Hey everyone. Sorry it took so long to post this. I had it written in my
journal Monday, then all this crap happened and I finally started typing
Saturday.
I would like to start off by thanking everyone who reviewed my first chapter. Not many people read stories with only one chapter to start off with because you know it isn't even close to being over and don't want to wait. So thanks a lot - I appreciate it.
Luce - Yeah. It was a really hard decision to make because it was like my first story even though it was in two parts. But finally I just had to. I really didn't like them very much; way to fluffy for me. I really like writing dark things like this more. It's just more fun. Finally figured out who you are you silly LAMA!
Amoureux Reveur - Goodness, think your review was long enough? I don't know why Hermione is a wimp. I don't get it. She hasn't done anything wimpy yet. Now I feel bad for making her cry in this chapter. And Draco doesn't look like David in this story - He still has his long hair and stuff. Congratulations on the play.
Weasley Pride - Thanks for reading Ewin. (smile) I haven't beaten myself up over this story yet; except on deciding the plot. That took a while. It was the last story I beat myself up on. I still don't like the last chapter of it. Doesn't tie in with the rest of the story you know?
MellonKidd - Haha. We should get sick more often so we can talk about our stories more often. They tend to turn out better that way. I guess it's because you have another person's input on if it will be pointless or not.
Cookie - I saw you at the movie. I am your stalker. Beware.
Tripple A - No I don't have writers block. Just haven't been motivated to type what I wrote. Stupid me.
Tsunami Wave - Sorry for keeping this chapter to myself for so long. Hope you don't mind!
Okay now that that's over with - On with the story!
~*~*~*~*~
Potions class that day was close to unbearable; which really was nothing new. Surprising but still unbearable. Snape's hatred for the Gryffindors had evolved over the summer to a point where he loathed the very thought that they existed on the same planet. No one could really tell that much of a difference. His love for the Slytherin's had also diminished a bit. He seemed to hate everything and everyone this year. He liked making everyone's life unhappy. All of the students were miserable.
The first thing Snape did every year was lecture them on the importance of potions, ask questions only Hermione could answer, and assign then partners for the rest of the semester. This year Hermione got stuck with Pansy. She watched Ron with sympathy as he was assigned Malfoy. Harry was one of the only ones who got off in remotely good shape; he got Seamus.
"Class." Snape called them to attention without lifting his voice higher than a loud whisper after they had settles into their new seating arrangements. "You will start off the year with a simple potion. Can anyone tell me what the Selppa Potion is used for?"
Hermione's hand immediately shot into the air. Snape's eyes wandered from one side of the room to the other; passing right over her. Harry tentatively raised his hand.
"Mister Potter." Snape looked a bit surprised. Harry rarely spoke in potions, much less volunteered to answer questions.
"Umm - it's used for healing purposes in the joints." He said a little unsurely.
"Correct. One point to Gryffindor." You could tell it pained Snape to do this. His face got all drawn up and his eyes and lips grew thin. The students' mouths all dropped open in surprise. They quickly got over it as he gave the instructions to start.
Hermione carefully measured ingredients and put them into the cauldron. Pansy watched on and filed her nails. Once she was satisfied with them she picked up a beaker of acid to add to the potion.
"Wait Pansy it's not time to-" Hermione said but was cut off as Pansy's nails caused the beaker to slip and fall. The acid spread across the table and formed a large hole in the wooden surface before beginning to make progress on the stone floor. "Nerectum Incarte." Hermione said and pointed her wand at the green liquid. It disappeared and the holes refilled themselves.
Snape was over at their table just as the last of the holes refilled. "What happened?" He looked from Hermione to Pansy and then back again.
"It's her fault professor!" Pansy whined before Hermione had a chance to say her part. "I was just going to add the acid to the potion and she tried to take it from me and them dropped it."
"Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape said. You could tell he enjoyed that. She just finished the potion in silence; the old Snape was back.
As soon as class was over everyone left as quickly as they could. Ron caught up with Hermione and put his arm around her shoulders to give her a half hug.
"Don't worry about him." He whispered into her ear. "He's like that to everyone, you know that." He kissed her cheek and they walked on to History of Magic with Harry.
The rest of the day passed by slowly and uneventfully until the Prefects meeting after dinner. Hermione met up with Dean and they made their way to Professor Dumbledore's office. They were the first set of students to arrive. Once everyone was present Dumbledore called the meeting to order.
"I would like to start off by saying how proud I am of all of you. You are the leaders of your class and of your houses. I hope this year will be one of the best Hogwarts has ever seen. Please take out your supplies to take noted during all meetings." He sat behind his desk and watched as McGonagall took over.
"You don't mind taking my notes for me do you Malfoy?" Hermione asked and looked at him expectantly.
"Do it yourself." He muttered and glared right back at her. She raised her eyebrows at him and he remembered their deal. "Find I'll take your damn notes." He rummaged around in his bag to find another piece of parchment.
"That's what I thought." Hermione smiled sweetly. Pansy and Dean looked at him like he'd lost his mind and the meeting started.
They didn't do much at their first meeting; just went over what they would be expected to do as Prefects. The students were dismissed back to their Commonrooms.
~*~*~*~*~
Draco sat on one of the emerald couches and immediately Pansy glued herself to his side. She ran one of her fingers down his jawbone and then under his chin to turn his face towards her. She raised her lips to meet his and pressed them together. He pulled away.
"I can't do this anymore." He whispered to himself. "Pansy, we need to break up." He told her strait out with no feeling in his voice whatsoever.
"What?" Pansy wait a little louder than perhaps she should have. Everyone in the room turned to look at them. With one threatening glance from Draco they went back to their business. "Why?"
"It's just not working. I'll see you around." He stood and left as tears began to fall from Pansy's eyes. He couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her. He quickly got over it. Malfoys didn't feel much; for other people or themselves. He fingered his pocket that held his beloved knife and headed for the charms classroom again.
~*~*~*~*~
Hermione had said goodbye to Dean and decided to take the long way back to Gryffindor Tower. She heard the click of someone's footsteps behind her and looked to see who would be out and about at this hour. Draco was walking in the opposite direction. 'Shit.' She whispered to herself and followed him. He arrived in the classroom and had the blade pressed to his skin when she arrived.
"No!" She yelled and grabbed the knife. She held it out in front of her and brought the blade down on the hard desk. The metal shattered and flew in all directions.
"Damn it Granger. What did you do that for?" He began to gather the broken pieces together. Once they were all in a pile Hermione held out her wand and they vanished.
"You shouldn't do that to yourself." She said quietly. Slowly she took a seat next to him on the desk.
"And why not? Because I'm such a wonderful person? Because nothing ever goes wrong in my life?" He clenched his fists at his sides and stared at the whiteness of his knuckles.
"Malfoy no one, not even you, deserves that. You're a horrible person who has made my life and the lives of my friends a living hell since we came to this school. You have had a horrible childhood and life and I'm sorry but don't take it out on yourself that way. Find a hobby. Go play Quidditch or Duel just don't keep hurting yourself! It's not healthy!" He refused to meet her eyes so she talked and yelled at the side of his head. "Why do you do it anyway?"
"I don't want to talk about it." He said to the wall. She grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look her in the eye.
"You can't always have everything you want Malfoy." Her eyes searched his as she waited for him to say something.
"Even if I did want to talk about it what makes you think I'd tell you Mudblood?" Hermione stiffened at the name and her blood ran cold for a second.
"Because I know to much already." She wore a smug expression and he knew she was right. He wasn't going to win this time so he might as well get it over with.
"I don't really know how it got started. I was nine when my father first told me about Voldemort's plan for my family and me. Imagine finding out when your nine that your only reason for being born was to take your fathers place. Since then things only got worse. Father wasn't around much, Mother never spoke unless she was forced to and didn't do much of anything except lay around in her bedchambers.
"I got the knife for my fifteenth birthday. Some present from a distant relative who thought I did knife throwing. I kept it packed away in a corner of my trunk; didn't know what to do with it. One day Father burst into my room and dragged me into our study. Sitting in the armchair in armchair in front of the fire was the scariest man I had ever seen. His eyes were thin and so red they almost glowed. You could just tell right away he was evil. Just looked it. It was Voldemort of course. I'm a smart boy; I figured that out quick enough.
"They told me in detail their entire plan before letting me go. I was distraught. That's when I realized what I could do with that knife. Allipsitum." The scars appeared and he traced a long one that reached from his shoulder to his mid forearm. "It was that one. Ever since then I did it every time something bad happened to me. It's my outlet. After a while it just stopped hurting." He made the scars disappear and the two sat in utter silence; not sure if it was safe to speak again.
"That's horrible." She finally said more to herself than to Draco. He shrugged and laced his fingers together.
"Now it's only fair you tell me something about you." He turned so they were facing each other head on and waited.
"Well-" Hermione thought for a minute. She had only really ever done one really bad thing in her entire life and wasn't sure if she wanted to tell that to Malfoy. Finally she decided to just tell him. He had told her enough. "When I was fourteen I spent part of my summer with Viktor Krum. And over that summer I - er - lost my, you know." He just gave her a look that clearly said, no I don't know. "Virginity." She hissed. His eyes nearly doubled in size and his mouth fell open. He recovered himself and smirked.
"So Granger's not a virgin. Stop the presses. This is front-page material." He was still amazed. "Wow."
"Oh come off it Malfoy. It's not that unbelievable." Hermione wished she had never told him, and didn't know what had made her do so. Even Ron didn't know about this. "Look Malfoy, if you don't tell anyone I lift you of your duties. You don't have to be my servant anymore okay?"
"Fine." He smirked again. He wasn't surprised she had let him off; while she was bossy she still loved doing things herself. "What made you tell me?" He was curious. No one had ever trusted him with something this personal before; he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. She thought for a moment before speaking again.
"I guess it's because you told me so much about you. It really was only fair. I felt like I owed it to you or something." She shrugged like it was no big deal she had just shared her deepest secret with her worst enemy; even thought they both knew better.
"Okay." Was all he said before he left. "See you later Granger." The door rattled shut behind him and he was gone. She left soon after for her own Commonroom.
~*~*~*~*~
When Draco entered the Slytherin Commonroom a beer was immediately shoved into his hand. He mumbled a thanks to Goyle. Across the room he made eye contact with Pansy and she burst into tears before retreating to the girls dormitory. He just chuckled and took a swig of his drink.
Several hours and several drinks later the whole room was officially wasted. They say on the couches and armchairs by the fire and had very pointless conversations. Crabbe was babbling something about the previous Quidditch Cup (it had been Bulgaria and England) and Krum's name came up.
"You know," Draco slurred, "he laid granger when she was fourteen." He shook the empty can before tossing it aside and reaching for another one.
The Slytherin boys spent the next several hours talking about Hermione's rendezvous and their own experiences with other girls before one by one they all passed out.
~*~*~*~*~
The next day they all had terrible hangovers. It took them a while to wake up and perform the spell to take it away. Slowly they made their way to Potions. Class started as normal. Today they were preparing ingredients while Snape worked at his desk grading essays he had given the first years on their first day.
The Slytherin boys crowded around Pansy and Hermione's table. Pansy, who thought they were there to see her, flipped her hair and smiled. Goyle started. Draco watched in horror from his seat; he knew what they were going to do.
"Mudblood." Hermione didn't acknowledge it and continues working. "Mudblood I'm talking to you." He grabbed a chunk of her hair and pulled her head up. "How much do you charge?" He asked and the rest of the boys laughed and snorted.
"What?" She couldn't help being confused; she didn't even know Goyle could speak in complete sentences. "Charge for what?"
"You know very well what. I'll give you seven galleons; nine if you're good. Be outside the Slytherin Commonroom at seven o'clock." He released her hair and her blood boiled.
"No!" She finally understood what he was getting at. "I'm not going to have sex with you."
"Why not? You did it with Krum?" Her mouth fell open and she felt hot tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She sent Draco a look that spoke for itself; "I thought I could trust you," and left class.
Draco ran his hands through his long blonde hair and let out a frustrated sigh, several strands had freed themselves and fell across his eyes; Ron and Harry just stared at each other in disbelief.
Hermione curled up into a ball in the center of her crimson bedspread and let the tears fall.
~*~*~*~*~
Ron and Harry decided that if anymore Gryffindors suddenly left the class major points would be taken off so they had to wait until the class was over to see how she was doing. Ron knocked on the girl's dormitory door and went in first; Harry said he'd come in later to give them a little time to themselves.
"Hermione?" Ron said tentatively as he poked his head in. She wiped the tears from her eyes and sat up; trying to look as if nothing was wrong, but Ron knew better. Hermione always pretended nothing was wrong; he'd found that out the previous year when she was sick near to the point of dying. They convinced her to go to the hospital wing just in time. She always put everyone before herself, but he had heard what Goyle said and there was no hiding this.
"Oh hi Ron." She choked out before giving in and sobbing. He sat on her bed and cradled her head on his shoulder. "I thought I could trust him Ron. I am so stupid."
"No you're not. You're the smartest girl in school and you know it." He reassured her; deciding now was not the time to bring up the trust issue. He rocked her back and forth until she calmed down a bit and kissed her closed eyes.
"I trusted him Ron." She wouldn't meet his eyes. How could he still want her now that he knew? Ron lifted her chin up. "Why are you still here? Don't you want a pure girlfriend?" He looked rather hurt by her accusation.
"Hermione would I be here if I didn't want you just the way you are?" He asked and gave her an earnest glance before adding quietly, "I love you." She smiled for the first time that day.
"I love you too." She whispered and planted a feather light kiss on his lips. She then went and opened the door. "You can come in now Harry." He came in and the threesome sat on her bed.
"Now Hermione, I think it's time you told us about what happened in potions." Harry said after a moment of silence.
Hermione launched into the whole story not leaving out any of the details as they sat and listened. By the end of the story she was crying for the third time that day so both of the boys held her close until she finished.
"I'm going to murder that guy." Ron said and fire lit his hazel eyes. His hands clenched at his sides and his entire face turned red with fury.
"How is that going to help? Getting you expelled is not the answer to anything. I just don't know what to do." Hermione sighed and collapsed onto her pillows.
"Hermione we will tell absolutely everyone everything you said, leaving out the part about you of course; they already know that." Harry looked almost as angry as Ron. "If he's going to make your life a living hell the least we can do is return the favor." Ron agreed and she smiled at them both.
"Thanks you guys. What would I do without you?" Hermione said and got off the bed.
"Have a whole lot of problems and a smaller permanent record." Ron said and smirked before they went to the Great Hall for lunch. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad after all.
~*~*~*~*~
Once again sorry that took so long to get out. I'm going to try to get at LEAST one chapter out a week. If I don't send me threatening e-mails and remind me.
Anyway - You took the time to read it so review already! Not that hard a concept.
REVIEW
I would like to start off by thanking everyone who reviewed my first chapter. Not many people read stories with only one chapter to start off with because you know it isn't even close to being over and don't want to wait. So thanks a lot - I appreciate it.
Luce - Yeah. It was a really hard decision to make because it was like my first story even though it was in two parts. But finally I just had to. I really didn't like them very much; way to fluffy for me. I really like writing dark things like this more. It's just more fun. Finally figured out who you are you silly LAMA!
Amoureux Reveur - Goodness, think your review was long enough? I don't know why Hermione is a wimp. I don't get it. She hasn't done anything wimpy yet. Now I feel bad for making her cry in this chapter. And Draco doesn't look like David in this story - He still has his long hair and stuff. Congratulations on the play.
Weasley Pride - Thanks for reading Ewin. (smile) I haven't beaten myself up over this story yet; except on deciding the plot. That took a while. It was the last story I beat myself up on. I still don't like the last chapter of it. Doesn't tie in with the rest of the story you know?
MellonKidd - Haha. We should get sick more often so we can talk about our stories more often. They tend to turn out better that way. I guess it's because you have another person's input on if it will be pointless or not.
Cookie - I saw you at the movie. I am your stalker. Beware.
Tripple A - No I don't have writers block. Just haven't been motivated to type what I wrote. Stupid me.
Tsunami Wave - Sorry for keeping this chapter to myself for so long. Hope you don't mind!
Okay now that that's over with - On with the story!
~*~*~*~*~
Potions class that day was close to unbearable; which really was nothing new. Surprising but still unbearable. Snape's hatred for the Gryffindors had evolved over the summer to a point where he loathed the very thought that they existed on the same planet. No one could really tell that much of a difference. His love for the Slytherin's had also diminished a bit. He seemed to hate everything and everyone this year. He liked making everyone's life unhappy. All of the students were miserable.
The first thing Snape did every year was lecture them on the importance of potions, ask questions only Hermione could answer, and assign then partners for the rest of the semester. This year Hermione got stuck with Pansy. She watched Ron with sympathy as he was assigned Malfoy. Harry was one of the only ones who got off in remotely good shape; he got Seamus.
"Class." Snape called them to attention without lifting his voice higher than a loud whisper after they had settles into their new seating arrangements. "You will start off the year with a simple potion. Can anyone tell me what the Selppa Potion is used for?"
Hermione's hand immediately shot into the air. Snape's eyes wandered from one side of the room to the other; passing right over her. Harry tentatively raised his hand.
"Mister Potter." Snape looked a bit surprised. Harry rarely spoke in potions, much less volunteered to answer questions.
"Umm - it's used for healing purposes in the joints." He said a little unsurely.
"Correct. One point to Gryffindor." You could tell it pained Snape to do this. His face got all drawn up and his eyes and lips grew thin. The students' mouths all dropped open in surprise. They quickly got over it as he gave the instructions to start.
Hermione carefully measured ingredients and put them into the cauldron. Pansy watched on and filed her nails. Once she was satisfied with them she picked up a beaker of acid to add to the potion.
"Wait Pansy it's not time to-" Hermione said but was cut off as Pansy's nails caused the beaker to slip and fall. The acid spread across the table and formed a large hole in the wooden surface before beginning to make progress on the stone floor. "Nerectum Incarte." Hermione said and pointed her wand at the green liquid. It disappeared and the holes refilled themselves.
Snape was over at their table just as the last of the holes refilled. "What happened?" He looked from Hermione to Pansy and then back again.
"It's her fault professor!" Pansy whined before Hermione had a chance to say her part. "I was just going to add the acid to the potion and she tried to take it from me and them dropped it."
"Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape said. You could tell he enjoyed that. She just finished the potion in silence; the old Snape was back.
As soon as class was over everyone left as quickly as they could. Ron caught up with Hermione and put his arm around her shoulders to give her a half hug.
"Don't worry about him." He whispered into her ear. "He's like that to everyone, you know that." He kissed her cheek and they walked on to History of Magic with Harry.
The rest of the day passed by slowly and uneventfully until the Prefects meeting after dinner. Hermione met up with Dean and they made their way to Professor Dumbledore's office. They were the first set of students to arrive. Once everyone was present Dumbledore called the meeting to order.
"I would like to start off by saying how proud I am of all of you. You are the leaders of your class and of your houses. I hope this year will be one of the best Hogwarts has ever seen. Please take out your supplies to take noted during all meetings." He sat behind his desk and watched as McGonagall took over.
"You don't mind taking my notes for me do you Malfoy?" Hermione asked and looked at him expectantly.
"Do it yourself." He muttered and glared right back at her. She raised her eyebrows at him and he remembered their deal. "Find I'll take your damn notes." He rummaged around in his bag to find another piece of parchment.
"That's what I thought." Hermione smiled sweetly. Pansy and Dean looked at him like he'd lost his mind and the meeting started.
They didn't do much at their first meeting; just went over what they would be expected to do as Prefects. The students were dismissed back to their Commonrooms.
~*~*~*~*~
Draco sat on one of the emerald couches and immediately Pansy glued herself to his side. She ran one of her fingers down his jawbone and then under his chin to turn his face towards her. She raised her lips to meet his and pressed them together. He pulled away.
"I can't do this anymore." He whispered to himself. "Pansy, we need to break up." He told her strait out with no feeling in his voice whatsoever.
"What?" Pansy wait a little louder than perhaps she should have. Everyone in the room turned to look at them. With one threatening glance from Draco they went back to their business. "Why?"
"It's just not working. I'll see you around." He stood and left as tears began to fall from Pansy's eyes. He couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her. He quickly got over it. Malfoys didn't feel much; for other people or themselves. He fingered his pocket that held his beloved knife and headed for the charms classroom again.
~*~*~*~*~
Hermione had said goodbye to Dean and decided to take the long way back to Gryffindor Tower. She heard the click of someone's footsteps behind her and looked to see who would be out and about at this hour. Draco was walking in the opposite direction. 'Shit.' She whispered to herself and followed him. He arrived in the classroom and had the blade pressed to his skin when she arrived.
"No!" She yelled and grabbed the knife. She held it out in front of her and brought the blade down on the hard desk. The metal shattered and flew in all directions.
"Damn it Granger. What did you do that for?" He began to gather the broken pieces together. Once they were all in a pile Hermione held out her wand and they vanished.
"You shouldn't do that to yourself." She said quietly. Slowly she took a seat next to him on the desk.
"And why not? Because I'm such a wonderful person? Because nothing ever goes wrong in my life?" He clenched his fists at his sides and stared at the whiteness of his knuckles.
"Malfoy no one, not even you, deserves that. You're a horrible person who has made my life and the lives of my friends a living hell since we came to this school. You have had a horrible childhood and life and I'm sorry but don't take it out on yourself that way. Find a hobby. Go play Quidditch or Duel just don't keep hurting yourself! It's not healthy!" He refused to meet her eyes so she talked and yelled at the side of his head. "Why do you do it anyway?"
"I don't want to talk about it." He said to the wall. She grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look her in the eye.
"You can't always have everything you want Malfoy." Her eyes searched his as she waited for him to say something.
"Even if I did want to talk about it what makes you think I'd tell you Mudblood?" Hermione stiffened at the name and her blood ran cold for a second.
"Because I know to much already." She wore a smug expression and he knew she was right. He wasn't going to win this time so he might as well get it over with.
"I don't really know how it got started. I was nine when my father first told me about Voldemort's plan for my family and me. Imagine finding out when your nine that your only reason for being born was to take your fathers place. Since then things only got worse. Father wasn't around much, Mother never spoke unless she was forced to and didn't do much of anything except lay around in her bedchambers.
"I got the knife for my fifteenth birthday. Some present from a distant relative who thought I did knife throwing. I kept it packed away in a corner of my trunk; didn't know what to do with it. One day Father burst into my room and dragged me into our study. Sitting in the armchair in armchair in front of the fire was the scariest man I had ever seen. His eyes were thin and so red they almost glowed. You could just tell right away he was evil. Just looked it. It was Voldemort of course. I'm a smart boy; I figured that out quick enough.
"They told me in detail their entire plan before letting me go. I was distraught. That's when I realized what I could do with that knife. Allipsitum." The scars appeared and he traced a long one that reached from his shoulder to his mid forearm. "It was that one. Ever since then I did it every time something bad happened to me. It's my outlet. After a while it just stopped hurting." He made the scars disappear and the two sat in utter silence; not sure if it was safe to speak again.
"That's horrible." She finally said more to herself than to Draco. He shrugged and laced his fingers together.
"Now it's only fair you tell me something about you." He turned so they were facing each other head on and waited.
"Well-" Hermione thought for a minute. She had only really ever done one really bad thing in her entire life and wasn't sure if she wanted to tell that to Malfoy. Finally she decided to just tell him. He had told her enough. "When I was fourteen I spent part of my summer with Viktor Krum. And over that summer I - er - lost my, you know." He just gave her a look that clearly said, no I don't know. "Virginity." She hissed. His eyes nearly doubled in size and his mouth fell open. He recovered himself and smirked.
"So Granger's not a virgin. Stop the presses. This is front-page material." He was still amazed. "Wow."
"Oh come off it Malfoy. It's not that unbelievable." Hermione wished she had never told him, and didn't know what had made her do so. Even Ron didn't know about this. "Look Malfoy, if you don't tell anyone I lift you of your duties. You don't have to be my servant anymore okay?"
"Fine." He smirked again. He wasn't surprised she had let him off; while she was bossy she still loved doing things herself. "What made you tell me?" He was curious. No one had ever trusted him with something this personal before; he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. She thought for a moment before speaking again.
"I guess it's because you told me so much about you. It really was only fair. I felt like I owed it to you or something." She shrugged like it was no big deal she had just shared her deepest secret with her worst enemy; even thought they both knew better.
"Okay." Was all he said before he left. "See you later Granger." The door rattled shut behind him and he was gone. She left soon after for her own Commonroom.
~*~*~*~*~
When Draco entered the Slytherin Commonroom a beer was immediately shoved into his hand. He mumbled a thanks to Goyle. Across the room he made eye contact with Pansy and she burst into tears before retreating to the girls dormitory. He just chuckled and took a swig of his drink.
Several hours and several drinks later the whole room was officially wasted. They say on the couches and armchairs by the fire and had very pointless conversations. Crabbe was babbling something about the previous Quidditch Cup (it had been Bulgaria and England) and Krum's name came up.
"You know," Draco slurred, "he laid granger when she was fourteen." He shook the empty can before tossing it aside and reaching for another one.
The Slytherin boys spent the next several hours talking about Hermione's rendezvous and their own experiences with other girls before one by one they all passed out.
~*~*~*~*~
The next day they all had terrible hangovers. It took them a while to wake up and perform the spell to take it away. Slowly they made their way to Potions. Class started as normal. Today they were preparing ingredients while Snape worked at his desk grading essays he had given the first years on their first day.
The Slytherin boys crowded around Pansy and Hermione's table. Pansy, who thought they were there to see her, flipped her hair and smiled. Goyle started. Draco watched in horror from his seat; he knew what they were going to do.
"Mudblood." Hermione didn't acknowledge it and continues working. "Mudblood I'm talking to you." He grabbed a chunk of her hair and pulled her head up. "How much do you charge?" He asked and the rest of the boys laughed and snorted.
"What?" She couldn't help being confused; she didn't even know Goyle could speak in complete sentences. "Charge for what?"
"You know very well what. I'll give you seven galleons; nine if you're good. Be outside the Slytherin Commonroom at seven o'clock." He released her hair and her blood boiled.
"No!" She finally understood what he was getting at. "I'm not going to have sex with you."
"Why not? You did it with Krum?" Her mouth fell open and she felt hot tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. She sent Draco a look that spoke for itself; "I thought I could trust you," and left class.
Draco ran his hands through his long blonde hair and let out a frustrated sigh, several strands had freed themselves and fell across his eyes; Ron and Harry just stared at each other in disbelief.
Hermione curled up into a ball in the center of her crimson bedspread and let the tears fall.
~*~*~*~*~
Ron and Harry decided that if anymore Gryffindors suddenly left the class major points would be taken off so they had to wait until the class was over to see how she was doing. Ron knocked on the girl's dormitory door and went in first; Harry said he'd come in later to give them a little time to themselves.
"Hermione?" Ron said tentatively as he poked his head in. She wiped the tears from her eyes and sat up; trying to look as if nothing was wrong, but Ron knew better. Hermione always pretended nothing was wrong; he'd found that out the previous year when she was sick near to the point of dying. They convinced her to go to the hospital wing just in time. She always put everyone before herself, but he had heard what Goyle said and there was no hiding this.
"Oh hi Ron." She choked out before giving in and sobbing. He sat on her bed and cradled her head on his shoulder. "I thought I could trust him Ron. I am so stupid."
"No you're not. You're the smartest girl in school and you know it." He reassured her; deciding now was not the time to bring up the trust issue. He rocked her back and forth until she calmed down a bit and kissed her closed eyes.
"I trusted him Ron." She wouldn't meet his eyes. How could he still want her now that he knew? Ron lifted her chin up. "Why are you still here? Don't you want a pure girlfriend?" He looked rather hurt by her accusation.
"Hermione would I be here if I didn't want you just the way you are?" He asked and gave her an earnest glance before adding quietly, "I love you." She smiled for the first time that day.
"I love you too." She whispered and planted a feather light kiss on his lips. She then went and opened the door. "You can come in now Harry." He came in and the threesome sat on her bed.
"Now Hermione, I think it's time you told us about what happened in potions." Harry said after a moment of silence.
Hermione launched into the whole story not leaving out any of the details as they sat and listened. By the end of the story she was crying for the third time that day so both of the boys held her close until she finished.
"I'm going to murder that guy." Ron said and fire lit his hazel eyes. His hands clenched at his sides and his entire face turned red with fury.
"How is that going to help? Getting you expelled is not the answer to anything. I just don't know what to do." Hermione sighed and collapsed onto her pillows.
"Hermione we will tell absolutely everyone everything you said, leaving out the part about you of course; they already know that." Harry looked almost as angry as Ron. "If he's going to make your life a living hell the least we can do is return the favor." Ron agreed and she smiled at them both.
"Thanks you guys. What would I do without you?" Hermione said and got off the bed.
"Have a whole lot of problems and a smaller permanent record." Ron said and smirked before they went to the Great Hall for lunch. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad after all.
~*~*~*~*~
Once again sorry that took so long to get out. I'm going to try to get at LEAST one chapter out a week. If I don't send me threatening e-mails and remind me.
Anyway - You took the time to read it so review already! Not that hard a concept.
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