November 15, 1994
Hermione supposed she should consider herself lucky that at least Harry had stopped hexing Malfoy when she got in between them. The Relashio that Ron had hit her with, however, still stung.
"Hermione, what are you doing?!" Ron shouted, clearly still enraged. Harry was silent, eyes darting between Malfoy and Hermione, taking note of the shield that had expanded to encompass her, as well as her bedraggled state, she was sure. Looking down at herself, she shuddered.
Her blouse had been ripped open – when the bastard had done that, she couldn't say, and the tights she wore were also torn, with bloody scratches peppering her thighs. Reaching a hand up to her neck she pressed lightly on the tender flesh, sure that dark bruises lay under her fingertips. Her face, she knew, was covered in blood from both his biting of her lip, and her attempt to stop him by biting through his tongue. All in all, she supposed her appearance matched how she felt.
"Explain." Harry said quietly, ignoring Ron's mumbled rant.
Hermione looked to Malfoy for support, and found herself comforted by the small smile and nod he gave her. Turning to Harry, Hermione opened her mouth to speak.
Instead, she burst into tears.
Cradled as she was against Malfoy's chest, she couldn't see the looks exchanged by the three boys above her head. When it became apparent that Hermione was neither about to stop crying nor would she let go of the Slytherin, Harry jerked his head towards the common room.
"It wasn't me, that I can swear to." Were the first words the blonde spoke as an enraged Neville Longbottom attempted to launch himself at him. "You know that; think about it. She wouldn't be attached to me if I had done anything to hurt her."
Grudgingly, the gaggle of Gryffindors subsided, allowing Malfoy to guide Hermione over to a free sofa where she promptly curled into his chest. She was startled out of her sobs a short while later by the incredulous shout of 'You did what?' followed swiftly by a sharp slap. Jerking herself upright she stared at the face of her startled savior.
"I would not have guessed that Weaselette would slap the Weasel." He told her softly, one hand still gently rubbing her back. Hermione smiled softly back at him. Their moment of peace, however, was short-lived as Ginny – or the 'Weaselette' – noticed them and ran over. Hermione winced for a moment, if Ginny got going she was worse than her mother, but instead of the tirade she had expected on her cuddling with Malfoy, she was wrapped in a tight hug.
"My brother isn't going to leave your side from now on, okay?" The redhead mumbled into her ear. "And if I have anything to say about it, neither will Harry. They're going to keep you safe, or I'll kill the pair of them myself. You hear me?" Without stopping to wait for an answer, she turned to Malfoy. "As for you, I don't know what, or who you saved her from, but I'm grateful." She gestured out at the rest of the common room, and the Gryffindors surrounding them. "We're all grateful. Thank you, Malfoy."
Hermione felt, rather than saw Draco nod in acknowledgement as Ginny squeezed herself in, on Hermione's other side.
"So, er... What actually happened?" Ron broke the silence, causing Hermione to tense up again. This time, however, she had two strong presences at her side, and although not the two she was used to, they helped nonetheless.
"Ronald Bilius Weasley you are an insensitive prat!" Ginny shook her head in bewilderment. "How on Earth we're related, I'll never know."
"No, Ginny, he's, he's right. I- You- You need to know." Hermione stuttered out.
"I can tell them, if you'd rather?" Malfoy offered, his voice pitched low enough that only those closest to them could hear. "You could let Weaselette here take you upstairs, and I'll talk to them." Hermione smiled as she heard Ginny's audible 'harrumph' at the Weaselette comment, but shook her head.
"No, I need to get this out, I think." She took a deep breath, and pulled away from the blond's hold. "I was coming back from the library." She started, and was glad to feel two hands sneak across to hold hers as the entire common room seemed to lean forwards. "It was after curfew – I shouldn't have stayed so long, but I was looking things up for Harry. I stopped to tie my shoes, and then, and then..." Ginny's arms wrapped around her as she began to sob again.
"And then two Durmstrang students showed up." Malfoy continued smoothly, talking to the common room at large. "They had her cornered when we arrived, and she looked pretty much as she does now, though from the amount of blood on the one closest to her, I think it's fair to say she put up a good fight."
"Who's we?" Harry asked, his voice quiet.
"Myself and a group of Slytherins. We've been running patrols around the castle after curfew as much as we can for the last two weeks. Three of the bastards caught a third year Slytherin. She wasn't as lucky as Granger." Malfoy said shortly, his face as pale as Hermione had ever seen it. "We tried to get some of the other houses to help, but Ravenclaw were pretty against it, and Hufflepuff wouldn't speak to any of us."
"Didn't think we would have helped?" Came the arrogant voice of Cormac McLaggen from somewhere near the back of the room.
"We tried. Thought Prefects would be the best choices, but after what Towler did to Derrick and Bole we thought it would be better not to try approaching anyone else."
"Hey, I did-" Towler's voice was cut off by a sharp slapping sound.
"Don't expect to have your badge this time tomorrow, Kenneth." Patricia Stimpson, the other Prefect said coldly. "I'm reporting you to McGonagall in the morning. You're not worthy of being called a Gryffindor. How could you ignore this?"
"I never thought tha-" Again, Towler was cut off.
"No, Kenneth, you didn't think. That is blatantly clear." Patricia's voice was icy. "Go on, get out. Don't think you're staying to hear this, and don't think you're gonna' be any kind of helpful. If I get my way, you'll be suspended." A path to the boys dormitory cleared as a scowling Towler pushed his way through the crowd. Silence reigned until he'd left their sight, and Patricia Stimpson had drawn a silencing ward at the base of the stairs.
The group in the centre of the room stayed quiet as an angry buzz spread throughout the rest of the room. Harry and Ron shared a meaningful look, and nodded before Harry received another nod from Malfoy. When Harry stood, hand outstretched to his former rival, the noise dwindled down.
"Malfoy, I'm in." He looked over his shoulders at the eager faces behind him. "The whole of Gryffindor is in." Malfoy stretched up to grasp the darker boy's hand.
"Thank you." He said solemnly. Harry shook his head, nodding almost imperceptibly at Hermione, still wrapped in Ginny's protective embrace.
"No, thank you." He nodded again, letting go of Malfoy's hand, and turned to the rest of the House. "We're going to get these bastards." He said darkly. "Every last one." A cheer of agreement rang out around the room and Harry smiled. "But not tonight. We're going to do this properly, which means that starting tomorrow we're going to have a patrol schedule. If you want to volunteer, give your names to me or-" He craned his neck, and received a nod. "Or give them to Patricia. Who will probably keep better track of who's up for it or not." Patricia moved through the crowd to stand by Harry's side.
"But for now, everybody needs to head up to their dorms. I'm not taking any names that are younger than Fourth Year, or have less than Exceeds Expectations in Defence, so go and think hard and sleep." Patricia's strict conditions had more than one Gryff wishing they'd paid more attention in lessons, but for the most part they headed upstairs, leaving only the Fourth Years, and Ginny. Harry dropped forward to one knee in front of Hermione, taking her hand in his own.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am that I wasn't there tonight, Hermione, that we weren't there, but never again, d'you hear me? You will never be alone again, I swear." At her slight, tentative nod, he jumped up and wrapped his arms around her tightly, burying his head into her hair. "Now," he started, voice suspiciously thick. "The girls are gonna' take you upstairs, get you cleaned up and we're going to walk Malfoy back, okay?" Harry let go slowly, looking straight into Hermione's eyes, and he smiled a little at her shaky nod.
Lavender and Parvati surged forwards, embracing Hermione together, and, along with Ginny, they helped her up and towards the girls stairs, only stopping when Hermione turned back, voice thin and reedy.
"Harry?" She croaked, barely more than a whisper. "Don't hurt him."
"I swear." Harry promised solemnly, watching as the girls of their house held tightly to each other, together. The group of boys stood still and solemn, watching as their friend was half-carried upstairs.
"I'll be fine without an escort." Malfoy said softly. "You should stay here, with her." Harry shook his head.
"I'm not letting you walk this castle alone, particularly not after you've pissed off a bunch of those Durmstrang bastards. We'll go together." Harry looked to the other Gryffindors. "Right guys?"
"Plus, you heard Hermione. She'd kill us if we let anything happen to you now." Ron smiled crookedly. "And you don't mess with Hermione when she's mad."
"We should get moving." Harry said simply, noticing Seamus stifling a yawn and then struggling to contain his own. "Listen, Malfoy, you come here after dinner tomorrow, yeah? We'll work out a proper schedule then."
"That'll give us time to put feelers out to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw too." Neville nodded in agreement.
"That should be... adequate." Malfoy nodded hesitantly. "Would it be... acceptable to you should I bring others? I don't make our schedule, or-"
"Bring them." Harry replied with a nod, leading the way out of the portrait. "It'll work out, someway or another."
- HBP – HBP- HBP – HBP – HBP -
A/N: Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me... Pretty much everything has been updated today, so check out the new installments of everything else too!
