Protect Thy Enemy

Chapter Two

Draco's POV

It was my turn to sit in the room and watch over Hermione. It had been close to week and she hadn't woken up yet. Potter had been here several times this week in attempts to heal her. The physical wounds were healing, but I doubted that the mental ones would ever heal again. I took a deep breath and I looked at her. She looked like she was just sleeping and I'm sure that some part of her was only just sleeping.  I looked up at the knocking sound and waved my hand lazily to open the door.

"Hey man." Blaise was standing awkwardly in the doorway "I'm here to take over if you want to get some sleep?"

" I took a swig of my whiskey and swallowed "No, I'd rather stay here with her"

He took a sit in the chair across the room "Do you think she'll wake up soon?"

"I hope so. Even just for Potter's sake. I don't think he can handle much more pain in his life." I looked at the girl in the bed and tried to picture the best outcome "And losing Hermione would bring so much pain to him."

"Mal...foy" Blaise and I shot to the bed and looked at the young witch who has finally awoken 

I grabbed her hand and squeezed "I'm right here, Blaise is with me. Can you move?"

She barely nodded, but moved to stand up. She only stumbled once as we moved to the parlor where the others were resting. They all turned around, but Astoria was the first to react

"Hermione!" when she got closer, the fragile witch jerked back "It's okay...we're not gonna hurt you. You came to us to protect you, don't you remember?"

Hermione nodded slowly and looked at each of us "I didn't...think...I wasn't sure if you would help me"

Blaise and I helped her to sit down on the couch "Can you tell us what happened?" Blaise was whispering, like a loud noise might break her. I was hoping that she was stronger than that. 

"Can I see you guys in the kitchen please?" Pansy was suddenly standing and handing a piles of clothes to Hermione. "Just in case you wanted to change" We all followed her to the kitchen and as soon as the door was closed she began "Do we trust her? Do we believe that she really came to us for help? After everything we put her through during school?"

Astoria was clearly annoyed "Look at her!" She was whisper-yelling "You saw how she reacted to seeing Potter! She's scared and injured! She needs help, Pansy!"

"We don't know that!" She took a deep breath and continued "I'm just saying we don't know if she was tortured..."She was cut off by the door opening and we all turned to see Hermione standing there

"I was..." She took a shaky breath and cut off Astoria telling her that she didn't have to explain "You all are risking your life to help me...you deserve to know what you're up against. I was staying with the Weasleys. Ron and I were planning our wedding and I thought things were going well. I started noticing things...small things at first. My favorite foods being gone, my things moved and missing, my clothes being ruined. I thought that perhaps I was doing these things and not remembering. Erasing my presence to survive. PTSD does strange things to one's mind. But I started getting threats. Threats on my life, Harry's life, everyone I loved was being threatened. I took it to the aurors training Harry, but they told me that I was experiencing paranoia due to the war and what..." She paused and looked at me "What Bellatrix did to me. But it continued...to one night, Harry and Ron had gone out. I was asleep, and I..." A choked sob escaped from her throat and I wanted to hurt anyone who laid their hands on her "It stung at first, like their blade was cursed or spelled...I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't scream or fight back. They had all the control and they were hurting me. I begged Merlin to save me, to kill me, just to end the nightmare. I don't know how long it went on for, it felt like forever. But not soon enough, it was over and they were gone." She had tears running down her face and turned towards Pansy "Thank you for the clothes" She turned on her heel and left

"Wow..." Pansy was watching after her

"So what do we do?" Astoria was looking at me, but they were all waiting for my answer

"We help her, whatever it takes" with that I drew my wand and sent a message to Potter "Awake" and we began to make a plan on how to help her