Some Secrets Should Be Told

A/n- thanks for the reveiws. Here is chapter 8, I hope everyone enjoys. Oh yes, thanks to ichi.ruki for pointing out those errors to me, I honestly am not sure how that happened, it wasn't like that in my story until after I posted it. Well it still isn't like that in my original story, it just happened on here. Weird..

Well anyway, thanks, and enjoy.

Chapter 8: Anger
Hermione’s Point Of View

I sit on my bed and watch Malfoy descend my staircase. His little confession completely blew me away, it was totally unexpected. I think I will go and talk to him after my shower. Not only am I feeling a little bit sorry for myself, but I feel sorry for him too. I know that isn't why he told me what he did, he told me out of anger and frustration, but he has been dealing with this kind of thing for years, apparently.

I stand up and enter the bathroom, going directly towards the shower. I step in and let the warm water beat down onto my skin. I scrub myself fiercely, and take care around my ass. That spot is tender at the moment. When I'm done cleaning myself I just stand under the spray for a while. I can't stop thinking about Malfoy; about how caring his voice sounded when he was asking me questions about it. He is either very concerned, or a very good actor. The more I think about that situation in my bedroom, the more I feel like an idiot. I treated Malfoy unfairly, and he was being very sincere.

I turn off the shower and step out, picking up a towel off of the rack on the way. I dry myself and put on my pyjamas; I don't care that Malfoy doesn't want to see me in them, I want to be comfortable. I pick up the throw blanket that is on the bottom of my bed and start for the staircase. I turn around, thinking, and go back to my dresser for my wand.

I go out of the doorway into the Common Room, Malfoy is sitting on one of the burgundy armchairs, and he looks up as I step out. I see something flicker through his eyes. A split second later it's gone, I think it was just a trick from the firelight.

I sit down on the couch on the side farthest away from him, wrapping my blanket around myself. I don't say anything and neither does he. I can feel his eyes on me as I stare into the fire.

He clears his throat. I look up at him, waiting.

"So, how did this come about?" he asks bluntly.

What a stupid question. "I don't know."

He raises his left eyebrow. "You have to have some sort of idea."

I look at him in exasperation, my mouth slightly open and my eyebrows creeping in to each other. "How should I know?"

"Well, I would think you would have some sort of idea."

"He's always been obsessed with me." Is all I say.

Draco ignores that. "The first time? It was last weekend wasn't it? The day all of my friends were up here with me?"

I nod stiffly. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"I knew something happened. When you were in the shower I went to the grounds because I noticed you didn't bring your book back up here with you."

I think hard about that. My book! I didn't even think about it, my mind was on other things that evening.

"I found it," Draco says, getting up from his chair and moving to one of the bookshelves. He lifted a couple of books and then pulled mine from beneath it.

"Why didn't you give it to me that night?" I ask him suspiciously, as he passes it to me.

He shrugs, "I didn't want to give it to you until I figured out what was going on. Anyway, I knew something happened because I noticed all of the scuffs on the ground, and the blood that accompanied them. I just figured that you like it rough."

He looks ashamed for a moment, his eyes slightly downcast and his lip sneaks in between his teeth quickly. Then his expression changes and he looks like he's struggling to say something. His mouth moves a few times but no words come out, then he looks up, straight into my eyes. "I'm sorry," He says breathlessly.

I can't help the smile that graces my features for a moment. That was obviously a difficult thing for him to say.

"For what?" I ask.

Malfoy takes another deep breath, "For making fun of you."

I shake my head. "It's okay, Malfoy. You didn't know what was happening." I'm honestly a little bit unnerved by this conversation and how civil it is.

"I should have," He says, looking quite angry. His eyes are slightly wide and his face is slowly becoming red.

I shake my head, "No-" I start.

"Yes," he says firmly, "I should have known. I should have figured it out when you were keeping to yourself!"

"It wasn't up to you to know," I say, trying to make him understand.

He glares at me, and it's so sudden that it jars me. His composure is back before I can blink and he shakes his head gently.

"Was it Potter and Weasley the first time, too?" he asks me.

I frown. "No. Just Harry."

Malfoy flinches when I say Harry's name, he gives a bitter little chuckle and says, "I can't believe you can still say his name so easily. I can't believe this..."

"He's my friend-" I start to say, but this seems to have pushed Malfoy over the edge. He stands up quickly and his hands fist at his sides.

"He's not your friend!" he says angrily.

"Well not-"

"He never was!" Draco suddenly shouts.

"Yeah, he was-"

"No! He wasn't!!" His face is reaching its red point again, and I can't say that I've ever seen him this mad before. "Friends aren't obsessed with each other, friends don't rape each other," he yells.

I know my eyes are wide at this outburst, and the way he is talking with his voice so full of hate is unnerving.

"Malfoy-" I start, but he cuts me off again.

"Why can't you just see it, Granger?"

What? What does that mean?

"See what?" I ask cautiously.

"See how wrong this whole thing is!"

"I know how wrong it is, Malfoy" I say scathingly, "But Harry was my friend at one point in my life."

Malfoy cringes again when he hears me say Harry’s name. "No he wasn't," he says angrily.

I give him a little smile. "How could you possibly know that?"

"Oh, come off it, Granger. I've been sitting in the background for years watching you guys. Watching you and all of your 'friends'," -he makes quotation marks with his fingers at 'friends', - "I've been listening, and learning. Potter," He spits the word harshly, "has never been friends with you. Potter has always only wanted one thing. Maybe not in first or second year, but he got around to it, and he finally claimed it. You think Weasley is your friend too, I suppose?" he asks, then answers himself, "Of course you do, you're so naive. If he was your true friend he wouldn't have allowed any of this to go on, he wouldn't have joined in!!" He practically screams; his breathing is very heavy.

My lips are pursed as I try and keep my tears in my eyes. I can feel my nostrils flaring slightly in my attempt, and Malfoy looks over at me. I've never seen him this angry before, about anything. I'm starting to feel like a complete idiot; I really am naive. I can feel my bottom lip start trembling, and Malfoy’s face softens a little bit.

"Fuck," he says slowly, looking at my face that's screwed up in the attempt to not cry. He shakes his head. "I'm sorry...again."

I look away from him when I feel the tears conquer my eyelids. I know right now that this isn't going to be a calm cry. My tears start rushing down my face more frequently and my lower lip is still shaking. I suddenly let out a wail and lose control of myself completely. I pull my blanket up to my face and start crying into it, trying to muffle my sobs. I feel strong arms encircle me and I just continue bawling. Malfoy is saying nothing, just sitting there listening to me cry in his arms. I'm thinking about how I'm such an idiot, about how I could allow this to come so far. I should have read the signs, everything was pointing to it. My tears start abating.

"Harry accosted me during the feast!" I say without really thinking, I just need someone to know. My tears stop, maybe if I keep talking then I won't cry and make a bigger fool out of myself. "I should have realized then! I should have-"

"What do you mean 'accosted'," Malfoy asks, completely cutting me off and taking his arms away from his body so he can lean back and look at me.

"He—he--" I take a deep shuddering breath "He was touching me under the table," Is all I can get out, I just can't seem to say the word 'finger bang'…

I feel the final few tears fall out of my eyes and look up at Malfoy through wet lashes that are sticking together.

He looks angry again.

"So you mean, when I was looking at you, and you looked all flustered..." Malfoy stops and shuts his eyes.
Maybe he's trying to picture it in his head. His eyes snap open and he stands up abruptly.

"What---what are you doing?" I ask fearfully as he walks quickly to the Portrait hole.

"Going to Gryffindor," he says calmly, a little too calmly if you ask me.

"No!" I shout and jump up. I place myself in front of the Portrait hole, arms spread out and pressing against the wall on each side.

"Move, Granger," he says dangerously.

I shake my head. "You can't go Malfoy"

"I can, and I am."

"No!" I scream into his face. He doesn't back down, of course, instead he puts his hands under my arms and lifts me out of the way.

"That was me being very nice to you," he says in a controlled voice and sprints out of the Common Room. I chase him without pausing to think.

"Malfoy!!" I scream at his back as we hurtle down the corridors. He turns and runs up a series of staircases, I follow, but I'm falling behind.

"Malfoy, stop!!!" I scream again, scaring some first years.

I think about it as I'm running, and I'm sure this looks ridiculous. Malfoy is running away from me, and I'm positive that anger is etched into his features. I'm chasing him relentlessly in my short shorts and tank top, with my red face and wild damp hair flying behind me.

I finally make it up the four flights of stairs and run down another corridor; there is a stitch in my side that feels like a knife between my ribs. I'm panting hard, but I fight on. I round a corner and there's Malfoy, standing outside of the Fat Lady. I wonder how he knows where the Gryffindor Common Room is, I think stupidly, knowing that this is neither the time nor place to ask.

"Malfoy," I say menacingly, my voice harsh. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing. Just coming to pay Potter and Weasley a visit," he says casually.

I give him an angry smile, make my eyes hard and grab onto his arm, "No. We are going back to our Common Room right now."

He wrenches his arm out of my grasp and steps forwards to the Fat Lady. She gives him a puzzled look, but Malfoy just reaches forwards and knocks on the frame loudly.

"Malfoy," I whisper, I'm angry, but I find that I'm more scared.

The Portrait swings out. I groan.

Perfect, great, couldn’t have asked for a better person to see this situation unfold.

Lavender’s head pokes out with a confused look on her face. Her eyes wander from Malfoy to me. They linger on me for a moment, I know that she's looking at my pyjamas. She then looks back at Malfoy.

"Yes?" she asks politely. I'm sure she's going to twist this around terribly.

"I need to speak to Potter and Weasley," Malfoy says to her angrily. She raises her eyebrows at him, but doesn't move. "Now!!!" he screams at her.

Her eyes widen quickly. "All right, just a sec," she says hastily and disappears back inside.

"Come on, Malfoy, don't do this. Let’s just go back," I plead, grabbing onto his arm.

He looks from my hand on his arm, up to my face. "No," he says defiantly.

What did I expect?

Not the hug that he pulls me into.

He crushes me against him, one hand flying directly to my damp hair, and the other holding me to him tightly.

"I'm not going to let them hurt you anymore," he whispers to me, and then pulls away looking terribly embarrassed.

The Fat Lady swings forward and Malfoy steels himself.