Hermione had woken up, once again in a state of complete and utter confusion, and with no idea whatsoever where she was. Looking around the dark and musty room, she began to recount the events that had happened just hours ago.
Hermione rubbed her eyes furiously for a moment, trying to adjust them to her dark surroundings, before finally pulling seizing her wand from a few inches away, and muttering "Lumos". What time is it? She wondered, trying desperately to stand up, but finding she wasn't nearly stable enough because of her severely beaten legs. Damn him! She raged inwardly, How am I going to be able to get out of this classroom if I can't even stand?
After a few moments of debating whether or not she should try to leave until morning, Hermione decided that if she just stayed here, she'd have to explain to any one who found her why she was beaten up, and had slept in a classroom. That definitely would not be good.
The more she tried to move her arms and legs, the more she began to writhe in pain. He had done her in good this time. She couldn't feel a single section from her head, to her toes that didn't hurt, and even with each breath she took, her pain increased considerably.
After a good half hour or so, Hermione could finally, stand, and began to make her way incredibly slowly towards the doorway, where a tiny light was ajar from outside.
It seemed like a miracle to Hermione when she had finally reached the portrait of the sandy haired girl.
"Strawberry Cluster," Hermione mumbled, as the portrait looked at her incredulously, no doubt wondering what had happened to her.
She swung open for her, nevertheless, giving her a slight curtsey and look of dismay.
Hermione could finally breathe a sigh of relief as she finally entered her common room. Now she would have no trouble getting to the bathroom, and cleaning herself up before heading to bed and getting a –hopefully- good night's sleep.
Entering the bathroom and closing the door, Hermione knew she wouldn't have to worry about anyone walking in on her. After all, she just shared a bathroom with Malfoy, and it had to have been nearly 4am so whether or not he had one of his "female companions" (you could call them) with him, they would be in bed by now.
Hermione turned on the warm water of the shower as she discarded her clothes slowly, wincing more than slightly with every movement, and by the time she was completely nude and could see her body, she could finally see all of the scars, bruises, and scrapes made by Harry, which she had not had to see for an entire summer.
Yes, her mother and father had beaten her, but Harry's beatings were always much worse. Usually with her parents it would be a black eye, and maybe a couple of scrapes and bruises, but with Harry…
Her body was completely purple and blue. On her arms she already had the deep scars on her wrists that she had made, and only concealing charms could cover, but now she had many, many more to join them. Her legs were covered with bruises, and as the warm water crashed down upon them, Hermione's breath caught in her throat, choking up because of the almost unbearable pain.
As she leant her back against the cold, white shower tiles, and rested her head, she became very tremulous. Reaching her hand to the back of her head, Hermione could feel the wet and sticky substance of her blood that she had grown so accustomed to, and placed her hand under the running water, allowing the blood to be washed away.
Stepping forwards, Hermione allowed her face to be rinsed off, and the blood to stream down her body. The pain she felt right now was something she couldn't seem to escape, and she was both mentally and physically torn apart. Slumping down the shower wall, Hermione shakily, began to cry.
Not much longer afterwards, in the room next door, Draco Malfoy had awoken. His dream had left him trembling slightly, yet it was difficult to recount.
He remembered men in cloaks…many of them, wearing masks so he couldn't see their faces. Death Eaters. He remembered being forced to bow down to someone, or more like something, he stood in the middle of them all. As he was finally able to stand back up, he turned to face the hooded figure before him. He remembered seeing tiny slits for eyes, before his left forearm was searing with such unbelievable pain, it has caused him to awake.
With sweat beads forming on his forehead, Draco had sat up in his bed, breathing in and out sharply, and after deciding that he would take a shower before heading back to bed, stood up and abruptly headed for the door.
He entered the bathroom just in time to see Hermione leaving, with her hair still damp, wearing only shorts and a shirt with thin spaghetti straps. It was than that Draco saw something he couldn't believe.
Hermione's body was covered in cuts and bruises, her shoulders such a deep purple that they were almost black, and her legs no better. It was a wonder to him how she was even managing to stand!
No, Draco thought, pushing the image to the back of his mind. This is GRANGER we're talking about. She has nothing wrong with her minus the fact that she's a mudblood and has incredibly frizzy hair as well as is a Gryffindor… well, I suppose there are countless things wrong with her to any NORMAL human being, but to anyone else, her life is well…oddly perfect.
Draco scowled at the thought as he stepped into the shower, trying to wake himself up. After all, it had only been a glimpse of something that definitely couldn't be there, Hermione Granger, cuts and bruises? Imperfect? Never. He just needed to wake up before he started seeing other things, like perhaps McGonagall wearing a silky nightgown and pantyhose. Draco shuddered at the thought.
Meanwhile, in her own bedchamber, Hermione was standing before her full length body mirror, beginning to conceal all of her new cuts and bruises, and the ones she had missed and failed to cover before, wondering, if it was Malfoy's bedroom door she had heard open and close before she had left the bathroom.
Nah, She thought, why would he be up at this hour? I must just be hearing things. Yet Hermione didn't think that she would hear both the door opening and closing, and the shower running next door in the same night. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that she was hearing those two things, but she couldn't help but contemplate whether or not Malfoy was really in the bathroom next door as she drifted off into another night of restless sleep.
Well folks, there's another chapter. I'm not sure how long it is going to be until the next one is up, so please don't try and rush me! Well, until than, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and if you need something to hold you off until the next one, you can read my short (very short) one-shot, songfic if you'd like, titled Butterflies and Hurricanes.
Love always,
Carly Jayne