Not So Much

I just want to thank everyone for their reviews! I was really nervous to write this and your reviews are helping me to feel more confident! I thought I would respond to a few reviews

Gryffindorclutz-Thanks!

LadyVoldemort87-Thank you! Sorry about that misspelling I hope I fixed it…

jlclark- I will try not to stop writing! Did you enjoy the twist? I thought it would be interesting. I do enjoy feed back after chapters, I think it will help me decide what to do next if I get stuck. It is a marriage law…hope you like it!

HarryGinny4eva- Thank you, I hope I can keep writing! Your reviews are helping me a lot!

leValkyrie-I love Blaise! I would have made them lovers but as it is a Draco/Hermione story it would be hard for me to write…Thank you for reading!

margaritama-Did you really love it? Your review made me smile. I though cousin would be a little more believable myself.

On with the show, hope you like it!

Chapter 2: Coming out

Harry Potter stared at one of his best friends in complete shock. He was so thrown off balance that he could not even voice the questions that were crowding his mind. Was this some kind of joke? Hermione Granger could not be related to Blaise Zabini! This was not happening.

Ron on the other hand was sputtering as though he had some sort of hex put on him, “Hermione…you…wait…what?” was all he managed. Both Ginny and Pavarti were staring at Blaise in mild interest.

“I think you should tell them Mione” Blaise whispered in his cousin’s ear.
Hermione shook her head on his shoulder. She had not imagined her secret coming out like this and she was afraid of what her friends might think. Not of her, but of Blaise. She had gotten to know Blaise since they had found each other at the end of second year and she did not want to have to hex her friends because they started a fight with her family member. On the other hand however she was still mad at them for treating her as an outcast for the past couple of days, 'they should be left in the dark' she thought with a pout.

Hermione sighed and stepped away from Blaise. She looked over Ron and Harry and knew this was not going to be easy. “Well you guys I…I guess I would like you to meet my cousin Blaise.” She had thought this would start things off in a good way. Her luck however was not so good this week. After her introduction Ron blew up.

“Hermione get away from him! He is a death eater! Zabini you better leave or we are going to call the Aurors!” Ron had drawn his wand and had stalked over to Hermione and was trying to drag her away from Blaise.

Blaise’s eyes had narrowed when Ron had called him a Death Eater but when Ron grabbed Hermione’s wrist Blaise drew his wand and pointed it right between Ron’s eyes.
“Remove your hand from her arm or I will remove it for you.”

“Stop!” Hermione shouted, “I am going to explain if you would stop acting stupid Ron! Blaise is not a Death Eater and never was. If you remember he and his mother never took sides in the war. Let go of my arm!” Hermione stepped away from both Ron and Blaise and looked at Harry who was still standing speech less with Ginny.

“There is nothing to explain Hermione, we already know! I can’t believe we did not figure this out earlier!” Ron shouted looking at Harry also.

It was Hermione’s turn to look stunned. Could they already know that she and Blaise were related? Once again she was completely wrong.

“Zabini must have cursed you! That is why you have been acting so strange these last couple of days.” Ron glared at Blaise, “I don’t know how or when you hexed her but you better stop or Harry and I will make sure you get a one way trip to Azkaban!”

Hermione had had enough. She was tired of having to hide her relationship with Blaise, she was sick of being in this house full of people and not one person to talk to. “Enough Ron! If you would care to know Blaise and I have been friends since 2nd year. When I spent so much time in the library doing homework and studying I decided to look at the oldest wizarding families to see if they had any connections to what was attacking to students. I didn’t have any luck, I couldn't find the right books, so I decided to give up. Blaise was also in the library and realized that I was looking up old families, he wanted to know why.

“At first I told him to go away. I thought he was like Malfoy, arrogant and rude.” She smiled at Blaise who smirked at the memory. “Anyway he kept trying to talk to me until finally I told him about my theories, that someone was attacking the people and they where related to someone who had started the attacks all those years ago. Blaise let me know where I could find what I was looking for, he even helped.

“A week into summer break I got a letter from Blaise asking me to meet in Diagon Alley. I was confused, why would he want to meet me? It turned out that Blaise had been researching his family history; apparently he spent so much time in the library with me that I became familiar to him. Not in the ‘I see you often’ familiar but in the ‘we could be related’ familiar. His mother’s parents had two daughters, his mother and mine. Mine turned out to be a squib so theyerased her memory and gave her to an adoption agency in muggle London. When we met he did not tell me this right away but he kept asking about my mom. One day he took me to meet his mother and it was like looking at my own mom.
“We decided that we would get to know each other more. We spent a lot of time during the summer together and when school started we decided to keep our relationship secret for a while. Well ‘a while’ turned into years.” Hermione looked at Harry who had yet to say anything, “I wanted to tell you for the last few months but it was never a good time.”

Hermione was still looking at Harry who had yet to say anything. Suddenly he started to grin, “Is he who you have been writing all those letters to?”Hermione nodded, “At first I thought it was your parents but after…" He cleared his throat, "I figured it could not be them but I never asked.”

Harry looked closely at Blaise. He was hugging Hermione and she seemed so comfortable and relaxed.

“I understand why you didn’t tell us Hermione, “Harry said and saw her relax visably, “But I do not understand why he is here now. Did you ask him to come?”

“No,” Hermione said slowly, “Why are you here?” She looked at Blaise curiously.

‘Here we go’ thought Blaise, “Have you all been keeping up with the news lately?” They all nodded, “Well I got a letter today from a very reliable source that said the ministry has decided to pass the marriage law. It will be announced in a few days. I came to get Hermione. My mom and I want to claim her so that when people start petitioning they have to consult me because I am head of the family.”

Hermione was wide eyed as she stared at Blaise, “They can’t force me marry can they?

‘You don’t even know the worst part’ he thought but he would not tell her in front of the others. “They have decided that if people to not agree to the law they lose their wands. We can talk about this later. Mother is waiting for us…”

“She isn’t going any where with you Zabini!” Ron shouted.

Hermione jumped. She had completely forgotten about Ron. “Ron please, try to calm down…”

Ron shook his head, “You can’t leave Hermione! Why do you need him? You can stay here; you are like family to us! Why do you need him?” Ron glared at Blaise who simply raised an eye brow at him.

Hermione was tired and stressed with this new information and she need some time to think and some one to talk to.

“Look Ron, you and Harry have barely had time for me for the past few weeks. Blaise is not only family but I can talk to him with out having him try to get me to do what he wants.” Ron’s ears started to turn pink, “I think I will go with Blaise until I decide how to handle this. You guys won’t even know I am missing.”

At this Harry turned pink; he hadn’t realized they had been ignoring her so much. “Let her go Ron.” He walked to Hermione and gave her a hug, “Come back at the end of the week and let us know what you have decided.”

Hermione smiled at Harry and turned back to Blaise, “I have to say good bye to Mrs. Weasley, I will be right back!”

As Hermione rushed back into the house to grab a few things she thought to herself ‘this next week will be interesting.’

Authors Note: What do you think so far? Sorry it is taking so long to get going, but it should pick up soon. Let me know how you feel? Draco makes his appearance in the next chapter. I wonder how he is going to react the Blaise’s ‘new’ cousin. Next chapter coming soon…