Disclaimer ~ All characters are the property of one J K Rowling. The only thing I can take full credit for is the plot.
A.N.~ So here it is. I was hoping to have it up sooner but life has a way of grabbing you and taking you into a whole different direction. So this chapter is leading up to a big reveal in the next chapter. Yes we have got a cliffy at the end of this one but it will be worth it.
Mrs. Weasley stared at the boy sitting across from her. When she had received his owl just days before she could not for the life of her figure out why he needed to speak to her. Now however she wasn't sure what to think. She let his words run through her mind once again. Hermione ... Shrieking Shack ... attacked ... raped. Blaise looked at the woman across from him. She was a short plump woman, with flaming red hair, and brown eyes that were at this moment wide with horror.
"Mrs. Weasley? Are you alright?" Molly looked up at the young man sitting across from her.
"We try so hard you know, we parents. We want more then anything to be able to protect our children from the horrors of the world. We know what could possibly happen but we never want to think that it could happen to one of our own." Blaise watched as a few stray tears fell down her, before she reached out to pat his hand. "Thank you Mr. Zabini. Hermione has always been like a second daughter to me and I truly appreciate you looking out for her well being."
"Hermione is a good person. She never should have had to go through this. She really does need someone to talk to about it though, she can not keep it bottled up or it will kill her inside. I honestly believe that once she is able to talk about it she will be able to heal." Molly nodded.
"You are quite right. I must say though. I am slightly surprised that she would confide in you Mr. Zabini, no offense." Blaise gave her one of his best smiles.
"She didn't. I figured it out on my own. She doesn't know that I know. At least I don't think she does." He said not sure if Draco had told her he knew. Blaise looked at the time. He only had ten minutes before he had to meet the others. "I'm afraid I must go Mrs. Weasley, but I hope that you will be able to help Hermione." Molly nodded, standing up to leave, followed by Blaise.
"I will speak to Hermione. Help get her through this. You are a good friend Mr. Zabini." She said before giving him one last smile and walking out the door. Glad you think so, though Draco may disagree when he finds out what I did. He thought as he walked out the door to go meet the others.
"So the next thing we know our dear Theodore is snogging Millicent Bulstrode underneath the mistletoe." Blaise laughed. The three of them were doing their patrol and the guys were trying to keep Hermione's mind off of the building that was further up the path. They were telling her about the Slytherin Christmas party fifth year where Blaise and Draco had enchanted the mistletoe to cause the two people under it to see the other person as the person they wanted to snog the most. Hermione was in a fit of giggles.
"So you didn't tell them that the mistletoe was enchanted." She asked. Draco snorted.
"Now where would the fun have been in that. If everyone knew that we had enchanted the mistletoe no one would have gone under it. The sad thing is that no one figured it out. Theodore was pissed and Millicent was in heaven. She followed him around for about a month after that." Hermione shook her head.
"I wonder about you Slytherins sometimes. How is it that you prank each other and basically go out of you way to get underneath each others skins and yet you always come off like such a tight knit group."
"Because we know that no matter what we always have each others backs. The house of Slytherin isn't just about ambition, cunning, determination, resourcefulness, and self-preservation. We are also about loyalty, and kinship. Blaise wasn't joking when he said that we never turn on our own. Sure, we get angry at each other, and there are times when we may want to hex the other but when it comes to other houses messing with one of us is where we draw the line. We stick up for one another, no matter what." Hermione thought back over her years at Hogwarts and realized that they were right. Sure, she remembered seeing arguments between the Slytherins but she also remembered that when ever someone from another house, usually Gryffindor, started with one of them they always put their differences aside and protected one another. As Hermione thought more about it she realized that she could not say the same for the Gryffindors. Harry and Ron had proven that more then once. While the house of Gryffindor represented courage, bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry there were also considered self-righteous and arrogant. Hermione, had seen first hand how the Gryffindors could turn on one another. Poor Harry had seen it often, like in their second year when many thought he was the heir of Slytherin, all because he could speak parseltongue and then again in fourth year when Harry became the fourth champion in the Tri Wizard Tournament, much to his own dismay. She too had to deal with the wrath of the Gryffindors all because of the recent events with her befriending Draco. Many of them would not talk to her unless they were spewing out snide remarks. Honestly though she could truly care less about what they thought or said, considering the fact that she had more important issues to deal with.
"We Slytherins may come off as complete wankers but we are loyal wankers!" Blaise joked, causing her to once again start giggling. Her laughter however trailed off when the entered the clearing where The Shrieking Shack stood. Hermione stopped and just stared at the old, abandoned house, trying not to let her fears overwhelm her once again.
"Hermione? Are you alright?" Draco asked quietly. "We are here. Blaise and I are here for you." They watched as she continued to just stare at it while she spoke.
"Its just an old, abandoned house. It can not hurt me." She whispered to herself. "Did you know that it actually has no working doors or windows that allow entry or exit of the premises? It was actually built so that Professor Lupin would have a place for his monthly werewolf transformations in secret during the time he was a student at Hogwarts. It wasn't haunted like everyone believed." Blaise and Draco looked at one another confused by her sudden need to inform them about the shack, as if she was some kind of muggle tour guide. She looked away from the shack and over to them, "Its just a shack, nothing more then wood and nails. It can not hurt me" She paused before suddenly realizing that Blaise was also there and that he didn't know the truth. Taking in her fearful look at the small blunder she had made, Blaise spoke.
"You are quite right, Hermione. No need to be scared of the sounds of old wood settling. Haunted? I think not." He watched as she let out a small sigh of relief before turning her back on the place where she faced such trauma.
"Well then,. Shall we head back?" Both boys nodded and followed her back towards town, none of them noticing the figure standing in the third floor window staring down at them and remembering what he had done to the young girl in that very room.
The week flew by in a flurry of ribbon and wrapping paper, as everyone exchanged their secret snowflake gifts. Lisa was very happy with the gift Hermione had purchased for her, saying that she had been hoping for some new quills since most of hers had been borrowed by friends and never returned. Hermione received a pretty silver charm bracelet from Eleanor Branstone, a third year Hufflepuff. The bracelet consisted of five charms, each representing a piece of her. There were two letter charms, an H and a G, representing her initials, then there were three charms in the shapes of a book, a cat, and a wand. Hermione hugged the girl and thanked her for her thoughtful gift.
It seemed that the upcoming holidays had quite the effect on the school. It seemed as if everyone was getting along and getting into the holiday spirit. Hermione had even taken it upon herself to be civil to Ron and Harry, not forgiving them for the actions but at least letting them know that there was the possibility that she may forgive them someday.
The Hogsmeade trip had gone off without a hitch and Hermione had to admit that by the time they returned to Hogwarts that night, Draco and Blaise had gotten her to forget all her problems. Sure they still plagued her mildly but Draco had made a very good point that night after Blaise had left.
Hermione had been in her room wrapping the last of the gifts she had bought that day, when she heard a knock on her door.
"May I come in Granger?" She heard Draco say. She found it funny how he switched back and forth between her first and last name when he spoke to her.
"Sure Draco." She watched as the door opened and he walked in. He looked at the pile of brightly wrapped presents that covered her bed, and smirked.
"I should have guessed that you would have to have all of your presents wrapped the moment you got back." He chuckled a bit before continuing. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You seemed to have a good time today." Hermione smiled at him.
"I did Draco and I have you and Blaise to thank for that. You two really kept my mind off everything and other then the initial shock of seeing The Shrieking Shack, my mind didn't wander to that day."
"I'm glad we could help you." He looked around the room thoughtfully, before taking a deep breath and looking back at her. "You were right you know." She looked at him curiously. "It is just wood and nails. It really can not hurt you unless you let it. Well the thought of it that is. It kind of goes the same for the monster who hurt you. You are safe here at Hogwarts. The only way he can get you here, is in your thoughts, and thats only if you let him have the power to invade them. You are one of the strongest people I know Hermione. Don't let him control your life any more then he already has." Hermione looked down shyly.
"What if I'm not safe here, Draco? What if the person who attacked me is one of the students or someone who works here. We didn't know who all the death-eaters were. It could have been anyone." Draco took a step closer to her causing her to look back up at him.
"The person who did this to you is no where in this school and never will be. I promise you that." She looked into his grey eyes and noticed that they looked slightly pained.
"How do you know that?" She asked and could see that he was fighting with himself about something. He shrugged.
"I just do. Former death eater in training, remember. I've pretty much met them all." Hermione could tell that he was leaving something out but decided against asking him about it. He let out a breath. "Anyways, I just wanted to make sure you were alright before I went to bed." She smiled up at him.
"Thank you Draco." She watched as he started to leave, stopping him when he reached the door. "Draco! Wait." He turned and looked at her as she walked over to him. She knew that he was right. That she needed to start moving forward before it was to late. She stopped in front of him before taking a deep breath and wrapping her arms around his waist and placing her head on his chest, hugging him to her. Draco was to shocked at first to move but then slowly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. After a minute she stepped back and shyly looked up at him. "Goodnight Draco."
"Goodnight Hermione." He said before turning and walking back to his room.
Hermione had been quite proud of herself for taking that step and since then she couldn't help but think of it constantly.
"You've been in quite a good mood these past few days." Hermione looked up to see Ginny sitting down next to her and grabbing an apple from the tray of fruit in front of them. "I'm sorry. Did I interrupt your thinking?" Hermione shook her head. "Oh good. Though I don't know how anyone can think in here today." Hermione had to admit she was right. The Great Hall was extra loud due to the excitement of everyone leaving for the holidays in just two days. "Are you sure you don't want to spend the holidays with us at the Burrow. You know you are always welcome." Hermione just looked at her and smiled.
"No thank you Ginny. I'm still angry with Harry and Ron. Besides. I don't think I could deal with all you love birds snogging the whole time." She knew that Lavender had been invited and would be staying the holiday with them. She really did not want to be around the lovey dovey couples.
"Oh please. They'll be lucky if we even talk to them. We are still just as mad at them as you are Mione. Lav told Ron off in spades for you."
"Really?" Hermione said, a little shocked by what Ginny had said. Sure Lavender had changed but that didn't mean that they had become instant friends. The fact that she had stood up for her meant a lot. Ginny nodded.
"Oh yea! It was bloody great! I don't think I've ever seen my dimwitted brother so scared. She told him that if he ever tried anything like that again she would personally help you hex him into oblivion and then help bring him back just so the two of you could hex him again. It was quite funny." Hermione smiled to herself as she pictured an irate Lavender telling this to Ron. I'm surprised he didn't piss himself she thought.
"So. Are you looking forward to heading home for the holiday?" Hermione asked. Everyone who was going home for the holiday would be leaving for the Hogwarts Express Saturday morning. They still had one day of classes before they would all leave.
"Well..."
"May I have your attention please?" Everyone quieted down as the Headmaster stood before them. "In honor of the upcoming holidays, and the fact that you were all so well behaved during last weekends Hogsmeade trip, tomorrows classes have been canceled." The silence was broken as all the students started to cheer loudly. "With that said I wish you all a good evening." The Headmaster left the podium and walked over to where Hermione and Ginny sat. "Miss Granger, a word please."
"Of course Headmaster." She said before turning to Ginny. "I'll talk to you later Gin." She got up and followed the Headmaster out of the Great Hall. "Is anything wrong sir?" Dumbledore laughed and shook his head.
"Oh no my dear. In fact everything is quite wonderful. The reason I asked to speak with you is because Molly Weasley flooed me this evening asking if I would allow you to join her for lunch tomorrow afternoon at The Burrow."
"Mrs. Weasley has invited me to lunch?" She asked confused by the sudden invitation.
"It seems that she wants to spend some time with you since you will not be joining them for the holiday. Now if you would like to go you may come to my office around noon and use the fireplace in my office to floo over." Hermione smiled up at him.
"Of course I'll go Headmaster. I haven't seen Mrs. Weasley in quite sometime and it will be nice to be able to chat with her without everyone else there."
"Oh good. I will floo her and tell her that you have accepted and will be there at noon. You have a wonderful evening Miss Granger."
"Thank you Headmaster. I will see you tomorrow." She said with a smile before heading up to her dorm. No matter what was going on between her and Ron, Hermione would never allow it to come between her and Mrs. Weasley. She had been like a second mother to her ever since first year and she would never want to do anything that would hurt her. She knew that Mrs. Weasley had been slightly upset that Hermione would not be joining them all at The Burrow for the holiday so she knew that she could never say no to her simple lunch request. Hermione came to her portrait and was slightly shocked by the image. The lion was laying there asleep with the snake curled up, asleep on top of it. What an odd scene, she thought as she spoke the password and watched as the snake opened one sleepy eye and looked at her before opening for her. She walked in to the sound of laughter and stopped short when she came around the corner. There, sitting in the common room, sipping fire whiskey were Draco and Blaise. What made Hermione stop short though were the two other people sitting with, or more precisely on top of them. There giggling drunkenly were Daphne and Astoria Greengrass. Hermione knew that Blaise and Daphne had an on again off again relationship, but she didn't know that there was anything going on between Draco and Astoria. She also didn't know why the sight of Astoria sitting on Draco's lap, giggling hysterically while Draco whispered something in her ear, made her want to rip each and every strand of dark black hair from the sixth year girl's head. Hermione felt her chest constrict painfully as she secretly watched the two of them for a minute before stepping out of the shadows and heading towards the stairs.
"Hermione! We were wondering where you were. You know Daphne and Astoria, correct." Blaise asked pointing to the two girls. Hermione watched as Draco jumped at the sound of her name, causing Astoria to fall off his lap and onto the ground.
"Ow!" Astoria said, still giggling. "That hurt you big jerk!" She looked over at Hermione and smiled. "Hello Hermione. Nice to see you again." Hermione nodded at her and Daphne.
"Its nice to see you both. If you'll excuse me I'll get out of your way. I'm sorry to have interrupted your evening." She said softly, feeling a lump growing in her throat as she watched Draco help Astoria off the ground.
"Your not interrupting us Hermione." Draco said to her after he made sure Astoria was safely seated on the couch. He walked over to her quickly, his trade mark smirk on his face. He watched as she took a quick step backwards causing him to stop walking any closer to her. She watched as his smirk quickly left his face, leaving behind a look of confusion and hurt.
"Please feel free to stay Hermione. After all it is your common room too." Daphne said, cuddling into Blaise. Hermione shook her head.
"No thank you. I should be getting to bed. I have a lunch date tomorrow so I want to be fully rested." Hermione wasn't sure but she thought she had seen Draco tense up when she mentioned the word date but she couldn't be sure. He looked at her oddly.
"A lunch date? With who?" Hermione pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear.
"Um, with Mrs. Weasley. She invited me to The Burrow for lunch." She was going to say more but noticed Blaise choking on his drink. "Blaise. Are you okay?" He looked up to find them all staring back at him.
"Yes. I'm fine. Just remembered I had some things I needed to do back in my room. Daphne, Astoria. Shall we?" Daphne jumped up off his lap, allowing him to get up and hold a hand out to Astoria to help her up.
"We will see you tomorrow Draco." Blaise said as he escorted the girls out of the room. Draco waited until he heard the portrait shut before turning back to Hermione. He felt this weird need to explain what she walked in on to her, however when he turned back to her she was already gone.
Draco was waiting down in the common room the next day hoping to catch Hermione before she left for The Burrow. He really wanted to tell her why Astoria was on his lap when she came in the night before. It seemed that unlike her sister Astoria was unable to hold even the smallest amount of fire whiskey. She had stood up quickly and ended up falling into Draco's lap causing them all to go into a fit of hysterics.
Draco looked up at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and the sight he saw took his breath away. Hermione had her hair pulled to the side in a messy braid. She was wearing a long, white, vintage floral skirt, a red sleeveless, knit top, and red wedge sandals. She looked gorgeous. Draco stood up when she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Hermione. Can we talk?" She nodded at him and sat down on one of the couches. Draco sat down next to her and took a deep breath. "About last night, with Astoria. You see ..."
"No need to explain Draco. What you do with your time and who you do it with are none of my business. Astoria is a lovely girl. You two would make such a nice couple, if you aren't one already." She said cutting him off. Draco just stared at her, not only shocked by her words, but also slightly hurt. He knew that his feelings for her would not be fully reciprocated but it still stung a little to hear her basically tell him that he should be with another girl. He had thought that maybe, just maybe she may feel something a little more then just friendship towards him but now unfortunately he knew better. Not one to let himself be made a fool of, he quickly stood up and nodded at her.
"Oh well, thank you for that. Astoria is quite nice, unlike most of the other Slytherin girls. Maybe something will happen there. She is quite lovely." He was so busy trying to save himself from looking like a fool that he hadn't noticed Hermione's eyes start to tear up. "Well. I must be off. Have a wonderful time at the Weasley's." He turned and quickly walked out of the room, this time not noticing the tears that started to fall.
Hermione was greeted as she walked out of the Weasley's fireplace and into their home. After Draco had left her in the common room she had cried a bit and ended up having to place a glamor on herself to cover up her red, puffy eyes.
"Hermione, my dear." Hermione looked up to see Mrs. Weasley walking toward her, her arms held open, ready to engulf her in one of her hugs.
"Hello Mrs. Weasley. How are you?" She said backing away from her.
"I am just fine dear. Now, I have set lunch up outside, so come, come." She said motioning for her to follow. The two women walked outside to where a table was set up and piled high with some of Hermione's favorite dishes. The women sat down and talked as they ate. When they were finished they moved to sit underneath a large tree, by the edge of the garden.
"How have you been Hermione?" Mrs. Weasley asked her. Hermione looked at her and smiled.
"I've been good Mrs. Weasley. School is going well for me and I love being Head Girl." She watched as Mrs. Weasley nodded at her words and looked away towards the small pond that sat on the property. When she looked back at her, Hermione could see tears in her eyes. Hermione reached out and took her hand in hers. "Whats wrong Mrs. Weasley?" Mrs. Weasley looked at her and smiled sadly.
"I know Hermione. I know what happened to you back in October." Hermione dropped Mrs. Weasley's hand as she felt her own eyes start to water. Mrs. Weasley grabbed her hand again. "Now please don't be mad at him for telling me. He was only thinking about what was best for you. You can't go through this alone, Hermione." Hermione was pissed. He told her! Draco told her everything after he promised he wouldn't! She burst into tears. Mrs. Weasley pulled her into her arms and held her tightly. "Oh Hermione sweetie. Why didn't you come to me? I can help you through this." Hermione pulled away and shook her head.
"No you can't. No one can help me through this." She started to stand up.
"Yes I can Hermione, but only if you are willing to talk to me." Mrs. Weasley said reaching for her again. Hermione pulled her arm out of reach.
"NO! Don't you see! No one can help me. No one could understand! You couldn't possibly understand!" She cried. Mrs. Weasley stood up and faced her.
"Yes I can Hermione. I can understand perfectly."
"HOW! How could you possibly understand went I went through." She shouted, not prepared for the next few words that came out of Mrs. Weasley's mouth.
"Because it happened to me!"
Soooo do you all hate me right now. I can promise you that the next chapter Which will be called Molly's Story will be worth the read. I've done my research on the character and I may have to rewrite her history a little but I think you guys are going to like it. Till next time!