A/N- Fair warning, this chapter will be a little intense. If domestic abuse is something you can't handle, you've been warned.

Prologue to The Return

Chapter 2: Hermione's Flight

July 31st, 1998

The Forest of Dean was just how she remembered it from her childhood. The trees were lush and green around her, and the birds were singing in the canopy above her. It was early evening, and the sun was still setting. Its golden light spilled through the trees and lit the forest around her in burning gold and red hues. The warmth of the day had already begun fading but hadn't left entirely. Small droplets of sweat still ran down her skin, the damp cloth of her shirt still clung to her.

Hermione had been wandering through the forest for hours now, and she still had no idea why she was here or where she was going. It had been one of the single strangest and most frightening days of her entire life, and something in the back of her mind was telling her that it was far from over.

Her morning had started as it always had lately. Ron had been snoring loudly in the bed next to her, sleeping off his latest episode of binge drinking with George. Ever since Fred's death they'd both taken to the bottle rather heavily. She gotten up, wincing from Ron's latest round of "educating" her on what a proper wizarding wife should be. It would be hours before he woke but she knew by now it was better to have breakfast waiting for him under a warming charm than to allow him to wake up without it. He had nearly knocked her unconscious the last time she'd made that mistake.

Ron had woken several hours later, hours that Hermione had spent enjoying the quiet and reading on their couch. The flat they lived in was small and they could barely afford it, what with Ron refusing to allow her to work, but it was cozy enough. He had wolfed down his food with his usually gusto, and she had turned away as he ate. They rarely ate meals at the same time anymore, and for the life of her she couldn't understand how she had found him attractive when he behaved like such a slob.

"Oi, Hermy!" Ron called. She started when he spoke, broken out of her thoughts. White hot anger flashed through her mind. She'd hated that nickname since he started using it before the battle of Hogwarts. They'd fought about it before. That had also been one of their last fights, because that was the first time Ron had hit her.

They had been arguing about her desire to go to work and Ron had repeatedly used that name. They had already had it out a few days earlier about her desire to return to school. Ron had yelled and cried like a child until she finally relented to stay with him. At the time, the thought of being without Ron seemed inexplicably unbearable to her. It was as if she couldn't feel complete without him. She'd relented to him on that point, but she refused to be a simple housewife.

Now things had come to a head, and after more than an hour of listening to him shout and her giving it right back to him, she'd finally had enough and went for the door, intent on getting some air. Ron had grabbed her by her hair and slammed her head into door in front of her, bloodying her nose. Then he'd punched her in the stomach so hard she vomited on the floor. As she sat there, crumpled on the floor in a puddle of her own sick, Ron had informed her that HE made the decisions in their relationship. If HE wanted her to get a job, HE would tell her. Until then, she would shut up and act like a proper woman should. Shag him on command, make his meals, and be quiet. Two days latter he'd given her a black eye for burning dinner. After that, for her own self-preservation, Hermione had fallen in line.

She had tried to talk to Ginny the last time she saw her, but she'd all but ignored her. Hermione had given up on getting help from the Weasleys when she'd gone over with a large, barely concealed bruise on her cheek and nobody uttered a word about it.

With Harry missing, she was alone.

"Ronald, I've asked you not to call me that." She replied, bristling. Ron dropped his fork in his surprise. It clattered against the plate loudly then hit the floor. To anyone else it might have been a simple gesture. But to Hermione it might as well have been the bell ringing for the first round of a boxing match.

"What did you say to me?" Ron growled, standing up abruptly. The stool he sat on clattered to the floor loudly. She hadn't spoken to him like that in months.

"I asked you not to call me that ridiculous name anymore." She bit back. The familiar fear that had overtaken her the last few months began to bubble to the surface again, but it was being overridden by her anger. Somehow, her head felt clearer than it had in months. It was as if a fog had lifted in her mind, a fog of fear both of Ron and of losing Ron. She felt strong, and she felt like herself.

"Feeling brave today Hermy?" Ron said quietly.

"I'm leaving Ronald."

Ron's jaw dropped. Hermione had stood up now and was facing him fully. Furry blazed in her brown eyes and her hands were balled into fists. Her anger had her hair floating up slightly, and magic had begun to roll off of her in subtle waves. Ron's hands began to shake.

This wasn't right. She should be obedient. His mother had promised him that she would be! That's exactly how she'd been too, ever since the battle ended. Ever since HE had disappeared. In the short month's since Voldemort's defeat he'd grown accustomed to the meek and fearful Hermione. The one that he could do whatever he wanted to. The one he could control. This woman, the one that stood before him now, was NOT that woman.

"You're not going anywhere, you SLAG!" Ron had yelled. He'd crossed the room in an instant, his arm already swinging back to slap some sense back into her, but he stopped at the last second. Partially from the fury in her expression, but mostly he stopped because her wand was now pressed squarely into his throat. "Her-" he began but was quickly silenced by her applying some pressure to her wand.

"You listen to me, you FOUL, LOATHSOME, IGNORANT excuse for a man!" She yelled, accentuating each insult by pressing into his throat more with each word. It wasn't lost on her that she used the nearly the same insult on Malfoy years ago. "I AM leaving you. I AM. Because I am DONE being your punching bag, Ronald Weasley!" As she spoke, she began to walk forward, pushing Ron backwards until he nearly tripped over the stool he'd knocked over moments earlier. Hermione held out her hand, and to Ron's complete shock, her beaded bag flew from the bedroom directly into it. He had never seen Hermione do wandless magic before; hadn't even known she was capable of it.

Seeing the bag had made Ron realize how serious this was, how serious SHE was. She really was leaving. He was afraid.

"Why now?" he half growled, half whined.

"I should've left you the moment you hurt me the first time Ronald." She took a step back from him but left the tip of her wand buried in his throat as a wordless warning, her arm extended out. Her powerful mind was in overdrive. She couldn't believe this was happening, couldn't believe that she was finally about to be free of him. "I should've never been with YOU to begin with!"

"What will you do without me Hermione?" He barked out, accentuating each syllable of her name mockingly. A feral grin broke out on his face as he spoke. "Potter is a traitor and he's in the wind, and your parents can't stand the sight of you. Where will you go?"

His words cut her deeply. He had used this tactic on her before and it worked every time. Up until now. Her resolve faltered for the briefest moment, and Ron took the opportunity. For just a moment she looked down, as she often did when she was thinking and the pressure of her wand digging into his throat let up. He reached for his wand on the bar next to his half-eaten breakfast, fully intent on using the cruciatus to get the little mudblood bitch back in line but Hermione's reflexes were much faster.

As soon as his body had shifted to grab his wand Hermione used a wordless spell to send Ron flying backwards. He slammed into the bar and did a backflip over it, sending dishes and appliances crashing to the ground.

"I AM GOING TO FIND HARRY!" Hermione roared. She turned towards the door and swiftly made her way to it, throwing it wide and making for her freedom. She smelled burning ozone and at the last second she ducked to the side just short of the threshold, just in time for the blasting hex Ron had just sent at her head to miss. The brick wall on the other side of the hallway from their door exploded, showering her in dust and debris. She knew she didn't have time to take stock of the damage, but she hoped the muggle family across the hall weren't home.

Whirling back around to face Ron she deflected the second spell with a shield charm, sending it back towards him. It missed by inches and flew back into their bedroom, destroying it in a shower of pages and splinters.

Ron looked positively feral. His hair was wild, and his pupils were dilated. His chest rose and fell with his erratic breathing. His head must've struck something on the way down, as blood was dripping down his forehead from some unseen wound on his scalp. His wand was raised toward her, but it was cracked slightly and the forward piece of it was pointing a few millimeters to the left. That explained why his second curse had been off course. She'd only blocked it to stop it from going into the flat next door through the gaping hole his first curse left.

"YOU BITCH!" He screamed. "YOU FUCKING CUNT! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU CAN FIND HIM! YOU'RE MINE!" As he screamed Ron sent more spells at her, all of which she expertly deflected. Not only was she a better duelist than Ron could ever be, she was also thinking more clearly than he was and her wand wasn't broken. He did manage to evade most of the spells she sent back at him, but a cutter caught him across the leg, spilling hot blood across the floor. Ron barely reacted, he was so lost in his anger. "MUM SAID YOU'D BE MINE WHEN HE WAS GONE! YOU'LL REGRET THIS YOU MUDBLOOD BITCH!"

That was the last straw for Hermione. She deflected his last curse so it would hit the bar in front of him, showering him in debris and distracting him. His words rang out in her head, and while she hadn't quite fully processed what he said, she knew she had been betrayed. She had been USED. Anger like she'd never felt before welled inside her, fueling her as she pointed her wand at Ron's heart.

"Crucio."

Ron collapsed to the floor the second the red light of her spell hit him, screaming like he'd never screamed before. His rage evaporated as the white-hot pain consumed his body. Hermione watched him writhe and scream for just a moment before she turned from him and walked out the door.

She didn't care that she'd just used an unforgivable curse on someone she once cared for. She didn't care that she would be hunted. It didn't matter. She would find Harry and together they would make sense of all this. Even if Harry had gone dark, even if he really was a traitor, she would follow him as she always had. He was her only true friend and ally and if that meant going dark, then so be it.

Two steps out of the door she cleared their wards and apparated away. The sound of the whiplash crack of her apparition drowned out by Ron's screams.