A/N:This is probably the first time I have had so many ideas for a story at once! I'm so excited~ After this, Alchemist's reincarnation and the End of Everything will be updated, too. You can probably expect an update for Ghosts from another life within the next few days, as well as something for Osananajimi. Oh, and sorry for the slight error...when I said eight years later, I should have meant nine, since Izaya is fourteen when he runs away from his old life and twenty-three in the beginning of DRRR! So I'll have to fix some stuff up. Sorry about that. Izaya's true age in-series is probably in his twenties, and I'd say he probably did all sorts of shady and illicit things in order to become an 'information broker.' I wouldn't put murder past him, either, from his callous disregard for life. Nonetheless, the idea of a psychopathic, murdering person like Izaya being the Boy-who-lived was both very tantalizing, but also rather implausible...until you consider in canon, you never see his parents, besides his little sisters. Reason why they hate him? He's their adopted brother in this version. In-series, they're as screwed up as Izaya. XD I wonder what his parents are like. I'm scared to find out, though I wonder if they could be the Joker and Shion Sonozaki.

Four Gambit

Hermione raised a brow ever-so-slightly at the newest text message she had gotten from the man named 'Nakura-san,' who had texted her at least ten times during the past few days, which had become quite grating for Ron to live with, but she had told him off by telling him that she had every right to answer such calls. Just because she had married him did not mean that she completely became his tool, day and night.

Do you remember the monster in Frankenstein?

'Yes, I read the book a long time ago, by Mary Shelley. Why is that of any importance?'

Hmm...don't you remember how the monster was treated by his creator? The monster was shown very little kindness and sympathy, instead being treated as nothing more than a tool for his purposes. Eventually, the monster snapped and decided to become as inhuman as people treated him and eventually destroyed his creator.

'I suppose...but what does that have to do with me?'

I suppose I ~just~ wanted to see your knowledge of contemporary literature, Granger-san. You're as superb as I expected you to be. Tell me more about your life...I might be able to extract you from such a terrible situation.

'To be honest, living with Ron Weasley is not so bad, Nakura-san. Let's just say we don't normally use technology, much less internet or cell phones.'

The reply came back, only it wasn't in bold, instead it was in italic, and what she read there both amused and startled her. How had he known this? It said, in taunting letters: 'So you live with Amish people, then, Granger-san? I presume you'll tell me next they use sticks in everyday living and give people love potions without their knowledge. What other fantastic tales of fantasy could you possibly tell me?'

Hermione hesitated. 'Well, Ron is a wizard. That's to be expected, isn't it? The way you talk, it's as if you've seen wizards yourself.'

Nakura-san texted back a few moments later: 'Witches, wizards...what garbage. Such things do not exist. Your husband must be delusional, Granger-san, in which case, I definitely pity you. So, will he go to the psych ward any time soon? Do you honestly believe such nonsense can be real?'

She froze at the sudden, cruel gibe he had thrown at her. He hadn't acted like this before, and it scared her to see the normally nice and easygoing texter (whoever he was) send her something this twisted. It was as if he enjoyed messing with people's minds or something as twisted as that.

'No, what I'm saying is the truth, Nakura-san. Why won't you believe me?'

'You really are a fool, aren't you? Magic...is illusion, nothing more than sophisticated parlor tricks designed to fool the plebeians who can't seem to think with their minds. Nonetheless, I can certainly understand why you would come to the defense of your delusional husband. How very typical...'

The underlying message here was something remarkably cruel and sadistic, sent from someone who liked to have a good laugh out of twisting others to suit their own needs. Anger filled her being as she sent another text message to Nakura-san, only to get no response. She suddenly saw a phone number listed in one of his texts and dialed the number.

"Error, sorry but the number you are trying to find does not exist. Please try again," A soft female electronic voice said over the other line.

Hermione gritted her teeth together. Who the hell was Nakura-san? Why had he (she had a strong suspicion it was a male from the way he talked in his texts, and was certainly one of conceivable arrogance, that much was certain,) decided to text her in the first place? He had said he'd found her number 'by accident.' How had he located her, and why?

She suspected he was Japanese, since he often used a lot of Japanese words in his conversations with her. However, he could be a foreigner who had learned Japanese and was passing himself off as one. Either of the two seemed likely. But this person was someone who seemed to be like Voldemort, a complete sadist who enjoyed toying with others' lives like they were nothing but pawns in a chess game.

Could it have been Voldemort using her like a tool? No, most wizards had no knowledge of electronic things, much less 'inferior' muggle technology, and most would deem it unworthy of being looked at without a second glance. What if this person was a wizard? She highly doubted it, given how Nakura-san had dismissed her claims in an instant. He was evidently a muggle who liked to ridicule others.

"Mione, you won't believe this...look at this article. Rita Skeeter...the world-renowned writer in the Wizarding World...she's been murdered," Ron said, his face ashen as he placed a newspaper in front of her, showing a moving picture of some wizards crowding around a corpse that lay, unmoving, on the ground.

"Rita Skeeter...the famous writer for the Daily Prophet, has been found dead today, in, of all places, Tokyo, Japan. It's unknown as to why the writer was there in the first place, but she has been estimated to be dead for at least a day. Wizards have detected no usage of any spells of any kind and no magic was found at the scene. However, Miss Skeeter had cuts on her shoulder with a sharp blade and a knife wound was also found on her temple. It is implied that we believe her to have been savagely tortured and then murdered with muggle weapons, not a wand. Death Eaters are reported to be behind the attacks, but the investigation will continue-" Hermione read, and felt sick to her stomach the more she read.

"Who would do such a disgusting thing?" Ron said. "Someone like Malfoy?"

"Ron, Malfoy lives here, in England. He wouldn't be in Japan. Besides, they said it might have been Death Eaters who killed her. It's possible that they obtained muggle weaponry from someone. I think the person who killed her was a muggle."

Ron scoffed. "Muggles can't murder a wizard. We're superior to them in every possible way."

"They've got snipers, artillery, grenades, drones and bombs...not to mention surveillance and wiretapping. Face it, Ron, if the Muggles ever do decide to attack, we're dead meat. A drone is a plane that flies over an area and drops explosives. In 1945, the Muggles used a bomb on Japan and the bomb annihilated the entire area in an instant. It wiped out everything. Tell me if Voldemort can do that." Hermione said sharply.

"Who cares? We're better than they are. They can't live without us. Oww!" He cried, glaring at an owl that had just flown in. He recognized it. It was an envelope from Fred and George. He opened it carefully, only to be besieged by several ugly black tarantulas as they crawled out of it and onto his legs.

'Dear Brother, we have been in Japan for a little while and we have found no luck. No wizards seem to be around here, so we've just amused ourselves by harassing Muggles. Did you know there's a man who can snap a wand in half with his bare hands and he's a Muggle? He's Shizuo...er, Shitsuo...no, it was Shizuo Hecklejima or something. Whatever. Anyway, we wanted to share with you some rare spiders we found courtesy of an anonymous donor who wishes to help us with our business. We will be headed back to England as soon as possible and look forward to seeing you. We'll send you a couple of toilet seats, too, Ronnie-kins.'

"Ron, why would they do this?" Hermione said in shock, reading over the letter's contents in complete and utter disbelief. Why were they in Japan to begin with?

The next day, she met Luna Lovegood out on the street.

"Hello, Hermione. Have you found the prophet yet?"

"What prophet?" She asked, in confusion, "Do you mean Rita Skeeter's murder in the Daily Prophet?"

Luna repeated, "Have you found the prophet? He's the one that will bring death and destruction to the world. You should also be warned of old men, they could be murderers in disguise and liars. I highly suggest avoiding Dumbledore, Hermione. Poor Neville, now he has to be the surrogate Boy-who-lived. I think that's a stupid title, don't you?" With that, Luna left, leaving a puzzled Hermione to ponder over her weird message.

"What on earth does that mean? I can't grasp what that girl's thinking at times. Prophet...what does it mean if it doesn't have to do with the Daily Prophet? And who murdered Rita Skeeter? Why would she be visiting Japan in the first place?" She said out loud.

She wondered if Harry was really dead. It was true that neither hide nor hair of him had been seen or heard of since he had run away from his hospital room. They estimated that he'd jumped out the window, and then swam away in the lake, indicated by his magic signature...until it mysteriously faded somewhere between Hogwarts and the regular world. Where would he have gone? Surely not the Muggle world. Harry hated the Muggle world, she knew that much. He wasn't at the Dursleys. He wasn't at Grimmauld Place, nor was he at the Burrow.

Could it really be possible that he had simply run away and joined the Muggles, hiding amongst them? Almost a decade had passed since his disappearance, and still Hermione found herself thinking about him. Had Dumbledore been right when he said that Harry was still alive? If so, where was he?

Her mind drifted back to the man called Nakura. Who was he, and why had he bothered to talk to her in the first place? He was a complete and total stranger.

'You are smart, just like you always were.'

Always were? He sounded like he knew her. But that was impossible. Hermione sighed as she decided to look over some things in the local wizard library. There was one talking about super strength, one talking about something in the Muggle world called the "Dollars," and other various things.

Hermione preferred to spend most of her time away from home. She could clearly see now that marrying Ron had been a horrible mistake. He treated her like she was less than he was and was abusive to her in private. She wondered why she had never seen the cruel side of him before...then she remembered how Ron had distanced himself from Harry in the tournament, how he had accused her of killing his rat, how he had been the one to call her a nightmare in first year, and realization washed over her.

He had always been this mean, it was just stopped by the kindness of Harry. It was true that both of them had been assigned to be his friends and his spies to report back to Dumbledore, but she had developed genuine feelings of amity for him and as such was heavily disgusted with Ron for beating him up. She had assumed that, despite them going behind Harry's back, that both of them had completely liked Harry. Harry was hard not to like.

Even Malfoy had come up to her recently, asking if she knew where Harry was. He was bored and missed their old banter between each other. She had replied no, and noticed that he looked strangely sad. Almost like he had actually liked the boy, too.

The Weasley family...was oddly smothering, and not in a good way. Molly seemed to exert lots of control over what she and Ron did, who they met, and Arthur seemed ever more unaware of their activity. Percy had not resumed contact with them, but he had written them back, saying he was happy about their refusal to take Harry back if he ever showed up.

Percy was traveling abroad, doing business for the Ministry, and he had written them several times in the past year.

Hermione had always seen Ron and Harry as her friends. Never anything more. That was why she wondered why she had even bothered to marry him if she only saw their relationship as a platonic one.

She knew why now. She was sick of the tight grip the Wizarding World had on its residents. It never wanted them to leave its quaint little world, it never wanted them to see the outside world again. How could she have been so foolish? Harry had been right. Wherever he was now, he was surely much happier than he had ever been while at Hogwarts. She couldn't recall a year at Hogwarts that had not been filled with misery for Harry.

Poor Harry...she wished she could have done more to help him, then perhaps he wouldn't have run away...or be dead...what if he was still alive? Would he even want to come back and forgive her? At this point, her cell phone sent her a new text:

Hello there, Granger-san. I wonder if you're ready to play my new game. It's quite entertaining, really. You tell me about your make-believe world and I'll laugh at you. How's that sound?

Screw off, Nakura-san. I need to find my friend Harry and apologize to him for the way he was treated.

Who might this Harry person be? If he was wronged by you all, don't you think he has every right to leave? After all, that's how most of you humans are, you derive pleasure from tormenting others.

How could you possibly understand how it felt to lose a best friend there and then?

Playing melodramatic princess now, are we? Aren't you a tragic little damsel?! Well, your play acting may fool some people, but it won't fool me, princess. If your friend was smart, he'd probably never forgive you. Now, tell me what you did to him.

My best friend hit him on the head and I begged him to stop when he passed out. I was being an immature brat at the time and complained about being friends with Harry because basically I was spying on him and betraying his trust, something that ate away at me. I couldn't stand it anymore and was going to tell him all about it when Ron prevented me from doing anything by starting a fight with him. Then he was gone before I could even explain.

...

Hermione blinked upon seeing nothing but several dots. What would his reaction be to this? She was telling a complete and utter stranger about this event.

Izaya stared at the text on the screen, unable to believe his eyes. She honestly felt bad about what she'd done to him? He totally had not heard her cry for Ron to stop hitting him and beating him up for something that wasn't his damned fault to begin with. Either she was lying and pretending to feel bad about it, or else she was regretful.

Izaya did the only thing he could do, he laughed hysterically and typed out his laughter...unable to believe what he saw before him, he decided that this must be some form of cruel, twisted joke. They had turned their backs on him and they expected him to return back there so he could become their victim again? Hell no.

He smirked upon seeing Hermione's response. "I knew that would freak you out."

"W-What is this?" She gasped.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! THAT'S GOT TO BE THE FUNNIEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD! YOUR DESCRIPTION OF HIM BLEEDING ON THE FLOOR WAS HYSTERICAL, I THINK MY STOMACH IS HURTING FROM LAUGHTER! SO, DID HE DIE OR WHAT? TELL ME WHETHER OR NOT HE DIED."

'W-What's wrong with you? Don't you have a heart at all? My lies got my best friend killed."

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! I GUESS I WON'T GET TO KNOW WHETHER OR NOT HE DIES. WHAT A PITY. I SUPPOSE I'M DONE USING YOU TODAY, SO GOODBYE. IT WAS FUN GETTING TO SCREW WITH YOUR MIND."

Hermione felt sweat drip down her forehead. She had literally been scared to death by this...person...this disturbingly insane person who had told her, in so little words that he didn't care about her and was just using her because he was bored. It was like speaking to Voldemort...no, it was even worse.

Izaya laughed hysterically on the other end. "This has got to be the best day of my life! I learn she actually feels sorry and whines to me about what she did? I don't give a damn, anyway. I don't care what happens to her anymore. She can go die for all I care."

He spun around in his chair, laughing hysterically. "I'm best all alone! Ah, humanity, what interesting puppets you all are! I'm going to enjoy every last bit of this! Indeed, I will!"

A malicious smirk crossed his face then as he stared at the knife he held that was covered with fresh, red blood. "I already enjoyed ending your life, Miss Rita Skeeter. Who should I go after next? I get bored. I need new targets to play with."