Capítulo 82: Chapter 82
Everyone in the compartment nodded and went back to what they were doing.
He was pouring himself a glass of pumpkin juice from a bottle when a knock sounded and the door slid open. But it wasn't the Gray's ambassador. A massive smile bloomed on his face. It was Hermione, already dressed in her… his smile faulted… in her acromantula silk robes?
Hermione stepped into the compartment with considerably more grace then he remembered his friend possessing. "Heir Potter?"
Heir Potter? His heart sped up. His eyes trailed along the trimming of the robes, to the crest, and froze. His faltering smile collapsed. No.
"I am Hermione Granger, of the House of Granger, vassal of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin, and the ambassador sent by Heiress Greengrass."
No no no no! NO! He couldn't speak. He couldn't think. He stared at his best female friend in horror. She looked back at him, cold and expressionless. His voice eventually emerged, raspy, like old parchment. "Vassal?"
"Yes," she replied in a clipped tone.
He had no idea how the rest of the compartment was reacting, or if they were reacting at all. He couldn't take his eyes off the abomination in front of him. "How?"
Hermione appeared to not care about the pain in his voice. She continued on as if he'd asked her what they were going to cover in their next transfiguration class. "Well, I know there hasn't been a vassalage done for nearly two-hundred years, the last one was to Lord Ogden in 1812, but all the old laws are still in place, they mostly haven't been used because muggleborn families didn't like the idea of being vassals and purebloods didn't want anything to do with muggleborns, which is ridiculous of course, my lord doesn't care about such distinctions though."
The assembled witches and wizards sat in silence for a moment.
Hermione looked around the compartment. "Heiresses Bones and Abbott, Heir Longbottom." She bobbed a curtsey to the other half of the compartment.
The bob seemed to snap him out of whatever horror induced spell had been cast on him. "Hermione… he's brainwashed you!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Hermione, this isn't you!"
"I'm sorry, Heir Potter, but have we met before?"
He stilled. He glanced around the compartment. The others were looking at him with expressions ranging from worried, to confused, to shocked. "Err…no of course not, I just…" he paused and tried to relax his features. He smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way. "Hermione, someone like you doesn't need to be doing all this formal bobbing stuff, it's not expected of you."
This apparently was the wrong thing to say. "Oh! So just because I'm a muggleborn, you expect me to have no manners and run around offending everyone like it's my job. Heaven forbid someone take the opportunity to actually learn about the culture they want to join."
"That's not what I—" but Hermione had already turned and stormed out of the compartment sliding the door behind her with an audible click.
"Oh, very well done!"
He turned to see Susan glaring at him.
"That was friendly and cautious was it? And just what was all that about?"
He shrank in on himself. His world felt like it was falling down around him. That wasn't how he'd imagined his first contact with Hermione to go. His heart felt like it was being squeezed by a giant fist. His voice lowered to a mutter. "I'm…I'm sorry, Susan. I was just shocked that Lord Slytherin had taken a muggleborn family as his vassals."
Susan harrumphed. "I think we're all shocked about that. But that's no reason to lose your head." The girl got up and marched to the door.
"Where are you going?"
Susan wheeled around, face red. "I'm going for a walk. And then, in a few minutes, I'm going to the Gray's compartment to try and fix this mess." Her own voice became a mutter. "That's what ambassadors are supposed to do after all — clear up after their leaders mess up." She opened the door walked through and slid it shut behind her. He put his face in his hands and grit his teeth.
"Cheer up mate," "Chocolate frog?"
came
Ron's
voice.
Hermione stormed along the corridor, back towards the middle of the train, and paused to calm herself. She allowed her emotions to pool and swirl inside her, to feel the righteous indignation and fury, before bringing down the occlumency hammer and sliding on her Slytherin mask once more. She took a deep breath. That had gone… almost exactly as Harry had predicted it would. She brightened. And now she could get on with her lord's other mission. She'd spotted Justin a few compartments down when she'd boarded. It wouldn't take a lot of effort to track down the four other muggleborns in her year. She could make contact with them all and get back to her compartment in short order.
Resuming her graceful walk, Hermione swept down the corridor, a head-strong, wavy-haired princess in night-black silk and emerald green trimming.
Back in the middle compartment, Daphne crossed one leg with the other, and fed Freekey another almond. The adorable primate could never get enough of them, although she did like macadamia even more.
Nott had made himself comfy and was busying himself with a game of exploding snap with Zabini and Smith, being as polite as his blood supremacist bigotry would allow with Tracey, while ignoring Hopkins completely. Hopkins, Parvati, and Boot sat in another threesome, discussing quidditch and duelling and who was doing what. A knock from the door distracted her. The door slid open to reveal the shoulder length red-hair of the Bones Heiress. "Heiress Bones, what a pleasant surprise."
Bones looked determined. She took a deep breath. "Heiress Greengrass, I must formally present my and my friend's apologies for the unacceptable behaviour of my friend, Heir Potter, upon your ambassador. I hope we can move beyond this." Susan bowed.
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