Harry sighed softly, dreading the next few hours. He was dressing for the Yule Ball. He fixed his silvertie in silence, as Hagrid had already left to meet Madame Maxime from Beauxbaton. Thankfully, Hagrid had spent the day before teaching Harry how to tie a tie, explaining that Hagrid's dad had taught him how before he died. Hagrid was proud to be the man to guide him through this rite of passage. Hagrid had seemed excited about his date with Madame Maxime, which horrified Harry as he imagined scenarios with those two.
Back in the castle, in the Slytherin girls dorms, Daphne twirled in the mirror as she admired herself in the ruby red dress.. She couldn't believe she and Harry were dating each other, and she felt things were going well, too. It was true that the rest of the school seemed to take offense with Harry and her, but she just chose to ignore them. Or yell at them, when necessary. . The Gryffindors didn't know when to shut up about Harry ever.. And she had noticed that Granger had all but disappeared from everywhere but her classes.
'Hmmm' she thought to herself as she thought about all the things that had been going on in the castle. Other than hatred of Harry, which seemed pretty unanimous, the students were more divided than ever. 'I wonder if a ball can bring us back together?' she asked herself
The sky turned dark as snow began to fall. The students, staff, and the school champions began making their way into the Great Hall, in their formal robes. Harry joined the other champions in silence as he waited for Daphne.
Daphne walked through the corridor, towards the Great Hall, looking through the crowd for Harry.
Harry ignored the stares from the other champions. Fleur Delacour from Beauxbaton was the infamous Veela who thought he was a lying little boy. Cedric Diggory of course was the other Hogwarts champion. Harry respected Cedric. And of all the champions, he was the least antagonistic towards him. Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang champion was an egotistical professional seeker, though he was a bloody good one. The Boy-Who-Lived began examining the crowd from the Entrance Hall. He saw Daphne, and his jaw dropped as he saw her in full effect. She was bloody gorgeous.
Daphne's smile brightened as she saw Harry. She walked over to Harry. "Hi, handsome."
"You look beautiful, Daphne." He commented as he fidgeted nervously with the edge of his jacket.
She offered her hand to him, surreptitiously, and pulled his arm up so she was holding onto his arm, as she smiled brightly at him. "Are you ready for this?"
"Well, I can't really leave at this point." He replied sheepishly.
"You will be alright. You are not alone in this. I'm here for you Harry," she smiled encouragingly.
"Thank you, it helps that someone who actually talks to me and likes me is my date."
Professor McGonagall lined up the champions and their dates to walk into the Great Hall once everyone else was inside, so they could start the dance. Daphne schooled her features to the normal Pureblood mask just before they walked through the door.
Harry didn't feel graceful although he had also had schooled his features into a neutral face. He was nervous as he walked out on the dance floor with Daphne. He felt everyone's eyes on him.
"Harry, just relax and follow me. I won't let anything happen I promise." She whispered with a graceful, confident smile.
"That isn't what I'm worried about," He replied shortly. They took their positions on the dance floor.
"Then what?" she responded back as she began to lead them gracefully to the music.
'It's nothing." He spoke sharply to her as the dance went on. He felt everyone's eyes on him, and he heard the whispers.
She kept silent until the dance was over with her Pureblood mask on, in order to not show how worried she was.
When the dance was over, and the two of them were off the dance floor she stopped him and said softly,. "Harry, please talk to me. I cannot help or try to make you feel better if you don't talk to me."
He looked away, frustrated, but he said quietly, "Come with me. I have a few things to get off my chest, Daphne."
"Okay,Harry you're worrying me." She said as she followed him.
Harry didn't reply as he walked her to an empty corridor. He leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, with his hands covering his face in anger and frustration. She stood there watching him fall apart in front of her.
"I hate this!" he fumed, "I hate being the fucking savior of the wizarding world but then be their fucking scapegoat whenever they feel like I am not living up to whatever image they have of me!"
She tucked her dress under her as she sat down next to him. She pulled one of his hands away from his face. "Harry, I'm sorry that you feel like you have the world on your shoulders, She said calmly.
"Dumbledore isn't helping either! He has the power and knowledge to do something to help but won't! I feel like I'm a lamb for the slaughter. My scar has been hurting since summer and that always means something horrible is going to happen. Dumbledore just dismissed my concerns. I'm not a fucking child. I'm just sick of it." Harry ended in a soul wrenching groan, his head falling to his chest in despair.
She wrapped her arms around him, pulling his head to her chest, and rubbed his shoulders in comforting circles, "I wish I could make everything better, Harry, I really do." She whispered tears filling her eyes and dripping into his hair.
"Thank you, Daphne, just for listening. That is more than anyone else has done," He said softly, looking up into her face as his hands wrapped around her body, and started roaming around her curves.
She blushed as his hands landed on her hips, and instead of pulling away, she placed a tender kiss onto his lips.
He deepened the kiss as he pulled her closer.
She leaned into the kiss, then pulled away slightly, "Harry?" she said looking into his eyes.
"Hmm?" He asked with his green emerald eyes stared into her own.
"Is it alright if we only kiss tonight? I'm not ready to go further,"" She said as her face burned like fire.
"Yes, it's fine." He replied. He kissed her gently one last time, but broke away from her and pulled his knees up to his chest. His entire posture was full of despair and dejection.
"Listen Harry, I promise things may look bleak now but they will eventually get better. I'm sure of it. They have to," she said placing her head on his shoulder.
"I hope you're right." He replied softly as he laid his head back, staring at the ceiling.
The dance was going strong. After the initial dance, the rest of the students joined the champions on the dance floor. Hermione and Viktor finished yet another dance, when suddenly she was being whisked into a an empty corridor. The song they had left was loud and full of bass. She stopped and pulled her hand from Viktor's when she saw where he was leading her. "Viktor, what are we doing out here?" she asked as she became a bit nervous.
The infamous seeker replied, "I'm sorry for Miss Granger, but there is something I have to do in the name of my dark master." before he grabbed the top of her dress and pulled it down as he pushed her against the wall.
Hermione felt her dress tear with the force he was using. She was terrified and she had no intention of allowing him to continue. She put her hands onto his chest and pushed as hard as she could, but he didn't budge. "Viktor, please! Stop! Let go of me!" She begged him.
"Stop fighting!" He growled in her face as he pinned her arms above her head.
"No!" She cried out in protest as she realized the severity of the situation she now found herself in, "Help! Please!" She began to scream, her fear of the older student rose.
Krum's free hand lifted Hermione's dress roughly, ripping her knickers. He forced her legs open and inserted a finger into her entrance. She screamed at the invasion of her most private area. He removed his finger and brought it to his mouth, "Delicious," he smiled insanely at her. Then he began removing his belt one handed. Hermione continued to struggle, but Krum was too strong for her. Tears fell down her face in absolute fear. This was not the same fear she had when she thought Draco would rape her. This was blinding fear of an unknown person. Would he kill her after? Or leave her in her shame?
"Stupify!" A voice from the darkness spoke as Viktor dropped, unconscious to the ground. Hermione closed her eyes and turned away crying. "Stop. Please stop," She chanted quietly, in the back of her mind, she realized she was going into shock. Her arms wrapped around her body, protecting her nakedness.
"I would think garbage like you would at least know what the consequences would be if you try and take what belongs to a snake." Draco said, to Krum,as he stepped out of the shadows.
She opened her eyes to see Draco. She flung her arms around him, shaking in fear. "Oh Draco, I was so scared," she sobbed into his chest.
He wrapped his arms around her and said calmly, "You're safe. He won't hurt you anymore."
"Can we go somewhere, Draco? I can't go back to the dance. My dress is ripped." desperation colored her voice.
"Wingardium Leviosa." He said as he nodded. "We'll take him with us, I want to know why he did this to you." He led her toward the third floor and their room. She sobbed into his chest as they walked along the deserted corridors. She was grateful that everyone still seemed to be at the ball.
He brought her into their classroom. He released her and brushed his blonde hair back from his eyes. "Incarcerous," he said making sure that Krum was bound tightly.
She looked up at him, tears still falling, "Why me?"
He walked to her and pulled her back into a hug and held Hermione in silence as he let her get all of her emotions out.
She cried in his arms grateful he rescued knew that she may never know why she was targeted. After a few more minutes of crying into his chest, she pulled away and looked into his face,"thank you for saving me." She said softly.
"I will always do my best to keep you safe." He replied as he rubbed her shoulders. He did pulled out his wand and pointed to her torn dress, "Reparo," and the dress knit back together, covering her nakedness. He whispered the charm to clean and heal the scratches that were on her thighs and clit.
"Thank you," her voice in a whisper, but a realization came over her, "Hang on, I thought you were going to go see your father tonight. What were you doing in the corridor?" She asked curiously.
"My father was talking to the Durmstrang headmaster, Karkaroff, an hour ago. They were discussing a potion and hair that was taken from Krum's jersey. It sounded fishy so I went looking for you after that. " Draco replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Oh so that isn't Viktor!" She cried out as she pointed at the unconscious student across the room from them. "The potion your father was talking about had to be a polyjuice potion, and someone used it and the hair to be turned into Viktor!" She said growing more panicked with every word. She started pacing the room.
"I don't think it's my father. I saw him talking to the Minister of Magic right before I left to find you. They were in the Entrance Hall." Draco replied to Hermione.
"Then who would want to pose as Viktor and try to rape me?" Hermione asked stopping her pacing and looked at Draco, frightened by the thought of anyone associated with his father getting that close to her.
"I will do my best to protect you," Draco said simply as he pulled Hermione into his arms. Her fear caused her to cry into his chest for a few more minutes.
Suddenly, they heard groaning from across the room. Draco walked over the bound imposter. "Who are you?" he asked.
"You know who I am," the imposter responded as his face began to bubble and change before their eyes. He changed from Viktor Krum to Barty Crouch Jr. Hermione gasped in shock at seeing the reportedly dead Death Eater before them.
Draco pointed his wand at Crouch. "Who put you up to this?" His face stone cold, anger flashing in his slate grey eyes like lighting across a dark sky.
Hermione watched the scene before her in disbelief. 'How could a Death Eater get into the castle like this?' she asked herself.
"Can you think of no one, Mr. Malfoy?" Crouch answered Draco with a sickening grin on his face.
'Aunt Bella.' Draco thought to himself. "Why!?" He bit out through gritted teeth getting angrier with each question he had to ask.
"Mudblood," he responded with a maniacal laugh that sent eerie chills down Hermione's spine.
Draco growled in frustration, "Stupify!" He sighed as the man once again collapsed unconscious in front of him. "How the fuck did she find out?" he said out loud more to himself than to anyone in the room. "I mean I knew already she's been using father to orchestrate her plot from Azkaban, but how the bloody hell did she find out about us?" he continued to ramble.
Hermione looked up from the floor, his question rousing her from her own thought process. "Does your father know?" she asked him. "About us, I mean."
"Absolutely not, he'd kill me if he found out," he said as look to her. "We had to have made a mistake. Someone had to have seen something we should have hidden better." His irritation with himself evident in his answer.
"Okay, listen, we're going to be okay. She's in Azkaban, if this is the worst the can do from there I think we'll be fine. We just need to focus on helping Harry." Hermione said as she stepped closer to Draco.
"I need time to think." He said sharply tuning his back to her as he walked to the window.
"Draco, please don't shut me out." she pleaded with him, taking a step forward.
"Go!" he shouted in frustration.
She bit her lip to keep from crying, "fine, let me know when you're finished throwing your tantrum." she responded. She turned and rushed out of the classroom. Tears filled her eyes as she walked back to Gryffindor Tower. Every noise she heard caused her to literally jump out of her skin.