Hermione's POV

She was well taken aback by the many places her family had gone together, having only gone as far as her parents place whenever she had the time. But ever since she had quit work, it was a different story, quite a happy one in fact. Her favourite place had been the Middle East. The very culture and environment fascinated her, and she found it hard to believe that the Magic community there held the same society to that of their muggle counterparts. Men were deemed superior over women. She had been required to cover almost all of her body parts, but that hadn't been much of a problem since she had spells to keep cool. Her entire observation of the community was her favourite bit.

It had been over a year since the incident between her husband and herself. She didn't like to think about it, but sometimes, she felt as if it were a lesson to her- that life wasn't so perfect. But then again, imperfect things could be perfected to a certain extent, and that was what she had tried to do throughout the year. It was hard, but she felt that it had been worth it. There were times of course when she periodically missed working. She tried to not put much thought to it, and whenever she did so, she would talk to Viktor and try and settle things out. They always managed to find a way to distract her, through deep conversations, their kids, their sex life. The latter of their distractions was a curious thing. Not the action, but Viktor's behaviour in general. There was something different about him. She didn't know what it was, but she felt that he felt almost guilty about an aspect of it. She tried not to think about that too much too.

They were back in England now, and had gone to several places. Her experience with her family in the underground communities had been overwhelming as the magic community there lived just as they had back in the ancient times... almost. But it had still been an overwhelming yet exciting experience. She had learnt a few old spells regarding managing the house! After experiencing the 'underworld', she decided that she wanted to go to the seashore. Viktor didn't seem to mind and neither did the children. In fact, Lyuben and Stanislav were excited by this. So she decided to head over to Clovelly, as that was a childhood holiday spot of hers when she was younger.

She was currently walking down the steps to head over to the beach, after dropping off all of their belongings in a tent nearby. Lyuben was holding on tightly to her hand and was murmuring a sweet song to himself as he walked down the steps with her. When he paused for a moment, she took the time to turn around to look at Viktor who appeared to be having a little bonding session with Stanislav. Hermione smiled to herself. She was glad that they had taken this worldwide trip. It seemed to be working out for them.

An hour later

Hermione chuckled to herself as her sons splashed water at her. The two were absolute water babies! She could tell that much since they had somehow overran her on the way to the waters of the beach.

When she turned around to look at Viktor, she found him looking around occasionally as he sat on his beach towel. He seemed happy yet worried at the same time. She wondered what was on his mind. He hadn't been like this before their arrival here. He had been absolutely fine the other day. She got rid of her frown and replaced it with a smile when he caught her staring at him.

"Go and ask Daddy if he want to join us." Hermione told Lyuben, who looked absolutely delighted with the request.

"Tatko! Come play!" Lyuben yelled, splashing water towards his father.

Hermione smiled as she saw Viktor fake a flinch. He was just so different in his way of communicating with their kids. Maybe it was a father and son thing.

She watched as he suddenly stood up and made his way over to them. He looked like a sinking ship. Looking devastated and broken. He muttered something about feeling sick and needing the toilet. But before she could say anything, he turned his back on her and made his way up and out of the beach. This left her curious and slightly worried. She wondered if it was because of something he ate or because he hadn't had a good nights sleep. Another feeling then crept up on her, but she pushed the thought aside. It wasn't a very good feeling.

A few hours later

"Viktor." Hermione said a couple of minutes after she got their sons to sleep.

"Yes?" He asked, looking confused and slightly worried.

She sighed, wondering what was wrong with him. What is going through his mind? She thought.

"You've been a bit off today. Don't you find this place beautiful? I mean... you would normally comment on things as we walk by... Are you feeling really sick?"

Hermione saw a frown form on his face. It wasn't a good sign. But then, he stared at her, with an expression that she couldn't quite figure out.

"Viktor?" she asked, starting to get worried.

She watched him blink, and when he didn't respond to her, she walked over to him and gave him a kiss, closing her eyes as he kissed her back. The kiss was rather empty as she couldn't feel any emotion sprung from him. It tasted bittersweet. She then heard him sigh.

"There is something I need to tell you." he suddenly began. "I have been meaning to tell you this for a long time."

Hermione looked at him curiously, feeling the nagging and dreading feeling that had bothered her during their entire time at Clovelly. It was a feeling of warning and dread and that something wasn't right. What on earth was he going to tell her? "What is it?" she asked.

He took a deep breath, causing her heart to quicken in pace in the bad way. Suddenly, she was beginning to feel empty and sick, knowing what he was going to say somehow. She could already imagine the scene before her as she blinked.

"Last year, when I was away- you remember right? I was away for two months or so... Well. I met a woman. Very beautiful. And well... I had sex with her. Several times. Fucked rather... And... I don't know... I'm sorry... I really wanted to tell you all this time... I-"

Her eyes widened as he trailed off into nothing. The words spoken from his lips went through her as if it were the wind and seeped out of her through her other ear. Her heart appeared to stop beating for a second and she could feel her blood start to boil. What the hell is all of this? She thought.

Hermione decided to remain silent for now as to tried collect her thoughts in a calm manner. She was furious with Viktor for not telling her sooner. Sure they both made their mistakes but at least she had admitted it sooner! She watched him scowl, knowing exactly how he was feeling, yet she glared at him. She wondered if he realised how she was feeling right now and how much she so wanted to punch him.

After a few minutes of silence between the two, his silent tears, her motionless yet emotional standing, she slapped him in the face as hard as she could, hoping he could feel her pain tremble all around him.

"You deserve this." she tried to yell, only to have it come out of her as if it were a whisper. Angry at herself for sounding so defenseless, she slapped his other cheek. "And that."

He nodded acknowledging her. She could see pain written across his face.

"I know."

She hated the look on his face right now. The weak and lost look on his face- his very presence. Hermione was suddenly disgusted with herself for ever touching him.

"I can't believe that you even thought of-" she stopped midway through her sentence to look at him, to see through him by looking into his eyes. She suddenly imagined the scene before her, of the woman and him. What had made him want to do such a thing with her? What had made that woman better than her? Was she not enough? Wasn't she good enough for him? "I have to leave this house." she told him, as she planned on keeping the kids away from him. "You could- should have told me sooner." she paused again. "I can't believe you prolonged such a matter!"

She paused for a moment to think again. She took a deep breath. She had never thought that Viktor would do such a thing to her, but then again who would have ever thought that the love of their life would do such a thing?

She froze as she suddenly felt his eyes on her, and suddenly she wanted to change her mind. He looked so vulnerable it made her want to cry. She wanted to hold onto him and tell him everything was alright. She then realised just how much she was in love with him. She always had and always would, but not at the present. She needed time away from him.

"I'm taking the kids with me. I can't stay in this house with you." she told him as emotionlessly as she could.

"No!" she heard him squeak.

She was starting to feel livid. "It's either us leaving or you out of the house!"

She could tell there was going to be more protest, so as to prevent that from happening, she took out her wand. She didn't want to though.

"Last warning. Out now or I'll fucking castrate you!"

She couldn't believe she had just swore.

She could see his lips about to form a word, but she didn't want to hear his voice again, it would hurt her. So she took her wand out and fired at the door before setting a spell on him. In a flash he was gone and she found herself alone in the 'living room' of the tent, just as she had been over a year ago when she was a crying wreck, waiting for Viktor to come back in the living room. Only this time, she wondered if he ever would? She needed time to herself. She needed to be alone.