Disclaimer: obviously not mine. Why would it be on a fan fiction site?

NOTE: this story was written before the sixth book came out so you'll just have to ignore everything that doesn't seem to fit. Enjoy!

Chapter one

It was a wonderfully sunny day when Hermione Granger woke from a peaceful sleep. She wondered if she was imaging the suns beauty as she danced down the stairs, dressed neatly in bell-bottom jeans and a neat red tank top. She did a little twirl at the bottom of the stairs, letting her untamed hair flare around her face.

"Happy birthday, princess" her father, Tom, said as she entered the little kitchen of her suburban home. Her mother, Jane, gave her husband a curious glance before returning to the dishes.

"What are your plans for today?" Tom asked casually, watching his only daughter eat a whole piece of marmalade toast in less than thirty seconds.

"Well-" she started, Swallowing and looking out the window thoughtfully. "-I might go to the pool with Mel then go shopping with that money Grandma sent me"

"Spend it on something nice, honey" Jane said, smiling strangely as she glanced continuously at the front door. Hermione excused this strange behaviour and gave both her mother and father a kiss on the cheek before skipping next door to find her best muggle friend waiting for her.

"Happy birthday, Hermione" Mel gave her a hug and they began walking towards the pool. About halfway there they had to stop as five black limousines drove past.

"I wish I was the queen" Mel sighed as she watched the royal cars drive out of sight. "That would be awesome. I could do what ever I wanted!"

Hermione wrinkled her nose a little as she thought about what her friend said.

"You know, being royal isn't all a party. You have the media and politics to deal with. You wouldn't have any privacy and you don't get to do what you want. Your advisors tell you what to do!"

It was Mel's turn to frown.

"Your to smart for your own good, Hermione. Liven up a little. Live the fantasy! Not everything in books is true"

The girls spent a leisurely morning at the pool before heading over to the mall for some serious shopping.

It was late afternoon when Hermione returned home, arms loaded with bags of clothes, accessories and a few books. Her parents weren't there but she didn't think anything of it as she ran up the stairs to her small bedroom. They were probably at the shops.

Her bedroom, the smallest in the house, was baby pink with white trimmings. A single bed with white covers sat against the opposite wall with white beside cabinets on either side. Each cabinet had a red, mushroom shaped lamp on it and a few little ornaments of cats and horses sprinkled around their bases. Her old oak dresser was against the sidewall. Its mirror was covered in stickers of teen celebrities. The top of the dresser was littered in schoolbooks, teen magazines, cheap make up and jewellery and photos of her friends, Harry and Ron, from school.

Hermione didn't like her room. It was a little girl's room and she was sick of living like a little girl. However much she begged her parents though, they would not let her get a double bed, or paint her room acid green, or play loud, heavy metal music.

Today though, she didn't mind as much. Somehow she felt a bit different being sixteen. A lot older, and more mature (if that's possible).

She dropped her shopping bags at the foot of her bed and flopped back on it. She felt something hard poking into her back and she picked up the white envelope and examined it.

'Hermione' was scrawled across it in perfect longhand. Next she ran her fingers over the wax seal. It had a crest of an eagle and a mustang (horse) printed on it.

Having no idea who it was from, Hermione opened the letter with shaky hands, unfolded the short letter inside and began to read.

Dearest Hermione,

If by chance you are reading this letter, it would be your sixteenth birthday. For a princess this is the happiest day of her life. For a princess this is the day of her 'coming forth' ceremony. My dearest Hermione, you are a princess and tomorrow will be your coming fourth ceremony. Your father, (Alfred Charles Hamish Granger V) and I (Clarisse Anne Lilly Granger) are delighted to announce your return to Royalty. We shall collect you at dusk today; everything shall be explained on the trip back to Orkney Island.

Yours truly, Clarisse.

Hermione let the letter fall from her hands as she tried to decipher what it meant. Princess? Coming forth ceremony? ROYALTY?

This was probably some cruel joke. Malfoy or some other foul Slytherin had probably sent it to tease her.

Convinced that it was a prank, Hermione forgot about the letter and began unpacking her shopping. She put on her new, stylishly torn jeans, her new halter neck, and her new pair of joggers.

There was a knock on the door downstairs and, wondering who is was, she ran to get it.

Standing there, on her 'welcome' mat was a tall, extremely muscular man wearing all black clothes, a leather jacket and tinted shades. Hermione was slightly taken aback by this weirdo and she became even more shocked when he bowed at the waist.

"Afternoon, Princess Hermione" he said in a low, rumbling voice. Hermione laughed. Malfoy had really gone out of his way this time!

When the man straightened up Hermione saw that he was smiling.

"May I escort you to the car?"

Hermione peered around his bulky figure at three white limousines parked outside her house. Two small flags stood, erect, on either side of the hood on all three cars. Hermione noticed, with some horror, that the flags bore the same emblem as the seal on her letter.

"Um" she started. How could she tell this man that she though he was a loony and she had to wait til her parents returned home. It was now that she noticed the man had a gun strapped to his belt.

Hermione tried to slam the door shut but he held it open with a trunk like arm.

"Princess, your parents are waiting. We must leave to ensure a precise arrival on Orkney Island"

"I don't think…" but before she could finish he had taken her gently by the arm and led her to the middle limousine. Unable to do anything else, she slid into the spacious back seat and settled herself in the middle of the white leather seat.

The huge man got in the front beside a dark skinned driver. The three cars started off slowly down the street.

"Can you tell me what's going on, please?' Hermione asked, gripping the edge of the seat very tightly. If this was still a joke, and Hermione highly doubted that it was, it had gone an awful long way and now she was terrified out of her mind.

The driver smiled at her in the rear view mirror.

"Sorry, Princess. You shall find out soon enough."

"Well can I at least know your names?" she said, slightly panicky, though she tried her hardest to keep the fear out of her voice. The bulky man turned in his seat to face her. He took off his glasses and grinned.

"I'm Charlie," he said. Hermione extended a hand to shake and he swept it up to his lips and kissed her middle finger. "I'm your bodyguard from here on out. This here is Troy. He's your personal driver. Don't you worry, M'lady, your quite safe with us"

They drove for almost twenty minutes. Hermione couldn't see where they were going due to the tinted windows and was shocked to see that they had arrived at the London Airport.

Troy and Charlie led her to a small building to the side of the airport where they registered her as a flyer before leading her straight out onto the runway.

"Don't we have to go through customs?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder. She could see a small group of people following at a distance and she was beginning to worry again. Charlie laughed.

"Princesses don't go through customs!" he exclaimed, steering her over to a small jet and up the temporary staircase and into a luxurious space, separated into two parts by a royal blue curtain. Troy went into the cockpit to speak to the pilot while Charlie led Hermione to the back part of the plane and sat her by a window so she was looking over a long stretch of cement and not the airport.

More people entered the plane and Hermione tried to peer around the blue curtain.

"We leave immediately," said a strong male voice before the curtain was pulled back and a man and Women came forward.

Hermione smiled shyly at them, suddenly conscious of her daggy clothing.

The woman smiled back as the Man offered her the seat closest to Hermione.

Hermione noticed in shock that the woman looked exactly like her except her hair fell down her back in shiny waves. She was wearing an extremely light purple dress that fell to the floor and fanned out slightly. The upper part of the dress clung to the woman's body, showing a small amount of cleavage below the thin straps.

The man had chocolate brown eyes (like Hermione) and curly black hair. He was wearing formal black pants and a white button up shirt with the top two buttons casually undone. A black coat was slung over one arm and he took a seat next to the window facing the airport.

Neither the man nor Woman spoke to Hermione until the jet was level in the sky and heading north of London.

"Well, my dear" the Woman said, patting Hermione's knee to gain her attention. "First I should probably introduce myself and my husband. My name is Clarisse. You should have received my letter today. And this is my husband Alfred."

"You sent that letter?" Hermione gasped.

"I sent it sixteen years ago. I put a charm on it so that, on your sixteenth birthday, you would receive it one hour prior our arrival. You are the princess of Orkney Island and now that you are of age, it is time for you to be presented to the rest of the world"

"So I gathered," Hermione muttered darkly. The king and queen glanced at each other.

"So Hermione" Alfred said kindly "I hear you're a prefect at Hogwarts. I went to Hogwarts in my day. Your mother went to Beauxbatons"

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Your magic?" she screeched. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I…I just did" Alfred said, a little taken aback by Hermione's unladylike attitude.

"Ok" Hermione said, calming down slightly. She needed to know the whole story. "In your letter, you said that you were my parents and I'm a Princess making you king and Queen. Well why am I living in London? Did I have assassins after me or something?"

"No, but you could have" Clarisse said, accepting a glass of champagne from a stewardess. "You were sent into the muggle world with Jane and Tom Hoggart for general safety and to live a normal life. It is custom amongst our people that if major royalty is born female they are sent from their family to mature as a commoner. If you live as a commoner then when you are royalty, you still have respect for the commoners. Its what makes a good leader."

"I know it comes as a shock to you, Hermione, but you will learn to adjust" Alfred offered, noticing the panic stricken look on Hermione's face.

"So what, I'll have this 'coming forth' thingy then I have to marry some prat you've hooked me up with? Then go and live at his castle, have his heirs and vow my loyalties to him all before the age of eighteen?"

"Quite the contrary" Clarisse stated. "Until your twenty-one, that's five years, you will socialise with other young nobles your age, you will finish your schooling and get to know your people and in general, practice becoming a princess."

For the rest of the trip to the island off Scotland, Hermione and her parents became well acquainted until Charlie poked his head around the curtain to address the family.

"Your majesties. We have arrived"

"Look out your window, Hermione" Alfred said as Hermione craned her neck to look down. She gasped in delight. Not far below, sitting perfectly on a hill, was a massive stone castle. It was as big as Hogwarts and much newer looking. Flags, erect on all six of the towers, were billowing majestically in the wind as the plane landed with a soft thump on the lush green lawns.

Hermione couldn't leave the plane fast enough. She wanted to explore the castle and grounds immediately. She set off towards the castle as a brisk walk with Charlie right behind her. When they were halfway to the castle they reached a garden of hedges and golden fountains. Hermione stopped to examine each one before turning her attention back on the castle.

"Would you like you see your room, Princess?" Charlie asked.

"Call me Hermione, Please" Hermione said, following her bodyguard into a cavernous entrance hall made completely of white marble. Great round pillars rose to hold the ceiling and arched across to meet each other. A silver chandelier hung from the centre of the ceiling with ever burning candles throwing dancing light across the sparkling floor. Charlie led her through a set of double doors at the other end of the hall and into a massive circular room with yet more pillars and a golden chandelier.

"This is the main room," Charlie explained, leading her across the room to a grand staircase the wound up to the next floor in a semi-circle. "This is where all the balls and other social events are held." The main room was also made of marble but it had gold trimmings and the floor seemed to be made of some kind of enchanted crystal.

Charlie led her up the stairs, along the balcony overlooking the main room then down a more plain (though still extravagant) hallway. After that it was up one more staircase, one more hallway then they stood in front of a mahogany door with a gold H on it.

Charlie left Hermione here and she waited until he was completely out of sight before opening the door and entering a room that was as big as her old house in London. She fought to hold back a scream of delight as she wandered slowly around the room, taking in the Egyptian slash Victorian furniture. Her king-sized four-poster bed was the last place she stopped. It had a quilt of a rich burgundy red with gold trimmings, one thousand count Egyptian cotton sheets and over twenty plump pillows. The hangings were made of a fine gold material as were the curtains hanging beside her arched windows. Over the other side of the room was a set of glass doors that led to a balcony overlooking a swimming pool make of sandstone, giving it a natural effect.

Opposite the glass doors, RIGHT over the other side of the room was another mahogany door that led to a bathroom suite with a fountain in the middle.

As Hermione danced around her new room, her new life, she couldn't help but think:

I can't wait until Malfoy hears.

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky
I'll make a wish
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget all the ones that I loved
I'll take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway

Well I hope that was enlightening for you. Please hit the little review button below…. Hit it…shakes fist