'Night', I whispered to the dog that I had gotten after Crook-shanks passed. It gave a humble growl, indicating that it had heard my statement and frankly could care less.
'You talking to the dog again, runt?' asked my now drunk father, walking through the front door. My father called me runt, as I was the youngest in my now dismal family. My sister, Mandy had died in a car crash with her alcoholic boyfriend. My mother, being the woman she was, ran away after my sister's death, leaving me with my father, my legal guardian.
'It has feelings you know', I muttered under my breath as I headed towards the stairs.
'What did you say, you ignorant little bitch?' her father shouted grabbing her thick bushy hair and pulling her towards him.
'Ignorant, that's to big of a word for you at this time of the night', she said back sarcastically trying desperately to get away from her father.
'You little ignorant bitch', he shouted slapping her.
'There you go again with the insults, what is it with you, can you really say my name, or is that to hard for you?' she stated calmly as her fathers face got redder and redder per second.
'You Ignorant…' he slapped her again, '…Little…' and again, '…Bitch!' and again.
'Got any new insults, I'm really getting bored with Ignorant little bitch', she said yawning, although cursing herself for her now found courage.
'Ignorant…' he shouted again hitting her again, this time with a clenched fist.
'Little bitch, I know, dad, Gee, are you finished, I'm kind of tired', she said yawning for real now. Her father scoffed and threw her on the stairs.
'You annoy the shit out of me', he stormed, walking into the kitchen lazily, and opening the fridge.
'Bastard', she mumbled on the stairs, holding her ribs. He had either knocked the wind right out of her, or just broken some ribs, she wasn't entirely sure.
'I heard that, you…' her father started.
'I know, ignorant little bitch, got it', she mumbled finally getting up off the stairs and heading into her room. 'I don't know how much longer I can stand this'; she had collapsed on the floor. Looking up she spied an owl on her bed, hooting impatiently, yet having fun terrorising the rat in the cage it was carrying.
'What the hell?' she exclaimed crawling over to her bed to untie the cage and the letter attached, so the owl could disappear before it caused her father to come up stairs, which is something he rarely did.
'Dear Stranger,
I do not know who my owl has taken this to, so I do not who to address it too. I will not dare to write my name in case this falls into the wrong hands, so let's just call me "Dragon". Please, I need your help. If you are willing and/or able to help me, my owl will remain till you send an answer. Please, if you choose to help me, I will pay you for your services.
Please and Thankyou's,
Dragon.'
'Why not', she mumbled to herself, not really caring for the rat in the cage, or to whether it had any significance to this scheme "Dragon" had in mind.
'Dear Dragon,
As I do not know who you are, please call me, or refer to me as Zero. Whatever you need help with, I shall supply my services. I'll accept this payment you mentioned. Please, fill me in on what it is you need help with.
Yours sincerely,
Zero.'
Heading over to the eagle looking owl I tied the letter onto it's leg and watched it fly out my open window with a glazed over stare at what the amount of money they would supply and what I could possibly do with it.
'Hermione, hermione are you there?' shouted an all to familiar voice down stairs.
'Yes, dad, what is it?' I shouted out my bedroom door.
'I need more alcohol, go to the store and buy me some', he shouted as she got up and headed down stairs.
'What do you want?' she said pulling out her wallet checking how much money she had.
'Here, some vodka, Bicardi's, Johnny walker and Jack Daniels', he said handing her £200.
'Where did you get the money from?' she asked gaping at it then at him.
'Payday', he said shoving it in her bra and pushing her out the front door, but not before slapping her on the ass.
'Thanks', she muttered uncomfortably at her father touching her in a most intimate spot.
'Just get back quick fuck', her father stated before beginning to close the door.
'It's quick smart', she corrected before running off before her fathers repercussions kicked in.
'Bitch', he shouted down the street at her, causing some neighbouring houses inhabitants to peek out their windows at the disturbance.
'You ignorant little bitch', her father shouted as she gaped at her surroundings. The police cars were flashing their lights and a fair few officers were dragging her father out of her house.
'I didn't do this I swear', she shouted to him as he gave her the finger and a sneer.
'You'll get it when I get out, and don't you forget it either', he shouted before the cops shoved him in the car.
'What's going on here, I demand to know', I shouted at a police officer as he tried to calm me down.
'Some neighbours were frightened because of your father, so we've taken him into custody for the night, he'll be back tomorrow', the officer stated before saluting her and getting into a near by police car. Soon, every police car was gone and she was left with a whole bunch of alcohol in front of her.
'It was that fucking new neighbour', she shouted more to herself than anything else as she dropped the bottles onto the grass, and storming across the road to the right to stand on the curb of the new neighbours house. 'What the fuck do you think your doing, calling the cops on my father, you fucking ass hole, everybody knows not to do that, everybody else in this street is fucking smarter than you are, you fucking wanker, you don't realise what you've just done'.
'And I was fearing for my life, so I had to do something', shouted the neighbour stepping out of their house.
'Well get someone in this street to fill you in, because if I find the cops at my place again, they won't be alone, now get fucked, wanker', she shouted before backing away to her own lawn. She had just noticed who had stepped out of the house and wasn't sure she wanted to believe it.
'Look, I know what happens, and frankly I could give a flying fuck what your father does to you', he shouted.
'Get fucked Blaise and go back to your home', she shouted waving her hand towards his house and walking back into her own.
'Aw, Granger, what happened to my good night kiss', he shouted as she came back out.
'I'll give you a fucking good night kiss, you wanker', she shouted storming back over to him and slamming her lips roughly against his before biting him hard on the lip so he bled. 'Now piss off'. She walked back across the road and picked up her alcohol, she stared back at Blaise and he was just there with an odd look on his face and blood dripping off of his lip.
'Fucking bitch', he shouted before turning back to his own house and entering.
'You'll regret what you did', she mumbled sadly. The only guy she had kissed before she was to die was Blaise Zabini, the last person on earth she had imagined.
'Dear Zero,
My father has ordered a hit on me. I need you to find me a house in the muggle world and pay with it, with the following money inclosed. Please hurry, I'm running out of time.
Dragon. Who is this person, you slut?' her father screeched at her, sitting on her to hold her to the couch.
'I don't…uh…know', she shouted as her father dug his knee into her stomach, further.
'What money is this?' he asked, smacking her on the head with the heavy bag full of Wizard money.
'It's Wizarding money', she shouted as leant on her ribs, digging his knuckles in.
'Oh really', her father muttered as she nodded painfully.
'Father, please, mum wouldn't want you to be like this', she muttered starting to cry. Her father glazed over, thinking, obviously, about her mother. She took this opportunity to bring her knee up and knee him in the family jewels before getting up and running out the front door, which for some unknown reason was open.
'Come back here!' she heard him shout. She had nowhere to go she was stuck. Quickly thinking of a plan she raced across the road to Blaise's and knocked quickly.
'Blaise, open the door, please, I'm begging you open the door', she shouted pounding her fist on the door while looking behind her, 'Come on you bastard let me in, please'.
'That's not a nice thing to say to our neighbours', her father shouted reaching the curb of Blaise's yard. Not bothering to knock anymore, she turned the knob to the door and raced in as it shot open. She hadn't opened it, Blaise had.
'What the…' he said before looking back outside to see a tomato red man, before slamming the door and locking it.
'Lock the door', she shouted from the back door.
'I have, now would you mind telling me what you're doing in here and what he's doing out there?' he said indicating to her and then the front door which was being pounded on by her father.
'Remember your little phone call to the cops?' she asked half out the sliding glass door and half in. Blaise nodded in remembrance. 'Well, this is the outcome of it', she stated before racing all the way out the door and to the back of the yard.
'Where are you going?' he asked curiously, smirking almost happily.
'As far away as I can from him!' she screamed, pointing at her father behind him before jumping over the fence.
'Come back here you little bitch', she heard her father shout before heading towards the gate leading to the front yard of the house's back yard she had just jumped into. She ran out onto the road and continued running till she was lost.
Dear Dragon,
You'll have to give me some time. I have currently lost my own residence and need to find a place before searching for a fit enclosure for yourself. Please forgive me for the lateness of this letter, I ran into…difficulties.
Zero.
'Hurry', she muttered to the owl before walking into Diagon Alley again, as she had just been in the post office.
'Talking to birds, aye granger?' sneered none other than Draco Malfoy.
'Not now, Malfoy, I have business to attend to', she muttered before heading off to the Wizarding land agents.
'Why in such a hurry, it's not like you can afford a house anyway', he sneered following along behind her at a safe distance.
'It's not for me, dip-shit, it's for some one else', she stormed, walking in to the agents and listening intently to the bell ringing as she walked in.
'Who?' Draco asked getting the better of himself as Hermione chatted admittedly with the clerk.
'Someone called "Dragon"', she said absent-mindedly, not really remembering whom she was talking to.
'Shit', she heard him curse as the lady turned to glare at him.
'Is your boyfriend here staying with you?' she asked haughtily. Hermione began to say something before Malfoy interrupted.
'Yes!' he stated rather loudly clinging to Hermione's waist.
'What…' she began looking up at him before the clerk began to speak again.
'We have some lovely 4 bedroom homes in case you decide to settle down together', she muttered before tapping her wand on the counter. There appeared 2 pictures of the house, one of the outside that changed to different angles and one of the inside that showed the rooms.
'We'll take it', said Malfoy snatching the bag of money out of her pocket and sitting it on the bench.
'It's well isolated from anywhere…' the clerk began.
'I said…' Malfoy glared, 'We'll take it'. The clerk looked awfully flustered as she took the money, counted it out and handed them the keys to it.
'if you like…' the clerk started again.
'We'll be fine', Malfoy rushed snatching the change and the key's off of the clerk and pushing Hermione out of the store and up into an alley.
'What do you think your doing?' Hermione asked him, watching him intently in case he did something.
'Why would my owl go to you, he's smarter than that, why would he do that to me…' she heard him mumble which scared her terribly so she tried to tiptoe away. 'No, stay here, Granger'.
'What's going on, Malfoy?' Hermione asked, more afraid of the man in front of her than the man she might have to face if she ever went home.
'My owl, snoopy…' he started but Hermione burst out laughing, all fear gone.
'You called your owl after a cartoon dog?' she asked laughing hard.
'A what?' he asked cautiously which caused her to stop laughing as soon as she realised that he wouldn't know who snoopy was.
'Never mind, continue', she said waving her hand at him, but giving a slight snicker.
'As I was saying, my owl, snoopy…' she snickered, 'brought my note to you, because obviously, you are the brightest which to come out of Hogwart's in decades'.
'So, your dragon?' she asked pointing at him. He pushed her finger down by her side.
'It's rude to point, and yes I am. I'm still rather shocked that my savour, Zero, was female and a…' he was about to say the word she hated oh so much.
'Don't…even…think…about…it', she said taking steps closer to him, causing him to take steps back till he bumped into the wall.
'Personal space, Granger', he sneered looking down at her.
'Exactly my point', she growled at him as she stepped back and paced in front of him causing him to smirk.
'What's your point?' he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
'If we live in the same house, both of us will no longer have our personal spaces', she muttered more to herself than him as she thought of the freedom she would have from her father.
'It's called magic, Granger. We simply…' Draco began, 'Fuck this, I don't need to explain this to you'.
'Show me then', she sneered angrily as he just shrugged his shoulders, grabbed her shoulder and appareted
