Week 6 (You have your friends, your teammates, and you also have your opponents. Your opponent will be aiming to hurt you from the get go and we should have this shown by incorporating another member into the relationship that is causing problems. Prompts: "They haven't seen the best of us yet.")
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"Unbelievable," Hermione huffed, throwing the newspaper onto the table. "I can't believe that woman. She thinks she can get away with this, she has another thing coming."
Draco kept one eye on his girlfriend, admiring the way her shorts had slipped on her hips a bit on one side, the other eye on the paper. Picking it up, he caught quick sight of his face staring up in black and white. It was a recent picture, taken at the beginning of the week when the couple had been in Hogsmeade. They had been enjoying the free afternoon and warm weather. Hands together, their picture had been taken. It wasn't a secret that the two had become a couple, but it also wasn't common knowledge. Until this it seems.
"War heroine Hermione Granger, poisoned by love?" Draco read the title of the article. He growled at the author's name. This woman had been running gossip stories long before he graduated from Hogwarts, and long after as well.
Hermione snatched the paper, shacking it once before reading. "Hermione Granger, esteemed heroine of the Dark Wars has a talent to attach just as much trouble as Harry Potter himself. It seems trouble isn't the only thing she attracts though. No, Miss Granger appears to have an aroma for attracting young, handsome gentlemen to her side. Miss Granger, now a young teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding, has been seen on more than one occasion on the arm of Draco Malfoy; professor of Potions at Hogwarts, son of notorious Death Eater Lucius Malfoy, and acquitted Death Eater himself.
"Is Draco Malfoy just another in the long line of men Miss Granger has ensnared? Viktor Krum, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Jeremy Snart, Georgy Weasley, and now Draco Malfoy – these are only a few names on Miss Granger's romantic list."
"You dated George Weasley?" Draco asked. The kettle began to scream. Taking it off the burner, he pulled down two mugs and began to pour the water.
"No," Hermione answered. "After the war, and after Ron and I broke up, we just spent a lot of time together. So much had changed and we both needed some stability. But we were just friends. He started dating Angelina around that time, and even if I had felt something, I wasn't going to mess that up for him."
Draco handed her a cup of freshly brewed tea, took his own and made to sit at the kitchen table. She joined next to him, a frown on her lips and her hair more wild with her anger. Draco had to smile at the sight. She looked too cute. He needed to get her to sleep over at his apartment more often.
"The article gets worst," Hermione said. She started reading again. "Despite Miss Grangers apparent run through men, this reporter has to beg the question if she is the victim here. We are all aware of Draco Malfoy's past. The son of a Death Eater, he himself took the mark and joined the ranks at the mere age of sixteen. Despite good words given about him from Harry Potter himself, this reporter questions rather we should have allowed him to so quickly gain the trust he now has.
"Draco Malfoy's past makes one wonder just how willingly Miss Granger is to this relation. An established potions master, a love potion would not be too far out of his reach. Nor is it too far to imagine him capable of controlling Miss Granger. After all, the man grew up among thieves, murderers and rapists, casting an Imperious wouldn't be too hard."
"I get the point," Draco cut her off, not wanting to hear the rest of the article.
"She can't write this," Hermione said.
"She's a gossip reporter."
"This is far beyond gossip. This is slander. She keeps going talking about your trial and giving this long list of crimes that you never did, nor were you even accused of doing. She paints you as this monster. And then she accuses me of sleeping around with a list of guys. Says that I've been trying to wrap rich, handsome, and influential men around my finger for my own benefit. She calls me a slag."
Draco reached out, taking the newspaper from her. "Rita Skeeter is a gossip whore. She can't find anything good to write on so she writes trash to try and keep herself from falling off her pedestal of fame. She's nothing, Granger."
"How are you so calm about this? She accused you of performing an Unforgivable on me. And that's just the part I read."
Draco turned his spoon about in his cup of tea, keeping his gaze on the dark liquid. "I've had years of people writing trash about me. I've had people accuse me of heinous crimes and strangers tell me I should be rotting in prison. And I know that I deserve part of that. But I also know that most of them are wrong. Most of them are just throwing petty insults because they feel like they have the power to. And I know that most of it is shite."
"So you just ignore it?" Hermione found that idea a little too much for her. Draco may have perfected this ability to keep calm in the face of everything, but she hadn't. She was a fire and she didn't know how to be anything else.
Draco looked up at her smirking. "Are you with me because I drugged you?"
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "No."
"Are you with me because I've cursed you?"
"No."
"Because I blackmailed you?"
"No."
"Are you only having sex with me for my name and money?"
Hermione smirked at that one. "I have sex with you because you're rather good at it."
"I try." Draco's smirk turned into a wide grin. "You know the truth. I know the truth. The people who matter know the truth. And that's all that's important. Let her run all the stories she wants. It's not going to change the way I feel about you. And hopefully won't change how you feel about me."
Hermione took his hand, bouncing her fingers over his palm. "And how exactly do I feel about you?"
"You love me, and I know it."
Hermione smiled at him. "And how do you feel about me?"
"I'm starting to love you, Granger." At that, he leaned over, kissing her briefly. She held on, enjoying the feel of him that morning.
"This isn't going to change anything," she said when they broke apart.
"I'm not going to let some bent take you from me." Draco trailed his lips over hers. "I don't give up and I plan on loving you for a long time. If she wants to write her trash, we'll just have to show the world what a fraud she really is. As they say, they haven't seen the best of us yet."
"No they haven't," Hermione confirmed, drawing him back to her.
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Deciding who to get in the way of their relationship was difficult. I didn't want to go with his parents because I've had Narcissa be so outspoken already and I didn't want to recycle that for this. And I didn't want it to be Ron because I'm tired of reading about him trying to break up this ship. And I didn't want it to be any of the Weasleys because I can't imagine any of them trying to hurt Hermione in such a way, and I think after so many years Molly wouldn't hold her accountable for the break up and wouldn't cause trouble. So Rita Skeeter it was.