumed that was why her body was drowning at the surface for a moment- god she hopped this lasted just long enough for her to reach where she needed to go and not make her a fish person forever. She saw glimpses of the other champions briefly before they disappeared into the aquatic plant life in the lake, luckily no signs of the giant squid either, it was giving the champions a wide birth. What weren't giving them much space were Grindylows, as each champion seemed to have some following them, except her- she noted with relief as she moved towards the side she knew was the deepest part of the lake from talks with Hagrid When she started seeing what looked like underwater ruins as she slipped towards the deepest depths on the far side of the lake. Seemed to her that they moved in and built up a village in the underwater ruins, and they all watched her curiously, alot of them were armed with tridents.   In the center of the village were four boxes that seemed to be tethered to the lake bottom as well as to a balloon above it with letters on four sides that she knew to be there initials, her eyes looked about for signs of the other champions. She was a bit surprised the mer-people were willing to let outsiders into there village, when she got to the balloons and ropes, she noticed hers was uneven compared to the others, making her wonder what they put into it to make the weigh so much? This was when Krum swam in and bit his rope- he had made himself half shark, at least if that was transfiguration, swimming up after the balloon. Cedric was next, tapping his watch as he looked at her and blasting his rope and using the balloon to pull himself to the surface, he had a bubble over his lips- some charm no doubt. She blasted hers and took hold of the balloon- but it seemed her weight and the balloons was enough to weigh it down. That was when the Grindylows swarmed her, using there tentacles and hands to hold on, as they also began biting at her, causing the water around her to tinge red, She wasn't sure what spell she used in her panic- but it hit them, and they released her to circle around her and the ever increasing tinge of red around her when she felt the the gillyweed begin to reverse itself. She stayed in that panic as she grabbed Fleurs balloon as well as her own, severing that ones line- much to the displeasure of the merfolk who had moved in to stop her only too late- she ascended quickly, leaving a streak of red behind her. Once at the surface she was quickly pulled along to the docks and platforms by magic. She was very sleepy but forces herself awake. Her box is retreived and opened by Hermione, and her photo album that Hagrid gave her of the Potters was pulled out- she realizes by the fact it was dripping when pulled out. That the box filled with water somehow, Cedric has a photo frame with a woman in it holding a toddler. During there talks she knows his mother has passed on and assumes that must be one of a few photos he has of them together. Fleur had pulled a brush out of her box that had inlays of what looked like gold and ivory- it was likely extremely old and been in the family generations. Her eyes at last went back to Hermione who by her grimace as she looked at the album, was finding one or more of the pictures damaged or destroyed as Madam Pomfrey staunched her wounds. The Durmstrang students were screaming in delight and that's when to her horror she noticed what prize Victor had removed from his box. It was the pair of her panties Hermione had got her as a joke- ones she didn't mention she had them to anyone because that defeats the purpose of calling them unmentionables. They were black with big red lips with the tongue sticking out on them on them- the logo for the Rolling Stones. She had sent them for her birthday by owl with a card saying she needed these. One of the friends of Victor had snatched them and was holding em up clearly for the school to see what they were.. she had named all his friends who refused to speak in anything but Bulgarian rather generic names- Kevin, luke, ben. The one holding onto them right now was Steve. Hermione looked up from the album sadly out of the corner of Harrys eye, and then followed her gaze and gasp in surprise. Well before Harry could say anything, the wet photo album was placed beside her and Hermione stormed up and pulled the panties out of 'Steve's' grasp and put them in her pocket to a rather stunned crowd, several gasps coming out of the audience as the album was picked up again by Hermione as she followed Harry's stretcher away from the crowd in time to pass out at last. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------- She woke up in the infirmary's private room, Madam Pomfrey explained the Grindylows in the black like to eat flesh that has been festering in the water for a day- they found that out a number of years ago when a half eaten student turned up one day. You would think there would be signs for no swimming. She had a bandage around her neck, left wrist, and her right calf- they had been trying to hit a Artery and by some miracle had not actually managed to do it- the marks were millimeters away from hitting them in some cases- surprised the hell out of the mediwitch. She felt other bandages under the nightgown as well, and assumed there were other bites on her person, she hoped that scars would fuck off and leave her alone, already hating the one on her forehead. Dumbledore had showed up, saying that she was awarded second place cause she got to the grounds first, and left with two champions things, and Fleur had told her headmistress to allow her that, because of how much the brush meant to her- he also apologized for her photo albums ruin, as he thought he spelled it better. Victor had been first, Cedric was now third and Fleur last- because she had been knocked out of the tourney early on She wondered if he thought he was holding his resentment of her back better then he was actually doing- and if he had arranged for them to try and kill her, the Grindylows that knocked Fleur out of the race never bit her once. Cedric confirmed the photo was of him and his mom when he was young, and Fleur confirmed the brush was supposed to be really old from her fathers side of the family. Victor had not made a appearance before Hermione did, she looked stressed to hell and like she wasn't sleeping now too. Harry felt responsible and something in Harry cracked and she started crying and then Hermione started crying, and the two of them lay on her hospital bed as they hugged. When Hermione said she had been trying to fix the photos but wasn't able to, Harry decided she needed to let her know abut her father- admitedly the potions for pain she was on may have made this choice. "Hermione... do.. you trust me?" she asked somewhat weakly, causing the girl to grip her hand firmly and smile. "Always, and with my life... why?" she gave her a curious look. "Lock the door.. and put up a silencing spell around us." Harry had whispered, Hermione frowned a bit at her acting so... odd, but she did as she was asked. "Are you going to tell me whats going on?" she asked as she sat down next to her friend. "I'm.. afraid... of a few things right now... one of which is... if I tell you a few things, your gonna hate me.." She was looking about ready to cry when she admitted this. Hermione held her friend close "Why would I hate you?" she was trying to fathom what had caused the injured girl beside her to look this broken. "I found... out some things... last year... that I been afraid to tell you... and... what happened in the lake... well it made the dread worse.." Harry sniffled and tried to find the words. "Have... you ever thought it was weird... I never had a girls name- just in case?" Harry had said quietly. "Yes... I have thought that strange." Hermione admitted "Whats.. that got to do with this?" "That is because James and Lily didn't know, I was someone else's kid- and a girl, someone stole me from my parents the day they faked my death... and murdered my mother.. just because of who my father is.." she waited a moment for Hermione to ask some question on it but when she just sat there staring at her she continued. "I.. saw my godparents contract, did a charm that told me who my uncle was, and the goblins even.. confirmed that.. because I spent so much time as a boy.. the.. spell used to change me morphed me in several small ways... my magic reads as.. harry potter and myself, still need glasses.. which I do thinks a side effect.." she took a breath. "So.. who is your Mum and Dad?" Hermione finally asked- the question bursting forth from her lips maybe a bit to eagerly. "Charlene Snape and Tom Riddle" she said quietly, and waited for her friend to push herself away in disgust, to curse her for being born to the monster- to hate and abandon her like she just promised not too. Instead, the hug just got a bit tighter and so she continued to explain herself. "I.. was told.. that.. my names Mirabelle, and that father- well he wasn't always violent.. but after he... thought I was dead, after mum was dead... he started listening to the extremists.." she took Hermiones hand and squeezed "No matter what, you and your friendships more important to me then he is" This caused Hermiones hand to grip back and she smiles. "it... looks highly likely that Dumbledore did it... just.. for being his daughter, if i had not used Fleurs Balloon to get to the surface... I'm pretty sure id have died if i didn't... something was making my balloon linger there, instead of floating up like the others did..and then the chain on my dragons bonds broke... you would think they would enchant them to not do that.." "You say... Dumbledore did it...does that mean you think he... took you too?" Hermione was trying to wrap her head around the information, making Harry nod "The goblins said the Enchantment was very strong and difficult.. explains why he lets me nearly get killed all the time... and when he was in here earlier, the way he talked... looked at me... he seemed disappointed I was alive, but happy the album was destroyed... the Grindylows didn't bite Fleur.. and Madam Pomfrey said the ones in the lake like to let there meat rot in the water a day, and that I was lucky to be alive.." Harry found it hard to not feel tense- everything about this could go badly, very badly very quickly. "And... what if.. he doesn't except me in his daughters life?" Hermione asked at last. "Then I'l fight him- for your right to exist, then I'l fight Dumbledore for my own right to exist." she gripped Hermiones hand tighter again before the girl smiled and spoke. "We both will Mirabelle, we will." Hermione smiled and Mira weakly rested against her. "I.. was... so scared you were gonna... push me away.. " she admitted in a soft voice. Hermione Chuckled a bit "But that would make me as bad as some of the other people, judging someone on who there parents were." Mira sighed at her, damn logic. "Still made me worried" Mira persisted. "Yes well, alot of this is... going to need a bit more of a explanation I think, all the facts- but your... not really in a frame of mind to do that well." Hermione moved some of Miras hair behind her ear. "You and your damn flow charts." she teased. Hermione moved and undid the silencing charms and the lock on the door, and within five minutes Pomfrey was there shooing Hermione so harry could get her rest. She sleept better that night then she had in a few months. that weight of that secret being lifted felt great. but she knew it wouldn't last. ***** Hello Father. ***** Chapter Notes A chapter i think has been waited for long enough. The pleasant feeling of telling hermione who she was and being accepted for it lasted about one day after she left the infirmary. As the day she did- Rita Skeeter put out a new article, Hermione granger using her womanly ways to try and lure away Victor Krum from a flirty Harry potter (they omitted anything about her being a lesbian, or any of the other bad shit they told the paper she was before.) To paint Harry as the dumb victim who was touched- in the fact she didn't see her 'best friend' trying to steal away her boyfriend. Well maybe it was more painting her badly in other ways while completely absolving Victor of anything. Hermione Got hate mail for it, piles and piles and piles Fleur was one of her and Hermiones defenders, as was Cedric- Victors response however caused a meltdown. He had said nothing over the previous attempts at slander, or if he had- word of it never reached Harry. And she had been purposely been avoiding him and his friends-until he had come forwards to defend himself to harry, that he wasn't doing what the papers were Saying he was doing. He completly ignored the fact the hate mail Hermione was getting. And when Harry asked him to write the paper to tell them to write he wanted them to tell everyone to stop tormenting hermione, he said it wasn't his job- and she slapped him, Cedric and Fleur broke them up and he more a less got pushed to the Slytherin table with his friends. Alot of the other tables were of two minds of the situation The boys could see Harry, Fleur or maybe even Hermione(if only to get to harry) going to them if they sided with them- or looking noble about it to there preferred partner in many more cases then the leaches. The girls, were happy Krum was available again- but that was a small few, many more were weary of what his attention would bring them with the press and how he treated girls it seemed. She still seemed welcome at the other three tables. That seventh year slytherin was eventually found near the bottom of some stairs swearing he fell down them, even with punch marks and boot bruises on his body, rumor had it he said something to Victor about Harry and Krum took out his anger on him. Harry was still rather stressed. Luckily Hermiones hate mail started to tickle down to nothing- Harry had started to pick it all up and burned it on a regular basis anyways. Rather shitty like, the hate mail died off only because of a bigger story caught there attention. Crouch was found dead on the school grounds, Yay to a memory Harry never wanted. He was found when she was going down to Hagrids with Hermione and Neville and all but tripped over his corpse. Hermione screamed and neville turned them away in some gentlemanly display and moved them to Hagrids to tell him what they had found. According to the Ministry, he died of a fever, or some other common cold like symptoms- so of course everyone with any form of it, was rushed to the hospital wing under the claim 'im gonna die like that man did' Poppy had a fun few weeks of that. Her weeks weren't all that better, she started getting rather vivid nightmares about her father, Murdering a muggle. wandering around as a snake, images of a graveyard. Fun stuff like that. Fun stuff indeed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- The day of the third task was one of the days she just didn't want to wake up too, felt like her body had gotten on the menstrual cycle that day and ran her ass over. But she knew that she wasn't going to be allowed to sleep in any if at all, so she had a pain potion, freshened up and started her day. Morning thankfully didn't seem all that bad, but it was looking like the afternoon/evening of the event was gonna feel worse. She was at least rather glad that champions had no end of year exams to take, because the judges had some sort of soul- least she hoped no one would drop that on her. She thought at this point the whole tournament was shitty to watch, one event had them right there watching, one had them looking at water for an hour- and this one had them looking at miles and miles of hedge mazes. Hermione found it amusing- but only for the idea that Professor sprout had so much coffee to finish this off that she now had it in a IV bag under her robes. Each champion was given a track suit with there names on it and set up at different opening, the place counts from the other events scores gave them a minute lead on each person. Was revealed Moody put the cup in the maze and Harry saw him point in a direction, but he did that turned away from everyone else and the man smirked at her about it, was the old Auror actually cheating? The go signal from the cannon happened and seemed to feel like less then a minute before Harry was allowed to slip away into the maze as well. The vines that made up the maze seemed to shift every few minutes, but other then that- she found nothing,- there wasn't a time limit on this- but she kept using tempus to give her a basis for progress, it felt like she had been in the oppressive maze for hours, when it was only thirty minutes, that was what the place was doing to her, distorting her perception of time. The first sign that something else was clearing a path ahead of her was the giant dead Spider laying on its back in the center of the bush room, she hit it with a stunner from the entrance, to make it twitch, move, the idea of it starting to move and getting her in the back fresh in her mind. Second thought was it was being prey for something else hiding there and as such she moved through carefully. Nothing happened and a creeping feeling entered her, one that was made manifest by a girls scream- she chased the sound, coming across a downed Fleur. Harry was certain the girl was still breathing when she shot up the red sparks and moved on, leaving her for the aid of the teachers as she did, whatever had did that to her had knocked her out cold. The frantic movements of a person were seen in front of her as she entered the next clearing, there was a stick on the ground she didn't notice, and that's when victors eyes came into view. From Moodys lessons she realized very quickly these were the eyes of someone under the imperious curse, and those eyes seemed to regard her momentarily , before the maze shifted again and the path he was looking for opened up and he was off. She of course followed him, Victor quickly taking the battle to Cedric. The back and forth of hexes, curses and shields made her wonder exactly how much you recalled in terms of skill under the imperious. She was behind victor who didn't seem to regard her as a threat when she knocked him on his ass and approached cedric- who pointed his wand at her. "Relax... its just us left now.. but... something about all this... feels wrong" Harry said, neither one put there wands away, but they stopped pointing them at each other. "How do you know its just us?" he asked as he caught his wind. "Found Fleur... already out, sent up sparks for her- I'l be doing the same to him.." Harry tried to look at the entrances- trying to figure out which way to go next. "So this the part where you knock me out from behind if we pick a direction together?" he asked wearily. "Your my friend Cedric, I'm not gonna pull a Ron on you and that's a rotten thing to suggest" she snapped at him and he cringed. He knew she thought Ron was the worst wizard imaginable and a betrayer of a friend.. so to get compared to him meant his words stung her a bit. "Sorry... I'm... just a bit on edge." he said softly. "Well I figure we spark for him and them go get that cup together" Harry said with a shrug "You saved me you should get it yourself" he argued. "No no, I'm not gonna get all the fame on this one, I have more then enough of that unwanted crap as it is, your gonna share the damn cup with me and that's final" it was mildly amusing they were arguing over the damn cup, and had yet to find it. "Besides, we still don't know what else is out there, and... I don't want you getting hurt too, I know having my ass thrown into this mess hasn't been easy for you." she continued. "Its led to the lovely side effect of being closer friends then i thought we would be" Cedric argued with a shrug as he was helped to his feet. "He was gonna get me, you should take the cup" he said seriously, Damn Hufflepuff fairness. "We are taking it together damn it" she glowered at him a moment before sending up red sparks as they left the clearing. it was a bit of awkward silence, but they didn't run into anything else at all, that made it eerie. However they rounded a corner and there it was in the distance- the Tri-wizard cup, glowing and sitting on what looked like a marble pillar.   "This has been too easy" Harry commented softly, neither her nor Cedric had taken a step towards the cup since it came into view "Well... since you and I started off together its been easy" he mumbled. "That doesn't freak me out at all" she quipped back. "Lets just go get the cup and get outta here." Cedric sighed, not wanting to fight about that. They had there wands out as the approached the cup. he muttered "on the count of three touch it together" After the count of three- they felt the distinct pull of a portkey, it threw them both to the ground somewhat roughly. Her eyes glanced around the... graveyard, there was a large tombstone beside her with a large grim reaper on the top, and along one of the platforms of stone was a ring of spikes that looked like it had made up a fence at one point, but time had seemed to knock some of the Posts out and many of the crossbars, as she came around the front, her eyes widened in shock- this was her grandparents grave- and great grandparents- well at least on her fathers side.. Cedric had been cooing in amazement at the port key when she pointedly started telling him they had to get outta there- now. The plan had been to leave fast, tell Lucius and come back to find father later- so of course the plan went to hell- Cedric moved away from the cup with his wand at the ready. Thats when that familiar green bolt stuck the boy clear in the chest and he crumpled to the ground, she turned to see Wormtail- and the pot she swore she didn't see the first time, while there eyes were fixed on each other, the Statue on the top of the tombstone roughly grabbed her from behind and pulled her back up against itself. The bundle in Wormtails arms didn't look at her, Wormtail tilted himself to look under her bangs at the scar, before a raspy voice told him to hurry up, the misshapen form was dropped in the cauldron as it ignited n flame along the bottom. Wormtail took a bone from her grandfathers grave, took out a knife and sliced off his hand and then turned to her and cut up her right arm in a search for blood 'from an enemy', making her wonder who's definition of a enemy, her father believing shes still harry potter. or wormtails, or was it her own?, she didn't really have much time to think it over as the whole of the cauldron burst into flames and she looked away as her bare-arsed dad rose out of the cauldron. The smoke from the fire seemed to rest around him as a robe, she swear she saw hair grow and then vanish again as the man began feeling at himself- obviously getting used to his new body, he approached wormtail and took his wand from the fat bastard. Her father was speaking a bit lowly as he pulled up fatty's sleeve and pressed his wand against the mans dark mark. Several cracks echoed through the air as a total of twelve men came dressed in there 'death eaters robes'. Only one wore gloves and the long blonde of the hair gave away it was Lucius, Crabbe and Goyles frames also were very distinct from the others, and lastly Notts wedding band, it caught light in such a way to draw attention to itself, had she not been so focused in the torture of her classmate, her mind would have picked it out as a mention able thing then.   She supposed- voldemort had been purposely ignoring her and as he spoke "My Friends" Was about all he got out before Lucius got a look at where Mirabelle was and quickly moved to help her with a bit of a gasp from the audience. "Mirabelle, are you ok?" he said as he began freeing the girl- the others all stared at him in shock, twelve of them stared because he was defying there lord and helping the enemy- Tom riddle was looking on in shock at the mini version of his beloved and deceased wife Charlene. "Lucius, what is the meaning of this?" Voldemorts voice was a bit shaky when he asked. "Dumbledore faked her death and hid her from us old friend" Lucius said as the statue released the girl who fell off the footing and grabbed one of the tombstones fence posts, which barely stayed attached at the sudden shock of weight and movement from the young woman. "Mirabelle, may I present you your father, Lord Voldemort" Lucius said silkily with a big smile plastered across his face. There was a sudden shriek of 'No its a Lie!' as the bloated form of Wormtail pushed past both Voldemort and Lucius to bring the knife down on her in a overhand strike with his remaining hand. Seekers reflexes were what saved her- left arm was now cut up a bit along the top of her forearm as she used it to try and hold the knife away from sliding down deeper into her shoulder. The sudden movement pulled the metal spike of a post free from her grandfathers grave, she thrust it forwards as hard as she could, the spike pushing in between his ribs about where his heart was, there was a sudden burst of blood and a agonizing scream, but he dident seem to die fast enough for her so she pulled it back out and jabbed him in the left eye, pushing it in as deep and hard as she could. This time he dropped like the fat ass dead weight he was, letting go and leaving the spike lodged in his brain she presumed. She suddenly realized she was breathing hard- and that the snake like masquerade of her father had dropped, showing the teen she met in the chamber of secrets all grown up and with greying hair. Lucius decided to ask the stupid question of "Are you alright?" "Of course I'm not all-fucking-right" she snapped back as she retrieved her wand where it fell when the statue seized her. Her voice raised in anger the longer she went on. "I have cramps, I been wandering around a fucking maze for a few fucking hours,. I get here and one of my friends is murdered, I get sliced and stabbed and now your acting like a Idiot about it all." She turned her angry gaze on her father, who couldn't help but marvel with pride has Charlene shone through before him. "He was a Pureblood you asshole!" she snapped at him- Past him she saw the follower, he decided to butt in with a 'How dare you'- at least that's what she assumed he was gonna say, she pushed past Tom and Lucius and screamed and pointed "CRABBE, GOYLE KNOCK THAT MOTHERFUCKERS TEETH OUT!" They both spoke a loud and clear 'yes my lady', much to the surprise of the man who began getting punched, kicked and wrestled to the ground to wail on him some more. Tom couldent help but feel the anger and the darkness roll off his little girl- Lucius would later tell him it was exactly like the way his power seeped off him at times, if he remembered right. "Anyone else among you bottom feeding fuckheads feel like questioning this?" she snapped in anger. She couldn't tell if the man was Brave or stupid but another of the masks sneered out "How do we know your telling the truth?" "Because my godparents Mr and Mrs Malfoy confirmed it, then my uncle Severus Snape confirmed it, then the goblins of Gringotts confirmed it" she pointed at the man now "Nott, Crucio that fucker for me" this was again met with a 'yes my lady' as he began to torture the man. The remaining men slowly started to feel the creep of the anger and the aura that was rolling off the schoolgirl before them who was growling and breathing hard as she glanced at each of them, she noticed a number of wedding bands among the followers "Bit of a tip if you assholes are going to wear those stupid clown suits, wear gloves- that way you cant get made from looking at your rings, eventually the Aurors may get someone who isn't retarded and will look for that!" as she had spoke she paced in front of the men with her wand in her hand, clearly on edge. "Thats enough you three, thank you- now, Tipsy!" Goyle, Nott and Crabbe stopped what they were doing as the elf cracked into existence beside Mirabelle. The elfs eyes went wide at the wounds but Mirabelle snapped her attention back on her charges face. "Tipsy, inform the other house elves that your hosting a dinner party for a total of fifteen people in 4 hours, let Narcissa know as well, please go." She stopped the elf from saying or doing anything else- so she sadly left. Mirabelle could tell the elf wanted to help heal her, but she needed the wounds for later. "You lot are gonna go home and clean yourselves up- and then go to the Malfoys for a dinner party to celebrate my Fathers health return to health, now stay shut the fuck up." She turned back towards Lucius and her father and was gonna chew into them, when she heard a mutter behind her, she turned and looked at the man Nott had used crucio on, he was kneeling right now head down and breathing hard. she stepped forwards in a surge of anger and kicked him in the face, the blood and crack made it clear his nose was broken has the man flopped back on his back, stepping down hard on his throat she pointed beside the mans head and yelled "BOMBARDA!" there was a crater beside the mans head who flinched in surprise as the aura of anger and power rolled off her, causing the gathered death eaters to cringe at the feeling and Horror there was another being around who could make them feel the same way that the dark lord could. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY ONE FUCKING WORD!" she screamed as she pressed down her foot on the terrified mans throat "i been trying to be.. diplomatic in my urge to start cutting out your fucking esophagus and hanging you by it." her voice had a growl to it as she spoke and glared at Voldemort. "Are you going to say anything or just stand there stupidly" she snapped. "I.. haven't felt a need to step in, my dear Daughter- you have been doing wonderful on your own, and I must agree.. there lack of respect of you will be something I will address later." Voldemort gave them a smile- and the ones that had been 'lippy' quickly found themselves quivering in fright thinking 'surely he will see we were just trying to help him make sure it wasn't a trick!' Mirabelle got off the mans throat who began taking deep breaths as she growled again "Get out of my sight!" Nott, Crabbe and Goyle all left at once. She fired another Bombarda over the shoulder of the first asshole- nearly hitting his head as she screamed "NOW!" and they all poofed, leaving herself alone in the graveyard with her father and her godfather. "You should let me heal th-" Lucius began before Mirabelle glared and snapped "No!" "I need to look like hell and that I could only help myself when I return myself and them to the school through the portkey" she said firmly. "How do you know the cup would return you to the school?" Tom asked cautiously. "Good guess you would pop in, kill Dumbledore in a sneak attack and throw 'Harry Potter' to the feet of the Minister to prove a point that you were stronger" she glared as she said so. She began levitating the bloated body of wormtail towards where cedric fell. "Im going to explain the ritual but Skip the bone step, and say he was here alone, when the ritual failed, he came back for more blood and that's when I killed him, your gonna stay a moment and make it look like we were never here in case Dumbledore sends any of his flunky's here to poke around." Lucius moved to repair the bombarda impact spots as well as clean up any blood about, Mirabelles wound seemed to have stopped bleeding right now- so he thought. Tom stood there and watched as his daughter floated the remains of wormtail towards where the other boy lay- her friend she had said. He wondered how he was gonna make all this up to her when Lucius chimed in "I'l... leave you to talk then. And will see you at home when the break returns to us" Lucius said with a smile as he departed, "You...Look very much like your mother" was about the only thing Tom could manage to say as he awkwardly stood there. "And a bit like you" she snapped. Yep, this was gonna be hard he thought. "Look, you and I are gonna have a nice long chat when i return to the manor, I'm to pissed off to talk now." she ripped a bit of Cedric's shirt and tied Wormtail to him. "I'l see you when I get home, and whoever your inside is there at the school- call them back, so he doesn't take a swipe at Harry Potter" "Crouch is posing as Mad-eye Moody" Tom answered, and began reaching out to try and call the man too him. This was what she left on as she held onto the other champion as she accioed the cup and they popped out of view, leaving the dark lord there to think a moment He doubted that crouch would just leave, but hoped he wouldn't manage to hurt his child, it felt weird for him to think like that- feelings he long thought dead stirred in him like Inferi. He popped out of existence there, leaving the graveyard silent again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------- the two bodys Sprawled out beside her as the cup rolled away, Harry- as she was once again tiredly laying there before rolling onto her back, the emotions of anger were gone. She was exhausted, likely from not eating in a while, or the blood loss.. or the general fatigue that settled her body during this time of the month- Pomfrey was at her side as the screams- and the wail of the distraught face of Amos Diggory as she looked to her right tiredly- she knew she was gonna wake up in the hospital wing at this rate. Dumbledore and Fudge had both leaned in to hear her over the crowd say Pettigrew was insane and tried and failed to bring Voldemort back. Her eyes were heavy and kept opening and shutting. She thought it had only been a minute that she was asleep- but the fact she was in a hospital gown in the hospital wing told her she had been out longer, this rate they should just hang her name off the bed. She was currently alone when the sudden and telltale thump of Professor Moody's artificial leg entered the hospital wing, taking the shortest route he could to stand at the end of her bed, leveling a glare at her. "I heard you told Dumbledore and Fudge that the only person with you tonight was Wormtail and this, ritual you spoke of failed" he had growled out. Merlin she was in no shape or mood to deal with this, or tip her hand- he seemed too unstable currently to wanna try smooth talking him into believing her. "that's what I said... why don't you take your top Auror ass and go find out for yourself, its what you people get paid for right?" she snapped tiredly. The fact he withdrew his wand and began using crucio on her spoke to that, and she didn't have any strength to do anything but scream and contort and convulse on the bed. Helped her prove one thing she dident care to know however- the hospital wing wasn't sound proof, so when the door to the hospital wing swung open and McGonagall, Dumbledore, Pomfrey, Fudge and Snape burst in to watch not-moody turn his wand from the torture curse- to barely missing fudge with the killing curse. Snape knocked the man on his ass quickly, that stupid hip flask falling out as he was moved and restrained in a chair, Snape picked up the flask and sniffed it "Polyjuice potion" he announced, but that was a rather simple truth to guess since he was using crucio on a god damn student. He seemed to be in so much of a haste, he dident drink more of it as the transformation reversed, course Harry was curled into herself in the residual pain right now. At least till Pomfrey got a potion down her throat. Aparently a old method of treating the crucio curse was getting put in near a coma on muscle relaxers. She missed the Tribute to honor Cedric, where Dumbledore straight up told everyone Voldemort had murdered him. Things she found out after on the ride home were simple things from different sources Crouch Jr had truth serum shoved down his throat and revealed he had captured Alastor Moody. Dumbledore sent McGonagall to search the impostors room for signs of the real Moody. While the impostor declared he would return to Azkaban as a hero, and the dark lord had returned. Harry was in no state to argue it right then. The Aurors arrived to help drag the man away- Harry would later find they had brought a Dementor and had given Crouch jr the kiss right outside the gate. Would also find out from Narcissa that Fudge had tried to get back to question Harry, but Dumbledore refused to let them meet on school grounds. She also missed the other champions and schools leaving, though Hermione had letters from both telling her to write them- she had got requests to write as well. She felt like a Invalid, getting helped down to the train by hermione, who would have thought not moving for a week would do this to her? Could have Hermione list those people off but it would take a while. She moved to the compartment in the Slytherin section- this time with Hermione at her side- and Draco, Crabbe and Goyle, who only scattered after it became apparent that they silenced and locked the door from the inside, and pulled down the blinds. "We should be OK to talk for a while" She mumbled as she got into her seat. "You should know... Dumbldores been taking your... inability to talk and using it to say you saw him return... while fudges been denying it." Hermione said softly. "I kinda figured that was why he had me knocked on my ass." she sighed "He is though isn't he?" Hermione seemed a bit nervous "Mhmm, I'm not gonna let him hurt you, or any other Muggleborns either... Dobby?" The sudden pop was one she seemed to get used too from her interactions with tipsy, Hermione however jumped a bit. "Mistress Potter called for Dobby?" the elf looked up excitedly. "i have a Question... if i needed you to.. get me out of Malfoy manor with my wand, is that something you could do?" she smiled- hopefully in support, but it was clear the prospect scared him a moment before he nodded "if that is what Harry Potter needs Dobby to do, then that is what Dobby will do!" "I'm not gonna let them hurt you anymore you know, I read a book on house elves last summer" Harry said softly. "Well what did it say?" Hermione butt in- ah what the lures of a good book did to her. "When they bind to someone or a place, the magic they get allows them to keep doing all those.. tricks as it were- they also enjoy keeping themselves busy with tasks, but at the same time- many take for granted the connection, as the 'master' has to sever it- the abuse of house elves is something I wont stand for." Harry tried stretching into a more comfortable position. "But its Slavery, they are trained to think like slaves!, they should choose for themselves, get paid" Hermione protested. "Miss Hermiones hearts in the right place for.. wanting... to better Dobby and elves like hims live- but being paid... seen as a insult to many a elf, many a elf are loyal- and if we were not hit- and given the choice to join or leave a family, you would find many would want to stay where they are." Dobby tried to explain it as best he could., but shrank a bit as Hermiones face showed confusion. "But your still trained to think like slaves" she seemed to hammer at that point. "If they go long enough without a connection to a family, they die- they also get to eat and be out of the elements, and what they do in exchange for that according to the book was chores, housework- the problems that pure bloode bullshit thinking makes hard on them, and I'm going to fix. Dobby are you bound to Hogwarts?" "No, while I work there.. it.. does present that connection of magic barely, but I am a free elf" he was giving her a curious look now. "I have something to tell you, something that if got into the wrong hands would get me killed- I trust you that much" she was being completely sincere. "are you sure its safe... to tell him?" Hermione asked cautiously "if I'm going to ask him to bind to me.. to help me, he needs to know." she took a breath. "Of course Dobby will binds to you, and I can still work in the school still too- its very common for house elves to serve the person they been assigned to at both school and home!" he held out his hand eagerly in a way she knew was part of the binding ritual, without hearing her secret. "I was Stolen from birth by someone and placed with the potters... my birth parents.... Are the dark lord and Severus Snapes sister Charlene, my actual name is Mirabelle." she watched the elfs face or the information to sink in, but Donny kept his hand out. "Miss Mirabelle is a great and kind witch, and Dobby promises to help you no matter what." He stepped forwards, hand still out as he looked up at her. She took it and they forced there magic to meet in the center. After the binding was complete she explained a few things in general. "I had been told, my father wasn't always... bloodthirsty, at least to the point of open warfare- I'm going to convince him that... we can better the world without bloodshed, mind you I expect that Dumbledore will try and start another war anyways, but one problem at a time- I had been assigned a house elf named tipsy for my.. stay at the manor, but I expect if I asked her to free me if he decided to lock me away for safe keeping, that she.. wouldn't help.. be it not wanting to or unable too." Dobby nodded "Shes a good elf." was all he said on the matter. "So you wanted Dobby to.. free you in case he held you there, what would we do after you get free?" Hermione asked. "Try and kill him... suppose it would be a war on three sides... Dumbledore, Voldemort and the ministry for one reason or another." "Why would you fight Dumbledore miss?" dobby asked with a whimper. "He was the one who kidnapped me- and left me in the home with those vile relatives of mine" As Mirabelle mentioned this Dobby shivered and nodded in understanding. "So how are you going to talk about this with him?" Hermione asked. "I have a few ideas.. I'm sure when the times right you will give me more ideas." Mira smiled and leaned back further "thank you... both for trusting me... it means alot." She sleept the rest of the train ride after Dobby departed, it was gonna be a long evening. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!