Disclaimer: Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's. Thanks to my beta ashash52009!

A/n: Really fast but enjoy! I'm posting directly before rushing off to work, so no replies to reviews this time, sorry! Hope you enjoy! This story only has three chapters to go!

And I'm So Sorry Now

Hermione hung her head. There were multiple students gathered in the Headmistress's office, all of whom kept looking at her. The woman had flooed someone and was currently speaking to said person through the flames. All Hermione could think about was what people would say when she was forced to tell the occupants of this room just what had happened between her and Ron.

She was quite angry at Draco then, because it was his fault they were up there at all. He had apparently been driven by Ron's newest attack to help make her safe, and by doing this had brought together this little gathering. She sat among the ranks of Blaise, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Draco himself, and she was surprised that the two people she should hate most were the two on either side of her- like walls. It was strange to think of those two as her anchors, versus the other three Gryffindor's there, who had once been the most important people in her life. How things can change overtime.

McGonagall finally turned back to the six gathered students- Ginny whom had been called to the office only minutes ago- and sat herself down in the desk. "There will be a few Auror's arriving in this office in a couple minutes, until then I expect quiet from all of you," she said, looking into each students eyes as she spoke. When Malfoy barged in and demanded an audience with her, simply to inform her that Ron Weasley had been harming Hermione, she had not believed a word he said. After all, he hated the both of them, right?

But Harry Potter had actually voiced that he too thought there was something amiss between the two teenagers, and that had caused her to worry. A lot of things had happened in the past ten minutes, and as soon as the words 'attack' and 'rape' fell out of Draco's mouth, she had to say something. Those weren't things one could just ignore. After asking each teen less than three questions individually, Ginny Weasley had been called to the office, and the Ministry contacted. Something bad had certainly happened, and Minerva was determined to get to the bottom of it. She would not allow something like that to be overlooked in her school!

The room remained utterly quiet until the Auror's arrived. Obviously, there was enough tension among the students to cause worry that maybe something bad really had happened. No one wasted anytime with formal introductions, just cut to the chase.

One of the three Auror's, a man of probably thirty, turned to look down at the six gathered students. "Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Draco Malfoy, please remain in here for questioning," he said. "The rest of you please wait in the hall."

"Wait a minute-" Harry began.

"I demand-" Ginny started, but both teens were cut off by a second Auror, a woman this time of perhaps forty, speaking.

"No backtalk, this matter is only going to be discussed amongst the three people who seem to be witness to the scene of the crime," she said, looking pointedly at the three people Minerva had mentioned most. "The rest of you will be called back in soon."

Grumbling, the two Gryffindor's got up and left, but it was Blaise surprisingly who complied without complaint. Two of the Auror's exchanged looks over that. Harry Potter and Ginny were supposed to be rather sensible creatures, yes?

The first Auror- obviously the main one- spoke once the door was shut, as one of his partners cast a silencing spell on the room. "Your Headmistress has alerted me of some rather disturbing news," he began, watching the three with interest. Every time the ginger tried to shift closer to the girl, she shifted closer to the blond. Considering whom these people were, that was quite a sight indeed.

The blond nodded, but the other two seemed determined to ignore the entire situation. "Considering what I have been told, I need a story about what happened- and something tells me not everyone is going to give me the same thing," he said, glancing between Hermione and Ron, before his eyes settled on her. "Would you care to explain what happened between yourself and Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger?"

Hermione glanced to either side of her, between a furious boy and a calm one. Draco reached down and squeezed her hand, but the action wasn't needed. He had decided to take matters into his own hands with this whole ordeal, and now she had to face these people and tell them what happened to her. She wasn't quite sure how well she would take this, but she had to start talking. Malfoy's grip might be unneeded but it was certainly welcome.

Ron couldn't scare her forever- she could do this.

As soon as Hermione started explaining what had happened weeks ago, she couldn't stop. The pressure of keeping things repressed built in her chest and she hurried to explain everything, to get it out in the open and let others know just how horrible Ron could be. The ginger tried interrupting several times, but none of the Auror's would listen to him. Draco for his part remained silent but never released her hand. At some point she ended up leaning against him, but didn't ever remember shifting positions.

When she was finished each person on the opposite side of the desk was looking at her with something between pity and admiration. She couldn't completely understand the looks, but no one bothered to explain them. Silence descended for a single moment, and Ron used this time to begin trying to speak again.

"She's lying!" he spit out, turning his head to glare at her, his anger fueled as his enemy smirked at the ginger over Granger's puffy head, his arm wrapped securely around her waist. If looks could kill…

"Mr. Weasley enough with the outbursts, as we said we will be listening to each person's description of what has happened, but that doesn't mean we will believe each one," he said, the tone of authority showing through.

And so it went on like that. Ron told his version of what happened, and then Draco, before the Auror stood.

"Due to evidence of a serious crime against you Mr. Weasley," he began, looking between each teen, "we will have to arrest you until a trial can be held to determine your fate."

"That's-"

"Furthermore," he continued, talking right over Ron, "Miss Granger, you will need to see your school nurse and take a few tests for us, to help further evidence to at least one of your cases. I'll be arranging a trial as soon as possible, and each of you will need to speak again."

"I-"

"Mr. Weasley, how many times must you interrupt? As I was saying, each of your families will need to be informed of what has happened here," he continued, as Hermione's face paled, "and will be alerted that each of you must stand at trial and explain what happened, so the jury can determine what will happen." Hermione thought he was explaining perhaps a bit too much, as though he was talking to younger students then they were, but said nothing.

A few more quick little side notes, and the man appeared done. "I will be bringing back in the students I have sent into the hall. I'm not sure how either of the boys are involved, and you can inform them at your own discretion. Miss Weasley however will need to be informed, because this is her brother," the man continued, speaking more to his two co-workers then the three students in front of him. The third Auror, also male, walked over to Ron and bound his wrists. Instantly his true temper flared up.

"You can't do this," he snapped, attempting to kick the Auror, "you have no proof yet, just the word of her," he continued, pointing at Hermione. "She could be lying!"

"Perhaps she is lying," the first Auror said with a shrug, "but that will be determined soon. Until then we are required to take you into custody."

Ron's face was bright red as the Auror led him away, his head twisted around to shoot daggers at Hermione, who kept leaning into Draco; she had yet to acknowledge the close proximity. The Head Auror turned back to the two remaining students.

"Return to your dorm. I will be informing your friends of what has happened- if you so wish," he said, noting the worried look on the girls face, "but they will find out one way or another, be it here or at the trial. Since those three students were seemingly, somehow involved, they will be at the trial with you."

Hermione's heart plummeted. She didn't want to imagine what Ginny would do when she found everything out. It would either be in Hermione's favor or against her, but either way the girl would probably be miffed. Harry was already in a sour mood, and Blaise knew pretty much everything. It wasn't telling them though that scared her; it was facing them.

The Auror continued to speak, but she didn't hear him; her mind was being swallowed by her thoughts. It wasn't until Draco began to gently tug on her hand, causing her to rise from her seat, that she even realized it was time to go.

Merlin save me.

"Hermione Granger!"

The Gryffindor cringed. She had been back in the dorm barely twenty minutes with Malfoy, just sitting down with a cup of tea to see if she really wanted to talk, when the hammering on the door interrupted any sort of conversation. Granger looked towards the shut entrance, knowing exactly who was on the other side.

This day could not get worse.

"Open this door! How dare you accuse Ron!? How dare you! Stop being a bloody coward! Open the fucking door!"

"I would keep the door shut Granger," a second voice called, directly after the first finished screaming. "She is ready to murder just now!"

She sighed, standing. As she has feared, the girl's reaction was bad. She heard Malfoy move behind her, and as she opened the dorm room's door she felt his comforting embrace as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

A furious Ginny Weasley stood outside, barely being restrained by Blaise. Harry Potter was nowhere to be found, but the ginger's wand lay several feet away, having probably been thrown for Blaise's own safety. Hermione was grateful that he was even bothering to restrain her, otherwise she would've been shoved into the floor the moment the door opened.

Ginny's eyes met hers, "How dare you make up such a lie?! How dare you?! Ron has done nothing but help you and be there for you since first year! How could you go in there with that prick," she screamed, glaring at Malfoy and his wandering limb, which was still wrapped around the brunette, "and make him out to be a horrible person! How dare you?!"

Hermione held up her hands in surrender. "Ginny wait," she said, hoping the girl would calm down, "you haven't even heard me out. I didn't go in there to trash Ron-"

"Then what was your reasoning," she spat, still angry. She had given up her struggle of shaking Zabini off, but had crossed her arms and was now glaring daggers at Hermione again. "He is not a rapist Hermione! How could you ever go in there and treat him like such shit! How can you even stand yourself when you lied so much!?"

She shook her head slowly. "I didn't-"

"Oh yeah," the redhead spat, "you didn't lie, I'm sure. I don't want to hear it Granger, I just want to know what drove you to put Ron in such a horrible situation."

"He raped me," Hermione said, her hand moving to take Draco's. It felt good to have him there to support her. "I had to report it!"

"You lie," she replies, whipping her head around to try and see Blaise's face. "Let me go! I refuse to stand here anymore!"

"I don't think-"

"Let me go," she screamed, looking vicious once more, "I won't stand here anymore and let her tell me a bunch of lies. If Hermione wants to make things up, then she can do it without me standing here!"

"I-" Hermione began, but stopped talking when Draco squeezed her lightly. Talking to the angry girl right now was futile, and would do no good for anyone. Obviously, Ginny was not going to listen to what she had to say, so to keep pushing the subject at the moment was pointless. "Just go," she sighed.

Ginny shoved away from Blaise, who brought her wand to him with a spell, but held it out of her reach. "Give it," she hissed, not paying the two Head's a second thought. Obviously she had come for the sole purpose of venting, and now that it was done she had nothing else to say to either of them.

"Not until we get a safe distance away," he replied jumping out of her reach and taking off down the hall, the girl immediately trying to catch up to him. Draco smirked, knowing she didn't have a chance of catching him, but feeling grateful that the Italian had been around at all to help with that girl's attitude. He wasn't sure how things would've gone, otherwise.

Hermione turned from his grip and walked inside, slumping on the couch. He followed, shutting the door behind him. "What troubles you Granger," he asked, taking a seat on the piece of furniture with her.

She huffed. "Ginny thinks I'm lying and trying to make her bother out to be a horrible person- which he is capable of doing all by himself- and Harry is probably furious with me. No one even seems to really believe my story, and I have some bloody medical tests in the morning!" She threw her hands up, looking at him. "What isn't troubling me?"

He reached over and gently touched her cheek. The action caught her off guard and she froze in surprise. "Stop worrying so much."

"I-"

"It won't do you any good," he continued, not letting her speak. "The facts are there, and I will speak on your behalf. Your friends simply don't believe you because they are a lot of pricks who don't believe what isn't yet proven to them. The tests will show them the truth, so please stop fretting."

Her eyebrows practically shot off her head. Since when was he always the sensible one? Had her emotions really gotten the best of her, again? That was becoming too much of a habit for her liking, but it seemed the habits were not yet broken.

The problem was, she didn't want to think about tests or Ron or her friends. She didn't want to think about anything. She wanted to sleep and ignore the world for a while, but now that Malfoy had gone and reported the attack, everything would be out in the open to the public in a matter of days, and that would be hard to hide from. Oh, she could only imagine the things people would say.

Gingerly, she moved so her head was resting against his chest, catching him off-guard now. Wrapping an arm around his middle, she buried herself against him, wishing for a moment that everything really would disappear, and she could remain here with this prick that had started to grow on her.

And for his part, Malfoy did not pull away.