The Prime Princess

Hogwarts was strangely quiet at the winter holiday. Most of the students had gone home and only few professors had stayed to keep remaining ones in order. Tables in the Great Hall had exchanged for one dining table for all the residents of the school.

Draco had stayed behind. He hadn’t wanted to go home where his father would be with Hermione. The very idea of it made him sick. It felt so wrong to have her as his stepmother and not his… his… argh! Picking on his food, he glanced up and noticed two griffindors whispering and messing around with one very old looking scroll. Scarhead was doing a very smart face when the weasel looked as dumb as always.

Well, that never changes, figured Draco and took a look on the scroll from the distance. It had turned yellowish brown from the time and the edges were chewed away by mice and moths. That scroll had been lying around in Library for ages until these two had dug it up. It didn’t look much until Draco saw an illustration of three entwined rings. That got his attention but as he was about to speak up and find out what these two were doing, a herd of owls flew in. A rain of packages, letters and rolled up newspapers fell onto the table and created a mess. Harry put the scroll away and paid for the Daily Prophet. Ron was unwrapping a package and made a face as he saw something sent from home.

Suddenly Draco lost all his appetite as an envelope landed before him. Looking at it, he recognized the handwriting of his father and already he knew what the letter said. His father wanted to see him, celebrate his victory with him and rub the fact under his nose that he was engaged with Hermione Ariston.
***
Pansy Parkinson stepped out of the fireplace and dusted her bright green robes. Dame Zabini greeted her sweetly and welcomed her to her mansion. But her two daughters only stared at her with cold and vicious glares. Yes, Pansy had a pretty nice amount of gold waiting for her in the vault of Gringotts but surely she was no Ariston.

“Pansy,” gasped Blaise, who had heard voices and stepped into the living room, “You came.”

“Of course I did,” told Pansy with a bright smile, “That’s what friends are for.”

Blaise leaved the room with Pansy and went onto patio to get away from his mother and sisters. Roses bloomed on the wintertime as the terrace was warmed up by loads of spells to keep it green for all the year. Pansy took in the scenery and then turned to Blaise.

“Spill.”

Blaise sat down onto a swing decorated with lily and cupid figures. He didn’t know from where to start.

“Will you be my fairy godmother?” he suddenly asked and looked at Pansy with big blue eyes. Pansy stared him for a while and tried to understand why he needed her to be his godmother.

“Why?”

“I need a miracle,” told Blaise and closed his eyes, hanging his head between his hands. Pansy smiled and put her arm on his shoulder.

“Yes, I’ll be your fairy godmother, Blaise,” she said in a whisper. Blaise looked up and his heartrendingly sad eyes filled with tears. Pansy curled her arms around him and gave him a hug. Blaise rested his head on her shoulder and held onto his chance of future life with Hermione. Pansy held him close and let him get his wits together again.

“Blaise, is there something you wished me to do?” she asked. Blaise nodded and let go of her.

“I wish you to broke up the engagement between Lucius Malfoy and Hermione,” said Blaise.

Behind the window stood Dame Zabini and watched as the two looked at each other with such strong emotions that she had trouble understanding the relationship between them. In the back of her mind she pondered if the Italian blood in Blaise had made him weak.
***
Hermione stood before luxurious bathroom mirror and looked at her reflection. She looked absolutely fabulous and ravished. She felt satisfied and content. The mirror complimented her as she pushed the thin robe off her shoulders and started to prepare herself for a long and relaxing bath. Taking off her engagement ring, she felt a little sting in her heart as she placed it next to the basin.

Getting into the water and sinking deep under the scented foam, she closed her eyes and got comfortable for a very long soaking. Behind the closed eyes memories of the last events started to dance. She was in Malfoy mansion. She was engaged to Lucius. She had left Lucius sleeping in the bed where they had made love so many times since the arrival that she had lost the track of time. Loving Lucius was amazing. He made her feel like goddess and more. He poured his soul into his love for her and she greedily took it, giving back as much as humanly possible.

“Sweetie?” called Lucius out and Hermione smiled. She had hoped at least to soak half an hour in peace but unfortunately Lucius had started to miss her in the bed.

“I’m in the bath, baby!”
***
Harry hide behind a bookshelf as he dragged Ron along with him. Madam Pince hadn’t noticed them as they had sneaked into the Library but she hadn’t stopped from going around her empire to seek out unwanted snoopers.

“Quiet,” hissed Harry and looked if they had been seen.

“Sorry that I need to breathe,” quipped Ron and sunk down on a chair behind a table covered with loads of books. Harry just smirked and took out the scroll.

“Right,” he said and took one tiny little red book from the stack on the table, “Let’s get this thing going.”

“You know, getting this thing going is just…”

“What? Insane? Yeah, it is, but this might save Hermione,” said Harry and opened the little red book with broken spine and dragger his index finger along the lines.

“How? She’s already in for it with Malfoy,” told Ron and did a disgusted face as he thought about big headlines in papers.

“Um, well, there’s that. I sorta hoped to save her soul,” mumbled Harry and kept his gaze on the pages. He was almost sure he nearly understood the context of that scroll. He only needed to look over some phrases to completely get the whole picture.

“You really think she’d kill lot of people to kill lot of Ancients?” asked Ron and his voice cracked as he went pale. Harry only nodded.

“What? Has she gone mad?” squeaked Ron.

“No, she’s just being Reaper, that’s all. But that Mark is not part of the Reaper. That creates a loophole,” explained Harry calmly and enjoyed the silence when Ron was on the verge of blacking out.

“Er, I don’t know how that makes you feel but that really creeps me out,” said Ron and gulped, “But what’s even more creepier, is that Malfoy is staring at us,” whispered Ron and tugged at Harry’s robe. “And he’s grinning like a mad hog.”

“Is that a polite way to greet a Head Boy?” asked Draco with a sweet poisonous smile.
***
Pansy took another sip of her tea and stared into the fire. She went over and over the things she had learned in her classes and tried to come up with something that would help Blaise. All fairytales ended happily and she intended to end this one happily ever after too.

“Blaise, if they really are in love, then my magic can’t reverse it. A fairy godmother can’t go against true love,” said Pansy and looked at Blaise who was sulking next to her in an armchair.

“It’s not true love,” groaned Blaise with a growing irritation, “It’s dark art.”

Pansy sighed. She saw the demons inside Blaise whispering him ways to get Hermione back. These were grim thoughts and Pansy was scared of that he’d actually go through with them. He was in love. And love made people do crazy things.

“What would you give to have her?” she asked.

“Anything,” he answered without thinking and Pansy nodded. Maybe there was a way.