A shooting pain that cascaded over her body like a waterfall woke Hermione up from her deep sleep.

It had happened before, so Hermione knew what was happening. Even all these years after she had been tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, she still felt the pain inflicted by the 32 (at Hermione's count, before she lost consciousness) Cruciatus curses that had been inflicted upon her.

Trying not to wake up Ron, Hermione slowly sat up, wincing and holding in groans of pain as she did it. She began to make her way up to the kitchen of the flat she and Ron lived in.

When she reached it, she knew she had two options to ease her pain. She could do it the wizarding way, and, with a flick of her wand, make the pain cease. Her other option was the muggle way, which required swallowing two pills and the patience to wait for them to kick in. Even though she would have enjoyed instantaneous relief, the pain that extended to her hands told her it would be safer to just take the pills.

She had barely swallowed the pills when her knee gave way. As she fell, she hit her head on the counter and crumpled to the ground.

"How'd you get it, filthy Mudblood?" the insane woman shrieked as she carelessly flicked her wand and caused Hermione more pain than she had ever felt before.

"We found it!" Hermione screamed as the pain shot through her again.

"Liar!" Bellatrix yelled as she flicked her wand three more times with just as much carelessness as before. Hermione knew she couldn't stand the pain much longer.

"It's just a copy! A copy!"

"Crucio!"

Hermione's world mercifully went black.

Hermione awoke with a start. She was at first startled to find herself, not on the cold floor at Malfoy Manor, but on a comfortable couch in a cheery room, but, as she noticed a pair of blue eyes scanning her face frantically, she knew she was safe at home with her loving husband at her side.

"'Mione, why the bloody hell didn't you wake me up?" Ron asked as his still worried blue eyes made contact with her chocolate-brown ones.

"I didn't want to bother you. I didn't know it would be that-that-oh, Ron! I was there! I could hear you screaming and Bellatrix cursing me and me lying! I was there, again!" she said as she burst into sobs.

Ron held her and stroked her hair until she had finally cried enough. When she was done, she spoke again in a trembly voice.

"The worst part was that, even though I knew you were trying, you couldn't save me or yourself! You couldn't help."

Ron held Hermione at arm's length and began to speak.

"Here's the thing, 'Mione. I couldn't help then. But I'll be damned if I ever let anything like that happen again. You're screams: they tore me up. I still have nightmares about them sometimes. I don't think I could survive hearing them again in real life. I love you. How about we head back to bed?"

Hermione began to sit up, but the pain was still tremendous. Without missing a beat, Ron scooped her up bridal-style, carefully carried her to their room, gently set her down on their bed, and pulled the blankets onto her. He then laid down beside her.

"Good night, 'Mione."

"Good night, Ron."

From then on, Hermione could never remember ever having the pain or memory again.