Disclaimer: Not mine. I wish it was. Sigh.

A/N: PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!!!!!!!! You're breaking my spirit.  On almost ALL my chapters, I only have one review! I don't care WHAT the review says. ….On second thought, don't do that. I don't want everyone putting 'I like pie' grin

Chapter 8: Secrets

Hermione and her friends arrived at Hogwarts seconds later.

Hermione collapsed as soon as her feet hit. Her friends knelt beside her. "Can you walk?" asked Ginny.

Hermione shook her head and as if to prove her point, a sickening crack came from her leg.

They all thought for a moment and then Harry brightened. "Maybe I can call Dobby? He would help you if I asked. Remember, house elf's can apparate in Hogwarts? Yeah that's a good idea!"

"Dobby?" he whispered.

There was a loud crack and Dobby appeared with a weird assortment of clothes on. "What can Dobby do for Harry Potter sir?" he asked.

"Dobby do you think you can take Hermione to the Gryffindor common room?" he asked.

Dobby nodded. "Anything for Harry Potter!" He squeaked.

Harry blushed and Ginny giggled.

Dobby took Hermione's arm gently and they disappeared with a crack.

"Uh oh! If Filch is up there we don't have Hermione as an excuse because she is Head Girl!" said Ron.

"Ron, you dolt! We can do magic you know!" said Ginny exasperatedly. "All we have to do is perform the Disillusionment charm!" she said.

"Oh right!" said Ron sheepishly. "1…2…3…" they performed it together.

Soon they were all just shimmering blobs. They made their way to the castle and up to Gryffindor tower.

When they climbed into the portrait hole they saw Hermione in a corner. They went over to her and sat down.

"Are you feeling any better?" asked Ron worriedly. She gave him a weak smile. "I am a little better. Dobby healed a few of my wounds and now they don't hurt as bad." She said.

Ginny let out a sigh of relief but Ron still looked unconvinced.

Harry smiled at his friend. "She's all right Ron. Really." He said reassuringly.

Ron nodded his head. "Can you walk up the stairs?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "Then I'll stay with you!" said Ron.

"Me too!" said Harry.

Hermione smiled and hugged them. "Thank you for staying here with me." She whispered.

"No problem." Harry said grinning.

"A gentleman always helps a damsel in distress." He said making her blush.

Ginny groaned. "You are so unbearable sometimes you know that?" she asked.

Harry's grin widened. "I know." He said.

Ginny glared at him and went up to the girls dormitories.

"Thanks again for staying with me," she said to Ron and Harry. Then she fell asleep.

The next morning Hermione woke up with dark circles under her eyes. She had not slept well. She had dreams of bright green light and voodoo dolls.

She looked around her confused. Then she saw Harry and Ron sleeping next to her and she remembered why she was in the common room.

She tried to stretch her arms but as soon as she moved a wave of pain shot through her almost knocking her unconscious. She fought it and her vision returned.

She decided to take it slow.

As she moved, Ron stirred. "Hermione?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm trying to move without hurting myself!" she said irritatedly.

His eyes immediately looked more alert.

"Let me help you." He said holding out his hand.

She shook her head. "If I do this too fast I might black out. I almost did just trying to move my shoulders!" she exclaimed.

His eyes widened. "Hermione if you are that badly hurt we need to take you to Pomfrey. She will help you." He said.

Her eyes widened. "I can't do that! It will raise funny questions and I can't afford to be exposed. Look what he did to me when I disobeyed him!" she said frightened.

Ron slowly brought out his wand so as not to catch her attention. "Stupefy!" he yelled. He caught her before she hit the ground. Then he conjured a stretcher and laid her gently on it.

He ran towards the hospital wing. When he got there he burst through the doors without so much as a warning.

Pomfrey peeked around a curtain looking thoroughly irritated.

"Mr. Weasley! Don't think you can just barge in here whenever you want!" she scolded.

He looked strait into her eyes. "But Madam Pomfrey! It's Hermione. She is in a lot of pain and I think only you can help her. She said by just moving her shoulder she almost blacked out." He said softly.

Pomfrey looked more alert at his last sentence. He took a look at her and gasped.

She had a huge bruise on the left side of her face showing where a fist had slammed into her face. There were clumps of blood in her hair where Lucius had pulled it out.

Pomfrey turned to Ron with a grave look on her face. "Do you know anything about this?" she asked.

Ron hesitated for a second but then shook his head. She looked at him skeptically.

"Go get Albus dear. I have something I want to talk to him about." He jumped not expecting to be addressed so quickly and ran out the door.

*&&&&*

When Ron went down to breakfast, he was nearly trampled as Harry ran to him.

"Where is Hermione? Is she hurt? Is she okay? Where were you? What were you doing? How-"

"Harry!" Ron interrupted holding up a hand to stop the flow of questions.

"Before you start running hear me out. Hermione is in the hospital wing and-" Ron grabbed Harry's robes tightly as his friend started to run.

"She's fine as she is with Madam Pomfrey. But I wouldn't suggest going down there. I kinda stunned her because she was refusing to go. You know what she can be like when she is angry. Don't. Go. Down. There!" Ron said struggling as Harry tried to get free.

Harry stopped struggling. "You stunned her?!" he asked in disbelief. Ron let go of his robes and Harry fought to keep a straight face.

"More of a reason to go!" he yelled as he ran. He laughed triumphantly.

Ron ran after him yelling. "Harry it's your own fault if you're turned into jelly as soon as you walk in!" he yelled.

Harry just laughed and continued to run with Ron a few feet behind.

Just as Harry was going to burst in the hospital wing, he paused. Ron stopped right next to him. "You still want to get cursed into jelly?" he asked Harry.

Harry looked at him. "That's better then her thinking we wouldn't check on her." He said seriously. Ron nodded and they walked through the doors.

Hermione was lying on a bed reading a book. As soon as she saw Harry and Ron, she snapped it shut.

"You are in deep trouble Weasley!" she said menacingly.

He looked at Harry who was staring in horror at Hermione's face.

"What?" she snapped.

He shakily conjured a mirror and handed it to her.

"Well at least it looks worse than it feels." She said reassuringly.

"Good because you look like crap." Harry said

"No offense," he added hastily.

"This is my entire fault. If I hadn't done anything to Bella, this wouldn't have happened. You disobeyed him to protect me and that was because of what I did." He said sadly remembering at the last minute not to say the Dark Lord's name.

Hermione looked at harry sympathetically. He looked so sad and helpless.

"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't help it. Don't blame yourself Harry." She said sternly.

Harry perked up at the softness of her voice.

He was glad she didn't blame him but he still felt guilty.

"Now you," Hermione turned her head sharply to look at Ron "Had no right to stun me when I refused to go!" she said.

"Actually you should be very grateful that he did young lady." Said Pomfrey walking into the room.

"And what were you talking about that this was your entire fault?" she said sharply to Harry. "I didn't catch it all but I did hear that." She said.

Harry looked at the floor shaking his head stubbornly. "I won't say a word." He said.

"You know I could ask Albus to give you truth serum," she said.

All their heads jerked up to look at her. Hermione shook her head in fear.

Pomfrey watched their faces curiously. She saw many emotions pass over their faces.

On Harry's she saw fear, sadness, and then determination.

On Ron's she saw fear, disbelief, concern, and stubbornness.

On Hermione's face though she saw fear all over. Her eyes shone with them and she looked like she wanted to run away or disappear. Then she saw extreme determination cross her features.

She didn't know what they were so determined to do but she did not have to wait long to find out.

"If you want us to tell you something you will have to fight us!" Harry said fiercely. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took out their wands and pointed them at her.

Pomfrey sighed and muttered a spell.

The trio found they couldn't move!

Pomfrey took their wands and released them.

Harry was furious at how she cheated but she ignored him.

"Come here." She said.

Harry thought about arguing but then decided this was his best chance. He had fought off the Imperious curse so why not this? He thought to himself. I will show her that she can't make me talk!

He stepped forward hiding his smile. Hermione hid her face in her hands and Ron tried to cover Harry's mouth but ended up getting frozen again.

Pomfrey put a drop of truth potion on Harry's tongue and stepped back.

He had on an expression of calmness.

"Why do you think Hermione has these bruises all over her body?" she asked.

As she watched Harry's face became one of deep concentration. She looked at him in confusion.

"Aha!" he yelled. "You can't trick me with some lame potion!" he said with a smug look on his face.

"N-no one has ever been able to fight off the truth serum!" she stuttered.

"No one has ever survived the killing curse either!" he retorted nastily. "I guess there's always a first time." He said with a shrug.

Pomfrey fainted hitting the ground with a thud. He snatched the wands from the nurse. "Come on. We need to get out of here!" he said. He turned to face Ron. "And no more trips to the Hospital wing!" he snapped. He turned back to the nurse. "Obliviate! Now she won't know about this whole thing." He said. "Hurry up! We need to get out of here before she wakes up!" he said.

Harry and Ron helped Hermione out the doors and they made their way to Gryffindor tower.

"Going somewhere Potter?" a voice drawled.

Harry spun around with his wand at the ready.

"What do you want Malfoy? Come to be a loser? Or maybe you're looking for a way to get a ferret?" he spat.

"Running from the hospital wing?" he asked ignoring Harry's comment about the ferret.

"I should tell Filch you are out of bed I should." He said.

"Ha! Filch doesn't even know how to catch a student out of bed!" he said.

Malfoy knocked over a suit of armor and ran down a corridor.

"Peeves! I'll get you for this one!" Filch's voice boomed as he hobbled down the corridor.

"Come on!" Harry said pulling his friends down a passageway just in time.

Filch picked up the suit of armor and Ron stifled a laugh as it fell on his toe.

Harry pulled his friends the rest of the way to the common room taking shortcuts to avoid prefects and professors.

They clambered through the portrait hole and Harry and Ron carefully set Hermione down on the couch.

They jumped when she started to yell.

"YOU NEARLY GOT ME EXPOSED! AND YOU RON! I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU!" She yelled. Ron cowered against the wall.

"HARRY!" She yelled. He jumped again as she yelled his name. "ARE YOU DAFT? YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO SAY STUFF WHERE PEOPLE COULD OVERHEAR US! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN WERE YOU THINKING? WERE YOU EVEN THINKING AT ALL?!" She screamed.

Harry had backed against the wall where Ron was.

"Calm down Hermione!" he said nervously.

"Calm down?!" She yelled.

Hermione whipped out her wand and the two boys gulped.

"You want to see how it feels to be stunned Ron? Do you?!" Hermione asked advancing slowly on the two boys.

Ron shook his head nervously. "Hermione I'm sorry but I really thought it would be better if you got some help. I mean you do feel better don't you?" he asked desperately.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" she yelled. "Yes I do feel better but do you realize what could have happened?!" she whispered.

Harry, taking full advantage of her temper calming, spoke up. "We really didn't mean you any harm Hermione. He did that for you! He was worried about you. He was just taking good care of you. Me, that's a different story, I was being a total idiot not even checking to see if anyone was there. I'm really sorry. I swear to Merlin I won't do it again. Just please put your wand down!" he begged.

Hermione studied him and finally put down her wand.

Ron let out a breath of relief.

"I'm sorry I lost my temper. But you still have to make up for it! I don't care how but you better find a way!" she said sternly.

They nodded and mock saluted her grinning. "Yes ma'am!" they said together.

She giggled and they grinned at each other.

"Boys," she sighed.

"Is Ginny still sleeping?" she asked suddenly.

"Not with all that racket!" came a voice from the stairs.

The three friends whirled around and came face to face with Ginny and Neville.

"What are you getting exposed about?" asked Neville.

"Nothing!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione said at once.

Neville looked hurt and Harry wished he could tell him what was going on.

Suddenly he gasped as sunlight filtered through the windows and landed on Hermione's face.

"What happened?" he asked concern in his voice.

Hermione stepped into the shadows. "It's nothing you can help Neville," she said quietly.

"Are you sure? I mean w-we could tell Dumbl…" he started.

"NO!" she yelled. They all jumped. "Sorry. I didn't mean to yell. We can't tell Dumbledore about any of this. Neville… can you keep a secret?" she asked.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny gasped. "You wouldn't tell us for a long time!" protested Ron.

"I can still make you forget if I want!" she snapped.

"All right, all right!" Ron said putting up his hands in defense.

She looked at Neville waiting for his answer. "I-I guess." He said uncertainly.

"Neville you have to promise you won't tell anyone about this. Are you certain you can keep this a secret?" she asked seriously.

"I promise," he said seeing her serious expression.

She looked around her nervously and pulled Neville towards the study room. She looked back noticing Harry, Ron, and Ginny were holding back. "Well come on." She said.

Their faces lit up. "You mean we can help explain?" Ron asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course you can," she said.

They followed her into the study room and they watched as she fiddled with the lock.

"What a pleasant surprise!" said a chilling voice behind them making Harry's blood run cold.