Chapter Seven:
Rotting Away
They sat in the Three Broomsticks, talking back and forth. The amount of people in the room was constantly getting smaller by the minute. People would leave, and not many would come to retrieve their seats. Some new people came in, but not as many as on usual days.
Harry slouched in his chair as he took a small sip of his firewhiskey. Hermione had not spoken a word since she informed Harry of her promise. Harry's mind was on something completely different, as for Hermione, her mind was precisely on the topic of her promise to Harry.
Hermione licked her finger lightly as she circled her wetted finger tip around the rim of her glass. A high, smooth, and silent musical tune came from it. A light and reasonable note, that sounded most like a whistle of a flute, came from the mix of skin on thin, curved glass.
Hermione was lost in thought, like always, but this time it was different. She was confused if anything else. Why did she have to promise, what would happen if she broke it? People always say "love means never having to say you're sorry," but at some point she will be sorry.
Harry looked up after taking one more sip and sighed. Breaking the tense silence between them seemed like the hardest thing to do. He made a slight purr sound in his throat and looked up to face Hermione. She had a dazed expression upon her face and she stared directly at her finger that encircled her glass.
"Hermione," Harry spoke silently. Hermione, though, didn't move.
The high pitched sound just continued. He looked at her with a confused expression and sighed again. He reached his hand out and gently stopped her hand. She jumped a little as his hand stopped the sound abruptly.
"Hermione," He spoke silently. She jumped lightly.
"Oh, sorry, Harry." She sighed. "Just in deep though, that's all." She sighed again.
"Hermione, is something bothering you?" He asked in a serious tone.
Hermione looked to him, her eyes were pleading for him to ask that question. There was something bothering her, her promise. She didn't know what went through her mind though. Harry just made her want to promise so badly. She lowered her head.
"Harry, I'm sorry." She said sadly.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
The promise ran through his head. She promised to never be sorry, and now she was being sorry for nothing at all. Where was she heading with this? Was this all a trick to get him to fall for her? No way.
"Well I… Harry, why did you slap yourself?" She wondered.
"Uhh… never mind. You can proceed." He said as he felt himself blush.
"Anyway," She said sadly. "I was thinking about what we said a few minutes ago." She said in a slight whisper.
"I'm sorry if I-" but she cut him off.
"Harry, please, let me finish." She said and he nodded. "I don't know what made me do it. I promised you to never be sorry, but I will be sorry at one point in time."
"Is that all?" He asked with a little laugh.
"Yes." She heaved a heavy sigh and Hermione looked up to find his eyes glued on her.
His glassy green eyes stared at her. She felt herself melt slightly as her chocolate eyes pressed back into his. She felt the small hairs on the back of her neck stand up and it sent a chill through her entire body.
"H… Harry?" she stuttered.
Harry, though, didn't respond. He just stiffly moved out of his chair and moved it around the table. He was sitting right next to Hermione and he was close enough to feel her breathe. Hermione said nothing. She just sat there.
She didn't exactly know what happened. The next thing she knew she was in a deep and passionate lip lock with Harry. Her eyes were closed and she sat there, kissing him back as passionately as possible. She broke apart for a minute.
"Harry." She said breathlessly.
"Hermione," He smiled. "Let's get out of here." He laughed and Hermione slightly nodded.
Hermione happened to find this awkward, but said nothing about it. She just walked down the street with Harry's arm around her waist. She smiled and then stopped and turned to Harry. She looked at him lovingly and smiled.
"Do you want to Apparate home or walk?" She wondered.
Harry laughed. He was going to get use to this, Hermione had called his house home, and he liked the sound of it. He never described it as home, only as a house. Something about Hermione being there made it even more pleasant.
"Apparate," He said in a devious tone. "It's quicker." He laughed.
Hermione only nodded. She smiled as she snapped her fingers and was off. She felt her feet leave the ground completely, and in less then a second, she was in a completely different place.
She felt the slight pull like a hook upon her navel. She looked around, she was standing in Harry's bedroom, and it was the normal room that she was use to. Harry, though, was no where to be found.
It was possible that she had left before him, and it was possible that he was still back at Hogsmeade road. Where ever he was… Why hadn't he apparated here, home? Could it be that he accidentally ended up in the wrong place?
She walked down the narrow hallway and across an opening where you could look down into the living room. She could feel something behind her, but when she turned nothing was there. She started to see her breath and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up straight.
She felt a warm breath on her neck and twisted herself. Nothing was there. She twisted the other way, swinging her arm to the side. Nothing was there. Something was around though; she could feel the breath on her neck. She reached her arm back and pulled on a fabric.
"I knew you would remember." A deep voice said.
"Harry, I thought you got rid of it!" Hermione said, shaken. "You scared me!" She twisted around to face him.
He held the fabric in his hands and grasped something within it. She looked from his hands to his face and then back to his hands. The soft, velvety fabric lay peacefully in his hands like a child.
"Not my invisibility cloak." Harry said as if she were crazy. "It's the last thing my dad ever gave me. My mum gave me money, and I think that's about it." He said sadly.
"I'm sorry, please don't be upset." She said lightly.
"It's alright, it's been years." He assured her.
"Alright," she said shortly.
Hermione stared at Harry's hands, not removing her glance from them. She knew he gasped something within it, but she was somewhat afraid of what it was. She looked back up at Harry, and he stared back.
"Harry," Hermione started. "What are you holding?" She wondered.
Harry's green eyes just stared at her. A smooth smirk grew on his face, and Hermione smiled back in return. He just looked up and down at her, and she started feeling a little uncomfortable. She took a step back and he laughed lightly.
"It's…" He took the object out of the cloak and Hermione lightly gasped.
"A rose," she said breathlessly.
Harry dropped his cloak at his feet. He stepped forward and slung his arm around the back of Hermione's waist. She took the long stem of the rose between her fingers and gently smelt it.
The red rose smelled fresh. She looked up and kissed Harry on the lips smoothly and softly. She broke her kiss by a noise. She looked to the side of her, and she heard it again, and again. She squealed softly.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked in a worried tone.
She listened closer. The crashing noise was getting louder. It sounded like metal on metal with a roll in the noise. She clung hardly to Harry, holding on for dear life. She looked around and back up at Harry.
"Do you hear that?" She wondered.
"Baby… it's just thunder." He said soothingly. Harry didn't know if he should laugh, or to comfort her. She was afraid of thunder?
She gasped. It was happening again, again. The rain, the water, the fallen crystals, and the pain were starting again. She needed to leave, get out of here, but Harry held her close and tight. She looked up.
"Harry, I need to go somewhere." Hermione said in a shaken voice.
"Where?" He asked and watched her shake. "Hermione, what's going on?" He asked soothingly.
Hermione started to shake more. She took a step back, but Harry pulled her closer. Was this something a "soon to be wife" would do? She was shaking hard with pure fear as he rubbed his hand on her back in a circle motion.
"Harry, please, stop." She pleaded. "Let me go." She asked.
"No Hermione, not until you explain!" Harry said.
Tears were in her eyes, she felt them coming. She needed to leave. Rain only brought bad luck, and she needed to get out of here. She hated the rain, she hated everything, and she hated it all. She was going to leave, but Harry said something that made her freeze.
"What is wrong? What is going on with you and every time it rains!" He said heavy, Hermione froze.
"Harry, don't you notice anything?" She practically yelled.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
Hermione looked at him like he just fell from the sky. Stupid. Harry thought a little, but nothing strange seemed to happen. Was he perhaps missing something? Why was she so afraid of rain, what could rain have done to harm her?
"Harry, think!" She said.
Nothing.
"Er- Harry!" She didn't know what to say. "Do you not pay attention?" She asked, amazed.
No answer.
"It's rain! It rained the last day of school, it rained after your accident, it rained the night you tried to commit suicide, it rained the night we fought." She complained. "EVERYTHING BAD HAPPENS WHEN IT RAINS!" She screamed.
"Oh my god, you're right." Harry said amazed. "But... wait a second!" He said, and Hermione looked at him confused.
Harry thought for a minute. He tried to remember every night it rained and what happened. He had faint memories of it, but the one that came back was the night. The night, but that changed his entire point of view on life.
"It rained the night I purposed to you." Harry pointed out. "Nothing bad happened then!" He said knowingly.
"It's a mystery. We don't know every thing that happened that night. We are just two people. There are over eighty billion out there probably." She said and he mumbled something.
It sounded a lot like saying 'good point,' but Hermione wasn't sure. She sighed and wiped a tear from her eye. She put her head in her hands and then Harry had broken the awkward silence. Hermione froze.
"What about Ron?" Harry asked. Hermione started to sweat.
"You said his name." She said in a scared tone.
"Ron? What did Ron do?" Harry ordered.
Hermione couldn't tear her eyes away from her lover. She wanted to stay still. The night, the day, the morning, it all came back. It all haunted her, the night of Ron's mistake. Hermione clung to Harry, crying, and begging.
"It was horrible." She cried.
Harry picked up the single rose off the floor and set it on a nearby desk. He took Hermione's hand, took her to the bedroom, and sat with her on the edge of the bed. His arm was around her waist and her head lay on his shoulder. She cried.
"Hermione, tell me. Tell me what has gotten into you. If you don't want to marry me, I'd understand, but what did Ron do?" Harry asked. He completely forgot about what happened this morning.
Hermione didn't want to say. The problems that happened then, the thing she lost, the thing that can never be returned. She had to tell him, she just wished it wasn't this way. She bit her lip, it felt like it was bleeding, but wasn't.
"He… he… he took something… from me." She stuttered. Harry hugged her closer.
"What did he take?" Harry asked. He didn't want to push her.
She turned and cried into his shoulder. She cried hard and she could hardly breathe because of how hard she was crying. She hugged Harry tight and held him close. She looked at him.
"I want to marry you, so badly." She cried. "But, I'm scared." She panted.
"Scared because of what happened?" He asked in a confused tone. "He did something to you that made you afraid to marry?" He asked.
"Yes." She cried.
Harry held her. He was thinking deeply, but nothing came into view. What could Ron have done to her to make her have a fear of getting married? Only one solution could be it, but Ron couldn't possibly have done what he thought he did. Harry turned, grasped Hermione shoulders, and made her give him eye contact.
"Did it involve physical contact?" Harry asked in a serious tone.
Hermione was shaking and cried more. Her body was covered in goose pimples and she wanted to do nothing, but sleep. Hermione looked at Harry, it did involve it. She was scared and she nodded tightly. Harry's anger started to fill again.
"Can you define what he did?" He asked in a serious tone.
She couldn't say it, but she had to. He was shaking her by the shoulders, trying to shake it out. Hermione took a deep breath and lay back on the bed crying. She pulled herself out of Harry's grasp and buried her head in a pillow.
"He abused me Harry." She said in a muffled tone and cried harder.
The salty smell started to fill the room. The watered sheets, clothes, and pillows were dripping. Hermione's tears were everywhere, but Harry had not heard this confession of hers. This secret she guarded with her life.
"What?" He asked. He pulled Hermione to face him.
"He abused me." She said breathlessly.
"How?" Harry asked, pulling her close.
"We were dating and he was drunk. It rained that night, and he told me he wanted to go for a walk. So we walked, we walked around the lake twice with an umbrella, and walked into a shed type thing. I wanted to sit down because my feet hurt, and he prepared himself. I didn't know what he was doing. He turned around and I could smell the alcohol and the tenseness of the scene. He pushed me down, told me to make love to him, and if I didn't then he'd kill me. I knew he was drunk, so I kicked him off, and he hurt me." She paused and wiped a tear from her eye. "He slapped me, kicked me, cut me with broken glass, and I lay there. Screaming. No one heard me. Then you come here, and I love you so much, but I'm afraid you'll be like Ron."
Hermione could sense Harry's anger. Hermione's sadness calmed him down a little. He pulled her close to him and kissed her lips. He could taste the salt, but said nothing. He just kissed her more. He didn't have another answer.
He broke the kiss, she still shook, and he set his arms around her waist. He would never hurt her. He would swear till the day he died that he would never hurt her. He wanted to kill Ron, he yearned for his death. Harry made one promise; Hermione would never feel this pain again.
"I will never hurt you Hermione. I rather hurt myself before I ever hurt you. I love you Hermione, now and for always." He said.
"I love you too Harry." She spoke silently. "I still want to marry you, I always have want to, and I love you more then imaginable. So can we forget this, and move on?" She pleaded.
"I will, if you wish me to. Only one question I have." He paused "Did you tell anyone?" Harry asked her.
"No." She said in a breathless tone. She didn't want to breathe, she wanted to stay and die in Harry's arms.
She knew if she died, then she would have died happy. She loved Harry, and something that happened eight years ago was not going to stop this wedding from happening. Not at all. If it was the last thing she did, she would make her biggest teenage dream come true. This dream was to marry Harry and live happily ever after.
"Why not?" He asked.
"You know Ron, he would have denied it." She cried. "All the pain I went through, all the screams, and all that was caused. No one heard me. No one noticed, no one asked." She said sadly. "No one cared."
She was disappointed. That night came back to her, that night haunted her, and Harry knew about it. His reaction was different then she thought, but she didn't pay mind to it, or anything.
"Hermione, I care. I promised I would never let anything happen to you... and I failed you." He felt absolutely horrible.
Hermione shook her head. It wasn't Harry's fault for something that happened eight years ago. Harry could barely remember Hogwarts, how could he remember something like this happening? Hermione promised herself that night that she would never fall in love, but Harry came into the picture.
"No Harry, you are wrong." She stood up and grabbed something off the bed stand.
"What are you doing?" Harry asked.
Hermione ignored him. She tightened the belt on her pants and adjusted her light pink tee shirt. She took a deep breath and put her thick, golden hair back by a clip. She took a sigh of frustration and left the room.
"Hermione?" Harry asked again, but she said nothing.
It began raining harder and Harry noticed something else. What Hermione said before came into his mind. It rained every time something bad was going to happen, she was correct. Hermione left steaming and said nothing at all. Perhaps she was planning something.
Something was going on, he couldn't follow Hermione. He had considered it, but she had apparated. Where would she be going at four in the afternoon? She didn't have to work, but Harry had to return back in an hour. What would happen when he and Ron came face to face? Horror, utter horror.
He took out a quill and ink, wrote something short, and left the note on the bedside table. He sighed, snapped his fingers, and within a minute he showed up in the Auror's office. His first greeting was Neville. He looked excited and Harry looked absolutely more miserable then possible.
The familiar hallways were packed with people. People who Harry knew, and some he didn't. He showed everyone the same greeting except Ron. Harry had entered his "section" of the Auror's office when he was greeted with a fuming Ronald Weasley.
Harry said nothing. He turned to his side and rearranged the things on his desk to occupy time. He picked up a golden sign from his desk which read "HARRY POTTER – HEAD OF AUROR SECTION" in big, engraved letters in the thin piece of gold.
"So that's how it's going to be?" Ron asked.
Harry said nothing. He finished polishing the sign and placed it on the desk. Harry looked up at Ron. Ron's cheek was bruised and a large red mark was on his forearm. Harry just sat back with an expression of 'serves you right' upon his face.
"Well?" Ron asked.
"What do you mean?" Harry responded as if none of this ever happened.
He could actually fire Ron from his job if he didn't keep his mouth shut. Harry wasn't completely sure if Ron actually understood that. If Harry wasn't the head of the Auror's then he would have been fired this current morning.
"You almost killing me because you think I'm jealous." Ron said with a snort. "I think you are jealous of me because I have a wife, a child on the way, and I am the best damn Auror here!" Ron said proudly.
"I have a fiancé, I'm head of Auror's, and maybe someday I'll have a child. I don't know." Harry said seriously.
"Well I'm still the best Auror!" Ron said, rather childishly.
"Maybe, too bad you Jackie as a partner though." Harry said vehemently.
"What?" Ron asked, taken aback.
"I'm assigning you to back up; you stay in the office at all times." Harry said seriously. "This might not seem fair, but in the long run, you'll thank me." He gave Ron an approving smirk.
Ron knew that if he said the wrong thing then he could loose even this job. He had to keep his mouth shut. Ron was mad, and fuming with anger and disappointment. How could this happen? The fight was Harry's fault, or well, Ron thought so.
"How, can you do this to me?" Ron said loudly. "After all those times I saved you! Just because I insulted your damn fiancé, you've been different. Before, you would agree. Now you are changing my job because of it? This is between you and me, not our jobs! I'll earn my old job back... watch me!" Ron warned in a threatened tone.
"Actually Mr. Weasley, you're fired. Welcome to mail post." Harry said with a broad smile upon his face.
"You can't be serious!" Ron exclaimed.
"I am, and I need you to give me all your current stories and what you are working on." Harry said as he searched through his desk and took out his clipboard.
"Why, who has my job? What story are they using?" Ron asked.
"I choose who takes your job, and the story is for Mr. Longbottom to decide." Harry said peacefully.
"You gave Neville my job!" Ron asked, furiously.
Harry nodded. He had a wide smile on his face. Ron looked more livid then imaginable to Harry. He just sat back admired his decision. Ron sighed deeply and turned hardly around the corner, but stopped.
"Oh, and Mr. Weasley," Harry started and Ron froze in step. "You're lucky you aren't in Azkaban doing time." Harry said.
He stood and smiled at Ron. Ron looked back with a confused expression on his round, thin, face. Harry stopped right in front of him. Harry wished he went to Azkaban, but doubted that the chances would happen. Maybe at some point, a celebration would be in order then.
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, clearly confused.
"I'm talking about how you should be in Azkaban. You should be locked up in the cold, empty, and damp prison cell. Where people go to rot their lived away and their rotting corpses are treated like everyday trash." Harry said in a serious tone, though half of it was wrong.
"Why... why would I go there?" Ron said with a quivering lip.
"Maybe the word abuse comes to mind." Harry said grimly.
Ron was shaking. He knew exactly what Harry was talking about. The night he thought Hermione liked him. He was drunk at the end of the year party and forced her into more contact then she could handle. Her screams came back to his ears. He remembered beating her, but he shook his head. How could Harry know?
He could feel the presence of that night. He felt terrible, but he had gotten drunk with ten bottles of firewhiskey. He believed Hermione loved him, and he did something that he would regret forever. Maybe he should be locked up in Azkaban, doing exactly what Harry said: rotting away.
Author's Note:
I don't really like this chapter, but I promised I'd update… so I hope you enjoy! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and good luck on all your own stories, you are awesome!
Airalynn
To My Reviewers
DestroyerDRT – Ron has problems with everyone but Harry and his family. You'll find out later on why he has such problems.
E.G. Potter – I still don't think I rule, but thanks for the compliment –wink wink-
Morgaine M. – Thanks for pointing out that it was the fourteenth, but it doesn't really matter. Lol. Thanks for the review.
T.C4H.P – It doesn't really matter, just thought I'd let you know. And I'm glad you like my story.
PrincessLuckyCML – You didn't remember? Lol. It's all good, glad you enjoy.
bigronweasleyfan – I wanted a cool moment, and Ron was the first that I found amusing to ruin. Sorry if you found it offensive, but in this story he really does deserve it. Lol.
That's all… I hope you all enjoy!
UPDATED: (SATURDAY) MAY 21, 2005