Hermione buttoned the final button on her blouse and pulled on the blazer Katie handed her before pressing Harry's wand to her temple once again to pull away strand after strand of silvery memories, and add them to the pensieve Harry held out for her.
"Mi..." Harry started, but Hermione held up a hand as the memories flashed through her mind.

That first memory of the first time she had thought about leaving, of the fight that started it all pushed the tears out in large fat drops. Between Rosie and Hugo, Hermione had fallen pregnant and miscarried several times, each loss hurting her more and more, so much she didn't ever want to feel that way again. But Ron wouldn't stand for that, he gave her no more than 2 days to get over it before he was pushing her to "try again." In the end his desperate want for a large family pushed them into the worst argument they'd ever had. He hadn't gotten violent just then, but he had cornered her in their bedroom time and again until she eventually just gave in. It was her duty as a wife, he said.

The next morning he kissed her cheek and was all loving, as though nothing was wrong at all. The second he left for work however, Hermione had packed a bag for herself and Rose and went to see Molly. Molly had sat her down with a cup of tea and told her another baby was a wonderful thing, and that Ron was right that wives were meant to be mothers. Of course Molly could see nothing bad in her baby boy, and her desire for grandchildren won out. In the end she had gone back home, having only been gone for a couple hours.

Something always brings me back to you
It never takes too long
No matter what I say or do
I still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone

Ron pushed her for sex continuously and after a while Hermione just gave up fighting him. Her heart was never in it, but she would fake her completion each time for his benefit. She knew him well enough to do just the right things to keep it short, and afterwards he would always kiss her and tell her how much he loved her. She always fell asleep with tears on her pillow those nights. Her head told her it couldn't be right, but her heart told her it was just their usual argument. Each time he would manage to convince her she wanted another baby, and then when she miscarried he'd convince her again.

You hold me without touch
You keep me without chains
I never wanted anything so much
Than to drown in your love and not feel your pain

Then she fell pregnant with Hugo and somehow the Gods decided her pain and suffering was over. Ron and she were all sunshine and happiness through her pregnancy. He was ecstatic and she was happy the pressure had lifted. Everyone was thrilled for the couple and she found herself cheerfully looking forward to having the baby. But then the baby was delivered and they found out all the miscarriages had led to tears in her uterus and that she wouldn't have another baby. She tried helplessly to encourage Ron to see Hugo as their miracle baby, but he was not swayed. The second the doctors gave the ok to return to having sex he was on her, belittling the fact that the complications had made sex painful for her. She had another 2 miscarriages, each one furthering the damage, before doctors recommended she go on a contraceptive potion. That was when the beatings started.

Set me free, leave me be
I don't wanna fall another moment into your gravity
Here I am and I stand so tall
I'm just the way I'm supposed to be
But you're on to me and all over me

He found the prescription for the contraceptive and refused to let her fill it, going so far as to call her doctor and yell at her for "interfering with family matters." That earned her two blackened eyes and the rumour that she had the flu and couldn't come to their dinners until the WWW bruise paste worked on the bruises. When she had her mother get her muggle birth control pills, secreting them away in her purse and being sure to throw out the packages when she was running errands in town. She managed no more than 2 months on those before he went through her purse, certain she was hiding something from him, and found them. That one got her a concussion and 3 bruised ribs, making her wince when she breathed. He was all sweetness and sunshine after that, apologizing for hurting her and telling her he would stop if she would just listen to him. Telling her she was so fragile and that he hated doing it to her. The cycle continued after a few days.

You loved me because I'm fragile
When I thought that I was strong
But you touch me for a little while
And all my fragile strength is gone

After another miscarriage she spent the night at a muggle hospital for losing their baby. A cast on her wrist and multiple bruises on her stomach. Each period she had after that required her to take countless pain potions and left her bedridden for the week. 3 months of that and Ron took away the pain potion as well, when she tried to make her own he locked the potions lab and left her with a cut across her breast and countless scratches on her arms and stomach after he threw a vase at the wall and pushed her in the pieces. She had reverted to her happy place, a new adaptation of the one she had used under Bellatrix's cruciatius curse.

Set me free, leave me be
I don't wanna fall another moment into your gravity
Here I am and I stand so tall
I'm just the way I'm supposed to be
But you're on to me and all over me

The last time he knocked her down she came to on the ground, having checked out for hours. When she looked around she saw pieces of their life in shatters around her, closest to her a picture from their wedding. She brushed away the broken glass and gazed longingly at the photo. They were so happy then, newlyweds with their lives ahead of them, the picture showed them dancing their first dance, her head resting on his shoulder a happy smile on her face. Sighing she swept up the pieces of glass and cleaned up the room, she wasn't fast enough and Ron found her cleaning up the remnants of their life together.

I live here on my knees
As I try to make you see
That you're everything I think I need
Here on the ground

That beating had been the last straw, seeing their happiness in the midst of their shattered present had broken her spirit and forced her to remember when they were happy, remember what their marriage could have been. As she placed that memory in the pensieve she opened her eyes and wiped away the last of the tears.

But you're neither friend nor foe
Though I can't seem to let you go
The one thing that I still know
Is that you're keeping me down
You're keeping me down
You're on to me, on to me and all over
Something always brings me back to you
It never takes too long

The pensieve was close to overflowing memories and both Katie and Harry were standing with terrible tragic expressions on their faces, both of them heartbroken for their friend.

"I don't think I can view them again Katie..." Hermione said.

"I understand Mione, it's enough that we have them, the court will view them and use them to make their judgment. You'll still have to testify though." Hermione nodded and Katie waved her wand over the pensieve to ensure the memories couldn't be tampered with and nodded to Harry to open the door to her office so they could go see the minister.

Harry dropped the spells, but before he could open the door it slammed open, Ron on the other side glaring furiously into the room.

A/N: song is Gravity – Sara Bareilles