December 10th

Waking up alone was something Hermione had become inured to after so long on the run and then with the uncertainty of the mess the Dark Lord left with his death, but it didn't mean that she liked it. Going to sleep with Antonin's arms around her comforted her more than she realized. For twenty years, whether she liked him or hated him, he'd been a constant source of security and stability. It had been so easy to take him for granted, especially in the years she didn't want him around.

She remembered the feel of Antonin's light kiss on her forehead as he got out of bed. When she teased him about seducing him to encourage him to stay a little longer, she knew that he'd been tempted. They hadn't done anything more than kiss since the night she found William Wood's button on the floor of Aubin's cottage. But instead of taking her up on the offer, he admitted that he didn't feel right about it considering it was Ginny's bed. She could certainly respect his feelings even though she and Rodolphus hadn't been as thoughtful with his bed.

Before Antonin walked out that morning, he promised her that he would be back when he could. He also offered to place more protective wards on the house. She teased him, accused him of being paranoid. Unwilling to join in her laughter, he grew very serious.

"If I can't even offer my wife a home, I can at least make sure she's safe in this one."

Where he went after that was anyone's guess. She hadn't been lying when she said she didn't want to know. Maybe that made her selfish, but she didn't care. There had been enough times in the past that she'd been relied on too heavily to make decisions and tough calls for those around her who were incapable. Didn't she deserve the opportunity to let someone else worry for a change?

An entire day passed where Hermione was alone in the house. By nightfall, there still was no sign that he was about to return. She kept her mind occupied as best she could. Her body was closer to full strength though she still craved the potions. Kingsley told her that that would likely never change. She hated to hear it and hoped that when the world calmed down, she could throw herself into researching some sort of cure for her addiction. It would be nice to be able to help others in her similar situation figure out how to get rid of the cravings. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she couldn't help but laugh. When did she start thinking of other people instead of just herself? Maybe it was a sign that she really was changing.

Shortly before midnight, she grew tired again. Waiting around with nothing to do was tiresome and exhausting. Hermione chose to take advantage of the nicely appointed bathroom connected to the bedroom to take a hot shower. Unwilling to linger too long under the water when she was alone in the house, she wrapped herself in a towel only minutes after entering to step back out into the bedroom to find Ginny going through her chest of drawers.

"Ginny, what are you doing here?"

Despite appearing to be frantic in her search, the younger witch was able to be snarky in her response.

"It's my house. I should be asking you that question."

Ginny ignored the intruder in her house to continue her search. No longer content with just running her hands through the drawers, she began pulling everything out and throwing it on the floor. Her behavior was odd, but maybe it was not out of character for the Resistance leader. After all, Hermione didn't exactly know the woman anymore.

"What are you looking for?"

"I think she's looking for these."

Antonin entered the bedroom holding up a couple of vials of the Amortentia potion Ginny had hidden in her chest of drawers. All of the color drained from Ginny's face when she was faced with her irate former lover.

"Antonin, I can explain."

Rarely had Hermione seen her husband so angry. That was the first indicator that something was seriously wrong. Fearing that there was about to be violence, she began slowly moving towards the bathroom to get away from the worst of it all. She wasn't a coward, but she knew when it was best to avoid Antonin.

"I found these this morning tucked away in your top drawer."

His eyes cut to Hermione for a brief moment. She was surprised to see his cheeks flush as if he was embarrassed or possibly ashamed.

"I thought at first that you might've been taking potions you shouldn't be."

Hermione couldn't even be angry that his first thought was she was hiding potions from him again. Not after her past. She'd not exactly given him much chance to trust her.

"I opened one to see what it was and all I could smell was lavender, chocolate, and ink. Knew immediately what it was."

"Antonin…"

He held up his hand to stop Ginny from saying whatever she was about to say. Tears were building up in her eyes, threatening to spill over. Had she finally reached her breaking point?

"I'm not finished. I couldn't understand why you had these. Then I remembered that night I came here after…"

There was no reason to bring up the awful fight they had in Hogwarts. Everyone in the room knew exactly which night he was referring to. After he stormed away from the castle shortly after learning his wife's terrible secret, he sought out his mistress the next day once he was sure his son was safe from any further harm.

"I remember smelling lavender that night. I thought at the time you were just wearing Hermione's perfume because you knew I liked it. But then… gods, how many times did you make me drink that?"

Ginny could hardly speak. Tears were freely rolling down her cheeks. Antonin didn't care. If anything, her show of emotion only made him more angry. Hermione's fear that the night was going to end violently only increased. She kept a firm hold on her wand just in case she had to step in. Who would she defend? She wasn't sure.

"All of those days here talking about the future, you made me… you made me actually think about leaving my wife."

"I could've made you happy. I still can! I should've told you a long time ago, but I was scared of what he would do."

Hermione's stomach clenched with the beginning of Ginny's confession. How much longer before Antonin would turn his ire upon his wife for keeping the secret of his daughter from him? She was tempted to run from the house before it came to that point without a care that she was still wrapped in just a towel. Ginny struggled for air between her sobs. There was simply no way she could've known Antonin as intimately as she did without understanding the violence of which he was capable.

"Rodolphus made me do it. All of it. He told me if I didn't he would kill…"

Unwilling to listen to another word, Antonin crossed the room to where Ginny stood shaking and trembling near the chest of drawers. For someone who had always been a formidable opponent, she wasn't capable of summoning up the strength required to defend herself against the man she fancied herself in love with. It was sad, if a bit pathetic. Emotions could make even the strongest person weak. The witch didn't even have her wand in her hand. There was nothing to protect her from the wizard closing his hand around her throat and slamming her entire body against a wall.

Hermione wasn't sure she had the right to intervene. Didn't he deserve to be angry for what she did to him? For the lies and the manipulations? Ginny wasn't even willing to fight back. All of her energy was gone. There came a point when everyone finally broke. She didn't have anything left inside of her. Rodolphus had helped to strip that away with years of never-ending fear and shame. She deserved pity, but she also had to face the consequences of her actions.

"There is no excuse for what you did to me. Because of you and Malfoy, my wife saw us that day."

"Antonin, please. I'm sorry."

Whether it was the sound of her pleading or her apology that tipped him over the edge, Hermione didn't know. She could see his hand squeeze Ginny's neck tighter. Instantly she was struggling for air. He wasn't going to let up. His purpose was beyond just frightening her.

"Antonin, stop. You'll kill her."

He didn't even seem to register the fact that his wife was speaking to him. Lost in the heat of the moment, he stared without blinking into Ginny's purple face. Though tears continued to roll out of her open eyes, there was a resignation inside of them. She knew what was coming next and she didn't fear it. Perhaps she'd even been looking forward to it. If she defied Rodolphus, he would've killed Maisie without thinking twice. If she was dead, he had nothing to hold over her head any longer. While it was always a possibility that he would still take his rage out on the poor, innocent child, she knew there was no one alive who would be a fiercer protector than Antonin of their daughter.

Breathing had become a real issue for the witch, but her attacker wasn't finished with his revenge. Everything happened so quickly that even if she'd wanted to, Hermione couldn't have done anything to stop the man. She was too far away and he was too determined. Considering how angry he was, he might have even taken some of his anger out on his wife. Without breaking the intense eye contact he held with Ginny, Antonin lifted his wand in his free hand and pressed it to her chest. He muttered a familiar curse. Purple flames burst out of the end of his wand and straight into her heart. She was dead in moments.

"Why would you do that, Antonin?"

Watching her old friend's lifeless body slide to the floor of her bedroom shook something up in Hermione that she didn't expect. Even though she knew what he was going to do, actually seeing him carry through with it was startling. She screamed her question out, ignoring the hot tears that were rolling down her own cheeks. Antonin turned away from the corpse to look at his wife with the most solemn and sickened expression.

"She violated me. Made me feel things that weren't real. I told her I was in love with her and I wanted to leave you."

Some of his anger had dissipated with the curse that he preferred to use to end others' lives. As much as Hermione loathed that he continued to use the curse that once nearly killed her when she was a teenager, he never budged. Everyone had their own way of preferring to make their kills. She'd lost count the number of throats she'd opened up with a slicing spell. Though bloody and incredibly messy, she'd never found another death-inducing spell to be so satisfying.

"Why would she do that? I don't understand why she would force me to drink potions that made me believe I was in love with her. It's sick."

Hermione knew her moment had come. She had to tell him the truth. Staring her husband in his dark brown eyes, she finally confessed the last of the secrets she'd been keeping from him.

"Because Rodolphus threatened to kill your daughter unless Ginny did exactly what he told her to do."

"My... my what?"