Broken But Beautiful~Dramione

Chapter forty one*

Hermione's alarm clock went off promptly at 6:30 the following morning, and braced itself for the familiar thud of being hit to stop ringing. But it never came. It shook itself off, and peered over the dresser at the young witch laying in the bed. She had never done this before and it was quite confused. It jumped and began to ring once more as loud as it could, but a different man came in to turn it off.

"Hermione it's time to get up. There are people here to see you." Draco called from the bathroom door. He didn't want to startle her like he did the previous night.

"Hmm?" Hermione yawned, sat up in bed, and rubbed her eyes.

"People from the ministry. I think they want to ask you some questions about the case." Draco informed.

"Give me a minute." Hermione got up and walked over to her closet. She chose a light gray long sleeve, jeans, and put her Gryffindor robe over them seeing as it wasn't a weekend.

Hermione stepped out of her door and descended down the staircase to the group awaiting her.

"Leah?" Hermione frowned.

"Hello." Leah greeted. "This is Wallis, and this is Mason." She gestured to the men on either side of her. "They're assisting me in your case."

"What are you here so early in the morning?"

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. The interview with Remus doesn't count for anything in court." Leah said gently.

"What do you mean?"

"He's considered too close to you and they think bias could be added. Additionally, nobody credible in the Ministry's eyes could vouch that you took the veritaserum-not that it would change anything if they were seeing as it is as reliable as the imperius curse. And one last thing, the evidence I obtained was apparently faked by Mr. Nott. So even if that interview was valid, that wouldn't be proof of what happened. I'm not even sure this interview will be anywhere near enough but it's required now."

"So I have to do it all again?" Hermione's heart plummeted at the thought of having to speak of what happened to even more people.

"I'm afraid so." Mason confirmed. "We can do it now if you would like."

"I guess it's better to get it over with." Hermione conceded. She sat down in one of the chairs and the rest of the people in the room took up the other seats.

"Okay let's begin." Leah nodded to Wallis who administrated the veritaserum.

"Full name?" Leah asked.

"Hermione Jean Granger." Hermione said confidently.

"And what are you claiming Theodore Nott has done to you?"

"He-He-" Hermione faltered and her lip trembled. This was a very rare moment in which she became speechless.

"Hermione?" Wallis prompted. All Hermione could do was shake her head. Leah lifted the spell she cast.

"It's alright. We can do this another time if you're not ready." Leah reassured.

"Maybe it's best if we go for now." Mason suggested.

"Maybe write me a letter, or inform Humfrey when you're ready? Just remember the sooner you do this, the faster he will be locked up." Leah reminded and walked out of the room with the two men following.

It was in that moment that Hermione realized Draco was still in the room.

"Oh. Um. I lost my appetite. You go to breakfast I'll see you later." Hermione rushed up to her room and closed the door behind her. She whipped out her old laptop from when she was researching places they could camp out at while looking for horcruxes. She came to find that there was no WiFi available at Hogwarts. Angrily, she put it back in her trunk and plopped on her bed.

Hermione thought back to the days she would read social media and knew girls were never believed. Everyone would talk so badly about the girls who claimed they were raped, and never believed them. Many of those girls would end up home schooled because of how bad they were bullied.

Then Hermione had a new realization. Wasn't all of this her own fault? She should've realized it wasn't Ron. Now that she thought about it, she never verbalized that she desperately wanted him to stop. Never physically fought him off because she felt too helpless to do so with his threats. So would it even be classified as rape? Wouldn't she just come out looking foolish and stupid?

(A.N. PLEASE READ. I just want everybody to know that nothing Hermione is thinking at the current moment is true. If it was forced sexual intercourse of any kind, it is rape. Please know that you're not alone in life regardless of what happens, and I'm always here for you guys too. If you ever need to talk about something and just want someone to listen, I'm here.)

Maybe she should drop the case. Would there even be enough evidence? All Hermione could hear in her head was Leah's echoing words. I'm not even sure this interview will be enough.

"Hermione? It's time for our first class." Draco called up the stairs.

Hermione picked up her already perfectly packed bag, and descended the stairs. "It's been a while since we've walked to our classes together." He commented, and handed her some grapes he must've picked up from breakfast.

"Thanks. And yeah. How long ago was that? A year ago?"

"Twenty four days." Draco said promptly, but upon realizing his mistake he wished he could shrink into his shoes.

"How do you know that?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. It was truly a rhetorical question and she wasn't expecting an answer.

"Um. Well you see-so-I mean-it's-I wasn't counting." He said defensively.

"Well obviously not. I mean why would you." Hermione laughed. "But really, how did you know?"

"Oh look. Here's our classroom." Draco rushed to open the door for her and cursed at himself. How could he slip up like that? At least he didn't tell her he was making tallies on his desk for every day she was gone from their dorm. Hermione let it go and walked past him into the class.

Ever since he was born, Draco was raised to not have any weaknesses. To never be attached to something or someone. But Hermione Granger might just be his undoing.