Warnings for non-graphic rape. If this could be triggering to you in anyone, please do not read this! I want people to read this, but not if it's going to hurt someone.
This might be an odd choice to write my second chapter about, but I couldn't get the idea out of my head. I just started writing and I had five hundred words before I knew it, with more trying to come out. I've gone over this many times, more than I usually do with a fic, and hopefully it shows.
Theo couldn't help but stare at Ron Weasley. Sitting across the Great Hall at the Gryffindor table, the other boy was laughing, joking with his friends. To the rest of the world, there was nothing wrong with him.
"Please don't tell anyone," Ron sobbed.
Theo shook his head and looked down at his plate (which was bare of food because why should he even pretend like he was able to eat), trying to clear it of the memories of last night. It was impossible though. What he had seen had haunted him, the images forcing him to stay awake no matter how hard he tried to sleep. Still, Theo supposed that Ron probably had a harder time getting to sleep last night.
Ron was leaning against a wall, using it as support. He had a split lip, a black eye, and tear tracks on his cheeks. He was breathing heavily, sobs mixing in. His robes were ripped and in a state of disarray. He looked destroyed. He hadn't noticed Theo yet.
Theo glanced back up, only to meet Ron's eyes. For a minute, they engaged in a staring contest, which Theo won. Ron turned away, his back now hunched as if Theo's eyes were a weight he was just now feeling. Granger seemed to notice the change in demeanor, as she looked at him worried. Theo assumed that she was asking him if he was okay (he wasn't that good at lip-reading though he was trying to get better now that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returned), and since Ron shook his head, Theo assumed that he was lying.
Theo felt like he was frozen as he took in Ron's appearance. This was the last thing he would have ever expected to see as he turned the corner. He couldn't think of a single instance that he had ever had contact with the Gryffindor, and he had only crossed Theo's mind when he thought of Harry Potter or of the Weasley family, both of which were very rare for Theo to be thinking about. But as Theo looked at the other boy, all he could think about was every single moment he had ever seen him in class, on the train, in Diagon Alley, and anything other possible place they might have been at the same time. He thought of every moment everywhere.
Ron only stayed at the table for another few minutes before he hurriedly got up, clearly not wanting to endure the stares of both Theo and Granger. As soon as the redhead left the Great Hall, Theo got up to follow him, ignoring Daphne's questioning stare. He would deal with her later, though she clearly noticed that his black hair wasn't styled this morning and therefore knew that he had bigger things to deal with than her bugging him about what was wrong. (Frankly, she was the perfect best friend.)
Ron was waiting for him as soon as he exited, arms crossed and directly in front of the entrance. His blue eyes burrowed up into Theo's brown. Theo had never been gladder that he was the tallest boy in their year, though Ron was close.
Theo stared at Ron for what must have been only a minute, but what felt like years. Ron looked at him like he was his worst nightmare. Finally, Theo managed a choked, "What happened?"
Ron scoffed. "What do you think happened?" he said, sounding for a minute like the old Ron. Which was ridiculous because Theo had never met the old Ron, because what had obviously happened to Ron was something that as far as Theo knew, divided your life into who you were before and who you were after. Theo was the first person (actually the second person, or maybe the third, or maybe- he cut himself off) to meet the new Ron.
He wished that there would have been no need for this meeting to happen. He wished that he hadn't snuck out to do a little extra studying in the library. He wished that there was someone more competent in his place, someone that could actually help Ron.
Theo swallowed nervously, his mouth dry. He was usually in control, not a hair out of place or an emotion shown. But this? This was more than anything Theo had ever been confronted with.
Dozens of questions went through his head, each more ridiculous than the last. "Are you okay?" "Do you need any help?" "Should I get a teacher?" "Should I get your friends?" "Should I get your brothers or your sister?"
"No!" Ron yelled, and Theo realized that he had asked all those questions out loud. "Please don't tell anyone," Ron sobbed. "I don't want anyone to know. No one can know." Ron started to sink down to the floor, and Theo instinctively reached out to catch him. Ron flinched as he did so, and Theo slowly brought his arms back.
"You've been watching me," Ron stated accusingly and Theo nodded, stunned.
Ron narrowed his eyes, not asking the obvious question of "Why?"
"Have you told anyone?" Theo asked, honestly hoping he had. Theo had no idea how the human mind worked, but he could easily figure out that keeping what happened bottled in would not end up good for anyone.
"No," Ron said curtly. "And you aren't going to tell anyone either. As far as I'm concerned, last night never happened."
Theo blinked dumbly. For someone who had always thought he had all the answers, he couldn't answer a single one about Ron. "But it did," he said. "You can't just deny it."
"Watch me," Ron replied, and with that, he turned his back and left Theo standing there, numb.
(o)
Ron had felt like crying ever since he had woken. He felt like one little nudge would send him over the edge, would make him break and shatter into a million pieces.
Nott made a move to catch him and Ron couldn't help it, he felt himself flinch. The idea of anyone touching him, even someone who just wanted to help, was too much. Ron just wanted to take a long, hot shower. He wanted to sleep forever. He wanted to die so that way he could stop feeling this all-consuming pain.
It wasn't that he didn't feel grateful to Nott. If he hadn't found him, Merlin only knows who would have and what they would have made him do. Nott at least respected the fact that Ron just wanted him to fix his lip and his eye and then let him go back to his dorm to take a shower. Nott was good enough to walk him back to the Gryffindor common room because all Ron could see as he walked through Hogwarts were his attackers, ready to hurt him again. Nott let Ron lean on him as he did so, because walking really hurt, more than it should, and so he was willing to touch another human being even though it sounded like hell.
"Weasley," the Slytherin said. "Who did this to you?" He saw Nott tense up, as if he was waiting to hear a Housemate named, a Housemate that he could never look in the eye again. He wondered if Nott was going through the most likely subjects in his mind. Well, Nott would have to keep guessing.
Ron had no idea who it was. The bastard had obliviated him. Or bastards. Ron didn't even know how many there had been.
Quickly, Ron ducked inside an empty classroom. His first class wasn't for another hour and he had no idea where he was going, except that it had to be away from everyone. He leaned up against a wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. He tried to control his breathing. Ron was an emotional guy, he knew that, but he had never been crying emotional. He prayed it was just because the rape had been last night, and this wasn't going to be a common occurrence.
Rape. It was the first time he had thought of what had happened as what it was and it brought Ron no joy. All it did was make him want to cry harder.
Ron felt someone sit next to him. He jumped in surprise and fear, his heart hammering. Nott was sitting down next to him, his hands up to show he had no intention of touching him. "I'm sorry I followed you. I probably shouldn't have," he said, looking more nervous and embarrassed than Ron had ever seen a Slytherin look before. "But I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
Ron looked at him searchingly for a minute before nodding. He wasn't and Ron was surprised how good it felt that someone realized that. Someone other than Hermione and knew the exact reason why.
"If you want me to leave. . ." Nott said as he started to stand. Again, Ron was surprised by Nott. This time by the fact that he really didn't want him to leave.
"No!" Ron said, far louder than he meant to. Nott looked surprised. "Don't leave yet," Ron said meekly, hating himself for being so damned emotional. But Nott sat back down and Ron was glad for that.
Ron glanced down at his hands and took a shuddering breath. He could feel Nott waiting patiently for him to talk. "I don't remember," he said, his voice trembling with tears he didn't want to shed. "I can't think of who did this or how many there were. He, or they, must have used a Memory Charm. So it could be anyone. I could have walked right past them on the way to breakfast this morning and I wouldn't have known."
"Ron," Nott said. Ron looked up into Nott's eyes, surprised at the use of his first name. "I think you would know."
"I really hope so, because I really want to bash their face in."
There will be definitely be a sequel to this fic somewhere else in this collection, though when I cannot say. I might just take this and make it the first chapter of a linear story, but I'm not certain at this point.
If at any point in this fic there was something you thought was disrespectful, please let me know and I will change it no matter what.
