When We Were Beasts

I Need You

Hermione awoke in Malfoy's tent. In chairs surrounding the cot was Pansy, Neville, Zabini, Luna, and Malfoy.

It was all too much for her. The memory of why her body ached so terribly, the sympathy radiating off of all of them...

Hermione closed her eyes again before any of them could see that she was awake.

****

The sun had set when she awoke again, and now there was only Malfoy.

His chair was as close to the bed as it could possibly get, and his hands were just a breath away from her own.

"I didn't want to touch you without asking," Malfoy said, his voice weak and broken. "In case what he did made you...afraid of someone." Afraid of me is what he didn't say.

She stretched her pinky out until it grazed his knuckles. Malfoy wasted no time in wrapping her hand in both of his. He brought it to his lips and kissed her palm once, twice.

Hermione couldn't breathe as he said, "I thought we'd find you dead. That my aunt would've..."

Tears were streaming down her face, but her voice was clear when she spoke. "You saved me, Malfoy. I'm alive because you came for me."

Him and Harry had both come for her when she needed them most.

He looked up at her then, and the emotion in his eyes nearly made her sob. "I will always come to fight for you, Granger. I'm just sorry i didn't make him suffer."

He looked at her chest, where those stains had been. Hermione was in silk pajamas, and her hair was clean and damp, as if it had been washed. She smelled faintly of Malfoy's soap. She hoped he'd burned her old clothes.

"Did he...?" Malfoy swallowed, as if he couldn't even finish the thought. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask-"

Hermione whimpered as the dam inside of her broke.

George was dead, and she had been tortured and sexually abused for days. She had clung onto Harry's ghost as a lifeline, and was forced to say goodbye too soon. All of it threatened to overwhelm her.

Malfoy quickly lifted her into his arms and lowered them onto the bed, her head on his chest as she sobbed. He massaged the tremors from her arms and hands, left over from the torture.

Her friends had come for her. Her friends had saved her. And they had waited by her side while they cast healing charms and gave her potions.

She was grateful to be alive, as much as the trauma hurt. Hermione knew that healing would be hard, but for now she was just glad to breathe in Malfoy's signature scent, and tell him everything that had happened.

****

Hermione had been back for four days, and Luna didn't visit alone like she normally did. She entered the room with Theo in tow.

Hermione tried and failed to keep her surprise from showing.

"I hope it's alright if he takes my place today." Luna said quietly. Pansy always came in the morning, and Luna in the afternoon. Luna stayed by the entrance while Theo sat in the arm chair closest to her. At Hermione's nod of approval, Luna kissed Theo's forehead first, and then Hermione's, before skipping away.

The awkward silence was tangible.

Underneath her lashes, Hermione studied Theo. Some color had returned to his cheeks, and his hair was no longer mangy but combed, his curls framing his ears. He looked healthy.
And when his eyes met hers, she saw that some of the shadows had lightened.

"I uh... I just wanted to come and say thank you." He cleared his throat as he shifted in his seat. "For going out that day to get the ingredients. And I'm sorry you were taken."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Hermione said. She meant it. "It wasn't anyone's fault that they came for us. I would've done it for anyone here."

Theo nodded, and they fell into another uncomfortable silence. Hermoine was about to ask him why he'd visited her when Theo pulled several potion bottles out of his robes.

Hermione knew from the color they were Draught of Peace.

"Theo-"

"They're yours. Draco and Pansy were able to brew enough for a month, and I've gone down to only one every other day." Theo looked at her again. "It was because of you that I found the strength to fight for not only myself but for Luna. I can go outside again without pissing myself, I can look people in the eye. I can laugh again." His soft smile faded as he gently took her hand.

"I'm here for you, Hermione, because I know what it's like for your no to mean nothing to them." Tears pricked at her eyes. Not just for herself, but for whatever had been done to Theo. "I know what's it like to be completely at their mercy, and what it's like to hate yourself for not being able to escape it. If you need an ear, I'm here. Thanks to you I can handle it now."

"Thank you, Theo."

When Hermione finally emerged for the first time from Malfoy's tent, it was on Theo's arm as he walked with her to the river and back, listening and relating with an understanding that cracked her already raw heart.