XIII.
Hermione heard Harry's voice outside the door, and felt relief for a moment. He had come! She didn't know how he knew she needed him, but he was there. Oh, Malfoy was going to be sorry now. She felt Malfoy strip her jeans off her, which was easily done since they were split in half, and tried to scream when she felt him fall on top of her half-naked body. But she went utterly still when she heard him laugh again.
"He can't get in, Mudblood," Malfoy sneered quietly. "He's not smart enough to unlock the door unless you tell him the spells, and I don't think that's going to happen. Now that he's had you, he won't bother with you." Malfoy pinned her wrists over her head with one hand and began to tug off her shirt with the other. Hermione went limp, and then laughed as she realized something. Outside the door, Harry was not shouting any more. Malfoy thought it meant he had left. Malfoy was an idiot. Harry wouldn't leave her. Knowing what was coming, she ducked her head, just as she heard Harry's deep voice bellow "REDUCTO!!!" The door to the hospital wing exploded into a thousand pieces.
Malfoy was thrown back over the bed behind him and landed in a heap between the two beds. Like lightning he was on his feet again, wand raised, but Harry's second "Reducto!" threw him backwards again. Malfoy was a bit slower getting up this time, and Harry was across the room in a flash.
XIV.
Harry ran across the room, past Hermione, who was struggling to sit up and cover herself. Cover herself? White fury flashed in his brain, what had Malfoy done to her? Without thinking he switched his wand from his right hand to his left and reached Malfoy just as he was picking himself up from the floor the second time. Forgetting magic, he hurled himself into Malfoy, who crashed into the stone wall behind him, his wand flying out of his hand. Harry took a primitive satisfaction in seeing the panic in Malfoy's eyes when his wand spun across the room. He drew back his fist and hit Malfoy square in the face, pleased to hear a low echoing thud when Malfoy's head snapped back and hit the wall. He sagged for a moment, but then straightened himself up. Harry stepped back, standing facing Malfoy in an aggressively challenging stance, giving Malfoy room to make the next move.
"Matter, Potter?" Malfoy sneered, though he spoke rather thickly due to his rapidly swelling lip and bleeding nose. "Don't like to share? Thought you'd be used to Granger spreading it around…"
Harry launched himself at Malfoy again, but Malfoy got in a solid punch to Harry's gut. Choking, Harry doubled over and stepped back into the aisle. As he caught his breath he noticed two things in the space of a split second. Hermione was wrapped in a sheet, surrounded by her torn clothes and crying. And Ron was still asleep. Malfoy followed him into the aisle and prepared for another assault, but Harry bellowed like a wounded lion and jumped onto Malfoy, knocking him down to the floor and falling on top of him. He landed punch after punch on Malfoy's face, not thinking of what he was doing, not thinking of the damage he was inflicting, not really even hearing Hermione's screams. All he knew was that Malfoy had a lot to pay for, and he hadn't even started paying for it.
XV.
She was so relieved to see Harry come exploding into the room, so relieved to feel Malfoy's body thrown back off hers, that she burst into the tears that had been threatening for the past several minutes. While the attention of both boys was away from her, she sat up and pulled a sheet around herself. Her clothes were ruined, so she was naked under the sheet, and she curled up into a ball, felling terribly dirty and vulnerable. She was shaking, and it took a few minutes to calm herself, and when she did she realized that the reason she had been left alone during those minutes was because Harry was beating the living daylights out of Malfoy. She watched with a fierce satisfaction for a few minutes-she could have told Malfoy he would regret messing with Harry's friends-but after a bit she started to get concerned. Malfoy landed a hard punch to Harry's gut, and Harry staggered out into the aisle. In that split second he met her eyes and she knew he saw her crying. The roar of fury he gave at that moment scared her, and she shrieked as he flew at Malfoy again.
A few minutes later she knew she had to stop him, or he'd be lucky if he didn't kill Malfoy. He was beating him around the face, and while Malfoy was struggling, he didn't have the rage powering him that Harry had, and he was losing badly.
"Harry!" she shouted. "Harry! Harry! Stop! Stop! It's enough! Stop!" Soon her shouts were screams, but the two boys kept fighting. She could see that Harry had some cuts and bruises, but Malfoy was seriously hurt and bleeding profusely. She climbed off the bed, hoping to find her wand, but couldn't see it in the dark. Giving up she ran over to the boys and tried to pull Harry off Malfoy, but he resisted her, and since her interference only allowed Malfoy to get in a punch to Harry's eye, she stopped. Running in the opposite direction she screamed, "Madam Pomfrey! Madam Pomfrey! Help me! Help!"
She didn't wait to see if anyone had come, because just then her foot kicked a wand. Snatching it up she ran over to where Harry and Malfoy were wrestling in the aisle, Malfoy now on top, but Harry still getting in solid punches to his face and stomach. Harry flipped Malfoy over and drew back for another punch when Hermione shouted, "Stupefy!" at Malfoy, causing him to go limp. Harry glared up at her, where she stood over them with her wand out.
"Stop, Harry, please," she pleaded. "It's enough." Breathing heavily, Harry dropped his arm and climbed off Malfoy. He moved carefully, aware of bruises he hadn't noticed a moment ago. He stood by Hermione and looked down at Malfoy, whose face was so bruised and bloody it was hard to recognize. Hermione was watching his face and saw the slightly sick look pass across it. She hitched up her sheet and laid a hand on his arm.
"Harry?" she said, a quiet sob making her voice catch.
Harry turned his gaze to her, took in her fearful face and that sheet. She was wrapped in a sheet, for Merlin's sake, and her face was every bit as white as the sheet was. "Oh, God, Hermione," he choked. He turned to her and fell to his knees, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "He-he scared me," she said shakily. "And he would have hurt me, if you hadn't come. But he didn't." She held him as she felt his shoulders shake, felt him bury his face in the sheet covering her chest. He didn't make a sound, but she could feel him crying, too, for what could have happened to her.
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