Fear
(A/N: This story is rated Mature for a reason. It includes strong domestic violence, and strong language. If you are offended by these, please do not read!)
"Oh, Seamus, keep doing that," Ginny moaned. She had been married to Harry for ten years, and the spark had died in their love life.
She had made a snap decision to allow Seamus to give her the passion she needed, and so far she didn't regret. She rolled over, on top of him, and kissed him. Suddenly, a very familiar voice let out a startled yell, and sent a bolt of paralyzing fear down her spine.
She spun around, and Harry was standing in the doorway, staring in shock and anger at his naked wife and ex-dormmate in bed together. "Ginny! What the bloody hell!"
Ginny rolled up onto her knees, and decided to play dumb. "Harry, its not what it looks like!"
"Oh really! Well it looks like my wife of ten bloody years is cheating on me with a man I used to consider a friend!"
"Harry, please! I don't love Seamus! I love you!"
"So what, you go around shagging any guy you meet? You don't love them so it doesn't matter? Well, it matters to me! Bye, Ginny!"
With that, Harry turned around and stormed out, his black Auror robes rippling in his wake. Ginny wanted to sob. Seamus wrapped an arm around her, and tried to hug her. She shrugged his arm off, and started searching for her pants.
"Don't worry, Ginny. Harry is a pretty even-tempered bloke, he will get over it. And even if he doesn't, I will always take you in."
"We've been married ten years, Seamus. I can't believe I did this to him." She pulled her shirt on and grabbed her purse. "See you around, Seamus."
She quickly finished the shopping she had come to Diagon Alley to do, and Apparated home. She knew Harry would be upset with her when he came home, so she decided to try to butter him up. For the remaining four hours, she cleaned every surface in the house until everything shined, and it smelled like cinnamon buns, which were cooking.
About an hour before he was due home, she went upstairs and showered, then lit the fireplace and set the buns out to cool.
Once she was satisfied with the house, she went upstairs and put on the sexy lingerie Harry had bought her for her birthday, four weeks ago. It was fire red, and made of leather with black fishnet holding the pieces together. It made her look sexy yet formidable, and Harry loved it on her. She posed on the couch, and ten seconds later, right on schedule, she heard a loud crack from outside, signaling Harry's approach.
He walked in and slammed his briefcase down on the table beside the door. He ripped his outer robes off and balled them up angrily, chucking them into the wall so hard that, had they not been made of fabric, they would have left a hole. He stomped into the living room, and saw her perched on the couch in a very intimate position. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"
Ginny's body went limp, knowing her attempt to distract him wasn't going to work. "I live here."
"No, you don't. Not after today, not after you cheated on me with bloody fucking Seamus!"
"I don't know what came over me today, Harry. Our marriage has lost some of its spark, and when he offered, I didn't really even consider the consequences, I just did it."
"How many others, Ginvera? How many blokes have you shagged behind my back?"
"None, Harry! Just Seamus, and I didn't even shag him! I know you won't believe me, but I didn't! All he did was touch me, and when I was about to start shagging you walked in. We didn't do it."
"Don't lie to me! I saw you on top of him with my own eyes!" He advanced on her, towering over her. "And what the hell do you think you're doing, wearing the lingerie I bought you?"
"It's mine! I wanted to wear it!"
Ginny rolled up onto her knees and raised her arms, intending to put them around his neck. "You said you loved how I looked in this," she purred.
To her ultimate shock, he grabbed her wrists and flung her away from him, causing her to hit her head against the wall. She bounced off the wall and fell to the couch, her ears ringing. Her wrists were smarting where he'd grabbed her. "I can't believe you would cheat on me, Ginny! I love you! But now I know I can't trust you or anything you say!"
He backed away from the couch a few steps, and watched with cold eyes as she struggled to get back up. Once she was back upright, the ringing subsided and her mind cleared. She stood up and crossed to where he stood, trying once more to put her arms around his neck. He raised one arm, lightning fast, and backhanded her across her jaw. She cried out and clapped her hand to her face. In ten years of marriage and a year of dating, Harry had never hit her. He had promised never to raise his fist in anger. She glowered at him, and dropped her hand, allowing him to see the red handprint blooming on her cheek.
Instead of falling at her feet and apologizing, Harry just stared at her with a cold, menacing look. Something had broken between them.
"Harry, is there something going on at work you're not telling me about?"
"At work? At work? Ginevra, you cheated on me! With my friend! If it had been just a kiss that would be one thing! But you were both naked, and you were on top of him! I don't know if you shagged him or not, but I know I can't trust you to tell me the truth! Don't touch me!"
She had reached out for his arm, and Harry raised his palm; he slammed it into her chest, pushing her back onto the floor and making her hit her head again. Ginny rolled onto her stomach and lay there, trying not to cry. Harry turned and walked toward the stairs to their master suite. Ginny climbed to her feet and ran after him, catching up on the second stair from the top. She grabbed his arm, and he whipped around, pushing her away from him. She lost her balance and toppled down the stairs, screaming as her ankle twisted and broke. She flopped to the hard wood at the foot of the staircase, and sobbed from the pain in her ankle, and the pain in her heart. Her head was really starting to hurt, and her ankle throbbed. She stood up and hopped up the staircase to their bedroom, where Harry had her duffel bag open, tossing her stuff into it.
"You're going to your mother's to stay until you find your own place. You are not welcome here anymore."
"Come on, Harry, there must be something I can do to make it up to you."
"Nothing you can do will ever erase the picture of you in that bed with him, nor will it erase the feeling of being unable to trust you."
"How did you know where I was?"
"I came home and couldn't find you, so I tracked you. Your wand carries a tracking spell. It led me right to you."
Ginny hopped across the room and shoved the duffel out of his grip, and off the bed. "Im not going anywhere."
"Yes, you are." He grabbed the bag again, and she reached forward. He grabbed her arm and flung her away, her face smashing into the wall behind them. She fell to the ground, sobbing. Her nose was broken, she could feel it bleeding. She pulled her wand from her sleeve and pointed it at her face. "Episkey."
She stood up and used the wall to balance herself. "What happened to your promise never to raise your fist in anger?"
"My fist isn't raised in anger, Gin. Anger was the initial reaction. Now, im not angry anymore. Im hurt, Im disgusted, and most of all, I am sick of looking at you. I cant stand the sight of you right now."
"Harry, cant we please talk about this? Maybe try to put some spark back in our marriage?"
"After you cheated on me? You're a bloody whore!"
She stared at him, the hurt and betrayal plain in her eyes. "Don't look at me like that. You betrayed me, not the other way around."
She limped forward, and sat on the edge of the bed. "Harry, please. It was the only time it will ever happen. We can put this behind us and just work on our marriage. We can go to counseling."
"I don't need counseling. You might."
She took a swig of Skelegro from her nightstand drawer, and shuddered as needles started stinging her ankle. Within a few minutes, the pain had subsided enough for her to stand.
She walked up to Harry and wrapped her arms around him. "Please, Harry. I don't want to lose you."
"You should have thought about that this morning!" He grabbed her wrist and easily pried it off his shirt. He jerked her around to his front, and shoved the full bag at her. "Get out."
"No."
"Get out!"
"NO!"
She sat down on the bed and crossed her arms. Harry threw the bag at the wall, knocking a hole in the drywall, and grabbed her wrist. He jerked her behind him as he left the master suite, and down the stairs. Due to her ankle, she tripped and fell several times, but he just kept coldly dragging her until she got back up. At the foot of the stairs, he threw her from him. She slid across the floor and rammed into the opposite wall. The bookcase on the wall shuddered, and all of the books fell off, raining down on her. The pointed spine of one of them caught her between the shoulderblades, and she screamed. One more hit her in the head, and the world went black.
TWO WEEKS LATER
Ginny opened her eyes, and everything was white. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw that she was in a hospital room. Molly slept in the chair next to her bed, and Hermione stood at the foot of her bed, reading a book. Ginny tried to sit up, but her neck wouldn't move. She tried to move her hands, and she couldn't.
"Hermione? Why cant I move?"
"Ginny! You're awake! You've been out for two weeks."
"Why cant I move?"
"Because you were pretty badly injured and they have paralyzing spells on every part of you except your lungs and your throat so you can breath normal."
"Oh. Am I mostly healed?"
"Mostly, yes. What happened, Ginny?"
"Harry didn't tell you?"
"No."
"I cheated on him. With Seamus Finnegan. I regret it, and I thought we could move past it but we cant. Harry beat me up and threw me into the wall, and all of our textbooks and encyclopedias fell on me, and one hit me in the head."
"What about your ankle? It was broken."
"Harry threw me down the stairs."
"Harry did? That's so unlike him."
"Yeah I guess he'd had enough."
"Did he call you?"
"No. Um, Ginny, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but two weeks ago I went to visit you. I found you buried under a bunch of books, unconscious and barely breathing, and Harry- oh- Harry was dead, Ginny."
"Dead? How?"
"The Killing Curse. Avada Kedavra. Nobody knows who cast it, but they got him. He was laying at the foot of the stairs."
"Oh, my. Harry gone." She felt tears pricking her eyes. "And his funeral?"
"It was a few days ago. We waited as long as we could, but you weren't waking up and he was starting to decay so we had to go ahead and bury him."
"Its okay. Thanks for telling me, Hermione."
"Someone else is here, too."
The door opened, and Seamus came in. "Hey, Ginny. Im sorry you got beaten over this, but if you want to, I would still love to take you out."
"Thank you Seamus, I would love to."
(A/N: Thank you for reading, and I hope you liked the story. Review and let me know what you think. It will only be a one shot and it was done on special request, so please be nice.)