Chapter Text
Hermione Dagworth-Granger stood in King’s Cross Station on September 1st and tried not to judge the archaic fashion that Hogwarts transported it’s students. A train? They smelled and were a terribly slow method of travel. She had traveled in an Abraxan drawn carriage to Beauxbaton every year, and sharing a small cabin with strangers sounded mortifying. Even after pleading with her parents, they refused to let her arrive at the school any differently from the other students. She knew this lackluster method of transport was only another indication of her fall from grace and served as more punishment from her parents. She loaded her trunk onto the train and found an empty compartment. She opened a book and ignored anyone who tried to speak to her. She was not here to make friends.
Hermione sat patiently in an annex off the Great Hall. She was to wait until Headmaster Dippet announced her presence and summoned her for sorting. He was the only other person privy to the actual cause of her seventh year transfer. Mostly. Her parent’s money and influence tempered the story down…a bit. The Dagworth-Granger potions empire heiress involved in a scandal? This was unheard of. Her parents practically booted her from the continent and exiled her to England. They had hoped that a year abroad would make her fall in line and everyone would just forget. She heard her name called and emerged from the annex.
She crossed the room with the measured grace and poise that one would expect from an heiress. Hermione sat upon the stool as if it was a throne and awaited the dowdy Sorting Hat to be placed onto her perfectly coifed hair.
“Oh my, you are a difficult one!”
Hermione literally rolled her eyes. Everyone, for her entire life, had told her this. She didn’t need an ugly hat to affirm that her strong personality would be lauded in a male heir, but it only made her a problem.
“Miss Dagworth-Granger you are a wonderful blend of all the houses. You are remarkably resourceful, brave, cunning, ambitious, intelligent, and hard-working. Someone like you would be an asset wherever you go, but I fear your strong personality would clash with most of the houses. I have no doubt you would prevail, but I fear for anyone who challenged you. You are too cunning for Gryffindor. Too aggressive for Hufflepuff. While you are highly intelligent, your dark side would not bode well in Ravenclaw. I fear only Slytherin will be able to help you on your way to greatness. Only they can help push you to fulfill your potential, but also be strong enough to check some of the more volatile aspects of your personality.”
The Sorting Hat did not reveal any new information, but she was quite happy with the choice. She quite liked snakes.
“SLYTHERIN!” The Sorting Hat screamed for the entire hall to hear and her new house erupted in cheers. I am sure her fellow snakes would be very interested to learn why the heiress was suddenly at a new school. She hoped to avoid their probing questions without having to offer them a demonstration of why she was put in this house. Her robes shimmered with magic as they changed from being all black to being laced with emerald green to reflect her new house.
As she approached the table from a distance, she could see a fair amount of seat shuffling happening. By the time she was close enough, there was only one spot open. Hermione gracefully took her seat and politely greeted the table. The familiar platinum blonde to her left spoke to her first.
“Hello, Miss Dagworth-Granger. It is wonderful to see you again. I hope you find your time at Hogwarts pleasant.” Abraxas smiled politely at her and avoided making eye contact. Hermione only just managed to contain her amusement at his polite facade. He had spent entire summers at her family’s villa in the French Riviera since they were children.
“Hello, my dear Abraxas. Why are you being so formal? Is it because my father declined your marriage proposal?” She reached out and put her hand on his arm, making sure her naked ring finger was on display. He flinched at the contact. Hermione’s eyes glittered at the handsome, nervous boy. She was being a bit mean, but that was only to hide her lingering feelings for him. He had been her first kiss and she would have happily married him. Apparently, the Malfoy family’s wealth and influence were not great enough to warrant them marrying into a true wizarding dynasty. Pity. While she would never admit it, she, at one point, thought they were truly in love with each other. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. She would never try to marry for love again.
“Oh, Hermione, how I have missed your rapier wit! I had no idea you were coming to Hogwarts!” Abraxas said with a nervous laugh and smile.
Hermione noted an ugly girl starring daggers at her from across the table. She could only assume that this was the second choice of the Malfoy family or someone just helplessly in love with Abraxas. While she could not blame her, she would not tolerate anyone giving her dirty looks.
“Hello, my name is Hermione Dagworth-Granger.” She outstretched her right arm to the girl to shake hands and made sure her bracelet danced in the light of the Great Hall.
“Lucretia Black. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Your bracelet is lovely, by the way! Are those snakes with emerald eyes?” The girl clearly was not happy to meet her and eyed her suspiciously.
“The pleasure is all mine! Great eye! Why yes they are! It is actually my favorite bracelet! Abraxas gave it to me this last summer when we thought we were going to become betrothed. When negotiations did not pan out, he refused to take it back. Something about him wanting his first love to remember him forever. What a sweetheart Abraxas is. I am so happy to be reunited with him and hope to rekindle our close friendship this year.” The fake smile and enthusiasm Hermione displayed only served to further anger Lucretia and make Abraxas look ill.
At this point, everyone within listening distance had stopped talking and was staring at Hermione and Abraxas. She could tell that everyone was very amused by the entire encounter. No one was paying attention to the sorting.
“I am sure Abraxas will love that! We will make sure you receive an invitation to the wedding! I am sure we will all become fast friends this year!” It was Lucretia’s turn to smile like she won some battle and show off her jewelry. It was an enormous princess cut solitaire diamond that did not look anything like the normal garish, albeit stunning Malfoy jewels.
“What a gorgeous ring! Brax, that doesn’t look anything like the ring you showed my father. Does your mother have a tier system for what jewelry she will deign to let certain witches wear from the Malfoy vault? I think mine was quite a bit bigger than that.” Hermione asked with her most uncertain look on her face.
At this point, Abraxas stood up, grabbed Hermione’s hand and walked out of the Great Hall. If she was being honest, he was dragging her out of the Great Hall. She was having trouble keeping up with his long strides. After several minutes of walking, he paused and shoved her into an alcove behind a tapestry.
“Hermione, what the fuck was that? You do not get to turn down my marriage proposal and do that to the girl that accepted!” Abraxas was so worked up his perfect hair was mussed and normal pale visage had streaks of crimson. He looked even sexier since he let his hair grow out. He also appeared to have grown a few more inches since she had seen him last.
Hermione couldn’t even contain herself. She lunged forward, grabbed his robes, pulled him down and starting kissing him. His shock melted away quickly and they settled into a familiar, deep kiss. When they finally pulled back she said, “you know that it was not me who declined anything.”
“Why are you mad that someone else accepted?” He had the nerve to look appalled that she would act this way.
“I’m mad that you gave up so quickly! I’m mad that you stopped writing me! I’m mad that I had to hear from other people that you got engaged! I have years of memories, love letters, Malfoy jewels, an Abraxan and countless other presents from you. All of them supposed to be a token of your undying love and affection for me. He told you no once and you disappear. It was never going to be easy for anyone to get my father to accept a marriage proposal. You had a unique advantage because my father already loves you. He was waiting for you to prove how much you wanted me and that you weren’t just a pampered Malfoy heir! You didn’t even have to try that much harder! He knew I was in love with you.” Hermione was so close to tears she had to stop talking. It was annoying how her anger made her well up in tears, more so than genuine sadness.
“Was?” Abraxas had the nerve to look heartbroken about the past-tense. He who is engaged. He who ghosted her.
Attempting to recover some of the ground she lost with her outburst, “You know I am not the type of girl to sit around and pine for someone, Abraxas. You made it perfectly clear that your feelings for me were not very deep when you got engaged two months later. Honestly, this interaction has brought a lot of closure to our situation. I’ll put my fangs away. I’ll be nice to the future Mrs. Malfoy. I’ll happily dance with you at your wedding. I’ll send appropriate gifts when the next Malfoy heir is born. I’ll pretend that we both won’t know that any heir that is born would be cuter, smarter and more powerful if it shared my bloodline, but that is just an unfortunate consequence of giving up too soon.” Her tears had dried and she glared daggers into him. Abraxas swallowed hard but did not appear to have anything else to say. Typical of this new version of him that she has had the great displeasure of getting to know. Hermione started to walk away and pulled back the tapestry. He grabbed her hand and she momentarily stopped herself.
“Please, wait. I’m so sorry, Hermione. I have missed you so much. I let my insecurities about never being good enough for you turn me into a coward. I still love you. I will always love you. I don’t even like Lucretia. She was the next logical choice per my parents. They would let me break off my engagement to her in a heartbeat for you. Both of them already consider you their daughter. Just stay, even if you hate me, you don’t even know your way to the dungeon.” Abraxas was still pulling on her hand for her not to leave and pleading with her. She almost stayed. What broke her heart the most was he wasn’t lying to her, but it wasn’t enough.
“Bye, Brax.” Hermione knew she needed a brave man, one willing to fight for her. Unfortunately, it was now clear that Abraxas had only been playing one with all of his empty promises. His willingness to abandon the next girl he made a real promise of devotion to only further served to illustrate his true character.