The Prime Princess

George pushed Hermione to sit down next to Harry and settled himself on the other side of her. Harry stared at George strangely and then noticed Fred stepping into the kitchen. He looked rather out of shape as Charlie marched behind him and eyed him suspiciously.

What happened, wondered Harry and tried to listen again a Quidditch story Ron was talking. It had something to do with some person ending up in Hospital Wing but Harry had missed who.

“So, Miss Ariston, I hear you play Quidditch,” said Charlie who had sat down on the other side of the long kitchen table and looked directly at Hermione. She stared nervously at her plate until George put his hand on her knee and gave a little squeeze.

“Yes,” stammered Hermione and looked up.

“Go on,” whispered George and smiled smugly at his brother.

“Slytherin has two teams – the main and back-up team. To each game our captains choose specific players who are most suitable to match counterparts,” said Hermione proudly and saw the awe in Charlie’s eyes.

“I didn’t know it was possible,” wondered Charlie.

“We found a loophole in Quidditch rules,” told Hermione and felt quite warm. It grew warmer until she felt it burning her insides. George’s hand was still on her knee and she grabbed at his wrist but didn’t tear his hand away. The feel of naked skin seemed to ebb the fire inside her. George looked at her from the corner of his eye and decided not to act in any way.

Maybe it was wrong to bring her to the kitchen, figured George but he couldn’t have left her alone with Charlie either. The other spell must have kicked in, thought George as Hermione gripped his arm and prayed Bill would get home soon.

Harry turned his eyes from Ron to Draco and found the blond glaring daggers at George who sat awfully near to Hermione. And then there was Blaise who concealed his anger as he spoke to Pansy in quiet voice. Pansy eyed Harry and suddenly Harry felt magic hit him. Looking down he saw a silver piece of paper next to his plate on the table. Nobody had noticed its arrival, so Harry swooped it under the tablecloth and read the bright green text on it.

‘She needs to drink a potion that keeps love magic away from her. And she needs to drink it soon. Believe me, I am her friend and I mean no harm to her if you are afraid of that.’

Harry looked once more at Pansy and then turned to Hermione who was still talking about Quidditch and the twins had their own jokes to pipe in. Charlie looked entertained as all the others on the table, so it looked quite hard to get Hermione away from there. He also noticed she had a good grip on George’s hand and that looked bone crushing.

I have to get her out of here before George looses his arm, thought Harry and looked around to find something that could help. And there it was!

“Um, Fred?” he asked, leaning backwards on the bench to see the other twin, “Could you pass me pumpkin juice?”

“Yeah, sure mate,” told Fred joyfully and levitated the half full jug over the table to Harry who grabbed it from midair and ‘accidentally’ spilled the juice on Hermione’s lap.

“Aah!” yelped Hermione as the chilly liquid soaked her gown and George burst into laugh but Fred looked horrified as Hermione got up and staggered away from the table.

“I’m so sorry,” apologized Harry and offered her a napkin.

“Oh my,” said Mrs. Weasley and shot a sharp look at her husband who hide a smirk. “Come dear, we shall get it clean again.”

Pansy shot up and dashed after them with no excuse.

“Nice,” muttered Ron who shared the same face with Fred, “Now she would never…”

“Oh, shut it,” snapped Harry, “I had to get her out of here,” explained Harry and gave the little card to Ron. George and Fred edged a bit closer to peer the letter also.
***
In the laundry kitchen Mrs. Weasley was looking for a can of cleansing powder that go with a stain removal spell. Hermione sat on a stool next to a basket of clean clothes just in from drying. Weasleys didn’t have house-elves, so Mrs. Weasley had to do all the housework by herself.

Pansy stepped inside and walked to miserable looking Hermione.

“Hey, sweetie, is everything okay?” she asked and looked at the ruined gown. Mrs. Weasley turned around from the selves with a huge can.

“Right,” she muttered and took off the lid, “I think you should take it off.”

Hermione looked at Mrs. Weasley in disbelief but shrugged her shoulders and started to remove the soaked thing.

“I’ll conjure you a new one to wear in the meanwhile,” told Pansy and grabbed a crisp white shirt from the laundry basket. She examined the fabric, the size and then pointed her wand at it.

“That’s…” started Mrs. Weasley and stared at white dress gown she was holding up, “Ron’s,” she finished in awe as Pansy added the final touch to the gown, changing its color to deep wine red.

“Oh, I don’t believe Ron could fit into it now,” said Pansy smiling and handed the gown to Hermione.

“It’s beautiful,” said Hermione breathlessly.

“What’s Fairy Godmothers are for anyway?” asked Pansy laughing and helped Hermione to put it on.

“You study for Fairy Godmother?” wondered Mrs. Weasley and started to work on the ruined gown.

“Yeah, she likes to perform enchantments on clothes,” said Hermione and wiggled the gown a bit, to get it fit. “Oh, and don’t forget the make-up and hairdo!” she started to laugh as Pansy was already fixing her appearance.

“That’s lovely,” said Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione thanked the older witch and walked with Pansy out of the laundry kitchen. Getting out of earshot, Pansy directed Hermione back to that little room Mr. Weasley used as a library and took out a bottle of golden mixture.

“Here, drink this. It helps to keep your emotions in track,” said Pansy hurriedly and that made Hermione suspicious. “It blocks the magic of the rings for awhile. Please, drink it.”

Hermione took the cap off and smelled the sugary scent of the potion. It smelled quite innocent but usually things weren’t like that but she trusted Pansy. She was her friend from the start. Just like Millicent. She missed Millie because she was the one who always acted by her big heart while Pansy used schemes to get what she wanted. But Millicent was away with her boys to have some time with them alone.

“Good girl,” murmured Pansy getting back an empty bottle she made to disappear. Hermione sat down on the couch and breathed in and let it go. The ache was gone. Finally. She looked at Pansy with relief and started to notice Muggle thingies all around her with heaps of literature that tried to explain this all in elaborate way.

A knock sounded on the door and a blond head peered inside. Draco looked at Pansy who smiled and stepped aside to reveal Hermione fully composed.

“We got a letter from Bill. He’s arriving approximately within 15 minutes,” said Draco and stepped into the small library.

“Great,” sighed Pansy.

“Pansy, can I talk to Mione?” he asked, “Alone?”

Pansy eyed him suspiciously, then looked at Hermione and left but before she did, she told Draco to behave.

“So,” said Draco hesitantly when Pansy had left, “How are you?”

“Fine,” told Hermione but didn’t look at him. He scared her. She had seen what he had done.

“Mione, we have to talk,” he said and tried to remember what Harry and Ron had found out.

“About what?” asked Hermione and stood up to get away from him, “Of what you did to Lucius?” she asked sharply. Draco closed his mouth, as he had wanted to go on.

“You probably killed him!” shouted Hermione. She still cared a lot for Lucius, she was half in love with him and no bloody magic spell could have changed that.

“No,” whispered Draco, as he finally understood what he had done in front of everyone’s eyes. “I didn’t want to but… he left me no choice.”

“No choice?! There’s always a choice!”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized and stepped to the door, “I should leave you alone. Later on Potter and Weasel want to talk to you.”

Draco left and Hermione was left alone in a small library filled with Muggle thingies.
***
Weasley family was big with all the folks that came to holiday dinners few times a year. All of them had red hair and loads of freckles. So slytherins just stood out from the crowd as the feast went on with embarrassing stories everyone were eager to share. Draco took a seat in the loneliest corner of the kitchen to think over.

Harry noticed the grim look on blonds face but didn’t say anything. He knew Draco was in deep shit with the thing with his father. If this came out, he’d be kicked out of school, he’d loose his riches and be thrown into Azkaban.

“Hello everybody!” greeted someone from the small lobby and another redhead stepped into the kitchen. Everyone welcomed him back and Harry recognized Bill. He was with a beautiful blond witch who smiled brightly to everyone.

“She’s so gorgeous,” heard Harry sighing from almost every man from the table. Mrs. Weasley went to greet his son and guided him out of the kitchen. Harry nudged his elbow into Ron’s side and told him to get moving.

“Can’t I just…” started Ron, when the French witch sat down and everyone wanted to have her attention.

“Come on,” growled Harry and dragged him away from there.