Abused

Gone

Pansy and Draco stood outside of the hospital wing's doors in silence, their thoughts locked on Hermione. Eventually, Pansy spoke. 

"Will Hermione be okay?" she asked quietly. It was clear she was immeasurably worried about Hermione. Draco was too, but he knew he had to take the time to try and comfort Pansy right now. 

"She will be fine, Pansy. Madam Pomfrey is great. She'll know exactly what to do with her." The two stood silent once again. 

"I guess we'd better get going, huh?" Draco eventually said. Pansy stood still for a moment, making no signal that she had even heard him. But she finally nodded. 

"You're right. There's no reason to be worried. Madam Pomfrey really is great, and 'Mione is one of the strongest people I know." She paused. "I can't believe she struggled through this for so long. All on her own." Draco nodded in agreement. He had absolutely no idea what she was going through. He hated Ron with nearly everything in him, and he knew that he never treated Hermione the way he should, but he wouldn't ever guess how bad it really was. And he almost hated himself for letting it go on for so long. 

Draco was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts as he heard a shaky breath come from Pansy. He turned towards her. It looked as if she was crying, but no tears were coming out. 

"Are you okay, Pansy?" Draco asked, feeling awkward. He didn't know what he would do if she really was crying. She took another deep breath. 

"I'm fine. I'm just..." Her voice drifted off. Then she looked up at Draco. "I'm glad she'll be able to start healing now. Hopefully." Draco smiled slightly. 

"Me too." The two both sighed and then turned to leave. 

"I always hated that weasel. He's cocky and a smart ass. A downright git," Pansy muttered. 

"And fucking abusive too," Draco added. Pansy scoffed. 

"Oh, how I would love to break his nose with my fist." She cracked her knuckles. "I take that back. I would love to break all of his bones." 

"I definitely second that. I know I shouldn't say this out loud, but I wouldn't hesitate to kill that bastard with my own hands. I want him to know how much I hate him. For anything and everything he's ever done." Pansy nodded in agreement. But then she sighed loudly. 

"But I bet Hermione wouldn't want us to do anything to him. She probably wouldn't even want us to confront him about it," Pansy said. Draco scoffed. 

"I usually trust Hermione's judgement, but if she ever tells us to just let this whole thing go, I won't even consider listening to her." Pansy laughed softly. 

"Me neither, Malfoy." The two fell back into silence once again. They had not run into many students, and the hallways were nearly silent. Suddenly, however, the two heard footsteps coming down the hall. Neither of the two thought much of it. It was likely a student or a teacher. They both looked up from their feet as the footsteps got closer. Both of them stopped in their tracks when they saw the person in front of them.

"Oh, it's you two. Is Hermione alone? I'm assuming you left her to rest." Pansy and Draco stood speechless before Madam Pomfrey. "Excuse me? Are you two listening?" The pair barely heard the words coming from her. Who did they just leave Hermione with? 

Draco suddenly snapped back to reality and theories flooded his head. 

"We thought we just left her with you?" Pansy stuttered. It was clear she was freaking out. 

"What? I left her with you to talk, Pansy," Madam Pomfrey stated, confused. 

"We need to get back," Draco muttered. 

"Pardon me?" Madam Pomfrey asked. "I'm not sure what you two are talking about, but I need you to tell me what's going on!" 

"We need to get back!" Draco suddenly exclaimed. Pansy seemed to understand what Draco was thinking now. She turned to explain the situation to the nurse, but Draco didn't want to wait. He turned on his heel and sprinted towards the hospital wing. He had to get there before anything happened. He had to. 

He didn't hear any voices call after him, so he assumed Pansy was still explaining the situation to Madam Pomfrey while she allowed him to get a head start. After a short minute he reached the closed doors of the wing. He reached to open them but found that they were locked shut. In a panic, he reached for his wand, only to find that he didn't have it. 

"Fuck," he muttered. "Where did I leave it?" Draco patted himself down in a desperate attempt to find his wand. 

"Malfoy, what the hell are you doing here?" Draco whipped around to find Theodore standing behind him. 

"Theodore, thank god. Open these doors." Theodore stood still, obviously confused. 

"What-" 

"Goddammit, Theodore! Open the damn doors!" Theodore was startled by Draco's sudden outburst, so he pulled out his wand and muttered a spell. Without bothering to thank him, Draco forcefully pulled open the doors and ran inside. He hoped he was wrong. 

"What is going on, Malfoy?" Theodore walked into the room after him. 

Draco clenched his fists, breathing hard. "Fuck. She's fucking gone."