Dramione: WANTED

CHAPTER 3: MALFOY'S ALWAYS GET WHAT THEY WANT, MUCH TO HERMIONE'S IRRITATION

CHAPTER 3: MALFOY'S ALWAYS GET WHAT THEY WANT, MUCH TO HERMIONE'S IRRITATION

Hermione glanced at herself in the mirror.

Two years had changed her. Her hair was longer and less wild, still a weird shade of brown that she couldn't name. Her eyes were brown, and her skin badly pale. She looked like a corpse, and she felt like one too.

She still looked like herself, but there was an air of maturity and hardship in her face that even she could see. It was hard being alone for so long, and it had certainly taken a toll on her. It had actually taken her a few seconds to remember how to respond when Malfoy had decided to kidnap her two days ago, her mind going blank for the words after so long of not talking with anyone.

She looked around herself and sighed heavily, missing her old apartment. The muggle lodge she'd moved into yesterday was a scruffy place, the roof leaked, the walls were dark and gloomy, and the bathroom was the size of a broom closet. It was expensive too, for such a crappy place, but Hermione was just glad she had a roof over her head.

At least within the muggle world, she had some freedom. Of all the victims thus far, there hadn't been any muggles. But neither had there been any specific types either. Muggleborns, half-bloods and even purebloods had been killed, there was no rhyme or reason to these killing and until she could find a true connection between them all, she couldn't even begin to track down the person responsible.

Rolling her shoulders in preparation, she steadied herself and cast various spells on herself, watching in the mirror as her brown hair turned dark red from the roots downwards. She tanned her skin slightly so that she wasn't as pale, and added freckles to her nose and cheeks, turning her eyes green in the process before glaring at herself.

She looked like a Weasley, and looking like a Weasley was the last thing on her mind. She hadn't meant to do it, but they were all on her mind at all times. She missed Ginny the most really.

She ran a hand through her hair and tied it up, out of her face. Now was not the time to think about all the things she was missing out on. She had things to do, and crying over the pain she felt would not help. Tears were not helpful. She'd already cried aplenty with no effect, what was the point of doing it again?

She needed supplies. The kind of supplies she needed could only be found at one place. Diagon Alley. And that was why she'd disguised herself too. She couldn't exactly waltz there anymore.

Once upon a time she would have used the floo network, but in the last two years, flooing had gotten harder and harder, the Ministry had made sure to place traces on anyone flooing from muggle places, so now everywhere she went, it had to be either apparation or muggle transport.

She sighed at her reflection again, not bothering to change it, and not really wanting to, and apparated from her apartment to behind Flourish & Blotts.

When no shouts of alarm or people with their wands drawn to attack her appeared, she let out a breath of relief and walked out from behind the shop and into public view.

Once again, she hesitated, waiting for someone to notice, but no one looked at her twice. She was just another witch, not the wanted criminal Hermione Granger.

She made her way to Honeydukes, craving the sugar quills she'd been addicted to since her school days, and some other chocolate goodies that made her gloomier days better. Weaving through the few people present, she found herself stopping at a wall covered in posters, her eyes catching hold of the Wanted posters with her face on them.