Just a heads up to the fans of Ron...he is not a nice little boy in this chapter. Anyways, enjoy!


He was determined to find out what or who had caused Hermione so much pain that she was now scared of love or affection. He left his apartment in the Ravenclaw tower intent on going directly to hers to demand an answer and an explanation.

He only made it to the entranceway of the castle when he saw Hermione fighting with a red-haired abomination. She was visibly shaken, scared and angry. Her voice was slightly raised and she was pulling on Ron's arm, trying to take them somewhere more private, somewhere away from the milling groups of students. Viktor saw the redhead raise his arm, obviously intent on doing some nasty damage when he bellowed out for the students to go elsewhere.

"Go to breakfast or to your houses everyone!" Viktors voice bellowed through the echoing hall, making no mistake that all could hear him. Faster than he expected, the hall became suddenly empty and the doors to the Great Hall were closed.

"Is everything alright here, Hermione?" he asked, standing just behind her crying form, glaring at the smaller man standing across from them.

Sneering at Viktor, but lowering his arm, Ron retorted, "why am I not surprised you went running to him? He's probably who you were shagging when you were with me. Take the little bitch. She's no better than a 2-knut whore anyways," he finished his expression full of malice and defeat. His arms were crossed in defiance of Viktors imposing form.

"Ron, please, leave him out of it. He didn't.."

"Shut up you little slut. How many times do I have to teach you not to talk to a man unless he talks to you first?" he started, taking a step towards Hermione. "You'd think that our many 'lessons' would have taught you a thing or two. I guess you aren't as smart as…"

He didn't get the chance to finish. Viktor was quick to step around Hermione and knock him flat with one well-placed fist. By this point, several of the professors had come to see what the commotion was about. Viktor asked a couple of them to take Ron to the medical wing while he took Hermione to her room.

The fat lady didn't hesitate in letting the young man through the portrait door without a password when she saw just how upset Hermione was. Two house elves met them on the other side and guided Viktor to her apartment. He asked the elves to help Hermione into her pyjamas while he respectably turned his back while they changed her. They announced that she was changed and he turned and helped her into her bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. She curled herself into a tight ball under the blankets and turned her back to him.

Dropping his shoulders in defeat, he turned to leave. She heard the click of the door knob as it turned; "Don't go," she whispered. "Please, stay with me," she finished, still not turning over. Viktor clicked the door shut again, whispered for the elves to pass a message to Professor McGonagall and pulled a chair next to her bed.

He woke up with a start. How long had he been asleep? He rubbed his hand over his face, getting the crusty bits out of his eyes. He looked down on the still-sleeping form of Hermione, finally she looked peaceful. His other hand was firmly gripped between both of hers. Quietly leaning forward, he brushed the hair out of her face. She stirred against his fingers and slowly, her eyes opened, blinking in confusion before recalling why he was there.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," he joked quietly, winning a small smile in return.

"Hi, how long have I been asleep?" she asked, releasing his hand and sitting up against her pillows. As if on cue, the two house elves from earlier appeared with a tray of fresh fruit and pumpkin juice for them both. Viktor thanked them before turning back to Hermione.

"About four hours. You vere pretty out of it after your...conversation vith Veasel this morning," Viktor frowned at the memory of how upset she was.

"Right, I had hoped that was another nightmare. I guess not," she mumbled more to herself than to Viktor.

Handing her a plate of fruit, he quietly asked, "Do you want to talk about it?" He could see as soon as the question was out that she was already fighting the tears but he also felt it would be best for her to talk about it.

"No, not really. But you need to know; you deserve to know." She took a long, tentative deep breath before she began her story, taking short breaks at Viktors insistence to eat some fruit before continuing on.

"Ron and I started dating after the battle against the Dark Lord and after I finished my wizarding and muggle education, as you know and we were happy...at first. It was like all new relationships are: happy, comforting, bittersweet and seemingly perfect. Then when I started to do some traveling with my job at the Ministry he started to go out more often and later. He would come stumbling home, drunken out of his mind, slurring his words and accuse me of meeting up with other men on my assignments. He wasn't violent in the beginning, just verbal. Then he started to get really possessive. He would insist on being the only one to open scrolls brought by owls or other mail and if he didn't think it was appropriate, meaning it was sent to me by a male he would tear it up, not letting me read it or respond, even if it was from the ministry. He was convinced I was writing in code to some secret lover. One day I was writing a letter to my father, of all people and he flew into a rage. He tore the letter to shreds, threw everything off of my desk, broke my quill in my hand and threw me against the wall." She paused momentarily, cringing at the memory. Viktor's jaw was clenched in fury but still held gently to her hand.

"After that first time, I really thought he was sorry. He begged and pleaded for me to forgive him, promising that it would never happen again. And I did forgive him. Again and again I forgave him. Even after visits to St. Mungos for deep bruises and bone fractures, I still forgave him because he always promised to change." Tears were now pouring down her face. Viktor was so angry at the idea of anyone hurting Hermione; all he could to was hold her hand gently. He was too angry to speak and his other hand was clenched tightly in a fist. Hermione wiped away her tears, sat up a little straighter and continued: "Finally, Ginny took me from that wretched flat one final time to take me to St. Mungos after a particularly bad day and made me swear to her that I would never go back. She filed a report to the Ministry against her own brother saying that he was never allowed to come within a certain distance of me again. She had already packed up my things and moved them to her flat and so I left him and I haven't seen him since then, until today. "

"Hermione, I…."

"I know Viktor. You couldn't have known, I wasn't willing to tell you. That's what I can't…why we can't…I just…" tears were welling in her eyes again.

Moving carefully to the edge of the bed, he gently took her small frame his arms and cooed gently in her ear, "shh, it's alright. I understand. You don't have to do or be anything."

"Thank you, Viktor, for everything," she answered, curling into his chest.