Sorry for the lateness. My amazing beta write this going off my very poor attempt so thanks to her and I hope it's not too bad!

When we got to St. Mungo's, removing the knife proved much easier than I'd anticipated but my arm did start bleeding again, as Severus had predicted. A team of mediwizards saw to the internal bleeding in my abdomen, set my broken fibula and gave me SkeleGro for that as well as for my cracked ribs and snapped clavicle. They found a hairline fracture in my jaw and reattached a torn earlobe. A tooth was regrown and my bleeding lip was sealed. My potions regimen was adjusted and I was rubbed down with bruise salve.

And then the aurors showed up. Two of them. My husband, one of their own, had died, a killing curse had been cast and I was found badly injured on the scene of the crime. Would I care to explain?

I had felt dazed and detached from what had occurred, but as I related the events, I felt the loss of Ronald, the loss of my husband, more and more acutely and despite all the hatred I felt for Ron, it hurt. By the time I had finished my account, my face was wet with tears.

"And so... he... he wanted to... to kill me," I blubbered.

"You mean to tell me that all this," the younger auror -Pudgley- gestured at my abused body, "was Ronald's doing?" asked the younger auror with audible incredulity.

I nodded my head yes, with a sniffle.

"Right. Mrs. Weasley, I understand that you have been taking quite a few potions. Mostly pain killers?"

"Um... Yes," I said and I was confused. Why wasn't he asking about Ron's antics?

The younger auror looked over his shoulder at his colleague. "We're arresting her, right?"

"Yeah," agreed Auror Mayfair.

I gasped.

"What? Why?" I stammered.

"Seriously?" asked Pudgley with a raised eyebrow and a down-turned lip.

"I... I don't understand! He tried to KILL ME!" I shouted, now distressed and confused, and Severus burst into the room.

"What's going on here? Hermione! Why are you screaming? You'll damage your voice again!" he barked. He had left me with the healers earlier and I thought he'd gone home. It would've made sense. I'd run from him and then made him come and rescue me for the umpteenth time. Igf he were upset with me, he had every right to be. But no, here he was, rising to my defence, again.

"And you are?" asked the elder officer, his eyes roaming over Severus.

He was nudged in the arm by his partner who hissed "That's Snape."

"Severus Snape?"

"Uhuh," confirmed the younger auror. He looked as if he would really rather be somewhere else.

"Well? Are you Severus Snape?" asked Mayfair.

"I am."

"And your relation to Mrs. Weasley?"

"I have been trying to save her from the abusive clutches of her husband," said Severus coldly.

"Oh, not you as well," whined Mayfair. "Do you really expect us to believe that? Ronald Weasley has been an outstanding member of our corps and I find it hard to believe he would commit such lowly, despicable atrocities, let alone try to KILL his wife. Obviously she's imagining things. Not surprising with the potions she's taking. High as a kite, I'd imagine."

"Auror Mayfair," sneered Severus after a glance at the man's nametag. "I want you to understand me clearly when I tell you that Ronald Weasley did not just hit his wife. He beat her. To a pulp. Repeatedly. And he fully intended to take her life tonight."

"Poppycock," said the auror. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised that you had something to do with this, Snape. I know your kind and just because you escaped Azkaban, doesn-"

"That is Mr. Snape to you, Auror Mayfair. And you really have no idea what you're talking about, so please shut your gob," belittled Severus. "Pull her hospital records. I'm guessing there will be a suspicious amount of 'fell down the stairs', 'walked into a door' and 'accidental spell damage' in those files."

"Riiiiiight," drawled the older auror to Pudgley as if it were all some kind of inside joke to them and Severus grabbed hold of his upper arm.

"When will you lot get it through those thick skulls? I'm all for protecting your own, but you do not cover for a prat like Ronald bloody Weasley! An outstanding member of the corps? Are you sure? HUH? ARE YOU? He was never unnecessarily overly aggressive towards a suspect? Never overbearing in an investigation? Never wilfully proceeded on his own path despite counter indications?"

Both aurors seemed taken aback and only a hesitant stammer passed the younger's lips. Severus had evidently hit the nail on the head.

"And you can't imagine those dominant parts of his personality spiralling out of control behind the closed doors of a marriage? An unhappy marriage at that?" pressed Severus.

"That was my fault!" I croaked. "I didn't love him. It was my fault. He only tried to correct my inadequate behaviour."

"Hermione!" gasped Severus, releasing both of the uniformed men. "Don't you dare! Don't you dare justify what that bastard did to you!"

"But he loved me!"

"Hermione!"

"He did!" I fiercely defended. "And I let him down. I let him down so much. I couldn't- I can't- He just wanted to be a dad. And I can't- I- I let him down. And he still stuck by me. Even if I couldn't- He must've loved me! Why didn't he abandon me? He should've left me. I was a terrible wife. I never deserved him. I wouldn't love him. I should've just loved him. And now he's dea-hea-head-" I gasped out between hysterical sobs.

"Stop it, Hermione! Stop it right now! You're finally free of that clot pole!"

"I betrayed him!" I whined pathetically.

"You WHAT? Hermione! Have you forgotten what he's done to you? Or have you forgiven him so easily?"

"We made vows! I promised! I promised I would love him and I didn't!" I started weeping loudly again, hiding my face in my hands as my shoulders shook.

"Get out!" Severus hissed to the aurors.

"We'll.. um... get those records," stumbled one uncomfortably.

"Yep, records, right," said the other and they quickly left the room while I shuddered through the crushing grief.

"Shush, Hermione, shh," the Potions Master tried to calm me. He wrapped both arms around me and ran a slow but steady hand up and down my spine.

"I promised," I choked again.

"Yes. Yes, you promised. But so did he. He promised to keep you safe, to cherish you, to love you. And he didn't," he pleaded.

I looked down to my left hand, to my wedding ring, to the jewel that symbolised our wedding vows. This was my fault, I had turned against my own husband, the only man that could love me. Sobs began to rack through my body, I was shaking. There was the grief for Ron but mostly I was scared of what was going to happen to me now. Severus wouldn't want an 'insufferable know-it-all' in his presence for much longer. Especially a murderous one. The aurors thought I was responsible too. I deserved this pain. I killed him. I deserved to be punished. I deserved everything.

"He loved me," I repeated.

"No," Severus spoke gently, "he didn't. You don't do what he did to people you love."

"I-I-I never deserved him!" I gasped.

"No, of course not," Severus agreed and I knew that his words meant something else than mine did.

I shivered and when he pulled me close, I accepted the embrace. I leaned into the warm, solid chest of my former professor. I buried my face in his shoulder and wept some more. We sat like that for a while: me cuddled close to his chest, his arms warm and safe around me.

"So are you going to tell me what happened? Did Ron bring you into that cave?" he questioned.

"Er... Oh!" I gasped as the penny dropped.

"Hm?" he urged.

"I wanted- I wanted to take- Oh! Of course! It's a portkey!"

"Hermione! Just because it makes sense in your head, doesn't mean I can understand," Severus grumbled but there was no venom to his words.

"IwantedtotakeitoffandIgotapparatedintothatcave! It's a portkey!" I explained rapidly.

Severus took a moment to decipher my words.

"What exactly is a portkey?" he asked.

"My wedding ring!" I exclaimed.

Severus was quiet for a while but he pulled my hand into his and looked closely at the ring. And then he pulled it off. Just like that. And just like that I felt a pulse of magic leaving my system. I felt lighter all of sudden. Lighter and free. My jaw dropped and I stared from the ring between Severus's index finger and thumb to his face and back.

"You-you took it off," I breathed.

"So I did," he said blandly and he let the trinket roll into his palm.

The aurors were back and a large puce file with my name on it was tucked under Pudgley's arm.

"We'll be needing a few memories, Mrs Weasley," stated a very subdued Mayfair. The contrast with his earlier derision was striking, but I was too busy staring at Severus.

"I'll get those extracted for you," Severus agreed. "You'll want to take a look at this too. " He held the wedding ring out. My wedding ring. "Apparently it's a portkey. Probably an illegal one. Seems to be deactivated though."

"I- OK," said Auror Mayfair without argument.

He nodded his chin to me.

"We'll come and see you for those memories tomorrow, Mrs. Weasley."