CHAPTER 6: RITA SKEETER NEEDS TO MIND HER OWN BUSINESS

"I'm a pure-blood witch."

How was that possible? Draco lay in his bed and thought back to his younger years at Hogwarts, every instance that he'd called Hermione Granger a mud blood. He could see the anger in her eyes at his name calling, the hurt that it caused her to be categorised like that.

If she was pure blooded, that comment shouldn't have hurt her at all, in fact, she should have laughed it off and walked away. His father had been thorough in his findings out about the students that Draco was with, and Hermione Granger had always been a "stay away, she's a mud blood."

"I'm a pure-blood witch."

It wasn't possible. If it was true, then how did no one else know about it? How was this not on the cover of magazines and newspapers?

The hurt that being called a mud-blood caused her hadn't been fake, it had been the same look every time he'd called her a mud blood, and not once had it changed, until this night, when she'd answered truthfully and the door had opened for her.

That charm wasn't weak enough to accept lies or near truths. It would only accept facts, and yet...

"I'm a pure-blood witch."

He turned in his bed and face the window in his room, where he could see that snow was slowly beginning to fall through the small part in the curtains.

Perhaps it was something she found out in the last two years, and that's why no one else knew? If that was the case, then did that mean her muggle parents were actually of magical descendant too, or was she adopted?

How was it possible for there to be so much about her that he didn't know? After getting along so well in their repeat year, why hadn't they kept in contact?

She was fun and she was kind, why had he never taken the initiative to contact her? To ask her about her life? if it hadn't been for that night two days ago when he'd found her by accident, where would she have gone to instead of coming here?

Draco pulled his quilt over his head and let out a deep breath, not liking how many questions he had about her right now. She was a mystery wrapped in a mystery, locked in a room with seven locks and keys, there was no way he was going to let her go in the morning.

Especially with Adrian after her, it wouldn't be safe until he gave up or was taken off the case.

With that in his mind, Draco let out another sigh and went to sleep.

.*.

The sound of his mother's favourite china set being smashed downstairs woke him up the morning. Grabbing his wand, Draco was downstairs and in the dining room in a manner of minutes, his heart beating fast and his breathing shallow from the impossible thought that Adrian Pucey was in his home and about to kill Hermione.

Or Hermione breaking out of the house to visit the library or something; it seemed like the type of thing she would do.

As he arrived, he mentally smacked himself across the head for not putting on any clothes. Though it wasn't the first priority, if he was about to die, he'd rather do it whilst clothed.

Something else smashed against a wall in the dining room and Draco put the thought of clothes out of his mind, focusing on running into the room and stopping short at the sight that met his eyes.

Broken debris of china plates and cups, utensils and other dining room things scattered on the floor like there had been a war in the room, and Granger stood in the middle of the room clutching the early morning newspaper, reading it furiously as plates and cutlery hovered around her like bees.

Her magic was fluctuating, causing the things around her to react like she'd cast a spell, but she didn't have her wand on her. Of course, Hermione Granger would be doing wand less and word less magic this early in the morning.

"Why?!" she cried out suddenly, whirling around and throwing the newspaper at the door, except when she did, her anger vanished at spotting him standing like an idiot at the doorway and then the plates, cups and cutlery that had been hovering around her head fell.

She jumped at the noise and glanced at the floor and winced, he heard something along the lines of "oh dear Merlin, not again," before she gave him a small, apologetic smile.

"Um...I'm sorry, I woke you," she then looked at the floor and saw the plates, "and I'm sorry I broke your stuff." She had a faint red tinge to her cheeks, but Draco couldn't identify if it was because she was embarrassed or angry.

Giving her an unimpressed frown, he bent down and picked up the paper that'd fallen a few centimetres short of hitting him and read the front page, trying to figure out what could make her react like that.

From the corner of his eye, he saw her flinch and look away.

And no wonder too, the main heading caught his attention immediately.

"WORLD FAMOUS ASSASIN FOUND DEAD, SAID TO BE THE WORK OF EX-AUROR HERMIONE GRANGER! By Rita Skeeter.

When young, war heroine, Hermione Granger was accused of murdering Dennis Creevy and Susan Bones, the public refused to believe that their beloved saviour was behind it all. But as bodies of fellow war allies began to turn up dead, suspicions have been turned to facts.

Hermione Granger is killing all former allies and innocent people alike.

Yesterday morning, Harry Potter, otherwise known as 'The-Boy-Who-Lived', resigned his post on finding his former friend Hermione; due to the news he was to be a father.

The Minister of Magic, Neville Longbottom, brought in Adrian Pucey, the well-known assassin renowned for his ability to track down his victims, to take over the role to catch Hermione.

And it was rumoured that in only a few hours, he had her trail, disappearing from the Ministry meeting in confidence that he'd found her hiding place.

This morning, Pucey was found in a muggle apartment where Hermione Granger was confirmed to stay, also killed by the same scarring we all know so well imprinted into his body.

Another dead wizard added to the list of the infamous murderess, Hermione Granger.

Now the questions are coming in as the public fear for their lives. What happened to Hermione Granger? Where is she? Who will be killed next?

These death, are only the beginning of what the Ministry is calling the tyranny of a former hero, and sources suggest that she may not stop until even her closest friends are killed by her own hands.

The public is reminded that Hermione Granger is a dangerous witch and must not be confronted alone. If she is spotted, inform the Ministry immediately and you may just receive the gold on her head and the fame of knowing that you helped saved millions of lives from that horrible monster.

You can't hide forever Hermione Granger.

Rita Skeeter."

Draco threw the paper onto the floor in disgust, scowling at the thought that Rita Skeeter had been allowed to publish something like this so easily. She obviously had far too many screws lose in her head; calling Hermione a monster of all things, and without proof too. Someone needed to put her in Azkaban, the woman was almost as creepy as the Dark Lord himself.

He glanced up to see Hermione sitting crossed legged in the middle of the debris that she'd caused head in her hands, and her shoulders sagged in defeat and it hurt somewhere in his chest again, something within him wanting to hold her and tell her that it was all going to be alright, even if it wasn't.

To kill of Adrian, and Kingsley and Thomas too, those three hadn't been weaklings, to kill these three was a feat. Whoever it was, killing these people, was a monster indeed, but the fact that the word believed it was Hermione Granger made him want to punch Rita Skeeter in the face with a cement brick.

"Granger..."

"Thank you for letting me stay the night, Malfoy. I appreciate it, I really do, but I should leave before I..." she coughed in an attempt to hide the sadness in her voice, "I'll leave before I kill someone else without knowing it."

She wiped her face like she was trying to get herself to wake up, another clever ploy to hide the tears that had brimmed in her eyes and got up off the floor, turning her back to him so that he couldn't see her face.

Whipping her wand from her sleeves, she waved it in the air and Draco watched as the broken things on the floor, fixed themselves, returning to their place on the table like they'd never been broken at all.

"Granger, wait...don't leave..." his voice faded when her fingers clenched at her sides and her shoulders drooped again.

"Malfoy!" she turned and faced him, her eyes blazing in anger and her expression serious, "I can't stay here. Everyone who comes anywhere near to me, dies. The last thing I need is you ending up dead too. You're the first one in a long time whose been kind to me, and I can't repay that by leading death into your house."

Draco's mind whirled, trying to find the right words to make her stay. But she was stubborn and thought too much about the safety of others before her own, even his. When was the last time someone had decided to do something for the sake of his safety?

"Granger..."

She began to walk towards the front door, her arms wrapped around herself, when a loud knock echoed from it.

Hermione froze. There was no way that they could have found her already. The Manor had wards, and they wouldn't have been able to trace her yet, no matter what. There was nothing to lead them to believe that she had been hiding out with Draco Malfoy, so who was at the door, this time in the morning?

Draco froze too, he wasn't expecting anyone, and he'd bet his life that she hadn't exactly invited her best friends over for breakfast.

Hermione turned around and looked at him, and seeing his confused expression; she nibbled at her bottom lip. There was another knock on the door, impatient and unyielding, there was no point in trying to ignore it and hoping that they would leave.

Whoever it was, wanted to come in and expected to be let in.

"Dammit, I was supposed to leave all dramatically, Malfoy, who the hell is at the door?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms.

Draco held up his arms in surrender, ignoring the red flush to her face from her few tears. "I don't know. I'm not expecting anyone. No one comes here anymore."

She bit her bottom lip and let out a sigh, rubbing her forehead in deep thought.

A few seconds of silence and a few more knocks on the door later, Draco watched her as she tapped herself with her wand, her eyes closed tight as her honey brown curly hair turned black and straight, her eyes went pale blue, her pale skin was replaced with a golden tanned one.

She tapped her jeans and jumper and they changed into a skirt that stopped mid-thigh, and a tank top, she summoned a jacket and placed it over her, tucking her wand into her sleeves before letting out another deep sigh.

The new Hermione looked over at Draco, ignoring the daze look on his face. "Look, just open the door, and try to get rid of whoever it is. I can't really deal with anyone else right now. If they insist on coming in, then my name is Daniela Montregory and I'm...I'm...your girlfriend. If they ask anything about me, the real me, umm...I don't exist." She said in her American accent again.

Draco dragged his eyes from her long legs to her face, gulping heavily before blinking at her blankly. "Um...what?"

She rolled her eyes and began walking towards the back of the room. "I'll make coffee." She yelled over her shoulder, she continued walking towards the door at the back.

"That's the bathroom, Granger. I don't think you can make coffee there." Draco grinned as she froze and cringed before glaring at him. She turned on her heel and walked towards the other door.

"I told you my name is Daniela, doofus! Stop calling me Granger!" she said before opening the door and walking in, closing it behind her, the newspaper article almost completely forgotten.

Draco watched her stared at the closed door for a second and smiled to himself. As irritated as he was that he was being interrupted during the morning, there was a side to him that was glad that whoever it was, had stopped Hermione from leaving.

That Rita Skeeter was going to get it one day. She'd just struck out once right now, calling Hermione a monster. If she kept going, Draco Malfoy would not hesitate to knock her out. With a smile on his face.