Chapter 10

"Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them." Adlai Stevenson

McGonagall burst into the hospital wing looking flustered,

"Hermione dear" she said, "Albus, I mean the headmaster has said you may go so stop looking so worried, but you won't be going to the Burrow, you'll be going to Grimauld place it's safer, and besides the Weasleys and Harry are already there. You'll be getting there by floo powder, Molly will be expecting you in..." she looked at her watch, "in 30 seconds, oh good gracious, well don't just stand there, quickly quickly into the grate, there's a good girl, now elbows in, and speak clearly, we'll send your things along after you, Oh don't worry about that now" gushed McGonagall as Hermione reached out for her standard book of spells grade six. "Goodbye dear we'll see you soon!" cried McGonagall

"Goodbye dear" said Pomfrey

"Bye, and... and thank you. Number 12 Grimauld Place" said Hermione as she tossed the emerald powder into the flames, and felt the sickening whirling sensation.

"That poor girl" said Poppy, McGonagall nodded in agreement. Hermione had been through hell and was only half way back, both women knew it, and both regretted it. The innocent are always the first to fall, thought McGonagall sadly. Still, she was safe now, and that was what really mattered.

"Ginny! She's here!" Hermione had only a second in which to hear the ecstatic cry before she was totally engulfed by Mrs. Weasley in a motherly hug, this was the first time she had not flinched at human contact since her ordeal. She felt all her worries miraculously drift away, absorbed by Mrs. Weasley. When Mrs. Weasley reluctantly released her, she was shocked to see that she had tears in her eyes, but even more shocked to see that Ginny had appeared from nowhere, looking every inch the Weasley, and very grown up.

"Hi, how've you been?" asked Ginny, also giving her a hug.

"Umm yeah, not too bad I suppose, and you?

"Bored! But now you here I'll at least have some one at least half human to talk to!" Both girls laughed. With a loud "thud" Hermione's trunk toppled out of the fireplace. "Come on lets take your things upstairs" said Ginny

"Oh don't bother girls, I'll get the boys to do it later"

"No mum, it's fine, honestly. Come on 'Mione, grab an end" Hermione, noticing Ginny's emphatic voice did as she was told, however two flights of stairs later she was regretting it. She wasn't really up to her usual strength, and realised now that lugging a huge trunk up two flights of stairs was not the best idea she'd ever had. She was starting to feel dizzy and faint, and was very glad when Ginny announced that this was there room. Once inside, Hermione collapsed onto the bed that Ginny motioned to as hers.

"I'm knackered after that!" she sighed, "Why didn't we make the boys do it again?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you away from mum" said Ginny, sitting, equally exhausted, on her own bed.

"What about?" asked Hermione, starting to panic, but trying as hard as possible to sound unbothered.

"Well just about how pretty you've got! I can't believe it, I can't wait to see the boy's jaws drop when they see you, I bet you a sickle that they won't recognise you?" she said smiling. Hermione relaxed a little, "But no, there's something else, what's changed?" asked Ginny, a frown forming on her face. She is really good at sensing things Hermione thought.

"Well, you know about my parents being killed and my house ransacked and everything don't you?" she said all too quickly,

"Something else has happened" said Ginny, gazing into her eyes.

"No, no, nothing happened" said Hermione, her voice rising in pitch, she was panicking, Ginny was going to find out and she might tell the boys.

"Yes it did, it must've, mum was crying for days after we heard about the raid, and dad want pale every time we mentioned you, what happened,? You know you can tell me anything Hermione,"

"NO I CAN'T" sobbed Hermione, it was all very well feeling safe downstairs, but now Ginny was forcing her to remember... "You won't understand, you'll tell Harry and Ron, and they must never know" It was a testament to their friendship that Ginny was able to understand what Hermione was saying through her heart wrenching sobs. Ginny crossed the room and knelt beside Hermione's bed, she took Hermione's hand between her own,

"Tell me, I promise you I won't tell them" she said, as calmly as she could.

"Fine!" Hermione half yelled, "You think you want to know, well then I'll tell you! I was kidnapped by the death eaters, they took me to the Dark Lord's lair. I was there for 9 days and nights of sheer Hell. Nine days of brutal interrogation and torture, nine nights or rape and beatings. I escaped back to Hogwarts, when I arrived there I was near dead. I was unconscious for two weeks, I have nightmares every single night, I have so many bruises and scars that I can't tell what colour my skin actually is without a concealment charm. Pomfrey's healed most of them, but there are other scars Ginny, scars that will never heal." She finished, and turned her back to her friend, who was sitting on the floor totally dumbstruck.

"I am so, so sorry. Oh Hermione!" she said getting up and hugging her friend. They sat there like that for God knows how long. Hermione finally being able to discuss everything she had been through with someone who would listen to her and understand her. At parts of Hermione's story, Ginny cried too, she couldn't believe her friend was able to withstand so much pain, and still act relatively normally. She truly admired her. After a while, when Hermione felt she had said her piece, they moved on to other subjects, and miraculously, within a couple of hours they were laughing. Hermione was actually laughing! 'This girl really is something else', Ginny thought to herself.

Molly Weasley smiled to herself as he passed the door of her only daughter, she heard the girls' laughter drifting through the dull air. Her plan had worked, her daughter had picked up her hints and dragged the truth out of Hermione. Things would be better this way, if Hermione had a friend to talk to about what she'd been through she was one step further on the road to normality. Molly knew her daughter, and she knew that she would never betray Hermione's trust. Contented, at least for now, Molly went downstairs and hugged her husband.

A/N: This is a little early, mainly because I have no homework tonight lol, but also because it was a really short chapter on Sunday, Thanks for your reviews, they really do mean so much, (ie: please please review) lol.

A massive thank you to our lovely reviewers: lee74, Mai Gamit, creepiness, Katie, Phelpslover (it is an honour to be considered such), Darkraven-04, Avestia, kbluesmom, runaway mental patient, Rane2920072 (this isn't much longer, but it is early, so there you go! Lol), Emz, acdenerd the lovely hannahslattery and the wonderful(and ridiculously talented) Kyra4.