Chapter 2

This needs to stop now

So here I am, sitting on the sofa staring at the blank tv. I needed to do something, I am super bored. What to do? I cant sit here all day waiting for Blaise to come home. I also cant sit here and wait because I need to keep my mind of what he did to me again yesterday.

I don't have many friends anymore unfortunately, Harry and Ron have busy Auror lives. And they were too busy to notice that I am in this toxic relationship. Many people are probably screaming at this text wondering why I haven't left him. I just cant leave him, I love him.

The only friend I actually have is the most unlikely of people, Pansy Parkinson. She is Blaise's close friend and he trusts her enough to allow her to come around the house whenever she wanted. He doesn't allow many people to do that. Many people meaning, Harry, Ron, Ginny and the rest of the gang. The last time I saw them all together was probably my wedding day, which was three years ago. Sad I know. Pansy has many theories to why I am always sad and never the chirpy person I was three years ago. She does now and then think its because of Blaise but she wont admit it. How can she? Her best friend hurting her other best friend? She wouldn't believe it. And probably accuse me of lying.

This is why I cant leave, I have far to much to loose. I have tried to leave on many occasions, most of those times I came back or he found me. He also knows whenever I leave that ill come back. Everytime I come back home he is always sitting nonchalantly on the sofa. Waiting for me, he smiles and then turns back into the same Blaise.

I bet many people are asking themselves right now why I come back. Its pretty simple, I feel ive lost all of my old friends. The first few times I left Blaise, I always ran to Pansy's apartment. She would always convince me to go back to him or at least think about it before actually divorcing him.

I have also seen a lawyer about what would happen if I decided to divorce Blaise. Because I only have a small fortune myself, I wouldn't be able to out- lawyer Blaise. He has the best lawyers in the world working for him. And divorcing him would leave me extremely poor.

I look around the beautifully decorated living area, the photos on the walls were all lies. I looked at the most prominent picture. It was of me and Blaise on our wedding day, standing in front of a church just after saying our vows. I was all smiles, little did I know that a hour later he would turn into the man he is right this moment.

Hermione sat at the head of the table with a huge smile on her face. She was the most happiest person in the world right now. She married the man of her dreams and he was such a hunk too. Hermione never considered herself pretty, so she was shocked when Blaise asked her out on a date and then even more shocked when he wanted to marry her.

Blaise was chatting away in the corner to Draco Malfoy, they were in a deep conversation. Draco grabbed Blaise's arm to stop him from walking away from him. Hermione was busy smiling and chatting away to Ginny to notice the heated conversation in the corner.

"Draco I cant, I really cant have him here!!" Blaise sneered at Draco, in a low audible register.

"Potter is her best friend, what do you expect?!" Draco countered back at him, keeping a firm grip on Blaise's arm.

"I know he wants her, I cant have him looking at her like he is right this moment!" Blaise said and tilting his head towards where Harry Potter was sitting, he was sat next to Ginny and he was sitting listening to Hermione's word with a smile on his face.

"What the hell is wrong with that?!" Draco said back to his angry friend.

"That's the look men give women they fancy" He said,

"Grow up Blaise, Potter is dating Ginny. He has no interest in Hermione! You have clouded your judgement" Draco retorted back.

The two men were only noticed by pansy, she was watching in pure curiosity. Being a typical woman she loves to hear good gossip and she knew that whatever they were disagreeing about was worth to hear. But she knew that it wasn't clever to go up to them, so she cast a spell and was listening in to the conversation. She heard it all, she was shocked. She knew Blaise was the possesive and jealous type but she thought he had grown out of it since meeting Hermione. Obviously she was wrong. She was worried from this moment on, she looked over to Hermione who was blissfully unaware that a man she married has a personal demon within him.

Blaise shrugged off Draco's grip and stormed over to where Hermione was sitting. He sat down next to her and took a huge gulp of fire whiskey and scowled at Harry. Harry looked back at him with a confused look on his face. Draco looked at Harry and imitated a drunk person behind Blaise. Which then made Harry feel better.

The wedding reception from then on out went well, Blaise quickly became drunk and ignored Harry. Which helped everyone. But it didn't help that jealous demon brewing within Blaise. Hermione retreated back to her hotel suite, in the hopes of suprising Blaise. She opened the suite's doors and there sat Blaise on the bed fiddling with rose petals.

He looked up at Hermione, she looked concerned. He looked really upset. She scrambled over to him and knelt down in front of him.

"Blaise, whats wrong?" She asked.

"This!" He screamed and his hand came straight across her face.

I shake my head at that memory all the time, I hate to think about it. Why didn't I take that as a sign to get out of this relationship. Here I sat again pondering on what to do with my day, but my thoughts were stopped when Pansy appratated directly in my living room.

"Pansy!" I said in pure shock, "You scared the life out of me!" I shouted at her.

"Sorry darling, I didn't mean to frighten you" She said to me, she slowly walked over to the sofa I was sat on. Pansy sat slowly down next to me, she knows any quick movements make me flinch or recoil in terror. Because she had came into the home so unannounced I didn't have time to do a spell to cover the bruises on my arms and face.

She moved my body around to face her, I looked down at my hands. Fiddling with my finger nails were always a common occurrence in these situations. I looked up slowly to meet my friends worried eyes. Pansy has definitely turned into a beauty since Hogwarts. She was tall and slim, with dark wavy hair. She looked mysteriously beautiful all the time with no effort. It never made sense to me why Blaise never married Pansy over me. She is beautiful.

Pansy slowly reached out to put a hand on my face, she gracefully touched my cheek and slowly caressed the burns on my face from the hot water last night.

"Honey, what did you do to him?" I looked up at her, in disbelief. Why do people instantly think its something I did. "I didn't mean it like that Mione, I mean. What happened?"

"Nothing happened, I accidentally burnt my face. I was scrubbing the plates to hard and water splashed into my face. Blaise was concerned" Pansy wasn't really buying it, but she accepted it. She didn't want to admit her best friend is hurting me.

"Okay honey, lets do something fun!" Pansy said, she always proclaimed this whenever she wanted to change the subject. "We can go up to your room and try on all those expensive dresses Blaise always buys you. And we can then do our make up and hair. It will be soooo much fun!" Pansy squealed in delight.

I slowly accepted this, Pansy liked to express her excitement by clapping and squealing. The only way to stop this is to go along with whatever she wanted. I stood up and walked with her to mine and Blaise's bedroom.

The bedroom itself is exquisite, it is such a big room and takes up most of the first floor. The walls are dark red with dark wood. And we had a huge double bed up against the main wall. Which delightfully picked up the morning sunshine from the floor to ceiling windows which overlooked the gardens below. To my right was a walk in wardrobe, to me though it was another room. It was no where near a wardrobe because the room was huge. It was full of my clothes. Blaise had a separate wardrobe which was directly to my right next to the bathroom.

Pansy opened the door to the wardrobe and we both walked. Circling the entire room was racks of clothes. Dresses to the left, and normal everyday clothes to the right with my shoes at the bottom of the room along with my expensive jewellery. Blaise loved to buy me new things, especially after our fights. It was his way of buying me back. It didn't really work, but I pretended it does. Otherwise god knows what will happen to me.

Pansy loves my clothes, I have no idea why. She owns some beautiful clothes. Most she bought with her own fortune. But I think she envies me because I have a man that buys me things that I like. But to be honest I am jealous of her, I wish I could buy my own clothes. Me and Blaise have a shared bank account at Gringotts. But if I spend over 100 galleons he get angry, and he becomes suspicious. Technically I am extremely well off, I share ownership to Blaise's millions but I just cant touch it without him getting angry at me.

Pansy noticed some new dresses, she picked the one I really liked. It was a black satin ball gown, it hung of the hanger like a sheet of water. It was beautiful. It had a halter top which then left the back on display. It was a beautiful gown. Pansy motioned me to get undressed so I could put it on. I did so and I was taking off my top Pansy shrieked in terror as she noticed the bruises on my back in the mirror. But she composed herself and walked towards me. She took me by the shoulders and looked me deep in the eyes.

"You need to tell a Auror" She said to me. This is the first time Pansy has realised something is wrong and admitted it. She looked at me in complete worry. I have never seen this side to Pansy. Normally she shakes tales of terror away or pretends she hasn't seen my bruises or wont accept that Blaise hurts me.

"I cant" I said back sadly, Pansy turned my body around and my eyes met my image in the mirror. She was right. The bruises looked awful. Because I normally cover them up with spells, I don't normally notice them. I can feel the pain just don't normally see them. There was a huge dark purple bruise covering my right ribcage. This is where Blaise kicked me once, he didn't mean it of course. It was just a silly argument, and he apologised. Pansy is just being silly.

"Hermione Zabini, you need to tell someone. You cannot live your life like this anymore!" She said to me. I nodded, but I looked down to my feet. She put a hand under my chin to make me look at myself in the mirror. The girl I was looking at wasn't me. I couldn't accept that it was me. My dark hair cascaded down to my lower back, it was long but it was very ratty. I don't look after it very well. I had lost weight since Hogwarts and now my body is slim and I don't have much of a figure because of it. I look ill.

"Pansy, I am not sure what your insinuating about Blaise. But your wrong" I lied. She wasn't convinced at all and she looked at me with disappointment.

"Hermione, all you need to do is pop down to the Auror Department and speak to someone there. The world has changed, the wizarding world has evolved. They will help you. Blaise will be punished!" Pansy pushed, she truly meant all this. For the first time my friend was trying to help me.

"Okay, ill do it tomorrow" I said to her, I wasn't lying at this point. I wanted to see what would happen if I told on Blaise.

The house elf, Sparky. Cracked into the room and he looked up at Pansy. He didn't look into her eyes, as that was rude but he looked away and said.

"Miss Parkinson, I just received a Owl from your mother. She would like to see you right this moment" He shivered in terror and cracked away. Pansy then looked at me with a sincere look on her face.

"Do you promise me you will go and see a Auror tomorrow?" She said,

"I will, I promise you" I said to her, with a small smile creeping on my face. Maybe I can get out of this relationship.

She then smiled at me, put the dress back onto the rail and apparated out of the wardrobe to her mother. I smiled to myself. Maybe I could get help. Now that Pansy was realising what goes on in my marriage, maybe I can become more of a stronger person and leave him for good. I felt a butterfly in my stomach, I was excited to see if I could get out of this. For the first time in years, I am excited.

I then opened the wardrobe door and there he stood. Looking back at me. He looked angry. I wrapped my arms around myself and looked down at the floor. I have learnt to not speak in these situations and to just listen.

"So I come home in the hopes of spending my dinner with my wife. I then hear voices in our bedroom." He sighed. "Lets just say, I heard everything Hermione!" He looked at me with anger in his eyes.

"I was just humouring her, I am not going to see a auror tomorrow!!" I retorted back, this time I was angry. Which is something I don't normally do, but the new found confidence from Pansy's visit has made this new pot of rebellion brew inside of me.

"Are you shouting at me?!" Blaise screamed back, this time he came straight up to me. I backed up against the door to the wardrobe. He then looked down at me, there was probably about a centimetre gap between us.

"I am not shouting at you, I am sticking up for myself. I am sick of you treating me like this. I AM YOUR WIFE!" I immediately regretted this, but more words came out of my mouth. " I am not your personal doormat!"

This angered him, he pulled me by the hair which forced me to my knees. He had a firm grasp on my hair, he pulled on it more which made me scream in pain.

"How dare you!" He screamed at me, he violently pushed me to the floor. I lay in the foetal position while he kicked me hard. I didn't scream or make a noise. I accepted my punishment. Blood seeped from my mouth and my ribs broke again after already being broken many times. He then took out his wand, I knew what was going to happen. So I squinted my eyes tightly.

"CRUCIO!" I screamed in agony, tears rolling down my face and blood running from my mouth onto the carpet. Then the pain suddenly stopped, I panted quickly and I spat out some blood onto the carpet. He then crouched down to my level. "This is what happens, we have a powerful love Hermione. This is all it is sweetheart. I love you more than anything in this world. I get angry like this because I love you." he then lightly touched my cheek and brushed away my tears. He then whispered, "I love you"

Suddenly everything went black.