Hello, loves. Welcome back. I know the last chapter was, well, it was very short. This one will be longer, and it time jumps.

Trigger warning for flashbacks and suicidal ideations.

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Exams went off without any major school wide events or any major meltdowns from students. Well, that isn't quite true. Fred and George Weasley's firework display during the fifth years DADA OWL left Hermione in quite a tizzle. Exams were sacred; they were a right of passage. For students to just completely disregard that truth was blasphemy in her opinion. It took a bit for Hermione to get the sound of Mrs. Weasley's coming howler out of her head before she could concentrate on the exam in front of her.

Throwing herself into her studies did help Hermione forget her trauma, well, to not be entirely consumed by her trauma. But she had taken to pulling the curtains around her four-poster bed and casting a muffliato around her bed. The first night back from the Hospital Wing had her waking up with Lavender and Parvati telling her to shut up and keep her nightmares about failing to herself. Some of them were actually trying to sleep Lavender had said. Hermione was in such a fog of fear that night, that she hadn't seen the look of sorrow momentarily wash over Lavender's features.

Completely unknown to Hermione, as well, was that Lavender kept an especially tight watch on Hermione. Lavender watched Hermione prepare for the exams with more zealous than the girl had ever done before. Perhaps Harry and Ron didn't notice because they were boys, or maybe they didn't notice because this was their first year of life-determining exams, but Lavender thought that they should have picked up that the light of their so-called Golden Girl had dimmed quite a bit.

Lavender was especially annoyed with Ron. She had thought she had fancied him, but he was so oblivious to Hermione that she wasn't sure about her feelings any longer. Ron never noticed that Hermione flinched at every caress. He never noticed when her glamours on the dark purple circles under her eyes started to fade. For a boy so focused on food, he didn't even seem to realize that she had greatly decreased her caloric intake. At the very least, he should have realized she was getting thinner when her shoulder bones would poke at him as he cuddled up next to her. For someone who was supposedly in love with a person, Ron was completely oblivious to the struggle of the person of whom he loved.

Lavender huffed. She wished that she could do something for Hermione. No one should have to suffer as she was forced to. She had picked her mother up off the floor after her grandparents claimed that they were not behaving like proper Purebloods. Lavender personally thought that there was no proper way to behave, but her grandparents saw things differently. Lavender knew that recovering from a whipping was trying, and from the screams of Hermione the night after she found the know-it-all asleep in the shower, Lavender suspected that whipping was one of the easier things Hermione had endured.

The universe decided to show Lavender exactly who Ronald Weasley is when she walked past Harry, Ron, and Hermione's train compartment, which at the moment just held Ron and Hermione, and she could hear the muffled argument.

"'Mione. Come On! You know I love you, and I know you love me. Give me some affection" Lavender watched as Ron scooted closer to Hermione on the bench and reached for her hand. She also saw how Hermione recoiled at Ron cornering her.

"Ronald. I do give you affection. I'm sorry. It was exam time." Hermione tentatively started to reach for Ron's hand. "But it's summer now. I won't be studying, just reading next year's books."

As soon as Hermione's hand was in Ron's, he yanked her against him. Lavender watched as Hermione's body seized and her eyes went wide in horror. Lavender wanted to do something, but she didn't want to out Hermione's pain if she wasn't ready to deal with it. Luckily for her, she was the resident Gryffindor bitch. She could be a bitch to help Hermione.

Lavender threw open the compartment door just as Hermione started to silently cry. Ron was to oblivious to notice that Hermione's arms hung loosely around his shoulders with no actual effort on Hermione's part.

"Fantastic. The love birds." Lavender scowled and rolled her eyes. "Tell me, Hermione, will you wait until we graduate to start popping out red heads, or will you start this summer?"

Ron turned a brilliant shade of fuchsia, and Hermione backed up from Ron and hung her head. Everybody knew that she would rather die than have anything come between her and her education. Hermione's mind was reeling. Lavender had lived with her for five years, she of all people would know what her education meant to her. After all, Lavender was always griping about her books everywhere or when she fell asleep in the shower, which happened after nightmares but Lavender was always quick to verbally lash her for not finding her bed.

As Lavender stood there, arms crossed right under her breasts and a questioning look that could also kill, Hermione cowered in the corner. Although her mind was racing, Lavender seemed angry, and angry people could hurt her. She knew that Lavender wouldn't hurt her, and on fact, Hermione was grateful for Lavender's interruption, but that night with Dolohov changed her irrevocably.

After a few horrendous seconds, Ron decided to burst out.

"You can't just waltze in here being a bitch, Lavender! What Hermione and I do is none of your business!" Ron stood in front of Hermione and whipped his wand out at Lavender. "Hermione and I were busy. We were having fun. Leave."

Ron's voice shook Hermione from her internal monologue, but in the worst way that it could have. Ron was angry. His voice was coated with disgust at... Hermione was sure that it was at her, for not being a good girl. He would hurt her. She just knew it. She had misbehaved, and now she would get hurt. She brought her legs up to her chest and stared in shock, and that's when she actually saw Lavender.

Lavender had stayed put, her arms had not moved at all, but she was not the same Lavender that had burst into the compartment. Lavender's eyes were sad and her shoulders had dropped. Being a bitch had worked to get Ron off of Hermione, but Ron's temper just ended up terrifying her. Lavender wished she had never seen Hermione's lashes. Life would be so much easier. Maybe she could convince Hermione to leave.

"Oh, were you having fun? You kind of looked like you were forcing yourself on her. I saw you yank her to you." As Lavender talked, she walked past a glowering Ron and to Hermione. "Anyways. I actually wanted to talk to Hermione about one of the OWLs we took. We will be off now." With that, Lavender reached out for Hermione's hand and was pleased when Hermione grabbed it after only a second hesitation. As soon as Hermione was standing, Lavender dropped it and started walking out of the compartment. Hermione followed in a bit of a stupor.

Hermione was so confused. Lavender cared about her looks, not exams. There was no way Lavender knew what happened, so she was flabbergasted on where Lavender's pitying look had come from. Was Ron that disgusting? Nevertheless, Hermione didn't want to be by Ron right now, so followed Lavender towards the last compartment of the train, silently thankful that the last compartment was always empty. When they got there, Lavender whirled towards Hermione.

"Look. I don't care about you, I really don't. But you looked like you were drowning in there. Tell him no, Hermione. And afterwards, go get some food. I don't know what happened, and I don't want to know. But for crying out loud, pull it together, or you'll end up in St. Mungo's and everyone will know."

With that, Lavender walked out of the train car, leaving Hermione to stare blankly at where she had been standing. She stood there for she couldn't tell how long. She stood there as she remembered the feel of the whip hitting her nipples and the scream that had ripped its way through her throat. She remembered what it felt like every time Dolohov brought the whip up against her clit. The pain had seared through her body, but before she even registered where the pain was coming fr, Dolohov was slamming her down onto the dildo in her ass. She remembered feeling her back aching in agony and her stomach gurgling. She was too full, and that coupled with the whipping had her body in overload.

Hermione stood in that last train car and didn't recognize that she was in there or even on the Hogwarts Express. She slowly walked to the very end of the train and opened the door until the little outside platform. She stood there, still feeling every pain that Dolohov and Crabbe Sr. had inflicted onto her body. She stood there, as the wind whipped her hair around her face and she saw without seeing. When the pain disappeared from her back, when the flashbacks were giving Hermione a break from the torment, Hermione did see that the train was going over one of the many valleys on the way to London. She wondered if jumping off of the train to the bottom of the valley would hurt as badly as what Dolohov had done. Would it hurt as badly as living with the pain of after?

Tears were streaming down Hermione's face as she contemplated ending the torment. After all, Lavender was right. If she didn't start eating soon, she would end up in St. Mungo's, and then everybody would know. If the wizarding world was anything like the Muggle one, she would be blamed, if she was even believed. More than likely, no one would believe her because she had kept quiet. With that thought, Hermione gripped the railing surrounding the platform.

Draco's Train ThoughtsDraco Malfoy was angry and annoyed. His father sat in Azkaban while Crabbe's ran free! A Malfoy bested by a Crabbe. The world was going to implode. Mostly, Draco was angry that his father had been so stupid. Malfoys protect their name at all costs, and yet his father had thrown away his duty as Head of House and shoved their family name so far into the mud that Draco was unsure if he would ever be able to get it clean. He had wanted to heal through potions. He had wanted to apprentice Snape so he could be a Potions Masters in his own right. He didn't have to work, but he wanted to, and not for Malfoy Enterprises.

Draco was seated in his usual compartment, in the second to last train car, when he looked out the compartment window into the Hall and saw Lavender Brown angrily march by, followed by none other than the Gryffindor know-it-all. He laughed, but then he saw Granger's disposition: tears running freely down her face and her bony arms holding her tiny ribcage. He wondered when she had stopped eating, and then he wondered why he could tell that.

Who was he kidding, he had wanted Granger from the moment his father had laid down the "No Granger Rule," as he liked to called it. He had come home from first year and raved about the adventures. He had been upset that Potter had rejected him, but he had been enthralled by Hermione's thirst for knowledge and her wild hair. His hair was so flat, it held no dimension. But her hair, it was a wonder how she ever managed to get it pulled back in Potions.

Draco had told his mother all about the girl who had bested him in every subject, about the girl he was fascinated by. He should have known that what his father had told him wasn't true, Malfoy's do not get the best of everything, otherwise, Malfoy would be allowed to talk to Granger. It was at dinner one night in July when his father found out more about Hermione.

Draco could remember it like yesterday. It was the first time his parents had ever said no to him. His father had asked about Granger's parentage, and Draco had tried to beat around the bush. He had said that they obviously were well-off since Hermione's robes and books were new and of high quality. His father wasn't distracted from what he wanted to know: what was her family name? His father had slammed his fist into the table when Draco had skirted the issue yet again. Finally, Draco muttered that she was a Muggle-born. His father was furious. He was not allowed any new books that summer and his broom had been confiscated.

Draco was still staring into the hallway of the train lost in thought when he saw Brown muttering her way towards the rest of the train cars. He waited expectantly, figuring he would see Granger walk by any second, but that moment never came.

Draco extracted himself from Pansy, why she couldn't get that he was not interested was beyond him. No matter, she would get the point eventually. He simply got out from her grasp and walked out of the compartment. Then, he walked to the last train car and prepared himself to talk to Granger without anyone around. It would be the first time since first year, and he wasn't sure how it was going to go. He knew he had been awful to her. She would instantly be on the defensive.

Silently closing the door to the train car behind him, Draco turned to look at Hermione. He probably could have been as loud as a mountain troll, and she still would not have reacted. He froze. He was sick to his stomach.

Hermione was standing in the middle of the hallway sobbing. He could hear her sobs. He could also see her flinching and whimpering. He didn't know what to do. She looked like she was being tortured. She was rubbing her arms as if they were burning in pain, but he could tell that she wasn't truly in the train car with him, only her body was.

If Draco was nervous about seeing her alone before he walked into the car, now he was terrified. Maybe he should go get Potter. No, he couldn't do that. Potter would think that he had done something to Granger. Merlin, he needed to stop calling her that. His father was in prison. He was head of his own house. He could do as he pleased.

Draco stood frozen as Grang...no, Hermione, walked to the back of the car and walked out onto the platform. She didn't seem to be doing or thinking anything, just standing there.

Even though Draco was still shocked at the torment he had seen Hermione in, he was floored by her beauty in the sunlight. The sun was making her hair a multitude of browns and blondes. The wind from the train was whipping her curls. Draco instantly imagined that it was wind from riding his broom behind him that was going through her hair. He could almost imagine the bubble of laughter that she would give as she held on tight.

Hermione's movement grabbed Draco out of his day dream. She was walking to the edge of the platform. Draco could understand that, lean over onto the rail and relax. That was always a great position to think. Draco couldn't understand why she was going to the side railing, though. The wind would hit her face with blunt force. It would not be comfortable. It would actually be quite painful.

Draco watched as Hermione wrapped her bony fingers around the rail. That wasn't how you relaxed. When Draco saw Hermione's chest rise and fall with a deep breath, he knew what she intended to do. He raced down the hall of the last train car and threw himself out of the door onto the platform. By this time, Hermione was halfway through putting one of her legs over the railing. Draco grabbed of waist, cringing at the ribs he felt under his arms, and hauled Hermione back. She kicked, but it was muted. As if she didn't really know what was happening. To be on the safe side, he carried Granger into the train compartment and closed and locked the door behind him.

Hermione stood there. Knowing that she couldn't kill herself today, but wondering why not. It hadn't sunk in that she had been carried away from the rail. That was, she wasn't away of it until she heard Draco Malfoy's voice, a voice that cracked on her name.

"What the hell was that, Granger!"

Well, I hope you liked Draco's true introduction. His intro went a bit differently that I was going to have it go, but this is what flowed out of my hands. I hope y'all liked it.Leave a review down below!