SO BEGINS THE STORY

PROLOGUE: A SECRET WELL KEPT

In the hinterland of Tuscany, not too far from Florence, in amongst rows of olive groves and grapevines, sat an enormous Italian mansion. The mansion sat on the top of a hill which exposed it to large panoramic views of the countryside from the terraces that surrounded it. Alongside the three-storey building, there were impressive well-kept gardens decorated with many expensive sculptures and beautiful fountains. The garden was also complete with their own hedge maze and a brewery. To say the least the Zabini family were well off.

In the southern wing of the mansion, Roberto Zabini sat in their study reading the Daily Prophet with anxiety. His wife, Valentina, stood peering over his shoulder to read what was causing her husband to act in such a way. Once she saw the headline, she gasped and nearly fainted from the shock. It had been a month since the war had ended and the wizarding world was finally returning to normal. But today's paper had set the two Zabini's hearts on fire. They had kept this secret for so long but now it had threatened to expose itself. They had contemplated doing this themselves, but the paper beat them to it. Roberto's hands shook as he folded the newspaper and sat it on the desk. The husky, dark skinned, Italian man twirled his moustache with his fingers and turned his chair to stare out the window into the olive groves that lay beyond the garden. He was nervous. He was deep in thought when his slender wife began rubbing his shoulders from behind.

'Darling, what should we do about this mess?' She asked breaking his concentration. He swivelled his chair around to face her. She looked so calm, but he knew she would be anxious on the inside. That was one of the things he loved about his wife. She could keep appearances. She was intelligent too. Her suggestions had allowed them to hide this secret so well for 18 years.

'Nothing. We let it happen. I'm surprised it took so long for us to be found out.' Roberto said and stood to lead his wife out of the study, but stopped when his wife spoke again.

'And our son. What about him?' Valentina asked. 'He will not take this news very well. We kept this from him for so long, he will be mad at us.' Roberto started to play with his moustache again and moved to sit on the lounge in front of the fireplace. His wife sat down next to him. That was true. He hadn't accounted for that.

'Yes, that does pose a problem. However, he should know better than to argue with his parents. We did what we had to do at the time.' He said and grabbed Valentina's hand and rubbed it softly, gazing into her green eyes and smiled. He sighed and then spoke again. 'It will be ok, sweetheart. I will see to it that he and the papers don't blow this out of proportion.' He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before standing once more and then walked towards the door. He paused and looked over his shoulder once more before leaving. He was glad that they were finally found out and he wasn't all that surprised that the person who found out beat them to it. After all they were of Zabini heritage.

'She's coming home.' His wife looked up at him and they smiled.

Hermione Granger had spent the good part of the last month helping fix Hogwarts. The school had been badly damaged in the war and she had jumped at the opportunity to help put the school back together again. She had missed school in the year that she, Harry and Ron had been on the run and now that the school was being fixed, she couldn't wait to finally go back and finish her last year.

And to live a normal life.

She sighed. She didn't think she'd ever live a normal witch's life now. She had been plastered all over the papers alongside her friends ever since the war. She had known the publicity would be insane, but they just wouldn't leave her alone. She only did what she had to do to save the world from Voldermort's wrath. The worst part about it all was that they were now dragging on about her so called relationship with Ron. It was true that she did love Ron and they had become really close during the war. But ever since that kiss in the Chamber of Secrets, they had both seen that a relationship between them would never work. So, they had remained friends. Ron had even told her last night that he was now dating Lavender. Harry and Ginny had become quite close as well and were now dating much to everyone's delight. As much as Hermione was happy to see everyone moving on and being happy, she couldn't help but feel like something was missing. But she dove into fixing the school, hoping that once she got back to schooling, she would feel whole again. Right now, she was fixing the wall where the hidden swimming pool had been exposed (Whoever gets that reference gets 10 points), when the new Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, came up behind and startled her.

'Miss Granger, I need you to take the records of the Hogwarts renewal project down to the Ministry of Magic Archives please. I would do it myself, however, Minerva has asked me to take a look at the new candidates for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching position. Dumbledore made some very poor decisions in the past even though he was a smart man.' He said the last part with a chuckle. 'Would you please do this for me Hermione? There is no one here I trust more than you. Thank you.' Before she could reply, he handed her a stack of records, smiled at her and walked in the direction of Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, who was currently putting the finishing touches on the main staircase.

Hermione sighed. This wall would have to wait. She walked to the apparition point and went straight to the Ministry of Magic. Once there, she walked over to the elevators and punched the level 2 button. Once she arrived, she went through the office door into what looked like utter chaos. The receptionist looked like she was in a frantic mood, so Hermione rushed forward to ask if she needed help. She looked up at Hermione and her face relaxed and she stopped what she was doing.

'Oh yes Hermione dear, if you don't mind helping me pick up these birth certificates that would be great. It is been absolutely chaotic here today with the aftermath of the war and such.' She said and went about picking up the papers.

'Oh, it would be no trouble at all.' Hermione smiled and placed the records on the ground and went to help the lady. Hermione started picking up the birth certificates when she came across one that she couldn't help but find odd. It was for a pureblood girl, born on September 19th, 1979. Weird. That was her birthday. Then she looked at the name.

Eleanora Hermione Zabini.

She nearly screamed and startled the poor receptionist to death. But she took a deep breath before continuing. That couldn't be right. Hermione thought that her parents had said that they had made the name up and there had been no record of that name before. But here it was, on a birth certificate from the same date and year as her birthday and yet it wasn't her certificate. Then she remembered the name.

Zabini.

This girl couldn't be related to Blaise, could she? Hermione scratched her head and thought back to her birthday at Hogwarts. She remembered looking over at the Slytherin table to see someone else had the same birthday as her. But who was it? Was it Blaise? She thought harder. Hang on, it was him. Well that just opened a whole other can of worms. Blaise had a twin? How come she never knew about her and why did she have an oddly similar name to her? There were too many coincidences. Hermione was having trouble breathing. Her mind was buzzing. She needed to find answers. Who was this mysterious girl? What had the Zabini family been hiding? She finally controlled her breathing, picked up the rest of the certificates and handed them to the receptionist. She thanked her for her help. But she couldn't register it. She went towards the elevator in confusion. She suddenly remembered why she was in the archives in the first place. She ran back and handed the receptionist the pile of Hogwarts records and then went to flee the room again. But before she did, she stopped and she asked if she could check the death records. The receptionist happily obliged. After all, it wasn't an unusual request after a war. She needed to know if this girl was alive. After an hour of searching the records for the death and heritage of an Eleanora Zabini, all that Hermione found was that she was indeed Blaise's sister and she was alive. But why had she been kept a secret? If Blaise had gone to Hogwarts, why hadn't she also?

Now that she had discovered this girl, she needed air. She needed answers. She knew just where to find them.

Little did she know, a little bug reporter had been hiding in the banisters and seen everything. It was time for another scoop.