New Beginnings

DISCLAIMER::: Everything you recognize belongs to JKRowling and Warner Bros. I just love them so much I wanted to play with them a little.

Summary::: While in Hogsmeade, Hermione remembers the night she almost died.

New Beginnings

Chapter Five

For being only the third week in January, the weather was surprisingly warm as Hermione made her way towards Hogsmeade. She was supervising the first trip since the students had returned for the term, and she was faintly aware that she had not even set foot in the town since that horrid day four months ago.

That day, the weather had been unseasonably cold for mid-September. She had just walked in the door of the tiny cottage she lived in, after spending the day shopping for their dinner with Bill that evening, when she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. Dropping her groceries she grabbed her wand out of her back pocket, but her wrist was grabbed in an iron-tight grasp before she could level it on her attacker.

"I have told you countless times to NEVER point that thing at ME," growled the voice that made her cringe. "Now, you will have to be punished for disobeying me."

With that said, Ron backhanded her across the face hard enough to bring her to her knees. She tried to crawl away, but he grabbed her by her long hair, and dragged her across the room. She clutched at his hand and kicked her legs.

"Please, Ron! Don't do this! Not today! I have to cook dinner. Bill will be here tonight for dinner. You know he always comes on Saturdays," Hermione pleaded with her husband.

"Shut up, wench! You know fighting your punishment only makes it worse."

He was dragging her down the hall now. He stopped briefly to open the bedroom door, then pulled her inside. Bending low, he grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her to her feet. Once she was up, he pushed her toward the bed.

"You know what happens when you pull your wand on me."

His eyes held nothing but pure fury.

"Get on the bed."

Hermione paused a little too long, and he slapped her again.

"GET ON THE BED, NOW!"

This time she was quick to respond. She climbed onto the double bed and lay flat on her stomach. Tears started to build in her eyes as she felt him move in behind her. She heard him unfasten his belt, and he lifted her skirt. As he grabbed her hips, she blacked out.

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When she came to it was dark outside. She was lying on the floor, and he was snoring in the bed. Slowly she took inventory of herself, and realized, that considering what he had just done to her, she was relatively unharmed. Kneeling, she quietly straightened her clothing and crawled out off the room. She needed to send Bill an owl, to let him know that dinner was canceled. There was no way she could make it through hours of laughing and joking with her husband's oldest brother tonight. One look at the black eye she knew had formed on her face, and he would know that something wasn't right.

'It's funny really,' she thought, as she crawled out of the room. 'I've only been out of the hospital three days, and already I wish I was back there.' At this, she actually chuckled softly.

Once she was out of the room, she slowly closed the door behind her and stood. Her legs ached from crawling, and she was a little wobbly as she made her way back down the hall and into the kitchen. She quietly opened a drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a quill and piece of parchment, and quickly wrote a brief note to her brother-in-law telling him they had to cancel dinner, making the excuse that something had come up last minute at work. That was the usual excuse, and she knew he would accept it without question. Rolling the parchment, and tying it with a small piece of twine from the drawer, she walked into the front room, where Pigwidgeon's cage was and pulled him out. He hooted softly, and she tied the note to his leg, but when she turned to take him to the window she collided with a hard object. Freezing, she looked up into the once kind eyes of her husband and shrieked. Throwing her arms out, she caused Pigwidgeon to fly into the air. He then came to rest on Ron's shoulder.

"What is this, my dear?" he asked, pulling the note off the tiny owl's leg. He placed the bird back in its cage. "A note to your lover? Or perhaps a note begging that Slytherin sneak to come rescue you. I always knew you would go crawling to him the moment you thought you could leave me!"

Ron's voice was fierce, but his eyes were much worse. He glared at her as if she were nothing to him. It broke her heart to know that she loved him so much when he hated her so. She continued to stare into his eyes as he spoke horrible words to her, things that she had never known could be spoken anywhere but perhaps hell itself. But then again, this house was as close to hell as she had ever been.

"What are you staring at? Do you dare to challenge me?" Ron was screaming at her now. She held her eye contact with him too long. She knew better than that.

'He will be angry now, if he hadn't been before. Damn, what had I been thinking? That's right, I hadn't.' Hermione thought as she watched his hand rise to her again. She tried to turn away from the blow, but he was too fast. His hand made contact, and she dropped to the ground again.

"You thought you could just run off," he growled and hit her again, but with a closed fist this time.

She started to crawl, scrambling with all her might to get away, to get anywhere but here. She felt his booted foot as it came into contact with the back of her right thigh, and she rolled to the side as the leg gave a little. Righting herself quickly she crawled faster. Making it to the kitchen, she tried to escape. He followed her and kicked her again, this time in the ribs of her left side. This time she rolled all the way over on to her back, and he kicked once again at her side. She heard more than felt the sickening crack of the bones breaking. Screaming, she tried to roll away, but he dropped to his knees and grabbed her hair. Pulling her head up toward him, he punched her in the nose. Then again, in the left cheek, shattering the bone there also. Hermione was screaming, and he continued to hit her.

"You will NEVER challenge ME in MY home again. Do you hear me?" he ranted. "NEVER AGAIN!"

All the while, Hermione screamed, as he continued to strike her. When he landed a heavy blow to her jaw, her screaming stopped as she blacked out once more from the pain.

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The next thing she remembered was waking up at St. Mungo's, and being angry that she was still alive. Harry had been at her bedside and explained how Bill had found her and brought her here. He explained that Ron had been captured and banished from the Wizarding World for crimes against society and spousal abuse. He was never allowed to return, and was only allowed to see his family for a few hours once a month in Muggle London. Of course, under heavy guard from Aurors to prevent him getting a hold of a wand and doing something drastic. She had been so grateful that the nightmare of the last ten years was over, that she had cried herself to sleep and slept for nearly three days.

When she finally woke up again, her Healer had explained to her that she would need some time to recover her strength. She would be staying until she could breathe without pain and walk without limping. It seemed that Ron had broken the bone in her right thigh, and her broken ribs had punctured one of her lungs. Both injuries would heal best with time, rather than charms or potions.

It was a full two months before she left St. Mungo's and went to stay, at Harry's insistence, with Harry and Draco. She had been fired from her job, for missing so much time, and had no money to rent a place until she found another. She still had the cottage, whose rent was paid up till the first of the year, but had absolutely no desire to return to the place she had almost died.

Hearing her name being called, Hermione snapped out of her memories. She turned around to she who had spoken her name and found herself staring into the eyes of a man with red hair that reminded her of another. Gasping at the sight, she fainted.

TBC

AN::: As always, I would like to thank my betas Pixie and Allison. Without them this story would be junk. In the next chapter Hermione has an encounter with a Weasley.