Chapter Song: Elastic Heart
The rain hit the Malfoy estate like shards of glass — relentless, cold, unforgiving.
Inside, the warmth and light of the home clashed with the storm raging in Hermione's chest.
Three months had passed since the wedding, but the battles hadn't ended.
Not really.
The whispers had returned, the glances sharper, the weight heavier.
Tonight had been different.
A night where everything inside her cracked — where the ghosts of her past clawed through the fragile peace she'd tried to build.
She barely remembered grabbing her cloak.
Barely remembered slipping out the door before anyone could stop her.
The rain drenched her as she ran — the slick stones underfoot, the cold air filling her lungs — until the manicured grounds of Malfoy Manor were miles behind.
She found herself on the shore of the farthest beach she knew, the waves crashing in wild rhythm beneath the gray sky.
She stood there, soaked and shivering, the salt spray mixing with tears she refused to stop.
For a moment, in the vast loneliness of storm and sea, she felt it.
Freedom.
Like the wind could carry away every chain, every scar, every whispered curse.
But the truth whispered back in the howl of the wind:
Chains were not just around her.
Some lived inside.
Some were forged in childhood shadows, in teenage battles, in the very marrow of her bones.
She was free — but not yet whole.
And the rain fell harder as she whispered to the tempest, to the sea, to the night:
"I'm trying."