She crashed onto the carpeted floor of her parent's living room. Her chest was burning and her heartbeat pounded in her ears as her blood boiled beneath her skin. A strangled cry of despair tore from her throat as the images of her hands hurting Fleur ceased to stop. Every scratch, every bite, she could remember everything with horrible clarity and it made her sick with self-loathing.

Her eyes stung with tears as she slammed her fist into the carpeted floor over and over as the images tormented her.

Now it really is just me and you Muddy.

A cry of rage escaped from Hermione. Forcing herself onto her feet the crippling pain that raced through her torso did little to quell the storm in her mind.

"You fucking bitch I'll kill you for what you did!" bellowed Hermione as her eyes darted around the room. She truly was losing her mind, she knew no one was in the house and yet a part of her yearned for Bellatrix Lestrange to be in front of her, in the flesh so she could vent her anger.

Now, Now Muddy let's not get ahead of yourself. After all it was your body that did those wicked to your beloved Veela.

"No! It was you I would never do that to her!"

But you were just too damn weak to stop me. And now your Veela is but a broken shell of her former self all because of you. How long do you think it will take for her to seek comfort in the arms of that Weasley boy? A day? A week?

Hermione's heart fluttered to a stop at the notion of Fleur and Bill. It pained her to think of them together but who was she kidding? They were quite the pair and she had royally fucked everything up. Sensing the brunette's doubt a mocking laughter filled her head.

You know I'm right. You're precious Veela is so hurt now and she will never want to see you again. So who will she turn to for comfort? The infatuated Weasley boy of course because he would never hurt like you have. Never taken her against her will like you did.

Her anger ebbed as the brunette slowly came to realize the truth of Bellatrix's words. As her anger ebbed the crushing pain of her injuries and the loss of the one person who meant everything to her brought her to her knees. Kneeling on the blood soaked carpet the despair and guilt that clawed at her heart was unbearable. Leaning forward and wrapping her arms around herself a heartbroken cry filled the empty house, echoing off the walls.

Fleur would have nothing more to do with her. Would never want to see her again for as long as she lived and who could blame her. Bill would treat her the way she deserved to be treated. He would look after her and make her happy. He would be the person she could never be for Fleur and it killed her more than anything she could ever imagine.

And then she snapped.

Her magic lashed out at everything in the room, the furniture shredded itself, the glass coffee table shattered into tiny fragments, the television screen cracked. As chaos rained down upon the room a despairing hollowness began to envelope the intelligent brunette as she sobbed.

"Fleur please open the door" pleaded Bill through the locked bedroom door. Arriving home and being greeted with Ron and Harry's stunned bodies was bad enough but the moment they had informed him of Hermione's condition he had wanted nothing more than to get Fleur away from her.

The boys had tried to explain that it wasn't Hermione's fault but their explanations fell on deaf ears as Bill tried desperately to coax Fleur into opening the door. When he had eventually gained a response from her his heart beat at the pain and weariness in her voice.

So he spent hours trying to convince her to let him. And Fleur simply continued to ignore him as she lay on the bed with her back to the door.

She had never felt so alone in all her life. She had jumped into the shower the moment it had crossed her mind and had proceeded to clean herself raw. Her skin was bright pink from the heat of the water but she hadn't paid any attention to it. All she felt was dirty and she needed to be cleansed. She had spent at least an hour cleaning herself and it had made her feel no better for it.

And now she felt empty. Just hollow and sorrowful.

So lost in her own thoughts she failed to notice that Bill had undone the locking spell placed on the door and was slowly approaching her. He moved silently across the room before placing a hand on her shoulder. Though he did not expect the reaction he recieved.

He felt Fleur go rigid beneath his hand as she released a terrified scream and immediately he jerked away from her.

Her heart thundered against her ribs as she shot away from the bed and away from Bill. The fear that gripped her was so intense and made her feel light headed. She was being irrational, she knew she was being irrational but at the same time she couldn't help it.

"Fleur?" she looked up into Bill's concerned eyes and immediately the tears returned to her own. Closing her eyes she sobbed silently as she wrapped her arms around herself, holding herself tightly. The sight broke Bill's heart and slowly he approached her. Fleur immediately jerked her head up as the floorboards creaked beneath his weight and eyed him warily as he came closer.

"I'm not going to hurt you Fleur...you know I won't. Let me help you" when she made no indication that she didn't want him near her he continued forward until he was standing in front of her. He reached forward slowly and eventually managed to wrap his arms around her.

She tensed up in his arms and he was tempted to pull away as guilt pressed against his heart but slowly she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head into his chest, sobbing into him.

And as she sobbed Bill couldn't help but notice that Hermione was nowhere to be seen and he grew suspicious of the young brunette.

What had she done to Fleur?