I know.I know.it's been a while.and I've been sitting on this chapter for 2
weeks or so.I have all of it written in my head yet I can't write it
down.and what shall we blame?
That oogy case of food poising that I had.oh it was not of the good.but now that I am on my mended way.and not, nor was I ever, in the Hermione "explosive"(I do love that word) diarrhea phase, I took my time and managed this short bit.hopefully I can bang these out more frequently. I leave for school in 2 ½ weeks so I plan to bang away.
Thanks for all reviews.and as per request we do have some Draco/Hermione bonding.and.not to offend too much.Ron bashing.
OH!! And a little announcement.perhaps incentive in a way.here's my little game.
I like the number 144.it's square root is 12.there were 144 episodes of "Buffy" (Rest in Peace).SO according to my counter.the person with the 144th review.(am I being optimistic or what? But I think we can get there.this story will be a long one)
Well, the person with the 144th review will get a prize.The can get to know who the rapist is if they want (if it is left out it is punishable.I can change the story if I want) or if they choose they can add a plot point if they want.or pick to know something or.well their choice really (but please use discretion if this review thing does occur.I will not answer "How does it end")
So now that my post-sick rant of weirdness and non-making sense-ness is over.I shall get on with the story.
As always I disclaim.the formal one is in the Prologue.
Part Five
"Well, here goes nothing." Hermione mumbled to herself as she pushed open the doors to the Great Hall at Hogwarts. She could feel everyone looking at her. All eyes on her. Although, in fact, no one even noticed her, save for a few Gryffindors and one specific Slytherin. But for Hermione Granger it felt as if the whole of Hogwarts could see what had happened to her. That she was now as filthy as Draco Malfoy had always said.
" 'Mione!" Ron Weasley waved at her enthusiastically, his mouth full of the food that the House Elves had prepared.
Pushing down the lump that had formed in her throat, she made her way over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Ron, not able to sit across from him and look him in the eyes. Instead it was Harry Potter's gaze that caught her own from across the table.
Smiling at her warmly, he knew better than to ask if she was all right, seeing that she was here was proof enough that she was on the mended path. And true to his word he wouldn't bring it up in front of Ron.
Due to his dense nature, the Keeper for Gryffindor House had not heard what had occurred earlier this morning, and Harry planned to keep it that way.
"Where have you been hiding yourself?" Ron asked his best friend, right before taking a bite from a biscuit. "I thought you were going to show up at Hogsmeade last night."
"Well," she began, choosing her words carefully. *Try to appear nonchalant, Harry, knows what you told him, or rather what Draco did, don't go overboard with Ron.* "Well, you know me." She shrugged her shoulders, absentmindedly placing some chicken and potatoes onto her plate.
"Figured as much. Studying. Where else would you be? You need to stop being so serious Hermione. This is our final year. Live a little for once!" Ron continued, oblivious to her inner turmoil. But Hermione's downward gaze and sunken shoulders didn't go unnoticed by Harry.
"*Live a little, he says!? Like you did with Lavender last night? While I - -I dressed up, for you, went to Hogsmeade, because of you. If you hadn't asked me, gotten my hopes up, I wouldn't have ended up in the park. I wouldn't have ended up being- -"
Watching her face slowly being to redden with fury, a look he had seen on both his own mother and Hermione many times, Ronald Weasley knew he had picked the wrong time to pick on Hermione Granger. "Oh lighten up 'Mione, I was only kidding!"
"Only kidding? Just because I take my future seriously doesn't make me a hermit, as you've said so eloquently on many an occasion. Just because my life goal isn't to be water boy for the stupid Chuddly Cannons doesn't make me less than human. So, don't treat me like a leper because I choose to spend a night in as opposed to snogging Lavender Brown!"
Regretting, only slightly, her words as she saw Ron's face turn to a shade that quite resembled a tomato, she continued. "You want me to live a little Ronald Weasley? Believe me, I have, more than you will ever know." Pushing her plate away from her, she swung her leg over the bench, preparing to stand up.
"Hermione, don't go" Harry said finally speaking up, after having kept quite all the while, the safest course of action during a Granger/Weasley argument.
"You know what, I'm just not hungry anymore." She said, finally standing up, only to be blocked by Ron. "I don't know what I ever saw in you." She said to her best friend. The one with the soft blue eyes. The one she had thought she loved. And it was because of that, that she was in this position.
"Oh come on Hermione." He said rolling his eyes at her ludicrous behavior. Reaching out to pull her into a hug, as he had done many times before, he was shocked when the moment he touched her, she leapt back, pointing at him shakily.
Pushing him back with the palm of her other hand, she managed to catch him off guard and move him slightly.
"Don't touch me!" She screeched at him, finally pushing past and running out the doors she had just entered through, one specific Slytherin following unnoticed after her.
* * * * *
* * * *
"Granger!" Malfoy said breathlessly, finally having caught up with her after three flights of stairs. Who knew Mudbloods could run so fast.
"I can't do this." Hermione said leaning against one wall, using the support to push herself down to the floor, knees drawn up as she rested her chin upon them. "I can't just walk around and pretend that there is nothing wrong. I guess I'm not built like that. I just, thought that I could."
"That's your problem, know-it-all." He said sitting on his heels in front of her, briefly glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one, save a few portraits, were around to see him associating with her. "You think too much. You really thought that you could just go back to normal, act as if nothing happened?" He reiterated, scoffing.
"Yes!" She cried. "But then Ron made me so mad, he made me remember. And I blame him! Not just for making me remember. But because it happened. How could he sit there, so smug and judge my life?"
"Because he's prejudice." Malfoy said, his serious tone causing her to burst out laughing. "What? He is."
"This coming from a Slytherin." She said between fits of laughter.
"If someone or something doesn't meet his ideal, he immediately casts them aside. Or ridicules them for it. Sure, I do that to people I hate, but he does it to his own friends. He needs the security of his life, and he judges anyone that causes it to falter slightly. You don't mean his ideal for a supposed normal seventh year. So, he'll pick apart who you are."
"Hence all of our fights." Hermione said, happy to have someone to share in her Ron bashing mood. Even if it was Malfoy. "But that doesn't give me the right to blame him."
"You have to blame someone. And he's the most tangible. I'm sure that if I hadn't been the one to find you that I would be the one to incur your wrath."
"He didn't do it though. I realize that. But it's just so easy to make it his fault, to have someone to take my anger out on." She said as she starred across at her fellow Head.
When had it turned so wrong? She was furious with Ron and confiding in Malfoy. Who was actually listening, with no rude comments, and looking at her with, what was that, sympathy?
"So, just do it. Right now blame the Weasel. Take it out on him. Just don't blame yourself. It's better than keeping everything in, slowly dying inside."
"Why do you care so much Draco?" Hermione asked, her question causing him to duck his head.
"I don't care. I just relish seeing you in misery. I love seeing it up close and personal."
"Right." Hermione said not wanting to break then tentative and unexpected truce that had occurred between them. "So, what do I do now?" She asked not really addressing him.
"I don't care." He said once more, this time his words taking on a different meaning.
"I just. I hate this. I hate him!" She cried pushing herself back up.
Following her lead Draco stood as well. "Who?"
"Ron! Whoever did this to me!"
"Then do something about it. Hex a bludger to knock Weasley out at the next match." He grinned at the thought of one of his fondest wishes.
"I can't go on like this Draco. I need answers. I need to feel whole again. Safe. God I can't even stand the thought of being touched. This is never going to end. Every time I close my eyes. I can hear him. Feel him."
"Easy. Don't close your eyes." Draco said, hoping that his logic would work for her.
"I'm not going another night, another day, so I'm going to need your help."
"With what?" He asked eyeing her wearily as she leaned in closer, her face mere inches from his own. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he heard her whisper:
"Finding my rapist."
That oogy case of food poising that I had.oh it was not of the good.but now that I am on my mended way.and not, nor was I ever, in the Hermione "explosive"(I do love that word) diarrhea phase, I took my time and managed this short bit.hopefully I can bang these out more frequently. I leave for school in 2 ½ weeks so I plan to bang away.
Thanks for all reviews.and as per request we do have some Draco/Hermione bonding.and.not to offend too much.Ron bashing.
OH!! And a little announcement.perhaps incentive in a way.here's my little game.
I like the number 144.it's square root is 12.there were 144 episodes of "Buffy" (Rest in Peace).SO according to my counter.the person with the 144th review.(am I being optimistic or what? But I think we can get there.this story will be a long one)
Well, the person with the 144th review will get a prize.The can get to know who the rapist is if they want (if it is left out it is punishable.I can change the story if I want) or if they choose they can add a plot point if they want.or pick to know something or.well their choice really (but please use discretion if this review thing does occur.I will not answer "How does it end")
So now that my post-sick rant of weirdness and non-making sense-ness is over.I shall get on with the story.
As always I disclaim.the formal one is in the Prologue.
Part Five
"Well, here goes nothing." Hermione mumbled to herself as she pushed open the doors to the Great Hall at Hogwarts. She could feel everyone looking at her. All eyes on her. Although, in fact, no one even noticed her, save for a few Gryffindors and one specific Slytherin. But for Hermione Granger it felt as if the whole of Hogwarts could see what had happened to her. That she was now as filthy as Draco Malfoy had always said.
" 'Mione!" Ron Weasley waved at her enthusiastically, his mouth full of the food that the House Elves had prepared.
Pushing down the lump that had formed in her throat, she made her way over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Ron, not able to sit across from him and look him in the eyes. Instead it was Harry Potter's gaze that caught her own from across the table.
Smiling at her warmly, he knew better than to ask if she was all right, seeing that she was here was proof enough that she was on the mended path. And true to his word he wouldn't bring it up in front of Ron.
Due to his dense nature, the Keeper for Gryffindor House had not heard what had occurred earlier this morning, and Harry planned to keep it that way.
"Where have you been hiding yourself?" Ron asked his best friend, right before taking a bite from a biscuit. "I thought you were going to show up at Hogsmeade last night."
"Well," she began, choosing her words carefully. *Try to appear nonchalant, Harry, knows what you told him, or rather what Draco did, don't go overboard with Ron.* "Well, you know me." She shrugged her shoulders, absentmindedly placing some chicken and potatoes onto her plate.
"Figured as much. Studying. Where else would you be? You need to stop being so serious Hermione. This is our final year. Live a little for once!" Ron continued, oblivious to her inner turmoil. But Hermione's downward gaze and sunken shoulders didn't go unnoticed by Harry.
"*Live a little, he says!? Like you did with Lavender last night? While I - -I dressed up, for you, went to Hogsmeade, because of you. If you hadn't asked me, gotten my hopes up, I wouldn't have ended up in the park. I wouldn't have ended up being- -"
Watching her face slowly being to redden with fury, a look he had seen on both his own mother and Hermione many times, Ronald Weasley knew he had picked the wrong time to pick on Hermione Granger. "Oh lighten up 'Mione, I was only kidding!"
"Only kidding? Just because I take my future seriously doesn't make me a hermit, as you've said so eloquently on many an occasion. Just because my life goal isn't to be water boy for the stupid Chuddly Cannons doesn't make me less than human. So, don't treat me like a leper because I choose to spend a night in as opposed to snogging Lavender Brown!"
Regretting, only slightly, her words as she saw Ron's face turn to a shade that quite resembled a tomato, she continued. "You want me to live a little Ronald Weasley? Believe me, I have, more than you will ever know." Pushing her plate away from her, she swung her leg over the bench, preparing to stand up.
"Hermione, don't go" Harry said finally speaking up, after having kept quite all the while, the safest course of action during a Granger/Weasley argument.
"You know what, I'm just not hungry anymore." She said, finally standing up, only to be blocked by Ron. "I don't know what I ever saw in you." She said to her best friend. The one with the soft blue eyes. The one she had thought she loved. And it was because of that, that she was in this position.
"Oh come on Hermione." He said rolling his eyes at her ludicrous behavior. Reaching out to pull her into a hug, as he had done many times before, he was shocked when the moment he touched her, she leapt back, pointing at him shakily.
Pushing him back with the palm of her other hand, she managed to catch him off guard and move him slightly.
"Don't touch me!" She screeched at him, finally pushing past and running out the doors she had just entered through, one specific Slytherin following unnoticed after her.
* * * * *
* * * *
"Granger!" Malfoy said breathlessly, finally having caught up with her after three flights of stairs. Who knew Mudbloods could run so fast.
"I can't do this." Hermione said leaning against one wall, using the support to push herself down to the floor, knees drawn up as she rested her chin upon them. "I can't just walk around and pretend that there is nothing wrong. I guess I'm not built like that. I just, thought that I could."
"That's your problem, know-it-all." He said sitting on his heels in front of her, briefly glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one, save a few portraits, were around to see him associating with her. "You think too much. You really thought that you could just go back to normal, act as if nothing happened?" He reiterated, scoffing.
"Yes!" She cried. "But then Ron made me so mad, he made me remember. And I blame him! Not just for making me remember. But because it happened. How could he sit there, so smug and judge my life?"
"Because he's prejudice." Malfoy said, his serious tone causing her to burst out laughing. "What? He is."
"This coming from a Slytherin." She said between fits of laughter.
"If someone or something doesn't meet his ideal, he immediately casts them aside. Or ridicules them for it. Sure, I do that to people I hate, but he does it to his own friends. He needs the security of his life, and he judges anyone that causes it to falter slightly. You don't mean his ideal for a supposed normal seventh year. So, he'll pick apart who you are."
"Hence all of our fights." Hermione said, happy to have someone to share in her Ron bashing mood. Even if it was Malfoy. "But that doesn't give me the right to blame him."
"You have to blame someone. And he's the most tangible. I'm sure that if I hadn't been the one to find you that I would be the one to incur your wrath."
"He didn't do it though. I realize that. But it's just so easy to make it his fault, to have someone to take my anger out on." She said as she starred across at her fellow Head.
When had it turned so wrong? She was furious with Ron and confiding in Malfoy. Who was actually listening, with no rude comments, and looking at her with, what was that, sympathy?
"So, just do it. Right now blame the Weasel. Take it out on him. Just don't blame yourself. It's better than keeping everything in, slowly dying inside."
"Why do you care so much Draco?" Hermione asked, her question causing him to duck his head.
"I don't care. I just relish seeing you in misery. I love seeing it up close and personal."
"Right." Hermione said not wanting to break then tentative and unexpected truce that had occurred between them. "So, what do I do now?" She asked not really addressing him.
"I don't care." He said once more, this time his words taking on a different meaning.
"I just. I hate this. I hate him!" She cried pushing herself back up.
Following her lead Draco stood as well. "Who?"
"Ron! Whoever did this to me!"
"Then do something about it. Hex a bludger to knock Weasley out at the next match." He grinned at the thought of one of his fondest wishes.
"I can't go on like this Draco. I need answers. I need to feel whole again. Safe. God I can't even stand the thought of being touched. This is never going to end. Every time I close my eyes. I can hear him. Feel him."
"Easy. Don't close your eyes." Draco said, hoping that his logic would work for her.
"I'm not going another night, another day, so I'm going to need your help."
"With what?" He asked eyeing her wearily as she leaned in closer, her face mere inches from his own. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he heard her whisper:
"Finding my rapist."