A:N/ Link to song for this chapter www[]youtube[]com/watch?v=AcS6zbCghZ4

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To Be By Your Side

Chapter 10

Scars and Bruises

"Don't be afraid

What your mind conceals

You should make a stand

Stand up for what you believe

And tonight we can truly say

Together we're invincible."

Invincible - Muse

"It's a wonder there aren't trails of mud around the halls, with scum like that around the place." Draco sneered, just loud enough for Hermione to hear outside Potions. She was leaning against the wall beside the door reading her Herbology book, doing her best to ignore the taunts he had sent her way for the past few minutes. Her Arithmancy class had finished slightly earlier than usual and she was waiting for Harry to show from his Divination class. More often than not, he ended up late from it, travelling from one of the highest classrooms to the dungeons it was bound to happen. She could hope though.

"Hey Hermione." Ron greeted, appearing at her side. She glanced up at him and smiled, reluctantly closing her book.

"Hello Ron." She answered, placing her book in her bag.

"You seem better. Take it you and George made up." He commented, seeing the genuine smile on her face. He feigned a smile of his own slightly unsure as to why he wasn't feeling happy for her.

"Yes. I'm so relieved, I never realised how stressed I'd become over it. Hopefully there won't be a repeat of that anytime soon." She said, getting a dazed look in her eyes that Ron was familiar with. He looked down at the ground awkwardly for a second and looked back at her to see her expression remained the same. He felt a twinge in his chest seeing the soft smile on her face. A smile about someone else, he had to remind himself.

"You really love him, don't you?" He blurted out. He closed his eyes regretfully, not believing he had been stupid enough not to think before opening his mouth. Her smile dropped and she turned her head, not entirely sure how to respond. His question was so abrupt and came as such a surprise it took her a moment to collect herself.

"What's the deal Granger? Gotten bored of one blood traitor so moved onto the only other one left?" Malfoy commented, breaking Ron and Hermione's eye contact. Hermione glared at him at the accusation and Ron did the same.

"Do yourself a favour Malfoy before I let your friends know what you said to me the other night." She snapped. She crossed her arms smugly seeing the smirk fall from his face and would have smiled, if he didn't replace the expression with one of pure loathing. He clearly remembered what he had said the night he caught her having a private moment with George.

"And you should do everyone a favour and fuck off to where you belong mudblood!" He snapped, taking a step forward and Ron couldn't hold himself from lunging towards him. Luckily, Hermione knew this was coming and grabbed his arm.

"Don't Ron." She said in a hopeful tone, seeing his clenched fists and tense jaw. He glared darkly at Draco who was looking mildly surprised at his reaction.

"You call her that one more time and I'll make sure you'll never be able to say anything again." He growled, and Draco smirked.

"So you do speak? All these years I thought you were simply too thick to come up with anything decent to say and stopped." Draco retorted, and Hermione tightened her grip on Ron, feeling him tense even more.

"Shove off Malfoy." He spat, as the rest of the class started looking at the scene curiously.

"You know what Weasley, I would say you'd pay for that. Then again I doubt your family could afford it." He smirked even more seeing Ron attempt to lunge for him again and Hermione took hold of his arm in both of her hands using all her strength to keep him back.

"Ron please! He's not worth it." She begged, seeing how furious he was and suspected if he did any damage to Draco he'd end up expelled. She would never forgive herself knowing he had been defending her as well. Of course, she would never let him know that.

"I mean it. Say what the fuck you want about me. But disrespect my family or anyone else and I'll rip your bloody throat out." Ron snapped, and Hermione was beginning to suspect he had been wanting to say this for quite some time but never had a good enough reason. She was very familiar with the Weasley temper but it became clear in those moments that Ron suffered the most severely out of the family from the case. She could see the flames of hatred in his eyes and thought if he was giving her that look, she would be scared of him.

"I'd like to see you try. Can't say the same for the scum though. It would take weeks to get the dirt off." Draco remarked, glancing at Hermione, clearly enjoying Ron's rage.

Hermione looked pleadingly at Ron, ignoring Draco's comment, and let her hands drop down his arm to his hand. He felt sparks spread through his bloodstream where she touched him and he felt himself calm down almost instantly. She'd never touched his bare skin and he tried not to show his surprise at how much it affected him. He looked at her as Slughorn appeared, unaware of the tension in the air and ushered the class inside. Ron continued looking into Hermione's eyes seeing the desperation and affection in them that made his stomach flip. Her gaze quickly changed when she saw out the corner of her eye that Draco was now in the classroom and she sighed in relief.

"You really shouldn't let him get to you like that." Hermione said disapprovingly, but gave him an appreciative smile.

"Yeah well, it's not that easy. I meant what I said. I don't care what he says about me, but when he says stuff like that about you or my family… I just lose it." Ron attempted to explain, and was about to run his hands frustratingly through his hair but there was something stopping him. Her hands. She was still holding tightly onto his. "Urr Hermione?"

He started shaking his hand and she blushed dropping it. She hurriedly turned away from him and mumbled something about them getting into class, before rushing inside. He groaned inwardly, wondering why he even brought up she was holding his hand. She clearly hadn't noticed and probably would have held it longer if he hadn't pointed it out. He couldn't believe how pathetic he was beginning to sound. He really must be lonely if he was happy enough to have someone hold his hand and feel overjoyed by it. She has a boyfriend that just happens to be your brother! He told himself. She could do better than him, even if she wasn't going out with George. There was no chance he could get a girl with her intelligence. He wasn't nearly smart enough.

He sighed angrily and wondered why he was having all these conflicting emotions over one girl. He put it down to his loneliness for the time being. It was natural for him to feel this way over the only girl who had ever paid any attention to him outside his family. Maybe if he got a girlfriend he wouldn't be feeling like this. Lavender Brown seemed pretty interested in him, perhaps he could try something with her.

It dawned on him that he was the only one left outside and he made his way inside where the last spot available just happened to be on Lavender's table.

Later that day, Hermione was in the Gryffindor Common Room writing an essay with her thoughts far away from her moment with Ron earlier. She had just finished the third paragraph when she glanced over at Harry who was flicking through the Half Blood Prince's book once again. He furrowed his eyebrows over a certain word and looked at her perplexed.

"Hermione, have you heard of this spell 'sectumsempra'?" He asked, and she was about to reply she hadn't and tell him for the hundredth time not to read that book. As luck would have it though, Fred and George had just walked in and Fred snatched the book out of Harry's hands and looked at the spell.

"How creepy! It's for enemies apparently!" He mused, and George grinned. They both had the same thoughts and both got out their wands.

"Don't you dare Fred!" Hermione snapped, not liking their idea of a joke one bit. "You have no idea what that spell does!"

"Yeah, but it was obviously done by a student so it can't be that bad." Fred answered, and raised his wand. Hermione got up so she could whip her wand out her pocket about to use 'expelliarmus', since it was evident that Fred wasn't going to be put off his idea. She wasn't quick enough though. He had uttered the word 'sectumsempra' with his wand aiming roughly at George. George fell back from the power of the spell and Fred lowered his wand.

"What a crap spell! It didn't do anything to you, did it Georgie?" Fred said, to not hear George respond. Hermione stopped glaring at Fred and moved around the sofa so she could see George. It appeared as if he was trying to get his bearings before standing, the way he was still lying on the ground. That was if you didn't take in his anguished expression and how he had stopped breathing.

She felt her heart stop beating for a second before her instincts kicked in and she rushed over, collapsing onto her knees by his side.

"George! What's wrong?" She asked, trying to remain calm, but panic and confusion seeped into her tone. She placed her hands on his cheeks to feel they were shockingly cold as the common room fell silent. Fred knelt down by his twin and looked all over him, trying to work out what was causing him pain. Harry stood up hesitantly in shock and glanced over the sofa, similar to the other Gryffindors.

Tears pricked in George's eyes and he did nothing to hold them back proving how hurt he actually was. Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat with her heart racing as she tried to work out what to do. She took out her wand, running every spell through her mind but knew she could do nothing until she worked out what was wrong with him. George was now gasping for breath with his body trembling and she looked down at his chest to see some parts of his robes had darkened. She ripped them open and gasped out at the sight before her.

His whole shirt was soaked in blood. She let herself cry silently at the sight and Fred visibly paled.

"H-Harry go get help!" She shrieked, tearing George's shirt open to reveal deep gashes that seemed to be getting deeper like they were eating away at the skin. She pointed her wand at his throat her focus on trying to get him to breathe. "A-Anapeo!"

George visibly started taking deeper breaths and she glanced back at Harry to see he hadn't moved.

"Harry! Now! Get Professor McGonogall! Or someone, anyone!" She barked, before swiftly turning her attention back to George. She saw silent tears pouring down his cheeks as Harry and Fred ran out the common room.

She ran a hand over George's cheek softly, mumbling words of comfort trying to think of any spell that could help. "Episkey!"

Stupid Hermione, this is hardly a minor injury, she scolded herself and heard George whimpering in pain. She looked up at his eyes with tears still pouring and felt his hand clutch onto hers desperately. "It's okay, you'll be all right."

She didn't fully believe her words but continued attempting to think of any spell that could work. "Finite incantatem!"

She let out a relieved sigh, seeing that this managed to stop the gashes from getting any deeper and felt George squeeze her hand in appreciation. "Tergeo!" She stuttered, and saw the blood evaporate off George's skin before she quickly cast, "Ferula!"

She bit her bottom lip as bandages shot out of her wand and she swallowed. Ginny had finally managed to push her way through the crowd to see what the commotion was about and stared at the scene in front of her for a second. She ran over to Hermione and lifted George up into a seating position. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know what else to do." Hermione sobbed, as she shakily started bandaging up the wounds.

The faintest mark of a smile appeared on George's now incredibly white face before his eyes rolled back into his head. Ginny struggled keeping him up, making it clear he was unconscious and Harry and Fred returned. Professor McGonogall and Snape were behind them and they both looked horrified at the sight in front of them.

"Miss Granger what-" McGonogall started, but saw the distressed expression on Hermione who refused to stop bandaging George. Snape stood forward and pointed his wand at George muttering an incoherent spell.

"He has to be taken to hospital wing. Severus, could you? I need to speak with Potter, the Weasleys and Miss Granger. Could you also alert the Weasley boy in your house what has happened as well?" McGonogall said, and Snape hastily levitated George's body. He stepped through the portrait hole and made his way down to the hospital wing while McGonogall fixated her gaze on the students she had mentioned. "My office. Now."

"It's my fault." Fred declared, causing everyone to look at him. "No-one else's."

He glanced at Harry and gave him a look saying he shouldn't blame himself in the slightest. Ginny wrapped her arms around herself shivering, even though it was comfortably warm in the room and looked down at the floor with glassy eyes.

"Okay Mr Weasley, if you'll come with me." McGonogall said, and walked out the portrait hole. Fred followed and left the common room in an uncomfortable silence. Hermione wiped away at her cheeks, feeling her stomach churn uncomfortably. Flashes of George's gashed chest and his panic stricken expression kept appearing in her mind. Another horribly churn in her stomach broke her from her thoughts and she looked over at Harry who she knew was staring at her.

"Hermione I-" He started, but she couldn't bare to hear his apology and stormed out the common room. Her burst of anger caused more tears to leak out and she slowed her pace. She knew Georgewould never let her live it down if he saw her crying over him still. That was even if she would be allowed to see him. She wouldn't be able to for at least a few hours, knowing Madam Pomfrey. She could still try though.

Her tears slowly stopped when her anger overcame her sadness. She clenched her fists, crossing her arms beneath her chest and sped up her pace unconsciously. She furiously wiped away the remains of her tears with anger streaming in her veins. Anger at Harry for being so obsessed with the book that was the reason for all this trouble. Anger at Fred for being stupid enough to try out a spell without knowing what it would do. Anger at herself for not being able to help more or put enough effort into stopping it. And finally anger at George that he let it happen.

With this new found rage, she pushed open the doors to the Hospital Wing and saw there were curtains drawn around a few beds. She expected Madam Pomfrey to come shouting out at her for bursting in with such abruptness but she didn't. Hermione sighed, deciding to wait until she was found by the woman, not wanting to disturb other sick students.

"Hermione?" She heard someone say and she whipped her head around to see Ron sitting on a chair in some shadows. She blinked a few times but took a few steps towards him, attempting a smile.

"I take it you know what happened to George?" She said in a slightly hoarse voice, figuring that was why he was down there. She sniffed and he nodded grimly.

"Pomfrey said no-one's allowed to see him for at least an hour." Ron explained, thinking he'd save her the trouble of waiting.

"I thought she wouldn't." She said sighing, and was about to head back to the common room when she noticed Ron was clearly staying where he was. "Are you seriously going to wait for an hour to see him?"

"Oh, urr," His eyes turned red and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sure."

"Don't patronise me." She snapped, and he scratched the back of his head pondering on whether to tell her or not. She took a few steps closer and he stumbled getting out of his chair to back away from her. "Ron - honestly, stop acting so immaturely!"

"I-it's nothing! Just go back to your common room. Curfew's starting soon." He said hopefully, thinking that she would instantly return at the thought of breaking school rules. He held the back of the chair he was sitting in as if he would use it as a weapon if she came any closer. She knew he would never harm her though so the threat was pointless. She continued storming up to him and he backed away until he felt his back collide with the wall. Unlucky for him the moonlight was shining brightly through the window and with the angle he was now in, his face was entirely lit up.

Hermione gasped raising a hand to her mouth when she took in his appearance. It wasn't even close to the state George was in but it was still shocking for her. His lip was split and judging by the amount of dried blood around his lips, he must have been bleeding inside his mouth too. The skin was swollen and painfully red on his jaw showing he was getting a bruise whereas his cheek bones were already bruised. There were a few scratches on his forehead which looked like they were caused by stone, the way they grazed only on one side. It was obvious he had a black eye by the way it was also bruised and swollen. However, what made it worse was that a blood vessel had burst in the same eye and it appeared that it must have been quite a few, considering how half his eye was bright red. Even though she couldn't see it, she guessed he had done something to the back of his head since he winced when his head lightly touched the wall.

He saw her shocked and sympathetic expression and swallowed, attempting to smile which only made him wince again.

"Don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you I fell down the stairs?" He attempted, laughing slightly while saying this but stopped instinctively as he felt a stab of pain from his ribs. He expected her to snap at him and demand him to tell her who was the cause of this. What she did next surprised him.

Her hand dropped from her mouth and she walked closer to him. She gently took hold of his hand for the second time that day and led him to a chair which he sat in. She stood in front of him and gracefully ran her fingers through his fringe, lifting it up to see the rest of his forehead. He parted his lips, willing for his heart to stop beating so wildly at her simple movement. He stopped looking up at her and stared straight forward to realise her chest was directly in line with his eyesight. His eyes widened and he quickly looked down at the floor, doubting he would ever live the humiliation of her seeing him aroused. Even if he had seen her bra through her slightly see through blouse. Stop thinking about it! He told himself and felt her fingertips on his scalp, nearly making him shudder.

It would be so easy for him to just do all the things he had spent endless nights thinking about. All he'd have to do was run his hands behind her knees, making them buckle. She'd fall onto him, straddling his lap and he'd quickly run his hands to the back of her neck pulling her head down to his. He would ravish her lips with his, not caring that his lip would split again. She would lick the blood away from his lips simply because it was more of him and run her hands down his chest. A chest that wasn't currently being mended since it wasn't his brother's.

Ron forced himself out of his fantasy for a thousand reasons and felt the familiar sensation he had now grown accustom to. One of pleasure but weighed down with depression, knowing he could never have what he desired. She stopped running her hands through his hair, having checked his head for bruising now, and took a step away from him as she looked down at him.

"Don't lie to me, who did this to you?" She said sympathetically.

"It's nothing Hermione. Don't worry about me. You should be more concerned about George right now." He retorted, not able to hold back the spite in his tone. She narrowed her eyes noticing his tone and placed her hands on her hips.

"You are well aware that I've done everything I can for him! And you will tell me who did this to you this instant!" She snapped, and ran the day's events through her head. She figured out who it was before he looked into her eyes with a look saying she knew who it was. "It was Malfoy, wasn't it? From what you said to him before Potions."

"Yeah, well so what if it was." He snapped angrily, not liking her seeing him weaker than he usually was. She sighed, sensing this and had a feeling if she started shouting at him like she wanted to do, it would harm their friendship. He looked down at the ground not able to see the pity in her eyes.

"Was it just him?" She asked hesitantly, thinking this was a lot of damage for just one pair of fists.

"No. Got his bloody cronies to hold me back and Zabini got in a few hits too." Ron said venomously, still staring at the ground.

"Ron." She said calmly, hoping he would look up at her but he refused to. She continued anyway, "You shouldn't have said those things if you knew he would do this to you."

"I don't give a crap all right? He wasn't going to get away with what he said to you." He snapped, and she felt her insides warm knowing the reason he was in such a state was because he had protected her. She licked her lips, trying to ignore the feeling of comfort and focused on how he was clearly in pain. Unfortunately, this meant she ended up doing what she had promised herself not to do and she started shouting.

"That's not your place to deal with it! You know that! You shouldn't have been ignor-"

"Cheers Hermione. I've just gotten the shit beaten out of me for you but that's clearly not important." He snapped, standing up abruptly.

"No, Ron! I didn't mean it like that! I meant you know more than anyone what Malfoy's like and-"

"Save it. Next time, I won't bother all right? You clearly think you're strong enough to handle his insults by yourself. I don't know why I even tried if this was the thanks I was going to get." He shot, and brushed past her, storming out the hospital wing. She could tell behind his harsh comments that he was secretly hurt by her apparent lack of appreciation for his actions and felt a pang in her chest knowing it.

"Ron! Please! It's not that I'm not grateful!" She shouted after him, and he stopped walking. He turned his head back hesitantly and stared at her, showing he wasn't going to interrupt her again. "I am, truly. But I don't want you fighting my battles for me if it means you'll get hurt instead."

He turned around fully towards her and ran a hand through his hair, taking a few steps towards her. He let his hand fall to his side before he looked straight into her eyes.

"I don't care, it doesn't matter if I get hurt. You told me you've been putting it up with it for years and how much it hurt you. I hated knowing that, so I thought I would try and do something about it." He explained, doing his best to not care about how red his ears were going at his declaration. He wasn't sure if he was pushing the boundaries of friendship, with letting out how he felt when he heard her being insulted. In that moment, he honestly couldn't care less if he was. It amazed him how much relief he got from this small statement of honesty about his feelings for her and he was half tempted to pour out all his feelings. It only took a second for that thought to be pushed out his brain, when he thought of the consequences it would have.

She chewed her bottom lip unsure how to reply. She had two options, one; to continue reprimanding him and possibly get into a huge argument or two; thank him again. She knew which of the two she really wanted to do and went with it.

"Thank you Ron. It means a lot that you put up with that for me." She admitted, not able to look in his eyes and embarrassedly blushed, looking down at her hands. She hesitantly looked up and saw him shrug his shoulders only to make him wince. "Come here, I'm sure I could help you a little with that."

"I believe that is my area of expertise not yours." She heard Madam Pomfrey snap from behind her. Hermione whipped around and saw she was carrying handfuls of bloody bandages. Hermione felt her eyes prick knowing who they had just been on and wrapped her arms around her middle at the sight. Madam Pomfrey quickly made the bandages disappear with a flick of her wand and headed towards Ron tutting.

"When will boys ever learn." She muttered to herself, forcing Ron to sit on a bed and pulled out her wand.

"Can I see George?" Hermione asked, as Madam Pomfrey ran the tip of her wand over the wounds on Ron's face. As the tip moved over his skin the swelling and bruising evaporated back into his flesh and left a faint mark in its place.

"He lost an awful amount of blood. He's too weak for visitors." She answered sharply, and looked pleased at her work seeing Ron's face now back to normal. "Is there anywhere else?"
"Yeah, my umm shoulder hurts quite a bit and my back." Ron said, and Hermione looked over at where she now knew George lay. Ron saw her look of longing and swallowed trying not to show the stab of pain he felt in his gut.

"Well, you'll need to take your shirt off so I can tend to those." Madam Pomfrey snapped, and a blush crept up Ron's neck before he shakily undid the buttons on his shirt. She looked back at Hermione and sighed angrily at the fact she was still there. "Fine, you may see him for five minutes. That's all."

Hermione flashed her head back at Madam Pomfrey to double check her wishes had been voiced to see Ron remove his shirt. Her eyes widened and she quickly darted her eyes back to Madam Pomfrey. "Thank you."

She hid her blush behind her hair and hurried towards George's bed. She opened the curtains around it and peeked inside to see him lying in the cot with closed eyes. She could tell he wasn't really asleep and stepped inside closing the curtains behind her. She looked down at his unnaturally pale face, since that was the only part of him not covered up and he slowly opened his eyes. He gave her a weak smile.

"I bet you've never wanted me more." He joked, and she might have smiled if his voice wasn't so feeble. She swallowed and slowly stepped towards him.

"How are you feeling?" She asked in a quiet voice, running her fingers on top of the sheet where she assumed his arm lay underneath.

"Been better. Pomfrey says I'll have to stay for a week at least to heal properly." He said, letting his eyes close again, showing how exhausted he was. She nodded not trusting her voice and gently caressed his cheek with her thumb. She leant down and kissed his forehead seeing him smile faintly before drifting off to sleep. A part of her wanted to lift up the sheet and survey the damage that had been done but the moral part of her won over. She bit her lip and looked at him for another moment, letting the reality sink in before leaving him. She noticed Ron was now back to his normal state and was talking anxiously to Madam Pomfrey about George's condition.

Hermione gave him a wave as she headed towards the exit which he reciprocated, and she made her way back to the common room with a heavy heart. She walked through the portrait hole numbly and wasn't surprised that the common room was still full of students. Harry, Fred and Ginny pushed their way through the crowd explaining that they were forbidden to leave and questioned her about George's condition.

"He'll be all right. He'll be in the hospital for another week minimum. That's all I know." She said sighing, refusing to look at Harry and Fred. Fred let out a huge sigh of relief and Ginny visibly calmed down.

"I'm going to see him, Gin you coming?" Fred said, knowing he wouldn't be able to get through the night if he didn't see George in an okay state. Ginny nodded and followed him out, leaving Harry and Hermione in an awkward silence. She looked at him and caught sight of the book on an armchair behind him. She instantly felt her blood boil at the sight of it, feeling a little nauseated and gave Harry a cold look.

"Will you get rid of that damned book now?" She snapped, and Harry let the guilt show on his face.

"Hermione, I don't know what to say. I mean I never would have thought - I'm so sorry. I know, it's all my fault." He said ashamed with himself. He picked up the book and threw it on the fire before he could think twice about his decision and watched it burn. She looked at Harry and saw the regret in his eyes. She knew she wasn't ready to forgive him yet for his foolish act of using the book and becoming obsessed with it.

It was a start however and it was that thought which lead her to walk over to him, giving him her thanks. Her eyes stared at the flames licking at the pages of the book until it had turned into ash. She was unaware of the tear cascading down her cheek. It was only when Harry brushed it away with his sleeve she realised it was there. They looked at eachother and he somehow knew she wasn't going to forgive him instantly through the gaze they shared. With a small reassuring smile he let her know he would wait for her forgiveness, knowing in the end it would be worth it. She returned the smile and let her head fall on his shoulder, losing herself in the thoughts that George could have died that night out of his own foolishness.

A:N/ Harry Potter Wiki sure was helpful in this chapter for all the healing spells :P

Also am I the only one who loves protective Ron? That's just a trait in him I've always admired.

Once again, thanks for all the feedback! And thanks to Sarden, KING, Marina, Sandrinha and LittleRed22.

I'm really looking forward to posting the next chapter since it's one of my personal favourites! I don't want to say too much but what I will say is there's a lot of R/Hr in it xD

Anyway, thanks for reading! *throws chocolate at all you amazing people*

For any questions; glowinglunatic[]tumblr[]com

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