Stolen Innocence

Chapter Eleven

Hermione awoke late the next morning, her memory of the night before foggy. She turned over, still half asleep, to find Draco Malfoy laying next to her. His arm was drapped protectively over her shoulders as he slept. Memories of the past night flooded back to her.

Her lip quivered slightly as tears stung her eyes. Ron didn't love her, Draco had been right all along. Her heart ached, it was really true.

Forcing herself not to cry, Hermione made her way into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She gave herself a look in the mirror and the tears began to flow.

Her glamour from the past day had word off, revealing all the fresh cuts and bruises. The pale scars that ran across her fair skin shining in the light. She ran her hands through her messy hair, sobbing uncontrollably.

She turned, not being able to face her reflction any longer. She turned on the tap to the shower and hopped in, hoping to scrub the imperfections away. She pounded her fists on the shower wall, her tears mixing with the hot water. She collapsed onto the floor, tucking her knees up to her chest as she rocked back and fourth.

*

Draco heard the unmistakable sounds of the shower being turned on, awaking him from his peaceful slumber. He groaned, rolling over and nearly falling off the bed. He cursed under his breath, remembering he had fallen asleep in Hermione's bed.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched. He stood up reluctantly, unable to sleep with the noise of the shower. He walked sleepily around the room, trying to wake himself up.

After a few minutes, Draco's vision cleared and he began to feel more alert. He walked over to the bathroom door, knocking on it lightly.

There was no answer, except for a loud sob from the other side. He knocked a little more loudly.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Draco called. He strained his ears, catching another sob. He tried the door but it was locked. He grabbed his wand from the bedside table and spelled it open, then pocketed the wand.

Draco walked cautiously into the room, hearing sobs over the sounds of the shower.

"Hermione?" He called again as he began to slowly pull back the shower curtain. He looked down to the floor to find a crying Hermione curled up in a ball, the shower having long run cold.

Draco turned the shower off and knelt down next to Hermione. She didn't show any signs that she noticed he was there. He a pain in his chest at the site of her.

Deep purple bruises formed all over her wet body, varying in size. There were a few jagged cuts on her arms which resembled nail scratches and a number of scars as well as bite mark on her chest. Her eye was black and cut, and her lip was split. She was shaking and sobbing as she rocked back and fourth.

Draco wrapped an arm around her, holding her close. Her smoothed her wet hair away from her face as she laid her head on his chest.

"It's my fault, isn't it?" She asked after a while, her voice hoarse from crying.

"Of course not!" Draco answered her honestly.

"Then why did he do it?" She said between sobs.

"I don't know." He told her. He honestly didn't have any clue why someone would treat their loved one like that. She didn't push him any further, just cried harder. Draco held her tighter, determined to hold her until she felt better. It killed him to see her like this, and he wanted to do anything he could to make it not happen. He needed her to feel safe.

Hermione cried for quite a while. Draco wasn't sure how long, but it had to have been nearly an hour. He just held her as she cried, holding her close to him. He kissed all the bruises and cuts on her arms, hoping to make the pain go away. At first she pulled back, feeling ashamed, no one else had ever seen her body like this. She gave up after a while, allowing Draco to press his lips against every inch of her arms. Her crying lessened as she began to lose her voice. She stopped shaking and hugged Draco tightly as if she'd fall away without him.

When her crying had stopped, Draco wrapped Hermione up in a thick towel, still holding her tightly. He dried her off, then carried her back into her room. He grabbed a pair of pajamas and helped her dress in them. Today, she needed to stay in bed.

After she was back in her pajamas, Draco laid her down in the bed and wrapped her in the covers. He then got under them himself and held her close to him. This was going to take some time, he knew this, and he was willing to hold her through the whole thing.

*

Hermione spent her whole weekend just like that, wrapped in the arms of Draco. He held her everytime her emotions got the best of her, rocking her while she cried.

It was nice to have someone actually care, someone there to tell you everything would be alright. She never would have guessed Draco Malfoy could be so kind and gentle, but nothing seemed to surprise her anymore.

Hermione didn't feel strong enough to break things off with Ron right away, she still feared for her safety, so she just put off seeing him. She told him she was sick and didn't want any visitors, which seemed to suit him just fine since he had the whole weekend to sneak into Hogsmead.

She knew she was going to have to break up with him sometime, but she just couldn't do it yet. She needed to be stronger, so in the meantime, she just stayed away from him as much as possible.

Monday was lurking just around the corner, and with that, her time to work up the courage to break up with her boyfriend. She begged Draco to be there with her when she did it, but he refused.

"You need to do it yourself so he'll see that you actually want to do it and that it's not just me telling you to." He had told her.

Sunday night came much faster then she would have wished. She was nervous and edgey while she completed her homework, trying to focus her thoughts on something other than Ron's inevitable outburst. Draco wrapped his arms around her from behind in comfort.

"Thanks." She said, hugging him back. During the past few days she'd gotten used to him holding her, she just felt so safe and at home in his arms. It was a nice change.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Draco asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Yes," She answered confidently, but then reconsidered her answer. "I don't know."

Draco gave her shoulder a light squeeze. "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

"How can you be so sure?" Hermione asked, turning around to face him.

"Because, I will be watching. If anything gets out of hand, he'll have me to deal with." He told her, smirking.

"I know Ron, it will get out of hand, it's bound to." She said, worry piling up inside her. Her hand was shaking slightly as she held her quill. She knew that Ron would get angry when she broke up with him, he was normally violent when she'd done nothing, so he would definately be much, much worse.

Draco sat down beside her on the chair, pulling her close to him. "You know how brave I think you are for going through with this, right?"

"Yeah right. I'm not brave, if I was I wouldn't have put up with his crap for so long." She replied but returned his hug.

"Are you about done? We should be heading to bed." Draco said, standing up and glancing at her Transfiguration paper.

"Almost, just let me finish it off." She answered, furiously writing.

"You do know it's about half a foot longer then was required, right?" Draco told her as he measured her paper.

"I know, but I found some more information in the text that I thought should be included." She answered, a small smile on her face. Draco rolled his eyes at her, muttering under his breath about teacher's pets.

*

Hermione awoke the next day completely on edge. She was shaking as she stepped in the shower, her stomache a bundle of nerves. She just knew this was going to go badly, she knew it.

Draco kept reassuring her that everything would be fine and gave her encouragement. She knew he believed in her, but she still had reason to worry.

Hermione procrastinated as much as she could, pretending she'd forgotten things. Draco finally had to shove her out the door at nearly ten minutes until the end of breakfast.

The two walked down to the Great Hall together, gaining quite a bit of confused stares from their peers. Hermione kept muttering under her breath what she was going to say, going over the possible situations in her head. She held her wand tight inside her pocket, determined to use it if nessesary.

Draco and Hermione parted in the Great Hall to go to their respective tables. He promised to watch for her and follow her out when she broke the news to Ron.

Hermione made her way over to the Gryffindor table where Ron and Harry were deep in hushed conversation. They didn't even hear Hermione approach them, allowing her to overhear some of their whispered words.

"I'm telling you Ron, there's something different about her." Harry told his best friend.

"Harry, she's fine. I've already told you that." Ron replied in an annoyed voice.

"Then why does she look like the living dead? What's been going on with you two?" Hermione cleared her throat as she neared to get their attention. The two looked up and her and immediately changed their expressions.

"Oh, hi Hermione." Harry greeted her along with a smile.

"Hi Harry. Um, Ron, can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked, suddenly wanting to get this over with. Ron gave her a confused look but nodded his head, allowing her to lead him out of the hall. She glanced over at the Slytherin table just as Draco slipped away, giving her an encouraging smile.

"What's up, Hermione?" Ron asked when they were safe in the corridor. Hermione glanced around nervously, shifting from foot to foot. She could see Draco hiding behind the suit of armor, so she knew it'd be safe, but that did nothing to calm her nerves. Let's face it, she was terrified of Ron.

"Well, Ron, I really don't know how to say this." She managed to stammer out. Hermione took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let it all come out.

"I think we should break up." She held her breath, bracing herself for his outburst. She waited, but it never came.

"Alright." Ron said, his voice eerily calm. Hermione opened her eyes and gave him an uneasy look of surprise.

"Wh-what?" She asked, uncertain she had heard him corresctly.

"I said okay." He answered in the same voice.

"Really? You're not mad?"

"No Hermione, I love you and I just want you to be happy." He said, then gave her a quick hug and walked away, his fists clenched. He drove his fist swiftly into the stone wall of the corridor, busting open his knuckles. He then turned around and muttered something that she didn't catch.

Hermione stood in the quiet corridor, frozen in shock. Draco walked out from behind the suit of armor and rushed over to her.

"How'd he take it?" He asked quickly, checking her over to be sure she was fine.

"Pretty well." Hermione answered, her voice emotionless.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a worried voice.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She told him, giving him a reassuring smile which he couldn't help but notice was half hearted.

"Be careful, Hermione." He said, putting an arm around her shoulders. She just simply nodded, walking slowly towards the Great Hall, a feeling of unease planted in the pit of her stomache. She just couldn't but worry that this was going to go so very, very badly.

To Be Continued...

Okay, hope youu all liked this chapter. Things are gonna be a little hectic for a while, I just switched to my new school and the semester just started up so I can't garuantee I'll be updating as much as I usually do, but I'll do my best. Thnxx goes out to:

-Mrs Gallagher, well thank youu, happy youu liked itt.

-Lilium, haha thanks, now just don't be too mad at Harry if he does take Ron's side, he will eventually hear both sides, but might not for a while, so don't hate him.

-alice, thanks for the heads up, I went through the last chapter and edited what I found and remember, Ron angry, and he's jealous, and Harry hates Draco, so it'd make more sense to him to make Draco out as the bad guy, Harry would believe it so it'd benefit him more to lie about the whole thing.

-angelnomiko, here's your update.

-Tjay Motou, well I do hope that my storyy can help someone in these kinda of situations. And thanks for telling me about the grammar error, I was fully paying attention when I wrote the last chapter so I'll be sure to be more careful.

-Pickles87, yess I agree, she does need a break. I'll let her be happy for a while...maybe.

-Lexy Malfoy, yess she does, and I'll be sure to keep that in mind for future references.

-Kay_Rage, I'm sorry, I tried not to make it another cliffie.

-sticky, haha don't worry, there will be plenty more ass kicking in store for Ron in the chapters to come.

-magical heather, well just keep readingg to see then.

-Tracy, why thank you, I'm glad to hear that you think my dipiction of this situation is realistic, please, if I get something wrong, let me know through email so I can correct it (my email's in my profile).

Oh so many reviews make me so happy, and to top it off, I'm in a good mood too. If I get lots of reviews I just might be able to find time inbetween homework to update, so review lots please !

Much Love...

XXX

Xx-.k.a.y.y.-xX