AN: So I know it's been over a week since I have updated. I made the silly mistake of posting the first chapter the week before finals in college…However, I believe I will have more time to write over the holidays, so they should come more regularly :)
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter except the laptop in my lap as I type this!
Draco. Leaky Cauldron.
Draco woke up to a small knock on the door to his room.
"I'm fine, thank you; I don't need any laundry done." He says, without even opening his eyes, thinking it's just the day maid.
"Draco, er, it's Hermione," came a small voice from the other side.
Immediately, Draco leaped off the bed and wrenched the door open, startling her, again. He couldn't believe she actually came to him, and she looked so scared. She stared at him with such a shocked and fearful expression, it made his heart clench like a fist.
"Hermione! I didn't mean to scare you, again, sorry. Come in! Come in, please." Draco stammered, stepping back from the door to let her pass. As he closed the door quietly behind her, she cast a silencing charm and a ward on the room, so no one could hear or find them, and only then did she seem to relax, if only fractionally.
"Still have that little habit?" He teased.
"Oh Draco, you know me, always paranoid." She smirked, halfheartedly. Draco sensed it again; something was way off with this girl. And she still had that damn glamor on her face.
"Hermione, what is wrong?" He asked, tenderly, his words still full of the love it carried back in Hogwarts.
"Oh, well, nothing rea-" Hermione stopped, and taking a deep breath tears springing to her eyes, she whispered "Help me…please."
Draco was taken aback by the sudden change in her demeanor, but he took Hermione into his arms, and held her as she cried over everything her life had turned into.
"I'm here, Hermione. It's okay, I'll make everything okay. I promise you that. I'll fix everything." Draco told her as her sobs subsided, and he fully intended on keeping those promises. "I won't let anything hurt you."
"Th-thank you, Dra-draco." She hiccupped into his now tear stained shirt, finally able to speak again.
"Now, tell me what happened. I want to help." He said, bringing her over to his bed. He sat her down on the edge of it, and dragged the arm chair in the corner to the side of the bed.
Somehow, he felt this was going to be a long, emotional discussion. Hermione was a strong girl, and she rarely cried.
"What happened?" he asked again, as he sat in the chair and took her hands in his. "I'm here for you."
Hermione closed her eyes and sighed, as if bracing herself, before dropping the glamor, revealing the bruises, and the swollen bloodshot eye. She shrugged out of her jacket, and rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, showing the multicolored hand shaped bruises going all the way up her arms.
"Oh, Hermione…" Draco's eyes widened with each inch of bruised skin she showed him. When both of her sleeves were rolled up, she stopped and hung her head, and he was out raged. "Was this- did Ron do this to you?
"Yes."
"Some of these are weeks old! How long has this been going on Hermione?" He went to lift her chin and make her look at him, but thought better of it, sinking to the floor instead to put himself in her line of sight as he pleaded with her. "Please, tell me how this started."
"I should have chosen you." She said quietly, looking him in the eye. Draco's heart broke for her, once the strongest person he knew, now bruised and broken. Hermione straightened up, a fierce look of determination behind the bruises. "I've never told anyone this before. Please, don't say anything until I'm through…I don't think I'll be able to start again."
Draco nodded his agreement, and she began.
"Ron's taken to drinking, quite often. It all started about seven or eight months ago, but before that he was always yelling. I used to yell back, but it just didn't do anything, so I guess I just gave up. I stopped fighting back, hoping it would stop, but he got worse. Everything got worse. The first time he hit me, I left. I went straight to Ginny's house, saying I had gotten in a fight with Ron, but nothing else. He froze the money in my account so I would have to go back to him, and of course, I did. It was another month before he hit me a second time, this one on my face. It cut my lip a little, and he apologized right after, but I was still pissed. The third time was two and a half weeks after that. I had bought the wrong jelly, or something equally as trivial, and he went postal. He grabbed my arm, dragged me into the kitchen and literally shoved my face at the offending jelly. He kept screaming, and wouldn't let me go. When I started crying and fought back, he hit me harder than ever, and not just once. I was unconscious after the third hit, but I think he kept going. When I woke up, there was a potion he had bought for pain, and some ice next to me, but he was gone. I healed everything myself, and it was like nothing had ever happened. That's how it went from there. I was so stupid. I always went back to him. I never said anything about it, and I just healed myself after… but I guess just because the scars are healed, doesn't mean they're gone entirely…"
Draco was fuming when her focus drifted off again, trying hard not to say anything. When it sounded as though she were finished, he squeezed her hands again, looking at all the physical evidence of Ron's misplaced fury.
"Then what happened? Why do you still have these bruises?" Draco prompted, hoping she could answer.
"Well, a few weeks ago, I decided not to heal them. I wanted Ron to actually see what he was doing to me. How much he actually hurt me. But it didn't work. That plan back fired on me when the bruises just made him angrier, and it turned into a viscous cycle. I gave up on him a while ago, but I've just been too scared to leave. He always has his ways of finding me, making me come back, to be his punching bag once more."
"I won't let him. He's not going to get away with this Hermione, you mark my words. He is going to regret ever laying a finger on you, when I'm through with him, I swear he's-"Draco was cut off suddenly by Hermione's arms around his neck once again.
"Thank you." She whispered into his shoulder, as she started crying once again, only this time, they were tears of relief, of joy.
"For what?" Draco said, taken aback. "I haven't done anything, yet."
"For making me feel safe again." She said softly.
"I will always keep you safe Hermione, always. I'm never letting you go back to that prick. Even if I have to be the best man at your wedding to Krum, or McLaggen, even, I will always keep you safe." He sat on the bed next to her and gently rocked her as she drifted off into the most peaceful sleep she's had in a very long time.
Hermione woke up to the sun shining too brightly, and an overly warm arm pinning her to a bed that wasn't hers. She rubbed her itchy eyes, and remembered she had fallen asleep crying, again. Turning her head slightly, she saw Draco sleeping with his mouth open, drool covering his pillow. She giggled, and then covered her mouth quickly. Oh, how long it had been since she laughed. The thought of missing laughing made her laugh even harder, waking Draco up suddenly.
"Whoserre?" He mumbled, and rolling over, he nearly fell off the bed, causing Hermione to just about collapse from all of her laughing.
"What's so funny?" He asked her, wiping his face.
"You!" she said, trying to catch her breath, "And me, I guess. I haven't laughed like that in forever. And I forgot how much you drool."
"Oh, oops." Draco laughed as he used his wand to rid the pillow of saliva, a slightly appalled look on his face.
Hermione couldn't help herself, and burst into another fit of laughter, and tossed her pillow at Draco. He went to throw it back at her, but she flinched, out of reflex, and last night's conversation came flooding back to him.
Just as Draco dropped the pillow, the door was blast open with a deafening crash, and Hermione screamed.
"What the fuck!" Draco yelled, as he pointed his wand at the doorway. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione mimic him, wand arm shaking.
Ron was in the doorway, eye's bloodshot and full of rage.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing with my woman, Ferret?" He growled.
"Protecting her from you, you bastard." Draco hissed back, eyes narrowing.
Ron's face got even redder, and he took a step towards Draco.
"Look, Malfoy," Ron sneered "We both know she will be coming home with me, so why don't you just sod off and make this easier on all of us. Come, Hermione, you've got work."
"No! I'm not letting her leave with you after everything you've done to hurt her!" Draco shouted, raising his wand just a little higher. Hermione watched the scene unfold with wide, terrified eyes. She was absolutely sure that Ron was going to start dueling soon, especially if he was drunk.
"You have no right to stop me. She is mine." Ron snarled through clenched teeth, raising his wand as well. "Now, Hermione, I said come."
"NO!" Hermione screamed, wand pointed at Ron's throat as she stalked forward. Both men were shocked at the outburst and Hermione took it as her chance. "Expelliarmus!"
Ron was thrown backward, his wand flying across the room.
"I am NOT your property, Ronald Weasley, and if I were you I would take care to remember that." Hermione said to her husband, her voice dripping with acid.
"Petrificus Totalus." Draco muttered, immobilizing Ron so he couldn't hurt Hermione.
"You will NEVER touch me again." Hermione spat as she stepped over Ron and left.
Draco followed, not wanting her to be alone in her current state and Hermione was grateful for the company as she stepped into the world for the first time with the evidence of Ron's anger plain as day on her face.
"Mr. Malfoy! What the devil is going on here?!" Tom asked, concerned about the commotion caused in his Inn. "Hermione, dear! Your face!"
"It's a long story sir," Hermione started, forgetting she no longer had the glamor. "And I'm sorry about the ruckus; Ron Weasley is petrified back in the doorway to the room Draco was renting. I'm calling Harry to take care of everything."
"Hermione, are you sure you want to call Harry to deal with Ron? They are best friends, right?" Draco asked, unsure of what to do, and still reeling with anger.
"Yes. He's an auror, and I trust in him completely. Keep an eye on him, and I'll be back soon," She told Draco. Tom was still worried, and flustered.
"I'm very sorry for all of this Tom, I'll pay for any damages, just add them onto my room bill. I'll fix what I can as well." Draco apologized to the old inn keeper, then turning back to Hermione, "I'll stay and help clean up. Do what you need to do, but he needs to be in ministry custody before I'm lifting the spell."
"Thank you, Draco, so much." Hermione started to cry and she replaced the glamor and left.
She made her way to the apparation point and disapparated to the Ministry, and registered her wand. Then she marched straight up to Harry's office and charged in, without pausing to knock so she wouldn't lose her nerve.
"Hermione! What a nice surprise!" Harry said, jumping up from his desk and enveloping her in a hug. "I haven't seen you in ages! What have you- "He stopped short noticing her pained expression and tear stained cheeks. "Hermione, what's wrong? What happened? Are you in trouble?"
Hermione smiled at the over protection of her best friend, and suddenly felt guilty she didn't come to him about this earlier.
"Harry, it- it's Ron." She choked out. "He's at the leaky cauldron. I need you to come with me."
"Why, Hermione? What's happened? Is he okay?" Harry turned and grabbed for his cloak and his wand.
"Well, I guess, but I don't care." She said quietly, staring at her shoes once more. She gathered up all her Gryffindor courage and dropped the glamor for the second person in 12 hours. Harry gasped, then shock turned to rage as he immediately knew who had done this to her.
"Oh, Hermione!" he said, hugging her once more. "How did you get away?"
"I'll explain later, but right now, I'd feel safer if he couldn't come near me again." She said, starting to cry again.
Harry nodded and led her back to the Atrium, where they Flooed back to the Leaky Cauldron. Draco had levitated Ron away from the public area of the inn and had started to help fix the shattered door.
"You bastard!" Harry yelled at Ron, as soon as he saw him. "This is lower than low, how could you? She's your WIFE for Merlin's sake!"
Using his wand to conjure rope, he bound Ron's wrists together and Draco took the spell off.
"You BITCH!" Ron started to scream at Hermione, "You fucking MUDBL-"
Draco silenced Ron, and Harry took him off to apparate back to the Ministry.
"Hermione, I'll need you to come with us, Draco too. Ron's going to have a trial today; we take domestic abuse almost as seriously as Dark Arts."
"Okay, Harry, we'll follow soon." Draco assured him, Hermione was no longer able to speak.
As soon as Harry had left with Ron, Hermione felt as if the weight of the world had lifted from her shoulders, she no longer had to fear her husband. He couldn't hurt her anymore. Once more, she cried into Draco's shoulder, only this time, they were tears of relief.
AN: I realize this chapter ends in an odd place, however, with finals this week, and everything else that's happened, my brain is shot :/ Next chapter will be better!
ALSO:
My heart and soul goes out to the family of the 6 adults and 20 first grade children who lost their lives in the most recent school shooting, to the community of Newtown, and everyone affected by this tragedy. (What does that say about our country, when I have to say "most recent school shooting"?)
Rest knowing they are all in a better place now, one without guns, violence and bloodshed and pain. No matter your religion, or your beliefs, they have to be in a better place than the world we all live in.
Lissa
