Chapter 4: Sucker for a Sweet Talker

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters.

Warning: Violence and attempted rape. And if you like Ron, this might not be the best story to be reading.

Ron looked at her with suspicion. "Harry just came and talked to me. He said you'd gone off the deep end."

She faked a laugh, "Nope, still on firm ground." She bounced up and down to prove her statement.

He smiled and walked into the common room, without an invitation. Hermione felt her heartbeat quicken and her body tighten. He always made her nervous. Not the good nervous, not he nervous Malfoy had made her feel just minutes ago. Whenever they were alone her skin would start to crawl. Ron was fine when her was around other people. Alone, when they were alone he was her worst nightmare. Part of her wanted to smack the cocky son of a bitch and make him turn back into her Ron. The Ron he was before Ginny's murder. She knew it wasn't his fault, he was having a hard time coping. She hoped that if she was patient enough he would snap out of it. But she knew all she could do was hope.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you. She didn't want to shut the door. No, she wanted to run out it, find Harry, and strangle his skinny little neck. Of course, she knew it wasn't his fault either. He didn't know any better. Why would he? "Hermione did you hear me? I said I was sorry." She could hear the anger starting in his voice.

She shut the door, finally. Smiling, "Yes, of course. I already knew you didn't mean it." Her stomach was churning at the simple fact that she was acting so sickeningly sweet. After their third or fourth encounter, Hermione learned how she had to play his game. If she made him feel better it was so much easier. Somehow, she knew this wasn't going to be easy, no matter how sweet she pretend to be.

She sat down on the couch next to where Ron was standing. "Are you feeling any better? I mean Snape must have given you a real headache after class." She was trying really hard to keep herself giggly and happy.

"I feel fine." He reached down and ran his thumb across her jaw line. "Now, that I know you're okay." He sat down next to her and placed his hand on her thigh. "What is all of this crap Malfoy and Harry have been talking about."

She didn't know what happened, but something in her head snapped. "Ron you need to stop." She removed her hand from her leg. "I don't belong to you. You're like a brother to me, and that's all. Nothing more." She was exasperated. There was no other way to go about this. Sure, Ron was a sucker for a sweet talker, but she wasn't a sweet talker for anyone. Not anymore. He could hit her, kick her, and beat the living shit out of her. She didn't care anymore, she was tired of playing this ridiculous game. Secretly, she was hoping Malfoy would walk down the steps and interrupt before Ron could react.

Suddenly, she was jerked upward. Ron had grabbed a handful of her hair. She let out a tiny whimper but that was all. Screaming would only make him angrier and make this worse for her. With more force than she thought he was capable of he threw her against the wall across from the couch. Her head hit the wall and the room was now spinning. Ron was yelling at her, but she couldn't really hear what he was saying.

"Why do you have to make this so damn hard?" He slapped her. "You couldn't realize that we would have been great together!" He slammed her head into the wall with every word. Silent tears were streaming down her face. After a few seconds, that felt like hours to Hermione, he stopped shaking her. Ever so sweetly he began wiping away the tears that were on her cheeks. "You need to see how great we are together."

When he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek she flinched. His response was a backhand across the face. "You have to knock it off and I promise I won't hurt you." The only response she could give him was a slight nod of her head. It hurt so much, but she had to keep herself in check. As he began kissing her she detached her mind from her body. The last time this happened it hurt so much. She wasn't willing to go through it again, but as it stood she had little choice in the matter. The only thing that was running through her head right now was how much she would kill to back four months. Her tears were falling uncontrollably as his hands roamed all over her body. His mouth was sucking on her ear. Suddenly, he stopped.

"What the hell is that?" Slowly, she raised her hand to the spot on her neck that Ron was pointing to.

"I…I don't know." Her mind kicked into over gear. What the hell is he talking about? Potions, fight, bathroom, Harry, Malfoy. Malfoy! Ron would kill her, literally, if he found out.

"Don't you lie to me! Don't you dare lie to me!"

"I honestly haven't a clue." Grabbing her by the throat her slammed her against the wall, again.

"Stop lying, you fucking whore. So is better than me? Did you have fun fucking Harry while I was being tortured!" As if he had room to complain about being tortured. There he stood holding the girl he, supposedly, loved by the throat treating her like some sort of punching bag.

"It wasn't Harry I swear!" He tightened the grip on her throat. She let out the scream the she had been holding in. "Please, let go!" It was hoarse due to the lack of air. Without warning he dropped her. She couldn't lift her had. The entire time her eyes were closed with pain she heard a struggle, and then, "I thought earlier was an accident. Maybe, I was wrong."

Hermione opened her eyes to see Malfoy holding Ron by the collar of his shirt. Not good, not good at all. Blood was dripping steadily from her noise and mouth. With as much confidence as she could collect she said, "Malfoy, let him go." The response she received was a look of pure confusion. "This isn't your business. Let him go."

Without questioning her he let go of Ron. By now Hermione was on her feet, the wall aiding her balance. Ron went to lunge at Malfoy. "Ron, I need help. Could you give me a hand?"

Ron gave Malfoy a glare and went to help Hermione.

"I don't want him in here anymore."

"That's not your choice." Ron was holding Hermione by the arm. His blood was boiling. It was as if the past 15 minutes had never happened. In his mind, they hadn't.

"Malfoy, fine." She turned to Ron. "Ron, I need to keep peace with him for the rest of the year. Please?"

They walked towards the door. Ron made an attempt to wipe the blood away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…" Hermione smacked his hand away.

"Just go."

As she slammed the door he tried to plead again. With the door between Ron and her, she felt safe. With Malfoy in the room, strangely, she felt safe. Normally, she would have sat down and cried, but he was still in the room. She took a deep breath and waited for the room to stop spinning. Malfoy was staring at her with a look a concern on his face.

"What? Happy to see the Mudblood get what she deserves?" She rushed past him to the bathroom. She hated this part. Cleaning the bruises and cuts and healing the bones was almost as bad as the beating. And this was the second time she had to clean herself up. Her breathing was shallow and her heart was racing. Right now all she cared about was making sure Malfoy didn't see her cry.

Malfoy had followed her into the bathroom again. "He's done it before, hasn't he? And you knew he would do it again, that's why you have all this stuff."

"Go away." She said it with little force. Her body was too tired to fight. Not to mention her attempts in cleaning her cuts were failing miserably. Her hands were shaking terribly.

"Here." He took the towel from her. She slapped him.

"I am not some helpless little girl, Malfoy. I've done this before and I can do it now. I don't know what the fuck you think your doing, but I'm not some fucking charity case to help you regain your popularity!" That was it, the dam broke and her tears fell. Instead of lashing out or yelling back, he lifted her up and sat her on the counter and started wiping the blood and tears away. They struggled for awhile, but Hermione finally caved, not wanting to piss another man, who had the power to beat her, off.

After a few moments of silence, "This is your fault, you know."

He looked at her shocked. He continued cleaning her up. Whispering a few healing charms and bruise fading spells. "How so?"

"First off, if you would have kept your mouth shut about Harry, he would have never snapped. He was fine for two weeks. I was foolishly thinking it was over and he was all better, but nope. You could have minded your own business for once. And then, he saw this." She pointed to the hickey he had given her. "He thought me and Harry had a make out session."

"What would have done if he had know it was me?"

"He would have granted your wish."

"What wish?"

"That this mudblood was dead and buried." There was brief silence. When she realized that he had finished cleaning her up she stood to leave. He looked at her with a blank stare. What could he possibly say to prove her wrong? He didn't hate her anymore than he hated his mother. "Thank you, Malfoy. I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier."

With that she fled to her room.

A/N: My request is that you read and review. Why? Because I'm self-conscience and need to know what others think of me.

Next Chapter: Umm…not too sure yet. Maybe a sex, but don't count on it. I hate rushing the DM/HG relationship, because it seems unrealistic. They'll definitely get closer next chapter. And what does Hermione do about Ron?