Chapter 17: Carefully Guarded Secrets

Warning: Scene of a somewhat sexual nature. This is not an M story, but I need to explain something from Hermione's past. Please skip the italic long section if you feel the need to.

The night after class resumed Hermione had a nightmare. It was more a memory of one of her worst memories.

After starting to date Victor the summer after her fourth year, she was delighted to find out that he had to finish one last term before graduating and taking his NEWTs. This was part of an original agreement when he made the professional quidditch team, as he would be missing a lot of school weeks at a time. Dating Hermione became a "perk" of returning.

After Victor graduated, the boys that had finally begun to notice Hermione were ready to make her come out and play. They all knew she was a "mudblood", and took no shame in calling her so. Oh, they had noticed her before and called her such names and she always fought back. Either with words or her wand. She had a few friends that helped stick up for her, those who were from pureblood families that weren't as prejudice as the others.

It was one evening after studying late in the library that Hermione saw them waiting for her.

"Hey, little mudblood! Where are you going?" One seventh-year boy called to her.

"Surely nowhere without us." Another snickered.

Hermione quickened her pace, but they caught up to her.

"You know it isn't safe to wander the halls at night." The first boy said. "You need us to warm you up a bit."

"Yeah!" A third boy said, who was in sixth-year.

"Excuse me, but I need…"

Her words were cut short when one boy grabbed her bag.

"Hey! Give me back by bag!" Hermione shouted and quickly got her wand out.

The oldest boy of the group snatched it easily from her. "Now, now, Ms. Granger. You wouldn't want to hex us, would you? Not when we promise to play nice with you." He circled his arms around her from the back, trapping her arms.

"At first," One of the others said. "No doubt Krum got started on you, but we're willing to make up for him not being here." He took a step closer to her and kissed her hard, rubbing his body against her as he did.

Hermione bit him on the lip as she tried to wrestle free from the other boy. The third looked on amused.

"You bitch!" He cried and then struck her hard across the face. The blow was so hard that she fell out of the other boy's arms and fell to the ground. The one that struck her got down on top of her. "Playing it hard? I'll show you hard." He rubbed up against her, making his excitement all too clear for the young girl, and yanked open her robes and her blouse. "Nice set, Granger. Victor ever touch you here?" He groped her and went for opening her bra.

Hermione felt her wand, which he had placed in his pocket, and grabbed for it as she kicked him in the groin as hard as she could.

As the boy crumpled to her side she quickly stupefied the other two, then her attacker and ran as fast as she could back to her dorm.

She wrote to Victor that night, telling him what happened. She knew the Headmaster would likely do nothing. Victor still had good friends at the school, and from then on they protected her and made threats to the three boys after beating them to a pulp. While Hermione didn't care for violence, she was grateful for them taking care of her. Dating a famous quidditch player had its own perks, and this was one of them.

Hermione woke with a start after recalling the terrifying event. The next time she saw Victor, she propositioned him. She didn't want to ever risk losing her innocence from some "attack".

Hermione knew what she had to do. She couldn't tell Ron yet about being Maria, but she had to be honest with him.

Hermione went down to breakfast to wait for the others. They bounded in a few minutes later, both looking ravenous. Ron kissed her on the cheek before sitting down as Harry sat next to Ginny and did the same.

"Ron, I was hoping I could talk with you later." She said in a sweet yet matter of fact tone. "Perhaps we could go for a walk after classes."

Ginny and Harry both stared at her. Each was thinking the same thing…was she going to tell them? Hermione frowned over at the two, but Ron was blissfully thinking of snogging and didn't notice. "All right, love." He replied. She gave him a chaste kiss on the lips and went back to her meal.

It was later that day when the two met for their alone time. Hermione and Ron kissed for awhile before she finally decided it was time to tell him. She gently laid her hand on his chest and sighed.

"Ron, I need to talk with you about something."

Immediately Ron thought the worst. His chest tightened, his jaw clenched. "You're…you're not…"

"I need to tell you something…why I asked about you and Lavender."

Oh. He inwardly sighed in relief. "You don't have to explain. I mean, I've wondered about…but Hermione, it's too soon to talk about…you know." And I don't bloody want to know how far she and Krum got, he added to himself.

"But Ron, honesty is best. I don't want secrets between us."

"You already told me you're keeping something from me." He whispered. He really wanted to know, but hopefully it had to do with the war, perhaps. Then he would understand.

This time she was the one to sigh. "Yes, and I promise to tell you as soon as I can. But this…I mean, we're dating so there can't be anything held back that's, well, between you and me."

Ron gulped. He hadn't told Hermione about Maria yet. Could he tell her? Or was this something not related to their relationship. He quickly dismissed his own inner argument, telling himself that Maria was a friend. A very close friend. Just because he's wondered about his feelings for her didn't mean they had to interfere with a girl he only started seeing a week ago. Or nine blissful days ago, to be exact.

He leaned in to kiss her, not letting Hermione speak again until they were far too consumed in a heavy snog.

Meanwhile, Pansy Parkinson was knocking on the door to the Head's common room. She had seen Granger leave some time ago, then saw her again with the Weasel. She figured Draco was alone, and thought perhaps they could spend some time together.

The handsome blond answered the door. "What do you want, Pansy."

She giggled and slipped inside, even though he hadn't offered for her to come in. In fact, he'd barely opened the door.

"Didn't you miss me over break? I missed you, Drakie…" She purred, walking into the common room. She immediately took off her cloak, not noticing the set on the coffee table. She waited for Draco to walk back and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well? Didn't you? I haven't been with you in weeks, Draco."

"I've been busy," Draco replied as he took her hands off of him. "And now is not a good time."

"Oh, I think it is. Mudblood is off with her new toy, I doubt she'll be back for awhile."

"I'm busy."

She laughed at him. "Come on, Draco, I know you're…"

"Draco? Who's that?" A small voice asked.

Pansy whipped around and found herself staring at a younger version of Hermione. She smirked at the young thing. "Actually, I'm his girlfriend. But who the bloody hell are you?" She asked nastily.

Draco didn't like Pansy's behavior, nor did he even like her anymore. "That's enough, Pansy. I think you should leave."

"Yeah. We're playing Monopoly!" Kat cried out, her hands folded on her chest as she stood defiantly. Draco had told her about Pansy. Well, not everything of course.

Pansy turned to Draco. "You can't have me believe that you'd rather spend time with this little brat than me!"

"That's it! She's not a brat, and she's a friend, so you'd better leave!" He then took pansy by the shoulders and led her out, not waiting for her to leave before slamming the door behind her. He threw her robe out only seconds later.

"Sorry, Kat."

"That's alright. You certainly described her to a tee."

"A what?" He shook his head. "Never mind, let's get back to the game. You're going to pay for getting Boardwalk."

She laughed and the two settled down for their game.

That night Hermione felt defeated. She had wanted to tell Ron her past, but he never let her speak. He had distracted her by a kiss that soon turned passionate. All thoughts of telling him left her, but she knew she'd have to tell him soon. Especially if their passion led to something more…

"Victor!" Hermione said as she was finally in his arms. School had just let out, and since her parents were away they let him pick her up. He was supposed to drop her off at her house, where her aunt on her mother's side was staying for a few days. She still had a few hours before she had to get home, however…

"Victor, can we skip going out to lunch and just go to your house?"

"Of course, mother would be happy to see you. I'll apparate us there now." (an: imagine their speaking in Bulgarian)

After having a light lunch with his mother, the two went to Victor's wing inside his family estate. "So how are you, Hermione? I…I hope you've been left alone."

Hermione smiled weakly. "Yes, your friends have been wonderful to me, I can't thank you all enough. I still panic sometimes, but no one has bothered me since. Alex and Igor were especially good to me, although their girlfriends got upset at times."

"Yes, I told them not to tell…"

"It's alright. I did. Valda and Sasha were much nicer to me after that, even comforted me when I broke down a couple of times."

"They are nice girls, Hermione. Of course they would understand. I am glad you told them."

He leaned over to kiss her deeply. He had missed her so much the past few months, even though they spent a couple of days together during a long holiday weekend.

"Victor," She whispered in between kisses, "Make love to me."

"What? Hermione, you are too young…I cannot take advantage of you like that."

She started to cry. "But I…I want to. And I want to make sure that my first time isn't…isn't…"

"No, Hermione. It is not right. It would be for the wrong reasons."

"But we love each other, it could still be for the right reasons."

"No, Hermione. Perhaps I should take you…"

His words stopped cold as Hermione took off her top. "Please, Victor…"

Hermione woke up straight out of bed. She'd been dreaming about the disastrous time she first propositioned Victor, how devastated she was when he still refused her. But only three weeks later, he somehow had changed his mind. He had always wanted her, and when she casually mentioned that she still wanted to make love to him, that it wasn't just a rash decision, he folded. And that's how she lost her virginity. They'd only done it a couple of more times before she once again headed off to school, but then broke up months later.

The next morning

Draco looked around the Great Hall as his fellow students were eating breakfast. He had come down with both Hermione and Kat, but Hermione had immediately gone off to the Gryffindor table to sit with Ron, Harry and Ginny, while Kat had run over to some first year Ravenclaws she had made friends with. They had smiled and waved at her when she came in, Draco laughed as she went skipping over to them.

He looked over to the Slytherin table. Pansy was sitting with two of his other more recent flings. No doubt bad mouthing me, he thought as Pansy sent him a nasty glare. He looked at the others, finding no one in particular that he wanted to sit with. Crabbe and Goyle were just too dumb and a nuisance to bother with, and they were shoving in fistfuls of food into their mouths. He grimaced at the site. His best mate Blaise wasn't there, likely sleeping late as usual. He usually wouldn't make his grand appearance until breakfast was nearly over.

He sighed, not finding one person he wanted to sit with. He looked around at the other tables. That's when he saw her. He'd seen her before, and once felt her eyes on him when they'd returned from the holidays. She was actually quite pretty, and she was sitting alone. Looking at him while she carefully put a spoonful of porridge into her mouth.

Draco stood there, taking in her appearance. She gave him a small smile then went back to reading a paper, one that was obviously not the Daily Prophet. He hated that paper, they had smeared news about the Malfoy name when his father was arrested back in his fifth year. Even though he worshipped his father as a child, her carried a burning hatred toward Lucius. He stepped forward and found himself walking toward her.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asked.

"No, I don't mind." She said rather dreamily. "I'm Luna."

"Draco Malfoy." He said and waited for the house elves to serve him. They knew he didn't like to dish his own food, but for some reason he felt a little guilty for that right now.

"Don't worry, I'm used to it." She said.

"You get proper service, too?" He asked incredulously.

"No." She replied.

"Oh."

They sat and chatted while they ate, and Draco felt a calm in him he'd never felt before.

That Afternoon

Harry, Ron and Ginny were practicing Quidditch while Hermione sat in a nice secluded spot watching them as she did her homework. Even though it was cold out, she had cast a warming spell around her and was quite comfortable. Soon Kat came running up to her with one of her friends.

"Hermione!" She called out as the two approached her. "Eva says there's going to be a quidditch match on Saturday. Is that what they're doing up there?"

Hermione smiled and introduced herself before answering. "Yes, they're practicing." She quickly explained the rules to Kat, much more than Eva had done just a half hour before.

"Wow!" She said as she watched them flying about. "It looks so…dangerous but fun!"

"You should get a flying lesson." Eva said. "I've been flying since I was five."

Hermione stiffened, not caring for flying herself but Ron had promised to help her with that again after the match.

"Well, just make sure Madame Hooch is there. I don't want you feeling scared or nervous…"

"Oh, I won't! I can't wait to try it!" Kat exclaimed.

"Just make sure you tell me first."

Eva giggled.

"I'm sorry, Kat, it's just that I…"

"Hate flying? I know, you've told me before."

Just then Ron came flying down to greet the girls. "Hey, shortie!"

"Hi, Ron!" She then introduced Eva, who giggled in excitement of having met an actual player. Most players couldn't be bothered by first years, but Ron was polite and smiled at the girl, who inwardly swooned.

Hermione smirked at him.

"Did you know Hermione is scared of brooms?" Ron said teasingly. "They have a tendancy to sweep her off in mid-flight."

Hermione hit him on the arm.

"Am not, I just…I don't like being up in the air like that!"

"Well, you did great last time, perhaps this weekend you'll be ready to fly your own broom."

Hermione crooked a brow. "That eager to get me off yours?"

Ron blushed. The two girls had thankfully been watching the Harry and subsequently weren't paying attention to the playful banter.

All of the sudden Hermione's attention went back to the girls when she heard a familiar name.

"Pansy? You met Pansy Parkinson?"

"Yeah, she came to see Draco last night. He ran her off, though. We were playing Monopoly. I won!"

Hermione laughed at Kat's comment. She'd been delighted when Draco made friends with her and helped welcome her into the castle. It hadn't hurt the girl's popularity with the first and second year students, all were in awe that she was friends with so many seventh years.

Ron was busy musing about Hermione's fear of flying…or rather, as she put it, of heights. He laughed inside thinking about Maria, who had the same problem. When their letters had first started, Harry and Ron couldn't wait to write to her and tell her about Harry becoming the youngest seeker in a century. The letter was all about flying and quidditch, Ron even went on about the Chudley Cannons a bit much, but Maria had teased him in her response. It was the first time she sent them separate letters. Well, her first had been to Harry, and Ron, who hadn't been interested before in writing to someone, soon found himself adding to Harry's letters and then all three had become pen-pals.

Something suddenly clicked in Ron's mind. Hermione…Maria…both scared of heights…he shook his head. There was no way he was going to come near the thought they were actually the same person.

Soon enough Harry and Ginny landed and all six of the students made their way up to the castle to prepare for dinner.

The next morning Hermione woke thankful that she had no more haunting dreams of her times at Durmstrang. This time when she went to breakfast, a new site startled her. Draco was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, next to Luna, Padma and some of the boys from that house. She grinned then went to wait for Harry and Ron to show.

To be continued...

Please review and let me know what you think might be coming...I've already got the next chapter written but still needs editing.