CHAPTER 15: AN INNOCENT BRASS BUTTON FROM HELL

An owl screeched in warning as it flew in through an open window high above them, dropping off the daily newspaper before circling around and flying away, screeching again before it did so. The paper landed in between them and Hermione snatched it to her side before he could even react.

Her eyes scanned over the page wearily and though she seemed displeased with whatever it was that she read, she didn't attempt to run away or scream at him or threaten to kill him. Draco concluded that it wasn't that bad of a news at the very least. She finished reading it and threw it at him before taking her plate and his, back to the kitchen. After a few moments of silence and no smashing plates from within the kitchen, Draco grabbed another piece of bacon and read the front page.

'DRACO MALFOY IS HIDING SECRETS? By Rita Skeeter

The Ministry's visit to Malfoy Manor yesterday, gave no contribution to the whereabouts of infamous Hermione Granger or the death of Ronald Weasely. When enquired about the matter concerning Mr Draco Malfoy and Mr Blaise Zabini's possible involvement in the two case, an Auror answered that though the Zabini manor proved no evidence, due to the state of the Malfoy Manor, no conclusion was found.

Upon arrival, it was stated that Malfoy Manor was a mess and the means of finding anything close to impossible as if there had been a brutal battle going on, however, Draco Malfoy did not offer any answers for the questions and only demanded that everyone leave his premises immediately. It was also indicated that Mr. Malfoy looked quite distraught and angry, as though he'd lost something very important.

Later yesterday, this reporter was lucky enough to find herself in the same bar as Mr. Malfoy. He was at the Leaky Cauldron yesterday, around nine in the evening, looking quite angry at the attention that this case seems to have placed on him. Upon arrival, he seated himself near a young woman who accidently spilled her drink on him.

After a severe telling off for her behaviour and insisting that she pay for his ruined clothes, Mr Malfoy then proceeded to apparate away with the girl before the Aurors posted outside could intervene. The poor woman hasn't been seen ever since, and it was rumoured she left the country as soon as he released her after making her pay the fees.

It appears as though Draco Malfoy, known for his contribution to the world after the battle of Hogwarts, seems to be hiding something important. His distraught behaviour may be caused by the loss of his fiancé almost two years ago the revitalization of the questioning about Hermione Granger may have rekindled those thoughts of loss. However, sources state that he has moved on quite easily and was even seen attending a ball with a beautiful woman with him only two days ago!

What is going on!? Is there more to this story than meets the eye? Does he indeed have nothing to do with Hermione Granger or is there hidden secrets behind the doors of Malfoy Manor?

I will be visiting the Manor later today to pick up all the juicy gossip. Yes, I will do all this, just for you, so stay tuned!

Rita Skeeter'

The house was silent, no noise coming from the kitchen, like Hermione wasn't even in there anymore or she'd cast a silencing charm on the place. Draco threw the newspaper towards the fireplace, fully intend on burning it piece by piece later and enjoying it thoroughly.

Making his way to the kitchen, he mentally prepared himself or the worst and eased open the door, only to find it completely filled with bubbles.

That brought him up short and he stood awkwardly at the doorway watching as colourful bubbles floated around the room, bouncing off the ceiling and appliances in the room, filling the room with the sweet smell of lemons and lime.

Hermione sat on the kitchen counter, humming to herself as she watched the dishes wash themselves. She must have put a silencing charm on the dishes because they remained mute.

She was humming a tune he couldn't recognize, something upbeat and rhythmic, and something that her feet kept swinging along to. A bubble floated towards her, and she blew it away, smiling softly as it popped quietly.

It was the calm smile that distracted him, just for a few seconds, but that was all she needed. Seeing him watching her intensely again, Hermione drew her wand and pointed at him, and Draco found himself drenched from head to toe in cold water.

He gaped at her as she burst into laughter once again. He'd left his wand at the dining table, so he interrupted a pot being washed and emptied the bubble soap water onto her head.

They both gaped at each other in surprise, both drenched and smelling of old soap water and dried bacon. They just stared at each other for a second before bursting into laughter.

"What hell is wrong with you, Malfoy?" she asked, wringing her hair out and crossing her arms. Draco stopped to give her a deadpanned glare that she returned with a smile. "You started it, you crazy witch! Of all the things to start now, you want a water fight? You know I'm very good at water fights, a champion really, are you sure you want to challenge me?"

"How big is your ego? How do you manage to walk around with a head that big and not fall over, Draco? A champion at water fights? There is no such thing, because I'm the queen of water fights!" she announced, pouring a pot full of water over his head and laughing at the shock on his face at the ice cubes she'd charmed into the pot.

"Queen of water fights? Queen? You must be out of your mind beca-" his words were cut off by the loud knocking hat suddenly began to echo through the house from the front door.

They faced each other with wide eyes, all the laughter from before quietening. "Oh Merlin; Rita was serious! What are we going to do?" Hermione whispered, panicking slightly.

Draco grappled for words, "um...you're going to have to stay here, maybe disguise yourself just in case. I'll...I'll get rid of her somehow." He whispered back.

Hermione shook her head, "that's your plan?"

"Yes, what's wrong with my plan?"

"Nothing if you want to make it obvious that something it going on! How exactly are you going to get rid of her? Do you know how nosy she is?" Hermione cried, before slamming her hands over her mouth and cringing.

Draco sighed, "you know what, leave it to me. Trust me on this one, however," he hesitated, backing towards the kitchen door as another round of knocking ensues from the front door, "if I'm not back in five minute, promise me that you'll rescue me?" he asked.

"Draco Malfoy, asking me for help? How can I say no?" she grinned as her hair colour changed to blonde and her eyes became clear green. She didn't change anything else, but with the colour differences to her hair and eyes, she looked like completely different person. It was a good disguise. Draco made a mental note to ask her how that charm worked, it was far too good to not know about.

The door was knocked on again, in a quick succession that suggested Rita was getting impatient. Draco turned to leave but Hermione cursed aloud loudly, making him stop and look at her in alarm.

"Did you just swear at me?" he asked, incredulously.

Hermione waved off his question, "you do realise that you were going to go talk to a gossip queen clad in your underwear, right? For Merlin's sake Draco! We want to get rid of her, not give her a heart attack!" she cried.

Waving her wand, she changed his boxers into knee length shorts, looking pleased, she made it drenched him in cold water again, smirking as his hair plastered itself onto his forehead.

He glowered at her before shoving the kitchen door open to make his way to the front door as Rita kept knocking. He pushed his hair back and made his way to the front door and tried to unlock it only to remember that he'd put the gloss over it last night, he removed the charm, glad that the house was his now as he opened the door and glanced outside.

Sure enough Rita Skeeter stood outside, wearing a bright yellow dress, heels and an unattractive orange hat, smiling charmingly at him like he'd just won a thousand galleons.

He glared at her, "Skeeter. What the hell do you want? I'm busy."

Her smile faltered slightly but she pushed her way inside, and took in the surroundings, eager to note all the damage and find out all his secrets. The whole place, however, was clean, not a trace of broken things littered the floor, the walls were still covered with muggle artist paintings, and the floors were still donned with thick carpet imported from Morgana knows where.

Draco smirked smugly to himself, he'd finished cleaning up the place last night, not wanting to remind Hermione of what had happened, but it served another purpose now. He thanked his lucky stars that he'd had the foresight to do so before Rita got her filthy hands all over his emotional breakdown yesterday.

Rita's smile disappeared completely, obviously she'd been expecting dust and debris everywhere, she glanced at him, and her eyes went wide. "Um...Mr Malfoy...you're not wearing all your clothes."

"I did say that I was busy, Skeeter, if you came here to point out the obvious, then please stop wasting my time and go do it somewhere else," he answered tersely.

She swallowed heavily and nodded with as much professionalism as she could.

Draco hid his smug look, he was half naked, and completely drenched; people like Rita could turn a simple water fight into something Snape would start to blush over, and it appeared as though Rita's mind was already whirling, trying to figure out what was going on.

He walked to the living room and sat down, nodding for her to sit down too, clearly a few harsh words wouldn't deter her, he needed to give her as little as possible and make sure she left before Granger got impatient and decided to turn the woman into a rat or something.

Rita smoothed out her dress nervously, and got out her pad of paper and ink, she mumbled a spell and they both instantly went to life, watching him, and writing things down. Draco wasn't sure he wanted to know that the magic pen was writing about him, but he didn't care either. As long as it was flattering, he didn't care at all.

"Mr Malfoy, I'll...I'll get straight to the point. I want to know if you know anything about...Hermione Granger." She whispered the name, like she was afraid of getting caught or something. She glanced around the room like she expected Hermione to jump out and scream "DIE SKEETER! MWAHAHA!!!"

The room remained silent and Rita almost looked disappointed.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "No," short and simple, just the way he always answered. The pen wrote something down very quickly.

Rita nodded, not looking very convinced; Draco scowled.

"And your outburst yesterday at the Three Broomsticks, and with the Aurors who were here at your Manor, will you be able to explain that?" she blinked rapidly, inching closer to him.

Draco mentally slapped her across her face, and imagine her exploding into a million pieces in his mind. It helped quell the anger in his mind as he moved away from her.

"I don't have to explain myself to you, Skeeter. Now, why are you really here?" he asked.

Rita straightened her posture and adjusted her ridiculous hat. "Are you refusing to answer because you have something to hide, Mr Malfoy?"

"If I had something to hide, what makes you think that I would tell you?" he countered. He was used to being baited by questions from the media. Especially after the war, the whole Daily Prophet seemed to have thought that he would know all the answers and bothered him throughout his last school year.

If it hadn't been for Blaise and Hermione, he might have lost control more than once, and the subject of most of his anger issues, was sitting far too close for his liking.

"I was bothered yesterday because my girlfriend and I had a fight. She walked out and before I could go after her, those clowns from the Ministry come waltzing in, asking if I know anything about Granger of all people. And I reacted. No big deal." Draco shrugged.

Rita smiled to herself as her quill noted down his words and his manner quickly. "I see, and do you know anything about-" Her words were cut short when a pretty girl with blond hair suddenly ran into the room, smiling brightly and laughing. She was drenched to the bone and she was wearing shorts and her tank top was sticking to her torso, emphasising her small waist and toned stomach.

Rita froze, unsure of what was going on as the girl ignored her and turned to face Draco Malfoy instead.

"Draco, you are such a cheater! No breaks, I was so winning--" she stopped suddenly and blushed, smiling sheepishly at Rita.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that we had a guest! Oh my god! You're Rita Skeeter! I'm such a big fan of your work! That piece about how Hermione Granger was amazing!" she said, clasping her hands together.

Rita puffed up, proud to have a fan. "I've written a fair few on her, which piece was your favourite?"

"Yes." The girl answered before smirking at Draco, ignoring her again, "rematch, kitchen... later, okay?!" she winked suggestively and ran off laughing again.

Rita stared after the girl in confusion.

He smirked at Rita's befuddled expression, although he couldn't help but clear his throat as well. The normal Hermione Granger was a well behaved, good girl. The blond haired girl that'd just ran in was wild and totally flirtatious, well, thought Draco, with a small smile, she certainly was a good actress. She'd certainly made an impression.

"And, who was that?" Rita asked shakily, adjusting her hat again.

"My girlfriend, we were having a... discussion in the kitchen, I heard the door and told her to wait a moment, didn't know it was you." He smirked again at her discomfort.

She gulped and put on a smile, "but..." she whimpered, "I thought you said she left you yesterday?"

Draco moved away from her again, feeling slightly creeped out by the desperate look on her face. "No, I said we had a small fight and she walked out, I never said she left me. And besides she came back, and that's all that matters!"

Rita nodded hesitantly.

"Will that be all? I have important things to get on with. And Skeeter; if I find any dirty little lies in tomorrow's newspaper; I'll be paying you a visit with my lawyers." He smiled as her smile faltered again.

"Just one more question," she said bravely, trying hard to prove that he had no power over her. Draco stood up and raised an eyebrow, looming over her frame in displeasure.

"Does this girlfriend of yours have a name?" Draco refused to answer, and instead showed her the way out. Rita smirked in such a way that Draco almost wanted to shout out that he would get Hermione onto her butt, but resisted.

"Her name is none of your business; neither is my private life, get out!" he slammed the door shut in her face and relaxed against it.

Something told him that tomorrow's paper was not going to make him look good. Something was going to go wrong and Granger was going to kill him for egging on Rita. Why hadn't he just made up a name to give her? It would've stopped any silly rumours from spreading and taken care of that smug look on her face.

Sighing heavily to himself, he locked the door and put up the gloss again. Making his way back to the kitchen when Hermione ran across the hall and put a finger to her lips. He stared at her wide eyed in confusion, but she motioned for him to stay quiet.

He nodded, confused as to why she still had her blond hair and green eyes. "What's going on?" he whispered.

She held up her hands, indicating that she wanted him to wait whilst she grabbed his wrist and they headed to the living room.

She glanced around, scrutinising the place before pulling out her wand, and muttering something under her breath. For a moment, there was silence and then, "PEEP PEEP."

A little noise from exactly where Rita had sat moments ago. Draco narrowed his eyes as Hermione reached behind the cushion Rita had been leaning on and pulled out a little brass button and held it tightly in her palm.

Grabbing her wand, she wrote in the air:

"THIS IS A CAMERA BUILT IN WITH AUDIO SPEKAERS, RITA LEAVES THEM BEHIND AFTER EVERY INTERVIEW, AND A FEW MINTUES AFTER, IT AUTOMATICALLY RETURNS TO HER. THAT'S HOW SHE GETS MOST OF HER GOSSIP, BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK SHE'S GONE AND SAY WHAT THEY REALLY WANTED TO SAY ALOUD AFTERWARDS."

She held out the button and he took it from her hand, staring at the innocent looking thing from hell that the crazy woman had left behind. It was just an ordinary looking button, something he would not have even noticed if she hadn't pointed it out, and he would have probably done or said something stupid to land them both in hot water tomorrow.

He glanced at the woman in front of him, who was glaring at the machine in his hand like she wanted to crush it and shove it down Skeeter's throat.

Why hadn't he just made up a name for her?

Placing the button exactly where it had been, he turned to look at her; he smiled at her confused expression and grinned faintly.

Why hadn't he just made up a name for her?

Because he loved her name the way it was. It was unique and special, just like her. Because he didn't want to have a fabricated girlfriend, or the rumour that he did.

She was someone that should never have had to hide in the shadows, but did so anyway, someone who looked out for even those who'd hurt her deeply. The only person who'd seen the broken thing that he was and bothered to try and fix it, never giving up no matter how many times he broke again and again.

Why hadn't he given her a fake persona to live in for Rita's article?

Because he loved her, just the way she was.

"Well, I suppose if Rita is watching, let's give her something to gawk at." And before she could ask what on earth he was talking about, or protest, he pulled her to him, leaned down and kissed her squarely on the lips.