Hey everyone! The reason this is a few days late is because I have finals, and those aren't very fun to study for! So I'm sorry if anyone was waiting too long (^_^) and I hope this chapter makes up for it.
Oh, before I start, I just want to thank one person who really gets me to write these chapters, and I really appreciate their comments and ideas as to what should happen next. So…
fledge: THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
And on with the story!
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Squaring her shoulders and self-consciously sweeping her hair back, Hermione took a deep breath. Hastily looking right and left behind the statue she hid behind, she finally grew satisfied with the lack of people walking to the Dining Hall. Tensing her legs, she dashed for the doors. Unfortunately, she misjudged the pull of gravity the stack of books she had in her arms had, and the amount of inertia it added to her person.
In short, she fell, her books scattering around her. Lying with her arm pinned under her side, she finally mustered the energy to sit up and make sure that the only painful part of her was her ego. Taking a deep breath, she started to gather up her books, head down.
"Yeah, like I knew this wouldn't happen to me," she grumbled under her breath as she reached for her Potions book, only to snatch her hand back. Moving her gaze up from the shiny black shoe – recently polished, she noticed – and black robes, Hermione came face to face, as it were, to Draco Malfoy and his evil grin. Crabbe and Goyle lounged at his side, equally evil grins on their huge faces.
"Oh yes, I am liking this. A Mud-Blood, worshipping at my feet," he sneered, the light gleaming on his slicked back blonde hair, making it seem as if a sick halo surrounded his head.
"Shut up, Malfoy," she snapped. With a quick grab and tensing of her muscles, she managed to harshly pull the book out from under his foot. Wiping it off with the hem of her robes, she almost slapped it onto the stack of previously collected books, not wanting to show the anger pouring out from her, but sadly not being able to.
Malfoy sneered again, suddenly leaning down to grab Hermione's arm to pull her up. Moving his face uncomfortably close, he glared into her eyes, ignoring the arm that she brought up to smack against his chest. Goyle suddenly grabbed her arms, holding them behind her back. Crabbe stood off to the side, his shadow making everything even more harrowing.
"You know…" he whispered harshly, making sure Hermione heard every word he was saying, "I don't appreciate people like you who make the Wizarding World weak and perverted. You people are sick."
Hermione glared at him, her heart pounding in the back of her neck, making it hard to concentrate. Her hand curled into a fist that tore at his robes, but Malfoy, with the help of his two-person mob, quickly overpowered her.
"You bastard," Hermione choked out, "You know if you do anything, you can get expelled!"
It was all she could do to keep a brave front up even as her knees, figuratively, were knocking against each other. There was nothing she could do - Crabbe and Goyle were effectively stopping all motion. Absently, Hermione wondered why Malfoy didn't use a spell to freeze her.
"This is just a warning, Mud-Blood," he spat out, as if reading her mind. Without a warning, Malfoy nodded to his henchmen, and they dropped her. Her knees cracked against the hard stone walkway; she bit her tongue without even thinking about it to stop her cry. With her hands upon her knees, trembling and looking up from under her bangs, she watched as the Slytherin spat onto her Potions book and turned on his heel, strutting into the Dining Hall.
Wrapping her arms around herself, the shaky girl almost laughed at herself, "You idiot, Hermione. Stop shaking. It's nothing. Nothing happened. He's just being the stupid git he always is. He wouldn't DO anything. Hermione, stop it!"
But she couldn't stop. Malfoy had really scared her, and she was absolutely terrified of what he might do to her. He had already shown how, by just using brute force, he had already overpowered her. But what really scared her, was the fact that he was human.
And sometimes the scariest enemies are human.
"It's not fair," she hiccupped, feeling tears burn at her eyes, "I'm just a normal human being. There's nothing different about me. I wish I had never been trapped in that pickle in the first place!! It's not fair."
Wiping her eyes with a trembling hand, Hermione slowly grabbed her Potions book, wiped it clean with her robe, and got up on shaky legs. Head down, she swallowed her tears and headed back towards her room, intent on hiding in her bed and sleep.
Just sleep.
Ginny frowned, peering at the entrance to the Dining Hall, her eyes frantically searching for the familiar face of her best friend. Something in the pit of her stomach told her Hermione was in trouble, but she ignored it, idly picking at her breakfast, pushing the sausage around with her fork.
"Okay, that's it! I'm going to find Hermione!" Her fork clattered onto her plate, and she stood up, startling Harry and Ron who sat on each side of her.
"What's wrong?" her brother asked, also setting down his fork, though it didn't make quite such a noise.
Ginny looked at him, annoyance screwing her face. The last thing she wanted was for her brother to stop her or come along. "Nothing," she murmured, turning to go, "I just need to talk to her about some…feminine issues."
"Ginny," Harry lay his hand onto her arm, effectively stopping her, "Tell us. What's wrong? Is something wrong with Hermione?"
"Why do you care?" Ginny couldn't help but snap, her emotions boiling up inside of her as the urgency in which her mind telling her that something was happening to Hermione was increasing.
Harry's eyes darkened slightly, but he nodded his head, acknowledging the stress she was feeling. "Ginny," he stated, "Hermione IS our best friend. Of course we're concerned with her."
"But-!"
Ron nodded, standing up.
Looking at the impassive faces of the two older boys, Ginny finally lowered her head, the pull on Harry's hand slackening. "Alright. Something inside of me is telling me that Hermione's in danger. I just need to see that everything's okay."
Ron and Harry glanced at each other, but finally Ron nodded, slowly sitting back down into his seat at the Gryffindor table.
"Alright," he whispered, "Go."
Out of the corner, just as Ginny was about to turn, she saw Malfoy and his cronies enter through the double doors, an evil smile on the blond boy's face. As if sensing her eyes on him, he turned and looked her in the eye, his smile deepening.
"Oh God," Ginny expelled her breath. "Oh God," she repeated herself, "Did Malfoy DO something?" She took off running, not caring that every stared at her.
Ever since the incident with the pickle, Malfoy had been the main antagonist and outright gay basher of Hogwarts, glaring at Ginny and insinuating horrid things she had done. He, Crabbe and Goyle delighted in making her life a living hell, treating her as they did Neville, though Neville was now ignored. Malfoy had even threatened to hurt her 'girlfriend', Hermione Granger, after she was released from the infirmary.
It had been a week since Hermione's first class after the incident, and Malfoy hadn't done anything, so Ginny had hoped that he had forgotten or all the act was a bluff.
But something was telling her that it wasn't just an act, and that Malfoy HAD acted upon his threats.
Her heart pounded in her chest, and a cold sweat started to bead on her forehead as she ran for Hermione's room.
"Oh please God, let her be fine."
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I'll stop there. Before you say anything, I believe, that if threatened like Malfoy did to Hermione, my reaction would be as intense as Hermione's. I am deathly afraid of any kind of physical confrontation, so I hope this was satisfactory to anyone reading this. It is sad that things like this actually happen to people in the 'real world', so I decided to fight back as I know how – to write.
Okay, thanks, and again, if you have any comments or ideas to where this story should go, please review or reach me at revolutionary_rose@hotmail.com. I would appreciate any and all criticism, though I do react to flames, so please, not too harsh. Thanks. ^_^