Authors Note; Short chapter today, sorry guys. But I thought I've left you on a cliffy for too long now and better get something out! And … possibly, you'll be glad to know there's no cliffhanger on this chapter. Anyway, reason for this note, I was looking for someone to perhaps beta this story? Private message me if you're interested! Thanks again for reading, favouriting, and reviewing! Hopefully you'll do it on this chapter too. All the best, and enjoy!

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"That happened to you... every night?"

Hermione's face was the picture of surprise before she quickly hid the expression with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, did we wake you? How did you sleep? Are you feeling any better?" she bothered herself with stacking up the cushions on the sofa next to her.

"Hermione... please, don't avoid the question? What happened to you?" Ron caught her eye and shook his head but Ginny pretended not to see. Hermione had stopped sorting the cushions, instead just concentrated on keeping her back turned.

"Is that what's going to happen to me?" whispered Ginny. The thought of that... No. Wait to hear what she says, you could have misunderstood. You must have misunderstood. "Hermione?"

Ron held his hand out to Hermione who walked across the room, her back still to Ginny. She grasped his hand as he whispered in her ear urgently. Hermione shook her head.

"I can't," she whispered back to him.

"Is anyone going to answer me?! I'm still here, you know?!"

"I know, sorry." Hermione finally looked at her. "Yes. It was every night. Well most nights."

"Right." Ginny nodded. "Right, okay... Right," she repeated.

"Don't freak out, Gin." Ron implored. "Okay, its not going to happen with you. I promise. We'll sort something."

"Don't lie to her, Ron! She deserves the truth." Hermione looked as if she was going to cry again. Ginny realised she was crying again and wiped away her tears, frustrated with herself. "It could happen. He came most nights for four months. This year he hasn't come near me. And, yes, I let him... and you'll have to as well Ginny."

Ginny sobbed harder, angrier than she had ever felt herself before. "Why? Why should I have to? You expect me to just lie back and take it! Are you fucking kidding me, Hermione?"

"No" she replied calmly.

"You must be joking! I'm not- There's no way! Fuck this! Fuck all of this!"

"Ginny, calm down-" Hermione approached her.

"No! No, I'm not calming down! How the fuck can anyone do that?! Every night! I'm not taking it. It's not happening. It's just going to screw me up! That's enough to screw anyone up! He's sick. I mean, I always knew he was sick, but he's really... Really sick in the head!"

"Stop it, Ginny." Ron whispered quietly. "She's gone."

Hermione had left the room, and Ginny hadn't even noticed.

"Jeez Gin," Ron blew out a puff of air and squeezed the bridge of his nose. He looked older than she had ever seen him.

Ginny felt her stomach constrict tightly. She had never felt more uneasy about hurting someone, all Hermione had done was try to help her. The lump in her throat became uncomfortably large.

"I should go after her... Where did she go?" she mumbled to Ron.

"Just leave her, she'll be fine." Ron stared at her. Ginny stared at him.

"Gin," his lip quivered. "Ginny, I am so sorry." Ron made a frustrated noise and turned away from her before clearing his throat.

"I'm sorry this happened," he turned to look at her. "To you, of all people... After everything in your first year, you didn't need this."

"Ron, its okay." Ginny turned partially away from him and scratched the back of her head. Although she was closest to Ron out of all of her brothers, they never really spoke about anything emotional and she wasn't sure how to take this conversation.

"No, its not okay."

"Ron, please, just... leave it. I can't do another emotional breakdown," she puffed loudly. "Now don't lie to me. What's going to happen?"

It was Ron's turn to look uncomfortable.

"Listen... it's um, not my place to say," he divulged. "It's up to Hermione to tell you what happened, you know?"

"But you cant expect me to just accept that fact that this could happen again!" she exploded. "I mean – what if the same thing that happened to her happens to me?! And I could have been warned!" Ginny felt a rage towards her brother that she had never experienced. It felt as though molten lava had been concealed away inside of her for the last few hours and here was its chance to escape. "Please, Ron, you have to-"

"All right!" he cut her short. "All right, I'll tell you. Its not pretty. And you have to understand, that we wanted to do more. I mean – you won't get it. We really tried everything, but once Hermione's dad died, things-"

"It's okay, Ron. Believe me, I won't be blaming anyone but him," stated Ginny fiercely.

And then he told her. How Hermione had isolated herself from her friends, stopped going to her classes just before Christmas break. They had no idea what was happening, only that she refused to talk to them and was constantly sneaking off after she started getting owls late at night. Then when she came back early from Christmas break, she looked as though she had "the magic kicked out of her" according to Ron.

"And of course, me and Harry were scared and angry and … just outright confused, but ready to – to kill the son of a bitch that did that to Hermione." Ginny watched Ron's jaw and fists twitch ceaselessly. "She wouldn't say what had happened. I don't even think she meant for us to see her, she stayed hidden in her dorm room, but Harry hadn't slept and was watching... a map, I'll explain that another time – but he knew Hermione was getting up late every night and leaving the tower. So one night we stayed awake and found her leaving. We forced the story out of her."

He took a hesitant glance towards Ginny before continuing. "Malfoy killed her dad over Christmas break, that's why she came back early. He was sending her letters most nights, to meet here."

"She – We didn't have a choice Gin." He begged for her to see his side, but Ginny just turned away from him. "I mean, he threatened all of us. And – and he was beating her. We tried cornering her, keeping her away from him and one time it worked, she stayed in the common room with us instead. The next night when she got away she didn't come back in the morning, and we found her here." He paused, his voice lowered. "We had to do all the bone repairing ourselves, couldn't risk Pomfrey finding out. She was lucky he just broke a leg and a rib, we were scared she was going to have pierced lungs."

There was a sharp intake of breath and it took a moment for Ginny to realise that it had come from her. Merlin.

"He had almost killed her... What were we supposed to do?"

"It's okay, Ron. I understand," she needed him to be quiet. She couldn't listen to this any more. It was almost as though Ron sensed her mood. There were a lot of thoughts going around her head, and it made it difficult to concentrate whilst Ron was staring at her, waiting for a response that was not going to come.

"Listen, I better go find Hermione. Are you going to be okay here?" he edged hesitantly towards the door.

"Of course, go," he still hesitated. "Ron, I'll be fine. Go." Ginny smiled softly at him. "Can you tell her I'm sorry?"

"Yeah, I'll bring her back here. Don't leave... At least not without Harry." Ron walked over to her and did the traditional brotherly act that Bill and Charlie had recently taken up, of kissing her on the forehead before leaving Ginny with her thoughts.

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