Chapter Four: Alone

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Hermione woke up the next morning with a start as she heard loud banging on her door. She put a bathrobe on and walked over to the front door before she only opened it a little bit to see who it was.

"Let me in."

She quickly tried to shut the door and lock it but he shoved it open, nearly knocking her off her feet with his strength. Hermione looked at him and shook her head with disgust in her eyes.

"You're drunk, already, and it's only six o'clock in the morning."

He staggered inside, the thick smell of Irish whiskey staggering inside too. She could feel her heart pounding hard in her chest now, taking a step back with every step he took forward towards her.

"Correction, I'm still drunk from last night. I want my money back, whore. Right now… or you can give me something in exchange for my money."

She swallowed hard now. "Get out! I want you out of my place right now!"

His laughter made her feel sick with fear. "No! Not until I get what I've come for. Not until I get what you owe me!"

She started towards her bedroom to find her phone as quick as possible, but he followed her inside too before she could close the door.

"What a wonderful idea! The bedroom! How romantic…"

He grabbed her arms tightly and threw her on the bed before he started to take down his jeans. She cried out and then went to knee him between his legs but he reacted quickly and thrust her legs further open and punching her thigh hard, making her cry out in pain when he punched her bone.

She felt hot tears run down her face as she tried to struggle against him to no avail. Her weak body was no match against his drunken muscular one and every time she struggled, he just punched her leg or her hip.

"I knew you liked it rough… I knew it!"

"Stop! STOP IT! GET OFF ME!"

He suddenly slapped her hard, causing her face to jerk to the other side on the pillow. "Now stop struggling, you fucking slut! I'm doing giving you what you want! What you do for a living!"

Hermione reached up and started to scratch his face with her nails in an attempt to make him stop. This only delayed him for a few moments as he yelled in pain now. He grabbed her wrist and bent it a way the human body should never bend, and in one quick motion, she heard it break and excruciating pain shoot through her entire body.

"AHHH! OWW!" she screamed in agony.

He pressed his hand against her mouth hard, muffling her screams as he thrust himself into her and started raping her, feeling cold against her feelings.

It felt like hours but in reality, it most likely only minutes until he finally finished. By this time, Hermione's sobs were silent and her lungs hurt. Every part of her body hurt. She curled into herself now and whimpered, not even hearing him leave her apartment, hardly even mentally hearing anything besides her own screams in her head and his harsh words.

It was almost an hour before she decided she had to get to a hospital. She had to do something and being in a hospital where it was a possibility that someone could help her seemed like the most smart idea. She crawled over to her bedside table and opened it, only to see that all her money was gone, all the money she had saved. It had been almost a $1000. Hermione sunk to the floor now, feeling defeated and abused. She couldn't even go to a fucking hospital, and there were no free clinics anywhere near her.

Just then, something caught her eye; it was Draco's number he had left her yesterday. She weakly took the paper. She didn't want him to have to come all the way to her house. The Ministry was in London and she didn't want to be a bother more than she already would be. She grabbed the bedpost and struggled to stand up but almost fell to the floor again. Hermione slowly took a shower and carefully put on underwear, her sweatpants, and an oversized sweatshirt that made her look almost like a child.

She apparated out of her house and in front of the Ministry decided that that would be the quickest and less painful way. Taking the elevator, she made it up to Draco's Department where he worked at. It took her several turns but she was finally able to find his office. She took a deep breath and knocked on his door, perhaps too quietly.

"I told you to leave me alone to work! I'm working on it!"

Hermione jumped as he yelled at her, obviously not knowing it wasn't one of his employees. She looked down, feeling the need to apologize anyway.

"I-I'm sorry…" she whispered, not thinking that her voice would be able to reach normality anytime soon.

Draco looked down at her and instantly could tell something wasn't right. He hadn't even expected her to ever come to his workplace. He shook his head and gently guided her inside before he locked the door so no one could interrupt them.

"No, no. I'm sorry. I thought you were my secretary…"

She just nodded weakly in understanding and looked away, as if she was afraid to make eye contact with him. "I… I'm sorry. I-I didn't know where else t-to go. I… don't have any m-money anymore and… and I couldn't g-go to the hospital. I w-wanted to, but without money… I couldn't and… I-I saw your number -"

Draco saw her cut lip and her bruises on her mouth and this seemed all too real. This was all too familiar to him. "Oh god… Hermione, come on. I'll take you to the hospital. It's going to be okay."

She shook her head now, hints of her old self shining through. "No! N-No… I can't. I don't have any money..."

Draco grabbed his jacket. "It's fine. They know me."

He walked out of his office; his arm barely touching Hermione's back, but more so to guide her, and shouted to his secretary, "Take all my messages! I'll be back later."

When they made it to one of the fireplaces, he apparated them up and out of the Ministry before apparating them to St. Mungos hospital. He went up to the receptionist's desk with her and looked at the lady.

"Excuse me, my friend was just raped…"

The lady looked up at him and then looked at her before back at Draco. "Mr. Malfoy, she is going to have to wait awhile. Please sit down."

"Do you have any idea how important I am? She needs help, right now!"

"Sir, your status would get you into a restaurant and into meetings but not here at a hospital. We go by priority and right now, she is not our first priority. Now please, take a seat in the waiting room before I call security."

Draco sighed heavily and guided Hermione into a part of the waiting area that was empty. "I'm really sorry, Granger. I can't believe you don't have first priority…"

Hermione covered her hands with her sweatshirt sleeves, feeling safe inside it, not feeling like talking. She just shook her head to tell him he didn't matter to her.

He sat with her for almost an hour before he felt the need to talk, even if she didn't want to. Draco glanced at the clock and back at her. "Would you like some coffee?"

Hermione shook her head and looked down at her sleeves again and biting her lip.

"Of course not; that was a stupid question," Draco said quietly, feeling stupid himself. He wearily put an arm around Hermione's chair, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, but wanting her to know that he was there and not going to let anyone hurt her again.

A part of her wanted to lean into him, breathe in his cologne, feel his protection, but her body couldn't move. She could barely even think straight. She just wanted all of this to be over. She hated feeling so used but she knew she had brought it upon herself. It had been her own damn fault that she had been raped. The guy had been right, she had "asked" for it. Maybe not directly, but because of what she did for a living. This knowledge just made her to want to crawl deeper inside herself.

"Granger, Hermione?"

She had barely even heard her name be called when Draco stood up. She looked over at him and then saw the nurse, and stood up too.

"Can I come in with her?"

The nurse frowned slightly. "It goes against the rules, but as long as you don't get in the way of the doctor. Follow me, please."

Hermione walked down the hall with Draco until they entered a room that instantly made her uncomfortable.

"Ms Granger, please take your clothes off, except for your bra and put the gown on. It ties in the front."

The room smelled overpoweringly sterile and the bright florescent lighting made her eyes ache and her stomach feel sick. Hermione looked over at Draco who kindly averted his eyes so she could change. She was both surprised and grateful that the small gown fit her body in the right places so Draco couldn't see anything she wasn't ready for him, or anyone right now for that matter, to see.

She sat in silence with Draco for about fifteen minutes on the bed in the room before the doctor came in.

"Hello there. If you would put your feet in the stirrups and lean back and relax, please?"

Hermione nodded and did as he asked; watching and feeling the doctor start to poke around inside her with his tools. She whimpered slightly in pain, her body jolting. The doctor retreated and sat upright on the stool.

"Well… your attacker did some damage inside of you, Ms. Granger. Ripped tissue here and there, but that will regenerate easily, though it may take a week or so. You're pretty inflamed as well, but we can give you anti-inflammatory medication as well as painkillers for that. Did you… shower right after the incident?"

Hermione couldn't see what the point of this question was and almost felt offended by it. She just nodded and looked at him questioningly.

The doctor nodded. "That was what I was afraid of. It seems like there's no more evidence of the rape so… there's no way we can charge him with anything since there's no proof. Also, did you notice at all if your attacker used a condom?"

She bit her lip hard and she shook her head. "N-No, he didn't."

He nodded again. "I didn't think he would. Most rapists don't. I suggest you wait for a bit, see if you get your period. If you do, that's great news; you got lucky. However, if you're a few weeks late, I suggest you take a pregnancy test. If you are pregnant, and… you don't have a boyfriend, then… you can plan out what you're going to do from there."

Pregnant. The word seemed so foreign to her and never even imagined she would get pregnant this way. She didn't even know what she would do with it if she was. Her chest started to feel tight and her eyes glanced from the doctor over to Draco who had stood up and walked over to her.

"Do either of you have any questions for me?"

Draco watched the doctor write out prescriptions for the pills he mentioned earlier. "When will she stop feeling pain?"

"Well, the prescriptions will help with that. It could be a few days, or it could be a couple weeks. It differs with everyone, but I'm writing out two refills so you can fill it when you need it. If you need anything else, have any more questions, just come and talk to me. My name and number are on the card," he said as he handed Draco the prescriptions and his own business card.

"Thank you, doc."

"You're welcome, Mr. Malfoy," the doctor looked back at Hermione now with soft eyes. "You can get dressed now. I'm sorry about your incident."

She nodded and waited until he left and then started to get dressed, no longer caring if Draco saw her anymore. Hermione pulled her sweatpants and sweatshirt back on and looked up at him with scared eyes.

He pocketed the prescriptions and sighed softly before he looked at her. "When we get back to the apartment, I'll go out and get your prescriptions, okay?"

She wanted to scream and tell him not to leave her alone in the apartment. What if he came back? What if he just kept coming back? She wouldn't be able to deal with that, but when she went to speak, no words came out so she just nodded instead.

"Alright, it'll be okay, Granger." Draco apparated inside her apartment now and watched as she sat down on the couch. He grabbed a pillow and put it on one end and then took the large blanket and wrapped it around Hermione. "Why don't you lay down now… and I'll go and get your meds? I'll be back as quick as I can."

Hermione could tell he was feeling awkward and she didn't want to make him stay longer than he had to. She looked up at him and searched his face. "I-I'll be okay, if you want to go back to work after you get my medication."

Draco listened to her scratchy throat and heard the words come out. The way she had said it made it sound like she didn't want him there anymore so he nodded. "Alright. Rest up and I'll just leave your medicine on the end table here. I'll lock the door on my way out."

"Thank you," Hermione replied, lying down on the couch and making sure the blanket covered her entire self before she let herself melt into it. She closed her eyes and took in the smell of the blanket, wanting some feeling of normalcy again.

Draco watched as her small body curled into itself and he had the urge to kiss her hair to comfort her but didn't think it seemed appropriate right now, so he left the apartment, locking the door behind him and went to get the two medications the doctor had prescribed.

When he came back an hour later, he walked inside and didn't know if she was sleeping or not so he just set the bottles on the end table before he turned to leave.

"Draco?" A small voice whispered so low that he almost didn't hear it.

He turned back and looked down at her, unable to see her face. "Yeah, Granger?"

"W-Will you please stay with me tonight?"

Draco smiled to himself now, feeling like he was needed by someone. "Of course, just give me a minute to call into work. No one will miss me." He left the room and called into work, saying that he had a family emergency he had to take care of. Draco came back into the living room shortly after and crouched down in front of the couch where she laid.

"Where do you want me?"

Hermione felt like it wasn't a good time to have him stay with her after what just happened, and felt like she should be yelling at him, fighting with someone, screaming and crying, shouting to tell him to leave, but she couldn't find the energy. The last thing she wanted was for Harry or Ron to come over, but she just didn't want to be alone either.

"B-Behind me?"

"Sure thing," Draco said as he carefully crawled over her and lay down behind her body. He wrapped his left arm around her body that was cradled by the blanket so didn't feel like he was touching her per say. "Is this okay?"

Hermione melted into him, feeling a sense of security and protection she had never felt in her life, even with Ron and Harry. She nodded but then realized he couldn't see her face. "Perfect. T-Thank you."

"It's okay now. You can go to sleep. When you wake up, I'll give you your medicine."

Hermione closed her eyes in a weak attempt to will all of it away but she knew that it wouldn't be easy. She knew it was going to take awhile to make this nightmare disappear, but she had hope that somehow, Draco could help her.