Ginny had been uncharacteristically quiet, her eyes drinking in the pages of Witch Weekly hungrily before she shrieked, "Hermione Jean Granger!"
Both Harry's and Hermione's heads snapped up to look at the shocked redhead.
"Is this why you are moving out?! Are you moving in with him?! How could you keep this from us?!" One accusing question after the other fell from her friend's lips, but Hermione could not make any sense of it.
"Explain yourself!" Ginny slammed the magazine down on the table in front of Hermione and pointed to the front-page photograph of Malfoy and her standing close together in her backroom. For anyone who did not know what had gone down between them that day, this must have looked very intimate. The photograph loop depicted Malfoy bending down to whisper into her ear while she held onto his jacket. The headline read 'The Grand Reveal: future Mrs Malfoy none other than War Heroine Hermione Granger.' Hermione immediately regretted the day she set Rita Skeeter free from the jar she had kept her in during fourth year. She grabbed the magazine and flipped to the article about Malfoy and her.
~ Witch Weekly Issue 16/2005 ~
The Grand Reveal
Well played, Mr Malfoy! Had the door to the backroom of Ms Granger's store not been slightly ajar, this Author would be none the wiser. For months now, Mr Malfoy has succeeded in hiding his lover in plain sight, right under our noses! Although many of us speculated about Mr Malfoy dating a half-blood witch, he in fact found love with Golden Girl, War Heroine, recipient of the Order of Merlin, and Muggle-born witch extraordinaire Hermione Granger. It's quite the surprise, to say the least. As you might know, Dear Readers, the pair had a rough start as rivals at Hogwarts. Exactly this knowledge of their shared past was used to trick everyone. While they continued to maintain the façade of enemies, Mr Malfoy skillfully professed his love. Whenever he visited Ms Granger's bookstore, he would buy a book to convey his feelings.
Among the titles, many fell into the category of enemies-to-lovers or romances where the protagonist gave up all family traditions to be with his loved one. Quite a few were also beloved Hogwarts love stories. Might this have gone on longer than we know for Mr Malfoy?
They might seem like an unlikely pair, but their story has every ingredient to a perfect romance: passion, forgiveness, love, and destiny.
The great questions, Dear Readers, now are: How and when did this begin? Has Draco Malfoy been pining for Hermione Granger since Hogwarts? Where is this relationship going? Will there be wedding bells soon?
All of which will be answered first in Witch Weekly .
The article had Hermione so mad that a bout of accidental magic set the paper in her hands aflame.
"Skeeter! That lying – Ugh!" Countless swearwords wanted to break free but Hermione had sworn never to be riled up by that bad excuse of a reporter ever again.
That woman could make an intention out of any coincidence. It had not escaped Hermione's notice that Malfoy bought a colourful mixture of romance novels, but that was only because he always pulled a book from the shelf near the cash register without even really looking. It had been to spite her and had the shelf near the register been filled with murder stories, Skeeter would have come up with some nonsense about Malfoy plotting to kill her.
"Unbelievable!" Hermione threw the smouldering magazine into the sink where it could burn away safely before she turned towards Ginny. "You can't seriously believe this!" How could Ginny still believe anything that dreadful excuse for a reporter printed after all the lies they had written about her and Harry?
"B-But the picture! And just yesterday you were so happy." Ginny tried to defend herself.
"You even said that Malfoy might be dating a Muggle-born." Harry came to his wife's defence and Hermione felt like ripping his head off. She had helped him through Hogwarts, had made sure that he and Ron survived in the Forest of Dean and this was how he repaid her? It was high time for her to move out but first, she had to rectify the utter nonsense Skeeter spouted about her in the most widely read witches' magazine in the whole of England.
"Save your excuses. You ought to know me better." No longer feeling hungry, Hermione stood up, her chair skirting noisily over the floor, and shook her head in disappointment. Guilty silence settled over her friends as she stomped back to her room to pen an angry letter to the magazine.
After writing herself into a rage, Hermione was so fired up that she immediately penned a letter to Malfoy saying that it was his fault and thus he had to put it right. Venting her righteous anger allowed her to breathe more freely again.
The rest of her day only went downhill from there, though. The moment she apparated into Horizontal Alley she was swarmed by reporters. Everyone wanted details about her relationship with Malfoy.
When had it started?
How had it started?
Were they in a serious relationship?
Had Malfoy proposed?
Then there were the fans and the antis, both very vocal about their opinions. While Hermione was the perfect match for Malfoy in their enemies-to-lovers romance for one, she was an undeserving, manipulative and money-grubbing whore for the other. However, the way they communicated their opinions and feelings was completely different. Fans flocked to her bookshop and kept reiterating how well she and Malfoy fitted together. The antis sent howlers. Hermione was amazed at the diversity and variation of the insults.
To Hermione's dismay, everything only got progressively worse throughout the week. The howlers took over so much that one could no longer understand one's own words and Hermione was forced to close her shop for the time being, at least until the commotion had passed. The breaking point for Hermione, however, was when she got an offer for a book deal on her tragic love story.
As Witch Weekly did not intend to publish a correction, and with no feedback from Malfoy either, Hermione felt compelled to do something in her desperation she would otherwise have avoided at all costs: apparate to Malfoy Manor.
Taking one deep, calming breath, Hermione pushed the wrought-iron gate open and took determined, long strides towards the manor. Every step along the path between the high hedge-rows caused her resolve to falter a bit, made her want to turn back and run. Instead, Hermione balled her hands into fists and increased her speed.
All the words she had been thinking of escaped her when not a house-elf, but Narcissa Malfoy opened the door. The permanent expression on her face as if she smelled something bad, which Hermione remembered from seeing her at King's Cross a few times, was gone and had given way to a friendly smile.
"Ms Granger." The way the woman said her name was not stiff as one would greet an unwelcome visitor, but warm and kind. These two simple words dissolved Hermione's anger, nervousness left in its stead.