The Beauty Of A Bloodstaind Rose

(Hey people! Thanks for the two reviews that I got. Yes I do realize that this is depressing at the moment but I promise it will get cheerier later on. I hope that you all have enough faith in me to keep reading until then!? In this chapter Hermione reveals to her friends a hidden past...)

At exactly ten thirty Hermione and Harry arrived at the train station. They had driven the entire way in silence and still didn't say anything when they got their stuff out of Hermione's father's car and walked a few minutes later onto platform nine and three quarters.

As they stepped onto the train they were greeted by a friendly, "Hello!" from Ron. "Where have you been?" he asked. "I thought that you guys would have been here a long time ago?"

"Oh shut it Ron we got here half an hour early!" Hermione exclaimed with a smile as she slapped him hard on the arm. He smiled back at her as he rubbed his arm where she had hit him. They all went into the same compartment that they had sat in for the past few years.

"Ron could you do me a favor?" Harry asked his friend.

"Sure what you need?" Ron responded.

"I need you to track down Dean and Seamus and tell them to come in here as soon as they can. It's not an emergency or anything but I have to ask them both something." Ron stood and walked out of the compartment but swayed slightly as the train began to move.

Shortly after Ron shut the door Harry positioned himself directly across from Hermione. "Hermione I want you to tell me what is going on with you."

"What do you mean?" she asked him without looking him in the eye.

"You know exactly what I mean Hermione," he said to her as he grabbed her chin in his hand and did his best to get her to look him in the eye. Hermione sighed deeply and pulled her face away from Harry's hand.

"I told you everything this morning," she said to him dully.

"No you didn't Hermione. You know that as well as I do. Now will you please tell me what has been up with you?" His eyes were full of worry as he asked her and Hermione couldn't bare to see him look at her that way."

She looked away and mumbled, "I am so sorry Harry but I can't tell you that."

"Why can't you tell me Hermione? I am your best friend and you know that you can tell me anything. Please tell me what is wrong?" A single tear rolled down Hermione's cheek when she saw the look in Harry's eyes.

"Please don't look at me that way," she whispered to him. "I can't bare to see the hurt in your eyes," she said this as a second tear rolled down her cheek. Harry reached up and wiped it away.

"I promise that I won't look at you this way as long as you stop crying and tell me what is wrong." At that moment Ron re-entered the compartment.

"Sorry Harry I couldn't find-what's wrong Hermione?" he asked and was quickly at his crying friend's side.

"That's what I have been trying to find out ever since you left." Harry told Ron.

Hermione wiped the tears away from her face and ran her fingers through her hair. She seemed to stare off blankly for several minutes before saying, "As you know Harry my Mother left for good last night." Harry nodded and Ron's eyes widened slightly before Hermione continued, "She left because she and my father didn't get along and were constantly fighting."

"I heard them yelling at each other last night."Harry said slightly reluctantly. "So you hear them yelling a lot?"

"I hear them shouting...I also hear the crashes like you did...often." Hermione ran her fingers through her hair again.

"Are you saying that they fight more than just verbally?" Ron asked her, shock and worry apparent in his voice.

Hermione nodded, "They were constantly beating up on each other. I would go down to breakfast some mornings and find a lamp or something and one if not both of them with fresh cuts or bruises." Hermione seemed to flinch as she told her friends this. She leaned back in her seat and absentmindedly ran her fingers over the same place on her stomach that she had the night before.

"I am so sorry Hermione." Harry said to her.

She shrugged at him, "It's been like that ever since I was little. The shouting...the crashes...the pain." She ran her fingers through her hair once again. Just as Hermione wiped another tear away the compartment door slid open and none other than Draco Malfoy was standing there.

Draco didn't say anything except for, "Hermione you need to come with me. They are having a meeting of the Head's in one of the front compartments." Hermione glared at him but still stood and followed him out into the narrow hallway.

* * *

Hermione walked back into the compartment about half an hour later looking very bored. As she walked through the compartment door she saw that Harry was sitting in one of the seats while it looked like Ron had been pacing the small space.

"Hey guys," she said to them. Just as she was about to say something else she tripped over something and started to fall but was caught by Ron.

"Dear God above Hermione! What happened to you?" Harry nearly shouted at her.

She got out of Ron's grasp and straightened her clothes. "What do you mean Harry?"

"I mean that gigantic bruise on your stomach," he said now standing.

Hermione crossed her arms across her stomach and asked, "What bruise?" Harry walked up to her and pulled her arms down to her sides and lifted the bottom of her shirt a little to reveal a very large, purple bruise on the left side of her stomach.

"That bruise. Hermione what in the hell did you do?"

"Oh t-that," she said with a nervous stammer. "I fell down the front steps the other day."

"You're lying to us Hermione." Ron said to her. "I can see it in your face. What really happened?"

"Why does this seem to matter so much to you two?" she asked them as she began to cry again.

"Because you are our friend Hermione." Harry told her. "Now...What happened?"

"They did it!" she shouted at him. "They beat me worse than they beat each other! Are you happy now? Huh? Now that you know that little miss know-it-all Hermione has problems!"

Everyone and everything in the room didn't move nor make a sound until, "Hermione! I am so sorry!" Both Ron and Harry wrapped their arms around Hermione and hugged her for all that they were worth.

As the trio all stood hugging they were all unaware of the silent figure that stood outside of the compartment door. Dear God above, the figure thought. I can't believe it's affected her too.

(A/N: I must end this chapter here and hope that you all will review! I promise that in the next chapter something good will happen for Hermione. I promise! Bye!)