Inside

Chapter Thirteen: Siblings- Part II

Hermione's POV

"What's happened?" Ron asked as he kicked himself away from the wall he'd been leaning against as I made my way back to the castle. "I tried to talk to Harry, but he just ignored me and kept on walking… I've never seen him look so mad.

"What is it?" He asked when I didn't respond. "Hermione, what is it?"

"Wow," He sighed after I had finished telling him everything I had been keeping from him. "I can't believe James, Harry's Dad… your Dad would do that. I mean, Harry's always been so found of him.

"And Draco? I mean really, Malfoy? There's something you don't hear everyday. I bet he's going to be even more of a bully now, huh?"

"Actually, no." I told him with a shake of the head. "Quite the opposite actually; after Harry had left, I was crying… and he held me."

"Held you?" He asked with wide eyes. "Draco? Draco Malfoy? We are talking about the same person here aren't we?"

"Yes, the same Draco Malfoy as always," I assured him, "I don't know if it's a sudden bond that has linked us together, but, he didn't let me go until I had stopped crying, completely. And before he took his arms away from me he kissed my forehead and told me if I needed anything to come to him; that he'd be there and I could count on him.

"He apologized for everything; he even kissed my arm a dozen times over the scars."

"Merlin," Ron huffed, "And I thought my family was complicated."

"The world's full of surprises," I shrugged. "And, Ron, do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Please don't tell Ginny… or your Mum."

He laughed while reaching out to hug me, "I promise."

"I just can't believe it still!" Ron scoffed in bewilderment later on in the Great Hall as he filled his plate with dinner food. "Draco Malfoy, Malfoy; Narcissa, the whole thing just blows my mind. And Harry too! James! Poor Lily, I wonder if she kne-"

"Ron!" I hissed; looking around to see if anyone had been listening. "Please, I asked you to keep it from your Mother and Ginny, that doesn't mean you have to go about telling the rest of the world just because I left them off the list!"

"What? Oh, right, sorry." He said while slowing down his shoveling. "It's just hard to absorb."

"Sure, you say that." I huffed. "And here I thought I was the one who had a lot to take in."

"Right," He cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"It's alright, Ronald. Just please stop bringing it up every five minutes."

"I'll do my best," He admitted. "Anyways, where's Harry? I haven't seen him all day."

"I don't know." I agreed as I gave my full attention to my surroundings, and seeing him nowhere, added softly, "Perhaps he's off writing a letter to Dumbledore, you know, anonymous. Dumbledore always seems to know everything, even if it doesn't involve him. He could be in a whole nother dimension and still he knows everything."

"I know," He whispered back with his eyebrows drawn in together; fear playing about his eyes, "Does concern a man…"

"What?" I asked, taken aback.

"Uh, no- nothing, nothing!" He said before shoving a spoonful of steak and mashed potatoes and gravy into his ready mouth.

"You mean making me do your homework, don't you?" I asked fearfully.

"Fine!" He nodded with a full mouth. "Fine!"

I remained suspicious the remainder of the meal.

"I think that's him," I whispered to Ron as we walked subtly past him into the Common Room, where I saw him sitting alone by the fireplace. "In the chair."

"Yeah, yeah it is," Ron agreed, "Let's go."

"No!" I stopped him in a hushed whispered while grabbing his arm. "We'd better wait until everyone else has gone to bed, as to not cause a scene or anything like that. He doesn't look too well."

"Oh, you're probably right. How's a game of chess?"

"Ron you know I'm not any good at that." I told him humouredly.

"Yeah, gives me enthusiasm to do something with you if I know I'm better."

I rolled my eyes before agreeing.

I sat silently in an old wooden rocker (after loosing a grand total of sixteen games) in the far end of the room; in a corner behind where Harry sat as I waited for the rest of the Gryffindors to go to bed. Ron, having already become too impatient and too tired to wait any longer to confront him, said his goodbyes and was one of those to have already retired. I waited unseen; patient.

"Harry?" I asked as the last few sleepy people walked past me and headed to their dormitories. "Harry, I haven't seen you all day. I've been worried, so has Ron."

Nothing.

"Harry, please," I began as I approached his lone silhouette sitting dismally in the loveseat beside the fire. "Talk to me, you haven't said a word to me since this morning."

"I've nothing to say to you, so, if you please. I want to be alone." He said rudely with his eyes glued to the fire.

"Harry," I ignored his request, "when I first found this out all I told people was that I wanted to be alone, when, really, I was already alone; I can't have wanted to be around my friends; you and Ron, more than ever.

"Finding out I wasn't an only child, and from different parents, at that. Being told that the people I thought my whole life to be my parent's weren't… I thought I'd die if I didn't have anyone to help me though it. And, Harry, though I pushed them aside, I did have people; friends, people I loved to be with me. Let me be there; here, let me be here for you. Please, Ron and I want to help you, we know you're going through a lot, so let us share the burden."

"What burden?" He asked suddenly. "Hermione, my Dad didn't rape Narcissa Malfoy… he would have never done that. Never. He loved my Mum, he loved me, we are all he needed."

"Harry," I went on. "You never even knew your Dad, so who's to say he didn't? And besides, you weren't even born yet, let alone conceive-"

"Just drop it Hermione!" He shouted suddenly. "You're wrong! She's wrong! My Dad didn't do those things to her! He can't have! She's lying; I can't believe you actually fell for it… I thought you were the smartest person in the whole school."

"I've never claimed to be," I said, taken aback and hurt. "And yes, I do believe her, Harry. Because my parents; Rose and Hugo, did go away during the summer, and I didn't hear from them… I still haven't.

"And besides, you think I actually want to believe her? You think I really want to believe people can do such things to other people? No, Harry, I don't! I did consider that she could be lying at a time, but then, I asked myself how someone could come up with such an extreme and crude story… graphic."

"No," He shook his head. "No, Hermione, just… no. He didn't do it. I won't believe it." He huffed before crossing his arms over his chest and looking back towards the fire.

"Harry, your Dad, our Dad, he did rape her. If you'll just listen, and really listen, to what she has to say. People don't just make up stories like that because they are bored Harry… she is telling the truth. I am your sister, he did ra-"

"NO!" He shouted suddenly; enraged and shooting up from his chair and looking down at me with eyes filled with fire. "SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, DO YOU? SO STOP BEING SO DAMN STUPID AND GET YOUR OWN LIFE AND STOP INTERFERING IN MINE! YOU DAMN, STUPID, STUPID WOMAN! YOU'RE WRONG! WRONG HERMIONE, WRONG!"

"SHUT IT HARRY!" Ron screamed as he appeared from the stairway. "HOW DARE YOU! YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO GOT BAD NEWS! SO WHAT YOUR DAD WASN'T THE GREAT HERO GUY YOU THOUGHT HE WAS! SO WHAT HE TURNED OUT TO BE EXACTLY WHAT SNAPE'S SAID ABOUT HIM ALL THESE YEARS! HE RAPED HERMIONE'S MUM, YOU BLIND IDIOT!"

"HE DID NOT!" Harry barked back. "SHE'S NO PROOF! WE HAVE A TESTIMONY OF ONE WOMAN, ONE STUPID WOMAN!"

"Harry, Ron, please!" I cried as I got up to stand between them, but was thrown back almost instantly as Harry's fist slammed against my cheek, and then his foot against my gut.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" He shouted. "IT'S JUST AS MUCH YOUR FAULT AS HERS!"

"YOU BASTARD!" Ron shot as he bounded towards Harry and decked him harshly across the side of his face. "HOW DARE YOU HIT HER? HOW DARE YOU! YOU STUPID, DUMB, LAME, BLIND IDIOT! YOU MONSTER! HOW DARE YOU BLAME HER FOR ANY OF THIS!"

"GET – OFF – ME- !" Harry demanded as he slammed his own head against Ron's; sending Ron rolling off of him, disoriented and paler that usual as he placed his hand against his forehead.

"Ron," I moaned, "Ron, are you alright?" I asked him as I began scooting myself across the floor towards him.

"Fine!" He said loudly before climbing back onto his feet to face Harry once more.

"YOU WON'T BE!" Harry went on as if nothing had happened, "NOT WHEN I'M FINISHED WITH YOU!

"YOU UNLOYAL BASTARD!" He added as Ron ducked another of his punches. "YOU SAID YOU'D ALWAYS BE MY FRIEND; MY BEST FRIEND! ALWAYS BE THERE FOR ME! YOU TURNED YOUR BACK ON ME THE MOMENT HERMIONE TOLD YOU WHAT SHE THINKS HAPPENED; YOU'RE SO DAMN IN LOVE WITH HER YOU'LL BELIEVE ANYTHING SHE SAYS! YOU BLIND, BLIND IDIOT!"

"I'M NOT THE ONE WHO'S BLIND!"

"DAMMIT HARRY!" I screamed as I ran forwards at top speed to shove him down. "LISTEN TO REASON FOR ONCE! YOU THICK-HEADED FOOL!"

"GET OFF HERMIONE!" He screamed as we wrestled along the floor. "YOU BITCH, GET OFF!"

"HERMIONE!" Ron yelled as he jumped towards us, but I ignored him as I fought to protect myself from Harry's sudden assaults.

"OUCH!" I cried as Harry's fist once again found my face, this time landing against the side of my lips. "HARRY! PLEASE! I'M YOUR SISTER; YOUR FRIEND!"

"YOU ARE NOT!" He screamed. "YOU'RE NOTHING TO ME! NOTHING!"

"HARRY POTTER!" Ron screamed as I felt Harry ripped from me; but not soon enough to stop another swift blow to my rip cage, and I screamed out in pain; blood spurting from my mouth. "STOP IT RIGHT NOW! HIT HER AGAIN I'LL KILL YOU!"

"NOT IF I KILL YOU FIRST YOU BASTARD!"

"HARRY!" Ron yelled, "HARRY; STOP!"

"SEPARATE IMMEDIATELY!" The voice of McGonagall commanded. "NOW! NOW! MR. POTTER AND WEASLEY! MR. FINNIG-"

The rest of what she shouted faded into blackness along with everything before me as a hard blow landed between my eyes.

Severus's POV

I stood with one hand resting stiffly against my desk and the other cupped tightly around my side; staring at him sitting there with a hollow and distant expression on his face. Rage was pulsing through me with every heartbeat as the memory played again and again in my mind of Hermione lying on the floor, bloody and bruised and unconscious, and being able to do nothing about it.

I'd kill him myself if I could for what he had done; strike him once, that's all I needed, make him feel what he made her feel. Make him see what it felt to have someone bigger and stronger attack him… but I knew I couldn't, and so, I did the next best thing.

Punishment.

"Professor McGonagall is speechless," I began, "She is unable to even look at you, Mr. Potter. And so, knowing our relationship as she does, she has put on my shoulders the honor of giving you your proper punishment."

"Please, Professor Snape, I didn't mean any of it. Not any of it, I was just so… so… so mad! I never meant to hit her, but, once I did… I couldn't stop."

"Miss Granger now lays unconscious in the Hospital wing; five cracked ribs, a sprained wrist, dislocated shoulder, and covered from head to toe in bruises. And Mr. Weasley, seeing as he is stronger and less fragile than she, lies beside her with half of that, though he is not unconscious."

"I… what?" He asked seemingly confused and shocked. "No," he shook his head, "No, Hermione, she can't be… she… she isn't…"

"She is not dead, Mr. Potter," I snapped. "Though after all the times the three of you have shown up after doing Merlin knows what, I have never seen her so injured. And at your hand. And, also, I almost regret to tell you that neither of them will be able to go home this holiday, as their injuries are too serious."

He ran his hands through his hair as he dropped his head downwards and began immediately sobbing; his shoulders shaking with each sob. "What have I done?" He mumbled. "What have I done?"

"Would you like a play-by-play, or the simple truth?" I asked him without a drop of sympathy in me. "Though, if you would like my opinion I can give you both."

"Neither!" He cried. "Neither! Just tell me my punishment and have done with it!"

"Very well," I said as I strode across the room towards him. "You are to give me your wand, to begin with." I commanded as I held out my hand and watched as he fumbled klutzily inside his pocket for his wand. "Very good," I told him as I clutched my hand tightly around it; it was all I could do to stop myself snapping it into shreds. "Next: as badly as I wish to expel you Professor McGonagall has banned me from it, and, so, I have picked the next best option.

"You are to spend the remained of the year suspended off campus. Normally I would allow a student to stay with Professor Hagrid, but, seeing your closeness I have overlooked that privilege.

"No, you are to be sent back to your Aunt and Uncles, where you will remain until the start of next year, where you will then be given back your wand and complete your sixth year. And, seeing how it is only December, you will be unable to Graduate until the next year. This is to say, a year later than Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger."

"Can I," He chocked, "Can I see them, first? Ron and Hermione; I have to apologize… I have to-"

"I don't think that will be necessary." I cut him off. "Your bags have been packed and are waiting for you by the front entrance, where a carriage is to pick you up in an hours' time, and take you to the train station where you will then be taken back to Platform 9¾. It has been arranged for your Aunt and Uncle to meet you there, and take you home, and keep you there until September of next."

He stood without speaking and rushed past me, leaving with the same silence in which he had come.

Hermione's POV

"Hey," Ron's voice said softly as I opened my eyes to find myself on a stiff cot in the dim Hospital Wing. "I was starting to wonder if you'd ever wake."

"Where," I said dizzily, "Where's Harry?"

"I don't know, but I don't think he's on the grounds anymore." He told me. "After you were knocked out McGonagall did some sort of summoning charm and Dumbledore showed up with Snape, Sprout and Flitwick; though Flitwick wasn't much help, he just sort of stood there, his size and all…

"McGonagall ran to you and Snape and Sprout ran to contain Harry. I did hear them talking though, and I don't think we'll see him for a while; Snape is the one to punish him. McGonagall was just sick; couldn't even look at him."

"What happened?" I asked while attempting to turn to face him, but flinched with pain and pressed my hand against my rips and winced in pain.

"Yeah… he got you pretty bad…

"Well, I heard the two of you talking; heatedly it sounded. So I came down to the Common Room and-"

"No," I said, "I know why it happened; I mean what happened to Harry? I've never seen him so angry; so upset and full of rage. It was like he was possessed."

"Oh, that, yeah… I don't know. He was just so proud of whom his Father was, or, who he thought he was… he just couldn't accept it I guess."

"But he hit me Ron," I said with tears threatening to fall, but I held them back. "And you, he yelled at us…

"Ron, have we lost him?"

"Yeah, Hermione…" He said sadly, "Yeah, I'd say so… I'd say so."

I closed my eyes and let the tears fall freely as his voice sounded in my ears, "Where is she? Let me see her! Damn you woman! Damn you! Let me see my sister!"

Madam Pomfrey must have become temporarily paralyzed due to shock, as a pair of fast and loud footsteps came towards me quickly, and I opened my eyes to find Draco rushing towards me.

"I heard yelling and gasps coming from every part of the castle and footsteps above Slytherin Common Room and I knew you must've been involved… Oh, Hermione, what happened?"

"Harry's what happened." Ron told him. "Bloody idiot, he-"

"Thanks very much Weasley but I think I asked my sister," Draco cut him off. "Hermione?" He asked softly.

"No," I sniffed, "No, it's alright, Ron knows everything. Harry just… he… he blew up!

"I just went to talk to him because he hadn't said a word to me all day and he… he just…"

"Hit her," Ron cut in. "After screaming at her. She was just trying to get us to stop, mind you, I did walk in on them talking; Harry went off the roof. I was trying to protect her, he was calling her all sorts of things I've never heard him even say before. And, as you can see, there was a bit more than words exchanged by the end." He said, pointing to his face.

"Where is he?" Draco asked.

"Donno," Ron sighed. "They took him away as they were taking Hermione and me up here, last I saw he was headed off with Snape."

"Good," Draco said as he took a seat beside me on my cot and took my hand in his. "Just so long as that bastard stays the hell away from my sister."

"You two really did bond all of the sudden," Ron wondered aloud. "Huh, wonder if that would happen if Ginny and I were separated for a while?"

"Ron!" I shouted; shocked that he'd think of such a thing at a time like this.

"What?" He asked, oblivious as usual. "It is a curious thing to wonder." He mumbled more to himself than anything.

Draco and I looked at each other with wide, amazed eyes.

TBC