At last I can talk

By Love of Life

It was late in the evening when Hermione took a stroll along the dark lake. The giant squib made small wrinkles in the otherwise so smooth surface.

She was tired, but she couldn't sleep. Her mind had not been able to find rest since that one night in August. That one night that had ruined her life. She had not talked about it to anyone. Not to her parents, not to her best friends Harry and Ron, not even to Ginny, in whom she had always confided. She couldn't talk about what had happened then, in de late hours of the night, on her way home.

She had hoped that her final year at Hogwarts would be a beautiful one. One she could enjoy with her friends. Getting her NEWTS and moving on from there, maybe becoming a Healer or an Auror. But now all of that seemed totally impossible. That one night in August had destroyed all of it. Not one moment had she felt really safe since she had come back at Hogwarts. All the time had she had been looking behind her back, seeing if she wasn't being followed. Sometimes she felt as if she was exaggerating, that she was becoming paranoia. Maybe she was, or maybe her fear was justified, she didn't know.

Draco sat in the Heads common room in front of the fire. He had heard Hermione go out and hadn't managed to fall back to sleep again afterwards. He wondered why she went out so often during the night. She left around 1 or 2 am and didn't come back until 4 or even sometimes 5. She always looked absent, even during classes, that was not the Hermione he had know for all these past years. She hardly spent time anymore with the Golden Trio and if she did, she was quiet and lonely.

For some strange reason he hadn't been able to fall back to sleep this night after Hermione had left the common room. He had gotten up and decided to wait until she came back. He didn't know why he thought it to be so important, but something inside him made him stay in front of the blazing fire, waiting and waiting and waiting…

Harry, Ron and Ginny were sitting in the Gryffindor common room talking quietly to each other.
"Did you notice how 'Mione changed over the summer?" Harry asked
"She's so very quiet. She doesn't seem concerned about anything anymore. Do you know I even miss her nagging about us not doing homework?"
Ginny nodded in agreement, her face concerned.
"I noticed it too. I tried to ask her about it, but she keeps avoiding my questions. I'm really worried to be honest. Maybe if we all try to talk about it she'll notice we really care about her and she might tell us something more."
"As long as it's not Malfoy giving her a hard time!" Ron said angrily
"If he does I swear I'll kill him, very painfully and slowly!"
"I don't think it's him Ron." Ginny said
"It's been going on longer than just now with the start of term. Maybe something happened during the summer."

Hermione found her favorite spot at the lake, just underneath a weeping willow. She sat down, her back against its trunk, her knees up to her chest. There she sat, staring in the water, almost as if in trance. Or so it seemed at least, if you did not see the tears flowing down her cheeks. In truth she was reliving the horror that had haunted her since the past summer. Reliving it like she had done every night since it had happened.

She was so taken by her emotions that she didn't hear someone coming up from behind her. Only when she heard someone yell "Stupify!" she realized she was in big trouble. She keeled over and hit the ground hard, face forward

"So, here we are again…" she heard a familiar icy voice saying from behind her while she was turned over.
"You can't go anywhere, and no one will hear you scream, not at this time at night. You made yourself an easy victim you know, going out so often at night, I though you learned something Granger. But now, thanks to your own stupidity, we're all alone again, you and me, and you're mine!" the boy grinned maniacally
"Muffliato!" he said, and so making sure no one would hear them.

Draco, still sitting in the Heads common room, checked the time, it was nearly 4 in the morning. Hermione had been out for more than three hours. He was actually getting worried. He wondered if he should go looking for her. The grounds at Hogwarts were safe, but still, who knew what was going on during the night?

He tried to calm himself saying Hermione had always come back unharmed after her strolls. She would be just fine.
He took his book again and tried to read a bit. But he soon discovered, after having read the same sentence twenty times without knowing what it said, that he couldn't concentrate.

Finally he let his worries win and he left the common room.

The last he had seen of Hermione through his bedroom window was at the lake, so he went there first.

Harry and Ginny were still sitting in a double arm chair in the Gryffindor tower. Neither of them could sleep, both feeling too worried about their friend. Ron had dozed off and was snoring quietly in a chintz chair nearby.

Harry was trying to remember when Hermione had changed. Sometime in August, he thought, but he couldn't specify.

Ginny in the mean time was trying to analyze Hermione's behavior, trying to find a hint about what had happened. But she failed. Hermione had been acting so commonly, so vaguely, that it was impossible to find a clue.

Hermione lay there, unable to move. Her eyes were filled with tears. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. It her mouth was dry and she felt as if she was suffocating. Kindon was standing over her, an evil grin on his face. He was just watching her, watching as her fear was rising, and he enjoyed it.

Then he bend over to her, caressing her hair, her face, her shoulders, slowly making his way to her stomach and upper body.

Hermione gasped and closed her eyes. She didn't want to be here! She tried to make her mind flee to another place, but a sharp slap in her face made her come back to reality.

"Look at me Granger!" Kindon said

"Look at me so I can see the fear in your eyes!" he whispered menacingly and he forced her to look him straight in the face.

"So beautiful." Kindon whispered.

"Shame it's a Mudblood."

Hermione couldn't think straight anymore. She was panicking, knowing she couldn't fight the Slytherin above her.

Draco was running around the lake, trying to find Hermione. In his heart he could feel fear eating its way. He couldn't find her! Where had she gone?

"Lumos" he whispered and the tip of his wand shone brightly

He was still looking around when all of a sudden he saw a huge black figure crunched beneath a weeping willow on the edge of the lake. That didn't look like Hermione at all, he thought and he ran in that direction.

What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks for a second.

He saw Kindon, one of his fellow Slytherins standing above Hermione. Hermione was nearly naked and clearly Stunned. He couldn't hear what was being said because some strange buzzing kept filling his ears, but it was clear the guy didn't mean any good to Hermione.

"Levicorpus!" Draco yelled and Kindon flew upwards, dangling from his ankle.

Draco ran forwards to Hermione

"Renervate" he said, lifting the Stunningspell from Hermione.

Hermione screamed as she stumbled backwards away from Draco.

"Shh, it's ok. Hang on." He said and conjured a blanket that he draped over Hermione's shoulders, covering her exposed body.

"I'm not going to hurt you Hermione. Please… let me help you." He said soflty.

Hermione sat next to the tree trunk, shaking, tears streaming down her face.

Draco went to sit next to her and placed his arm around her. Finally she relaxed and let herself fall against Draco's shoulder. She sobbed, her fragile frame shaking. Draco pulled her in a hug and held her close, hoping to calm her down.

"I'll get Harry and the others here, is that ok?" he asked.

Hermione nodded

"Expecto Patronum!" he said and a silvery Labrador erupted from his wand.

"Go get Harry, Ron and Ginny in the Gryffindor Tower, tell them Hermione needs them. The go get McGonagall, tell her to come her fast."

The Patronus turned on his heel and left them.

"Harry and Ron might not trust your Patronus." Hermione whispered and she conjured her own silvery otter and sent is after Draco's dog to tell the others to trust him.

Harry jumped up when all of a sudden a large Labrador stood next to him.

"Go to the lake, Hermione needs you! A message from Draco Malfoy" it said.

"Should we trust him?" Ginny asked.

"Maybe it's a trap, no one knows if he's really changed."

"I don't know." Harry said, but then Hermione's otter came in as well

"Trust the Labrador! He's right, I do need you!" it said and left

"We have to go! Quick!" Ginny said and ran over to wake up Ron

"Ron! Hermione's in trouble! Get up!" she yelled at her brother who jumped at the noise.

The trio ran down the stairs to the entrance hall and out of the heavy oak doors. A distance away they saw a faint light. The three friends ran towards is, worried sick about Hermione.

"Hermione! Hermione!" Harry shouted as they got nearer.

"Stop yelling Potter." Came the voice of Draco

"She's here and she's safe now. The bastard is still hanging above us." He said, pointing into the air where Kindon was still flailing his arms.

"I silenced him and sent my Patronus to got McGonagall. I'm sure she'll take care of him."

"Hermione, what happened?" Ginny asked, sitting down next to her friend.

Hermione couldn't say a word. She was still sobbing and shivering slightly.

"We should get her inside." Ron said

"She'll be freezing!"

But before they could move, professor McGonagall arrived, looking rather cross.

"What happened here?" she asked looking around.

"What are five students doing out of bed at this time of the night? And both of the Heads as well!"

"Professor," Draco started

"Hermione went for a walk because she couldn't sleep. When she didn't come back soon I decided to go and look for her. And luckily I did, for Kindon, dangling above us," He said, pointing upwards "was attacking Hermione. He tore her blouse and made her trousers disappear. I only got here just in time, Merlin knows what might have happened otherwise." He finished softly, not wanting to think about how Kindon might have hurt the girl he had always admired.

"O dear!" McGonagall said and with a flick of her wand she made Kindon come back to the hard ground underneath.

"Is this true Miss Granger? Is it true this boy was acting in the way Mr. Malfoy said?"

"Yes professor." Hermione whispered, tears still pouring from her eyes

"That is exactly what he did. He Stunned me from behind so I had no defence."

Professor McGonagall looked utterly shocked.

"Everyone, go inside, to my office. I will escort Mr. Kindon here to the Head of his House and meet you after that."

Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Draco got up and started towards the castle. Hermione swayed on her legs and Draco caught her just in time to prevent her from falling over again. He offered his arm and guided her inside.

All the students were sitting quietly in the Heads Office, waiting for McGonagall to return. Hermione had still not said a word but stared blankly in front of her.

She jumped when the door opened and their Headmistress entered.
She conjured a platter with six cups of tea that she offered them and then she sat down behind her desk

"Miss Granger, what exactly happened?" she asked, looking at Hermione.

Hermione said nothing, but stared in front of her, tears streaming down again. Draco, who sat nearest to her, laid his hand upon hers and tried to encourage her. Finally she managed to tell the story of that evening. How she had been walking by the lake, how she had sat there and how Kindon had sneaked up behind her. And what he had done after he had stunned her. How he had tried to force himself upon her and how Draco had arrived, only just in time, to prevent this from actually happening.

She looked at Draco, tears in her eyes, but Draco could only see the gratitude they showed. He squeezed her hand lightly, assuring her that he understood.

"Hermione?" this time Ginny spoke

"Hermione, what happened this summer? I start to believe that it has something to do with what happened this night…"

Hermione looked at Ginny, not sure what to say, maybe this would be the perfect time to say what had happened back then, but that would also mean tearing open the wounds again. She wasn't sure if she could bear that, not after what had happened just now.

"Hermione, it's ok, we're all here to help you, please talk to us. We're worried, please…" Harry pleaded.

He knew she was on the brink of saying something, or maybe nothing. He had to persuade her, she had to talk. He was afraid it would kill her eventually if she didn't.

Hermione looked at each of her friend. She could see concern in their eyes, even in those of Draco Malfoy, the boy who had bullied her all these past years, even he showed his worry about her.

Finally she nodded and whispered "Yes, it has something to do with what happened this summer."

Everyone around her was dead silent. She knew she had to go on, tell what had been going on, what had ruined her life.

"What happened Hermione? Who hurt you?" it was the first thing Draco said to her since her other friends had arrived. There was so much care in his voice that Hermione looked at him in surprise.

"What you witnessed today, underneath that weeping willow was only the start of what happened on the 17th of August this past summer." Hermione began, her voice soft and shaky.

"I was in London that day, shopping. Later on I went to meet some of my friends and decided to stay there for dinner. It was late when I went on my way home. When I passed Graydon Park I noticed someone following me, but every time I looked behind me, there was no one there. I was almost home when Kindon cornered me in an ally. Today you stopped him from hurting me, Draco. That day back then, there was no one and I didn't have my wand with me. Neither did he, but he was so much stronger. I couldn't hold him back. That day he did hurt me, the way you knew he'd hurt me today."

Hermione's voice faded away. Harry and Ron sat silently in their chairs, not knowing what to say. They could picture what had happened. Tears were rolling over Ginny's when she got up and hugged Hermione tightly. Draco's face seemed blank, but in his eyes was a blazing fire of anger.

Nobody said a word. McGonagall rose from her chair and came to stand close to Hermione.

"I'm glad you told us about it Miss Granger. And I promise you that Mr Kindon will receive a severe punishment. I believe that now it is time to go to bed. If you want to, I'll escort you to your common room."

"Thank you professor, but I'll be fine. I'm sure my friends will help me." Hermione said softly.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Draco nodded in agreement and they got up. They all brought Hermione safe to her room.

Just before their ways parted Harry turned to Draco.

"Thank you, for watching after Hermione. We really owe you."

"No need Harry. I'm not who I seem to be. I do care for other people, and once I get the chance I will show it. My father is a renowned Death Eater, but that doesn't mean I'm one as well. I don't want to follow him, but defying him now would probably lead to a certain death. Please believe that I can be a righteous person, but give me time to prove it."

"I need no prove anymore. Please take good care of Hermione. She needs us now, more than ever."

"I will."

"Thank you, Draco"

Ron, who had been following the conversation looked at Draco and nodded

"I see now that you are not who we all thought. Thank you."

And with that, their ways parted. Draco helped Hermione to bed and stayed at her door until she slept. He smiled down on her when he adjusted her sheets. He placed a light kiss upon her forehead.

"No one will ever harm you again, not as long as I'm around." He whispered and left the room.

THE END