AN: Good morning! I just want to say thank you to those of you reading and reviewing. I love reading reviews, but when I get a reader that defends this story against the trolls out there, I do a little happy dance. So jolipanda, thank you for having my back!!!

Lost Souls of Nott Castle

Chapter 31 - Spiral

Hermione barely slept after her nightmare. The images were there, stuck in her head, replaying over and over again. When the sun began to rise, she gave up trying to sleep. She slid out from under Draco's arm and left him sleeping in her bed.

She dressed quickly, gathered her books and left her room. She went up to the third floor and found the library. It was empty, of course, and completely silent.

She ran her hand over the table and the backs of the chairs before pulling one out and sitting down.

She leaned her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands.

"Granger. You know it's Saturday, right?"

She looked up to see Draco standing in the door. He was dressed impeccably and his hair was perfectly combed.

That couldn't be right. He was in bed, asleep. Right?

Superimposed over top of him there was a shadow of him standing in the same place, in the same position.

She shook her head as the shadow overpowered the real Draco. Or was it the other way around? Was he really there at all?

She rubbed at her temples. She needed to focus. She blinked her eyes and looked back up. No one was there.

With a groan, she opened volume two of the Advanced Concealment Charms. The cover creaked as though it had never been opened before. She looked at the book for a few seconds, then closed the cover and put it back, pulling out volume three instead.

The cover opened easily and the spine of the book showed that it had been opened several times before.

She started scanning through the pages. She stopped on a page that looked familiar. She ran her fingers over the text. She followed the diagram. And muttered the words.

She sighed. It seemed familiar, but at the same time it wasn't at all.

"I almost have it," she heard herself saying.

"You figured it out?" Draco asked.

Her head snapped up and she looked towards the door again.

Draco materialized out of thin air, walking towards her.

"How sure are you?" He asked.

"I'm positive," she mumbled to herself. "Let's do this."

She stood and took two steps towards the door before she stopped herself.

Wait. Let's do what? She looked around the library, trying to place why she had stood up to begin with.

As she turned back towards the table, she saw Theo and Blaise sitting there.

No. They hadn't been there a moment ago. She covered her mouth with one hand and backed away from the table until she hit something solid. A bookcase. Or a wall.

Or a bridge.

Her breathing got more shallow.

The library dissolved around her.

She was outside and it was dark. Someone grabbed her. A knife glinted in the moonlight.

"I don't need your permission, witch." He growled in her ear. "I see something I want and I take it."

He grabbed her breast and squeezed.

A scream ripped from her throat.

"Get off of me!" She yelled. "Don't fucking touch me!"

Her knee came up and connected with his groin. He stumbled back.

She tried to run. He grabbed her around the waist and hauled her back against his chest.

She struggled to get his other arm away from her throat.

"Go ahead, fight. I like it better that way." He laughed in her ear. His hand was on her waist, trying to work the button on her pants.

She took a deep breath, elbowed him in the stomach, then snapped her head back to hit him square in the nose.

He fell backwards.

She ran.

"Dammit! Hermione! Stop!"

Arms circled her again. She pushed at his chest, trying to get away.

"Hermione, stop!"

His hands were on her shoulders.

"Granger, I'm not going to hurt you. Look at me."

Something was wrong. How did he know her name?

"It's me, Granger. It's Theo. I'm not going to hurt you."

Her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes blinked several times. Slowly the darkened alley disappeared and the library interior returned. Theo was in front of her, his hands on her shoulders. His eyes were full of concern and confusion. Blood trickled from his nose.

"Theo?" She asked finally. "What happened? Why are you bleeding?"

His hand reached up to wipe across his nose. He glanced down at his fingertips that were tinted red.

"You tell me? You would have ran right off the edge of the balcony if I hadn't stopped you. Fuck." He took a deep breath. His hands were shaking. So were hers. "What the fuck was that?"

She stepped away from him and rubbed her temples. Tears formed in her eyes. Her chest tightened in a painful grip as she looked out the doorway to the stone railing beyond. Nothing but a thin ledge of stone, then a three story drop to the stone floor below.

She tried to swallow around the lump in her throat. She tried to breathe through the anxiety clawing at her throat.

"I'm losing my mind," she whispered, barely audible. Then everything faded to black as she collapsed to the floor.

Theo managed to catch her head just before it hit the floor. He had no idea what had just happened. He sat on the floor next to her still form for several moments before he gathered his wits enough to call for his house elf.

"Go tell Draco I need him in the library now."

The elf disappeared with a crack. Moments later he heard a door open and hurried footsteps on the stairs.

When Draco came into view, he was still wearing his pajamas. His hair was skewed a hundred different directions.

"Theo? What is it?" He asked as he came into the room. Then his eyes landed on Hermione and he stopped, frozen in place, as he once again found his witch unconscious on the floor.

"What happened?" He knelt down on the other side of her and checked to make sure she was breathing.

"I don't know, mate. I was on my way to the roof to do my morning workout and I heard yelling in here. I came in and she ran into me. Like full speed ahead running. Then she freaked out. I think she broke my damn nose! I had to stop her, though! She was going to run right off the landing if I didn't. She started hitting me, trying to get away. But she wasn't really seeing me, she was looking right through me. It was the creepiest thing I ever saw. I kept hold of her and kept talking to her until she recognized me. Then she said she was losing her mind and she fainted."

Draco ran his hand through his hair.

"I think the memories that she blocked are bleeding through the partition." He transfigured one of the chairs into a bed and moved her off of the floor. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

He was wide awake, though.

"What memory would have had her running and scared like that, though?" Theo asked.

"She had a nightmare last night. A man attacking her in a park." Draco sat down in the chair she had been sitting in.

"The week after they kicked her out, before she came here?" Theo looked as horrified as Draco felt.

"She never talked about what happened during that week. Think about how timid she was, how long it took her to trust any of us."

"Merlin. I just thought it was because she didn't trust three pure blood Slytherins. Do you think she was..." He couldn't even bring himself to say the word 'raped' out loud. His stomach churned.

"No, she wasn't," Draco answered without a doubt. "That doesn't mean someone didn't try."

Hermione gasped and sat up. Her eyes darted around the room, finally landing on Theo and Draco sitting at the table. Tears glistened in her eyes. She sat on the edge of her transfigured bed and put her head in her hands.

"It isn't real," she said to herself. "It isn't real. It isn't real."

She rocked back and forth, mumbling to herself.

"What do you think? A calming draught?" Theo asked.

"Or some dreamless sleep." Draco replied.

"Right. Let me see what I've got." Theo skirted the makeshift bed and left the library while Draco moved to sit next to Hermione.

Gently, he put his arm around her and held on to her as she cried on his shoulder.

"I don't know what is real and what isn't." She said brokenly. "I don't even know if you are really here."

"I am. It's going to be okay. We'll figure it out." He rubbed his hand up and down her arm soothingly.

"When I open my eyes, I see the library instead of the bedroom."

"We are in the library, Princess."

She lifted her head and looked around again.

"Why am I on a bed?"

He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face.

"You passed out. I transfigured a chair for you." He stood up and pulled her up as well. Then he turned the bed back into a chair.

"I'm seeing things, Draco. Hearing things. People talking that aren't there. It's deafening. Who else is in here? I can hear Theo and Blaise talking about concealment charms. And I hear you talking about a job at a potions lab?"

She folded into his arms.

"It's just you and me right now." He pulled back so he could look her in the eye. "I think your memories are all trying to come through at once."

"How do I get it to stop?" She clutched at his shirt.

"Theo went to get a potion so you can sleep. I'll keep looking through the books, see if I can find anything."

"What if the healer was wrong?" She said quietly. "What if it isn't a partition but some kind of curse designed to drive me crazy?"

He froze. That had never even crossed his mind, but it was possible.

"We'll find a new healer," he replied. "Someone competent this time. We'll figure it out together."

She inhaled sharply.

"Together," she whispered. "No pressure. No pressure. We'll figure it out together."

"Focus, Granger." He held her face in his hands. Her eyes were glazed over and darting around the room. "Can you hear me?"

Her breathing became shallow.

Draco swore under his breath.

"Theo! Where the fuck are you with those potions?" He yelled towards the stairs.

"Coming!" He heard coming from across the hall.

Hermione pushed away from him. She backed up until her back hit the bookcase. Then she covered her ears, shaking her head.

"Make it stop!" She cried. "Please, make it stop."

She sank to the floor and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Granger, I need you to focus right now." Draco knelt down in front of her. He tried to think of a common memory they would have from before.

"I want you to think about our first day at Hogwarts. Riding in the boats across the Black Lake, do you remember?"

She didn't answer.

"Come on, Hermione. This is important. Picture riding in the boats across the lake."

"Boats. Right." She took a deep breath. "Okay."

"That's it. We could see the castle for the first time. Can you see the castle?"

She took another deep breath.

"Yes. It was beautiful against the sunset. Like something out of a fairytale."

Her breathing started to even out.

Theo tapped him on the shoulder - finally - and handed him two vials.

"Good," he told her. "That's good."

She lifted her head slowly and blinked until her eyes focused on him. The look in her eyes made his heart break just a little. It was sadness, confusion and defeat.

"I love you, Draco." She whispered as tears leaked from her eyes and rolled unhindered down her cheeks.

"Me too, Princess." He told her. "Drink this." He handed her the first vial.

"Calming draught." He answered the question before she could ask it. Then he held out the second vial. "Dreamless sleep."

She nodded in understanding and drank the potions one at a time. When she slumped forward a few moments later, he caught her and picked her up. Theo changed the chair back into a bed and Draco laid her back on the pillow.

He was exhausted. His head was pounding. His heart was aching. And he wanted nothing more than to beat the shit out of something.

He sat in a chair and put his head in his hands.

He had absolutely no idea what to do. She needed help, but who could he turn to? Who could he ask?

"What are you thinking?" Theo asked.

He sighed and sat up, running his hands through his hair.

"I think we need help. I just don't know what kind of help. I'm open to suggestions."

Theo watched him for a moment, then turned his attention to Hermione. She was sleeping peacefully thanks to the potions, but what would happen when they wore off and she woke up?

"St. Mungo's," he said with a sigh.

"Last resort. I would rather have someone come here than take her there."

Theo nodded in agreement.

"Go clean up. Get dressed. I'll stay with her."

Draco sighed again, but got up and headed down to his room. As promised, Theo stayed in the library with the sleeping witch.

With nothing else to do, he started reading the book that Hermione had left open on the table.

Draco returned twenty minutes later looking every bit of the aristocratic snob he had been raised to be.

"Are you okay to stay with her?" He asked.

"I guess so. What do I do if she wakes up?"

"She should be out for hours with the combination we gave her. If she wakes, try to keep her calm. I'll be back as soon as I can. Hopefully with help."

Theo agreed to stay and a few moments later he was once again alone with her. He returned to reading about the charm she had cast to make his home unplottable.

The intricacies of it astounded him. He had watched her cast it flawlessly. She was power personified. To see her this vulnerable was disturbing to say the least.

"What did I miss?" Blaise asked as he walked in the room. His eyes landed on Hermione for a few seconds before he sat down across the table from Theo.

"Oh nothing much. Just Granger losing touch with reality and having a breakdown, that's all."

"Where did Draco go? He looked like he was on a mission."

Theo shrugged his shoulders.

"He didn't say. I think he was going to find a healer, but I'm really not sure."

Blaise picked up the two empty vials that were laying on the table.

"You drugged her?" He asked with disbelief in his voice.

"Mate, you have no idea. I have bruises on my chest where she thought I was attacking her, and Draco had to heal my broken nose." Theo sighed and pushed the book away. "I've seen some screwed up things in my day, but I'm telling you, the look in her eyes sent cold chills down my spine."

"What do you suppose Draco would do if anything happened to her?"

Theo snorted.

"You know exactly what he would do. He would hunt down Potter and kill him as slowly and painfully as possible."

Blaise leaned forward.

"What if it wasn't Potter?" He asked. Theo's eyes snapped up to meet his. "We assumed because Potter threatened her. But what if it was someone else? There were a lot of people that were not happy seeing the two of them together."

"Like all of Gryffindor and Slytherin houses." Theo had to agree. It could have been any number of people. "If it wasn't Potter, though, why would he have gone into hiding? He missed graduation and everything."

Blaise hesitated for a moment before responding.

"That's a good point." He conceded.

The room was quiet for a moment. Only the sound of Hermione snoring softly could be heard.

"Still, most of the Gryffindors didn't even go visit her in the hospital wing. And Pansy was laughing about it. She thought it was funny." He stood up and walked over to where Hermione was lying down. "Hermione is one of the nicest people I've ever met. How can anyone think it's funny that she was hurt?"

Theo watched his friend and something suddenly dawned on him.

"Good Merlin. You like her."

"What? No!" He answered defensively. "Well, yes, but not like that."

Theo raised his brow and waited for him to continue.

"I do care for her," he admitted quietly. "But it isn't romantic. It's like she's the sister I never had. She's family, you know?"

Theo turned his gaze to her sleeping form. He had a sister. He would do anything to protect her and he wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. Looking at the sleeping witch, he knew that Blaise was right. He felt the exact same way.

"Yeah. I know." Theo agreed. "For me, too."

AN: I love protective friends. And my readers. You guys rock.

Until next week.

-mezy