I based this loosely on the song Goodbye, Earl by The Chicks.

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Hermione Weasley slowly sat up from where she had passed out on the floor. Her head and chest ached terribly from being stomped on, and her sides, abdomen and back were on fire from where Ron had kicked her. She tasted blood in her mouth and she couldn't open one of her eyes. She started to sway, and laid back down. Every breath hurt. Terribly.

Seeing the darkness outside the window and the moon high in the sky, she realized she must have passed out for several hours. She glanced over at the couch where Ron was passed out drunk again, surrounded by empty bottles of muggle beer. His snores echoed around their dismal cottage.

She reached for her wand to cast a tempus spell, then remembered that Ron had taken and broken it before he'd begun beating her.

The floo powder on the fireplace mantel was gone. He'd either hidden it or otherwise destroyed it. She focused all her magic, whatever she had left that he hadn't crushed, and apparated to Luna's home that she shared with Neville. Both had been her close friends at Hogwarts and she knew she could count on them to help her.

All of those who had fought together in the Second Wizarding War and survived were closely bonded and would be for life. That was 4 years ago.

She'd completed her NEWTS and trained as an Auror, and had just finished her training a month ago. She and Ron had married 6 months ago.

Ever since she'd started full time work as an Auror, he'd become increasingly abusive. She suspected it was jealousy, as he'd tried to land various jobs unsuccessfully since the war. He'd tried to qualify for a spot on a professional Quidditch team but never quite showed enough skill.

Tonight's fight was because he wanted her to quit her brand new position and have a baby. Two things she had no desire to do whatsoever. He'd dumped out her contraceptive potions, then broken her wand. When Hermione in turn had told him she wanted a divorce, he'd turned on her with all his rage and strength.

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The Longbottoms were in their cozy sitting room having tea when they heard a pop and Hermione appeared, battered and bleeding, and then passed out.

They immediately carried her to the couch and Luna pulled her wand out. She was apprenticing as a medi-witch to Madame Pomfrey and the couple lived at Hogwarts during the school years. Hermione had known they'd be at the home Neville had inherited from his grandmother.

While her husband retrieved and administered a pain relieving potion, Luna ran a diagnostic spell on her and realized Hermione's injuries were beyond her healing capabilities.

Neville carried an unconscious Hermione to the fireplace and flooed with her to the Hogwarts infirmary and Luna followed. As the two medics treated her, he sent a patronus to Harry and Ginny to come and cautioned them not to tell Ron where she was.

The Potters soon arrived, and waited out of the way, with Neville.

Luna flooed to Professor Snape's laboratory and returned with a handful of potions and was followed by the Potions Master, who carried more. He froze when he saw Hermione, the brilliant student who'd excelled at every potion and essay he'd ever assigned her, in such a critical state. Shock, sadness and anger crossed his face, but he quickly schooled his features and got to work assisting Luna and Madame Pomfrey. He'd completed mediwizard training as part of his work to become a Potions Master.

"No doubt this is the doing of that git, Ron. He was jealous of her becoming an Auror because she was far exceeding what he'd ever be capable of." There was no love lost between Professor Snape and Ron. He shook his head and growled as he looked over the shoe shaped bruises on her face and chest and the handprints on her throat. "It looks like he was trying to kill her."

Madame Pomfrey shook her head sadly. "It certainly does. He almost succeeded."

Luna dared a glance over at Ginny, who sat quietly holding her husband's hand, to gauge her reaction, but her face was unreadable.

The trio briefly discussed bringing Hermione to St. Mungo's, but the risk of the Daily Prophet getting wind of her condition was too high. If they published a story about it, Ron would know where she was and she would be in danger.

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Harry felt his wife squeeze his hand hard as she listened to the hushed conversation between medics taking place over Hermione. It was her brother who had done this to her close friend. He examined her face for signs of how she was handling it, but from her blank expression, he knew she was blocking.

Ginny took a deep breath and cleared her mind. How do you reconcile the fact that the brother whom you grew up with, the sibling you thought you knew, is a monster?

She remembered something she had read once in a very old book.

The blood

of the covenant

is thicker

than the

water

of the womb.

It meant that the bonds created in battle with one's fellow soldiers, forged out of pain and tragedy, were stronger than the ties to one's family. The family you choose, over the family you were born to.

She turned to Harry and Neville, and repeated to them the phrase she'd been turning over in her head.

Harry nodded in immediate understanding. His family was the friends he'd made at Hogwarts, not his aunt or uncle or cousin.

After several hours were spent healing Hermione's internal injuries and broken bones, the two healers and the Potions Master walked over to Hermione's friends. It was clear they were exhausted, so Ginny and Harry brewed tea for everyone.

Everyone drank their tea in silence. Madame Pomfrey and Luna had positioned themselves to keep direct eyes on Hermione.

Luna was the first to speak.

"Something must be done about Ron. He nearly killed her and he may succeed next time. Last week I fixed two broken ribs on her. Two days before that, it was a broken wrist. A week before that, a broken nose."

Ginny felt all eyes on her, gauging her reaction.

"I understand he's my brother. But she's my very good friend, the sister I never had, and he nearly killed her. My loyalty is with her, not him."

"Are you certain about that, Miss Weas… er… Mrs. Potter?" The professor stumbled over his words, something unusual for him. His eyes had stayed trained on the patient, but now they were fixed on Ginny.

Ginny stared straight back, never wavering. "I'm sure."

"We can't have him arrested and sent to Azkaban, he'll just be back out in a week, then he really will kill her." Having grown up witnessing domestic violence, the professor knew how it escalated. He also knew his father had nearly killed his mother after her first escape attempt. The second time she tried, the son of a bitch succeeded.

With that statement, he stood and set wards around the infirmary, then turned to Madame Pomfrey.

"I will go brew the potions we will need." She bowed her head quickly in a grateful response.

Then he turned to Hermione's friends and raised his eyebrows.

"Should you need anything to assist with your… efforts, you know where to find me." Then with a final glance at Hermione, a flowing of his cape and a flash of green flame, he was gone.

Harry looked at the others incredulously.

"Did he just offer to brew a potion to off Ron?"

Madame Pomfrey shook her head. "I heard nothing." But as she stood up and started making her way to the unconscious battered woman, she was nodding to herself.

Everyone had respected Hermione while she was a student, even the notoriously grumpy potions professor. Nobody wanted to allow Ron the chance to do this to her again. He had to die, or he would eventually kill Hermione.

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Hermione stayed unconscious for the next seven days to facilitate her body to heal, thanks to a coma inducing potion. She also received regular pain relievers and strengthening potions. Ron's abuse had depleted much of her magic, then she'd used everything she could pull from deep inside herself to apparate to the Longbottoms before passing out.

Luna and Madame Pomfrey took turns treating and monitoring her while the other rested. Harry, Ginny and Neville camped out in a common room nearby and took turns sitting with their friend. So did the headmistress.

Professor Snape also sat with her sometimes when he was able to get away from brewing the critical potions, which surprised his former students.

Ginny remembered the long ago scene in the infirmary following Ron's love potion ingestion when he'd called out for Hermione. A tiny flash of jealousy had shown in the Potion Master's eyes before it disappeared.

Thinking back more on that scene, Ginny was left feeling puzzled. Ron had called out for Hermione that day. Now he'd tried to kill her. It made no sense. Who even was her brother anymore?

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After seven days, the coma-inducing potions were stopped, to allow Hermione to wake up. It took close to twelve hours for them to wear off.

Her eyes slowly opened and she took in her darkened surroundings. She tried to place where she was and remember what happened. The last thing she could remember was using every ounce of magic she could muster to apparate to the Longbottom's home.

She took a deep breath and found that it no longer hurt to breathe, as it had before. Her head throbbed slightly, but nothing like the pain she'd felt after waking up on her floor.

Someone whispered her name and she slowly turned towards the source of the voice. It was too low to be Neville or Harry. It certainly wasn't Ron.

It was Professor Snape sitting in the chair next to her. Seeing she was awake, he gently lifted her head and offered her sips of water, which she accepted. He wasn't wearing his usual robes, but just a black shirt and pants, and his black locks were tied back.

"Professor? What are you doing here?"

"Harry, Neville and Ginny have been camped out here all week and have hardly left your side. Luna and Madame Pomfrey have been tending to you for a week straight. The only way they all would rest is if they knew I was here watching over you."

Hermione looked at him, then looked nervously around the infirmary and then at the doors. The professor seemed to understand what she was thinking.

"He can't come in here, I've got it warded. If he tries or if he gets near you, he doesn't stand a chance." He held his wand up. "But, he shouldn't find you. Everybody has been very careful not to let his family or anyone close to him know where you are."

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. "He broke my wand. I've had it since my first year and he broke it."

The professor's eyes narrowed in anger. A wand is highly sacred and to break it is highly disrespectful, a great dishonor.

"We'll get you another one, Hermione. Don't worry about that. One of the first things we'll do when you're strong enough is go to Olivander's. Why didn't you tell anyone that bloody git was beating you? I'd have dealt with him straightaway."

"Because it's embarrassing. The great Hermione Granger can't defend herself from a dim bloke who barely mastered the wingardium leviosa spell. I could time turn through 2 extra classes my whole 3rd year, I could fight 5 Death Eaters at once, but I can't keep my husband from hitting me." She closed her eyes and blocked to keep from crying, but a few rogue tears cut paths down her cheeks anyway.

Seeing her distress, the professor became concerned. "Are you in pain?"

"Just my head."

He ran diagnostic spells on her but found no critical issues. "Here's a pain reliever and a calming potion. I want you to rest."

"Yes, sir."

"Remember, I've warded the infirmary. I'm close by, and Madame Pomfrey, Luna, Harry, Neville and Ginny are close by, too. You won't be alone."

"Thank you, professor." Hermione drifted off to sleep wondering where the real Professor Snape was and who had made a Polyjuice Potion to impersonate him.

When Hermione awoke again, Luna was the medic on duty and Ginny was sitting in the chair next to her.

She tried to sit up, but Luna gently pressed her back with a slight shake of her head. "Hermione, you must rest." She was given water and then Ginny helped her to eat some broth.

"Has he tried to come to the castle?"

"No, not yet. But there's wards around the whole school. He wouldn't get far." Ginny looked around the infirmary before continuing. "Besides, Professor Snape is here frequently, watching over you and keeping our potions stocked. He'd turn Ron into a ferret and feed him to a hippogriff before he'd let him get near you."

Hermione felt herself smiling at the thought of her husband being turned into a rodent. No, he wasn't her husband any longer. Ex-husband. There's no way she would go back to him now.

"So what are we going to do about Ron?" Luna looked at the other two women.

Hermione looked at the medic in training and at Ginny, confused. "We?"

"Yes, we." Ginny looked straight into Hermione's eyes. "He's not my brother. Not anymore."

"Ron's going to kill you next time, Hermione. He won't stop until he does." Luna never was one to mince words.

"I guess we have to kill him before he finds me, then."

That night, the professor sat with Hermione again, to allow everyone to rest. Or so that was the reason he gave. Luna gave a knowing smile to Ginny but said nothing.

Ron had broken into the infirmary, somehow getting past all the wards set up by the professor. He'd dragged her from her bed by her hair and into a dark nearby hallway, where he'd started beating her. Nobody came to her side, despite her repeated screams for help. As his hands had closed around her throat, she'd felt her life fading away. She became aware of her name being called.

"Hermione. Hermione."

Pulling herself out of her nightmare, she forced her eyes to open. The professor was gently shaking her shoulder. He turned and lit two candles nearby with a wave of his wand.

"You were screaming. It's alright, Hermione. It was just a nightmare."

She tried to steady herself with a deep breath.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She almost said no, but then glanced at her professor's face and she knew she could tell him.

"He was here, he got in. He dragged me into a dark hallway and was beating me, then he was choking me and I was dying."

"He can't get in, Hermione. I made sure of that and so did Headmistress Mcgonagall. Besides, you think that little weasel could beat me? I've faced much more formidable opponents and won." He brushed her perspiration-dampened hair away from her face and in the candlelight, she thought she saw something glimmer in his eyes for a second before it disappeared.

"Would you like some tea?"

Hermione nodded. Tea sounded wonderful.

The professor left and soon returned with two steaming cups. He helped her sit up against pillows and handed one to her.

"Thank you."

She closed her hands around it and felt the warmth spread from her fingers to the rest of her. She took a sip and found it had the perfect amount of sugar and milk in it. She wondered how he knew the way she liked her tea. Luna. That was how. Hermione smiled into her cup.

The two of them sat quietly sipping their tea in the candlelit infirmary. Hermione glanced at her professor, the tea cup in his hand and a potions manual in his lap. He didn't look like the scary dungeon bat that she'd feared during her early Hogwarts years. She noticed the perpetual scowl and forehead creases of years past were gone. He was handsome, she noticed for the first time.

The professor looked up and met her eyes, his expression unreadable. She looked down at her tea embarrassed, but then looked back up again.

"Thank you, sir, for the tea and for sitting with me."

His dark eyes softened briefly. "You're welcome, Hermione."

"Will you be here tomorrow night, too?"

"Yes, I will."

"Good. I'd like that."

"Me, too. Now you should rest. I think tomorrow Madame Pomfrey is going to get you up walking around a little."

"Good night, sir." He straightened the pillows and she laid back down.

"Good night, Hermione."

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Sure enough, Hermione walked with Luna and Madame Pomfrey around the infirmary for a few minutes, then Luna and Ginny helped her to take a shower. While Luna massaged shampoo into her hair and washed out the dried blood, Ginny helped her scrub herself.

That evening, she was allowed to eat solid food, so her friends all pulled chairs up around her and ate with her.

True to his word, Professor Snape sat with her again that night. Before she went to sleep, he made them both tea.

When Hermione awoke during the night, he was still there. She saw candles burning and he was reading a book with one hand and holding her hand with the other. Rather than pull her hand away, she left it where it was and went back to sleep, feeling safer and warmer than she had since Ron's abuse had started.

During the day, Hermione walked the halls with Harry, Luna and Madame Pomfrey.

During dinner, they discussed where Hermione would live. Harry and Ginny offered a room in their home, but she didn't think it would be a good idea because of Ginny's relation to Ron. Truthfully, whoever she lived with would be in a certain amount of danger if Ron were to find her.

That was when Professor Snape spoke up. "I have an extra room in my quarters, and I can certainly make sure you're safe. You are welcome to move in with me. I could defeat that bloody git with my arms tied behind my back."

Hermione smiled. "I think I will take you up on that. Thank you, sir."

The professor bowed his head briefly in response.

"Harry and I can retrieve your things from his house for you without him knowing. He can hit him with a stupefy spell and I'll shrink your belongings to carry out."

"If he hasn't destroyed them all." Hermione shook her head, thinking of her ex's temper.

"Right." Harry was also thinking of Ron's temper.

The next day, the Potters apparated to a corner near Ron's house and walked. He let them in, but started repeatedly questioning them about Hermione's whereabouts. Because he was growing more agitated, Harry hit him with a stupefy spell, then the couple set to work locating and shrinking their friend's belongings. Surprisingly, few of them were destroyed.

Hermione flooed to Professor Snape's quarters with him that afternoon. Her belongings were already there. She found she was exhausted just from that, so she laid down for a nap.

Professor Snape woke her for supper, then the two of them drank tea before going to sleep. It was their new routine.

Hermione fell asleep in her own bed, but was soon assaulted with nightmares. They were the same. Ron found her, had harmed her new roommate, and was bent on killing her. Her screams rang out through the dungeon apartment with each blow off his fists.

Once again, she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and the professor calling her name.

He had lit a candle, and was holding out a hand to her, so she sat up and he handed her a cup of tea.

"Thank you, Professor."

"You live here now, Hermione. You don't have to call me Professor or sir here when it's just us. You can call me Severus."

Hermione nodded in understanding. "It might take a while to remember that. You were my professor for a long time."

"I certainly was."

The same routine happened every night. Hermione would help him with his potions during the day, as he was restocking the infirmary's supplies, as well as his own. Then they drank tea together. She'd go to sleep, only to wake up screaming from nightmares. He'd wake her up and offer her a cup of tea and sit with her until she calmed down.

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After two weeks, he and Madame Pomfrey and Luna determined Hermione was strong enough to go to Diagon Alley for a new wand. She wore a glamour charm in case Ron happened to be there.

When they arrived at Olivander's Wand Shop, she removed the glamour charm.

The wandmaker smiled as he recited to her what her first wand was made of.

"Vinewood, 10¾" long, dragon heartstring core."

"I need a new one, sir."

She tried several, before one chose her. Dragon tree wood, eagle feather core, twelve inches.

Before they left the wand shop, she reapplied the glamour charm. As they left the apothecary some time later, Ron happened to be lurking outside the doorway. He was clearly drunk, and was shouting at everyone nearby that his wife was missing and he didn't know where she was.

He tried to grab Professor Snape's arm, but was thrown clear across the road by a flick of a wand. Hermione knew then that Ron must be truly unhinged if he was trying to attack the Potions Master.

The two quickly apparated back to Hogwarts, rather than flooing from the Leaky Cauldron. Just before they disappeared, she caught a glimpse of Ron being confronted by her fellow Aurors.

After arriving home, Hermione sent a patronus to Harry and Luna. The six of them; Professor Snape, herself, Luna, Neville, Harry and Ginny, all convened in the potions classroom.

Harry was able to fill everybody in on what was going on. Ron had been initially detained by the Aurors, but then was determined not to be a threat and allowed to go home. The Aurory was aware that Hermione had been gravely injured and was unable to work, but not of any circumstances beyond that.

The group decided that sooner or later, Ron was going to try to come after Hermione again, and so must be dealt with quickly.

Ginny and Harry volunteered to visit Ron again and make him tea. Tea that they would sweeten with a poison provided by Professor Snape.

He had set a small black glass vial on his desk at the start of their meeting. It was odorless, tasteless and quick acting.