Valete, Amor

It's happening. Again. He went out with his friends and now he's trashed. God, I hate it when he does this. Goes out, gets drunk, and collapses on the couch, expecting me to wait on him hand and foot. Well not this time. I have work to do. The baby needs feeding. I have to take the dog out. He can get his own food. I won't be his slave anymore.

"Hey, bitch!" he cries at me. "Bitch, get in here! Bring me some food. I'm starving!"

Even in the kitchen, I can smell the alcohol on his breath. A smell I'm used to. Unfortunately. "Get it yourself!" I yell back at him, taking the bottle into the baby's room.

"What did you say?" he screams. I can hear his heavy footsteps and I know he's coming after me. I brace myself.

"I said get it yourself. You always expect me to wait on you," I say, picking up the baby and giving her the bottle. "Not anymore. I have things to do. Incase you haven't noticed, we have a baby who can't feed herself. We have a dog who, may I remind you, is yours, and can't take himself outside. I have a three inch high stack of bills to pay so unless you want to be evicted, have your dog piss on the carpet, and have our baby die, I suggest you get your own damn food!"

He looks at me like I had smacked him. I wish I had. His face goes red, and I know he's about to explode. "DON'T YOU EVER TALK TO ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, BITCH!" he bellows, making the baby cry. "NOW, YOU WILL SHUT THAT BABY UP AND YOU WILL GET ME SOME FOOD. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

I turn my choices over in my head: saying yes would make him happy, but it would take some precious time out of my life and I would have broken the promise to myself; saying no would send him into a rage and all hell would break loose, but I would have kept my promise. A promise not to cave in to his every whim. "No," I say. That one word is enough to turn him into a tyrant.

"YOU WILL OBEY ME!" he screams. I put the baby down, bracing myself for what was coming next. "I AM THE MALE AND YOU WILL OBEY ME! NOW GET ME SOME FOOD!"

"You're not my master," I say, calmly. I know he hates it when I'm calm and cool in situations like this, but I don't care. "I don't have to wait on you. I think you're perfectly capable of getting your own food."

The first blow comes unexpectedly, and I cry out. His palm had connected with my cheek. I can feel my neck pop as my head whips around; I taste the blood in my mouth.

The next impact knocks me into the wall as I feel his heavy boot connect with my shin. But I don't cry out. I won't cry out. He won't get a rise out of me. I'm not going to let him. Not this time.

Twelve blows later, not a sound had come from my mouth since the first slap. This drives him insane. He starts to rain blows on me, and I fall to the floor. I cover my head with my hands, praying for it to stop. And, soon enough, it does. But what comes next is worse than all the blows together. He grabs Raine, who had been screaming bloody murder the whole time, and starts to shake her. "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" I scream, lunging at him like a mother protecting her young, and snatching my baby away. I run out of the room and up the stairs. He chases after me. Like a lion after its prey, he pounces at me I stand in the corner, praying for it to end.

"SHE'S MY DAUGHTER TOO!" he cries. "I'M JUST TEACHING HER SOME DISCIPLINE! DISCIPLINE IS THE BASIS OF A GOOD LIFE!!"

He drags me out of the corner, and I stand there, to scared to speak. His fists connect with every part of my body. I have never seen him this angry before. Never in three years has he been this horrible. Never in three years had he dared to. And he's NEVER attacked Raine. I hold on to her, trying to protect her from his fists. Finally, it stops. I look up, wondering why he stopped so abruptly, and then I see something that makes my heart stop dead. There he is, standing in front of me, holding a chair. I back up slowly, but find myself at the top of the stairs with nowhere to go. "CLEARLY, YOU HAD NO DISCIPLINE IN YOUR LIFE!! YOU JUST DON'T KNOW WHEN TO STOP, WHEN TO SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, DO YOU?!? WELL NOW YOUR GOING TO FIND OUT WHAT DISCIPLINE REALLY IS!!"

It all seems to be in slow motion. I see the chair start to come down, from up high, feel it connect with my head, and feel Raine slip out of my grip and fall to the floor. I bend down to pick her up, but this time the blow comes head on, straight in front of me. It smacks my head and I hear a crack. I don't know if it was my head or the chair, all I know is that Raine and I are falling down the stairs. She slips out of my grip and I see her fly through the air. Then everything's gone.

**********

"Harry!!" I hear Ron yelling. "Harry come here, quick!!" I dash out of my room at the Leakey Cauldron.

"What is it, Ron?! What's up?!"

One look at him and I know he's been crying. "It's Hermione..."

*********

I kneel down at their graves and set two-dozen daisies on the tombstones.

Hermione Raine Granger

1981-2000

Loved by many,

Missed by many.

"Buh-bye, Mione," I manage to whisper as silent tears fall from my eyes onto her grave. "You'll be missed."

I turn my attention to the smaller grave to the right.

Raine Gail Malfoy

1999-2000

So young, yet

So loved.

"Oh, Raine," I say, tears streaming down my face. "You would have been just like your mother." I can say no more. My throat tightens up and it's becoming hard to breathe.

"Come on, Ginny," I hear Harry's quavering voice saying from behind me. I look up to see tears streaming down his face. "It'll be alright," he says embracing me. "It'll all be alright," he repeats, and I can hear in his voice that he's trying to convince himself that of that, too.