Hermione looked out of the empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express. The dark sky and plentiful clouds signaled a storm on its way. Seventh year would finally start after the feast tonight. She only had to complete one more year to be out on her own. To escape her parents, and not have to fear about going back to them.

Im finally going home Hermione thought to herself as the train was already almost half way to Hogwarts.

She had been put through 3 months of torture from her father who had grown abusive over the last few years. She hated him. She hated him for everything he put her through. She hated her useless mother, who was always conveniently hiding in the next room while her father beat the living daylights out of her. This was not the first Summer she was tortured through. He had started beating her when she was just 14.

When he started to drink she thought bitterly to herself.

Only this year did he start to whip her and burn her with lighters. It seemed that he just didn't take pleasure in beating her anymore. That wasn't enough. He somehow acquired a whip while she was at school in her sixth year. He had it waiting for her the very day she got back from school.

No one knew about this of course. Not Harry, not Ron, and certainly not any of the teachers. She had always made excuses for the cuts and bruises on herself, and had a convincing story each time they went on holiday.

Holiday in france? Nope, 3 weeks of beating.

Ancient Egypt? Nope, a Summer of torture.

Her mind was made up a long time ago, she wasn't going to let anyone take pity on her. Isn't this what it was about from the beggining? Pity that she was a Mudblood? Pity that people looked down upon her, without the slightest clue that she might be a kind person, a lovable person, a person worth knowing? No, that didn't matter. That's why she studied so hard all these years, constantly consuming herself in books to get ahead of everybody else. No one could beat her when it came to hard work. Not one of those pure bloods had what it took to outwit her, and not just those in her year either.

At that thought, the compartment door slid open and familiar faces walked over and took a seat opposite from her.

"Hey Hermione, didn't see you on the platform today eh?" Ron said as he took her into a warm hug. The kind of hug that made you feel all fuzzy inside and made goosebumps run all through your body.

"Yeah Hermione, we missed you so much over Summer" Harry added as he also took a turn in giving her a hug.

This was what kept her alive during Summer. The thought of seeing her best friends again. They didn't care that she wasn't a pureblood. They just cared that she was there and always made sure she was happy while they were in school. They stood up for her when people made cruel comments about her. Ron even hexed Malfoy last year for making a particularly crude comment about her. Harry had stunned Crabbe and Goyle last year for trying to corner Hermione in a dark corridor one night. She shuddered to think what would have happened if he had not gone with her to retrieve her book from the Astronomy Tower.

Harry and Ron were already in their black school robes, but Hermione was still wearing her muggle clothes. She was wearing a white cream colored turtleneck sweater over her favorite blue jeans.... but in this case, it was to hide her burn......

"So what'd ya do this Summer?" Harry asked as he grabbed a chocolate frog from his book bag.

"eh, not much. Read and re-read all our textbooks and reorganized my class notes from first year through sixth." "what did you guys do?" Hermione asked.

"Well I nearly died from being knocked off my broomstick by Fred." Ron replied. Harry grinned. "what? Its true, ask him if you don't believe me Harry, go on." Ron exclaimed. "and I also outgrew my entire wardrobe this Summer. So mom gave me some of Bill's old clothes, mind you they're ancient." Ron explained as he helped himself to one of Harry's chocolate frogs.

It was true, Ron was very much taller than she remembered. He was at least 6' 1" by now. He still had the same flaming red hair, and had grown more muscular over Summer. He no longer looked long and gangly but tall and strong. His skin was as white as ever, just as she remembered.

Harry had grown considerably over Summer as well. He was now probably about 5' 9" or so. His jet black hair was as untidy as ever, looking like someone just ruffled it. His brilliant green eyes shone brightly behind his oval glasses. He was no longer small and scrawny for his age. He had much more muscles now......

probably from all the chores he had to do at the Dursleys she thought.

"Looks like you did a whole lot of growing up yourself as well Hermione," Harry said.

Just then did Hermione realize that she did change a lot over Summer, as far as appearences go. She was about 5' 6" now. Her dark brown hair was no longer bushy and dry, but sleek and beautiful as she wore it in wavy, light curles at shoulder length. She had developed a figure was well. She was what muggles called a "late bloomer". Her chest was fully developed now, and she had many curves in all the right places. Her long, lean legs were slim but not too slim. She was now accustomed to wearing long sleeve shirts, turtlenecks, and long pants to hide her many bruises and scratches. Her jeans were covering a big red rash from where her father burnt her on her thigh just a week ago. Her beautiful face was adorned with scratches and a bruise on her left cheek. If not for the scratches and bruise on her face, she looked downright beautiful.

While Harry and Ron noticed just how gorgeous she became, they seemed to also notice the bruise and the scratches on her face.

"why do you have so many scratches on your face hermione?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing too, did something happen?" Ron asked.

"huh, oh no.... no..... that's just where Crookshanks scratched me when I gave him a bath a few days ago..." Hermione lied. She was quite use to lying to cover her father's beatings, but it still felt awkward to be lying to her best friends.

"oh, shouldn've known...... when are you going to get rid of that dam cat anyways?" Ron joked.

"Im not going to as a matter of fact!" Hermione scathed. She always felt angry when Ron would joke about her cat. Her cat was her closest thing to comfort she had over the long Summers.

Time passed quickly as Hermione and her friends sat there chattering away about their Summer. The train was about 3 quarters there when Hermione got up and proceeded to the bathroom.

"I'll be right back guys, just gotta go change into my robes." Hermione explained.

"yeah alright, but don't take forever like you usually do, we're going to be there in about 40 minutes." Harry said as he checked his watch.

Hermione grabbed her school robes, and stepped out of the compartment as she slid the door shut. She was thoroughly filled with happiness at the thought of almost arriving home, almost there she thought. She walked pass many compartments and was almost at the back of the train when someone grabbed her shoulder and roughly pinned her to the wall.

Without thinking, she cried out "stop daddy, please, I promise I won't do it anymore!"

Tears were rolling down from her eyes, before she quickly realized that it couldn't be her dad. She was so suprised and shocked that she just assumed her dad was starting to beat her again. It turned out to be Malfoy. The person she hated most besides her parents was standing inches away from her face as he pinned her wrists to either sides of her. His was obviously erect and was pressing against her body.

With his signature smirk on his face he said in a dangerously low voice, "looks like the mudblood has returned to Hogwarts."

Hermione was still thoroughly shocked by his actions and was still choking back her tears as she said,

"let me go Malfoy!"

With a bigger smirk, he forced her into an empty compartment. He released her and got out his wand. Her heart immediately fell as she realized that she left her wand in her book bag on their compartment. She was totally defenseless against him, and at his mercy.

end of chapter one.

Hope u guys liked it so far, please tell me what u like or dont like, and I'll try to make it better. Enjoy!