When she woke, it was to the smell of food nearby. She opened her eyes and they strained against the light.
"I'll turn it off" came a familiar voice.
In the dim light, she could make out the surroundings of what appeared to be a hospital ward.
"You're at St Mungo's my dear. Everything is going to be ok" came the soothing voice of Molly Weasley.
"What happened? How did I get here?" she asked.
"Young mister Malfoy brought you in a few days ago" she said.
"Days?" she asked.
"You've been out for a while my dear. A lot has happened" Molly said.
"Malfoy brought me here?" she asked.
"Yes, dear. Voldemort was defeated and all those who were acting under his imperious were released. As soon as Voldemort fell, Draco disapparated with Ron. We all thought something was amiss, but then he scooped you up in a room at his house and brought you here with Ron" she said.
"Malfoy was under the imperious?" she asked.
"For quite some time I'm afraid. He is quite weak" she said.
"Voldemort is dead?" Hermione asked after a pause.
"Yes dear" Molly said.
"Harry and Ron?"
"They're ok"
"What happened? We were hunting…" she began, but Molly cut her off.
"I think its best you wait for them to arrive so you can talk" she said.
Hermione closed her eyes and tried to remember what had happened. The last thing she remembered was being in the dungeon cell and Malfoy paying her another of his visits. She remembered yelling at him and experiencing pains of hunger but that was all.
Her body felt heavy and weak and she felt a losing battle against her closing eyes.
"It's ok my dear, just sleep" Molly said.
"Hermione, Merlin, you're ok" came Ron's voice, waking her from a sleep she didn't know she was having. She didn't remember falling asleep, just the feeling of her heavy eyes closing, against her will.
"Ron?" she whispered.
"Yeah, it's me, I'm here" he said from a spot on her bed near her feet.
"Harry?" she asked.
"I'm here Hermione" Harry said from a chair beside her.
"What happened?" she asked.
"We looked for you, I swear we tried to get you" Ron said, his eyes filled with tears.
"Just another thing to find" she said.
"No, you were number one to us. When they snatched you, me and Ron got separated for a while and… well, it was rough, but we managed to get the last few horcruxes" Harry said.
"Separated? How?"
"We just disapparated to different places. Had no way of making contact. Ron went back to Bill and Fleur's, but I had no idea where that was, so I just, sort of stayed at different places. Went back to Grimmauld place, which was safe" he said.
"Yaxley wasn't there?" she asked.
"Not even a sign of anyone having entered" he said.
"Well, that's a shame. All that camping for nothing" she said.
The room was silent for a moment.
"What happened to you Hermione?" Ron asked quietly.
"I was taken to Malfoy Manor. I… It was a few weeks… and then… I guess, Voldemort wanted an heir or something" she said, uncertain of how to tell her two best friends that she was brutally raped every day for weeks on end by a vast range of death eaters, including both Lucius and Draco Malfoy.
"An heir? What do you mean by that?" Ron asked, always the last one to catch on.
"I don't think Hermione needs to tell us if she doesn't feel up to it Ron. It sounds like she has had a rough time" Harry said.
"Rough time alright" she said, trying to sit up in her bed.
"Here, I'll help" Ron said, moving quickly to adjust her pillows. The quick movement frightened Hermione and she froze, closing her eyes. "It's ok Hermione, it's just me" Ron said with his hand on her shoulder.
"I know, just… I can't... please… it's not your fault, just don't touch me. Just yet. I can't…" she said, trying to tell him that the last thing she wanted was for someone to touch her anywhere, without hurting his feelings.
"Ok, that's ok. I won't…" Ron said, putting his hands up in front of him and retreating back to where he sat at the end of her bed, with concern etched deep within his features.
"This isn't going to be easy. People will know what happened to me. Everyone is going to look at me just the way you're looking at me now" she said.
"Hermione, terrible, terrible things happened to you" Harry said.
"You don't know the half of it Harry" she said, tears pooling in her eyes.
"And until you're ready, no one will" he said, looking to Ron and noticing the confused look on his face. "No one has to" he added.
"Thanks, I appreciate that" she said. "I suppose, I'll be quite jumpy for a while and need some… I don't know... some time, to feel normal again" she said.
"Oh Godric, Hermione, there you are, what the hell happened to you" came the rushed voice of Ginny Weasley who ran into the room and threw herself at Hermione.
"GINNY! You can't do that! You can't frighten Hermione like that. Don't you know what she's been through?" Ron bellowed, causing the whole room to stop.
"Ron, I'm her best friend" Ginny said, sitting on the bed at Hermione's side.
Hermione was frozen once again, hands in her lap, clasped together, looking down at her knees.
"Merlin, they really did a number on you, didn't they? Look at your face. That will take some time to heal" Ginny said.
"It's not my face I'm concerned about" she said, wondering if the pieces of her broken soul might ever mend.
"Hermione, what happened? Where were you? Ron said you were missing and that he found you at Malfoy Manor" Ginny said.
"You found me?" Hermione asked Ron.
"Well, sort of, I guess" he said.
"It's a completely long story, basically Voldemort was defeated and a few of the death eaters who were there at the time seemed to sort of snap. They surrendered immediately and claimed to be imperiorised…" Ginny began.
"Malfoy came running to me in a right state. I thought he was going to curse me, so I drew my wand. He just grabbed my arm and said your name then disapparated. We arrived in a room and you were just laying on a bed, all dirty and pale. I picked you up and brought you here" Ron said.
"And Malfoy?" she asked, swallowing. "I suppose he took off?" she asked.
"He's here" Harry said.
At this, Hermione's eyes widened, and she pulled the blanket up to her chest.
"Here?" she asked, looking around the room and to the door.
"Well, not here, here, he's in a ward for those who were imperiorised. He's having quite the difficult time coming to terms with the whole thing" Harry said.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"I've been keeping an eye on him. He rescued you as soon as he was released from the imperious and brought you here. I wanted to know what happened. You weren't waking up and he was the only one who could give me answers" Harry said.
"And did he? Give you answers?" she asked, knowing that they probably know the extent of her torture.
"He said a lot of things. Mostly he wanted to see you and see that you were still alive. He kept apologising. He's really quite unhinged" Harry said.
"So you know then. What happened to me?" she asked.
"I… I couldn't believe it Hermione. Its… We failed you. We should have done more to find you. We should have come for you as you would have done for me" Harry said.
"Harry… you defeated Voldemort. If I had to go through what I went through in order for the wizarding world to be free from that… to prevent what happened to me from happening to muggle born's everywhere, then isn't it worth it?" she asked.
"NO! Nothing is worth that Hermione" Ron burst out.
"What am I missing here? What happened to you Hermione?" Ginny asked.
"You haven't been told?" Hermione asked.
"I have been getting kept out of the loop" Ginny said, glaring at Harry.
"For good reason" Ron spat.
"My safety isn't in danger anymore" Ginny said quietly, emotion evident on her face as Harry refused to look in her direction.
"I don't think now is the time, but soon… I promise I will tell you everything" she said.
"Good enough for me" she said. "I suppose I ought to go. Mum's making the arrangements for Fred" she said.
"Fred?" Hermione asked.
"Uh… yes. Hermione, there was quite a battle and loads of people… people died" Harry said.
"Fred?" she asked, receiving a nod from Ron.
She then did something she didn't think she would ever do, and that was lean forward onto her knees and bring Ron into a hug from where he sat at the end of her bed. It felt foreign, like, if he touched her, she might break, but after bracing herself for a few moments, Ron's arms around her felt warm and comfortable. He felt safe. Maybe she would be ok after all.
"I'm so sorry Ron" she said, releasing him and returning to her place on the bed. His face was red, and he wore a small smile. "Here I've been talking about poor me and your entire family is suffering. How is George? Oh, and Molly, she was here earlier worrying about me" Hermione said.
"It's like mum said. We can't do anything about Fred. He's… he's gone, and we can't save him, but we can save you Hermione" Ron said.
Hermione just looked at him with admiration in her eyes. He was experiencing the most incredible pain, yet here he was, at her side, trying to comfort her. She thought she might have lost the capacity for warmth and love, but the feelings that had begun to grow for Ron before the war were now returning at full force.
It was only early days, but she could see a future.
()()()
A few days later, Hermione woke in the middle of the night from a nightmare in which she relived a rather brutal visit from a nasty death eater. She opened her eyes and looked around the room, trying to centre herself, trying to remind herself that she was here, and she was safe and no one could hurt her now.
She had spent time with a mind healer who had given her some things to try if she ever experienced flashbacks or nightmares. So far, they were sort of working.
She reached for a glass of water, but it was empty, so she got up out of bed and did the thing she had yet to do; leave her room. She opened the door and looked up and down the hall. Realistically, she knew she was safe. She was in a hospital where there were security guards and doctors and nurses all looking out for her.
She held her wand in her hand, having not let it out of her reach since she had fully regained consciousness, and pushed the door open completely, stepping out into the hall. She knew the water station couldn't be far, because every time someone went to get some, they hadn't taken long at all.
She crept down the hall and looked into each of the rooms, searching for a sign of something out of the ordinary. She found the water station and began filling a jug to take back to her room. It was almost full when she heard someone approach from behind.
As she turned to face them, the jug slipped out of her hand and her wand few up faster than ever at the sight of Draco Malfoy standing in the corridor in front of her.
"I understand if you want to kill me" he said, his face paler than usual and his eyes bloodshot.
"Give me a reason not to" she demanded, feeling the spilt water pooling at her feet.
"I… I can't. I deserve it" he said, tears falling form his eyes.
She held her wand higher, taking a step back from him. He was not the cool, calm, confident Malfoy that had been assaulting her for two months. This Malfoy was broken and empty. Nevertheless, this was the person who raped her. Who forced himself upon her, against her will. Who forced her to feel something that she didn't understand.
"You need to leave" she said.
"I need to die. Please… I can't live with myself" he said, now sobbing like a child.
"What is wrong with you?" she asked.
"I… I don't know. I can't live with what I've done to you" he said.
"Stop it. Just stop!" she yelled, as he continued to cry in front of her.
Sparks flew out of her wand and he froze.
"I know you probably don't care or it might not make a difference, but the person you've been… who has been hurting you... that's not me. I mean, it is, but I wasn't in control" he said.
"Don't you think I know that? I knew the second time you did that to me… It doesn't mean that you're not the epitome of what happened to me. You're the poster child for my torment, Malfoy" she spat, now edging around the nurse's station to put a barrier between them.
He looked completely broken. Lost. Like a child who had no place to go. He looked around and she was confused by what he was doing, but when he grabbed a syringe from a nearby trolley, she left towards him, shoving him to the floor and knocking it to the ground.
"Granger, what are you doing? I need to die. I don't deserve to live, get off me, let me do this" he said, as she placed all of her weight on his body. Something about the way she had control over the situation gave her a sense of power and fearlessness. Here he was, the absolute face of her rape and torture, sobbing underneath her, while she held him down.
"What would your wife say? I bet she's not ready to be a widow?" she asked.
"Astoria? She's dead" he said, stopping his struggle for freedom
She slid off him and sat with her back against the wall, as patients came to their doors to see what was going on.
The fear that had so deeply penetrated her only minutes before, was replaced by a sense of power and dominance. She was in control here. He was wandless and she was not. The only thing that could hurt her was her own fears, and she had decided, in that moment, not to allow it to happen.
"Let it go Malfoy" she said.
"But…"
"Let it go. You wouldn't have done it if you had been in control of your actions. The fact that you're here and not in Azkaban is proof of that" she said, realising that he truly was just as much a victim as she had been.
"I don't understand" he said.
"I forgive you" she said, causing fresh tears to fall from his eyes.
"You… that means a lot" he said.
"It does. So don't ever take it for granted" she said.
"What can I do?" he asked. "To make it right" he said.
"Just live, Malfoy. Help send the scumbags who had a choice to Azkaban and do something great with your life" she said.
"I can do that" he said.