Hate mail for Hermione continued to arrive as the week progressed.
Lucifer, like he said he would, torched every single one of them that arrived.
Even Howler's that she received at breakfast, he contained them in a magical sphere that forced the Howler to explode, without it booming to the Hall whatever insult it would fling at Hermione.
He didn't take anything lying down if it involved Hermione.
He continued to hold his promise to her family to keep her safe, even if he wasn't doing that great of a job at it, "At least Madam Pomfrey was able to fix your face up to seem as though it never happened," he said one morning after Breakfast had ended.
Lucifer didn't realize he was staring at her face, except when she turned red and squirmed a bit under his gaze.
Hermione felt bad about not being able to even provide a hand job, because of some of the acid that fell on her hands.
She had hung back in their Defense class that day to talk to Professor Moody after the lesson, which most everyone else was eager to get out of.
Moody had given most of them a rigorous test of hex-deflection that many had still been nursing small injuries.
Lucifer, as expected, deflected every hex with almost no effort, even with the most powerful hex Moody threw at him.
He noticed that Harry had a bad case of Twitchy Ears, and was holding his hands clamped over them as he walked away from the class.
"Well, Skeeter's definitely not using an Invisibility Cloak," Hermione said to Lucifer as he had waited for her.
They walked at a casual pace towards the Entrance Hall, "Moody says he didn't see her anywhere near the judges table at the Second Task, or anywhere near the lake!"
"Well... I've been giving it quite a lot of thought..." he said, getting her attention.
"Really? What did you figure out?" She asked eagerly.
"Well... what if she's an Animagus?" He looked at her as they got to the top of the Marble Staircase.
Hermione looked as though she had just been slapped, "Of course! Why didn't that ever occur to me!?"
"My guess is that she's something small, like a bug... all I have to say, though, is that you better hope you find her before I do," he said.
"Lucifer, you are not going to kill her," Hermione said, knowing immediately what he was thinking of doing.
"Then you'd better find her first, because if I find her first, I'm going to kill her," Lucifer said in a voice that ended the debate.
Hermione knew he was serious, so in the days leading up to Easter, she kept an ever watchful look for any bug that could potentially be Skeeter.
She would know right away if it was, because Animagi kept some noticeable traits from their Human form.
As her luck would have it, though, she had yet to find Skeeter.
Even through the Holidays, the letters didn't stop.
It's like they hoped Lucifer would just not be there around Hermione when the letters and Howlers came.
Hedwig didn't return until the end of Easter Holiday with Percy's reply, which was enclosed in a package of Easter eggs that Molly Weasley had sent.
Harry, Ron, and Lucifer all had large eggs the size of Dragon eggs, but Hermione's was a pitiful egg that could barely be considered the size of a chicken egg.
"Your mum doesn't read Witch Weekly, by any chance, does she?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah," Ron said blissfully ignorant to Hermione's quiet tone, making sure to not have a full mouth before he responded, "gets it for the recipes."
Hermione looked at her egg sadly.
Lucifer grabbed her egg and crushed it in his hand," Lucifer!" She said, not believing he just did that, despite it happening right in front of her.
"What?" He asked nonchalantly as his eyes glowed Red, and the toffee that was inside disappeared off his hand, "If Molly is going to be like pretty much every other Witch that reads Witch Weekly, she doesn't get the satisfaction of someone enjoying it."
His own egg suddenly exploded, sending toffee everywhere.
There were complaints for a moment before the toffee suddenly whisked away from everyone.
Hermione just looked at him, honestly not as surprised as she thought she'd be.
She looked at Ron and he looked as though he had just been slapped, "I would've ate that!"
"Nope, no one gets to enjoy it. Sorry, Weasely, but I'm not going to allow Hermione to be treated like that by anyone based upon lies told by that cunt," Lucifer said ending matter altogether.
"Percy says he hasn't seen Crouch himself, but that he can recognize his own superiors' handwriting. And to not bother him about it again with how much he has going on," Harry said, having read the letter without waiting for them.
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