Forgive.
She loved him…she truly did. At least that's what she told herself after every beating. It was her fault you see. She didn't know how to cook. That's what started it all.
He had been the perfect boyfriend all through her 7th year in Hogwarts. He treated her like a queen. Marcus D'Arcy, surprisingly a Slytherin. Harry and Ron were furious that she went to the first Hogsmead weekend with him, but gradually got over it. They knew how happy she was and how well he treated her. That was before they got married.
She didn't want to marry him, at least not so soon. The problem was she got pregnant. She just couldn't face her family and friends being an unwed mother so she talked it over with Marcus and they agreed to get married right out of Hogwarts, Hermione was 4 months pregnant. That was 5 years ago and the last day that she spoke to either Ron or Harry.
They both thought it was a mistake, they weren't even together for a year yet and they told her so. She got mad, they got mad and she told them to never speak with her again.
Marcus made that decision easier for her by moving them Dublin, his home town. Until then they had lived on room service and take out food. But once they were settled he wanted his fist home cooked meal.
Hermione had never cooked before. Her mom was the domestic type but for the last 7 years she barely saw her because of school. So here she was a 17 year old wife and 5 months pregnant trying to cook her first meal. It was a disaster. She burned the meat and nearly caught the kitchen on fire. Marcus wasn't pleased.
She had a black eye the next day so she did what every sensible witch would do at that moment, charmed it away. Once again Marcus wasn't pleased. He told her that he wanted her to keep the bruises he left on her as a reminder for her disobedience. She thought she was crazy and told him so.
She spent the next night in the hospital with a broken wrist. She told the healer that she had a nasty fall and they wanted to keep her to make sure the baby was ok. She agreed. The next morning Marcus came into her room with a dozen roses and a guilty look on his face. He apologized and told her he loved her and that it would never happen again. She believed him.
She took cooking lessons and did what she could to please him. He didn't hurt her again while she was pregnant and she was happy for it. They talked for a while and decided on baby names. He wanted to name the baby after his father, James and his aunt who raised him, Lillian. This suited her fine because she wanted to name the baby after Harry, but she never told him that. She couldn't keep her mind of her lost friend and it hurt her more then Marcus' beatings ever did.
Jamie Lilly D'Arcy was born on October 31, Halloween. Suiting for Hermione because that was the day her friendship was born with Harry. She couldn't help thinking of him anymore. Every time she looked at little Jamie something popped into her head. A memory, a dream. She once had a crush on Harry but then she meet Marcus and she thought it died out.
That was the next thing that got her punished. Jamie was 9 months old and through all that time Marcus was the same man she fell in love with. She thought that the punishments were over; he was just having a bad week or something. She found out that she was wrong. It was Harry's birthday and she missed him terribly and decided to write him a birthday letter. Marcus caught her and thought she was having an affair with him.
She got a black eye and a bruised rib for that one. She didn't try to heal herself this time. She knew better.
The punishments were getting more sever and close together. She'd get hit for the smallest thing and he's always make up for it. He told her he loved her and if she would only be good she wouldn't force him to punish her.
This went on for 5 years, until Marcus made his final mistake.
Jamie was playing with a muggle coloring book that Hermione's mother had sent for her last birthday. Hermione stepped out of the room for a minute, and when she returned there were crayon marks on the walls. Hermione reprimanded Jamie like any mother would, told her not to mark on the walls, that it was bad, and was just about to place a cleaning charm on the wall when Marcus walked in. He went ballistic, accusing her of being a bad mother for not punishing Jamie. Then he grabbed Jamie hard enough to make her cry. He shook her and told her to never do it again.
He was screaming, she was screaming, Jamie was screaming and then all of a sudden silence.
Hermione had fainted. She woke in the hospital the next day to find out that she was pregnant again.
She loved him…she truly did. But she couldn't stand to see her children get punished the way she did. It was her fault you see. She didn't raise Jamie well enough she's the one that deserved the bruises on her arms. She loved him…but she loved Jamie and her unborn child more.
Marcus didn't know she was pregnant again. She told the doctors not to tell him that, just to say that she was stressed and overworked. If it was up to her he would never know.
The next time he went on one of his trysts with an "old friend" she packed all her bags, Jamie's too, and left on a plane to England. She didn't know where she'd go, but she had an idea.
She had no idea how much she had missed London until she stepped out of the Airport. Jamie's little eyes were as big as saucers. They took a taxi to the bookstore next to the Leaky Cauldron. She took a deep breath and, after making sure all her bags were shrunken and in her pocket, grabbing Jamie's hand she stepped through the doors.
It was fairly simple to get a room without many questions. She looked completely different than she did 5 years ago. Marcus liked her hair short and blonde so she kept it that way with charms or muggle hair dyes if need be. She knew that no one would mistake her for the all knowing bookworm that she was in Hogwarts and for some reason that saddened her.
After they settled in their room she looked in her purse, not much money. Thankfully Harry had given her own vault for a secret wedding gift and she had enough sense to not tell Marcus about it. She changed from her muggle clothes to her robes that she hasn't wore in years and braced herself for the memories of Diagon alley.
Once again Jamie's eyes were wide at the sight of Diagon ally. She hasn't seen much of the wizarding world and many things still amazed her. She held tightly to Hermione's hand and once they got to Gringotts she demanded to be held.
She had no trouble getting money out of her vault; she just hoped that Harry hadn't made some deal with the goblins to tell him when someone had used it. She didn't think that she could face him just yet.