Same Disclaimer: I own nothing, and get no money for it. Just the happiness of someone reading my fiction of fiction. thank you.

A/N: Is there anything special you all would like to see? I am going to be incorporating a few more 'cliches' in this one. I probably won't update as much as I do with "The Flame". It just depends on what's going through my noggin.

Hermione woke to faint light coming into the infirmary. It was tinged pink, purple and orange, and was actually quite lovely. The room itself was silent, and Hermione looked around to see that she and Pansy were the only two left in the large room. She didn't remember the others leaving, but guessed it was probably time for breakfast. She couldn't blame them for going to eat; it wasn't like she could go with them.

Her mind went blank for a moment. The night before her entire world had changed in a matter of minutes. Ron. Even through all of the years of the Slytherins tormenting her, cursing her, calling her horrible names… even then she'd never felt quite so much hate in the walls of her beloved school. Ron's fury had been right on par with Bellatrix LeStrange's; so had the pain. Hermione fought hard, but kept the tears from falling. She knew eventually she'd cry, but not here. She'd do it when she was in the privacy of her own dorm. For now, she just felt emotionally numb.

She knew in order to work things out in her head she needed to separate the two very different, yet both startling events from the prior day. Ron's betrayal would have to go on the backburner for now. First, most importantly, she needed to figure out the situation with her biological family.

Pucey… she was a Pucey. There were so many questions and doubts swirling in her head. Objectively, she knew that the spell Madame Pomphrey performed would be accurate; so the doubts were a bit ridiculous. But the questions… where to even begin?

Hermione almost snorted, why, begin at the beginning of course. She was Ariadne Pucey. Pureblood. Sister to Adrian. She'd been what? Four or five when taken from her biological parents. So far the only thing she even vaguely remembered was that vision of an upset little boy. She assumed it was Adrian. Her mind reeled, trying to figure out how her memories had been taken. Could have been an Obliviate she supposed. Then she remembered telling Harry about the stranger making her drink 'horrible things'. A potion, Hermione realized, she had been made to drink a potion.

She knew it was a rare occurrence for one to be able to unlock the memories removed by an Obliviate, but what about a potion? And what potion would it be?

Hermione was lost deep in thought when Harry entered the infirmary and moved over to her bed. "Should I even wonder what you're thinking about?" he asked softly, so as not to startle her too terribly.

Hermione jumped a little bit and looked over to her best friend with a small smile. "There are just so many to choose from today," she teased.

Harry sat on her bedside gently, and grabbed one of her hands, "Before we even worry about the two main contenders, how are you feeling?"

"I hurt… I ache, and burn. I feel weak and restless. Mostly though, I ache." Hermione smiled at him. "I don't think I hurt this bad after that curse Dolohov threw at me."

"I'm sorry, 'Mione," Harry choked out. "I should have watched over you better."

She squeezed his hand. "Harry, how were you to know? Certainly, he's been angry lately, but what he did yesterday? Who could have imagined?" she cleared her throat. "When I went looking for him, I honestly thought I would find him thinking of the friends he'd lost. Then when I realized Pansy was also missing, well, for one blink of a second I wondered if they were meeting intimately. Then I remembered how much she dislikes him. My imagination shifted to the two of them bickering in some hallway. When I could hear them…" Hermione's eyes went unfocused as she remembered.

Harry gripped her hand tighter. Neither noticed the audience they were gathering.

"First I heard Ron screaming. He was so loud. He's always been loud, but, this time there was this… quality to it. And then I heard sobbing. I knew it must be Pansy. All I could think then, was Merlin, couldn't he just let petty house fighting go. We'd all fought together, bled together, won together, and he was still going to let petty things anger him."

"That was how it started," the soft voice had both looking over to Pansy Parkinson. Her eyes were open now watching them. "I ran across him in the hall, and was just going to walk by without speaking. That made him angry. He started yelling, and I told him to piss off. I… I… honestly thought that it would be a normal spat. I would slap at him, he would try to insult me, and we would part."

"But that wasn't what happened?"

All three heads turned jerkily to see their friends in the doorway. Ginny had stepped forward, and she was the one who had posed the question. Afterwards, all of the young adults filed into the room, finding comfortable positions to sit in. somehow, Draco Malfoy and Adrian both ended up behind Hermione on her bed, after transfiguring it to a larger size. This also gave Harry more room. Hermione just looked at them all as if to say, make yourself at home.

"No, that wasn't what happened," Pansy agreed with the lovely red-haired girl. "After I told him to piss off, he, well it's like he clenched his entire body. And before I could move he'd hit me across the face. I lost my balance amongst the rubble, and he began to laugh…"

"Pansy," Hermione spoke softly. "You do not have to share this with us right now. In fact, you never have to. Know that we are, I am, always willing to listen. But I do not want you to feel beholden, and if you're not ready to share, I understand."

"No," Pansy slightly smiled at the other girl. "I don't mind sharing. I might get scared or feel emotional, but I want to." She swallowed hard. "Once I was on the ground he loomed over me. I never realized how tall he'd grown. He grabbed me by the robes, and started shaking me. He was spitting in my face as he yelled. Called me a Slytherin whore who thought she was better than everyone else. He was punching, and kicking me. I think he choked me at one point. Really, everything began to get blurry. I couldn't speak, only cry. He took off his belt, and that terrified me. I thought he meant to rape me. Instead he began beating me with the belt… and I was grateful… grateful he was only hitting me. Then he began telling me he was just as Pureblood as I was… I know that," tears were trailing down Pansy's face now. "He told what he was going to do to me. And he said…"

Hermione couldn't stand it anymore. This was where she'd shown up. She reached across the aisle and took Pansy's hand in hers. "Ronald said he would mark you, and keep… violating you until you were with child. He said that would show the others."

Pansy nodded, "And then you spoke. And it was like his rage grew. He called you names too. You sacrificed yourself for me, Hermione… and I don't understand why? I don't understand any of this… why he acted like that, why he hurt me, why he would hurt YOU? He almost KILLED you?" Pansy stood, wobbling, and moved to Hermione's bed.

Hermione reached out, pulling the crying girl into her arms on the bed. It hurt, but this girl needed comfort. "Shhhh, it's going to be alright. I don't understand either, Pansy, and maybe we never will… but we're going to be okay. Both of us," Hermione reassured the other girl. She rocked her back and forth slightly, trying not to jar any healing injuries. "And I'm going to need your help, Pansy."

Pansy sniffled, part of her couldn't believe that she was holding onto Hermione Granger for dear life, but the other girl was the only other person to understand how she was feeling. "With what?" Pansy honestly didn't know how she could possibly help the other girl.

"Well, as everyone here now knows, I'm a Pucey. And I'm sure there are all sorts of things I'm going to have to learn. Not that I'm going to become some uppity Pureblood, debutante, but I still want to know the customs and traditions."

Pansy hugged Hermione back quickly and then moved back to her own bed. "I think we'll all be able to help you with that, Granger."

"Do you children have nothing better to do today?" Madame Pomphrey's voice startled them all.

"Not a thing," Draco told her with a smirk.

"Don't know of anything better than checking on my best friend," Harry added.

The others were just nodding along. Madame Pomphrey just sighed. She handed a bottle to Pansy, and watched as she drank it, ignoring the grimace the girl gave at the taste. Then she moved to Hermione, setting down four bottles.

Hermione's eyes went wide, "Four potions? Pansy only had to take one, why do I have four?"

Madame Pomphrey narrowed her eyes. "Because Miss Parkinson didn't almost die in my infirmary!" the woman snapped.

Hermione heard the no nonsense tone, and decided not to antagonize the woman further. She meekly swallowed all four potions, and as foul as they were, managed to keep the bile down. "Madame, when will I be well enough to leave go to my own rooms?"

"You will probably be up here, in my care, for at least two more days. Then of course we will have to speak of what you can and cannot do for the next while." The old woman looked at Hermione over her spectacles then turned to Pansy. "Miss Parkinson however, may leave in half an hour."

Hermione waited for the medi-witch to leave, and then scowled. "This sucks."

"Don't worry, 'Mione," Harry told her brightly. "it's only two days, and we'll make sure you get company!"

Hermione looked at her closest friend and almost huffed. "Well, SOMEONE had better bring me some books. Because I WILL go get them myself."

"You, young lady, will stay right where you're at," Adrian now spoke up. "I didn't get my little sister back, just to lose her to stupidity. Which is what it would be if you were to go traipsing around. We will get you books."

Hermione smiled shyly at Adrian. "I won't get up. But if I don't get those books, I will be rather bored."

"Do you play chess?" Draco asked.

"I do…" she said hesitantly, "but I don't care for Wizarding chess. It's a little brutal for me."

"No worries there, Granger," he assured her. "I rarely play that version. I have a normal, I suppose you could call it Muggle, chess set. I'll bring it round and we can play."

"That would be lovely, Malfoy. Thank you."

Pansy was sitting up, her time in the infirmary almost at its end. "You'll barely notice the two days, we'll keep you so occupied."

"We could do your hair and make-up," Daphne said brightly.

"And we can start teaching you the traditions that we follow," Astoria finished brightly.

"You do know that I rarely wear make-up, right?" Hermione asked slowly.

"Well, that's got to change, Granger," Pansy waved her off. "You're quite pretty, and it's time you emphasized your beauty instead of hiding it away."

Hermione almost snorted, "You think I'm pretty?" her voice was full of disbelief.

"Oh yes," Astoria answered for all the girls. "But it wasn't as if we could say that publicly, now could we? You are one of the prettiest girls at school. We used to be quite jealous of you."

"I think I'm having some kind of hallucination," Hermione whispered. Everyone laughed.

"Hermione, at some point, today maybe if that's okay with you, our parents would like to meet you." Adrian spoke hesitantly.

She looked directly at him. This man, her brother. "I think that would be okay."

He looked so relieved. "They've been chomping at the bit to come see you. But Father didn't want to come here if you weren't ready."

"Did you tell my name?" she asked.

"Yes. Of course he'd heard of you… and he knows what happened to you; at Malfoy Manor, and now here." Adrian looked down at the floor. "I've never seen him look both devastated and furious at the same time."

Hermione knew she would have to speak with her pa… adoptive parents, but she found that she would like to know the Pucey's. "Yes, you could bring them this afternoon if you'd like." Never had she seen a brighter smile than the one Adrian now bestowed upon her.