A/N: Hello my darling readers! I have edited and added to this chapter to give background on Hermione's situation. I had a reader ask me why Hermione would stay in the wizarding world and this chapter has the answer! Please read and review. I do so love reading them!
Hermione quickly gathered up her stuff to leave work. As soon as she was packed up she was moving toward the door only to have it blocked by a tall, broad shouldered Weasley.
"Ron, get out of my before I hex you."
"Aw, that's not fair Hermione. I just wanted to come visit you at work."
"Ron, you lost the right to do that when I broke up with you."
"But Hermione we know that you didn't mean to break up with me. I know you still love me, you just don't want to admit it."
"Ronald you are officially grating on my last nerve. I have had a particularly poor day and you being here is just making it worse. Now, get out of my way before I decide to hex you."
"I would get out of her way", said a voice Hermione recognized as Fred's. She sighed in relief. When she looked at Ron, she could see he was about to make a stupid comment. So she made a decision that she would probably regret.
She pulled her wand out and turned Ron into a platypus. Fred looked at her for a second and then burst into hysterics at the animal she had chosen for Ron's punishment. Hermione blushed realizing that she had let her temper get the best of her.
"A platypus, Hermione", Fred asked with a grin. "You're getting creative with your spells."
"Yes, well working for you and George has really gotten my creative juices flowing. Now I really do wish to go home because I am now in an even worse mood than before. I will see you tomorrow."
Fred watched Hermione go with a strange sense of foreboding. He knew something was going on and she was just refusing to acknowledge it.
Hermione made her way to her flat in muggle London. She knew she could have disapparated but she felt like she needed the fresh air to clear her mind. She was having issues with how she was forced to perform during the final battle and it was affecting her personal life. She couldn't handle the stress, nor could she go to a mind healer to get the closure she needed. She needed someone that was there to help her but she didn't want her family to know.
Thinking back on her actions at work, Hermione realized that Fred probably noticed that something was wrong with her. He would have noticed her having off days or even weeks where she just didn't feel herself. He would be the safest person to go to for help, she decided. He would not judge her or make her feel uncomfortable. Going to Fred was the best idea.
Fred went back to the back room and sat down. He started thinking about Hermione's actions since the break up and realized that's when many of the problems started. Ron had become one of the biggest arses and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Unless… he jumped up and went to get George to start planning.
The next morning saw Hermione steeling herself in front of her mirror. She knew logically she needed to talk about what was going on but her heart was trying to stand in the way. She usually kept everything in until the last minute because it was easiest. This time however, she knew that it all needed to be said. Fred deserved to know about what his brother did to her even if it was still too painful.
She quickly left her flat and walked to the apparition point. She knew that if she took the time to walk to the store she would chicken out and not tell Fred. Apparition would get her there with little to no time to think. Walking swiftly to the store she looked around for Fred. While she didn't see Fred, she saw George.
"Oi, George, where's Fred?"
"He was still up in the flat when I came down. You okay?"
"I'm fine, just need to talk to him really quick."
"Oh well then go ahead and go up. He won't mind I'm sure."
Hermione smiled at George and walked up to the flat. Before going in she knocked and called out, "Fred, are you in there? I was hoping we could have a chat."
Not hearing anything Hermione knocked again and entered the flat. "Fred," she called out again, "George said I could come up. I wanted to talk about Ronald and the break up."
She kept moving through the flat trying to find her other boss calling out occasionally. Finally, she stopped moving through the flat and puttered about the kitchen making a pot of tea. She would need something to keep her calm while she talked about the past. During the preparation, Fred finally removed himself from the shower and got dressed for work. Hearing noises in the kitchen he quickly finished dressing and walked to the room. He stood in the doorway for a moment trying to figure out why he was seeing Hermione making tea in his kitchen.
"Um, Hermione," Fred started, "why are you in my kitchen?"
Hermione jumped at the sound of Fred's voice behind her.
"Fred, you startled me! I came up because I wanted to talk to you."
Fred looked at her with consideration, "About… Ron?"
Hermione smiled slightly, "Yes, about Ronald."
Fred danced a little. "Alright then, let's take a seat."
Hermione took a deep breath as she sat down. She knew that Fred would support her no matter what she told her but this was information only 3 people had. Herself and Ronald because they were involved and surprisingly Draco. Draco had been the person that found her stumbling around the Parisian wizarding district. She had been stumbling around trying to find a place to stay covered in bruises. People on the street just looked at her with mild concern or disgust, but Draco had stopped once he recognized her. He took her to his Paris flat and cleaned her up. Hermione stayed there for a while before coming back to Britain.
Fred coughed and the sound pushed Hermione from her memories. She smiled guiltily at Fred. "I'm sorry, I just got pushed back into memories."
Fred chuckled. "I'm sure this is hard for you, Hermione. Take your time. George can manage without us for a while."
Hermione took another breath and started to tell Fred everything.
Fred sat in awe as Hermione just spoke. The things she was saying about a person he had known for his entire life were shocking. That his little brother would ever dream of treating a woman like he treated Hermione was astounding to him. He knew what his mum would do if she found out about it and it would not be pretty. The most shocking thing however was what happened to her parents.
Fred had known, as most people had, that Hermione obliviated her parents to avoid any issues with death eaters and sent them to Australia. Hermione had told everyone that when she went to bring them home that they had decided to stay in Australia with their memories as they had grown to love it there. That was a lie. Their memories had been altered so well that it was impossible to bring them back. This of course was followed by her insane decision to stay with Ronald.
Ronald had been an asshole. He treated Hermione as his own personal slave which had the effect of making her feel worthless. Hermione hadn't applied for any jobs during her relationship with Ronald and was rarely seen outside of the flat or the Burrow. She had become highly adept at using glamour charms to hide how much she wasn't eating as she didn't want Molly to worry about her or find out just how awful her son was being. As the relationship had gone on Ronald's attention on her had become fleeting which was good news for Hermione. After a few weeks of continuously decreasing attentions, it was discovered that Ronald was having an affair with another witch that he had met. Hermione was just thankful that it wasn't with Lavender. While she didn't like the witch, she didn't want to see her stuck in the same awful situation.
Hermione took the knowledge of Ronald's infidelity and used it as the catalyst for ending their relationship. After over a year of being beaten and sexually used by Ronald, she fled to France. Of course, before running to France Ronald had taken out his anger on her which is why she was so confused when she made it there. As a child she had spent many weeks in France during vacations with her parents and so it was no surprise that that is where she went to flee the wrath of her drunken ex-boyfriend. What had been a surprise was that Draco Malfoy was the one that helped her recuperate after fleeing.
After stumbling around the Parisian wizarding district, Hermione had literally run into Draco who took her to his flat to clean up and take time away from Britain. Many people had tried to contact her but she ignored every owl sent to her as she did not want to tell anyone why she had left. She knew that Ronald would still be hiding his preferences toward the treatment of his girlfriends from his family, so she was that only one that could tell the truth. Despite that, she didn't want anyone to see her as week. She knew that she could have tried to do something but she didn't. She didn't know how to get out of that situation without losing the only family she had left.
Hermione and Draco quickly bonded during the time she was in France. He became something akin to a brother and she was glad that he had found her. After about a month in France, she felt safe enough to return to Britain where she cancelled her contract on the flat and found a new one. She quickly erected wards on it that would prevent Ronald from finding it, including a fidelius with herself as the secret keeper. She stayed in her new flat for a few days before Fred's owl with the job offer had showed up which she accepted immediately.
Fred sat there with his mouth open. He knew he looked ridiculous but he couldn't help it. What happened to Hermione was just so amazingly horrible that he couldn't do anything but stare at her dumbfounded. He had no idea what he could say about what happened without sounding insincere. He had no experience dealing with situations like this and so he was speechless.
As Fred sat staring, Hermione fidgeted. She wanted to give Fred time to digest all the information she had just dropped on him. She knew it was a lot and at this point almost wished she had brought a pensieve so she didn't have to relive all that. It had been one of the worst times of her life and it was just pain constantly being compounded. She couldn't believe that she had dealt with all the shit that Ronald had done to her. She was glad that Fred had given her the job. Her life was so much better now because of it.
After what felt like several hours but was just a few minutes, Fred spoke.
"Hermione, you have to be the strongest witch I have ever met."
Hermione blushed slightly. "I have no idea what you mean, Fred. There are many people that have gone through worse than I have and come out smiling."
"You did all that without someone to help you for a year though. None of knew what you were going through and you hid it so well… I just feel terrible that I didn't notice that you were not eating."
Hermione laughed for a second. "It's not like you were watching me eat, or even thought to watch me eat. I didn't drop any hints about Ronald hurting me. I didn't want anyone to find out about how I was being treated. I was worried I would look weak because I wasn't stopping it."
"Why didn't you stop it? I know that you are powerful enough to have squished him like a bug."
"I was scared of losing the only family I had left. With my parents being irretrievable, your family is my only family."
Fred shook his head. "You silly witch. If we had found out about what Ronald was doing he would have been thrown out on his arse. That is if mum left anything attached to throw."
At that Hermione actually laughed. Not a small chuckle or a laugh that was only a few seconds. She let out a full belly, several minute long laugh. The image of what Ronald would look like after Molly got a hold of her wayward son was too much for the stressed witch to handle. The laughing was cathartic and she could actually enjoy the image for a few minutes.
Fred watched Hermione laugh. He knew what she was laughing at but he was surprised that she was laughing. He knew her to be a very compassionate witch even if someone had treated her like crap. Her ability to become friends with Malfoy was a great example. Though he had never physically hurt her, his verbal abuses were legendary. That she could forgive that was quite spectacular, but he knew that Ron had done that one thing that Hermione would never forgive; physical abuse.
Seeing how much she had needed to laugh Fred came up with a plan. He would move forward with the caution of a person that knew the plan might fail, but he would move forward nonetheless. Now he just needed to talk to his brother.
