She looked at Draco in shock, disbelief and wonder. She couldn't believe he was here, of all places. Hasn't Dumbledore expelled him for what he did to me? He was in a really bad way. He was covered in bruises and cuts and looked extremely week, but he was sitting up, staring blankly at Hermione.
She was too shocked to react. Somebody definitely had something against her. And why was he here? Why not somewhere, anywhere else!? St Mungos!!!
But something was telling her that the situation was more than it seemed. Something was wrong, and she knew it.
Glaring coldly at him, she turned to walk out. She'd much rather be in the common room with Ron and Harry than in the hospital with him. Walking, and slowly turning her pace into a run, she burst through the infirmary doors and ran flat into something solid. Well... something that was enough to knock her over. Recovering from the fall and shock, again, she stared up to whomever she had just run into.
There, standing directly in front of her stood Dumbledore, Ron and Harry, looking at her with worried yet apprehensive expressions. She closed her eyes, trying to keep herself calm and trying to remain in control of her emotions. She then stood up and looked directly into the headmaster's eyes, not once looking towards Ron, nor Harry.
"Miss Granger, I think you should go back into the hospital wing now" he said, staring at her with the same twinkle in his eyes.
"I'm not going back in there," and she turned to walk around them. She sighed as Ron stuck out his arm to stop her. Glaring at him coldly, trying to push the slight fear she felt to the bottom of her emotional bag, she turned back to Dumbledore, trying to ignore the sick feeling deep inside her.
"You must return to the infirmary now." He said. Something wasn't right. He was hiding something. "Miss Granger, I'm sorry to say it, but we have some explaining to do. At least, Mr Malfoy does. I am here to make sure you do not kill him." He looked at her amusedly "Mr Weasley and Mr Potter were just making sure you were Ok. Apparently you made a rather quick departure from the common room after they had entered." He looked down at her knowingly, the twinkle gone. She looked away.
She knew he would never lie to her. He may hide things, but he would never lie to her. Not Dumbledore, anyway. One of the few people she could trust. She turned and walked back into the hospital, feeling his eyes on her, but not once looking over to Malfoy.
She got into her assigned bed and pulled her blanket around her, which she had most conveniently left in the hospital wing before her quick departure.
Harry and Ron took a seat next to her bed, much to her dismay, and Dumbledore stood near the entrance to the wing.
"It's time you knew the truth, Hermione," said Dumbledore.
"Hermione?" It was Draco. She didn't turn, just stared blankly at her covers. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for taking you to Voldemort, I'm sorry for everything that my father and Voldemort's henchman put you through." She could only vaguely here his voice, and was trying her hardest to ignore him. Really wasn't working.
Still ignoring him, Dumbledore stated- "Draco isn't a death eater, Hermione. He never was. He's on our side." The sick feeling in her stomach increased.
She turned to look at Draco, their eyes locked and it took all her strength to speak – "Way to prove your loyalty." She watched as guilt spread across his eyes. She could see it in his eyes, again. The look that told her he wasn't the evil git he used to be, or he wasn't the evil git people thought he was. There was something hidden deep down inside. What, she didn't know. If she could have, she would have turned and laid down, ignoring everyone. But Draco was on her right and Harry, Ron and Dumbledore on her left. She had no way to turn. She felt like hiding under a rock and staying there.
She turned to Dumbledore and he looked at her sadly. "We need to know what happened from when Draco took you, to when you arrived in Grimmauld Place."
She looked away. "I don't remember" was all she replied.
"Hermione, I know it's hard. But we need to know what happened, it's essential that you tell us." She knew that if she didn't tell them, someone else could get hurt, or they would just keep pestering her until she told. This way, it was said once, and only once, and she wouldn't have to live through it in the future.
Sighing, she replied, "Fine. I don't know how I got there, but I think I was in Malfoy Manner." He nodded. "I was alone in a cell, then someone walked in, bound me, and transported me to this room full of Death Eaters. In the centre was Voldemort. He asked me to join him, or get used as the Death Eaters' play toy." She looked down to her covers. "I refused, and was literally dragged back down to my cell. By the time I was there I could hardly move. He cast the Cruciatus on me, and then once again. I must have fainted because I woke up the next morning in a lot of pain. I knew I had to get out, but I had no wand. I remembered back to before I came to Hogwarts, how I was able to do wandless magic when I needed to the most. I repeated the unlocking spell over and over in my mind until the door unlocked. I walked past a lot of cells until I came to a room. In there was my bounder. He got up, walked towards me, and then turned around to cast a silencing charm on the room. Once his back was turned, I noticed the fireplace in the room. I looked for something to distract him long enough, and found a lit lantern. I threw it as hard as I could towards him and his robes caught fire. I then ran to the fireplace and flood to Grimmauld Place." Silence filled the room. Surprisingly, she wasn't crying. But she did feel sick. She couldn't look at anyone in the room. Not that she needed to, she could almost feel the shock on their faces.
"How many Death Eaters were there?" asked Dumbledore.
"Hundreds" she replied.
"And who was your bounder?"
She looked over at Draco, who was turned on his side away from them, starring blankly at the wall. As if understanding, Dumbledore replied –
"Very well. Harry, Ron, if you could please leave. Professor McGonagall wishes to have a few words with Hermione, and then she must sleep. I'll bid you goodnight, Hermione" and he walked from the room.
She tried to ignore her best friends prying eyes, but then felt arms wrap around her. She flinched immediately, and turned away. They left.
A few minutes later, McGonagall walked into the infirmary. She was looking very tired, and depressed.
"Hello, Hermione. I am here to talk to you about your NEWT level classes."
She nodded.
"Do you have any idea what you plan to take?" she asked hopefully.
"I did think about it. I am planning on taking Defence, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology and I guess I should take Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy."
McGonagall looked rather shocked… "Is that it, Hermione?"
"Yes, professor. I don't really think I need to take any more, and I certainly don't think I want to." She said, rather blankly, and unreassuringly.
"Very well. I will be going to Diagon Alley tomorrow to retrieve your books. Now, get a good nights sleep, school starts up tomorrow." And she walked out the hospital wing, leaving Hermione with Draco. Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen.
Great… not only does school start up tomorrow, but also, I'm stuck with him in the place I hate the most. Why? Why me? She pulled the blanket that was around her, over her head and groaned.
"You still don't trust me do you?" asked Draco. She slowly removed the blanket from her head enough so she could see him and looked over to him and saw he was now sitting up again, looking at her with a look of shear guilt plastered on his face. She felt anger rise inside her; how could he ask her that? After everything he had done!
"Trust? Trust you? How the hell am I supposed to trust you?" she yelled back.
"I understand that, that's why I said it" she rolled her eyes. "But I did mean it when I said I was sorry. I didn't do it to hurt you. I did it because I had to…" and he turned back on his side an laid down, leaving Hermione in even more confusion. (((A/N: Laid? Lye? Lay? Shrugs)))
Hermione sat on her bed, staring at nothing. She wasn't exactly tired, more bored. She wasn't entirely sure about what she was going to do, until she fell asleep. At this point in time she felt totally free. Mind blank, almost numb. She had dwelled far too much on her emotions, and her life, in one day, that she could do no more. Her mind was numb from heartbreak. This gave her the ability to push her emotions away. She knew she had done it, and she was able to keep it there, and it felt good.
Needing to stay this way, she stood up to… well, just walk around and try to keep her attention away from her past. She walked over to a painting on the wall opposite her bed.
Her attention was fully on this work of art. She stared at the night landscape, and watched as the stars in the painting, which must have been charmed, sparkled now and again. She was totally transfixed on the painting. It was so beautiful.
She was lucky. She may have a lot of horrible things in her life right now, but she had friends, people who loved her. She was smart; she could get a good job. And at that point in time, she was the happiest she had been in weeks.
Her attention was drawn to behind her, when she heard a door open and close. Turning around she saw Ron and Harry. They were smiling at her, and she smiled back. These were her two best friends, the ones who loved her more than most things in the world, and she loved them more than anything else.
"How are you feeling?" asked Harry.
"I'm ok, actually. What about you?"
"As well as the latest events will allow me to feel." He replied, smiling slightly at his best friend. "How about we get out of here? Go for a little walk? I could sure do with some air, and we can… er… catch up, I guess"
"I'd like that," and she followed them both out the hospital wing.
They walked along the lonely halls of Hogwarts in silence. It was one of those silences one might have called comfortable, if it had not been for the two men in front of her casting quick, nervous glances at each other every few seconds.
They came to a large statue of a man on a horse, presumably a night, and she could see she was rather close to the Gryffindor common room. They had descended two floors from the hospital wing.
She watched as they looked up to the statue, then looked at each other and nodded. At the exact same time, they both turned around. Ron put a hand over her mouth and Harry grabbed her sides, pinning her to his body. He bought her hands behind her back, and held her tight, pinching slightly.
Shocked, she didn't move. They pulled her into a near by classroom, and Ron turned around to cast a silencing charm on the room. Harry pushed her to sit on the desk, then got his wand out and pointed it straight at Hermione.
Frozen from shock, and fear, she stared at his wand, and then looked at to her two best friends incredulously. What were they going to do? Fear took over her and she went to get up. She was pushed back, however, and landed hard on the floor.
"How are you feeling Hermione?" asked Harry.
"What are you doing?" she asked him back.
"What, you didn't enjoy our little walk?"
"When you said walk, I assumed you meant out side, hence the part about fresh air! Why are we here, and why do you have your wand pointed at me? And, as we are on the subject of why, why did you push me!?" she asked, her voice getting louder and more vicious as she went on. She felt strangely confident. After all, this was Ron and Harry…
They stole each other a glance, then laughed. Laughs that sent shivers up her spine.
"I almost forgot about my new look. You see, Hermione, when you escaped the Dark Lord's clutches like that, you left a mark on your self. Firstly, you were supposed to be our little play toy… we did have some fun with you, not that you would remember that," he laughed evilly, "but I'm afraid you were going to be used as more than that." He looked at her intently. "You were our bait." He said simply. "You see, Potter is very loyal to his friends. Foolish boy, he would do anything to save someone he loves. That's where you came in. But when you escaped, we no longer had our play toy, or our bait. This not only ruined our plans, but also made the Dark Lord extremely angry. Anyone who escapes the Dark Lord's clutches will pay. Dearly."
"You're not Harry, are you?"
"Oh, you catch on quickly. Now, as much as I would love to have some fun with you, the Dark Lord wishes for you to be delivered to him in three minutes" he smirked "therefore, we only have enough time for a little torture."
Not again.
She watched as he pointed his wand at her, and yelled "Crucio". The pain seared through her body like hot lava. It tore at her skin, crushed her bones and left her doubled over in pain. This was unlike the pain she had felt before, it was fiercer, and seemed to be lasting seconds, whereas before it has only been held for a second at most.
As soon as the pain stopped, she heard distant voices. Suddenly, she heard someone yell "Recognosco" before the pain came again, but this time in a different form. She screamed as they kicked her in the ribs and stomach, and complied when they pulled her up by her hair. The last thing she saw was the door open, and a punch to her face, before she passed out.
Shit Happens
Don't forget to review :)