Hermione began to shake with fear. The last man she ever expected to see again was standing right in front of her. Hermione tried to point her wand at the man, but her arm began to shake. She let out a sob and fell to the ground. Hermione hit her head on her chair and blackness came over her.
Hermione woke up an hour later in the infirmary. Professor McGonagall was sitting by her side. Hermione sat up, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head.
"What happened?" Hermione asked.
"You were lucky. If you hadn't fallen over, Viktor Krum would have killed you. Dumbledore appeared in the entrance way just as Wormtail tried to attack the students. I have never seen him angrier in my life. The students are in their common rooms and we've already had a staff meeting. Now, you just get some rest, and we'll resume classes the day after tomorrow," McGonagall explained.
"What about Bulgaria? Did anything happen there?" Hermione asked.
"There was an attack during the Quidditch Match. Death Eaters ran out onto the field. A total of twenty fans were killed, but the Quidditch players are fine. They may have a few injuries, but I'm pretty sure no one died," McGonagall said.
"And what about Krum?" Hermione asked, whispering Krum's name.
"He disappeared once Dumbledore arrived," McGonagall replied.
"I hope I never see him again," Hermione said, tears stinging her eyes.
"It's in the past Hermione. He can't hurt you again," McGonagall reassured her. "Now get some sleep. You've had a bad night."
Hermione nodded and settled back against her pillows. Madame Pomfrey handed her a goblet to drink. She drained the goblet and felt sleep come over her once again.
Hermione woke up with the sun shining in her eyes. The curtains in the infirmary were open. Hermione sat up and noticed a black dog sleeping on the foot of her bed. She smiled and gently patted the dog on the head.
"Sirius, it's so good to see you," Hermione said. Sirius jumped off the bed and turned back into his human form.
"I arrived late last night----after the events of the evening. I wasn't going to break my word to Harry," Sirius replied.
"Do you know how Harry is? Is he ok? Was he injured? When will he be back?" Hermione asked.
"I'm fine," Harry said, stepping into the hospital wing.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled, jumping out of bed and rushing into his arms.
Harry held her close, breathing in the scent of her hair. He could feel her shaking with tears. Harry pulled away and looked into her eyes. Her eyes were full of sorrow, and the tears wouldn't stop.
"I was so worried, and then Krum came…"Hermione said.
"Krum was here?" Harry asked. Hermione nodded.
"I was so scared that I fainted. He didn't hurt me, but Harry, he scares me so much," Hermione whispered.
"I won't let anything happen to you. I promise," Harry said. Hermione smiled and wrapped her arms around Harry, hugging him again.
Harry led Hermione to a chair, next to Sirius and Harry sat down across from them.
"Harry, what happened in Bulgaria?" Sirius asked.
"Well, once the Quidditch match had started, the crowd suddenly grew quiet. I looked down at the ground and saw a bunch of black-cloaked, masked figures stepping out onto the field. I took my wand out of my robes; my teammates following suite. In the stands, a huge explosion was heard, and twenty people fell down dead. Bits of debris flew out onto the field from the explosion, hitting some of the Bulgarian players. I was lucky and wasn't hit. During this commotion, the Death Eater's disappeared. I had a gut feeling they would be heading to Hogwarts. But we needed to tend to the wounded and dead first," Harry explained.
"Hermione, why is it you're only afraid of Krum?" Sirius wondered.
Hermione looked down at the ground, turning a bright red color. She felt a few tears roll down her cheeks, but she refused to answer.
"Maybe she'll be ready to answer another day, when it's not so fresh on her mind," Harry suggested. Sirius nodded.
"Well then, let's go see what Dumbledore suggests we do," Sirius said, standing up. Harry followed taking Hermione's hand.
Hermione blinked away her tears, and walked silently with Harry and Sirius.
"Hermione! You're ok!" Ron yelled running towards them. "Dumbledore said he arrived just as you fell down."
"I'm okay Ron, really," Hermione smiled.
"Dumbledore said somehow the apparating barriers have been broken," Ron said.
"What?" Harry and Sirius exclaimed at the same time.
"The barriers can't be broken, unless a very powerful wizard, more powerful then Dumbledore, breaks it," Hermione said.
"Well just try apparating someplace then. That's how I got here," Ron shrugged.
"But I always told you not to apparate to Hogwarts," Hermione said.
"Do you think I ever listened?" Ron asked.
"Hermione, do you think it was Krum?" Harry asked.
"What's Krum got to do with anything?" Ron questioned, saying Krum's name with much disgust.
"Krum tried to attack me last night," Hermione said quietly.
"Why that dirty, good for nothing…" Ron began yelling.
"Ron!" Hermione said angrily.
"Sorry, lost control of my anger," Ron apologized. "But Hermione, what Krum did to you (Ron shuddered), he deserves all the pain in the world."
"So does everybody know what Krum did but me?" Sirius asked.
"No, I only told Harry and Ron, and it took me almost the full 5th year to tell them, I wrote a letter to Dumbledore right after it happened and I don't know how McGonagall knows. I didn't even tell my parents," Hermione replied.
Sirius just nodded, not wanting to pressure Hermione into answering him against her will. The foursome wandered through the corridors silently, heading towards Dumbledore's old office. They stopped outside of Hermione's room, while Hermione went inside to change into clean robes. She came out wearing light blue robes and her hair done up in a fashionable bun. Sirius spoke the password at the stone gargoyle, and they headed up the spiral staircase.
Hermione grabbed Harry's hand, and they made their way into the office, not even bothering to knock on the door. Dumbledore and McGonagall looked up when they entered. Draco and Snape were already sitting in the office. Snape glared at Harry as he took a seat in front of the desk. Hermione sat down next to him, still clutching his hand. Ron and Sirius took the remaining two chairs next to Hermione. Dumbledore smiled at Harry and Hermione, stood up and began to speak.
"As you know, the apparating barriers are now broken. And even I don't know how this happened. But, however, I do know that we all need to work together to stop the death eaters from doing more damage to the school. Hogwarts is no longer as safe as it used to be. Gringott's doesn't seem to be as safe anymore either. Now since the incident that happened last night, I believe some explanations are in order, Hermione," Dumbledore said, taking his seat once again.
Hermione paled, looking pleadingly at Dumbledore, but Dumbledore just nodded and waited for Hermione to speak. She turned to look around the room, and found all eyes intently watching her, waiting for her to speak. Hermione looked into Harry's eyes, hoping he'd say something. Harry just nodded, letting Hermione know that it was okay for her to speak. He squeezed her hand. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and began to tell her story.
"The summer before fifth year, Viktor Krum invited me to spend the summer with him. My parents agreed that a week would be long enough. So I packed my bags, boarded a wizarding airline and met Krum at the airport…"
***
Hermione stepped off of the plane, searching the crowd for Krum. She found him waving at her, near the door out of the airport. She waved back and ran towards Krum. Krum smiled and pulled her into a hug. Hermione hugged him back, but she felt something in the pit of her stomach telling her to leave right away. Hermione ignored her gut feeling, and followed Krum out to a car, waiting for them outside of the airport.
Hermione stared out the window, watching sights she had never seen before fly by as the car drove down a great number of streets to Krum's house. Hermione stepped out of the car, as Krum opened her door. Hermione stared up at Krum's house, realizing that he lived alone. Again, she felt the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she ignored it once again.
Viktor Krum took her hand and showed her around his house, including the room in which she would be staying. Hermione unpacked her things and met Krum in the living room. Over the next few days, Krum showed her around his hometown and he even took her to one of his Quidditch Games. Hermione was having a wonderful time until she received a letter from her mother:
Hermione dear,
I have horrible news. I know your probably having a wonderful time with Viktor and his parents, but I need you home now. I took your father to the doctor's yesterday, and they found a tumor in his brain. They don't know if he'll live or not and I think it would be best for you to come home and spend the rest of the summer with your father. I've sent along an airplane ticket and some money. Please hurry home soon. I miss you! And your father wishes to see you.
Love,
Mum
Hermione let a few tears squeeze out of her eyes. She folded up the letter, stuck it in her pocket and hurried out of her room. She ran into Krum in the hallway. Hermione looked up at him, noticing concern in his eyes.
"I have to leave. My father is sick," Hermione said.
"Hermione, I love you, please don't leave me," Viktor said, having finally corrected his pronunciation of Hermione's name.
Hermione stared at him in disbelief.
"Viktor, I must go to my father," Hermione replied.
"Vould you marry me Hermione?" Krum asked.
"Marry you? What? I'm still in school! No, Viktor. I'm not ready for a commitment like this yet. I must go. I'm sorry. I'll go pack my bag and be out of here before you know it," Hermione said, the strange feeling returning to the pit of her stomach.
"You are not going," Viktor said, grabbing Hermione's arm and pulling her towards him.
Hermione began to pull away, but he picked her up and walked towards his bedroom door. Hermione began to kick and scream, but she realized no one would hear her. Hermione felt the color drain out of her face as Krum placed her on his bed. She was still kicking and screaming, and wishing she had listened to the strange feeling in her stomach. Krum climbed onto the bed and started to tear at her clothes. She began to cry, trying to push him away, but he was too strong. Hermione pulled out her wand, as Krum was about to unbutton her shirt.
"Stupefy!" Hermione yelled, and Krum was knocked unconscious.
Hermione ran out of his bedroom, tears running down her cheeks. Hermione packed her bag, ran out of Krum's house, hailed a cab, and found herself on the next flight to England. She wrote a letter to Dumbledore, explaining why she used magic during the summer, begging him not to tell her parents or anyone else, unless the Ministry needed to know. Hermione began to cry as she sent Dumbledore's letter off with an owl. Hermione shuddered at the thought of what Krum had tried to do to her.
"Dumbledore is the only one who will ever know," Hermione whispered as she boarded the plane to head home.
***
"My parents still don't know, and I hope never to tell them. The Ministry didn't ask for any information, Professor Dumbledore covered for me quite nicely. I didn't want to tell anyone, but I was extremely quiet during fifth year, ignoring everyone. I was terrified to be near Ron and Harry; I thought they would be like Krum, but they weren't and they pried the story from me. It lifted a heavy burden off of my shoulders, but I'm still terrified of him. What if he comes back after me?" Hermione explained, finishing her sad tale.
Hermione felt a few tears slide down her cheeks. Harry squeezed her hand comfortingly, and Ron put his hand on her arm. Hermione looked around the room, to find all eyes still on her, but she noticed a look of concern in Draco and Sirius's eyes, and a look of shock and anger in Snape's.
"Now that you know what we're up against, we need to all work together to get rid of these Death Eater's," Dumbledore said. "As I said, Hogwarts isn't as safe anymore. But first, I'd like some volunteers to go to the wizarding orphanage."
"The orphanage?" Hermione exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
"Yes, it has been attacked," Dumbledore began.
"I'll go!" Hermione said immediately.
"Then, Harry, Ron and Draco will accompany you. Sirius, I'd like to talk to you about what I want Remus to do. I believe it is the full moon," Dumbledore said.
Sirius nodded.
Hermione took Harry's hand and headed out of the office. Snape stayed put, with Sirius and McGonagall. Once out in the corridor, Hermione stopped and hugged Harry.
"Hermione, I had no idea. I'm so sorry," Draco said.
"I'll be okay," Hermione said, as Harry wrapped his arms around her.
Hermione felt safe in his arms, and she didn't want to leave.
"We better get to the orphanage," Ron said.
"Ron, actually wanting to do work, amazing," Harry said, pretending to be shocked.
"Shut up, Harry," Ron said.
Hermione laughed for the first time that day.
"Ron's right. We better go," Hermione said.
"Okay, so let's apparate," Ron replied.
"Ron, we can't apparate on Hogwarts's grounds and you know it!" Hermione said matter of factly.
"Hermione, didn't you listen to what I or what Dumbledore said?" Ron asked.
"Yes and no, I was afraid of telling my story," Hermione said slowly.
"But now we know to never let Krum near you," Draco said.
Hermione smiled.
"Let's go to the orphanage," Hermione said.
She took Harry's hand, and they apparated together to the orphanage. Hermione felt her heart stop as she looked at the destruction of the Wizarding Orphanage. The building was on fire, and children were crying and screaming everywhere.
A/N: I'm so sorry it took me so long to post this chapter. I was in a writer's block and my computer was down for a month so I couldn't type this up. And now my computers all out of whack, not letting me review anyone's stories!! But I want to thank Amb3r for helping me come up with why Hermione is afraid of Krum. I would also like to thank my beta readers, Kzerina and Brigade701. Please leave a review, and when my review button is working, I'll go read your stories and review them.
