HERMIONE GOMEZ
❝ how quickly they do sell their souls, for the feast and the promise of gold . . . ❞
about.
hermione apollonia gomez was born in cuba, on 11/01/1979 ; the middle child of juan and victoria gomez, she has two older brothers, juan II and santiago ( tito ), and two younger siblings, rafael and luísa.
in 1989, when hermione was nine years old, almost ten, the family immigrated to the united states, relocating to the town of riverdale, due to a new job one of her father's brothers had arranged for him there.
leaving everything they ever knew behind was difficult, as it was learning a whole new language, since upon arriving, neither hermione nor her family spoke one word of english.
being an immigrant, especially when you’re a child, isn’t easy, especially at school, and young hermione knew that all too well. people would constantly make fun of her strong accent and the many mistakes she’d make in english, as well as the way her parents spoke and, on heavy days, their financial situation. and from ages ten to fourteen, that was the cause of many, many fights between her and her classmates.
until one day, she decided she would no longer be bothered by that. there was simply nothing to be ashamed of or picked on for; it was just who she was and she was proud of her heritage, her family and where she came from.
and that would’ve been just another great story of resilience and overcoming obstacles. . . if she’d done things the right way. but no-- hermione one day toughened up ( maybe even a tad too much ) and the bullied, became the bully, and that’s what finally earned the girl the ‘mean girl’ title that would accompany her throughout her years at riverdale high.
but the mean exterior was only a mere cover up for a girl who desperately wanted to be fully accepted and to fit in. besides, if no one could really get close to her, they wouldn't see how tragically fucked up her life really was. financial struggles from the day she set foot in this new country; an addict brother who was the headache of the family and was in and out of jail when he wasn't running with the local gangs and later on, a cartel; not knowing if she'd ever graduate school and have a decent life, for she'd heard it from teachers and classmates that she wasn't bright enough; and, to top it all off, a traumatic event from her childhood that, as much as she loved her family, she'd never be able to forgive them for it-- a sort of exorcism gone wrong, based on silly village beliefs. but maybe those beliefs weren't so silly after all, she'd find, many years into the future.
nonetheless, despite the struggles and all, she managed to turn her life around and, even if it was one year later than the others who graduated with her, she and her parents managed to save up with their jobs and finally, on a hot morning of 1997, when summer was almost bidding its goodbye, hermione was off to study business at nyu stern.
during her years there, she ran into hiram lodge once again and for some reason, at that point, things felt right with him. as they were both finishing graduation, the couple got engaged and, shortly after, tied the knot in a ceremony in los angeles. five months into their married life, hermione gave birth to veronica. and that day was the last one she'd know peace as it was.
au portrayal.
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→ as the title of this section already states, this portrayal is highly au!, being based on headcanons of mine for the character combined with the inspiration taken from the horror verse of archie comics, as well as the netflix show 'diablero' and the particularities surrounding one of the main characters.
→ trigger warnings apply !
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the day veronica was born was indeed the last peaceful one hermione would know for a very long time. after that, even with this new light in their lives, things surrounding the lodges only seemed to get darker.
with each passing day, the brunette would realize that hiram was indeed what her mother had feared the most-- manipulative, cold, heartless and brutal. not even his family was spared.
as business grew, so did hiram's greed and the means he used to obtain success were vile, to say the least. he became aggressive, impatient; nothing was ever good enough. and that reflected on his relation with hermione and their then baby daugther.
now, after the events of her childhood, hermione never really sought the help of any religion. however, after a visit from her mother, she agreed to let victoria bring a curandera to their house to bless it. upon entering, the woman instantly felt bad and said there wasn't much she could do for them, especially for hermione, and warned her to be careful for she'd felt the presence of an entity so powerful and cruel, that mainly accompanied hiram but it could easily bring harm to the rest of the family. the latina obviously didn't believe that and chose to ignore completely what the woman had said, even if she, herself, had experienced and felt things she couldn't exactly explain.
from that visit, a year passed; veronica was now three years old and things at home had only gotten worse. one night, things got so bad and the tension between hermione and hiram was so intense, that a huge fight broke out between the two and for whatever reason, hiram lost his temper and almost went at veronica. from that moment on, things are quite blurry, but hermione remembers that she took the little girl from her crib near the couch and made a run for the nursery, safely tucking her daughter in her crib and locking the door behind her immediately after.
she also remembers fear and rage boiling inside her veins in a dangerous concoction, until the latter took over her and it felt almost. . . inhumane. in that moment, without even thinking much of it, she thought to herself that there was nothing she wouldn't do anymore to stop hiram and his rampage; she was willing to try everything, whatever the cost may be.
almost on cue then, as she placed herself between hiram and veronica's now locked nursery door, it was as if something overcame her and she witnessed closely when hiram's eyes changed from rage to pure fear and horror before her. the way he looked at her was as if she wasn't herself anymore and that's exactly how she felt.
that's the last thing she remembers before waking at dawn, curled up in a mess and so weak, she could bare lift a limb. everything was silent, no sight of hiram, but strangely, only his clothes were left behind. everything felt distant and this constant ringing noise in her ears was irritating. looking down then, she saw her bloody and bruised hands, as well as a deep cut that now made its across the palm of her left hand, and when she scurried up from the floor to go check on veronica, the brunette caught a glance of herself in the living room's now shattered mirror and was horrified to see that her mouth, chin and neck matched the state of everything around her: a bloody mess.
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upon saying that there was nothing she wouldn't do anymore to put an end to what had been going on, hermione desperately looked around for something she could defend herself with. while doing so, her eyes fell on a small statue that hiram had in the far back of their apartment, at the end of the hall where the rooms were located: la santa muerte. even if that wasn't exactly a part of her culture or religion, hermione closed her eyes briefly and asked for protection. however, what answered her desperate pleas wasn't that entity but something much more sinister.
"whatever the cost may be, i don't care, just help me." ; with that, the entity that had been in their house, attached itself to her and that was what killed hiram. not exactly a what but a who: hermione-- ripping her husband to shreds, tearing him limb from limb, until there was nothing left but what he was wearing that night.
hermione would learn after that what she did was open herself up to whatever entities, especially that one, that may want a body to wreak havoc, turning herself into a demon vessel.
in order to try and keep herself and veronica protected, she resorted to santería, something she'd sworn to never dabble in again, after the events of her childhood. being a santera has helped her through the years to both cope and control what happens to her, whenever it happens, until she figures out how to or even if there's a way of lifting this. . . curse.
as to the situation regarding hiram, she soon called the police and his family to reporting he had been missing for a while now. of course, things were so abrupt that his family didn't believe that was what happened and simply accused hermione of killing him herself or of having had someone do the work for her. but with no proof and no body being ever found, that theory was ruled out and investigations became inconclusive.
after a while, she took veronica and the two moved from town to town, all over the u.s. and as far away from new york and the lodge's as possible, until something drew her to riverdale where they now reside at.