Blown Away

Note: Highly OOC/AU

It was a known fact that when Hermione died all those years ago, so did Ron. On the inside at least.

Hermione was pioneering wizarding law, but even a war hero and the brightest witch of her age is susceptible to common human afflictions. The cancer had spread rapidly, and not even magic could heal it. When she left, Rose was in her first year of Hogwarts, and Hugo was still a few years off that.

Everyone who knew that family close, saw the way that Ron shut himself and his family out.

Rose was forced home from Hogwarts, and Hugo never had the chance to go. Not even Harry could change his mind.

It wasn't long before Ron turned to firewhisky and he lost his mind to it.

He turned violent.

Rose knew that she had to protect Hugo, who was still so little, so she regularly got the beatings – the slaps to the face, the punches to the stomach, the missiles and threats of broken glass. And all the while, the Wizarding world slowly moved on, oblivious to it. Ron had been complete with shutting out the world – not even the Weasley's could help, because they didn't know.

This went on for a long time, but Rose never let Hugo suffer at the hand of their father. She often bore bruises and broken bones, as she tried to heal them, but not even her mother could heal broken bones at 14. Rose tried to teach Hugo all that she could about magic – when her father finally passed out, she would scour the house for books her mother had kept or bought in preparation for Hogwarts. Though it was slow going, Rose was bright like her mother, but clever and sly like the Slytherin house she was placed in, and she was never caught.

Both her and Hugo knew, though, that it was only a matter of time before someone came looking for them.

When Hugo was 11, the weather changed.

There came reports that this winter was going to be wilder than any before it, rife with tornadoes and twisters. Rose saw her chance was coming – her chance to get herself and Hugo out.

It was the week after Christmas – where the only presents received was Hugo's first beating, and one of Rose's worse one as she tried to defend him. Bloodied and broken, Rose shivered in her room that Hugo now shared with her. Ron was passed out on the couch, a broken bottle neck still in his hand.

The radio was fuzzy, coming in and out as the rain which had started days previously worsened. Lightning cracked across the sky, providing moments of clarity from the old device.

"Repeat, this is a TORNADO warning. Everybody get to the cellars. Repeat: THIS is a ...do warning!"

Rose froze. This was her chance. Her chance to save herself to save Hugo.

Freezing from the winter wind that ripped through their house, Rose and Hugo clung to themselves as the tip toed outside, dodging broken glass and old blood stains until they reached the cellar.

The wind was roaring ferociously, and it took both of Rose's and Hugo's combined strength to get the cellar door open and then closed again.

They waiting in silence as the wind screamed around them.

~/*\~

When the rescue teams came to find them, there was nothing left of the house, nor of their father. Rose and Hugo were sent to St Mungo's to be thoroughly checked out, and once all had been repaired, they were informed that they now had no home and were orphans.

The rescue team had found what remained of Ron a few miles away, but couldn't begrudge the children of taking shelter without him – the strong stench of fire whisky had been a problem for the team, so there was no way that tow children could have helped him.

Rose and Hugo were both the image of frightened, tearful orphans, who were taken in by their grandparents, despite the many relatives that offered.

Late at night, both Rose and Hugo crawled into the other's bed, and they swore the oath they had taken that night in the cellar – that no one would know about what their father had done to them, and no one would know of their revenge. They would rely on that tornado to blow it all away.

~/*\~