The Silver Envelope

Cupid's Revenge

Chapter Notes

TW: Violence

Hermione's bottom lip left a perfect, rose-red copy of itself on the rim of her teacup.
Ron looked relieved as she set the cup back down, smacking her lips and complimenting the delicious flavor of the tea.
Under the table, she pointed her wand at her lipsticked cup, charming the liquid to reduce a bit so that Ron wouldn't figure out that she hadn't actually swallowed any.
Her hands began to shake as she sat there, smiling falsely at him while he told her about the last Hogwarts Hogsmeade weekend, and what all the students had bought from him. She ate a biscuit while he talked, taking an inconspicuous sniff at it before biting
The next time Ron sipped his tea- -which had already been in his cup when she'd come back from the loo, she now noticed she pretended to sip hers as well.
Sick rage boiled in her gut as she smiled at him. She saw how he was watching her, looking for signs that her spiked tea was working.
Hermione wanted to flip the table over. She wanted to scream a hex at him, to blast him halfway across the shop. Instead, she gritted her teeth behind her sickening smile, deciding on a plan.

She would have to avoid the cameras and get Ron out of Hogsmeade. Harry would intervene, try to stop her. But, if she could act convincingly enough, she would have the element of surprise on her side.
When their tea was gone, Hermione decided that would have to be enough time for Harry's plan to work. The hour wasn't up, but she was certainly done. She leaned in, putting on a conspiratorial air as she spoke quietly.
"I'm ready to get out of here. Are you?" she asked him, biting her lip for effect.
Ron's eyes took in her flirtatious expression with a look she couldn't read.
"Yeah," he said, swallowing. "Let's go."
He helped her out of her seat, seeming unsurprised when she clung to him happily.
Hermione didn't look away from his face as they walked out of the shop and around the corner.
Harry would be around here somewhere under his cloak. She felt sure that Harry didn't know what Ron had done, given that he hadn't rushed in to stop her from drinking her tea. Ron must have somehow disguised his spiking of their teapot by making it look like he was only positioning the gift box in front of her chair.
She would have to act quickly to get Ron out of Hogsmeade without Harry interfering.
She turned to look into his eyes, putting on her best impression of a woman looking at a man she adores.
"Take me home, Ron," she said softly.
Ron looked relieved to hear her call his flat their home.
Just as Hermione saw Harry's head poke out of his invisibility cloak around a corner, Ron took her hand and disapparated.
The moment they walked into the flat, Hermione struck.
"Expelliarmus! Petrificus crura!"
Ron's wand flew out of his robes and into her hand. His legs seized, causing him to drop to the floor with a grunt.
"Wha-
Hermione kicked him in the stomach, hard. When she did, Ron's wand let out a stinging spark of magic at her hand. She dropped it in surprise, then kicked it across the floor where he wouldn't be able to reach it.
While Ron gulped for air, Hermione cast Muffliato to make sure the neighbors wouldn't hear.
Then she rounded on Ron.
"AMORTENTIA?" she screamed. "DO YOU THINK I'M STUPID, RONALD?"
Ron flailed his arms, trying to move away from her.
"Hermione, plea-
His own cry of pain cut him off as Hermione sent a whip of red hot fire lashing across his face.
With a loud snap, the whip left an ugly, red welt on his cheek. Ron knelt to the floor, clutching his face with both hands, letting out a shrill scream.
"You tried to drug me! You tried to enslave my heart against my will!" she shouted.
"Hermione, I didn't want-" he tried again, but the moment he looked up to speak, Hermione slashed him with her fire whip across his other cheek.
"You didn't want what, Ronald?" she hissed when he had finished shrieking. "Didn't want to sneak a love potion into my tea while I was in the bathroom? Didn't want to make me fall in love with you again? Didn't want me to go home with you and allow you to rape me with a smile on my face?"
Her grip on her wand as she pointed it at him nearly cracked her fingers. Fury pumped through her like lava, turning her vision red. She buzzed with power, feeling her magic crackle in her heart, begging to be unleashed.