Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing with her world

Chapter 9: Everything's Fine!

As soon as Hermione was sure that Harry had fallen asleep, she gingerly unwrapped herself from his grip and ran out of her bedroom. She wrenched open the door and barely made it to the toilet. Hermione fell to her knees and stuck two fingers down her throat making herself throw up many times just trying to get rid of the contents of her stomach. Soon she was breathing deeply resting on the side of the toilet. Hermione stood up, went over to the sink and starting brushing her teeth, but looking at herself and thinking of what she did, the bile rose in her throat as she threw up again wanting this to be the last time. Hermione brushed her teeth a few times more, which made her gums bleed, but she didn't care; the physical pain took away from her aching heart and mind. She washed her mouth out with mouthwash and felt the sting on her gums. The peppermint filled her taste buds with something other then Harry, for that she was grateful.

Hermione made her way quietly down the stairs and to the couch, favoring to sleep there, instead of in the arms of a man that wasn't Severus. That thought stopped her in her tracks. 'Oh, gods Severus! What have I done? I can't believe I did that to him, I cheated on him!' Hermione walked to the couch and cried herself to sleep.

Hermione's dreams were nightmares. They were filled with laughter at her, scorning, and the worst of all Severus leaving her. Laughing in her face, telling her that he could never love her. All she was to him was a great fuck and that was it. Many times during the night Hermione woke up, with sweat dripping down her face, breathing deeply.

Early in the morning she was awakened by Sirius and Remus, gently shaking her.

"What happened, love? Why are you here and Harry is in your bedroom?" Sirius asked the question but Remus sat down next to her, trying to comfort her as he saw the red trails on her face that could have only come from crying. He put an arm around her and Hermione rested her head on his shoulder.

Hermione told them about the night before and how she had cried herself to sleep when she thought of how badly she had cheated on Severus. The two were still disgusted when she would talk of her past relationship with him, but they knew now was not the time to bring that up.

"It's OK now. We're here and we are going to take care of you." Remus said this as if he was her knight in shining armor.

Hermione laughed at his dramatics. "Thank you, boys, I really appreciate that."

"No problem, love, we are always going to be here for you, even if we aren't" As he said this, Sirius was confused by his own words, and got a rise out of Hermione making her face light up with laughter. Soon Remus joined in, as all three of them were on the ground laughing.

As soon as he had caught his breath, Remus sighed out, "Why are we even laughing?" They stifled their laughter but soon cracked up once more.

Hermione's day had definitely started better then the last one had ended. Sirius and Remus fixed her breakfast and promised to take her out for a walk in the park and go out shopping all day. Her day had been wonderful, until her boyfriend walked sleepily down the staircase, rubbing his eyes as the sunlight poured in from the window.

The second Hermione saw Harry the bile rose in her mouth and she was about to throw up when she felt a reassuring hand on her knee from Sirius.

"Hey, baby!" Harry exclaimed. "Ohhh, that's smells good. Make me some breakfast did you? Thank you, just bring it upstairs and we can eat in bed." Waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive nature. Harry stepped forward to grab a plate and Hermione, he was definitely hoping to get further then last night. But to the relief of Hermione, Remus spoke up.

"Sorry Harry, but Sirius, Hermione, and myself are just about to leave, so you shall have to eat by yourself." This comment made Hermione and Sirius suppress their laughter as they all knew what Harry had wanted and how Remus had suggested to fix that little problem.

Remus locked eyes with Hermione as she mouthed "Thank you". He smiled in return. "So we bid you a good day Mr. Potter." He regally bowed and held out his arm for Hermione, as did Sirius at the exact same time.

"Now, now boys, there's no need to fight for me, there's plenty to go around." They walked out the door, the hard wood shutting off the noise from their laughter. Harry scowled in disgust as HIS girlfriend basically made herself a slut to his god-father and his best friend. A streak of wild possessiveness hit him, as did the thought, 'I need to get that woman in line. She is mine and will be no matter what!'

After that instant Harry became more and more demanding of Hermione, raising his hand to her whenever she would talk back to him or disobey him. His possessiveness had taken a hold of him and whenever the two would be out together, Harry would have an arm around her or holding her somehow. At first it was just a slight annoyance, like a gnat circling her head, but it soon got much worse. Hermione's 'punishments' became so serious that her make-up would hardly cover the multiple bruises, and she developed into this reclusive person sticking by Harry's side all the time.

Remus and Sirius were the first to notice the change in her personality. Her inquisitive nature had gone soft and she would hardly speak without looking to Harry first, almost to get permission so that she could speak. The night that it all came to a head for them, when she called out for the only help she would call out for, for a long time.

"Sirius, Remus, can I get your help?" They heard her call out to them from her bedroom. Her voice wavering a bit.

"Of course, dear, what's the matter?" Remus entered the room and was appalled to see Hermione's arm purple and red. He saw fingers marks and scratches. He was sure Harry had done this and James's boy or not, Harry would not get away with this. "Oh gods, Herm, what happened to you?" He walked over to her and gently sat on her bed to check on her arm.

As she felt his fingers lightly going over her arm, she pulled it away. These quick movements made her cry out in pain holding her arm close to her chest. "Nothing I fell on my arm when I was coming into my room. I don't know if it is broken or not but it really hurts." Hermione's eyes filled with stinging tears.

Sirius had come into the room and saw a clearly beaten up Hermione crying and holding her arm. He didn't know how it had happened but he knew that Harry and Hermione's seemingly perfect relationship had gone so wrong somewhere.

"Oh love, lets get you somewhere to get that all fixed up." Sirius whispered sadly, coming over to her bed and picking her up gently.

That night was just too much, as Sirius and Remus got her broken arm fixed, and her also apparently two broken ribs. Time was of the essence as they knew she was being beat up and needed to talk as soon as possible before something really bad happened that she would not be able to walk away from so easily.

"Hermione, are you and Harry ok?" Sirius asked her one day, as they were eating lunch.

Hermione looked around quickly, scared almost. "Yes, we are fine. Fine. Just fine." She said this but Remus and Sirius were not stupid. Both knew that when a girl said 'Fine' in that tone of voice, it usually meant 'Horrible, bad, HELP ME!!'

Remus walked forward and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Hermione, you can tell us what's wrong. We'll get you help."

But Hermione pushed his hand off and got in a distinctly defense stance. She screamed that she was fine and that they were making to big a deal out of little injuries. The two men stood in shock as she stormed up the stairs into her room, leaving them in her wake.

Hermione may have said things were fine but no one believed her one bit. And they had good reason. Company would come over sometimes, friends of Remus, Dumbledore, anyone they could find but the same thing would happen every day. Sometime during the day she would be hauled to her feet by Harry, dragging her up stairs. They would hear muffled screaming and cries. Thuds would follow, and a few minutes later Harry would come down, looking quite pleased with himself, followed by Hermione who looked very small and shy with a new coat of makeup on. Nobody would help her, nobody believed that the famous Harry Potter would be beating up on the beautiful, strong, Hermione Granger.

The weeks passed and Hermione would constantly be beaten then made to act like nothing happened. Her only time of solace was at night. Every night she would dream of a dark prince that would come and save her from the world. But when she awoke the visions would dissipate and she would have face the real world with a fake smile.

Harry had become so much more terrible to her. He had almost raped her a few times when she refused to sleep with him. Hermione protective walls were always up, she didn't let anything get in or escape out.

A few weeks before school started, Harry with Hermione following obediently behind him, went to stay at the Burrow for the remainder of their summer vacation. Remus and Sirius were so worried what may happen to Hermione if they weren't around. They told Mrs. Weasley to keep an eye on the couple and to inform them if bad things started to happen.

Ron ran down the path to the couple walking up to the front door. "Harry, Hermione! How have you guys been?" Ron hugged both of them, although he was kind of shocked when Harry gave him a dirty look when he hugged Hermione. But he ignored it, thinking it was part of his imagination.

"We've been great!" Harry exclaimed really stressing the 'We've' just to make sure Ron knew what was in his possession.

"Great" Ron had a smile on his face that showed just how much he really did miss his best friends. "Hey, 'Mione how was your month alone?" Hermione started to answer using that well formed and memorized lie, but Ron spoke up, saving her from having to lie to Ron. "No wait, let me guess. Did the summer homework, read, and, oh gods could it be, read some more?" Hermione smiled at her best friend, happy that she could have something to laugh about again.

"Yeah Ron, that's about exactly what I did."

Ron slowly led them in the house, getting them ready for the attack that the Weasley's called a greeting. Once the three stepped in the door, Hermione was enveloped into a hug by Mrs. Weasley and had the wind knocked out of her by the double bear hugs of Fred and George. But then she heard it. What screamed like a banshee and moved as loud as an elephant and as fast as a cheetah, ran down the stairs and lunged herself at her.

"Hermione!" Ginny shrieked out. "I've missed you much." Hermione was hugged fiercely by her best girl friend. "It will be so nice to have another girl around the house for a while."

Ginny quickly grabbed her hand to force lead Hermione up to Ginny's room. But as Ginny was pulling, Hermione was stopped, and swung around by her hand that was still being held by Harry.

"Oh, don't worry Harry, I'll return her safe and sound." Still Harry didn't let go of Hermione's hand. The room grew into an uncomfortable silence as everyone watched the exchange.

"Come on, Harry let her go." Ginny said getting worried about the way Harry was acting. The look that was now on his face was scaring her more then the scene in front of her.

Hermione turned to face Harry. "Harry, I'll be fine." She pleaded with him. But he just gripped her hand even harder, until it was turning from tan to white to a sickening blue-ish color. "Please!" She whispered to him, the pain on her face apparent.

Harry looked around and saw the faces of the people looking at him. He loosened his grip a little and pulled Hermione in for a kiss that was meant for her lips, but thanks to the quick reflexes of Hermione, it landed on her cheek as she moved her head. He looked deep in her eyes, and glared menacingly at her, and at last dropped her hand.

Hermione and Ginny ran up the stairs leaving Harry to glare at their backs and the Weasley's shifting nervously from left to right.

"So, who's ready for lunch?" Mrs. Weasley asked breaking the silence. "I'm sure you must be starving Harry."

Harry looked Mrs. Weasley and spoke as if the last two minutes hadn't occurred. "Of course Mrs. Weasley, I'm always hungry for your wonderful food." He laughed to himself and looked over to Ron, Fred, and George who just chuckled lightly and awkwardly.

She led them all into the cramped, cozy kitchen to prepare lunch.

The two girls finally reached Ginny's room. She shoved Hermione in and locked the door.

"Ok, Hermione, you're my best friend, right?" Hermione nodded her head. "Right then, what in the bloody hell, was that all about back there? I thought you and Harry were doing great."

"We are going great. Back there was just nothing."

"Oh, don't start that crap with me Herm. I know something's up with you and you are going to tell whether you like it or not!"

Tears flowed down Hermione as her face reddened with frustration and embarrassment. The story came out from what happened on the train when Harry first asked her out, to the month with a boy she met (not yet revealing his name, even though Ginny protested a bit), to staying with Harry, Lupin, and Sirius, the beatings and punishments, at last to where they are now.

Throughout the entire story Ginny was a perfect listener, adding in "Bastards" and "bloody hells" at the right moments. But mainly she kept a look of surprise on her face as her mouth formed a slight "O".

With the story out in the open Hermione could definitely say that she felt much better. Yes, she had told Sirius what happened but it just wasn't the same. Sometimes you just need to talk to a girl. For the 50th time Hermione sighed as her mind wondered back to the most perfect month as Ginny sat there still processing the information.

Soon Ginny was asking and asking for the name of who the man was. The questioning became too much as Hermione told Ginny, who took the news with a slight nod of the head.

"Wow…" Was all Ginny could really say after about five minutes of digesting what her friend had just told her.

"Yeah that's about right." Hermione sighed out.

"And you..."

"Uh, huh"

"But you haven't…?"

"Nope and I never will."

This halting conversation spoke in perfect girl language that yes Hermione had lost her virginity to Snape but that she wouldn't sleep with Harry, ever.

For the next two minutes the friends sat in companionable silence.

"So what are you going to do when we go back to school?" Ginny asked.

A/N: Ahhh, there's the chapter. Thank God for Thanksgiving break for me to write this. And thanks to all my reviewers. Please keep reviewing it makes me happy and keeps my fingers on the keyboard. Oh and also my beta, bloomgirl247, has almost finished her story, Harry Potter and the Book of Deception, and she is starting new story. So yay for her.

And for anyone who doesn't know yet, J.K. Rowling is announcing the release date of the 6th book, in 24, WHEEE! BYE