A/N: Hello once again! Sorry I'm taking so long to update but I'm writing two stories at a time and I'm new at writing anything more than I have to, so give me a break…please? It's been very stressful at my house, but I have a vacation coming up. I'll try to be quicker.

To All my reviewers: Thank You soo much. I don't know where I would be without you:) Thanks again you inspire me greatly so keep them coming!

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

Chapter 4

The Break Up

Hermione awoke more refreshed than she had all week. She was still heart broken and her chest still felt constricted, but she didn't feel helpless anymore. 'Dobby was right. How could I not have noticed it before? Kissing Ron is like kissing a brother. Ew!' She then realized what she was going to have to do. 'I'm going to have to tell him we can't go out anymore. I don't know if I'll be able to do it.'

'But you're supposed to be mad at him. He went behind your back and slept Hermione, slept with one of your best girl friends. Just concentrate on you anger; not to fight with him, but to give you help and reason.' Her conscience cut in.

'I still don't think I can do it. I don't want to lose y friendship with him.' She thought biting her lip.

'Don't worry; he's bound to know that what he did was wrong. Besides, you'll have Harry right by your side to help you.' Her conscience said thoughtfully.

'Yeah, that's right.' She thought almost doubtfully. 'Harry will be there for me.'

'Good, now get up and get dressed. The soon you talk to him the easier and less awkward it will be.' Her conscience said concluding Hermione's inner battle. Hermione threw her covers back and proceeded to get ready for the trying day ahead. After a quick shower she felt even better. She almost thought she could have smiled if she wanted to. Deciding to do something a little different she applied very light makeup. She used a brown eyeliner to go with her dark chocolate eyes, with a coppery pink eye shadow for a natural look. The result was just what she needed when she met Parvati on the stairs.

"Hermione you look wonderful this morning," she said with a touch of sadness in her voice. Obviously Parvati knew. She looked as if she wanted to tell Hermione something serious. To ease Parvati's conscience a little Hermione said,

"Don't worry Parvati, you don't have to tell me anything, I saw everything for myself."

"Oh I'm so sorry Mione. Lavender told me only this morning. If you want to talk at all I'll be here." She drew Hermione into a very comforting hug. Tears started leaking from her eyes and her petite form shook from her sobs.

Parvati was like the very understanding mother. She hugged Hermione the whole time she cried, rubbing her back, cooing soothing reassurances in her ear. Finally Hermione pulled back wiping the last of her tears away, careful not to smudge her makeup.

"Thank you so much Parvati. You're such a great friend. You and Harry both; I don't deserve any of you."

"Nonsense, you deserve better. Ron and Lavender should have known better. You have every right to be mad and hurt with them. You must be in so much pain Hermione."

Tears started forming again but she blinked them away. "Yes, I am, but I'll get over it with friends like you and Harry. I can't continue to cry about him if I'm, to survive. I don't know if I can forgive Lavender or Ron very easily. I love sharing my dorm with you, but I don't think I can be around Lavender right now. Every time I see one of them, all I can see is the horrid things I saw them do. I think I'm going to move to the prefects' dorm for awhile."

"Oh. Well, you be sure to come visit me, or I'll hunt you down," she sadly.

"I will; don't worry, but I guess I've got to speak with Ron." Parvati detected the nervousness in her voice and gave her another hug.

"Don't worry. It'll go smoothly," she said with a smile and continued up the stairs.

After taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she went down stairs. There sitting on the couch were Harry and Ron. Harry was sitting stiff back and one hand was clenched into a fist. Ron meanwhile was sitting opposite of him, talking away-probably about quidditch-not noticing that Harry wasn't particularly participating in the conversation. From the bottom of the stairs where Hermione was standing, she could see Ron. 'He doesn't even look guilty. Then this can't be the first time.' She thought as tears sprang to her eyes. She wiped them away hastily.

The movement brought Ron's attention to Hermione. A smile lit up his face as he looked at her. 'Not one trace of guilt on his face. Unbelievable!' Hermione thought has she made her way to the couch, standing next to Harry.

"Good morning Mione!" he gushed as he stood up to give Hermione a kiss. She dodged him though, sitting next to Harry.

"Morning Ron," she said as stiffly as Harry was sitting. 'He sure seems to be happy this morning; couldn't possibly guess why.' She reflected sarcastically. His smile faltered only a little as he brushed off her stiffness as a woman problem.

Hermione decided to hurry this whole ordeal so she quickly, icily spoke, "I need to talk with you Ron."

His smile slid off his face and he started becoming nervous. "O…okay. D…do you want to go for a walk or something?"

Hermione almost lost her composure. She really wanted Harry with her. 'Be strong. You can do this. I should do this on my own anyway.' She just nodded and briskly walked out through the portrait. Ron gulped and followed after her more slowly.

Together Hermione and Ron made their way down to the lake. Ron kept trying to talk to her asking if there was a problem, but she kept silent refusing to say anything. 'Don't worry Mione; you can do this. You have to do it. Just stay calm."

When they got to the lake Hermione sat down on a rock that over-looked the lake; her favorite place to think. Taking a deep breath and gathering her courage she spoke the words that would be very influential in her life.

"Ron I don't want to go out with you anymore."

Ron's eyes widened and his mouth went slack. "Wha…What? What do you mean?" He tried reaching for her hand, but she snatched her hand away.

"I didn't stutter Ron. I won't go out with you anymore." Tears burned in the corners of her eyes which she rapidly blinked away.

"Why?" he asked sounding hurt.

She scoffed at his hurt demeanor. 'How can he even act hurt after what I know he did to me?'

"Why? You're asking me why? I should be asking that to you. So why Ron, why did you cheat on me? Don't you dare deny it. I saw you and Lavender a couple of days ago when I went to get Harry's invisibility cloak," she spat getting angrier and angrier. "Why?" She spat again, standing up and rounding on him.

Ron was speechless. They had always been so secretive. Why didn't they take caution this one time? He opened his mouth to explain, but no words came out. He tired a second time and still no words. Finally on the third try something came out. At first is sounded like a strangled squeak.

"You want to know why I did it," he asked his voice gaining confidence. "Fine. I did it because she gives me something you wouldn't. Yeah, you're sometimes great to talk to and you're pretty, but that's not all I wanted. When we first went out I really like you Hermione; I thought I might have been in love with you," he paused. She took the opportunity to speak her mind.

"So just because I have my own values and won't sleep with you, you find someone like Lavender to do it for you?" He just nodded and she continued. "That wasn't the first time you've cheated on me is it?" She stated more that asked. He shook his head. As if the damn broke, silent tears tumbled sorrowfully down her rosy cheeks. She knew it was the hapless truth, but seeing him confirm her tortured thoughts just shattered her broken heart into tinier pieces. It wasn't because she was in love with him; after talking to Dobby she knew she probably wasn't, it was because she couldn't believe he would do this to her. And what's more she felt humiliated. He had strung her along without a care and cheated on her. "How long had this been going on?" She calmly asked despite her inner turmoil and humiliation.

"Three weeks after we started going out. I'm sorry Mione." Hermione scowled at his once affectionate nickname.

"Don't call me that," she snapped.

He visibly swallowed, but went on where he left off. "I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you right when if first happened, but you were so happy, I didn't want to burst your bubble."

"So instead of saving me from a hell of a lot of pain in the future, you decided to string me along just because I was happy at that moment?" Again he nodded. Hermione's knees buckled and she fell gracefully to the ground, staring at the lake with a blank expression.

"I'm so sorry Hermione, I really am, but I think I'm in love with Lavender instead of you," he said softly. He reached out to squeeze her shoulder to comfort her, but she slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me," she said still staring at the lake. "And who said I was in love with you. That's the other reason I won't go out with you. I see you as a brother. It took me a while to realize that, but I only love you like a brother," she paused contemplating. She sighted, "Ron, I still want to be friends with you, but it will take a while for me to get past this. The only thing I don't understand is how you could be as heartless as Malfoy used to be."

He didn't know what to say. He started stuttering incoherently again. Hermione cut in making it easy for him. "Like I said before Ron, it will take awhile to mend our friendship. I am terribly hurt and very angry. Please just go away. I want to be alone right now." Ron ran a hand through his carrot colored hair and without another word, headed up to the castle.

Hermione let out a sigh and lay on her back. She looked blankly at the sky wondering what in Merlin's name she did to deserve this pain. A warm, dry breeze swept over her, caressing her face in an almost caring or sympathetic touch. 'It feels like it's going to rain,' she thought, void of all emotion. She thought she might have heard footsteps rushing toward her but she just lay there, a vacant expression on her face.

---

Draco sat; stunned that Weasley would actually do something so inconsiderate on purpose. Sometimes Weasley was thoughtless, but that's because he is totally oblivious of everything but himself. Draco shrugged; he couldn't careless how Weasel acted. What bothered him though what Granger had said, 'the only thing I don't understand in how you could be as heartless as Malfoy used to be.' 'I haven't changed that much, have I?'

His conscience differently. 'Yes you have; you remember the night when you saw the night you saw the death eaters' true colors, and what you would have to do if you wished to be one."

Draco shuddered. Of course he remembered; how could he forget? The scene was burned into his memory, haunting his dreams on more than one occasion.

Flashback

Draco lay in his bed, eyes drifting shut as sleep was over taking his body. Just as he entered the land of dreams, he was startled back to consciousness by a scream. He sat bolt upright alarmed.

'Maybe mother is having nightmares again.' Draco thought as he got up to go check on her. He dressed quickly and hurried down the hall. As he walked to his mother's room he passed the study. He could hear muffled sobs. He stopped suddenly. 'Something's not right. If mother was having a nightmare, she would be in her room.' The door was slightly ajar; Draco steeped closer and peered in. His mother was nowhere in sight. In her stead were twelve or thirteen black cloaked figures standing in a circle around something. Draco couldn't make it out until a death eater shifted. He gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth. It looked vaguely like the form of a human body. The death eater moved again and Draco nearly cried out from shock. It was the form of a woman. She had a ragged sheet draped hap hazardously around her slender frame. Her short, light brown hair was knotted and matted to her head with blood. Three feet away from her body was a big clump that looked like the same colored curly brown hair. Cuts and gashes marred her porcelain skin, and through a hole in the sheet, Draco could see huge welts and purple bruises near her ribs. Draco swallowed the bile rising in his throat. 'She's on the verge of dying! That is appalling. And they find this entertaining?' Indeed they did. They were all smirking or laughing; with the exception of the cloaked figure standing next to the woman. His face looked impassive, but his mercury eyes shone with pure delight. Looking into those eyes Draco knew, instantly that the man was Lucius. It was nauseating and Draco had to swallow another lump. Draco had never thought of himself as having a weak stomach; he had seen more than enough during his fifteen yeas, but he was starting to feel faint. Blood was pooling on the floor around her. 'She's going to die! I need to do something! But what?' He silently contemplated what he could do. He could alert the ministry and they could take care of it, but he would risk his mother and him facing Lucius's wrath. He beat his head trying to thing of a way to help the woman out. No one, not even a mudblood or muggle should have such a fate. He couldn't very well barge in and demand they top torturing her; he would surely die. He was about to step into action when his father's voice me him look once again into the study.

"You would save yourself much pain if you would just answer the questions," he said quietly but as cold as ice.

The woman didn't give an answer or any indication that she even heard him. Getting angry, Lucius grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head skyward. She cried out in pain and closed her eyes.

"Now where is the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix?" He growled pulling her hair a little more.

"I don't know," she moaned. A figure to her immediate left too a step forward and kick her side. The man gave a satisfied smirk as the sickening crunch of bones rang though out the room. She was pitched forward, but was brought to an abrupt halt by the hand in her hair. Her body shook harder; she started coughing and sputtering blood. After her fit subsided she lifter her hear; he saw her eyes for the first time. Her eyes, a dark, chocolate brown, locked onto his crystal cobalt ones. His widened, her pleaded tears leaking out. Looking into her eyes, realization dawned on him. This is what he wanted to become. A loyal servant to the Dark Lord. Torturing people is what he would have to do if he wanted to be apart of that society. He was still searching the woman's eyes when she broke contact and started coughing again.

Seeing blood spurting out of her mouth kicked Draco into action. He sprinted away from the study to the nearest fire place. Throwing floo powder in the fire place, he shouted, "Aurors' office, Ministry of Magic!" His heart pounded in his chest as he started spinning. He closed his eyes to keep from heaving. Just as suddenly as the spinning began it halted. Opening his eyes he found he was in a tiny little cubicle. Two small desks were crammed in the little space, along with three filing cabinets. The fire place took up most of the space.

Remembering his mission, he spotted two people standing in the doorway, looking at him strangely. The woman with shockingly pink hair shook her head,

"Is something the matter? You look distressed about something," She was talking as if people appeared out the fire place everyday. Forgetting manners,

"Yes! I need your help. Death eaters are congregated at our house and father is torturing a woman for information about some Order of the Phoenix thingy. You have to help; quick! She's dying! Please!"

The bald man standing next to the woman walked over to Draco. In a deep, rumbling voice he asked,

"Are you sure boy?" At a quick nod from Draco he continued, "Ok. Tonks, go get some more aurors. I'll take the back to his house," he finished setting a hand on Draco's shoulder. Tonks dashed out saying, "Right-o, Kinsley."

Kinsley hurried over to the fire place, grabbed a handful of powder, jumped into the burning green flame, and shouted "Draco Malfoy's bedroom!" all with Draco in tow. Once in Draco's room, Draco led Kinsley to the study. They stood outside the study door listening to what was being said, waiting for Tonks and the reinforcements. Not two minutes later a hand was laid on Kinsley's shoulder. He and Draco spun around wands raised. Tonks put a finger to her lips quieting them.

The rest was a blur to Draco. All he remembered was being told by Kinsley to go back to his room and staying put. Walking go back to his room, Draco glanced one last time into the study. His eyes widened when he was suddenly met with those of the poor woman. Instead of the pleading he saw before, gratitude and hope glimmered in her eyes. She mouthed two words which he took to heart and finally began to appreciate.

End Flashback

Draco woke with a start. He had dozed off after Weasley, the inconsiderate bastard, left Granger crying pathetically on the ground. Rubbing the crick that formed in his neck from sleeping against a tree, he looked around the tree and found that Granger was still crying pathetically on the ground. The only difference is that Scar-head decided to comfort her.

Draco silently left the couple and headed back to the castle. He glanced back once and saw Granger wiping her tears away. A sudden cold chill ran up his spine even though it wasn't cold out. Every time he saw Granger it reminded him of Caitlyn. They looked so much a like. Draco felt a twinge of sympathy and guilt in his stomach but dismissed it quickly. Draco sighed and sulked back to his common room. He fell back onto the couch with a tired grunt. With his dream still fresh in his mind and Granger reminding him so much of Caitlyn, he just couldn't forget that night.

After the aurors had invaded the study and captured most of the death eaters, Kinsley had returned to Draco's room. Kinsley had told him that his father was killed in the fray. Draco was hardly saddened by his father's demise; shocked was more like the correct term. After all the years the order had been after him, a stupid impromptu death eater meeting was his downfall. Kinsley had asked him if he wanted to join the fight against Voldemort, but Draco had politely declined saying he'd rather stay out of it for now.

Flashback

Kinsley shrugged, "That's fine. You're too young to be in a war anyway." He turned to leave.

"Wait!" He turned back around, "who was the woman being tortured?"

Kinsley sighed and rubbed his bald head. He knew it was coming. "Her name is Caitlyn Rossetti. She is a longstanding and outstanding member of the order."

Draco nodded. "Is…is she still alive," he tentatively asked.

"Surprisingly yes, she is. She's at St. Mungo's now. If you had waited any longer she wouldn't have made it. Most of her ribs are broken, one of them punctured a lung, one of her Kidney's isn't doing too well, and she's lost a tremendous amount of blood. There are quite a few cuts and bruises all over her body. I think one of them might have used a muggle knife on her. She should be dead, but she's a very strong woman, she is. Thank you for contacting the Ministry, and I'm sorry about you're father, but I must be going." He shook Draco's hand and swept out of the room.

End Flashback

Sighing Draco looked at the clock; it was lunch time. Hoping to get his mind off his pat memories he went off to the Great Hall.

A/N: Tell me what you think. It's a little darker than I would normally write but oh well; I was kinda depressed for a little while. I'm all happy now so please please tell me if you like or don't like. I'm always looking for constructive criticism!

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Princess Squishy