Hey guys, I'm very sorry for the long update, but I've been very verryyy busy with school. Please forgive me with nice reviews:

--

Ch. 6- She belongs to me!

Once she reached the girl's dorm, Hermione grabbed a change of clothes and headed for the showers. She desperately needed to clean herself up- she looked like a train had just run her over.

Locking the door and turning on the water jets, she slowly let her clothing fall down around her as she stared at her figure in front of the large mirror that stood as tall as she. She sighed as she looked over the various cuts and bruises she had managed to miss earlier. However, she thought against healing them by magic. They would make good scars in time, and even though she didn't really care for the memory, they were a good reminder of all the rough times she had faced in her life. Hopefully, someday when she was old and wrinkly (and hopefully happily married to Ronald with children), she would look back on that night and laugh.

Once she began to feel the steam rise from the shower, she stepped in and allowed the water to splash over her body. Normally she was a quick shower taker, in and out in five minutes. There were, after all, hundreds of students that had the need to use the showers as well. But today she needed the time to relax and let her worries disappear. She closed her eyes and lifted her head, allowing the jets to do their magic on her shoulders and back. She watched the swirl of black flowing down the drain, carrying with it all the dirt and worry from her body.

She stayed under the water until it began to get cold. Turning off the jets, she grabbed a towel that she had placed on the bathside table and begin to dry herself off. Putting on her clean set of clothing, she looked in the mirror and thought at first against putting makeup on. It was, after all, the makeup that had put her in this situation.Before she had tried to make herself look prettier, Malfoy hadn't ever second glanced her. "But on second thought," she said to herself, her eyes wondering over the few scratches remaining, it would be best to put a little bit on. That would prevent her from being barraged with questions when they reached the Great Hall...

She finished dressing and arrived at the bottom of the stairs to see Harry and Ron sitting on the sofa in whispered conversation, although Hermione already suspected she knew what it was exactly they were plotting. Not that she blamed them for their attitude, she wanted to see Malfoy exploited just as much as he had done to her, and she had taken it upon herself to aid them in anyway possible to achieve this. Yes, she had the distinct feeling that her part in the whole plan would be to cover up and hide any misdeeds they would have in store that might get them expelled in the process. No, there would only be one person suffering this time, and it certainly wasn't them.

They looked up as she approached them. " You look a lot better now," Ron said, looking over her face where they smallest traces of cuts were still noticeable.

"Thank you Ronald," She replied, wringing her hands around her shirt. She may have felt better, but that didn't change the fact that she was still utterly embarrassed at the way she had walked in last night, or the way she had fallen asleep in his lap last night. She blushed at the thought. It was exactly the way she imagined sleeping with Ron for the first time, but it certainly felt as wonderful. Even better in fact.

They were silent for a few moments when Harry interrupted them. " Well I'm starving, lets go to breakfast." He said, grabbing on to Hermione's hand and walking towards the portrait hole. Ron soon followed suite, and they all walked together hand-in-hand, Hermione in the center holding onto Harry in her right hand and Ron on her left.

When they entered the Great Hall, the only stares they received were those from the Slytherins. It was clear that they were the only ones that knew of what happened. 'Of course,' Ron thought to herself, 'Malfoy was bound to just brag about having almost raped the most beautiful girl at Hogwarts..'

However, it seemed Hermione was trying her best to ignore the stares, and proceeded to sit down next to Luna and began filling up her plate with food. After everything that happened last night she was absolutely starved.

"Hey Hermione, what happened to you last night? I never saw you come back to the common room after Astronomy?" Luna inquired, looking up into the eyes of one of her only friends. Hermione jumped, not expected to be asked about it. "Oh! Um," she squeaked, searching her brain for an answer, "I went to the library. I decided to go and research something for Arithmancy," she finished, knowing that because Luna didn't take Arithmancy, she couldn't question which assignment.

She only smiled. "Oh, okay then. I was just wondering. I know Ron and Harry were waiting up for you," she motioned over to the two who had seated themselves across from them and were looking apprehensively towards Hermione, sensing the sudden tension that had sparked. If Hermione wanted to tell people what had happened, she would, but as of current it was clear she wanted to keep it a secret.

"Oh, yah, we had forgotten about that," Harry added, catching on to Hermione's lie.

"Oh, alright." was all she said before returning to her eggs and the latest edition of her father's newspaper. Hermione, Ron, and Harry all let out a mental sigh.

With the coast clear and no more question's in the air, Hermione stole a glance at the Slytherin table, who were now openly pointing at her and sniggering. She was just about to open her mouth to say something when a drawling voice came from behind her.

"Well, fancy seeing you here Granger." She turned to see none other but Draco Malfoy himself looking down on her, a particularly smug, yet with a small trace of embarrassment, spread across his face.

"What do YOU want, Malfoy?!" She spat, looking over the bruise she had left on his arm when she had punched him in her efforts to escape.

"I just came by to tell you-" his voice dropped to a whisper, "that just because you got away last night doesn't mean you will in the future. I told you, you belong to ME." His voice leaking with seduction as his lips were almost on her ear.

His reply, however, didn't go unheard as Ron had jumped across the table and shoved him away from Hermione.

"You better stay bloody hell away from her!" He screamed at Malfoy, placing his hands out in front of Hermione protectively.

"Oh really?" his eyebrows raised. "And what exactly are YOU going to do about it? You can't be around her all the time. She doesn't belong to you anyways."

"She bloody well does too!" he blurted out before he could stop himself. The Great Hall suddenly became silent as everyone turned to look at Ron, now beat red in the face, as Hermione stared at him with her jaw practically touching the ground. "I..I..What I meant was-" he began, stuttering for an excuse.

Realization hit, and Malfoy smiled evily, taking joy in the moment."Ohh...I see what it is now," he smirked, motioning to Hermione, " you're in LOVE with the Mudblood!"

Ron's eyes grew wide as saucers and, if possible, his ears turned an even brighter shade of red than ever. His body shook, and he was speechless, although whether it was because he was openly accused of being in love with Hermione or having him call her 'Mudblood', no one knew. Harry, however, sensed the danger and ran to the side of his friend.

"That's it, isn't it?!" Malfoy gloated, "The Weasel and the Mudblood in love! Weasel and the Mudblood sitting in a-" His singing suddenly ceased as Ron had jerked out of his shock and had thrown himself at Malfoy and was throwing violent punches to his face.

"How DARE you say that about Hermione!" He growled. He was a raving mess, and now he was taking his anger-ALL of his anger- out on the one person that had caused it all.

"RONNN!!" Hermione screeched, running up and trying to pull a very pissed off Ron off of Malfoy. Harry had soon followed suite, and with the two of them combined had mange to pull him off.

Ron, however, was insatiable. He tugged violently to free himself from Harry and Hermione, who used all their strength to keep them apart. Malfoy stood at looked Hermione straight in the eye, straightening down his hair and brushing the dirt off his robes.

"Your little Weasel might have saved you this time, but he won't always be there," and with that, he motioned to Crabbe and Goyle and they quickly left the Hall.

That left Hermione and Harry to stare incoherently at Ron, who had finally calmed down. "Ron, what was THAT all about?! I thought we agreed to wait until we put our plan into action!" Harry suddenly rounded on Ron, looking him dead into his eyes, who's own had never left Hermione's inquiring stare.

"Hello, are you listening to me?" Harry asked, waving his hand in front of Ron's eyes, trying to get his focus off of Hermione and instead on him. "Earth to Ron, Earth to Ron, come in Ron!" Harry said, his anger slowly dissipating into a small smile as comprehension hit him.

Ron ripped his eyes away from Hermione, and looked to Harry. "Er, what was that mate?" he asked, his blush returning as he suddenly realized he was caught staring.

"Ugh. Never mind," was the response he received. " Just try and control your anger until we can get our planned figured out."

"Oh, er, right..Sorry about that." His voice was quiet, and embarrassment shone brightly through his voice. Hermione, who had been silent to this point, suddenly spoke up.

"Ron?" her voice squeaked, barely audible as she tried to find strength within her. Ron looked to her nervously, desperately trying to not discuss what Malfoy had just mentioned. "Ron, about what Malfoy said-"

"Screw Malfoy!" he retorted, "he doesn't know what the bloody hell he's talking about! All rubbish!" he finished, looking into Hermione's eyes, hoping against hope she would be satisfied with the answer and wouldn't question him further. Hermione's face, however, fell.

"Oh, so..everything he said..." her voice trailed off, tears forming in her eyes. She had sincerely hoped that Malfoy's accusation about Ron loving her had been true...but Ron had just told her that it was all a lie. "Even the part about loving me?" she asked, avoiding his gaze. She didn't trust herself if he denied it, and she wouldn't let him see the disappointment in her face. She instead focused on a tile on the ground, pretending to be interested in it.

Ron looked into her face, searching her eyes—but for what? What exactly was he hoping to find? Understanding, anger...hope? He slowly opened his mouth to reply.

"MR. WEASLEY!" A voice bellowed, tearing both of them out of their thoughts as Professor McGonagall hurried over to the three. "How DARE you start a fight with another student!" she began, glaring between the three. "I would have expected better from you!"

"But Professor!" Harry began, " Malfoy was the one who started it!"

"I don't care who started the argument," she yelled, " the point is that Mr.Weasley started the fight!" Her lips were thin, and she looked very mad indeed, although Hermione suspected she could see a speck of sadness and guilt hidden beneath her eyes. "Now, if you would please, Mr. Weasley, we have a detention to discuss." And with that, she led Ron away from the Hall and up towards what was no doubt her office.

"Oh great! Now I feel guilty on top of everything else!" Hermione said, throwing her hands into the air. "Can I NEVER win?!" she groaned and looked over at Harry, who was still looking after Ron and Professor McGonagall. It was at her outburst that Harry looked back to her, the smug little smile returning to his face.

"And what other feelings were you feeling before, might I ask?" he smiled, looking at her knowingly. He was going to attempt to get Hermione to admit her feelings for Ron while she was at a disadvantage. True, it was sneaky and deceitful, but he was on a mission. Operation Red Head had begun.

Hermione blushed furiously "Oh..umm, you know..Anger..uhh..erm.." She struggled for an answer when Harry finished her sentence for her.

"Disappointment?" he suggested, eyes twinkling.

Hermione looked at him as if she had just been slapped. "Why would I feel that?!" she fought back defensively, "I'm not disappointed he punched him or anything! Of course not Harry, how could you think that!" she rambled on for a few moments until she once again became quiet, having lost all strength in trying to argue him. Tears began to form as many different emotions overtook her. She was angry for Malfoy for confronting her and provoking the anger from Ron. She felt guilty that Ron had received a detention from it and embarrassed for the situation it had caused. But mostly, she was confused about her feelings and disappointed as to the answer Ron gave her.

She couldn't take it anymore, and she suddenly threw herself into Harry's arms as tears flowed freely down her face. He respected her emotional state and allowed her to cry into his chest, occasionally whispering words of comfort until her tears slowly subsided. It wasn't until he could no longer her sobs, and only the occasional sniffle, when he finally spoke up.

"So," he started gently rubbing his hand down her back, " you really do love him, don't you?"

--

Yup, thats all she wrote. When I wrote the last line I was thinking of The Little Mermaid, where King Triton says that to Sebastian at the end before he turns Ariel into a human again...I know, I'm a dork..

Also, did you notice that I put Ron at holding Hermione's LEFT hand? I was referencing it to the hand you wear your wedding ring on.