Abused

Living in Fear

~Continued Flashback~

November 27, Saturday

Hermione woke up the next morning, more tired than usual. She glanced over at a clock and saw it was eight AM. She wondered why she was so tired for a few moments, but then the memories came flooding back. Pansy sneaking out, and worse, Hermione's nightmare about Ron. She had never had nightmare's about any one person before. But she brushed it off and decided to continue with her life, determined to make it normal again.

But no matter how many times she had told herself that Ron had just lost control for one night and one night only, she couldn't stop thinking about him. Pansy was still knocked out on her bed from the night before. Hermione smiled. At least Pansy was having a good time back at Hogwarts. 

Hermione impulsively decided to go on a walk.  It was what she did to clear her mind. She grabbed a piece of paper to write a note to Pansy, but decided Pansy could figure it out herself. She changed into some casual clothes- a muggle brand t-shirt and jeans- and then quickly applied some makeup. After all, she had been running into Draco a lot lately, and she would be embarrassed if he saw her without- Wait. What was she thinking. Ron was her boyfriend, not Draco. She shouldn't care if he saw her without makeup. Plus she usually never wore makeup when she went on morning walks. Why would it matter now?

Despite herself, she continued applied the extra makeup. After she finished, she instinctively grabbed her wand and put on her shoes. Without a second thought, she walked out and into the common room. She was honestly surprised that Draco wasn't sitting out there. She had ran into him so many times after all. 

"Hermione?" She spoke too soon. She stopped herself from smiling and turned to see him. 

"I thought I had told you- Oh! Ron." She was disappointed to see Ron standing in front of her. Ron raised his eyebrows. 

"And who did you think it was?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. At least she had resisted the urge to be nice to who she had thought was Draco. 

"Oh, I thought you were the ferret. Sorry." She tried to force venom into her voice, but it was hard. After all, it was no doubt that she would rather see Draco than Ron. And this recent realization had stunned and scared her. Ron stayed the was he was for a moment, but then smiled. 

"Of course. Just don't do it again." Hermione nodded slightly, but she could hear the ice in his tone. "And where are you going this early in the morning?" he demanded. Hermione wasn't surprised by this. Of course he would want to know where she was at every second of every day. She was about to tell him off, but memories of the dream came back to her. She might've been safe in the girls' rooms, but Ron could do whatever he wanted out here. She wondered if she could just hide in her room the rest of the year. Or the rest of her life. Ron cleared his throat when she didn't answer right away. 

"Oh! I'm, uh, going on a morning walk." He raised a questioning eyebrow. "I just need to clear my head," she elaborated. He nodded. 

"Alright. Can I come?" he asked. Hermione froze. Now this was a question that she was not expecting. 

"Uh-" Hermione was at a loss for words. Suddenly, she saw Harry enter the room behind Ron. "Harry!" she shouted, trying to take Ron's attention off of her. Luckily, Ron turned around. 

"Oi, mate! I thought you were still asleep," Ron said. Hermione translated this as, 'I thought I had the freedom to torture Hermione without you interfering.' Harry, however, just smiled. 

"Nah, I woke up just a few minutes ago. And hi, Hermione. Who would've thought you'd be so excited to see me?" It was clear Harry was joking, but Ron turned back to face her. 

"Yeah." He smiled at her, but there was darkness clouding his eyes. "Who would've thought?" Hermione smiled nervously. 

"I just haven't seen Harry in a while," she commented. "I feel like it's been forever." Harry was clearly confused, having seen her quite a bit around the school. But he luckily seemed to let it go.

"Okay? Well, anyways, I was just about to head out to eat breakfast. Do you guys wanna come?" Harry asked, seemingly harmless. Hermione smiled. Now was her chance to get out of Ron's question. 

"Oh, well, I was just about to go on a walk alone-" She stressed the last word. "-so you guys can go without me." Ron looked like he was about to object, but Hermione added, "I had also promised Pansy I would wait to eat with her. Sorry though." She smiled widely, happy she had gotten out of Ron's manipulative question. Ron frowned though, clearly angry.

"Oh, okay!" Harry replied happily. "Then Ron and I will get going, I guess." Harry started to walk away. "Oh, and, good to see you Hermione," Harry added, still a bit confused, but smiling nevertheless. Hermione smiled back. She hated herself for thinking it, but even though she had absolutely no romantic feelings for Harry, she would rather date him than Ron. 

"You too," she said. She waved at them awkwardly as they left, hoping Ron wouldn't do anything to her for her little act. She breathed a sigh of relief when they were out of the room. So much for normal. After all, living everyday in fear that your boyfriend will hurt you for slipping up is far from normal. As far as it could get. Or at least she thought. 

Author's Note

Yes! Finally, I posted on my normal update day! Plus, this story has I think about 9K reads! I screamed when I saw it. I know that it's not a lot compared to other popular stories on Watty, but it's a lot for me for sure. Lol I think back to my author's notes in my first few chapters where I always said no one would read this because it sucked (Yes I honestly believe no one would) and now we're here! Well, I don't wanna be corny, but thanks for those of you who stuck with my through my weird updating schedule, because I understand how frustrating it is when authors don't update for three months without a warning. That's all I wanted to say. Kiss Kiss!