Bad Blood

Haunt

I'll come back to haunt you

Memories will taunt you

And I will try to love you

It's not like I'm above you.

"Hermione Granger!" Hermione's head snapped up as Ginny's appeared in her fireplace. The red-head had a devious smirk on her face as a magazine came flying through the green fire. Hermione picked it up, scanning the page.

"You've got to be joking?" The middle section of witch weekly was showing a large photograph of Draco Malfoy leaving her apartment in the middle of the night. The top of the article read 'Golden Lovers.' Hermione hated that title. "Bloody hell, who comes up with this stuff?" Now the whole world will think she slept with Draco Malfoy.

"Well honey what did you expect? Draco Malfoy equals trouble," Ginny smirked as she watched Hermione, who just sighed and rubbed her forehead as she read the article out loud.

"Draco Malfoy, recently released from Azkaban, was seen leaving the home of Golden Trio member, Hermione Granger, late last night. Sources confirmed that the two of them had spent the day together in the apartment. Could something be brewing between the former Death Eater and the Golden Girl?" Hermione had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at this nonsense. Those bloody people at Witch Weekly never cared about who they wrote about or why. This was bad, what if this somehow reached Ron? It would hurt him terribly. During her...darker years, their relationship was under tremendous strain. Ron couldn't offer her the emotional support she needed, and she couldn't give him what he needed. They parted on good terms and remained friends, but she knew Ron still felt something for her. He was very hard on himself for not being able to give her what she needed, but he understood that she didn't want a relationship anymore. It was not him, it was her, and that was true. She couldn't be in a relationship, period. She was too broken beyond repair, even for Ron, the person who has always been by her side. She would always remain loyal to Ron, but they were better off without each other. When he was in town he usually stayed with her, but it was only for a few nights. He worked with the international auror division, so he traveled a lot. They were still rounding up Death Eaters from all over the globe. Most of them scattered after the war around Britain and Hermione, Harry and Ron worked to round them up, but when they realized there were Death Eaters overseas they needed to branch out. That was around the time Ron and Hermione started having problems, so he volunteered to go overseas, while Hermione left the autor department completely. It was never what she wanted to do with her life.

"Well they sure know how to spin a story," Ginny said.

"Hopefully it'll blow over, I don't think I'll be seeing him again any time soon," Hermione said, tossing the magazine to the side. She did not have time for weekly gossip, which is why she never subscribed.

"The Wizarding World thrives for this kind of gossip, you're going to have to tell people it's not true," Ginny said.

"Or I could just hide until it goes away."

Ginny snorted and rolled her eyes. "Since when do you hide from idle gossip? You've faced Death Eaters, this should be easy!"

"I'd rather take a Death Eater than deal with a bunch of witches and wizards who have nothing better to do than stalk my apartment," Hermione huffed, pushing a stray curl back in place. "I'll write Witch Weekly a letter, telling them that nothing happened." Hermione stood up, walking over to her desk that sat in the corner.

"Whoa there, that might not be the best idea," Ginny's head disappeared for a moment before her whole body appeared in the fireplace. Ginny walked over the Hermione, snatching the parchment away from her. "These people thrive on juicy stories, and what's more juicy than two rivals turning into lovers?"