Unlikely Friends

Title: Unlikely Friends Part 3
Author: Shannon
Pairing: Draco/Hermione, Hermione/Snape (friendship)
Rating: R
Warning: Contains Rape, not graphic in this part or any other but it suggested.
Disclaimer: Not mine, If you recognize it, it belongs to J. K. Rowling
Distribution: My site http://hl.shadesofgrey.us/efiction/ Twisting the Hellmouth, Tainted Love, WLS
Spoilers: Going to say anything through OoTP to be safe. Proy noy nothing really specific.
Summary: Hermione’s attacked and can’t tell her usual friends and ends up finding support in unlikely places.
Author’s Notes: Takes place 6th year. I’m assuming all 6th years are roughly around 16.
**Draco and Snape are slightly OOC, but it is necessary for this to work.

Part 3

Hermione opened her eyes and screamed when she saw the large eyes staring at her, just inches from her face. When the face, that had been so close to hers, screamed and fell backward off the bed she realized it was a house elf and sat up. Peering over the side of the bed she saw Dobby looking up at her from the floor.

“You’re Harry Potter’s friend,” he said nervously standing up.

“Yes, I’m Hermione.”

“Harry Potter’s friend is in the mean professor’s room?”

“Yes, Dobby,” Hermione sighed, obviously this was going to be a problem, “You can’t tell anyone, especially Harry and Ron that I’m here.”

“Harry Potter doesn’t like the professor.”

“No he doesn’t, that’s why you can’t tell him.”

“If the professor is hurting Harry Potter’s friend—.”

“He’s not—why are you here Dobby?”

“Headmaster Dumbledore told Dobby to bring a breakfast tray here, and to bring lunch later.”

“Okay then, see Professor Dumbledore must know I’m here right?” Hermione pointed out, “And he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me so I must be safe.”

“You don’t look safe Miss.”

“I was hurt last night Dobby,” Hermione explained, “Not by Professor Snape he’s helping me. You can’t tell anyone promise?”

“The headmaster knows you are here?”

“Yes.”

“Dobby won’t tell,” Dobby conceded, “If you won’t make any more clothes. The others, Miss, they are afraid to clean Gryffindor Tower, they think you’re going to free them.”

“All right no more clothes,” Hermione agreed, she could always find a way around the agreement later. “You brought me breakfast?”

“Yes Miss, it’s on the desk, do you want Dobby to bring it to you?”

“No, that’s fine, I need to get up anyway.”

Dobby left the room, still concerned about her safety with the ‘mean professor’ but Hermione was confident Dobby wouldn’t break his promise. She slowly got out of the bed, her whole body aching. She went in the bathroom and re-braided her hair, the braid was so loose this time that she took it out and braided it without magic, and brushed her teeth. She couldn’t get dressed until someone brought her things down from her room. She went into the sitting room and took the tray of food to the couch.

She had just finished eating when there was a knock on the door. She jumped at the sound, not sure if she should open it. No one knew she was here and Snape had classes all day. While she was contemplating what she should do the door pushed open slowly.

“Hello,” Draco said quietly as he walked through, “I knocked but--.”

“Sorry Draco,” Hermione answered, “I didn’t know who it was and--.”

“Professor Snape wanted me to bring you this,” he held out a miniature trunk.

“This is--?”

“Your things, Mcgonagall shrunk them so no one would notice,” He explained setting it on the floor and waving his wand over it.

The trunk quickly turned into a much larger trunk that she had in her room. Retrieving her own wand from the table she pointed it at the trunk and said the charm to move it the bedroom. The trunk rose for a moment then crashed back down to the floor, popping open, smoke coming out of the top. She tried again with similar results.

“Why don’t I--?” Draco pointed his wand at the trunk and quickly moved it to the bedroom.

“Thank you,” Hermione said, “I don’t know why I--.”

“I’ve got to get to class,” Draco shrugged, “Snape said there should be some assignments in the trunk for you. Mcgonagall got them from the other professors.”

When Draco had left the room she went to the bedroom and opened the trunk. She pulled out two envelopes, her books, parchments, quills, and assignments from her classes and set them on the bed. Next she searched the trunk for clothes she could wear, pulling out a t-shirt and jeans she decided to forgo the robes since she wasn’t leaving the room. She grabbed the various potions Snape had given her to apply in the morning and after applying them she pulled on the clothes and took the items she had left on the bed into the sitting room and sat down at the desk. She picked up the first envelope and pulled out the parchment.

Miss Granger,

Professor Mcgonagall has sent
Your things along, as you can see.
If there is anything else you require
Let me know and I’ll pass the
Information along.

Remember to write to Potter and
Weasley today, to avoid them
Writing you.

The headmaster assured me that
He arranged for meals to be
Delivered to you. However, I
Think I should warn you to eat
Lightly…

Hermione dropped the letter as she felt a sudden wave of nausea flow through her. She stood and ran to the bathroom as quickly as she could move.

She stood in front of the mirror a several minutes later, splashing her face with cold water. “Couldn’t have told me that before he left could he?” She muttered.

She walked back to the sitting room, picking the letter back up she began to read again.

Think I should warn you to eat
Lightly, as you may not be able to
Handle heavy food right now.

Feel free to make use of any books
On the shelves in my rooms.

Professor Mcgonagall enclosed
Your classwork from all of your
Classes for the next week if you
Feel ready to work on them.

Remember that your magic is
Tied to your emotions, so you may
Wish to wait on some of the work.
I do not wish to have rooms destroyed
For your education.

S. Snape.

Sighing she folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope before picking up the second envelope that had her name written across the fron Mcg Mcgonagall’s handwriting.

Hermione,

I’m so sorry about what’s happened.
Professor Snape says you’re as well
As can be expected, and that you do
Not wish to see anyone right now.

I will respect your wishes but please
Know that I’m here if you need to
Speak to someone.

Your friends have been told that
You returned home because of
A sick family member, and that you
Had to leave right away and couldn’t
Stay to explain.

I’ve enclosed your homework from
All of your classes (except potions)
For one week. If you don’t feel able
To do them, we will understand.

M. Mcgonagall

She put the letter away and pulled out a piece of parchment to compose a letter to Harry and Ron. Snape was right, Hedwig would draw attention if she flew back into the school after Harry sent her out with a letter, so would Pig. She quickly wrote a message explaining that her aunt was ill and she had to be with her family and didn’t know when she would return. She explained that they shouldn’t write her because her family wasn’t accustomed to owl post, but she would write again soon. She folded the note, and located an envelope in the top drawer of the desk. Now she would just need to ask Snape to mail it for her.

She picked up the parchments with her homework written on them and began to read over the work. She had an essay to write for History, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Arithimancy. She could work on those for now, but the other classes all required her to use magic. If her attempt to move the trunk was any indication, Snape was right and she should wait to attempt those assignments.

She picked up the History parchment and once again read the assignment before opening her book, unrolling fresh parchment and picking up her quill. She began writing, not noticing the time passing. Suddenly she heard a crack and dropping her quill turned toward the sound.

“Miss Hermione,” Dobby was standing behind her holding a tray. “Dobby has brought lunch.”

“Thank you Dobby,” Hermione smiled and reached for the tray.

“The professor told Dobby to only bring soup, toast, and tea this time,” Dobby said handing her the tray, “I’m sorry Miss.”

“He was right,” Hermione assured the elf, “I ate to much this morning and was very sick.”

“Dobby’s sorry Miss, Dobby didn’t know.”

“I didn’t know either, It’s alright.”

When Dobby left Hermione turned her attention back to the paper she was writing. She had already written over two inches more than was assigned so she quickly summarized her paper and set it aside. She moved to the couch and quickly ate her soup and toast before returning to the desk to begin the Defense Against the Dark Arts paper. The paper was easier than she expected and finished quickly. She debated for a few minutes on whether to do the Arithimancy paper too. Finally her need to finish all her homework as quickly as possible won out and she began working on that one.

Closing the book, and rolling the last parchment Hermione sighed. Working on the assignments at least gave her a few hours of not thinking about what had happened the night before. Now the work was done though, and the thoughts came back. She started pacing the room, she needed something to keep her mind busy. Thinking about it wouldn’t do any good. Snape would be returning and making her talk about soon enough. She walked over to the large bookcases and began searching for something to read. She had read a lot of the books here, probably why Snape said it was okay to read them, nothing here that she couldn’t get from the library, finally finding a Dark Arts book she hadn’t seen before she pulled it off the shelf and curled up in the corner of the couch to read it.

Snape walked into his rooms a few hours later to find her still curled up on the couch, book on her lap, sound asleep. He set the pile of essays from his seventh and first year students on the desk and walked over to the couch. He pulled the book gently from her hands, closed it and placed it back in it’s place on the shelf.

“She would pick the largest book here,” he muttered as he returned to his desk.

He sat in the chair and moved her school books to one side and started to pull the first year papers to him. He wasn’t looking forward to grading these papers. The day had gone badly, and he wasn’t expecting these essays to improve it any. Seeing the three rolls of parchment Hermione had left on the desk he unrolled the first one and realized it was her homework.

“Might as well read something that won’t make the day worse,” he sighed and began to read her History paper.

Hermione opened her eyes slowly and realized she wasn’t alone in the room anymore. She saw Snape sitting at the desk reading from a parchment. She sat up quietly deciding not to disturb him, she didn’t want her being here to be a problem for him, she didn’t want him to force her back to her own rooms yet. She quietly walked over to stand behind him, and realized he was reading her Defense Against the Dark Arts paper, and her other two papers were open on the desk next to it.

“Is it correct Sir?”

Snape jumped slightly, having not heard her get up. “It’s acceptable Miss Granger. You wrote all three of these today?”

“Yes, I, um, had a lot of free time.”

“We need to discuss what happened yesterday,” Snape said setting her papers aside, “We want to keep you safe, and make sure this doesn’t happen again to you or another student but we can’t do that without your help.”

“I know,” Hermione began pacing the floor, willing herself not to cry again. It wasn’t Snape’s fault. “It’s just, I can’t—it’s hard to talk about.”

“I’ll ask questions, you just have to answer them,” Snape said, when she nodded he continued, “You were attacked somewhere between Hogsmeade and here?”

“Yes.”

“So then I can assume it was a wizard that attacked you?”

“Yes,” Hermione agreed, “But he didn’t--it wasn’t magic.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“No,” she sat on the couch and pulled her legs under her.

“Was it a Death Eater?”

“I don’t—he was wearing dark robes but not Death Eater—the voice was familiar but--.”

“Miss Granger,” Snape began, he hated asking a question he was reasonably sure of the answer to, “Did he rape you?”

She nodded slowly and started crying again. Snape sat across from her. Asking more questions wasn’t going to accomplish anything, other than upsetting her further. She didn’t know who it was, if it was a Death Eater he might recognize the person though.

“Miss Granger I’ll be back in a moment.”

Hermione started pacing the room again waiting for him to return. She wanted to help, she wanted to find the person who did this too, but she just didn’t know, she had been too frightened to remember much of anything. She had been too focused on getting away alive. Snape walked back in the room a few minutes later carrying a large stone basin and followed by Draco.

“Miss Granger, if it was a Death Eater attack Mr. Malfoy or I may recognize them,” Snape told her.

“How can you recognize something you can’t see?”

“This is a pensieve,” Snape indicated the basin, “I’m sure Mr. Potter has told you about it.”

“Yes, you put memories in it right?” Hermione answered.

“Yes, if you put your memories of last night in it, we can view them,” Snape set the bowl on the desk, “You do not have to enter the pensieve with us.”