Disclaimer: I own nothing except the story line; no characters, no charms or potions, just me; that's about it!
A/N: Sorry this is a few days later than I said it'd be, I just found out that my friend, who is also suffering from an eating disorder like myself, has gotten really sick and has now dropped down to less than 80 pounds. I'm really scared for her, and I've been trying to help her a lot this weekend, but I promise that the next one will be out by late this week (I already have it written) I promise. I plan on making these next few chapters a bit faster, more in-depth. It took four chapters to get through the first night… I hope the next two will go quite a bit faster. Let me know if you think the pace is too fast or too slow still. In fact, any ideas or questions, just let me know in a review, I promise to answer them in the next chapter! Thanks to all my reviewers so far, they make me write a LOT faster :D Also, WARNING… this chapter will have heavy eating disorder/depression themes with possible implied rape (as seen in last chapter), so if this offends you, I'm sorry, I really am. If you want it out, let me know. I would feel bad if I offended anyone.
Previously: Sobbing lightly, she turned her face towards him. The moonlight from the window caught a tear and it hit Draco that she was honestly pleading for him to keep quiet. "Please," she whispered silently, turning her head back towards the wall and wrapping her arms around herself before pulling her legs into a tucked position and lying her head against the stall door. Draco walked towards her again and although she slightly twitched as he lay his hand on her shoulder, she let herself melt into his grip.
"Hermoine…" Draco whispered, as Hermione's charms began to fall. Her beautiful face became riddled with bruises and cuts, her arms and legs thinned and paled, them too covered in bruises. Brown, full eyes met silver ones and both filled with tears, either unable to say anything. She ducked her head as he gently cupped her chin in his hand and raised her eyes to meet his.
"Please, don't ask and don't say anything," she quietly begged. "Please Draco." With that, she slowly turned around and he watched her walk quickly back to her bedroom and heard the click of her lock. Draco sighed, unknowing of what to do next. He watched the door, hoping she would walk back through and tell him everything that was wrong. But, she didn't, and after ten minuets of door-watching, he, too, turned around and went back into his room.
First week of classes passed rather quickly and the seventh years found themselves shocked at the difficulty the current year brought. Harry and Ron were pondering at breakfast the next week, among other things.
"Harry, have you seen much of 'mione lately?" Ron asked quizzically.
"Nah, mate. You?" Harry asked, wondering when the last time was that they had actually saw the brown-eyed girl.
"Nope. It isn't like 'mione to skip out on meals. Or on homework time," Ron added, a bit worried. It wasn't like Hermione to just start skipping out on everything and ignoring everyone. She had even gotten quieter in classes, unknowingly sparking her teachers' attention.
"Ah don't worry about it mate, she's a smart girl. I bet she's just putting in extra study time, since she has to spend three hours a night with that slimy git patrolling the halls. She has a kitchen in their room, don't forget," Harry added, brushing off Ron's concern for the other friend.
"Yea, I guess you're right…" Ron faded off, still thinking about the girl. 'I wonder if she'd like some company in the library,' he wondered to himself. At least that way he could get to spend some time with her. He missed her so much, everything about her; her laugh, her smile, the way she constantly prodded him to get his work finished. Without her around, he was forced to rely on himself and Harry to remember due dates and fancy spells and charms that she otherwise would have known. But it wasn't just the homework help he missed. He missed how she could brighten his day with just a couple of words, and how she could make both him and Harry excited about life, and at times, learning. He began to realize that he truly cared about the girl and both missed and worried about her lack of presence around the Great Hall.
Ron got up quickly, mind made up, and walked towards the doors of the Great Hall. "Where are you going, mate?" Harry asked the fellow Gryffindor.
"I'm going to see Hermione," he responded. Harry just smiled and shook his head. Harry laughed and told himself that Ron might not be as hopeless as formerly thought.
Ron started to walk down the hall towards the library when he heard a crash from that direction. He began to jog and than picked it up and started sprinting towards the doors of the library. Throwing them open, he was met by a glare from the librarian. "SHHH!" She said in a loud whisper, finger to lips, still glaring.
"Sorry," Ron whispered. "I just came running when I heard a crash; I was worried." He started to walk back towards where he thought the crash came from, back where Hermione used to sit, diligently filling out essays and tearing through books.
"Son, no one's back there except a few house elves. I suppose you are here for them? Don't bother, they're too busy working to notice anyone and they'd rather not associate with you anyways," the librarian added, obviously still on edge from the crash and the door slam.
Ron went back there anyways and like the librarian said, there was no one back there except a few house elves. Ron was about to turn around and walk out, but was met with a crash from Dobby.
"Dobby, what's going on? Who did this?" Ron asked Dobby, worried that he might already know the answer. Dobby just shook his head. "Please tell me Dobby," Ron pleaded.
"Dobby can't tell Mister Ron. Miss Hermione wouldn't want anyone to know," Dobby said. "Oh no!" He squealed, slamming his head into the bookcase. "I… already …said …too …much!" He slammed his head one more time before Ron was finally able to hold him down.
"Shhh!" Exclaimed the librarian, making her way towards the pair.
"I have to get of here Dobby, but please, tell me why Hermione was here." Ron pleaded again.
"All Dobby knows is Misses was here, doing research, them she didn't feel well and knocked a bunch of books over before running out," Dobby explained, looking around, looking for something to hurt himself with, but Ron's strength easily overtook the house elf's. Ron looked down at some of the books she was looking at. Muggle Nutrition for the Magical Folk, Muggle Exercise for the Magical Unfit, What to Do When You Don't Play Quidditch But Still Want To Be Healthy, Diet Fads and Magical Ignorance, and Calorie Counting for the Ignorant, were just a few of the titles on the table.
Ron stood in silence, 'Why would Hermione need books on nutrition and exercise. Especially since she's part of the muggle world, wouldn't she know about the basics anyway?' Ron began to get worried about his best friend. Things weren't right and he wanted to get some answers.
"Dobby," Ron asked. "Where did she go? Did she go to the Great Hall, or to the kitchens attached to her common room?"
Dobby stood there for a second. He apparated from Ron's grip and reappeared next to him, running his head into a bookcase, knocking off another stack of books. Ron reached out and grabbed the elf again, the librarian about 10 feet. Dobby shook his head and looked sadly at the redhead. "Misses never goes into the kitchens, mister Ron. Never. She never eats in there, always sits in here!" With that, all of the house elves apparated, leaving Ron alone with a mess of books, an angry librarian and a lot of explaining to do. Ron took the hint and tore off in the opposite direction, calling out, "Sorry!" to the now very angry librarian. He barely slipped out the doors as she caught up with him and he took off running down the hallway.
Ron walked around for awhile, wondering about Hermione. With all the new information he was frightened she might be in over her head. After about five minuets of pacing around, a door appeared. Puzzled, Ron pushed the door open only to be met with a room full of exercise equipment, something he had read about in books but only seen once, at his dad's office. It had been a bike that was transfigured from a few spare wheels but kept the rider on for 3 hours; a bad joke that caused many injuries, and thus had been confiscated by the Ministry of Magic.
In this room there were over ten machines, each devoted to a different exercise. Realizing that he was in the Room of Requirement, he wondered why there was all this extra stuff in there. All he wanted was to find Hermione. His question was answered quickly, when out of nowhere, another door opened and out walked a very thin figure. Not realizing it was Hermione, he questioned to the figure, still on the opposite side of the room, "Have you seen Hermione? Do you know her?" The figure jumped, only now realizing she wasn't along, and screamed.
"Ron! What are you doing in here? GET OUT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screamed before running back into the adjoining room and slamming the door. Ron walked near and tried to speak with her through the door, still in a bit of disbelief.
"'Mione, come out please?" He begged. "I'm worried about you. Please come out here?" His requests were met with emptiness. "Fine!" He screamed. "If you want to screw around and just ignore the people who care about you then fine, you get what you want! I'm gone." With that, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door. Collapsing on the other side, he hit himself. 'What did I just do?' He asked himself, realization hitting him. Everyone thought he was a little thick, and although he agreed he wasn't too smart in some areas, he knew what was going on. She wasn't eating and she worked out a lot. She stopped paying attention in class and looked like a skeleton in there, although normally she looked healthy, which only meant that she wore charms in front of others. There was only one explanation of what was going on. "Malfoy," Ron spoke, voice heavy with venomous hate.
Hermione had listened to all of Ron's words from the other side of the door but did not respond. 'He'd never understand' she told herself, sobbing lightly. He would never understand the pain and hate it took to even get out of bed in the morning. Never would he understand how much she hated who she was and how much she just wanted it to be over. She stood, woozily, and walked towards the sink in the room. Looking into the mirror, she sighed and pulled out her wand, saying a quick incantation and watching the charm fill in the spaces between her hollow bones and indented cheeks, covering the bruises and scars at the same time.
Slowly, she walked out into the other room and untransfigured all the equipment in the room. Not even the Room of Requirement was able to make muggle equipment, which is why she researched how to transfigure them herself. Unfortunately, she had blacked out right as she stood to leave, knocking over a stack of books, so she ran from the library right before Ron walked in, obviously looking for the brunette. Waiting a few more minutes before daring to walk out of the room, she sat on the floor and dozed off a bit.
A/N: I already have the next chapter finished, but I'm waiting for a bunch of reviews before I post it. Otherwise I'll believe that this chapter stinks, though I hope it doesn't. If you have any questions, or ideas/comments, feel free to leave them in a review. I'll respond to them here. Thank you to all my reviewers so far, but I'm kind of sad that I've only gotten 15 reviews seeing as that I'm already up to the fifth chapter and I have over 700 views. Make my day and hit the review button below. Please: ( Thank you:D