The Road

Long Way

Hermione sprawled out the contents of the plastic bag in the sink and her eyes immediately darted to the box of hair dye and the pair of scissors.

She worked patiently and quietly as she chopped off her wet hair, a little bit above her shoulder, trying to make the snips as even as possible. Then after taking the hair dye and following the instructions, she pulled her hair out of towel turban she had it in and gasped at the reflection.

Her hair was a dark chocolate brown, all the golden and honey brown streaks completely gone. It actually came out a lot better than she thought, but there was no time to admire her new look.

She was running.

Paul has her in a contract to stay at this place, but she was not sleeping in her bed knowing that some creep was planning to abuse his power over her.

She shoved her clothes into a bag took her hooded jacket instead of the trench coat.

With everything she needed, she took a deep and long sigh and shut the apartment door. Outside, the beat-up Volkswagen bug sat on the curb, unused. She hoped she remembered everything as she stepped into her car and took one last look at the building. Hermione has lived in that building for three months, and apart from her terrible landlord and inability to pay rent, she was still able to call it her own.

But it wasn't home, and it was clear she was yet to find that title anywhere.

With the key in the ignition and shaky hands, she pulled away from the curb.

_____

Hermione drove. God only knows how long she drove. It seemed liked the road just became longer and longer and never any clearer. The rest of her money went into filling up the tank, and grabbing some coffee after every few miles.

The rain stopped pouring after a while, but it didn't stop the car from making a strange clanking noise just after she hit Virginia. Hermione couldn't find a reason to stop, not even to rest.

The one thing the drive could give her was time to finally think straight. The city was no place for the clean slate she was looking for. She needed a wide open field, the ocean, the sun on the horizon, or something magnificent in her darkening life.

Ron used to be that something. After the war, they dated for a few more months before he asked her for marriage. It was sudden and of course she said no, at first. They were too young and she thought maybe he wasn't thinking clearly enough. But after he assured her he was completely serious, well she just couldn't deny him. They were married and for those three years, things were so bright. Being married to a best friend is easy, at least it was. She recalled the times he took her back to the fields outside of Hogwarts. The picnic basket, a glass of wine and just the memory of being in love.

Clearly that wasn't enough for him.

Hermione's eyes were closing, the grip on the steering wheel getting weak. Glancing around her, she was in some sort of field. At that point, she didn't even know what state she was in. Barely any cars were out on the highway, apart for some trucks. She rubbed her tired eyes, then spotted a gas station on the side of the road up ahead.

She pulled in and parked the car next to the building. Once the key left the ignition, Hermione passed out.

_____

A tapping at her window woke her, squinting against the immediate sunlight.

"Hey there," a man said at her window. She rolled down the window and said groggily, "Hi, good morning sir."

"Came in pretty late, huh? I own the place and saw you come in late last night. Figured you were gonna get something, but when you didn't I figured you were asleep."

"What time is it?"

"Almost noon."

"Wow, I'm really sorry. I didn't-"

"Nah, don't worry about it. Better have you asleep here than on the road, right?"

She nodded and gave him a small smile. "So, are you lost or something? Not many people stop by here just to rest, especially when they've got other places to be."

Truthfully, she was lost, but she wouldn't be telling him that.

"I'm not lost," she lied.

"Alright, well, I'll let you stick around a bit longer if you'd like," he said politely.

"Thanks," he began walking away until she asked, "What state am I in exactly?"

He laughed and looked at her, "North Carolina. You sure you're not lost?"

She shrugged her shoulders and he walked away. Rubbing her eyes, she put the key in the ignition and attempted the start. The car sputtered, clanked and then died out. She tried again and the sputtering, clanking and silence followed. "No, no, god please start," she mumbled. Again, again, she tried, but the car just wouldn't start. "Bollocks," she muttered. She didn't have a lot of money left, especially not enough for a mechanic or a tow truck.

Going inside, she asked the same man where the next town would be. Luckily it was only a mile out beyond the tree line, and she could manage that walk since he couldn't drive her out there himself. She thanked the man and went back to her car. Taking only what she could carry, which was just her heavy backpack, she began her journey to this town.

Cherrywood.