Heart in Agony

Chapter 9

"Granger calm down. I can't understand what you're saying. Stop crying for fuck's sake!"

Draco and Hermione had found an empty classroom to talk in close to the dungeons. All he had managed to understand since she had started talking was that she had something to tell him. But it didn't take a genius to work that out! He was trying to calm her down by hugging her tightly but it didn't seem to be working. She was still shaking.

"Look, start from the beginning."

"It's about...Ron."

"The Weasel? What did he do, fall down a mineshaft?"

But she didn't laugh. Draco started getting worried. Maybe the Weasel was ill or something. He had never liked him in the first place but Hermione did and he didn't want her to be upset.

"Is there something wrong with him?"

"Probably...but not...it's hard to explain."

"Just tell me!"

"Promise you won't tell anyone."

"I promise."

"He..tr..rap..me."

"What? I didn't hear you."

"He tried to rape me."

"He WHAT?"

"He came up to my room and told me he liked me but I turned him down and he got really angry and..."

"I'll kill him. I'll fucking kill him."

He let go of her and ran out of the door with her chasing after him. She had to stop him from doing something stupid. She managed to catch up with him as he stopped and started searching in his pockets. She ran in front of him and grabbed his arms as he jerked his face up to look at hers. She had never seen so much anger in anybody's eyes before.

"Draco please, don't hurt him, he said he'd come after me if I told anyone."

"First of all, I'm not just going to hurt him, I'm going to kill him. And secondly, he can't exactly come after you if he's dead can he?"

"Kill him? You can't. You'll get into loads of trouble and...it's not right. He'd die in seconds and you'd be in Azkaban for the rest of your life."

"Don't worry I grew up with death eaters, I know how to make it hurt and last for more than a few seconds."

"Don't you even care about being imprisoned forever?"

"Not really, he shouldn't have touched you. He needs to pay."

"And we'll think of a way to do that but don't you dare hurt him. And what are you looking for anyway? What have you got in those robes? It's not a knife or anything is it?"

"Don't be stupid. I'm looking for my wand. I'll need it for the curses and a locating charm. Where is it? Fuck, I think I've lost it."

"Well then that's a sign your not meant to do this. Please Draco."

"But he tried to...it's not right."

"Neither is killing him. And I swear to you Draco Malfoy, I will never speak to you again."

He stared at her for a while trying to determine whether she was being serious or not, but everything about her told him she was. He nodded his head weakly and as she hugged him again he made a promise to himself that if Ron ever did anything to her again, he would personally deliver him to a fate worse than death.

Neither of them had seen the girl with dark hair exit Snape's office. She had been listening for long enough now to see that something had happened to Hermione and that Draco was less than amused. And they were holding each other. Could they be in love? A smile crossed her face at the thought.

She watched them for a while longer then whispered to herself, "Our Romeo has found his Juliet! Won't Sarah be excited! But poor wee Hermy, we will have to help her." And as her grin widened she turned and walked quietly back to her common room.

X------------------------------------------------X

Back up in the Gryffindor common room everybody's attention was on this new girl. Harry and Ron had relaxed a little around her and were now able to hold a decent conversation. So, as a result of this, she was sitting on one of the chairs beside them, talking away. Gryffindors were nothing if not nosy and as they didn't know anything about her they were all listening intently to the conversation transpiring between her, Harry and Ron.

"So, what school did you go to before you came here?"

"Beauxbatons, but I came back to Britain because I hated always having to speak French! I know that's a kind of crappy reason but it's the only one I have!"

"No, it's a good reason. So do you like it here so far?"

"Well, I've not exactly seen much of it apart from corridors and this place. I told you Hermione's supposed to be showing me round. Where is she by the way?"

"Probably the library or something. That's where she is most of the time!"

"So she's a geek?"

"No, she just likes studying. She's really nice though! But, basically she's either studying in the library, eating in the Great Hall, or reading up here. We have to drag her anywhere else!"

"I bet you she has some secret life! And when your not looking...she sneaks out and goes wild!"

"Ha! No, she's not that kind of girl. Plus, we're really the only people she talks to so she'd have to be sneaking out by herself!"

"Well, I think I'll go look for her anyway and get her to show me round. What does she look like?"

"She's got sort of long straightish hair, she's normal height and...that's about it."

"WOW, that was helpful! I'll just go out and ask people if they've seen her or something."

"Fair enough. Do you want one of us to show you to the library?"

"No, I want to try and find it myself. Bye guys!"

She got up, flicked her hair, blew them both a kiss, and made her way out through the portrait-hole. Harry and Ron turned to look at each other, grinning.

"What do you think Harry?"

"She's pretty enough!"

"Pretty? She's bloody stunning!"

"She liked me more you know."

"Shut up Harry!"

X-----------------------------------------X

"I swear to you Draco was hugging Hermione Granger."

"Kirsty, this better not be a piece of gossip."

"Of course it's not! I saw it with my own eyes Sarah. And she looked really upset about something. She was telling Draco not to hurt whoever had done it to her but I couldn't hear who that was."

"Well, we need to find out who. If Draco likes her, then we must like her. He's never been anything but nice to me, this can be my way of repaying him."

"How will liking her repay him?"

"No. We'll have to make the person who hurt the one he loves pay. But you can't tell anyone what you saw. Some of the people in this house are a bit crazy as you very well know. That'll be why he hasn't told anyone. She's a mudblood isn't she? They wouldn't take kindly to that."

"Yeah I suppose you're right! So how are we going to find out the villain's identity?"

"We'll think of a way, don't worry."

"Cool!"

"Were you away with Kevin again before you saw it?"

"Kevin? Who's that?"

"How many times do I have to explain this to you, Kevin is a codename. Honestly! Why is it so hard for you to remember that?"

"Oh! Yes I was! I don't know why it's so hard! I just have a problem with code names."

The two girls continued to speak in hushed voices even though they were alone in Sarah's room. They took matters concerning people they actually liked very seriously. And they liked Draco a lot. He had talked to them many times and not treated them strangely like everyone else did. They would do anything to help him.

X--------------------------------------------X

Hermione had left Draco and was making her way back up the stairs. He had made her feel a lot better. It was the way he hugged her. He made her feel so safe. It was as if as long as he was there nothing would ever hurt her again.

As she reached the first floor a confused looking girl she had never seen before came wandering out of one of the corridors. When she saw Hermione she walked towards and smiling and began talking right away.

"Hey, I'm Steph. I'm new here and I think I've just walked around the whole school twice and the only thing I haven't seen is the library which is what I am, in fact, looking for!"

"I can take you if you want. I'm Hermione by the way."

"Granger?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

This was perhaps a bad idea. The girl started on a long story about the days events and linked arms with Hermione as she led her to the library. She must have talked for twenty minutes without stopping for a breath and Hermione had been tuning her out since the start. But occasionally she would nod so as to pretend that she was still listening. And when Steph laughed, she laughed. But her mind was on other things. And so she didn't realise that she was being asked a question until Steph whacked her in the arm.

"I'm sorry what did you say?"

"I said, so do you have a boyfriend then?"

"Ummm, no."

"You do! I won't tell anybody. Who is it?"

But Hermione knew that she would tell people. New girls would try anything to get popular and if it was exposing a secret relationship then that wouldn't bother them at all. So she shook her head and tried to look innocent.

"Fine if you're not going to tell me."

"I can't tell you because there's nothing to tell."

"Fine then. Ooh, who's that hottie?"

"Where?"

"That boy with the platinum hair. Oh my God, could be any cuter? I bet he's really popular with the ladies. Does he have a girlfriend? Is he in our year?"

Hermione couldn't help but feel proud when she realised that the girl was talking about Draco. She smiled and stared at him for a while. He was standing with his friends leaning against a wall. But he looked troubled. They were all laughing away, but he was clearly deep in thought. He looked up and their eyes met for a few seconds and a small smile came to his lips. But when he noticed the other girl watching also it turned into a smirk, although he couldn't quite hide the emotion in his eyes.

"Oh, that's just Draco Malfoy, resident ass hole. I heard he was going out with Pansy Parkinson but I'm not sure if that's still on. I think a few girls like him but honestly it's all looks."

"I think he likes me. Do you see the way he's looking over here. Is my hair okay? Look, he wants me so badly!"

"Yeah."

"Well let's go over and talk to him!"

"We can't. He hates me and I hate him. Slytherins and Gryffindors do not get along. It's history and all that. If we went over there they'd eat us alive."

"Don't be stupid. They don't even know me!"

And Hermione had to follow her as she walked over to the group of Slytherins. She couldn't let the girl do this by herself. When they saw the girls approaching the boys stood up straight, all except Draco who remained leaning on the wall. They seemed intrigued by the stranger and disgusted by the mudblood.

"Ooh, look boys, Granger's found herself a little friend."

"Why won't you just grow up? This wasn't even my idea, she wanted to come over and talk to you for some reason I will never understand."

"Maybe it's because she's bored of your pathetic excuse for conversation. It'll all be about how much you love Draco won't it! That's probably even more boring than your books."

She had forgotten that they all knew about her and Draco sleeping together, even if they didn't know all of the facts. She hated them. Why did they have to be so cocky? She took a hold of Steph's arm and tried to drag her away but she was staring at Blaise, mystified. It was no lie that he was good looking. He was tall, had a nice body (not too muscled but just enough to get girls from the whole school swooning), black hair and dark blue eyes. but there was something not right in his head. He acted almost like an animal. He didn't walk, he snuck up on people. And he stared at them like pieces of meat.

At that moment he moved forward and began circling Steph very slowly, staring at her from all angles. He traced the outline of her jaw with his finger and whispered things nobody else could make out in her ear. He stepped back from her and turned towards Hermione once again.

"She's a pretty little thing. Wherever did you find her?"

"That's none of your business Blaise. We're leaving now."

"I don't see her moving! What's her name?"

"Steph, if you must know. Leave her alone."

"Leave her alone? I'm not doing anything Granger."

"Your whispering to her, and knowing you it won't be nice things."

"Your scared of what I'm whispering! You can't stand the fact that I could tell her your naughty little secret at any time and you can do nothing to stop me."

Hermione just stared at him. It was true. She didn't know what to do. She didn't want to aggravate him as any such move would just force him into telling. But on the other hand, she wasn't going to beg. So she stayed silent. But Draco stepped forward and although he was looking at Hermione, he addressed Blaise.

"Don't you dare tell that little bitch anything. She'll go tell the dream team up in Gryffindor and all hell will break loose. Plus do you think I want anybody knowing about it?"

"Alright Draco. But why do you care if there's a fight? We'd slaughter them, you know we would!"

"Yeah and I'm not saying there won't be one in the future, just not now. We do it on our terms and when we're ready. Besides, I can't be bothered with everyone talking about my business behind my back."

This seemed to satisfy Blaise and he turned back to face the girls once more with a devious look in his eyes. They all knew that the fight would take place. It had been looming for years. All the tension between the two houses would one day come to a head and the day seemed to be drawing ever nearer. But Hermione didn't want to think of such things. She instead managed to drag Steph away and ran up the corridor towards Gryffindor Tower. But Steph managed to get free after about five minutes and jerked Hermione round to face her.

"What the hell was all that about between you and Draco?"