ROYALTY (Editing)

The first incident

Hermione came out quite dazed, thinking what happened.
Draco caught up to her and asked her if anything was wrong. She looked into his eyes deeply and hugged him tight. She started crying. Draco was taken aback for a moment but then whispered soothing words in her ears and patted her back. He was grateful that they were near their dorm and he took her in.
"Hermione,baby tell me what's wrong." Draco whispered,still patting her.
"I- I wish (sniff) I could t-tell you" she croaked,her tears soaking his shirt.
"Shhh.its ok. I won't push you." He said soothingly.
Finally after thirty minutes, Hermione wiped her tears and looked at her palms.
A moment of uncomfortable silence passed.
"Draco? I am sorry" Hermione whispered.
"Don't be sorry sweetie. Of McGonagall has trusted you for a very confidential secret then you better keep it to yourself. It's better if it doesn't go into wrong hands." Draco said. Even though he didn't notice it, Hermione had flinched at the words 'wrong hands'.

A week passed smoothly and Hermione felt better. She had hidden her pureblood secret for long so the new one wasn't a big deal. She kept her eyes open for every strange happening.
McGonagall had warned her that death eaters may be present right in the borders of Hogwarts. But that was just a mere possibility.
She had handed Hermione the responsibility to protect everyone and quietly she used to train herself.
"You look.. different. What's wrong Hermione?" Ginny was sitting beside her on an upraised land, overlooking the lake.
"Nothing." She dismissed the topic but Ginny got the idea that it is something that she doesn't want to talk about and changed the mood.
"Well,congrats Hermione! I can't wait to see you little kids running around you and Draco. It would be fun to see blonde but intelligent kids. Ooh I can't wait!" Ginny gushed and Hermione couldn't help but smack her on her arm and blush.
"Shut up Gin. How are your hormones going?" And now it was time for Ginny to blush.
Harry and ginny got married soon after and it was amusing to see that they kissed before the priest said anything. He just slumped his shoulders and walked away. Everyone had a pretty good laugh.
Ginny was telling something else but Hermione was staring at something which moved in a distance. And it wasn't an animal. It was a human,she could have sworn.
"Gin I'll be back. I think Harry was looking for you." She got up.
"Really?i'll go and check. Where are you going?" She asked loudly as Hermione had started to walk towards the figure
"For a stroll." She said simply and ginny seemed to buy the lie.

After 10 minutes of huffing and panting, she reached that spot. She gripped her wand in her hand and looked around cautiously.
A loud wail caught her attention.
She ran in that direction and saw Neville crying in pain, gripping his arm. She was right in time to see a figure retreating in the woods.
But she couldn't just leave Neville there.
"Neville! How did it happen?!" She cried sitting on her knees and helping him up.
"I couldn't see his face. I was-ouch. Strolling around and I saw this man. He was playing with his wand. As if aiming at someone in the direction you came from.
But then he saw me and before I could scream he ran not before hurting me." Neville winced in pain.
"Never mind what happened,let's take you to Madam Pomfrey." She helped him walk and even though she stopped the blood from flowing,the cut on his arm looked too deep.
As if it was cut with a knife and not a normal one,the kind murderers use.

After dropping him there,she went straight to McGonagall. She listened to her quite patiently and asked her to accompany her to the place where the incident took place,in search of clues.

They looked around for a while and the only thing they could find was blood stains. Assuming it was Neville's they walked back but a rustling in the bushes caught Hermione's attention. She looked over her shoulder but didn't see anything.
But she was sure that some'one' moved there.
Perhaps the one who had attacked Neville.

And she was right. The figure had seen everything.