"Oh Dumbledore! Look what they've done to me! They've humiliated me in front of the whole school! I'll never get over this!" Draco cried, hiding behind the old wizard, giving a good impression of being really upset and traumatised, but scowling threateningly at Hermione, over Dumbledores shoulder.
"Dumbledore! I assure you, I had a good reason for doing this! Draco and his gang were going to rape me! They only stopped because my friends turned up just in time! He humiliated me, so I thought I'd give him a taste of his own medicine!" Hermione explained, exasperatedly.
"That's not true! I'd never do anything like that! They've just got it in for me, thats all, because they don't like me! They think accusing me of something like this will get me thrown out of school!" Draco fawned pleadingly at Dumbledore
"He's lying Dumbledore, we practically caught him at it, he deserves to go to Azkaban for this! If it was up to me I'd let the Dementors have him!" Harry said angrily
"Yeah! Everyone knows how he's always had it in for us! We've never done anything to him unless he did something to us first! If I didn't know what trouble I'd be in I'd quite happily rip his balls off with my bare hands! Let alone send him to Azkaban!" Ron concurred
"I think we had better go to my office, to sort this out. Dumbledore said, looking around at the assembled group, "I had better clothe you first though, I think Mr Malfoy!" he said, turning to Draco. Then he pointed his wand at the practically naked Slytherin and uttered "Amicio!" which immediately covered Draco in a rather old fashioned looking robe, much like his own purple one.
They all followed the headmaster as he walked swiftly back towards his office, Draco staying close to his side.
Hermione was worried now, what if there was a chance he could wriggle out of this? Then she remembered her cheek and reached up to touch it.
"What about this Draco! I bet you still have my blood on your ring!" Hermione said triumphantly, pointing to the now half-healed cut, that he'd inflicted on her.
Dumbledore stopped and turned round to look at her over his glasses. At the same time she saw Draco look curiously at his hand, then lift his head up in an unnerving smile. He held his hand up behind Dumbledores back to show that the ring was no longer on his finger. Hermione was taken aback, then berated herself, of course! When she'd got rid of his clothes, the spell must have removed his ring too!
"Hmm, yes, someone has taken a swipe at you! That is a very good job of healing someone has done on you though! Would that be young Ginny's work by any chance?" Dumbledore said smilingly, looking in Ginny's direction. Ginny nodded, her cheeks turning slightly pink from his flattery.
"Do not worry, all of you! The truth will always come out in the end! As you all know by now, there are more ways to find out the truth than mere physical evidence!" Dumbledore said, looking slyly round at Draco this time.
Now it was Draco's turn to look worried
They all walked in silence then; the gang occasionally exchanging scowls between Draco and themselves, apart from Hermione who purposely avoided meeting his gaze. Soon they reached the statue.
Dumbledore merely swiped his wand at the old statue and it opened up to reveal the stairway. Draco made sure he was first, pushing in, then Dumbledore, then the rest of them. Hermione went last to make sure she was as far away from Draco as possible.
Once in his office, Dumbledore conjured up enough chairs for them all to sit on and then sat behind his own desk, cathedraling his fingers up in front of him.
"Now, this is a very serious allegation you have made Hermione, if you feel you can, could you tell me what happened to you?" Dumbledore said calmly
Hermione looked nervously in Draco's direction before starting. He scowled back but then suddenly, for no apparent reason, he smirked.
What the hell is he smirking at? Thought Hermione, shuddering inwardly, then he mouthed one word, slowly,
"S-n-a-p-e". Hermione caught his meaning straight away; if she told Dumbledore the truth, he would tell what he knew about her and Professor Snape. Draco must have presumed that no one else knew and that she wouldn't want anyone to, but the only person in the room who didn't know was Ron. This was exactly what she had been worried about, Ron finding out like this, why hadn't she told him when she had the chance before? Because you were too much of a coward that's why! She admitted sadly to her self.
But then again, he's got absolutely no solid proof. He must know there's a chance no one would believe him! I'll just deny it emphatically anyway! He's just trying to intimidate me! This last thought, strengthened her resolve and she told the kindly old wizard what had happened; not in intimate detail of course, just enough for him to get the idea. Dumbledore looked taken aback, but not shocked. He looked gravely over at Draco, who had tried to butt in several times, but a wave from Dumbledore's wand had silenced him until she had finished.
"Now Draco, what have you got to say for yourself?" Dumbledore asked, reversing the silencing spell and looking over to the now, sullen faced, Slytherin
"I want to see my father before I say anything!" he said, scowling again at the gang
"Very well, but you understand that I cannot let you leave my office until this is resolved" answered Dumbledore
"What! That isn't fair! I didn't do anything, she's making it all up to frame me! The whole lot of them, they've always had it in for me, they just want to get me thrown out of school!" Draco complained plaintively
"But she does have several injuries that point to her being attacked Draco, that is very good evidence I would say and her story is very convincing" Dumbeldore said gravely
Those injuries were probably self inflicted, or maybe she used some sort of spell or something, or her friends must have done them to her, to make it look like she had been attacked! As for that story, it's just something her and her friends have invented between them!" Draco sneered.
"By the way Draco, where are your friends? I would have thought they would be here trying to defend you" Dumbledore asked, raising his eyebrows
Draco was stumped then, his face falling, "they...they.." then he recovered, "I was alone, they waited until I was alone to get me!"
"I see, so your friends were not involved at all then.. it was just you?"
Again Draco was stumped, what could he say, if he said his friends were not involved, then not only would it be a lie, but it could also absolve them of guilt meaning he would take the rap all by himself, if it came down to it. If he said they were involved, it would mean explaining why they hadn't helped stop the four Gryffendors from attacking him. He decided to opt for his earlier statement again
"I'm not saying anything more until I see my father!"
Dumbledore sighed and nodded. "I will call him in then, I will have to call the Ministry also, with the nature of this allegation being so serious." He stated and stood up, looking down at the gang, "you four may go, I will call you back when I need to speak with you again" then he looked sympathetically at Hermione. "Are you quite certain of this my dear, you do not want to refute anything that you have said?"
"No, I want to see justice done" Hermione said quietly, not looking up.
Dumbledore nodded, "I think a visit to Madame Pomfrey would be advisable Hermione, so she can check you over. She will look after you, don't worry."
Hermione nodded, smiling weakly at him.
As soon as they got out of the door, Ron spoke first
"I hope that scumbag doesn't think he's going to get away with this!" he growled
"There's no way he's going to get away with it! All the evidence is against him and even if it wasn't, Dumbledore could use his occlumency skills on him and see for himself what really happened!" Harry stated confidently.
The two boys still carried on talking about what they'd like to do to Malfoy once they had descended the stairs and walked back out into the corridor again.
Suddenly though, Ginny shushed them scowling, for Hermione had started crying and had stopped walking to lean against a wall. She looked as though she was trying her best not to cry for a moment, wiping away her tears, with shaking fingertips. Then the realisation of what had actually happened to her had started to dawn.
Putting her hand to her mouth, as if to stifle a scream, then she closed her eyes tight shut, suddenly letting out great racking sobs. Ginny put her arm around her friend and the boys just stood there looking awkward and concerned.
Hermione couldn't hold in the pain of what happened any longer, she hadn't wanted to break down in front of Draco, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.
She slid down the wall slowly, coming to rest on the floor, curling her legs up against her body.
She brought her hand up to her forehead, running her fingers into her hair.
"Why? Why did he do that to me? Why does he hate me so much! Whatever I've ever done to him, I didn't deserve that! I was so scared and they thought it was funny! It was so humiliating, they could see everything!" she sobbed again, more softly this time. Then she felt the gentle arms of her friends lifting her up.
"Come on, lets get you to Madame Pomfrey" Ginny said kindly
Hermione looked at the concerned faces around her and nodded. With many curious glances from passing students, the group made it's way to the hospital wing.
Once there Hermione was hardly able to stand for her self, she knew that she was in shock and that the anger she had felt before had delayed it only temporarily. As soon as they walked through the doors and Madame Pomfrey saw them, Hermione was swiftly guided onto a bed, the curtains pulled around her, even though there was no one else in there at that time.
"You two can go now " said the old Medi-witch looking at Harry and Ron, "Ginny, you can stay and help"
The two boys reluctantly left the room, probably knowing that it was no use arguing with her.
Hermione was now feeling so tired she just wanted to sleep, but Madame Pomfrey was keeping her awake prodding and poking her.
"What happened?" she asked matter of factly
"It was Draco...he tried to rape her...with his friends watching and holding her down!" Ginny said, now in tears herself at seeing her friend in such distress
"Oh! By Merlins beard, that boy! It is a case of like father like son, then! I knew what Lucius was like, but I was hoping his son would be different. How very disappointing" she said sadly, shaking her head and looking at Hermione sympathetically.
"Don't worry, I'll sort you out" she said in a motherly fashion. Hermione wished her mother was here right now, but she knew that would have to wait.
"Ginny, could you get Hermione undressed please, oh and we'll need to keep her clothing"
Soon Hermione was lying under the covers of the surprisingly comfortable hospital bed, dressed in a top to toe nightdress. Between them Madame Pomfrey and Ginny had healed all of Hermione's bruises and the cut on her cheek, but not before keeping a record of Hermione's injuries in her memory and putting the silvery thread of it in her pensieve. Then, she produced another pensieve
"Hermione you need to do something for me, I can take some of the trauma away for you, but first, you need to think about the attack clearly from start to finish and then put the memories away in here for safe keeping. If you agree to do it, I promise you, that no one will get access to it or be able to tamper with it in anyway, it will be completely safe with me.
Hermione nodded, she just wanted the pain to end, if Madame Pomfrey could do it, the sooner the better.
She remembered the attack, with as much detail as possible, as she had been told, then with great difficulty, as she'd never done it before, she put her wand to her head. Concentrating hard she began to pull off silvery threads of memory into the rock like pensieve. When this was done to the best of her abilities she collapsed back on the bed.
After disappearing for a while, the medi-witch came back with a vial of red liquid
"Now this is a very strong potion, it has the effect of making trauma fade, because it tricks the mind into thinking that whatever happened to you, happened a long time ago. But you must be sure before you take it, as it may affect your memory of the event. With all the evidence I have collected, it is unlikely that you will have to face the ministry for questioning personally, but if this goes to court, there is a small possibility. It is up to you Hermione" said Madame Pomfrey kindly, which was a nice change from her usual rather brusque manner.
Hermione looked at Ginny, who smiled encouragingly, then she nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. The sooner I stop feeling like this the better, because at the moment I can hardly bear to be in my own body."
Hermione closed her eyes then, as if gathering her thoughts "and you say that you have all the evidence and the memory of my injuries in your pensieve, so I will most likely, not need to give evidence personally? I want to stop feeling like this, but at the same time I'm worried Draco may wriggle out of this somehow. What if I forget the attack completely?" she asked concerned
"No, you won't forget it completely the potion isn't that strong, it isn't like the modification spells they do on Muggles to stop them remembering things they shouldn't have seen. No, it just makes the memories easier to bear, there just maybe a chance the detail will fade a little that's all. But don't worry, I'm sure that everything will be fine" Madame Pomfrey reassured her
Hermione took the potion cautiously and drank it down. It was quite pleasant tasting and she soon found her self falling asleep.
Some time later, in the early hours of the morning, Hermione woke up; she had heard a voice in her dreams that was familiar to her. A voice that she hadn't heard for a long time.
As she opened her eyes and they got used to the dim light, she heard the voice again. Someone, was protesting about something and someone else was hushing them. Then realisation dawned; she sat bolt upright, her heart starting to beat faster and her tummy clenching up with excitement. She climbed out of bed and peeked through the still closed curtains, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
She looked out in to the room to see a couple of dark robed figures, magically carrying someone in on a stretcher. Madame Pomfrey was talking in hushed tones, helping guide the new patient carefully onto a bed. The two dark robed figures, which Hermione now recognised as aurors, one of them being Kingsley Shacklebolt, guided the stretcher gently over onto a bed and then Kingsley waved his wand, making the stretcher disappear.
Now the seemingly, rather reluctant patient was in the light, from the lighted candle, sconced on the wall, there was no mistaking who it was.
Hermione's heart leapt and tears of joy sprang into her eyes
"Severus!" she whispered, putting her hand to her mouth, a feeling of immense relief washing over her.