Three months had passed, and she was yet to hear from Malfoy. She had been offered a place at Hogwarts to complete her NEWTS, but somehow, that all seemed so insignificant to her now. She had begun working with George in Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, which was really beginning to take off. With her life now a perfect kind of normal, she couldn't think of anything worse than returning to Hogwarts.

She attended each of her scheduled appointments with her mind healer for follow up and she was now deemed to be satisfactorily stable. This was an important milestone, as she was now able to testify at the trials of her abusers. This included Draco Malfoy.

The morning of the marathon trial arrived faster than she had hoped, and as she checked herself over in the entry way to Grimmauld place before leaving, she felt that she had a strong grasp on her sense of wellbeing.

She knew and very much expected that confronting the evil beings that did these things to her would be like opening a wound that had just begun to heal, but it had to be done and she had practised techniques in her mind to avoid psychological harm.

Ron took her arm and from the front step, they disapparated to the ministry of magic.

The hustle and bustle was less chaotic than it had been when they attended to obtain the locket. It felt like a lifetime ago now. So much had changed, including the ministry itself. It was now governed by Kingsley Shacklebolt, who fought for peace and punished wrongdoers severely.

They made their way to the courtroom where she was told the proceeding would take place, and entered, taking a seat in the gallery. She could think of nothing else other than getting this over and done with.

Before long, the Wizengamot called the proceedings to order and they began.

The charges against the many death eaters and supporters were read out and Hermione was stunned to hear how many charged were being laid.

They were numerous and the list of offenders took up a whole page.

The lies that Narcissa spat made Hermione sick to her stomach, but at the end, the members of the Wizengamot believed Hermione over her and sentenced Narcissa to 20 years in Azkaban.

Lucius was questioned next and his actions, not committed out of fear or by force, landed him in Azkaban for life.

Hermione became concerned when 10 death eaters were questioned, and Malfoy still hadn't been brought in.

Just seeing the faces of the death eaters who had raped and beaten her made her want to curse them, but she held her composure, indicating her confirmation or disgust at their statements.

The death eaters who purely came into the dungeon, raped her, and left were given 15 years each, while the ones who beat her, were given 40.

At the very end, Malfoy was brought in and questioned. What Hermione thought was odd, was that he was brought in by Aurors at wandpoint. She now realised that the reason she hadn't heard from him was because he had been in Azkaban, following his release from Hospital.

"Mr Malfoy, from what you've said, it seems like you are among the torturers who abused Miss Granger the most" the questioning Auror said.

"I am" he said.

"So why should lenience be shown to you and only to you?" he was asked.

"Because I was under the imperious. I did what I could to cause as least amount of harm to her as possible. I sought a room for her and then as soon as the imperious wore off, I apparated through wards, risking my own life to get her out and to the hospital" he said. "It doesn't mean that I don't deserve to be punished, but just know that I punish myself every day for what I have done" he added.

The day had drawn on and on. The questioning of the death eaters had taken its toll on Hermione and when it came to her turn to be questioned, she almost refused. At the end, she brought the truth out of the lies, confirmed the ones who spoke the truth and requested leniency be taken on Malfoy. She explained how, despite having taken her virginity by force, he was just as much a victim as she was and male sexual assault was just as horrific as female sexual assault. She expressed her disgust at his imprisonment and requested that he be released immediately.

After only a few minutes of deliberation, the members of the Wizengamot declared Malfoy free from all charges and provided him with an official apology for having him imprisoned.

Hermione was awarded a hefty sum of money as compensation for what had happened to her, despite Narcissa and Lucius having been forced to pay as well. At this point, Hermione could live a luxurious life and never have to work, but that's not what she wanted.

She loved working at the shop and decided that she would stay there until the baby was born.

()()()

As soon as he was released, Draco burnt down the Manor and sold the land off in pieces.

In the weeks that followed, Ron proposed to Hermione, which she happily accepted, and they moved into a cottage in Hogsmeade where Ron was due to open his own franchise of WWW.

Draco had been in touch weekly, regarding the baby. He met with Hermione and Ron and they discussed plans to raise the child together. There was very little arguments and Draco was just happy to be involved any way he could. As time went on, Draco's sense of worth returned to him. He no longer spoke of the guilt, but expressed a desire to do good, so he opened a support charity for sexual assault survivors and studied the law part time. He was determined to open his own law firm, which Ron and Hermione fully supported.

When Cassius Malfoy was born, Hermione instantly fell in love with the blonde-haired baby and the memories of how he was conceived were just a distant memory.

Hermione and Ron married in a quiet ceremony at The Burrow shortly afterwards, while Draco held his son from the first row.

It was a strange arrangement, but one that had come from pain and torment and ended with love, happiness and family.

Hermione was a survivor.

()()()

Thanks for reading. This was a story that came to me in a dream. Or a nightmare, I', not sure. I thought about writing it for the longest time and once i started, i couldn't stop. It took me 2 days to finish the first three chapters but this one has taken a little longer. I lost passion for the story once it had reached a certain point (even thought its quite short) and i just wanted to get it done. Hence why the ending feels rushed.

I want to make a sequel to it eventually, i have an idea that i think would be really interesting. We'll see. Don't hold your breath though.

So once again, thanks for reading another episode of "So O think I'm a fanfic writer".