Chapter nine The truth

"Shut your bloody mouth girl! Just stay out of this!" shouted Benjamin.

"Dad! Leave mom alone!" cried Hermione, craddling her fallen mother. Elizabeth Granger shoved Hermione away from herself.

"Foolish girl...you are stupid, just like your father." she muttered and earned herself a slap across the face from her husband.

"Say that again bitch and you'll be dead!" he shouted. Hermione was already crying, her knees had given away and she was sobbing uncontrolably in a heap.

"Girl, get up. I have to introduce you to a nice man who will pay daddy a fair amount." he said sharply and grabed her arm and painfully pulled her up. Hermione struggled out of his grip and rubbed her arm. She glared at him through red and puffy eyes.

"No dad! I'm not going to meet anymore men! I'm not going to be some kind of prostitue!" she yelled but got hit in the face and toppled to the ground.

"You are going to sleep with this man and he is going to pay me! Do you understand?" he kicked her hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

"No...just so you can buy your bloody drugs? Never, and not for any other reason." she mumbled, her stomach aching. Benjamin had just about lost his temper. I'm not even going to describe the beating Hermione Granger had gotten for those very words.

Ding dong. The doorbell rang and Benjamin gave his daughter one last glare and swept off to answer the door. Hermione could hear muffled voices but the darkness already started to engulf her, but she fought, she fought with all her might and she did stay concious.

She saw a pair of snake skin boots appear a and a warm comforting voice. Strong hands pulled her gently to her feet and she heard rather distant yells. She didn't care, those hands that were now hugging her and pressing against a warm, soft body made her feel safe, good...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hermione fluttered her eyes open to reveal a blurry vision of a light room. As her eyes focused she noticed she was lying in a bed, two or three pillows were stuffed under her head and her neck hurt because it was too high.

She tried to sit up but a hand gently pushed her back down. She looked around and saw a lot of people were sitting around her bed. All of her friends were sitting around her bed, including Draco, Ron and Harry.

She smiled and found it rather painful. She felt cold and felt that her cheeks were wet. She must of been crying, and sweating. Someone yelled out to the nurse and soon Madam Pomfrey came rushing over to her.

"Oh Miss Granger! You are awake!" she said and stuffed a bar of chocolate into her mouth. She chewed it with difficulty and swallowed it a bit too early. She coughed and sputtered, Draco immediatly patted her back.

When she stopped coughing, she was looking at them all, confused.

"What happened?" she asked. Suddenly Dumbledore stepped into the picture. He smiled at her and handed her a letter. Everything that she had dreamed and everything she had read came flooding back to her.

She looked at the parchment as if it were a dangerous explosive. Dumbledore looked at her, the familiar twinkle in his eye. She reached out shakily and took the letter catiously. Everyone was staring at her expectingly but this only made her more uncomfortable.

She took one look at the paper and burst into tears. She was sobbing uncontrolably and was shaking like mad. Ginny, Hannah, Padma and Lavender all jumped to her side and tried to comfort her but she just didn't seem to want to stop crying.

Draco pushed past them all and held Hermione's hand. He looked at Dumbledore who nodded encouragingly. Draco swallowed hard and looked back at the weeping Hermione. He caressed her cheek gently wich made her stop. She closed her eyes and took in his touch.

When she opened her eyes she didn't see the girl's anxious heads staring at her or Madam Pomfrey shaking her head dissaprovingly. She didn't even see the hospital, just Draco. His warm eyes pierced her and she wanted to be closer to him.

He stood up and pulled her lightly to her feet. He put an arm around her and led her somewhere, she didn't care where, as long as she was with him. Suddenly, the world started to come back in front of her eyes. They were sitting in their common room, in front of a roaring fire.

Draco was looking at her, still holding her hand. He opened his mouth to speak but Hermione covered his lips with two of her fingers. He closed his eyes as her hand trailed across his lips then along his jaw line.

He cupped his hand over hers, still keeping it on his face, then he spoke.

"Hermione, I'm here for you. No matter what, I'll always be here." he said and she smiled.

"I know that." she whispered.

"Please, Hermione, tell me what happened." he pleaded. Hermione shut her eyes and shook her head. Draco sighed and pulled her closer, her head on his chest. He ran his fingers though her blue hair. It felt soft and warm against his hand.

Hermione nodded against his chest and pulled away slightly.

"Alright Draco. I'll tell you." she said quietly. Draco smiled with a nod.

"Don't worry Hermione. I will never push you away. Never." he said and gave her hand an encouraging squeeze. Hermione took a deep breath and began her story.

"About three years ago, things in my once perfect and safe family began to change. It all started when my father lost his job. He really loved his job and was completly depressed by the fact that he lost it. He thought, that if he wasn't happy, then no one in the family should. He started to go to night clubs and bars and would come back drunk. He would beat my mother and when I tried to stop him, I would just get hit as well.

"My mother also got depressed and would yell at me if I tried to help her. She still loved my father, even though he did these things to us. One night, my father came back from a night club "high". He had met a drug dealer and was sold some kind of weed. That was when the hell really started.

Whenever he was High he wouldn't even know what he was doing. He would say things he did, name the women he slept with, the beers he drunk, anything that he could think of. My mother of course, started to do drugs as well and all was lost.

Once we ran out of money, my father would sell me to men for the night for either money or drugs. I always put up a fight because I never wanted to sleep with some perverted men I didn't even know but I would just get beaten.

My father began to have 'fun' with me and I just wanted to die on the spot. I was just about to commit suicide when I heard my mother scream. Since I wasn't around my father decided on beating my mother instead.

I ran to my mother but she just pushed me away. My father gave me such a beating that night, I thought I would die for sure, but someone saved me. It was Jeff. He rescued me and had become my best friend. Whenever my parents were drunk or high I would go to Jeff and my friends and they would comfort me as we all had very similar families.

Jeff's father was a drug dealer and was caught by the police when Jeff was six. He was killed in the struggle. All of my friends were either punks or freaks but I loved them all. They went with me to town to do me make over, everything I always wanted, the way I wanted to look had come true with just a few days with my friends.

They accepted me like I was and loved me for it. We had hard times forgetting about the horrible nights with our family's. I wasn't the only one who had numerous beatings from my father. So we began to smoke.It was the only way to keep being sane. In two years time my whole neighborhood turned into a getto. Not one family didn't have drug problems.

My parents realized that they are going to die and stopped living. They sat down at the kitched table four months ago and they still are sitting there. I guess they don't see the point of living on. But...I cant h-help but think that it's all m-my fault! It's because of me they are like this!"

Draco pulled Hermione closer to him and she cried harder. He kissed the top of his head lightly, wanting to make her happy more than anything. But suddenly, he remembered something.

"Hermione, why do you sometimes get sick or dizzy?" he asked seriously. Hermione looked at him, surprised. Her face hardened and she looked away.

"When both my parents started to do drugs, I...started stealing w-weed from their drawer." she said with self loathing. Draco gave her a look that obviously urged her to go on.

"I s-stopped doing them a couple weeks ago b-but...it's not that easy. I already got addicted. And the side effects were dizziness, nasea and um, whatever it's called, twichiness." she said and more tears streamed down her cheek. She whiped them away and relxed her face.

"Herms, you can cry if you want to, I'm not stopping you." he said and gently ran a finger down her cheek. She shook her head.

"Nah, I haven't cried like that for awhile now. At least not since..." she trailed off and looked up at Draco again.

"Oh yeah Mione, what the hell was that about when you started breathing heavily and started destroying your room?" he asked curiously as well as anxiously. She seemed to slowly swallow his question, as if it were hard to recall what he had reminded her of.

"Well, I...kinda, needed my, um, pack." she said the last word in a whisper. The blond looked at her questionly. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"My drugs." she said with self hatred. Draco widened his eyes at those words, he had no idea Hermione was so deeply involved in these bloody muggle weed. Why the hell did muggles make this if it was so bad for them?

"That is the question." she said with a smirk. Draco looked shocked.

"How did you know I was thinking that?" he asked. Hermione laughed. Ah, finally. Music for Draco's ears.

"I always thought your eyes are easy to read off emotions." she said," and you looked confused a shocked, wich could mean alot of things but I knew it was ablout why the hell muggles made such a thing if it were so bad for them?" she said leaving a completly speechless Draco.

"One thing is for sure." he said and pulled her closer to him. "I'm not going to let you go back to drugs Hermione. Never." he said and she smiled against his chest. She felt loved and cared for, she could get used to this feeling.

a/n Okay......that was a very strange chapter. I might say it was a bit creepy...but at least you know whats up with Hermione now! I might make the pal group as in Mione Draco Padma Hannah Mark and Ginny go their seperate ways, so that Herms and Drake could work on their relationship. Ooops! Forget I said that! I didn't say anything! *change of subject* Hrmrm, anyway, thanks to...

Midnight-Dragons: Oof, I was worried for a minute!! Thankies or reading!!

Hatokirei: Oh don't we all!! But they make the storie more interesting don't they? Haha!! Thanks!!

Shadowwolf2371: I'm glad you think that way because that is exactly right!

mailbox: Wow, thanks alot!

Belle: Thanks I'm glad to hear that!!

Thank you to all!! I luv you guys with all my heart!! I'm sorry to the people that I promised to e-mail when I update but Yahoo is being an ass and telling my password is invalid...I'll figure it out though! xoxoxoxoxoxoxox buGspooKy