Hey guys, I'm back! I just wanted to thank you guys for your reviews-you did much better this time and I'm very excited!! It motivates me to update faster wink wink .

I hope you guys didn't find the last chapter too nasty. I must admit I had some difficulty in attempting to write Malfoy being all over Hermione..shiver. Okay, i'm done blabbing now and I'll let you get back to the real reason you clicked... Tallyho!---

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Sunlight streamed through a window, striking Hermione's face as she was softly awoken from slumber. Feeling slightly awkward and realizing she had no idea where she was, she slowly opened her eyes to see herself lying face down in Ron's lap, who's own eyes were still closed in slumber, head resting against his chest. She smiled momentarily until recognition dawned on her as to the events of last night and her stomach lurched.

Malfoy had taken advantage of her.

Grimacing, she moved to sit up, only just realizing how sore she was. Her ankle was swollen and red from running on it after she had already injured it, her arms were beaten and blue, and she had scrapes all over her legs and face. Reaching a sitting position, she moved comfortably around to face the fire, only to find Harry already awake and watching her. She jumped softly, but then relaxed again.

"How are you feeling?" he asked softly looking over her bruises, concern flashing through his eyes.

He looked terrible. His eyes were blood shot and his hair was standing up on all ends. It was obvious he hadn't sleep well, if any, that night. Hermione felt a pang of guilt. It was her fault they had slept here last night, and she imagined it must have been very uncomfortable indeed.

"Oh, alright I suppose, considering.." she answered, trying to ignore the inevitable question as to exactly why and how it had happened. If she was going to tell them, it was going to be both of them, together. She would have difficulty enough trying to explain it once, she knew she wouldn't be able to do it twice once Ron awoke.

However, her concerns were cut short as a ruffling noise next to her let her know that Ron was awakened. She looked over to see him rubbing his sore eyes as he yawned. Opening his eyes completely, which were somewhat bloodshot, he looked down at the spot where Hermione had slept. Confusion crossed his face momentarily until he looked up to see her now in a standing position in front of the fire.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed, now acknowledging her presence. "Are you ok? What happened to you? Do you need to go to the hospital wing-" he moved to stand up, but Hermione quickly stopped him.

Hermione raised up her hand. " Ron, calm down. I intend to tell you and Harry," she looked over at Harry at this point, "exactly what happened last night."

With a defeated sigh, she sat down on the footstool and stared into the fire, tears threatening her eyes with the recollection of last nights events.

She didn't really want to ever have to repeat what happened last night. It was something that she had, all the way up until last night, promised herself to keep a secret. It was embarrassing and humiliating and demoralizing and- well, lets just say not the sort of thing she would ever have to admit happened to her.

She had always thought to herself that woman who got themselves rapped were weak. I mean, how hard could it possibly be to fend of a rapist? Just give them one good kick in the you-know-what and they're down for the count. Yet here she was, only just narrowly escaping what could have been much worse. She had turned into one of the women she loathed. Although, she remembered, she had to give herself some credit. At least the muggle women that would get raped had the advantage of not having magic control them.

She would have kept it a secret if Harry and Ron hadn't been up waiting for her last night and seen her the way she was when she entered the portrait hole. There was no way she would be able to keep it a secret from them now, even if she wanted to. They had been there for her through so much, and not telling them what happened when they clearly saw her condition was something she couldn't bear.

No, they had to know or else the trust between them would come crashing down and their friendship might come down with it.

"Last night.." she paused, taking a deep breath as she searched for the words that would best describe the events of last night. Losing her nerve and deciding to buy her a little time to manage her courage, she decided to change the subject.

"Well, first of all I want to thank you guys for worrying enough about me to stay up waiting. It was really nice of you guys and I really appreciate it!" She managed a smile, the first one she had been able to muster since yesterday, and looked up at the two.

Ron, however, saw her tactic and was quick to que her back in.

"Well of course we waited for you Hermione! We were scared to death! We would have come looking for you ourselves, but seeing as how Harry left his Maurauders Map in Divination-" he shot Harry a glare, who only shrugged sheepishly, before returning to the point he was getting at.

"But anyways, get back to the topic at hand, shall we? Which was, and I quote, 'what happened to you last night'.You have no idea how worried we were! Who knows what could have happened to you! I mean, you're never late for ANYTHING-ever, so we knew it had to of been something terrible, especially with the promise of homework to come back to. And well... I was worried most of all.." He looked at Hermione, tears forming in the corner of his eye. His voice had trailed off and softened so much through the last sentence that by the time he had said 'most of all' his voice was barely audible.

Somehow, she wasn't sure how, but that had given her the courage to continue. Maybe it was the sinking feeling of guilt when she looked into Ron's glistening eyes, or maybe the fact that he had revealed that he was worried most of all, but it seemed suddenly like she couldn't hold it in any longer.

She bowed her head in embarrassment as she began to speak.

"Last night, the reason why I was so late was.."her voice dropped to almost a whisper, as if just mentioning it allowed were a scandalous thing, I ran into Malfoy."

At the mention of the name Malfoy, Ron's face turned from one of sadness to one of loathe. Harry's had done the same, and it was hard to distinguish between which one seemed more upset. Obviously, both knew that anything that involved Malfoy would not be anything good. However, both were silent, allowing her time to finish her explanation.

"Well, I was walking back from Astronomy. I had stayed behind a few minutes to just kind of gather my thoughts, so I was walking by myself,"

Ron inhaled sharply. He had always tried to tell her not to walk the corridors alone at night, no matter how strong and intelligent of a witch she was. She had wished at that moment that she had followed his overly protective, yet wise, advice.

"-and everything was just fine until I turned around a corner near the Transfiguration classroom. I saw a bundle lying in the middle of the corridor. I walked up to see what it was, and i realized it was a student! Well, I got closer and realized it was Malfoy lying there! I couldn't believe anything would dare mess with Malfoy, and whatever it was had to of been really bad. He was unconscious and bleeding everywhere! And as much as I hate him, don't get me wrong," she added, seeing the looks on their faces that clearly said that she should have left him for dead, " but it's my duty as a Prefect to help all the students, no matter how much I detest them."

"So I turned around to my bag to get my wand so that I could levitate him to the hospital wing when i was knocked on my back. I turned around, and there was Malfoy, standing over me with his wand in one hand and wiping the 'blood' off his face with the other."

"He tricked me! And then, one minute he goes on about how he 'always gets what he wants' when everything goes black and I'm in the Room of Requirement, chained to a bed dressed in...dressed in that thing that i was wearing, and he...he.."

Her voice faltered and her lip quivered as she reached this part in her story. She was comforted, however, by Ron's hand, which had reached out to hers for support. Focusing on his hand clasped tightly to hers, she continued.

"And then, he..he." her voice shook, "Oh Ron he took advantage of me!" her voice quickened, trying to get through as much as she could in one breath.

"I tried to get away, but by the time I had managed he had already been all over me! He touched me in places I wouldn't ever want to be touched, and he stole my first kiss from me! He stole it! Do you know how much I've dreamed about what that kiss would be like? It's a girls biggest fantasy and then he up and stole it!"

She took a deep breath as she broke until tears, throwing herself into Ron and crying loudly into his chest.

There, she had said it! She couldn't stand to look at either of her two best friends at that moment, too ashamed at herself, as Ron and Harry shared looks of death at each other.

Ron mouthed the words "Malfoy is DEAD!" to Harry as he rubbed his hand along Hermione's back, trying to soothe her.

Harry come over to the two and placed his hand on top of Hermione's, which was wrapped tightly around Ron's neck, letting the silence overtake them as Hermione cried herself out.

Ron was overcome with anger. He knew he should have watched over Hermione even more closely this year, especially with the way Malfoy was looking at her. Now, it had cost him. Malfoy had hurt the most important person in his life and had taken something from her she could never get back. Malfoy was going to pay dearly for what he had done. Nobody messes with Ron Weasley's love and gets away with it- nobody.

After what seemed like an eternity, but was perhaps only 20 minutes, Hermione's sobs slowly subsided and were reduced to nothing more than an occasional sniffle and hiccup.

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she leaned herself forward to look into the eyes of Harry and Ron for the first time since she had admitted Malfoy had tried to rape her.

"I-I'm sorry you guys. I shouldn't have-" but Harry cut her off.

"Hermione, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. All of this was Malfoy's fault, and believe me, Ron and I are going to make sure he pays." He narrowed his eyes as he and Ron both nodded in agreement at what was said.

"Thanks you guys," she said, smiling up at them.

Silence followed for a couple more seconds until Ron finally spoke up.

" It's almost lunchtime," he said, as he looked up at the giant clock that stood above the fireplace. "I think you need food more than anything right now, and then we'll take you down to the hospital wing so Madame Pomphrey can fix up all your cuts and stuff for you."

"Oh," Hermione began, remembering the current state she was in. She reached around and took her wand from its place on the table and muttered a few well chosen words, pointing the wand at herself. Suddenly she looked as good as new, although a few of the deeper cuts still shown through a bit.

" Basic body healing spells," she explained, seeing the looks on their faces, "I read it in-"

"- a book." They finished for her, smirking down at her.

" Oh, well.yah. I did!" she blushed and smiled sheepishly at the two.

"Well, I'm starving!" she quickly said, standing up and acting as though the spell had also healed her memories of last night. " I'm ready for lunch! Let's go!" She turned to walk out the portrait, hand on the door,when Ron interrupted.

"Oh, uh..er, Hermione, I think you might want to change first." He blushed a deep red.

"Why?" Hermione asked inquisitively, "whats wrong with my ro- oh my gosh!" She exclaimed, blushing as furiously as Ron was and mentally smacking herself for forgetting what she was adorned in.

"Yah, I don't think we want anymore stares," Harry laughed, looking between his two best friends who now looked as though they had been badly sunburned.

Trying in a vain attempt to cover herself, she screamed "be right back!" and darted up the steps to the girls dormitory to change.

Harry watched her go, still laughing, and turned to Ron.

" Well, that's one thing we'll never forget." He said, watching Ron's face which stood glued to the staircase Hermione had just run up.

"I know, she was bloody hot.." he whispered in awe, forgetting that Harry could hear.

Sometimes Ron was so clueless.

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Sorry it took a little longer to update guys! Yesterday, August 21, was my 20th birthday and lets just say updating was not on my mind...ok, so maybe it was, but I had better things to do. I knew you guys would forgive me, right?

I knew i loved you guys for a reason.