The Prime Princess

“Tempus Katalepsis!” screamed Hermione and gasped as the pain surged through her and hit her to the ground. Looking around her, she just shook from the after effects of her premonition. Checking frozen people around her, she let out a breath she’d been holding and was glad that no one was hurt. Yet.

Hermione rose to her feet and shuffled her gown. She had to start from somewhere to clean up this mess but she had no clue from where to start. Frozen figures stood still in time and looked like porcelain dolls, all painted and dressed up. Hermione moved around the figures, being careful not to touch them and reached for Professor Snape.

“Finite Incantatem,” she whispered and looked up to her Potion Master who blinked his black eyes and then focused on Hermione.

“Miss Ariston, what is going on?” demanded Snape seeing all the frozen people. Hermione just looked horrified and grabbed at his robes to get his attention back to her. In the back of her mind a metal rock memory sang.

There's the ones that you love,
The ones that love you.
The ones that make you come,
The ones that make you come unglued.

“You died,” she said and looked over her shoulder at Draco who was drawing his wand.

It's easy to beat the system,
Had a hard time beating the symptoms...

Snape only nodded and his eyes drifted to Lucius who had stood up to follow him. His ageless face showed signs of concern. Long flowing hair was captured in motion with the light blue robe pillowing behind him. He looked angelic and Snape felt a stab in his heart as he noticed Hermione also looking at Lucius.

“What happened?” asked Snape in a low voice and not to his intention it sounded like a purr. Hermione yanked her eyes off of Lucius and stared at him.

“Draco came at us, me and Blaise, and threatened to kill Blaise. Then there was a fight and you… you came between them and something went wrong. You got shot by Killing Curse and… um, I stopped this,” explained Hermione, trying to remember her premonition that still made her head ache. Then she finally realized – Draco had killed Professor Snape. And everything flooded back. The disgust, hate, loathing… Draco was and will be a murderer and nothing could change that.

“I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been,” said Hermione to herself, “I actually believed I could… forgive him.”

“Miss Ar… Hermione, what are you talking about?” demanded Snape as Hermione went white. He grabbed at her shoulders and made her to look at him. “Tell me.”

“He’s a cold-blooded murderer,” told Hermione and looked away with a blank gaze. Snape stared at her and then pressed her against him with a strong hug. Hermione didn’t protest but buried her face to his chest and let silent tears fall. She was so disappointed in herself and Draco for believing he was a good person.

Snape hold her tight and wanted to ease her pain. Stroking her curled hair, his mind went to explore the secrets that hurt her so bad. She didn’t raise any walls to keep him away or fight back, just wanted to feel closeness with something. He caressed her mind and whispered comforting words to lull her hurting mind.

In the deepest ends of her mind he saw the dark deeds of Draco Malfoy. The rape that haunted her and the murder of Blaise that gave nightmares to Hermione whenever she thought of him. She had been able to stop Draco from doing those awful things but Snape saw the suspicion that these weren’t the only things she’d stopped. Some might have still happened when she wasn’t there to stop him.

Oh, my dear Hermione, you have suffered so much, thought Snape and pulled away from her mind and pressed an absentminded kiss on top of her head. You should forget all the bad things because tonight is your luckiest night.

“Amnestia,” purred Snape to her ear and smiled as Hermione finally relaxed against him and hummed merrily.
***
Orchestra played mellow waltz that touched the hearts of everyone on the dance floor. It grew more joyous with every added instrument, lifting the tempo and feelings high. Hermione felt she could fly as the music twirled her around, making her head spin from excitement and happiness. With a sudden triumph the composition ended and she found herself dipped. Above her Lucius smiled dashingly and gathered her upright.

“Thank you,” he said and walked with her through the great Majestic Ballroom of Madam Valentine’s Café to dining room number 3, which was lovingly called The Rouge Reverence. They had dined there before and she loved the Café the most in Hogsmeade besides Royal Cortez.

“For what?” asked Hermione slyly and took a seat in the table.

“For being here with me,” told Lucius and smiled as their dessert arrived. Hermione looked at her plate and complimented the chef in her mind.

“Of course I’d be here with you,” said Hermione and her smile made Lucius loose his control. In the background the orchestra continued to play another masterpiece.

“But I’d want you to be always with me,” he replied with a smoothness in his voice as a red velvet box appeared in front of Hermione. She looked at it in wonder and opened it. Lucius watched carefully the emotions running over her beautiful face. He felt fear that chilled his nervousness as Hermione didn’t say a word. She admired the priceless ring inside the box and tried to gather her thoughts. The ring had one heart shaped diamond with numerous brilliants for decoration. It was magnificent and made her speechless.

Lucius rose from the table and kneeled, drawing all the attention of other guests in the dining room. He heard snapshots but didn’t care. He wanted the whole world to know.

“Hermione Electra Rhiannon, will you marry me?”

She looked at him and didn’t see anything but the great love in his eyes. And she was made for that love. Emotions exploded inside her and without thinking she threw herself between his hands.

“Yes!”
***
Pansy walked into the Hospital Wing and found Draco quite easily. She plopped herself onto his bed and spread a morning paper before her.

“Have you seen this?” she squealed and went on, “No wonder she hasn’t returned to the dorm.”

Draco took the paper and almost choked. On the front page was a moving picture of a couple kissing like there was no tomorrow. The headline said: Malfoy and Ariston got engaged.

The picture of his father and Hermione made Draco nauseous. Pansy ignored him and went on as how lucky Hermione was and that she deserved to be happy with a wizard who adores her. And not to remember, a wealthy one.
***
In the morning light Lucius watched the witch next to him and smiled. The ring in her finger sparkled and caught his eye. He remembered how he had gotten it. He had visited the Three Goddesses of Faith and came back with the ring. It had cost him a lot, more than Grimoires, exotic potions and charmed trinkets all together but it was worth every Galleon.

“Mornin’,” said sleepy Hermione and curled even closer to him. Her sluggish limbs were draped all over him and naked silkiness of her skin made Lucius hard again.

“Morning,” he greeted her as his hand moved over her thigh to palm her firm ass and ground his growing erection against her.

“Aren’t you having a good morning?” teased Hermione and with little effort she was straddling him. Lucius smiled and grabbed with both hands from her hips to hold her still. He wanted to take in the glorious picture of Hermione with tousled wild hair framing her flushed skin. Her round breasts heaving in the rhythm of her heavy breathing as she got more and more aroused by the predatory gleam in his eyes. And she was all his. Only his.

“With you, every morning,” purred Lucius and sat up to kiss her properly with no rushing like the other night. He wanted to show her how much he loved her, how much he wanted her, and how badly he needed her. She was his savior, angel with silver wings to bring him back to life.

“I love you,” whispered Lucius and looked into her coffee brown eyes blazing with desire. Hermione smiled and slithered her fingers through his white-blond mane down to his back, scraping her fingernails over his skin to make him jump.

“Love you too,” murmured Hermione and kissed her fiancé, pushing him to lie down. “You’ve got no idea how you make me feel.”
***
Blaise walked into the Great Hall in the Christmas morning and found it very noisy. All four House tables were chatting like crazy and even the Staff table was filled with Professor talking wildly about something. Blaise looked around and finally sat across Millicent who was jammed between Greg and Vincent devouring their breakfast. Millicent kept her eyes on her plate to make sure nothing was stolen from there while her boys ate like maniacs which was quite an interesting site to look at.

“Millie, what’s all the commotion?” he asked. Millicent looked up and started to laugh. Greg and Vincent went on with eating.

“Blaise, where have you been?”

“Patrolling,” piped Blaise.

“Oh, dearie, you have missed the most explosive news of the century! Here, read the paper,” said Millicent and threw him one morning paper. “It says that our little princess has gotten engaged with Lucius Malfoy!”

“What?! No!” yelped Blaise and almost fell over the bench he was sitting on. He skimmed the article but couldn’t register the words he was reading.

“But how? When? WHY?”

Millicent saw the utter horror in Blaise’s face and felt for him. She knew Blaise was sort of in love with Hermione as were the whole male population in Hogwarts and the broken look on his handsome face hurt Millicent. She also knew his mother who had secretly hoped to get the big fortune of Aristons. Just as she feared, an owl dropped an envelope before Blaise and landed next to it to wait his answer.

“Blaise, they have just gotten engaged. This doesn’t mean it’s over for you,” said Millicent and patted his hand over the table. Greg and Vincent looked at her and then at each other.

“I can stop the wedding,” he came up and looked brilliantly at Millicent who was nodding.

In the other side of the Great Hall Carmen Granger and Ginny Weasley were doing all their best to make others believe that Hermione was a gold miner and a slut. Harry didn’t want to hear that and concentrated on something else. He was thinking about the concept of the Reaper. Especially why Blaise and Draco shared the Mark with Hermione. So far he had only drawn lines in similarity between her Mark and the Dark Mark. But the entwined three rings didn’t have the same purpose as the Dark Mark had. He knew that Carmen could figure it out but she totally loathed the poor girl and didn’t want to do anything with her.

Ron ate silently and the expression on his face was grim. He had seen the paper and felt like something had been ripped out of him. Carmen had already changed the subject to Christmas holiday and announced that she was going to Paris for the time. When Ginny asked if Harry would spend the holiday in Burrow, he said he was going to stay in school.

“And you, Ron?” asked Carmen.

“Um, I don’t know.”

“I thought you’d wanna come with me to Paris. You know, I’m having my great aunt’s apartment for all to myself. I thought, that maybe…”

“I have lots of homework to get done, so I don’t believe I could make it,” he told quickly and was a bit ashamed of lying to her.

“Oh,” said Carmen, “That’s okay. Ginny and I have then all girls night out in Paris!”
***
“What is it?” asked Millicent as Blaise had finished the letter.

“My mom asks me to come home to… to teach me a lesson,” said Blaise and looked miserable. “She’s mad about the article.”

“Oh, Blaise, I’m so sorry,” told Millicent and wished if there was something she could do. And one thing popped into her mind. She had a good friend who was taking Fairy Godmother classes.

“Three wishes,” whispered Millicent and smiled triumphantly.