'Who did you tell?' He shouted, bursting into her office a week later. She quietly flicked her door shut and cast a silencing spell before turning to him.

'I didn't tell anyone' she glared at him and she hadn't. She'd desperately wanted too, Ginny knew something was up but Hermione had respected his privacy and kept it quiet. He'd been purposefully avoiding her so she'd just left him to it, as much as she wanted to confront him, argue with him, even kiss him again she wasn't going to chase him. She'd waited for him to come to her but this wasn't what she was expecting.

'Well someone knows and it sure as hell wasn't me' he stormed, pacing up and down.

'Malfoy, calm down'

He ignored her and kept pacing back and forth. She took a deep breath and tried again.

'Malfoy, calm down'

He didn't stop. Kept pacing. She lost her temper and screamed at him.

'Draco, CALM DOWN'.

That stopped him in his tracks but he was still fuming; she could almost imagine steam coming out his ears like after a pepper up potion. He turned to look at her, fighting for control but she could still see the stress and worry etched on his face. He spat out some words.

'You see how you're calm when you get this'

He threw down some parchment and she opened it, reading quickly. It was a pretty good mock up of a Daily Prophet front page and an anonymous letter.

'Malfoy Heir and Golden Girl, fun or fear?'.

She read the title and rolled her eyes, thinking someone must have seen them together, put two and two together and made five. It wasn't after all the first time there had been wild speculation about her life printed in the wizarding media. After all she was Gryffindor's princess, the Golden Girl. She flicked over the headlines before noticing the pictures and slowly the focus of it sunk in. There was a photo of her looking angry at him in her front room and later him storming out, and one of her at St Mungo's the next day looking sheepish. She looked up at him a bit fearfully, wondering what was in the article.

'Read it' He snapped, pacing back and forth again.

She did, it was usual prophet drivel but with a mean twist. Sentences jumped out at her - 'unwelcome advances' 'seeking revenge' 'visited St Mungo's after a probable brutal attack looking like she was hiding'. She finished reading and put the paper down. The action stopped Malfoy pacing and he looked at her concerned.

'You went to St Mungo's?'

'I did, yes, but to visit Neville's parents as he's away but it's none of their business. I was hungover, I had been to a party. Didn't get much sleep that night either'.

He looked mollified for a second.

'No pepper up? Sometimes I think you forget you're a witch' he sighed before changing tack. They're blackmailing me with this'.

He'd received threats before, even death threats but he didn't like she was involved and this was different. He sat down abruptly on the chair opposite him.

'Pepper up doesn't work on me, hence why I don't drink often. Doesn't surprise me it's blackmail, but it's a bit stalkerish. How did they get the photos?' She asked confused.

'You're an Auror- surveillance spells?'

'Prosecutor' she corrected, glaring at him. 'Not many but possible. Muggle CCTV is better actually, but we rarely use it as doesn't work around lots of magic. And anyway, my house is seriously warded and protected and not many know where it is. I'd have known if magic was used anywhere near and how did they know about St Mungo's? I disguise myself going in, not much but enough to not immediately be recognised. Neville might have shared about his parents now but it's not overtly public knowledge'.

He sat quietly for a minute, not knowing what to say or do at all. It seemed she didn't either as she was unusually silent.

'What now?' He asked but she didn't answer, just put her head down and re-read the article.

'As untrue as it is if this was published it would be believed, no matter what I say. This is awful. You could pay, but they'd just want more and more'.

She looked close to tears. He hated seeing her worried but not able to do anything, something was ripping inside him. Oh hell. He got up and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. A big overprotective instinct had kicked in and he had no idea where from. She felt tiny in his arms, fragile but he could feel she was relaxed there not guarded, it felt natural. He knew she was anything but fragile, however this had really shaken her.

'What now?' He asked again, pulling away slightly.

'I need to investigate' she said simply, as Harry shouted for her outside the door.

'Hermione, open up'.

They broke apart quickly and she waved her door unlocked.

'Hermione, why was- oh, Malfoy' Harry asked shocked to see him stood there.

'I'll get some answers for you later Malfoy' she said, vanishing all the papers on her desk. He took her cue and immediately turned cold again.

'Make sure they stay confidential' he sneered, stalking out as she rolled her eyes.

'What did he want? And why was the door locked?' Harry asked confused.

'Private case' she said quickly, before asking 'anything urgent?'.

'Yes. Horrible news this morning. A young witch was found raped and murdered, it's thought her muggle boyfriend is to blame but there was magic used so we're not convinced. She was strangled, but magic had been used to bind her. Ron is combing her room now and questioning her neighbours then sorting out the muggle police, and then Theodore Nott has gone missing. He's only just married too and there's absolutely no reason we can find at all. His Father's release is coming up soon - he served a reduced sentence for information'

Hermione nodded, she knew those cases well.

'Otherwise we have no idea. He's kept clean the last few years. His wife, Hannah Abbott's little sister incidentally, is a healer. He wasn't a death eater although he admits sympathising, he completely changed when he met Lucy. He spent a long time in St Mungo's after the war. I think it was even Ginny who hexed him' he looked proud for a moment.

'I've looked everywhere. There's nothing missing, he literally disappeared overnight. No magic used there at all. Lucy said they got into bed one night and the next morning he was gone. The only thing missing is his wand, she doesn't even think he's dressed. I was wondering if you could come over tomorrow and take a look? Yates is there now, but could use your brains on this too'

'Sure' she agreed, saying a quick goodbye to Harry as she was summoned into her bosses office by one of those internal flyers forever buzzing around.

Malfoy stalked back to his office, confused. He was supposed to hate her, she was supposed to hate him but neither seemed to feel that anymore. She had to hate him as much as he hated himself, or he thought he did. Then he finds himself on impromptu visits to her house, that she invited him to, and well, now accused of raping her pretty much. He hoped she could find something. He sat down at his desk and glanced at the mail that had appeared there. Great, more trouble in Italy. He'd been there last week, the Italians were a bit crazy. Some British wizards had been caught magically graffitiing the colosseum now, probably the same ones from France but hadn't been caught. Oh brilliant. Now he supposed he'd have to go back to the MLE department. He sighed and headed into his boss' office with the report.

'You want me to go where with who?' He snapped at his boss moments later.

'Italy with Miss Granger , Mr Malfoy, that is correct. She's being informed now. You'll need to take a portkey first thing tomorrow. Here are some details for you to look over. Now, I suggest you go home and pack' Mafalda told him wearily.

He took that as his dismissal and stormed out back to his office. Mafalda was being unreasonable. He was grateful that she trusted him enough now to go alone, but he could manage this completely alone, he didn't need the one witch along for the ride he really wanted to avoid in public until they worked out what the hell was going on. It wasn't her fault and she wasn't to know he wanted to avoid Granger but even just based on their public history it wasn't a great idea to send the two of them alone. No one knew about them even talking, well, so he thought but those letters had riled him up a bit. He'd found them on his desk and stalked straight down to see Hermione. It seemed like ages ago now but had actually been less than half an hour. He stropped around his office for a bit, packing some bits before heading back to the Manor. He'd take a sleeping potion that night, wouldn't do to be anything but alert over the next few days.

'You have got to be kidding' Hermione shouted at Simpson, her boss at almost the same time.

'Look, I know you two don't get on but he speaks fluent Italian and was there last week. We need to soothe the Italians, these wizards are causing chaos over the continent and we can't seem to stop them. They're angry they attacked France and not been caught. Defacing the colosseum was one step too far. I hate to use your war heroine status but we need them on side with the up coming Quidditch World Cup. And you know you're the best.'

She sighed. She was confused, one minute he was shouting at her, the next pulling her into his arms affectionately. She had to admit she'd liked it, really liked it but he kept leaving after and heading to Italy they had to provide a united front. She wasn't sure she could always pull it off, he was so maddening and flighty. Yes flighty. She only had to say one word and he'd just run away.

'I don't see I really have a choice. But I'm owed for this'.

'Of course, anything. I suggest you go home and pack. Portkey leaves 0600 tomorrow morning' Simpson said, handing her the sheaf of preparation papers.

She stormed from the office and went straight home, it had been a long day and she still wanted to look at the paper's Malfoy had been sent.