Curious and Curiouser

10: Summoning Courage

It was two days later and he could still see her blood splashed across the white pages of paper when he closed his eyes, and he had no idea why. Why had this of all things stuck with him? He had seen blood before, he was no stranger to it. Hell, he had seen her blood before.

He remembered her writhing on the floor of the drawing room. He froze, he was in that very same room now. He drew in a shaky breath. That must've been what set her off, him talking about the cruciatus curse. He remembered the fear in her eyes. He had been trying to push her, he had continued when she had asked him to stop, he had been trying to break her, and he had succeeded.

Immediately after that tense moment in the library Granger had pulled her wand out, wordlessly repaired the quill, and then mended her hand. She threw all of her belongings into her bag and left without saying anything.

He was quite sure she would have told Potter and Weasley but since no one had attempted to kill him yet he assumed she hadn't. He wondered why for a moment before remembering that this was Hermione Granger. He doubted she'd ask for help even if she was dying, she was too proud for that. He snorted. She wouldn't tell them anything, she'd try to handle him on her own.

****

Ginny watched her friend as she paced back and forth in front of her. She had been at practice and Hermione had shown up, her face had been ashen and there were bloodstains on her sleeve. Ginny had immediately called a timeout and told the team to stay out of the locker room. That's where they were now, Ginny sat in the middle of one of the long benches, and Hermione was pacing the length of it. Ginny took the time to really take in Hermione's appearance, her face was pale but her eyes were red and wide.

Twice Hermione had opened her mouth to speak and twice she had decided against it. Ginny finally prompted her, "Hermione..."

Hermione looked momentarily surprised when Ginny said her name but then looked at her friend, her gaze filled with something Ginny couldn't quite place. "I was scared, Gin. Really scared."

"Scared of what?" Ginny asked sharply, sitting up straighter.

"When Harry and Ron suggested working with Malfoy, I was scared, I was scared of him."

Ginny relaxed a little, there didn't seem to be an urgent threat, "And?" Ginny prompted again.

"And I thought that I was doing the right thing, facing my fears and all that but I don't think I can anymore Ginny. I don't think I can." Hermione said weakly, her voice breaking.

"What do you mean? What happened? Did something happen?" Ginny asked the three questions sharply. She had been about to comment on the blood on Hermione's sleeve but it was very little and probably nothing of consequence.

"I asked him to stop. I asked him to stop, Ginny," She took a slow shuddering breath, Ginny's eyes were wide. "And he didn't."

Ginny stood up immediately, she was just a few inches shorter than Hermione but the brunette witch was hunched over making Ginny significantly taller than her, "What did he do?" Ginny asked her voice hard, her words biting.

"I-," Hermione paused, her voice shaking again, "He could see what it was doing to me, and I asked him to stop," She said almost pleadingly this time.

"Hermione," Ginny said softly.

"It was an older case," Hermione said, "a teenaged child torturing and murdering his parents. The report described the wounds and torture in gruesome detail. It was similar-similar to, well, you know," Hermione offered as an explanation. "I asked him to stop and he didn't."