Abused

Smile

~Continued Flashback (It's almost over, I promise)~

December 1, Wednesday

"Hermione!" Hermione found herself face-to-face with Draco. She immediately took a step back away from him. She put a scowl on her face. 

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Hermione asked. She usually tried to sound as toxic as she could, but to be honest, being mean to Malfoy was getting kind of old. 

"Cut the crap, Hermione," Draco spit. Hermione flinched. She definitely wasn't expecting that. 

"Wha- Excuse me?" Hermione stuttered. She didn't know what to say. Draco took a step towards her, only to have Hermione step back again. Draco either didn't notice or didn't care.

"You're crying, Granger. Tell me why," Draco demanded. Hermione gasped and touched her cheek. For a moment, she had forgotten she was crying. She tried to push past him. 

"Never mind," Hermione sputtered out, not able to think of a better excuse. 

"Hermione! I'm not going to let you go until you tell me what's wrong," Draco stated. Hermione turned to face him. She realized that it was true. She wasn't going anywhere until he got an answer. Hermione became frustrated. If Ron saw her, she would be blamed. She growled.

"Get the fuck out of my way, Malfoy. I'm not in the mood." Draco flinched, caught off guard. Hermione pushed harshly past him, but he managed to grab her arm. 

"Wait, Hermione-" 

"Malfoy!" Hermione and Draco whipped around to see Harry walking towards them. "What's going on here?" Harry demanded as he approached. Hermione pulled her arm out of Draco's grip. At least it wasn't Ron. As Harry got closer, he spotted the tears staining Hermione's face. 

"Hermione?" he asked worriedly, but his worry quickly turned to anger. "Malfoy," he spit. "What did you do to her?" Draco scoffed.

"You think I did this to her?" he snarled. Harry sneered.

"Well, then who did it?" Harry retorted. Hermione wanted to cut in, but she couldn't figure out an excuse.

"Why don't we ask Hermione?" Draco stated. Hermione gasped. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell them she was crying because she had panic attacks caused by Ron and his abuse. Hermione was at a loss of words.They both turned to face her.

"Well?" they asked in unison. Hermione scrambled for an excuse, but she came up with nothing. 

"Uh, Malfoy didn't do this to me, Harry. We just ran into each other," Hermione muttered. 

"Bullshit," Harry immediately spit. He turned back to Draco. "Did you tell her to lie, ferret?" Harry accused. Draco furrowed his brows. 

"She's telling the truth, Potter. We were walking past each other, and I saw she was crying. All I did was ask what was wrong." Harry shook his head.

"Hermione, you can tell me the truth," Harry whispered to her. His eyes searched hers, looking for any sign of lying. 

"Harry, he is telling the truth!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Hermione? Harry?" The three turned to see who had spoken. Hermione was terrified to see Ron stalking towards them. 

"Oh, shit," Hermione murmured under her breath. 

"What?" Both boys seemed to have heard her. Hermione shook her head, hoping they would let it go. Harry turned back to face Ron, but Draco's stare lingered. 

"What's going on?" Ron demanded. 

"I have to go," Hermione muttered. She turned to leave. She knew Ron would be mad if she left now, but staying would only ultimately make things worse. However, before she could make it very far, she felt a hand grab her arm. 

"Wait, Hermione." Hermione felt that the grip was looser, so she assumed it wasn't Ron. She quickly yanked her arm out and whipped around. 

"Pansy's waiting for me. I really need to go," Hermione lied. "Malfoy told the truth. Now just leave it alone." Hermione turned and was thankful when no one held her back this time.

Hermione heard the boys' hushed argument continue as she quickly walked away. She sighed in relief as she turned a corner. She broke into a run. She had just dug herself a deep hole. Ron wasn't going to let this slide. There was no way. Hermione wanted to cry more, she wanted to get everything out of her system, but she knew she couldn't. She had told herself she was strong enough to handle this on her own, so she put on a smile, slowed to a walk, and acted as if everything was fine. She didn't want anyone to know anything was wrong. She didn't need help. None of her friends needed to deal with her right now anyways. They had their own things to do. In this moment, Hermione decided that she wouldn't let anyone see anything was bothering her. She would hold her head high and smile, just like she always had. 

Author's Note

Hey guys. I'm sorry I'm posting so late. I've been procrastinating this for a while and I'm sorry. One of my dogs died last week and I've taken it really hard. So I'm sorry if my update schedule gets kind of messed up. On a happier note though, my family is traveling to New York in a week so I may miss a few updates. I'll try not to though. Thanks for all your understanding. I know I'm a pretty lousy author because of how many updates I miss lol. But tell me if you're enjoying the story so far. Also, I think this was the last of the flashback chapters, so I may post a chapter with a recap of the timeline and stuff so that everyone is reminded of what's going on. Thanks guys.