CHAPTER 11: RITA SKEETER IS A BITCH

Hermione frowned, wondering what was wrong with Draco, who, after arriving back at the Manor with her half an hour ago, had sat opposite her and done nothing else. Just staring at her, his eyes narrowed like she'd done something wrong against him.

"Draco what's wrong?" she finally asked, getting impatient. He scowled, shaking his head to himself like he'd been in deep thought.

"Granger, change back." He stated.

She notched her head to her right in confusion. "Change back? What are you talking about?"

Draco stood up suddenly and began pacing back and forth between them, his face turned away from her "change back to yourself. To Granger. Go back to Granger." It took her a second to realise what he was talking about and she smiled to herself. She still had her black hair and blue eyes disguise on. Was that why he was so tense?

She changed herself back quickly, watching herself as the black hair turned brown, her tanned skin going back to the paleness that she'd acquired from two years of hiding out. Apparently, that was the problem, since the moment her appearance returned to normal, he relaxed and sat back down.

"Okay, now, what was Blaise talking to you about? He was with you for like five hours, and all he did was smirk at me the whole time."

"Five hours? We were at the party for like an hour at the most. All I did was walk around with you for like half an hour introducing myself to people I already know and pretend I didn't know anything about them, and dance the other half. Plus, it's not Blaise I was bothered by, it was the other guy, Miles."

Draco froze, "Miles? What Miles? Who the hell is Miles?"

Hermione frowned, running a hand through her hair to get rid of the tangles. "Miles Bletchley? Don't you remember him? He used to be a Keeper for the Quidditch team, he must have been in his second or third year when you joined as Seeker."

Draco stood up suddenly and shook his head, "Miles Bletchley? Granger, what the hell are you talking about? Miles Bletchley died in the war."

Hermione frowned and then let out a heavy sigh, her fingers playing with the longer strands of her hair, "dead, huh? I thought it was weird that he was so insistent on what I knew about Hermione Granger."

Draco gaped at her, wondering if she'd finally lost it, "why are you not as bothered by this as I am, Granger? That could have been the-"

Hermione held up a hand to stop him and nodded bitterly, "I'm aware that he could have been the murderer, however, the fact that he questioned me about me, means that he doesn't know where I am either. He thinks that I have some sort of connection to you, but that's all he knows."

Draco gawked at her unruffled words, "how are you so calm about this?"

She snorted, "because there is no point in getting angry over something like this. What use is it cry over spilt milk or worrying about the possibility of what can happen tomorrow? Besides, the fact that he dressed up as Miles Bletchley means that he can't show his face to the general public either, or he wouldn't have showed up or would have used another face. Furthermore, the fact that the real Miles Bletchley is dead means that whoever it really was, was using an illusion charm too, so they're really good charms magic too. This all indicates that he, whoever he is, is also someone who can't be seen in public because he is either wanted or easily recognisable, right?"

She glanced at him, expecting to see him nod in agreement, but Draco was just shaking his head at her, rubbing his forehead like he had a headache. "Granger, I have no idea what you just said, but if you're not going to be worried about it, then why the hell should I be?"

Hermione found herself smiling at his behaviour. Of all the things that had changed in her life, Malfoy's behaviour was the one constant thing that she could always depend on not to change.

"Good, now I'm going to bed before you start questioning me about stupid things. You should get some sleep too; I have this horrible feeling that something is going to go wrong tomorrow." She muttered, more to herself than him, before standing up and walking away. Draco scowled after her, wondering is she said that on purpose to keep him up, worried all night.

She probably did do it on purpose, that was the kind of revenge stunts she liked to pull when she was tired or irritated. He punched the pillow next to him and walked to his room to try and get some sleep, trying to get the mental picture of her dressed up in her ball gown out of his head.

.*.

Next morning, by the time Draco made his way downstairs and into the dining room, after getting barely enough sleep, he found Hermione seated at the table in a pair of dark blue jeans and a simple button up cardigan, her hair damp from a shower. She'd set out breakfast of coffee, bacon, eggs and toast for the both of them and was busy reading a thick book about the limitations of polyjuice potion when Draco pranced in, trying to get the numb feeling of pins and needles out of his right foot. He'd ended up falling asleep around dawn in an awkward position and had woken up with the feeling in his foot completely gone.

She glanced up at him in disinterest and returned to her reading only to raise her eyebrows and look back at him in surprise. She looked him up and down and he realised that he was wearing his muggle clothes too, the only ones he really had, a pair of black jeans and a simple black jumper.

"Are you wearing muggle clothing? I didn't know you had any jeans! You look weird though..." she titled her head to the right, as if judging him severely and making him feel uncomfortable before she shrugged and returned to her book and food.

Draco found himself lost for words for a second, questioning why she was so easy going this morning. He wasn't sure how to deal with her when she was being civil, it was an unknown territory, but there was no way that he could let her have the last word in any conversation.

He seated himself opposite her and smirked. "Oh don't fib Granger, you think I'm the most handsome man you've ever met. You live for days like these, when I look particularly gorgeous!" he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

She snorted, leaning back in her chair as she gazed at him with her bright brown eyes. "Right, because it's been my dream to see you wearing normal clothes and talking about how gorgeous you are since I met you! Please, any dream that I dreamt that had you in it was a nightmare." She scoffed.

She took a bite of her toast and raised her eyebrows in challenge, waiting to see how he would respond to that. Draco grinned in victory, "so you do dream about me! I knew it! You've been in love with me ever since you set eyes on me! Don't worry though Granger, it's a side effect of living with all this good looking-ness!" he nodded understandingly as he gestured to himself.

Hermione burst into laughter, letting her half eaten toast fall to her plate as she clapped her hands in congratulations. "got to give it to you Draco, you always have a comeback stored up, don't you?" she began to laugh again.

Draco pretended to look offended, "just because you're in denial Granger, doesn't mean that you're not attracted to me. Everyone is attracted to me!" he stated proudly, running a hand through his hair in slow motion.

"Ah, so that's why you spent ages looking at yourself in mirror, you're insanely attracted to yourself!" she said, smiling to herself.

"Shut up Granger, you're in denial," he replied childishly.

She laughed again.

She actually liked it when he referred to her as Granger, it felt more personal than calling her Hermione. Everyone called her Hermione, but Draco?

Granger.

Always Granger. She ducked her head and smiled to herself.

"Oh please! You think everyone loves you don't you? I hate to break it to you, sweetie, but not everyone does. Most people are just afraid of admitting it because they're scared you'll go after them with a machete or something. They value their lives too much!" she nodded sympathetically at him, he glared.

Just as he was about to speak, an owl flew in through an open window high above them and dropped off a newspaper in between them before hooting at them and flying off.

Hermione and Draco stared at each other for a second before Draco grabbed the paper away from her, remembering exactly what had happened last time she'd read the news first. He glanced over the front page and visibly recoiled in disbelief, his eyes widening in shock at what he was reading. Hermione's amused gaze, disappeared and she frowned before rushing to his side of the table and forcibly took the newspaper off of him.

Her face paled in disbelief and a shuddering breath filled with deep sadness escaped her lips.

'OUR LOST PRINCESS KILLS OUR BELOVED KING,'

By Rita Skeeter.

Today is indeed a sad day for all of England, not only have we already lost our adored Princess, now, we've lost the renowned young hero everyone fondly referred to as our King.

Ronald Weasley, best friend of heroic saviour Harry Potter, and famous Auror of the Ministry, was found dead in his office this morning. Witnesses say that he too was discovered with the scarring we know so well carved into his chest, marking him as another victim of Hermione Granger's work. There were signs of great struggle, and it appeared as though he put up a great fight, however, the inevitable occurred and he was killed early last night.

"I just don't understand how Hermione could kill all those people, but killing RON! I... I just...I can't..." Harry Potter was commented on stating, shaking his head, with tears glistening in his eyes, as he hung on to Ginny Potter (nee Weasley), who had no comment on either Ron or Hermione.

Ronald's funeral will be held early in three weeks at the Quidditch fields at Hogwarts where the hero won many games, the Minister, along with fellow friends and students, will be there to say goodbye to their close friend.

Ronald Weasley will be missed by all.

But that is not all! With the recent events, the public has finally given up hope on getting Hermione Granger back! With the recent death of our beloved King, Hermione Granger's death count has now risen to seven murders, and people are expecting this count to rise again in the growing pattern of deaths.

It is clear that killing one of her own best friends was the last straw and the public is finally catching the drift-the Hermione Granger that we all knew and loved is gone. She's been replaced by a cruel miss-hearted woman that will kill anyone on sight.

Unknown sources have also given tip that the Ministry is to visit former allies of Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasely in hopes of gaining new information, and one amongst that list the in infamous Mr Draco Malfoy and Mr Blaise Zabini who were said to have befriended the murderess during their last year at Hogwarts. Any information given regarding the former heroine will be used in ensuring her capture and the safety of the world.

Rita Skeeter.'

Hermione blinked, her heart pounding against her rib cage like it wanted to flee from her body, her lungs barely capturing any air that she was struggling to breath in. There were no tears, or sobs. No screaming or crying or movement at all.

Just a blank look of horror and shock at what she'd just read. Draco watched as she crumpled the paper in her hand and threw it onto the floor suddenly. It ricocheted off the floor, and the low staccato thuds as it fell, was the only noise in the whole house. It echoed around for a while before the paper settled.

Her fingers curled into fists and for a moment, she closed her eyes, like she was trying to escape from this world and all the wrong in it.

"Granger..."

She held up her hand to stop him from saying another word and took in a deep breath. She opened her eyes and looked at him for a moment, her eyes catching a hold of his and it was then that Draco saw the deep hurt that she'd done so well to hide until now.

All her teasing and laughing and smiling, all of it had been a well-placed mask made especially for her face, but now it was breaking apart and her true emotions were coming through. For two years, she'd managed to keep all that pain to herself, and yet, she couldn't do it anymore.

Without saying another word, her eyes imploring him not to do anything, she turned on her heel and walked away.

He stood there frozen, listening as the dining room door closed loudly behind her and then the silence that resonated afterwards seemed to echo on forever.

Complete utter silence.

Not even a footstep was heard, and then suddenly, he heard the front door slam shut.

Only then did Draco realise what she was doing and jump out of his seat, panicking at the idea that she would do something stupid. He forced open the door that lead outside, and ran out into the cold morning air, just in time to see her standing alone by the gates, her form dark against the morning mist.

She stood there for a while, with her back to him before she turned to look at him. Though she stood far away from him, he saw her tear streaked face and his heart hurt like someone was clenching it in their hands.

Then she turned back around and disappeared into the morning mist.