The Dark Lord would not take kindly
"Hermione…" Harry ventured precariously. "What…what's going on?"
"I wish I knew." She whispered, hand still firmly clasped to the place Ron had slapped her. He hit me…
"Hermione." Harry said, stronger. "The fat lady. She said…she said you loved Draco. She said there was no rape."
Hermione's eyes widened. How could this happen? Why? Everything was just starting to go right…
"Why would she say that, Hermione? Why would she lie?"
Hermione looked Harry in the eyes. She felt her eyes well up with tears before she was forced to look down. She didn't deserve Harry. She didn't deserve Ron. She didn't deserve Draco. This was all twisted…
Harry looked at his friend for a few silent moments. How could she do this? It didn't make sense.
"You disgust me." He heard himself say to his distraught friend, inducing a fresh shudder of tears. He turned and walked into the common room, unsure of what the fuck was going on.
*~*~*~*~*
All this time she had been lying, Ron thought as he strode through the Hogwarts corridors. All this time. He had sat there; comforted her, listened to her, been there for her when she needed him most. Ron had to suppress a laugh. Well, when she had allegedly needed him most. He would've thought after all this time they had been friends he would learn to know when she was lying. Fuck, after all this time she should trust him enough not to lie. Why the fuck didn't she tell him the truth from the beginning?
Because you wouldn't have understood.
No. That's not true. Hermione was his best friend. He would always understand her. She may have gone through slightly scary phases…that much was undeniable…but he would always have been there for her.
But not this time.
Yes, even this time.
Not with Draco.
Ron found himself coming to a halt mid-stride. It wouldn't have ever come to that. What did that fucking portrait know? She hated Draco. She always had. He was such a bastard to her. He'd lost count of the amount of times she, the most conservative person he had ever met, had lost her cool with him. He remembered several occasions she'd even slapped him. Of course she didn't love him. That was preposterous. She hated him with a fiery passion.
Too much passion…
"Ron!" he felt his eyes narrow as the all too familiar voice rang through the desolate corridor. He contemplated stopping to confront his friend but, not trusting himself, he walked on without hesitation.
"Ron!" this time he did not have the luxury of choosing whether or not to stop, as a distraught Hermione flung herself in front of him, grasping his shoulders and taking shuddering breaths. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face had reddened with desperate tears. She was clearly distressed. She was hurt.
Good. Ron was shocked at how unsympathetic he was towards her. Surely he should not be taking so much pleasure in Hermione's pain…
"Ron…" she gasped. His face remained unperturbed. "Ron…please…listen to me."
He was silent, yet did not make any attempt to move.
She took this as an incentive to carry on.
"Look…I don't know how much you know. And I don't know how to tell you…but I never meant to hurt you."
He didn't dare to make a sound. He wasn't sure what would come out…the anger…the frustration…or the pain.
"You weren't meant to find out like this…" she started warily.
"Like this?" he exclaimed suddenly, causing her to jump at his sudden outburst. "No Hermione…I wasn't meant to find out at all."
"No!" she cried. "No, it wasn't like that! I wanted to tell you…really, I did!"
"How long?" he said.
"How…how long what?"
"How long has this been going on? How long have you and Malfoy been taking the piss out of me?"
"It's not like that! Honestly, I -"
"How many people know?"
"No one! Ron, please, I just -"
"Was this intentionally to get to me?"
"Why would you think -?"
"I don't know, you tell me! Was this some sick plea for attention? Date the heir to all evil and get some reputation, was that it?"
"No! That's not me, you know I'm not like that!"
"Excuse the cliché, Hermione, but I don't know you."
Hermione looked taken aback at this…why couldn't he understand?
"But you do! You know me so well!"
"The Hermione I know wouldn't lie like that." His face was back to its calm and cold set.
"I never meant to…it just happened…"
"All this time you said he'd raped you, and you had been sleeping with him wilfully."
"NO! What? No! I haven't, its not…it's not like that! I never meant to say that, I haven't…I mean, Draco, we didn't -"
"Draco now, is it? Great little relationship you've got there, I hope you're happy."
"Ron, please, stop doing this! It's not a relationship!"
"Not a relationship? So its just the sex then, is it?"
"Why are you saying this? There is no sex, it's not like that!"
"Sure there is, you like to call it rape to make everyone feel sorry for you and all this time you've been a Slytherin whore."
Hermione was speechless. Her tears came in huge shudders. This isn't happening…this isn't Ron…
"So how many others? What about Blaise? He's your type, isn't he? An evil bastard, you seem to like them. Does Malfoy know you're just a whore?"
"I'm not a whore!" she cried.
"Then why are you with him!"
"Because I love him!"
As soon as she said it she knew it was a mistake. Her hand flew to her mouth as she watched Ron's eyes widen and his mouth melt to a this line, not the cheeky grin which usually bestowed his friendly face.
"I…I didn't mean that. I mean, I didn't want to hurt…but it's just…"
"Get out of my face." He seethed, pronouncing every syllable crisply and impassively.
"Wh…what?"
"I said, Slytherin…get out of my face."
"Ron, please, don't do this, I'm so sorry…" she reached for his hand. He shook it off without hesitation.
"Don't touch me, you slut. I don't want a whore like you in my life anymore." Hermione's arms dropped to her side and she felt her bottom lip quiver. The corridor was once again almost silent, the only sound being Ron's shoes softly padding along the stone floor as he walked confidently away from his ex-best-friend.
*~*~*~*~*
"Like I was saying," Blaise carried on, as the laughter around him died down. "Pansy just isn't the fuck everyone thinks she is. Seriously – that Hufflepuff I had the other week was better! A bloody Hufflepuff!"
"I would've thought Pansy was alright; she gets enough practise after all." The fifth year Slytherin's remark was greeted with more laughter. "She's such a slut though – honestly, she even looks like a cheap whore."
I don't hear any of you complaining when she's with you Draco thought snidely. He was beginning to get so bored of this monotonous trail of conversation. It seemed every conversation he had with these so-called-friends revolved around their "conquests". Not that he wasn't interested – he was still a guy, after all – but sometimes it all seemed so bloody tedious. Especially now. Especially since Hermione.
"Hermione Granger." Draco snapped out of his own thoughts at the sound of her name.
"What?" his sudden input to the conversation was greeted with mild surprise from his fellow Slytherins.
"I was just saying," said the fifth year boy slowly. "That even though there's something about the bookworm that somehow makes her sexy, I wouldn't do Granger. Nothing excuses being with a Mudblood."
"Oh, I don't know." Blaise smirked. Sleazy prick Draco thought angrily. "If the Dark Lord was to end the world tomorrow, I wouldn't kick her out of bed."
"Don't you dare." The smirks were wiped off the rest of the crowd's faces at Draco's sharp reprimand.
"Oh I'm so sorry, your highness." Blaise, ever the clown, bowed mockingly. "How presumptuous of me. Please – feel free to fuck her first. If I'd realised you had such a crush on the Mudblood, I wouldn't have made such a remark. Just throw her my way when you're done, ok mate?"
"Who said I had a crush on her?" Draco could feel his fists clench. "I don't crush. I'm Draco fucking Malfoy. People crush on me."
"Well why else, Draco fucking Malfoy, are you getting so self-righteous about it? Admit it – filth as she is, you'd do her."
Draco could feel every pair of eyes on him. They were standing in a deserted corridor near their common room; just him, Blaise and about fifteen other hormonal Slytherins.
"I'm getting self-righteous, as you call it, because we are Slytherins and she is Gryffindor. We are pure and she is a Mudblood. And I do not commend the mixing of races, ok mate?" he wondered could they tell he did not mean a single word he said.
"Yeah, but -"
"Keep the hell away from her, Zambini. I'm warning you. The Dark Lord would not take kindly."
Blaise glared at him. Draco glared back. He had to protect Hermione from these sick bastards…even if it meant slandering her.
"Draco!" he froze at the sound of Hermione's cry. Blaise's eyebrow rose sceptically. "Here comes your lady-friend, Draco."
"Draco…you have to help me! I don't know what to do!" Tears streamed down her face as she grasped his arm. He shook her off coldly.
"Maybe we should leave you and…that thing…alone." Blaise said, gesturing towards Hermione. He and the others walked off, smirking at Draco.
"What do you want, Her-Granger?" he said, once they had left.
She was shocked at his attitude, so different to what it had been before. She looked around to make sure the group of Slytheins had left. "Draco please – just tell them what's going on. I don't know what's happened – Ron won't talk to me. He's found out and now he's just being so cold and -"
"Found out what?" Draco said coldly, looking down at her through narrowed eyes. "That you're nothing but a filthy Mudblood? Took him long enough. But you can't blame the Weasel for not wanting to be near you, can you?"
"Draco please…stop being like this."
"Like what? And who the hell said you could call me Draco?"
"What? Draco…what's going on? Why are you being so cold?"
"I don't associate with Mudbloods. Please remove yourself from my presence."
Hermione shook her head incredulously. "You're all the same. I fucking hate you. You're just like Ron, and Harry, and Viktor. You're all the same. Goodbye Malfoy."
She turned and walked away, leaving Draco staring after her. She really hated him. And could he blame her?
"I know you're there, Blaise." He drawled lazily, rubbing his eyes. Blaise and the others walked out from behind the corner at the opposite end of the corridor. They stopped without coming near him.
They stared at him for a few moments before Blaise spoke. "Now why didn't I believe that little performance?"
Draco just stared at the floor. He held his head up and without looking back at the boys, turned and followed the path Hermione had taken moments prior.
"The Dark Lord does not take kindly, Malfoy!" Blaise called after his retreating form. He watched him turn a corner before lowering his voice to an inaudible whisper. "Not kindly at all."
*~*~*~*~*
"Hermione?" Draco asked the shuddering form on the floor warily. He was greeted with a cold stare.
"Stay the fuck away from me." He knelt beside her and tried to hold her hand.
"I'm sorry. I had to do that."
"Did you not hear me, Malfoy? Stay away from me. I don't need you, or Ron, or anyone. Just stay away."
"Maybe you don't need me but I need you."
"Stop being so fucking cheesy."
"Sorry."
They sat in silence, Hermione not meeting his apologetic gaze.
"Hermione…" He ventured.
"Why did you say all that? And I want the truth."
"Because I knew they were listening."
"They?"
"My friends. I mean…the Slytherins."
"No…you mean your friends."
"They're not my friends. They don't matter."
"Then you wouldn't have said what you just did, if they didn't matter."
"It's not like that. I had to lie to -"
"I lost Harry and Ron for you." She said, altering the truth.
"You did?" She didn't answer.
"I thought you wanted to keep up the pretence though."
"Well I didn't get a choice this time."
"What happened?" Draco asked, after a moment's silence.
"In short, they found out the truth, and now they hate me."
"I'm sorry."
"No you're not. You hate them."
"I know."
"I'm sorry your friends hate me."
"No you're not. You hate them too."
"I know."
They sat in silence for a few more moments before they both started smiling.
"This is really fucked up." Draco said.
"I know."
"I don't really care."
"Me neither."
"That's ok then."
"I know."
"That's starting to annoy me."
"I know."
"I wish you'd stop saying that."
"I know."
"I'll make you stop."
"I know."
He leaned in and softly kissed her. He pulled away and they smiled.
"I don't want to lose you to the Slytherins."
"I don't want to lose you to the Gryffindors."
"Then what are we going to do?"
Draco held her hand. "I don't know."
"Maybe it would be easier if we just…stopped this."
He looked at her. "Is that what you want?"
"No." She said without hesitation.
"Me neither. I say we come clean."
"What?" she asked, shocked.
"Tell everyone. We just need to stick together, ok?"
She searched his eyes for a minute before agreeing.
"Ok." He smiled and put his arm around her, pulling him towards her.
"We don't need them."
"I know." She whispered. "What's going to happen?"
"I don't know. But we'll find out."
Hermione nodded, leaning against his body. She closed her eyes as he kissed her hair. Ten seconds in and she was already scared of her new life at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
*~*~*~*~*
And there ends chapter 24. I am so incredibly amazingly completely sorry that this is so late – I honestly have not had the time to write. I last updated April and then I had exams May and June, then September was all coursework and school. The summer…went way too fast and I'm so sorry I didn't get to update.
Thank you all for your reviews – they really really do help with the story, they inspire me with ideas and also motivate me to write. I'm especially sorry to my faithful reviewers – Femme Fatale, Chaotic Slytherin, LostAngel, Lilmissfrenchy – just a few among many. I usually answer most reviews but I think someone mentioned that it takes away from the story writing such a long after-note. If you have an answer you'd like answered, say so in your review and I'll either post it or email you back.
As always, please leave your email address if you'd like to know when I update.
And I still don't own anything but the plot.