A/N: Here we are, moving right along! This is one of my favorite chapters from this story. I had a lot of fun looking up the different magical creatures and using them for my own purpose.

Chapter 3, Trust Me

The match was spectacular. Viktor was in top form and the Chasers worked together as the well-oiled machine that one would expect from the team who had just recently won the World Cup. Aleksandar had managed to keep the Americans from scoring hardly any points for the entire game with his skills. A sweeping victory for the Bulgarian team of 460 to 40.

While the rest of the team had gone back to the same club they'd visited the night before, Viktor decided that he would rather wait and see Hermione the following day just as the girl at the diner had suggested. With her address in his hand, Viktor found himself wandering up the steps of an older building that had seen better days and was clearly in need of some maintenance work to be done on it.

Viktor walked down a hallway with stained pale pink paint peeling from the walls as he searched for her flat number. He found it written in marker on an ugly green door and he couldn't help but wonder what had brought Hermione to living in a dump like this from her life in England.

At exactly noon, Viktor raised his hand and rapped on the door. 'PANS, CAN YOU GET THAT?' He heard Hermione yell from the other side. 'GRANGER, I'M ONLY WEARING KNICKERS! YOU GET THE DOOR!' Another voice, the woman who had given him the address, called back in response.

When the door flung open, he was met by a Hermione with still damp hair, probably from just getting out of a shower, wearing a maroon jumper and tight fitted dark wash jeans that hugged her curves perfectly.

"Viktor?" She asked with a look of surprise that morphed into annoyed understanding. "PANSY LUCILLE PARKINSON!" She roared as she turned on her heels and ran away from the doorway. Hermione disappeared back into the flat, leaving Viktor standing looking into the sitting room that was right on the entrance.

The furniture, he noted, all looked as if it had been refurbished. While all the pieces had a matching pale green velvet finish on them, they clearly weren't originally a matching set. The coffee table and the end tables had the same mahogany finish on them, they also were mismatched put together, but somehow everything blended well together.

Unlike the hallway and the rest of the building, the walls were painted a fresh cream colour and the large windows had light grey curtains pulled back to allow the natural light to shine into the room. A large round mirror hung on the wall while plants were positioned to be able to take in the most light. A bookshelf took up the entirety of a back wall. It was filled to the point of overflowing with even more stacks of tomes set neatly beside it and on top of the extra shelves hanging on different walls.

The fireplace mantle housed pictures of Hermione and the girl that he recognized from the diner. The backdrop was New York City, so he assumed it had been taken recently. Further down, he spotted a younger Hermione on vacation skiing with her parents, but nothing more recent with them. The lack of pictures of any of the Weasleys or Harry answered the lingering questions that Viktor had if they were still in her life or not. There was a picture of Hermione's roommate, or at least he assumed it was her, as a young girl cuddled up to a teenage boy who looked so much like her that he assumed it to be her brother.

Hermione reappeared with her hair no longer damp and her curls softly hanging around her shoulders with a dusting of makeup brushing her face. "Pansy said we're to be having lunch today and that I'm to spend the afternoon with you and get out of the flat. I suppose we can head out now, that is, if you're ready." She said, reaching under a bench and grabbing a pair of well-worn trainers to put onto her feet. "If you don't mind, could we keep it on the cheaper side for the meal?"

Her hands fidgeted and shook when he stepped forward to offer Hermione his arm. After a moment where he thought she wouldn't take it, Hermione took a deep steadying breath before looping her arm in his.

Seeing her react this way made Viktor's heart ache for her. Whatever it was that Ron Weasley had done had clearly left her in a state. "Lead the way, wherever you feel like going. It's my treat today." Viktor told her as he tucked her arm and brought her closer to him.

The trek out of the building was quiet. The chattering fifteen-year- old that he had first met seemed to no longer exist. It was part of what had drawn Viktor towards her when he'd first sat next to her in the library all those years ago. She always aired whatever she was thinking, without a care in the world. She never held back her opinion or thoughts on a topic, and she never ran short back in those days.

Instead, it seemed that Hermione was lost in her own thoughts while they walked alongside each other. She appeared skittish and nervously jumping at every noise, as if someone were looking for her.

All the scars and marks that Viktor had seen on display at the diner the day before were now missing from her body. He assumed it was because she was now properly rested. He wasn't going to ask her, when her sudden change in demeanor surprised him.

Hermione tugged him into an alley, hiding them away from the street view. She sent up a saucy wink to him before turning on the spot and Disapparated them with a crack. Viktor looked around and was shocked to find that they were no longer surrounded by towering buildings but tucked away in a lush green landscape of overgrown trees with a pond stretched out before them.

"We left the city?" He asked as Hermione kept hold of the hand she'd offered him to apparate.

"No, we're in Central Park. You said lunch is whatever I'm feeling like, and I want to have some street food. Have you ever had a hotdog from a street cart?" Hermione asked with a twinkle in her eye that had been absent since he'd first seen her at the club.

"I can say with confidence that I have not." Viktor answered her honestly, laughing as she tugged his hand and skipped slightly ahead of him. Viktor laughed at how free she seemed now, and she let go of his hand to get slightly ahead of him.

"Well, you're in for a treat my dear friend." She called over her shoulder, spinning in a full circle, her laugh trilling in the wind.

Her change in attitude towards him, made Viktor wish to thank this Pansy girl. Whatever she had said to Hermione between when she had first answered the door and when she had reappeared, had brightened this little witch's sparkle. Even if it had taken a little bit for her to warm up to him as they left her building.

No longer was Hermione reminding him of a wild animal that he needed to approach with caution, as she had the previous morning. Instead, she was that free spirited woman that he'd fallen for and had enjoyed a close friendship with after they'd parted ways.

"You know where we're going, right? You aren't going to get us lost or anything?" Viktor called after her as she turned again with a smile splitting her face.

"I'll have you know that I'm the best tour guide you could have asked for. I've learned more about this city in the last few months of living here, and since Pansy will be – er – entertaining a guest this afternoon, I'm going to take advantage of one of my oldest friends being in my new stomping grounds. Especially if he's paying for everything."

ooo

Keeping her promise to give him a tour of the city, after their street food lunch, Hermione drug Viktor into the Central Park Zoo. He found out there was a special magical exhibit that was dedicated to Newt Scamander and all the work he had done for the world's 'fantastic beasts'.

The shock of getting to see an Acromantula up close without being in any danger had been an out of body experience. When the man-eating spiders had begun to descend upon him, it caused Viktor to pull out his wand, readying himself for an attack. Hermione had laid her hand on his arm and pointed out the shimmer of the powerful wards keeping the spiders at bay and reminded him to enjoy what most people never got to see.

The lights in the fairy garden were kept dim as they walked through. Hermione held her arms out as the fairies had converged on her, gently landing on her. Their bodies had cast her in their light making her glow and looking like she was an angel.

"This is my favorite exhibit,'' Hermione whispered to him as they entered a tunnel. It led them into an underwater dome that was entirely made of glass. An eerie green glow was casting through the glass as Viktor shuttered when a pod of Grindylow swam past, weaving their way in the seaweed. When a couple of Merpeople swam by holding their spears, he turned with wide eyes to look at her.

"All these creatures live in the lake in New York City?" He inquired as Hermione nodded her head with enthusiasm.

"Yes, this dome is actually connected to the muggle part. It's incredible how magical creatures coexist with the non-magical population. There's Kelpie that also lives here. An entire herd was chased here from the British Isles by a Shrake in the 1980's. There are underground tunnels that only the magical creatures are able to pass through to keep them connected to the outside world." Hermione told him as she let out a loud gasp.

Looking away from the animated witch, Viktor was shocked when a Sea Serpent that was easily over 100 feet long swam over them. There was a silver-blue glow coming from the creature as it slowly swam above them. The horse-like head turned towards them as its head cocked to the side. It was as if it were also watching them as intently. Circling back around, seemingly needing to get more of its air breathing visitors. The creature swam closer to the base of the dome, in an attempt to get as near to the couple as it could.

"Have you ever seen anything so magnificent?" Hermione's whisper of wonderment registered as she slowly stepped forward. Opening her hand, she placed it on the glass that was separating them from the water beyond.

As if in a trance the Sea Serpent pressed its face even closer, as if trying to be pet by the small witch. "Aren't you scared of it?" Viktor asked, stepping forward and watching the fearsome looking creature continue to watch the couple.

"Not at all, the real monsters are the ones who hide in plain sight. Sea Serpents are just misunderstood creatures. People fear them, even though they have the most peaceful temperament. Their sharp teeth and serpentine body scare those who come across them, but in reality, they wouldn't harm a soul." Looking at the witch next to him in the low glow light, it would have been easy to miss the tears pooling in her eyes as she described the real monsters in her life.

"What monsters are you running from, Hermione?" Viktor all but whispered as the serpent turned its gaze onto him.

"The scariest ones. The ones who, if I'm not careful, will find me." At this the serpent turned and began to swim away into the depths of the lake. Leaving them in the emerald underground glow.

"Why are you in New York City, Hermione?" Viktor asked as the witch turned her attention to the tears now streaming down her face. "Why are you working at jobs trying to blend in with the crowd when you were always meant to stand out."

The silence between them stretched out. Viktor questioned if he had a right to ask such personal questions of her. He was a distant friend, an ex-boyfriend who stumbled upon her and was trying to insert himself back into her life.

Then, she spoke. "You saw the scars, Viktor. Wizarding laws are backwards. I can't divorce him, not without someone else willing to step in and take care of me." She paused, looking up at a group of small fish swimming past. "Brightest Witch of my age, my arse," she scuffed. "I should have seen this coming, but I didn't, not before it was too late." Her voice was low, and eyes drifted from the ceiling so that they were downcast.

The woman before him had been through war and won. After fighting for her place in the world, she was thrown back into a different type of battle. One with the only way to win was by surviving.

"What about Harry?" He asked, already suspecting the answer before she even gave it.

"He's married to Ginny Weasley. Legally, he can't speak against his family." He'd known this, he'd attended the Potter wedding himself. This was while Hermione and Ron had been engaged, they'd looked happy. She'd looked at her fiancé with loving eyes, not the fear that was showing now at just the thought of him.

"I ran from St. Mungo's after he'd set me on fire. My burns were hardly healed, he'd used my own blue bell flames against me. Turns out, the burns sustained by them are immune to magical healing." She chuckled, shaking her head at the memory.

"I found myself at a muggle's women's shelter because, of course, the Wizarding world wouldn't have anything like that. That's where I was re-introduced to Pansy, actually. We both knew that our best chance of survival was to get out of England. Legally neither of us were safe, since we can't make decisions for ourselves." Hermione paused again, still looking towards the ground. Only now Viktor could see the tears streaming down her face at the memory.

"I forged muggle identification for the both of us, scrapped out the remainder of both our savings, got on a plane and here we are. We can't risk drawing too much attention to ourselves, because then we would be found and taken back."

"No ministry job changing laws and making lives better. Keeping my head down and out of the press so he can't find me. I haven't heard from Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville, or anyone in over a year. Even before I ran, after one of our nastier fights, he warded me in the house." The tears were now steadily streaming down her face.

Looking up and meeting his eye, Hermione scowled at the memory of what had happened to her. "I lost my fucking job because I just stopped showing up. He used blood wards to trap me inside my home, the home I bought and paid for. The home I'd envisioned raising my future children in." Letting her gaze falter, she looked over his shoulder, back towards the water. Hermione's eyes were locked on the depths beyond them, in a memory that he couldn't see. Living in a moment that he couldn't imagine.

"Your friend, Pansy, is she too married to an abusive man?" Viktor asked, as Hermione shook her head 'no' in response.

"She's contracted to be married to one of her childhood friend's fathers. The friend ran during the war because he didn't want to be branded a Death Eater. His father blasted him off the family tree, now leaving him without an heir.

"He'd killed his first wife in a fit of rage, so he needed a new one. Pansy's father owed the man a favor and offered up Pansy as if she were livestock being sold at a market. To make matters even worse, the man, Theo Nott Sr., is the same age as our grandfathers. When she wasn't thrilled at the idea of marrying a man in his seventies, Pansy's father beat her within an inch of her life. After she'd healed enough that she could move, she too snuck out of St. Mungo's and to the women's shelter I was hiding away at." Pausing, Hermione tugged on her fingers before looking back up at Viktor.

"We understand each other in a way that no one else ever possibly could. Going back to England would be a death sentence for either of us. Getting found and caught, would mean that our lives are over." Hermione's voice was so low, and the shake was so slight that Viktor felt his blood begin to boil. These two women had been through so much, and together they'd sought whatever type of life they could scrape together just for the opportunity to be able to stay alive, even if it meant giving up being able to live lives they both deserved.

Not being able to keep his hands to himself for another moment, Viktor stepped forward and pulled Hermione's small frame towards his chest, engulfing her into a hug. At the contact, Hermione's entire body began to shake as the rest of her tears wrecked through her.

The loss of the life she'd lived, the life she'd dreamed of, and the abuse she'd suffered from a man she'd loved. It all came pouring out in that moment as she clung to his shirt, just the two of them standing in the glow of the low light.

It was seeing this that made Viktor vow that he would do anything in his power to be her protector and free her from the shackles that still held her prisoner.

A/N: Alright, next chapter we're getting the trigger warning of kidnapping! I told you this story moves fast, so it will be quickly resolved, BUT kidnapping is coming.

See you next week!