A/N: this chapter is the bulk of the dark themes I talked about earlier- so this really isn't for the weak of heart. Hope you enjoy it :)
Ron Weasley wandered down the snowy streets of Hogsmeade looking for the proper treat for Hermione. She liked Chocolate Frogs, but he'd begun to think that she got them just to give Ron the collector's card. Lately, the more than difficult Harry Potter and Ron Weasley cards were his new favorites. But what would Hermione enjoy? He thought of what Hermione liked to do. Read, obviously. Read and tell people what to do and how to do it. He grinned as his mind to led places it definitely ought not. As much as he was attempting to hide his feelings, he began to think about Hermione telling him what to do and exactly how to do it. Maybe even on top of him, or pushing his head toward a certain location. He smiled and sighed. He loved her more than he could've ever imagined loving anything. Just after these few short days, it was more than obvious that the two of them were meant to be together and that he was meant to spend the rest of with her.
Laughter caught him off guard and he looked down the street. He saw the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes set up directly opposite of Zonko's Joke Shop. He saw four young boys wandering out of Zonko's with a mysteriously familiar piece of parchment in their hands. He almost laughed with them as he heard one of them mutter "mischief managed!" and carefully place the paper in his pocket. Ron walked past them and straight into Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes to search through their selection of various and more than often sensual candies and toys. He wandered and wandered until he came upon a section with lots of chocolates and things that would, under the proper circumstances, give off chocolate scents and taste like chocolate, too. In the end, after much debating and arguing (mainly with himself about what is and is not appropriate for the first sexual encounter) he opted to purchase a dozen roses that changed color based on mood and also turned into chocolate when the receiver told the roses he or she was hungry. Proud of his purchase, he walked out the door and headed down towards their small and cozy hotel having absolutely no idea what was happening inside the room to the woman he loved.
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"Aww, Granger, you know, it doesn't have to be this way."
She kept fighting. She wouldn't let him do this. She knew she was strong enough, only she couldn't think long enough to manage a non-verbal spell, much less scream one out loud at him. So she did the only thing she knew to do. She just kept fighting.
"All you had to do was nothing!" he screamed as he slapped her. "You and your fucking friends! But now we're done. Well, we decided that all of precious Potter's friends will just suffer. We can't touch him much anymore. But we can certainly touch his other friends, especially you." He ripped her blouse in half without any effort whatsoever. He began rubbing her breasts.
"STOP IT!" Hermione screamed at him. "GET OFF ME!"
He laughed at her while his hands continued to roam. "As much as I enjoy fighting you, Granger, there are things that just need to be done." At that moment, she felt it. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak, she couldn't fight. All she could do was lay there and take it as it came. He bent down and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Cheer up, Granger. You'll get to know how it feels to be with me, which is much better than what you'd get from Weasley… speaking of him- too bad he won't be here to rescue you. I've been watching you two your whole damn trip- he wouldn't leave you alone would he?" His hands began pulling off her skirt and tears began to pour down her face. "No matter now. I've got you here and I plan to work off some of this built up frustration. Of course, you are a step down from my usual caliber of women, but I think I'll enjoy this one even more, Granger." A horrible grin slid across his face as he pulled off the remainders of Hermione's knickers. "This will be fun. You're still a virgin, yea? 'Course you are. Been waiting for Weasley to step up to the plate, I bet. Well, when he finally does, you'll know what a good fuck really feels like, Granger." He kissed her stomach with the same sick grin across his face.
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Ron continued to wander around Hogsmeade searching for a nice present for Hermione. He wanted to buy her something beautiful, something she could be proud of and something that was from him. He walked into a store that looked like it might have what he was looking for. He walked around, browsing through all the jewelry, the dress robes, the picture frames. He saw them at that moment. He walked over the counter in possibly the most hurried pace he could've imagined. Only something stopped him abruptly, something bad. He looked around. For some reason he felt like he just heard Hermione in his head… worst of all- she'd said "Help me, Ron." After approximately 2.2 seconds of thinking, he made a mad dash for the hotel room, hoping Hermione would still be there, and that she would still be all right. What could've happened? And how the hell did Hermione get in his head? He ran harder. He had to make sure nothing bad was happening.
When he finally reached the hotel, he felt so cold and so hot. He was sweating from the running but at the same time, felt as if his nose was about to fall off from freezing. He ran up one flight of stairs, two, then three. He turned left and ran down the hallway, the door was locked. "Fuck this." He said to himself. He walked back to the wall and ran as hard as he could into the door. It fell straight to the floor. In the middle of the floor Ron saw Hermione, frozen in her state, a black eye, her clothes ripped to the floor, tears running down her face with countless bruises and cuts and a pool of blood between her legs. His breathing got ragged and his anger grew. He looked at the man on top of Hermione. He was laughing and moaning, the obvious cause of Hermione's state.
"You fucker!" Ron screamed. "I'll KILL you!" He ran over and pulled him off of Hermione and began beating him. He didn't really remember much after that, his hands were swinging. He got hit a few times as well, he was sure. But he couldn't remember anything after that. He was so angry, angry at this man for violating Hermione the way he had, angry at himself mainly for letting this happen, angry that he wasn't there to stop this before it had happened.
He'd allowed Draco Malfoy to rape Hermione Granger.
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Hermione lay in the floor, watching the scene around her. Ron was senselessly beating Draco, not nearly holding back. Draco's blood was going everywhere. Ron was going to kill him, and she couldn't stop him. Then, just as Ron threw Draco against the wall, he looked at Hermione, gave a huge grin and at once she could move again. She immediately sat up. "Ron.. please, please stop." She attempted to stand up, but her legs were so weak that she fell down again. Draco let out another laugh and Ron continued his assault on Draco. "Ron!" Hermione finally yelled. "If you keep this up, you'll kill him." She said through her more than obvious tears. "Then you'll be in Azkaban even longer than him. I won't lose you, Ron. I can't live with out you." Ron left Draco lying in his own blood on the floor as he walked over to a naked and violated Hermione. He immediately took off his whit button up shirt and covered Hermione. He wrapped his arms around her and she sobbed into his shoulder. They heard a loud banging on the door. "What's going on in there?" It was Madam Rosmerta. Ron looked down at Hermione and picked her up, placed her gingerly on the bed and covered her up. He kissed her on the cheek while whispering promises of returning quickly. He turned around to take Malfoy outside to the crowd. Only Malfoy wasn't there, the little fucker had apparated right out of the room. No matter, all that mattered to Ron was that Hermione was all right. They needed to go back to his flat, where there were a variety of charms and protections. He could at least take care of her there. He walked outside, prepared to tell everyone in the hallway nothing- just that he and Hermione needed to check out immediately. He wasn't going to hurt her anymore than she already had been today.
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Ginny Weasley stared blankly towards her brother as the healer was in the back room. She knew Hermione wouldn't want anyone to see her, and she knew as proud as Hermione was, she would be more than ashamed of herself at this moment, when she needed help the most. She felt horrible, her best friend in the back room being checked on the insides for permanent damage and for how she must feel. She looked over to Ron, he looked absolutely miserable. He looked as if he hadn't slept and also so confused and pained. She looked at Harry. She didn't need to even ponder what he was thinking. She knew Harry and she knew that he felt that all of this was his fault, as if there was anything he could've done to stop it. There was no use arguing with him, Ginny knew that all she could do was comfort the both of them. Glancing back towards Ron, she couldn't help but wonder what was going in his mind; he looked like he was deep in thought. He was staring blankly out the window of his flat outside at the trees and birds.
"I was going to propose to her that night."
"Ron… You can't blame yourself for this you didn-"
"Yes I did, Gin. I told her she could trust me and that she was safe with me and now… Well, I reckon she'll never trust me again. I'd deserve it too."
"Ron, I'm sure she'll still want to marry you. She always wanted to be with you and I've never seen her happier than when she was with you. Her face lights up, her smile brightens, she's just happy, Ron. Don't take that away from her because you feel responsible for something Draco Malfoy did. You didn't do it, Ron."
They sat in silence for a few moments until they heard Ron's bedroom door open and then close. Ron immediately stood up.
"Mr. Weasley" the healer began. "I'd like to speak with you if you don't mind."
Ron got up and walked outside his flat with the healer. "How is she?"
"Oh, she's much better than expected. No permanent damage, other than mentally, of course. She had a bit of internal bleeding, but since you owled so promptly, I was able to fix it without it causing any major problems. Now, as for her mental state, she seemed to think that her friends, and you especially would hate her now, and she's quite distraught. It is my understanding that the two of you are romantically involved, and she cares for you quite a bit, I really think that Miss Granger should not be left alone for quite the while. My recommendation is that she stays here with you for a few weeks at least, until the shock wears off. She's very upset; Let her get over it, Mr. Weasley. I'm terribly sorry for this."
"Thank you" was all Ron could manage to get out. He walked back into his house and told Harry and Ginny what the healer said and told them it might be best to come back another day. They agreed and Ron began his trek to the room where Hermione lay. He knocked on the door and came inside the room. He looked at Hermione. Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and she wore one of Ron's large Chudley Cannons shirts. She was reading a book about Ancient Rune sights in Egypt and she looked up at Ron with tears in her eyes. It absolutely killed him to see her like this. It really did.
"Do you mind if I lay down with you, 'Mione?"
"I'd like that very much, Ronald."
He laughed as he climbed into the bed with her. "You haven't called me Ronald in such a long time. It's nice to hear you talk."
"The healer made me feel a little better. But I feel very..." Her tears cut her off, and Ron quickly grabbed her up and pulled her into his arms.
"We don't have to talk about this now, 'Mione. Let me just hold you until you fall asleep. We can talk about this whenever you're ready. Until then, just know I'm here."
"Thank you, Ron." Hermione was able to get out. "I just.. I just don't understand it Ron, why wouldn't he stop?"
As Ron held her close, he realized the familiarity of the statement Hermione had just made.
