Chapter 1: Annabel and the blonde boy

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and two characters you don't recognize. One is introduced in this chapter.

Author's note: Hey everyone! This is my first Harry Potter fan fic and I hope you enjoy reading it as much I loved writing it. It also my first time on this site so I hope I know what I'm doing. Please don't forget to leave a review as it really makes my day.

Chapter 1: Annabel And The Blonde Boy

Hermione stood on Platform Nine of Kings Cross Station waiting for the ten o'clock train. Her cousin, Annabel was coming to stay for the summer as her parents were going on a trip to Africa for their work. They worked as zoologists and were one of the best in the country, according to Annabel.

Hermione was happy to have her cousin stay over as she never really saw any of her cousins anymore and she missed them all, especially Annabel and Violet who she got along with very well. She was slightly annoyed that Annabel was staying the whole summer though; it would give her enough time to brag about the fact that she was more spoilt than her.

Why didn't Hermione see any of her cousins anymore? Well, part of the answer was about ten steps away from where she was standing now, and she glanced over at the stone wall between platforms nine and ten. The stone wall hid the entrance to platform nine and three quarters where the red scarlet train, the Hogwarts Express, departed for the best wizardry school in the world, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hermione sighed. Three days ago she had arrived home with her two best friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, coming back from an eventful year at Hogwarts full of adventures and of course spell-work. She missed them terribly, but she was sure they were having fun, wherever they were. Well, not Harry, he would be going back to the awful Dursleys while Ron was going on a holiday to France where his brother and Fleur were going to be married.

A train whistle sounded and Hermione turned around to see a black train pull up at Platform Nine. Ok from now on, no mention of magic or reading about it while Annabel is here, she thought as the train stopped and the conductor started opening the doors. Her cousin didn't know that Hermione was a witch and Hermione planned on never telling her. It would make her think her cousin was more insane and was a freak.

A tall, blonde haired girl stepped off the train, pulling her wheelie bag along behind her. Her hair seemed to flow evenly around her shoulders and sparkle in the sunlight, her face was tanned and less freckly than it was when Hermione last saw her. She looked like a model but she wasn't extremely skinny, she was at a normal weight. She spotted Hermione and gave a squeal of delight.

"Hermione! It's been too long!"

She walked quickly over to her cousin and gave her a hug.

"Hey Annabel, how was your trip?" asked Hermione, smiling at her cousin.

"Boring," answered Annabel, rolling her eyes. "My CD walkman ran out of batteries so I had no music to listen to on the train. I want to go shopping."

"Bel, you just got here, you need to rest."

"Hermy, I rested enough on the train. I have a lot of energy to use up and I want to go shopping."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Okay, just as long as we drop your bags at home first."

They walked out of the station, Annabel rolling her bag behind her. "Where are Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Mark?"

"At home," Hermione answered, "and before you ask who drove me here, I got my licence not that long ago and I have my own car." She pointed to a red sports convertible. "Mum and Dad brought it because I did well in my major exams in fifth year."

Annabel's eyes widened at the sight of the car. Hermione took her bag and placed it in the back seat while Annabel examined every inch of the car.

"You coming or are you going to stare at the car all day? You won't be able to go shopping if you stand here you know."

Annabel got in the car while Hermione fiddled with the keys and started up the engine. She then backed out of her park space and drove onto the road.

"Come on Hermione! I want to go in this shop!"

Hermione groaned, following her cousin into yet another clothes shop. She was bored; she had spent the past 2 and a half hours wandering around with Annabel, going into every trendy teenager clothes store, watch her try on every piece of clothing in the shop, buy a few things and walk into another shop. She felt like a salve and she was carrying all of Annabel's shopping.

This is why I protest against elves being enslaved, she thought bitterly. Look at the things they are forced to do because wizards can't be bothered to do it themselves, too busy!

"Hermione, what do you think of this one?"

She glanced up to see Annabel prancing about in a sunflower dress that was cut above her knees.

"Very nice," mumbled Hermione.

"Yes, I thought so too!" gushed Annabel. "I'll take this one," she said to the shopkeeper going back to the change-rooms. Hermione moaned throwing her head back, how long was she going to take?

They left twenty minutes later, Hermione carrying three more shopping bags and she had back pain from carrying all these bags. Annabel was still going on about which shop she should go to next. Hermione wasn't listening but was trying to figure out a way to get Annabel back home.

"Oh my! This is a cute little shop!"

Hermione looked up at the shop window hoping this wasn't another clothes shop. It wasn't, it was a little antique shop that happened to have something that Hermione really wanted, a locket in the shape of a heart. It was gold with little roses engraved on it and it had red rubies on the petals, there were two glass windows to put pictures in it and it was held on a gold chain.

It was expensive though so Hermione had been saving up for it so that hopefully after her birthday when she was sure to get a lot of birthday money, she would buy the locket for herself. It looked like it would belong to a Gryffindor and that was her.

"I want to go inside, Hermione," Annabel said bossily to her cousin. Hermione blinked and looked at her.

"You can go in but I can't, I'm holding all of your shopping. In fact, I'm going to put these in the car. You go in there and stay there till I get back, I won't be long."

"Yes, cousin," Annabel said, opening the door of the shop and going in.

Hermione set off down the sidewalk towards where she parked the car. She could barely open the door as her hands were filled with shopping bags. She opened the driver's side and unlocked the boot, piling all the shopping in it. She closed the boot and locked the car, sighing in relief; she didn't have to carry all those bags until she got home.

Hermione walked back into the antique shop to look for Annabel. She spotted her cousin immediately talking (but in Hermione's opinion it was flirting with the way Annabel was battering her eyelashes and tossing her hair) to a tall boy with white blond hair.

He looks strangely familiar, Hermione thought, frowning. Where have I seen him before?

And then it hit her.

"Malfoy?" she gasped.

The boy whipped around to see who had spoken and sure enough it was her arch enemy, Draco Malfoy.

"Granger," he sneered, a slight look of surprise on his face.

"Oh! Do you two know each other?" squealed Annabel, her eyes flicking between her cousin and the boy she had been flirting with.

Hermione's eyes darked. "We've met," she said stiffly.

Malfoy snickered. "Met?" he said in mock laughter "more like go to the same school and in the same class!"

"Oh! The boarding school in the mountains?" asked Annabel excitedly. "Hermione's told me all about it and the people she's friends with! Come to think of it she's never mentioned you, why's that?"

Malfoy put on a fake look of shock upon his face. "Is that so? I can't see why she wouldn't have mentioned me; we get along very well, if you know what I mean."

Hermione frowned even more. "I never mentioned him because we're not friends believe it or not."

"Oh, what a shame," said Annabel, looking a bit disappointed. "I would be friends with you though." She looked at Malfoy, battering her eyelashes again.

Malfoy now placed a fake smile on his face. "Thanks. Well, I'm not friends with her mainly because she's too much of a Mudblood."

Hermione knew he said that to make her take offence and maybe lose her temper, maybe use her wand on him. She was offended but she didn't show it on her face. Annabel, meanwhile, was confused at what he said.

"What does 'Mudblood' mean?" she asked.

"To us kids at the boarding school it means 'boring bookworm'," he answered, thinking quickly. "You wouldn't be a Mudblood though; you're more what we call a 'Muggle'"

"And what's that?"

"It's a person who very playful and lively is very smart and someone that everyone loves."

Annabel blushed, knowing that all those qualities related to her. "Is there many Muggles at your school?"

"No there's none unfortunately," drawled Malfoy "There's heaps of Mudbloods though which is very annoying."

Annabel giggled. "Oh that would be right! She bores me all the time with all the books she's read and I can't imagine more of them!"

"I know what you mean," he said in a serious tone. "She does it to everyone. I don't know how her friends can stand it but then again, her friends aren't like me so that's the reason."

Annabel smiled while Hermione stood frozen in absolute shock. How dare her cousin insult her like that just to impress some guy she just met? Then again, she does it all the time and Hermione knew for a fact that Annabel does the same thing to her friends and they hate it.

"Now, what were we talking about before my cousin so rudely interrupted us?" Annabel asked Malfoy.

Malfoy looked puzzled for a minute. "Oh I was looking for a necklace for -"

"Oh yeah!" cried Annabel, as if she suddenly remembered. "Yes, and I know just the one!"

She hurried off to the back of the shop to look in the jewellery section for a necklace leaving Malfoy alone with Hermione. She turned away from the Slytherin. Just because he was being 'friendly' to her cousin and they weren't at school didn't mean she had to make a civil conversation with him, not that he wanted to make conversation with her anyway. Didn't want to associate with a Mudblood.

Which made her wonder, why was Malfoy in a Muggle antique shop? He was buying a necklace that's all she knew but why would he buy one here? She figured that he was buying one so he could curse it and sell it to some unfortunate person. She felt the need to stop him from leaving the shop and reporting him but what proof did she have? None at all.

And why was he talking to Annabel? He hates associating with Muggles and he knew she's one although he didn't know she was related to me until he saw me. Or had he been watching us when we came in the shop? Hermione's head was swimming with thoughts and to be honest, she was confused.

"Your cousin is quite intriguing."

Hermione turned around to see Malfoy looking over in the direction where Annabel had gone and if she wasn't mistaken there was a look of curiosity on his face. Anger rose inside her, she had enough.

"What the hell are you doing here, Malfoy?"

"I'm buying something, Granger, mind your own business."

"You didn't tell Annabel to mind her business though. And while I'm at it, stop flirting with her. She has a boyfriend."

"Me, flirt with your cousin?" asked Malfoy, a look of disgust spreading over his face. "As if! She was the one who kept battering her eyelashes at me! She was being nice to me, I give her points for that. She's not at all like you, a good thing or she would be pretty unlucky in life."

"You listen here, Malfoy," she said, taking a step forward. "You keep away from my cousin. She doesn't know what a 'Mudblood' or 'Muggle' really means and she also doesn't know what you're really like so I suggest you leave before she realises it."

Malfoy looked at Hermione and frowned. "What I'm really like? Give me an example, Granger."

"You come from a family who follows someone who murders a lot of people," she whispered verminously, taking another step forward.

A look of fury crossed over Malfoy's face. "That's a bit of an overstatement, don't you think?" he hissed.

"It's the truth," said Hermione, lowering her voice to barely a whisper. "Your father and the rest of the Death Eaters could have killed me and my friends two years ago in the Department of Mysteries. I could tell her all that, but that would mean telling her that I'm a witch and that would freak her out a lot. So I'm going to bite my tongue and you better do the same. Or else."

"Or else what?" he sneered.

"Or you'll get it," hissed Hermione, taking another step forward so she was inches from Malfoy and whipped out her wand, pointing it against his neck. Malfoy eyed her wand and then looked at Hermione with mock amusement.

"What? You curse me in the middle of a Muggle shop? Oh that's nice, Granger, and as if she wouldn't notice that you're not a witch!"

"She wouldn't know because I would wipe away her memory just like wiping away dust," she hissed, poking the wand further into his skin causing him to wince in pain a little.

"Well, if it's that easy why don't you do that? Come on, hit me with a really good jinx, what are you waiting for?" he whispered, smirking.

Hermione froze, unsure whether she should curse him or not. It would be so easy to just do it and leave him lying on the floor where he belonged, but then she couldn't do it. It's not that she was scared but she didn't want to risk exposure of what she really was.

But it's not as if burning at the stake exists these days, she thought. But still, it was bad if she did curse Malfoy in the middle of a Muggle shop, the Ministry would be onto her for sure.

"I knew this was the right one as I soon as I saw it! This would be perfect for -" Annabel froze as she saw Hermione and Malfoy. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," said Hermione, lowering her wand and stuffing it into her coat pocket. "We were just having a heated discussion."

"I can see that," said Annabel, looking a little scared. "And what was that in your hand?"

"Just some stick I found earlier," Hermione lied. Malfoy snorted and Hermione shot him a warning look.

"Really, Hermione, poking Draco with a stick is going to solve something, is it? What were you going to do with it, poke him in the eye? It sounds pretty stupid but then again maybe at the boarding school they teach you to fight with sticks, do they?"

"No, I just felt like threatening him with one," said Hermione, stepping away from Malfoy. "He was being really rude."

"Oh, Hermione, I'm sure he wasn't being that rude," said Annabel. "You're just exaggerating as usual. Anyway Draco, here's the locket I was talking about. Do you like it?"

Hermione's mouth dropped in shock. Annabel was holding out the locket she had been eyeing for months, she had saved up a lot of money for that and her cousin was offering it to Malfoy! Her fists curled up in fury but she stood her ground.

Malfoy took the necklace from Annabel's hands and looked it over; no expression was shown on his face. Annabel looked as if she was holding her breath as if she was waiting to see if Malfoy liked her choice of jewellery.

"I'll take it," Malfoy answered. "Can you hold this while I find my wallet?"

Annabel took the necklace back as Malfoy fumbled in his jacket pocket pulling out a small black wallet. He pulled out Muggle money and began shuffling through the pile, looking confused at what these notes meant.

"Do you need some help?" Annabel kindly asked.

A look of humiliation crossed Malfoy's face that didn't go unnoticed by Hermione but quickly pulled his face into a fake smile again.

"Would you mind?" he asked sweetly "It's just I've been away to Australia for awhile and I don't remember which notes are which. Different currency, you know."

Annabel nodded eagerly and rush over to help him while Hermione turned away to hide her silent laughter. She couldn't help but poke fun at Malfoy's confusion at the way Muggle money worked. He wasn't the first one though, most wizards didn't know even Mr Weasley who worked in the 'Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office' didn't know how to use the notes.

"Thanks," said Malfoy, tucking his wallet away in his pocket. He walked over to the counter on the other side of the room. Annabel looked at her cousin in confusion.

"Surely he would have adjusted to using the currency again? And how did he go to Australia for a long while? Summer holidays have only been going for a couple of days! Unless your school gets off early I can't think how he would manage it!"

Hermione was about to answer when Malfoy was suddenly back, holding a red velvet box in his hand.

"Well guess its goodbye then, Annabel," he said the fake smile on his face again. "See you at school, Granger." He walked towards the door and was about to step out when Annabel called back.

"Hey! Can I have your phone number?"

Hermione looked at her cousin in shock, suddenly wishing she should slap Annabel. Malfoy, though, looked remotely surprised.

"Um, I don't have one of those. My father thinks it's a waste of money."

Annabel's face fell. "Oh, okay. Hang on! How about I give you my phone number and you call me from a payphone?"

Hermione was sure Malfoy didn't know what a phone was yet alone one that required Muggle coins and how to use a phone in the first place. She wasn't going to teach him how to use one, not in a million years.

"Sure," Malfoy answered.

Annabel beamed and got a notepad and a pen to write down her phone number. She seemed to always have a paper and pen with her on the ready.

"Here," she said, tearing the paper out and handing it to Malfoy. "I also wrote down my home address in case you want to write to me or something."

"Thanks. Might talk to you soon then," he said, pocketing the piece of paper and heading out the door.

Hermione turned to eye her cousin in disgrace and saw that she was lost in space.

"I can't believe you've been going to the same school as that guy for years and not even think of asking him out! He is so gorgeous; he must have girls all over him."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You don't know what he's really like Bel. There are better looking guys at the school than him. One of my best friends Harry, for example, has sexy hair that makes girls go crazy."

"If he has such sexy hair then why haven't you got together with him then?" asked Annabel as they stepped outside the shop and started walking up the street.

Hermione clicked her tongue impatiently "Because he's one of my best friends. I think of him as my older brother."

"You're so naïve Hermione. So when do I get to meet these friends of yours?"

"You'll meet them soon. And besides you already have a boyfriend."

"Yeah but I might break up with him, he's being so immature."

You wouldn't even know what immature means since you act one yourself, Hermione felt like saying.

"Oh, Hermione, can we stop here? I so need a new pair of jeans!" Annabel said, pulling Hermione back to a shop selling designer jeans.

"A new pair of jeans? In the middle of summer?" Hermione cried out in annoyance. Annabel gave her a pleading look. Hermione had no choice but to be dragged into the shop where she would probably spend the next forty-five minutes watching her cousin prance around in every single pair of jeans in the shop.