No Reason

Hermione Jane Granger stood, brushing her long brown hair in front of the vanity mirror that she was sure adorned every room of the females attending Hogwarts. She had, at the beginning of the last summer, finally learned how to spell her hair straight, and so she muttered the spell, after staring unhappily at herself for a few long seconds. It was done mainly to try and hide her sorrowful eyes, plus it was much easier than having to brush through the big bushy locks, not to mention she thought it looked much better this way.

As she brought up her arms to tie her hair into a high pony tail, her arm panged uncomfortably, reminding her of the night before. Leaning forward, her nose almost touching the mirror, she turned her face slightly to the side, to examine her cheek. A large bruise, but she would take care of it with a quick glamor charm and nobody would notice. She knew this because no one ever did.

She grimaced as she felt the large lump on her head, above her temple; the result of hitting the floor the way she did. She whimpered a little as her fingers grazed the sensitive spot. Anger and shame flooded her as she thought about it. Hermione Granger was a smart, strong-willed, and confident witch; she knew she shouldn’t let anybody treat her the way he did. She just couldn’t get rid of these feelings she had.

It had been during the last summer vacation that it happened. Her eyes glazed over as she remembered the beauty of those warm moonlit nights on the hilltops by the Burrow. She had been invited to stay by the Weasley’s , who offered her a room there to hang out with the family, Harry, and most importantly, the Order members, in the three weeks before school began.

He was there already when she arrived, giving her a warm welcoming smile, and a tight hug, which made her feel at home and safe. She almost let out a very un-ladylike snort as she thought about it now, his smiles sent a icy shill down her spine.

The Burrow always seemed to make all your troubles go away for a while, it was a sanctuary, to Hermione, anyway. It was so hard for her in the beginning of that summer. She couldn’t help thinking about the cruelty of the world, the inevitable upcoming war, and the grief of already losing loved ones with foreboding thoughts of who else was going to die during the next fight.

Ron, her and Harry had laughed and played about like little children, rolling in the grass, and coming home covered in dirt. One night, when Ron had opted to stay indoors and play Ginny at Wizarding Chess, he had taken her to their favorite hill, the tallest one with a lonely cypress tree on top. It felt like you could see forever up there. It always took Hermione’s breath away.

She hadn’t thought a thing about going there with him that night, they had went almost every night since she had been there. She had been standing there, looking over the seemingly vast expanse of land before them, and he had come up behind her, after watching her for a while, wrapping his arms around her snugly and kissing her neck chastely.

Shock was an understatement, as she had figured that Harry loved Ginny after seeing together after Cho, but then again Harry had broken up with Ginny at Dumbledore’s funeral, claiming to fear for the young red-headed girl’s life. He had deftly explained all this away, saying that he had only been interested in Ginny because he knew she already liked him, and when he realized it was just lust, he had broken it off with her as “gently as he could”.

Hermione drank all of this up without really thinking about it first, although she was a smart witch, most of her smarts came from books, she had no REAL experiences in the dating scene. A fling here or there, but never anything really serious. She had never felt any sparks between her and her former boys, she’d just been lonely and wanted someone to pass the time with.

Harry and Hermione started going out about 5 days before the end of the vacation, and everything had seemed so perfect, but then, with the return to Hogwarts, things had slowly begun to go wrong.


Neither Ron nor Ginny hadn’t spoken to Hermione or Harry since they had first found out about them being together. Even though Hermione was dreadfully upset about it all, Harry dismissed it, saying they would calm down and come to their senses eventually, about the whole thing.

Soon Hermione started noticing changes in Harry, small things, that only she noticed. He stopped blabbering on and on about Quidditch, stopped talking about the horcruxes, about Voldemort, and he nearly ripped your head off if you tried to bring up Dumbledore or Sirius.

Taken up with her duties as a prefect of Gryffindor, she started to see Harry less, and wasn’t surprised that when she alone, she was finally happy. She would breathe a sigh of release every time she left his presence, like a weight being lifted off her chest. She threw herself wholeheartedly into her work, and didn’t seem to notice the nasty stares she was getting from her loving boyfriend at meal times.

It had only been their second week back when he had first hit her. He had stood up from dinner, asking loudly if he could speak with her alone, gaining disgusted looks from Ginny and Ron at the other end of the table, as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the Great Hall before she had the chance to reply.

Halfway down the hall, she regained her senses, and yanked her hand out of his grip. Causing him to spin around with a furious look on his face.

“Where are we going Harry? What’s so important?” she asked curiously, noting his flashing green eyes.

“We are going somewhere to talk, because I haven’t seen my BLOODY GIRLFRIEND in a goddamn week!” he yelled into her face.

She staggered back a step, surprised by his ferocity, if only for a minute.

“I’ve been doing work Harry! And you don’t seem to want company much from anyone anymore from the way it looks.” she said with a frown.

“So work is more important to Hermione Granger then her boyfriend? Or is it that you’ve been off shagging someone else, you fucking slut.” he whispered venomously.

“Harry how can you say that?!” she yelped, tears brimming in her eyes, “ You don’t mean it.”

“I do mean it. If you’re not fucking me, you must be fucking some other dick. Unless you’re a dyke.” he spat.

Her jaw had clenched tightly as he’d said it, and she brought up her hand swiftly slapping him hard across the mouth. She had then turned to walk away, but he grabbed her, covering her mouth as she cried out, throwing her down, and kicking her over and over. Just when she thought he’d never stop, he did. He leaned down and gave a hard cuff to the side of the head, he had smiled then, and said “I’ll see you in the common room.”

Hermione watched with wide eyes until she saw him disappear, and then cried her heart out. How could he? Didn’t he know how much she loved him? That she’d given up her best friend to be with him?

Hermione put her brush down and crawled under the covers of her bed. She was really tired, but her mind was racing. She hugged a stuffed bunny her great aunt had given to her tightly, and slowly drifted off to sleep, already knowing that her nightmares would give her no rest.