A steaming mug of tea was placed down on the table in front of me.
I looked up, a small grateful smile tugging weakly at my lips as I cradled my trembling fingers around the hot drink.
"Why didn't you reach out to me sooner, Ivy?" Pansy sighed, taking the seat opposite me, her eyes studying me in genuine concern. "I'm your sister. Okay, so I may not be the best one in the world, but fuck, I love you, Ivy, and if anyone hurts you then I'm going to want to kill them."
I wanted to cry. I felt so overwhelmed by Pansy's kindness that I found it difficult to even speak.
She had responded immediately to my cry of help; turning up at the studio within minutes after I had sent the letter.
When I finally managed to let her in, her face had dropped in absolute horror at the sight of my broken and miserable state.
Asking me no questions, she took me back to her and Edgar's country manor house at once, where she - just like Draco had done when I had turned to him - ran me a bath and fetched me some fresh clothes.
"I don't know if they'll fit," she said, eyeing me sceptically as she handed me a cream two piece designer suit, "but they'll do for now."
I hadn't mentioned much in the letter, just that I was all alone and needed help. So the fact that she didn't badger me with questions until I was in a more 'fit' state told me how much she really did care.
And I told her; I told her about how Percy had been sexually assaulting me and that Draco had helped save me from him. I told her how we'd gone to Ginny but that she'd refused to believe her brother was a rapist and was convinced I had been brainwashed by Draco.
And I told her how on the very first day that I had moved into the studio, Percy came for me and punished me for walking out on him ("The fucking coward!" Pansy had seethed, visibly shaking in her fury.).
I couldn't bring myself, however, to tell her that Draco had saved me in more ways than one; the idea of seeing the hurt and betrayal in her eyes too much for me to bear.
"You're staying here with me from now on," Pansy ordered brusquely. "I'm going to look after you; just like I had promised Mummy and Daddy I would when we were at Hogwarts. I know they've washed their hands of us now - literally in Mummy's case," she paused to give a sardonic bark of laughter, "but we've still got each other."
I had started crying then and she sighed, leaning over to give the back of my hand an awkward pat.
"You always were the cry baby out of the two of us," she said, rolling her eyes, "Look, I'll give you a pass as you've been through so much, but after this I want you to stop wasting your tears on that monster. Rapists don't deserve them."
She was right, of course, and I happily let her take charge, needing her blunt and decisive nature so much right now.
She got in touch with Bertie and arranged the selling of my studio. I didn't argue; I already knew I could never go back there.
"A fresh start is what you need," Pansy prescribed authoritatively, "we can set you up with a studio here. It's so much less dreary in the country. Not like that suffocating city you seem to love so much."
How could I tell her that I loved London because that's where Draco was? And it was hurting my heart so much knowing that I could no longer look out the window and see the penthouse.
But again, Pansy was right. I needed a fresh start before I really was driven crazy with depression and longing. I couldn't be with Draco, it was an undeniable, point blank fact.
Four months I had spent staring up at his home, getting to point of actually considering ending my life because I couldn't bear the grief and heartache of missing him.
And even though I didn't want to, I knew I needed to start looking forward and be kind to myself at long last.
"We need to work out what we're going to do about Weasley," Pansy said, eyeing me carefully across the table. "He can't get away with this; for what he's done to you and what he will do to another."
"Pansy, I've tried," I implored, suddenly feeling panicked and seeing only Ginny's furious face as she called me a liar, "but they refuse to believe he's capable of that."
"Who does exactly?" Pansy said, narrowing her eyes. "Who said that?"
"Well..." I shrugged, "Ginny."
"That bitch?! Merlin, Ivy, of course she's going to defend her brother. She's a hot headed freak who thinks she's all that just because she married the Chosen One."
"Don't, Pansy, don't call her that."
"Why not? She should have believed you! Who the fuck would lie about this shit? Least of all you who she ought to know by now. I swear, those fucking Weasley's are a lot more hung up on reputation than they let on."
When the doorbell rang, making me jump out of my skin, Pansy simply stood up, her expression set and determined.
"Wait here," she demanded, ignoring me when I shakily asked if she was expecting anybody. "Don't you dare go anywhere."
I stayed sat at the kitchen table, wondering with a sickening panic, who Pansy had invited over. I didn't have to wait long to find out, for, following her back into the kitchen was a familiar raven haired wizard sporting distinctive round spectacles and the hint of a lightening bolt shaped scar beneath his fringe.
"Harry!" I gasped, not being able to hide my shock at my sister's choice of guest, "what- what are you doing here?"
He looked down at me with a stern expression on his face; his eyes sweeping over me, taking in my bedraggled appearance.
"Your sister sent for me," he said, his voice surprisingly warm and not harsh like I had anticipated, "apparently you have something to tell me?"
"I'm not sorry," Pansy clipped, her eyes flashing back at me defiantly when I looked at her aghast. "And I'm not a soft shit like Draco. No one is leaving this room until you tell him what you've told me."
I found myself trembling quite uncontrollably as my heart pounded wildly and a rushing roaring noise suddenly filled my head, deafening me.
I was only faintly aware of the sound of a chair scraping back as Harry helped himself to a seat opposite me.
"Ivy," he spoke gently yet firmly, "is this about Percy?"
I blinked up at him, slowly nodding my head. Pansy was stood behind Harry with her arms folded across her chest, watching me with fierce narrowed eyes. I knew she wasn't going to let me skimp on the details.
"Okay, fire away," Harry said in an official manner, leaning forwards ever so slightly to show me I had his attention, "I'm listening."
I swallowed, looking up at Pansy who gave me an encouraging nod.
"He attacked me," I whispered, looking back down at my hands which were wringing in my lap, "just before Christmas."
The silence in the room was thick, and it felt like a lifetime until anyone spoke.
"When you say he attacked you," Harry eventually said in a slow and deliberate voice, as though he was trying to choose his words carefully, "in what way, exactly?"
"He- he raped me," I said in the smallest of voices, whispering the word that made me want to vomit.
Another silence.
Harry shifted in his seat, and I could almost hear the clogs whirring in his brain as he tried to work out how to respond.
"Do you have any proof of this allegation?"
"Proof?" Pansy spat, "what the actual fuck, Potter? She just told you, didn't she?! What more do you want? A fucking re-enactment?"
"This is a very serious allegation that Ivy is making," Harry barked, glaring up at her, "and in case you have forgotten I am married to the accused's sister!"
"Well then, send someone else round to investigate it," Pansy snapped, throwing her hands in the air, "preferably someone unbiased!"
"I AM THE HEAD AUROR!" Harry bellowed furiously, his face turning scarlet red.
"Fine," she snarled, striding round the table to where I was sat, "you want fucking proof then we've got it."
No, no, no, I thought, knowing instantly what she was doing. But I wasn't ready for this, I couldn't even face it myself, yet.
I winced as she aggressively grabbed my arm, hoisting me to my feet before I could try and stop her.
"Here's your fucking proof, Potter," she roared, yanking aside my jacket.
Harry's eyes widened as they landed on the gentle swell of my protruding stomach.
I was four months pregnant.
*****