An Unexpected Turn of Events

Chapter Four

Life at the Potter household was hectic. It had been two weeks since Harry and Ginny had brought home their new little girl, carefully named Lillian Jeanne Potter, and the proud parents could not be more happy. Or exhausted. Since the new baby came, Ginny had been constantly running around trying to make sure that everything was perfect for their little bundle of joy. Sometimes Hermione thought of her as the Energizer Bunny from the old Muggle television commercials. Harry however, was the most proud father she had ever seen in her life. She would come back from Diagon Alley to find him sitting on their couch, just holding the little pink child in his arms and looking at her. Lilly had the same fiery red hair that her mother had, but they suspected she would one day achieve the olive green eyes that her father sported magnificently.

Today, Hermione sat on the couch, rubbing her stomach and worrying about the twins. Everything seemed to be going well, but Hermione was still concerned about living situations. Harry and Ginny had their hands full with Lillian, but with Hermione having twins, there wasn’t going to be enough room or patience for three babies all at the same time. The thought of putting that amount of pressure on the people she loved the most was almost unbearable. Hermione was terrified. What happened if one of the babies was sick or worse what if one of them died? She hadn’t been to the Healers in almost three months. Ron didn’t believe she should leave the house unless he was with her and he never wanted to go to St. Mungo’s. Maybe because he was worried that they would notice the bruises and scratches on Hermione’s body. Either way, she had no idea whether the babies were going to be healthy or not.

Ginny had taken the baby to see Mrs. Weasley and the rest of the family. Harry had stayed behind. He had Auror work to do and he wanted to take care of Hermione. Regardless of everything that was happening now, Hermione had been beaten and he had no idea what type of damage that stress and abuse had on the babies. He watched Hermione as she relaxed on the couch and smiled. She looked stunning sitting there. Something about being pregnant made women much more beautiful. He went to work sorting through the stacks of bills, letters and packages that the owls had dropped off this morning when a large tawny owl flew up to the kitchen window. Harry looked at it, very confused, but let in in and unraveled the letters from it’s leg.

They were for Hermione. There were three bills addressed to Mrs. H. G. Weasley, two letters that he and Ginny had written to her and an invitation to Lavender’s Wedding…

Lavender’s wedding? Lavender Brown was finally getting married? Something didn’t seem right to him. He saw Lavender every day at the Ministry since she worked in the Administration Department, and not once had she ever mentioned a boyfriend, worn an engagement ring or even hinted that she was getting married. Harry, although confused and worried, felt that maybe Hermione knew more about this wedding than he did. After all, Hermione and Lavender used to be pretty decent friends. He brought her the mail, making sure that Lavender’s invitation was the first thing in her hand. Casually, he tossed the mail next to her.

“Hey, guess what just came in the mail for you? Bills, bills and wedding invitations. When did Lavender Brown decide she was getting married?” Harry asked, leaning on the back of the couch looking at the white and pink envelope that was clearly addressed to Hermione. She stared at it for a moment and looked back at Harry.

“Your guess is as good as mine. She hasn’t told me anything about it.” Hermione read and reread the address, but didn’t open it. Something felt very strange about this letter. She shrugged off the feeling and proceeded to open the letter. “I wonder who the lucky man is.”

What she would read next would change the course of Hermione’s life forever.

“Hermione-
You are cordially invited to attend a lavish wedding occurring of the 17th day of the month of September in the year 2005.”

Hermione stared at the paper and then at Harry. It was October. Had she missed the wedding? Harry stared in equal confusion. So Hermione read on.

“This happy occasion will be celebrated between the friends and family of Miss Lavender Elizabeth Brown and…”

Harry and Hermione stared at the paper in shock and awe, horrified at what they were reading. Hermione dropped the paper and ran into Harry’s arms sobbing with all her might into his chest. Both of them were shocked and Harry couldn’t look at his best friend ever again.

“Celebrated between the friends and family of Miss Lavender Elizabeth Brown and Mr. Ronald Bilius Weasley.”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Hermione stood in front of the house that only three weeks ago she had called her home. She was furious, holding the piece of paper in her hand and a brand new wand she had purchased. There in front of her and Ron’s home, Hermione was prepared to file the divorce papers and get her life back together. She stormed up to the door and pounded on it, keeping her wand where she could easily obtain it if the need arose and waited for Ron to come to the door. Her breath was slightly labored due to her immense weight and the pressure of her shrunken bladder. There on the doorstep, she waited.

However, it was not Ron who answered the door. Instead a brilliant brunette with sultry brown eyes stood in the doorway in a soft cotton bathrobe. This was what had become of Lavender Brown. Hermione was furious.

“So…the tramp is standing in my doorway! What, did you just get done fucking my husband?” Hermione shouted at Lavender who leaned on the doorway completely unphased. She laughed, flipping her curly hair over her shoulders and smiled.

“Yes, and it was quite good actually. He’s so insatiable, I’m wondering how he put up with your incompetence.” Lavender’s retort just stirred up the blood in Hermione’s system. She glared at the woman who was invading upon her territory. Even though Hermione was badly injured by the trauma of Ron’s abuse, she was not about to stand aside and watch him flaunt away with his ex-girlfriend from Hogwarts while he was living in her house.

“Where is Ron?” Hermione stepped forward where she was almost even with lavender. She smirked.

“Doesn’t matter. You aren’t coming in here. This is not your house anymore…” Suddenly Hermione drew her wand and blasted Lavender backwards, away from her door and promptly pushed her pregnant body into the house. Storming into the kitchen, Hermione found Ron who had jumped up at the sound of the explosion. Hermione met his gaze with a vengeance.

“What do you think you are doing here Mione?!” Ron was mildly shocked, but he stared her down and watched as she approached him angrily. Her nostrils flaring and her temperature rising, Hermione raised her wand and glared.

“This is my house Ron! I want what belongs to me.”

“You are an ungrateful bitch aren’t you.” Ron walked toward Hermione who backed up, trying not to let her wand drop or her guard down, but this was her husband. And he was intimidating.

“Don’t come any closer!”

“I give you all of your clothes and personal items, as well as a decent bit of money and…”

“You threw that money into the owl tray, I was not going to get it. Besides, I don’t want your fucking money. I just want my house!” Hermione continued to demand the house, but Ron continued to walk toward her.

“Well, you have quite the mouth on you today, don’t you Hermione?” Ron came dangerously close to Hermione, but it was a blast from behind her that left Hermione wand less and threw her backward against the wall. That’s when Ron made his move.

“You want the house Hermione? Do you?” Ron punched her in the face, leaving a cut where his wedding ring was.

He punched her again as she tried to fight back. He gripped her wrists and pulled her away from the wall, shaking her and throwing punches at her face and chest, even at her swollen abdomen. She screamed and struggled, trying to fight back, but Ron broke her left arm and threw her to the floor.

“RON STOP! YOUR HURTING HER! STOP!” Lavender’s screams echoed through the house, but Ron refused to stop.

Using his metal tipped Auror boots, he kicked Hermione while she was on the ground as hard as he could, leaving cuts, bruises and surely more extreme internal injuries to her legs, arms, back and stomach. Lavender screamed, trying to get Ron to stop, her knees bringing her to the floor in shock and horror at Ron’s actions.

“You want anything from me Hermione! You have it. You finally got pregnant! You are a selfish bitch and you don’t deserve to live!” Ron screamed and bent over her, punching her full force in the face until she was bloodied and screaming.

The pain and anguish ran over Hermione’s body and that’s when Ron pulled her up by her broken arm, punching her, kicking her and hurting her worse than she had ever been hurt before.

“RON STOP! YOU’RE KILLING HER! STOP!” But Ron didn’t stop.

The pounding and punching continued onward. Ron threw Hermione against the wall where he could get a better grip on her throat and punched her. Hermione could feel every attack like it were a blow against her. The force of each punch made her cry. After a while, Hermione noticed it was getting harder to breathe. The pounding in her head started to go away. Then, Hermione stopped screaming. Ron let her go and everything around her went black. Her lifeless body collapsed to the floor. Ron stared at her for a moment, looking at his bloody hands and at the dead woman lying on the ground.

“YOU KILLED HER! RON NOOOO. YOU KILLED HER! SHE’S DEAD!!!!!!” Lavender sobbed hysterically, collapsing to the floor and pounding on the tile.

She had known that Ron was abusive to Hermione, but she never thought she would witness Ron beat her to death right before her eyes. Ron turned and looked at Lavender, with shock and anger. He went toward her and pulled her up by her arm.

“Bitch, come on. You watched the whole thing. You are just as guilty as I am. Now…help me ditch her body before her blood stains the nice tile!” Ron’s demands were soft, almost as if he were whispering and she met his cold gaze with her own puffy ones.

She nodded and looked down at Hermione’s body. The sight of her blood made her nauseated and she soon ran to the sink and vomited. But she knew that Ron was right. If the Wizarding Law Enforcement found her, they would surely come after both of them. So together, Ron and Lavender planned a way to dispose of Hermione’s body.