Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.
Warnings: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers. This particular story discusses verbal and emotional abuse, and is internalized by the victim. Please exercise understanding of personal sensitivities before and while reading.
Summary (A Tempting Lie): Ron's always had a temper and difficulty expressing his feelings in positive ways. Hermione knew that when she married him. So getting upset over the things he says and how he's phrasing them is selfish and immature. It's not like he's hit her or anything.
Author's Note(s): This piece is written for the BIG Bonus Round of the Houses Competition. This particular challenge was to write a five part series, with each part being written by a different person on our team. It is considered complete as is, though the story itself continues in A Tempting Offer by Dark Angel of Sorrow Returns.
Author's Note with the Competition Information:
House: Hufflepuff
Category: BIG Bonus Round
Chapter: Part One
Theme: Earth (Secrets/Hiding)
Prompts: Undervalued [word]
Word Count: 1275 (Story)
-= LP =-
A Tempting Lie
-= LP =-
It became a problem before Hermione even thought it was a possibility. Even now, months after recognizing the situation, she balked at using the words, even in the privacy of her own mind. After all, she was not one of those weak-willed women who wouldn't defend themselves against someone who beat them. Besides, Ron never so much as raised his hand to her. It was just words and words can't hurt anyone.
Ron was just worried—he always did have problems expressing himself. He had always been insecure, so it was only natural that he didn't like her work at the Ministry. She had only pushed these last few years so that she could reach a rank where she wasn't in as much danger as the field agents for the various sub-departments. It was harder to reach her current position from where she started; not only was she muggleborn, she was also started in an unfavorable sub-department. No one liked the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Yet she still managed to work her way up the ranks to Deputy Head of the whole Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Of course, Ron would be intimidated by that when he was working at George's shop.
Hermione didn't think that made him any less of a good husband, but she could see how he could feel that way. And none of his complaints were unfounded. She did work long hours, regardless of her justification. It did interfere with her ability to fulfill her duties as wife and mother, because she often got home late and was just as often too tired to do more than cuddle. Maybe she should do something special to show her appreciation for Ron's efforts to pick up the slack, to show that it was not undervalued, as it were.
She was a powerful witch, the brightest of her year, and she absolutely did not feel like she was bleeding after every argument with her husband. She loved Ron and more importantly, he loved her. Yes, they had some problems, but they weren't really that bad. Certainly not enough to warrant the destruction of their family. Hermione had to think of her children. Rose and Hugo deserved a relationship with their father. She just needed to keep the fighting from reaching them, to shelter them from the trouble brewing between their parents.
She could do that.
She could.
Besides, it was just words and words couldn't hurt anyone.
So, she was clearly not a weak-willed woman; she was not in any danger; and this was probably all her fault anyway.
She could ignore it.
She could.
Until she couldn't, which she knew would have happened eventually.
Hermione had noticed that Harry had been getting quieter around her. It set her Harry-sense tingling. If Harry was being introspective, that meant that something was wrong and like always, he was trying to handle it all on his own. It didn't help her nerves any that it seemed like Harry and Ginny were fighting almost as much as she and Ron were. It was even worse when she realized that not only did Molly know what was going on, the matriarch blamed her for whatever it was. Hermione didn't have a whole lot of Molly's regard, having lost a great deal of it because of Skeeter's lies during the Tournament and then continuing her career after Rose and Hugo came along, but like a lot of things lately, Hermione hadn't realized how bad it could be if given half a chance.
In hindsight, perhaps she should have known that she wasn't as good at hiding things as she thought.
She should have also known that Rose and Hugo weren't the only people who would see more than what she let others. She should have taken more precautions, hidden the secret deeper—not that there was a secret to hide, because there was nothing going on, nothing wrong.
She could ignore the growing desperation which she used to cling to that idea.
She could ignore the whispering voice that declared it a lie, and how the taunting repetitions were growing louder.
She could.
Until Harry finally broke their unspoken agreement to just ignore everything, in typical Harry fashion—which meant that it was not loud or demanding. Harry simply slipped into her office after a particularly bad lunch date—the incidents of Ron's outbursts were starting to blur together; what does that say? He plopped a file into her in-box and carefully set a cup of tea on her desk. Because it was Harry bringing it, Hermione knew it would be her favorite oolong rather than the English Breakfast that Ron favored. Then Harry settled himself into the chair on the other side of the desk in the way that Sirius Black used to do when he was about to start a fight with Molly.
"I know that something is wrong," he announced without preamble. "I've known you for twenty years, 'Mione. I know when you're trying to hide something. I've seen your lying face too many times."
"I'm not—"
"Oh, and there it is!"
"Harry," she scolded. He just gave her that crooked grin that she knew meant he had been hanging around George recently. Of course, that would explain why Harry was choosing to confront her now, and with her favorite tea to boot. He had probably heard today's argument, either directly or from George. She sighed, knowing that she was truly caught. Harry probably had his theories all in order and his counter-arguments all ready.
Once upon a time, she would have been pleased to know that he had taken her lectures on planning and logic to heart. Just last month she had been scolding him over those very things, with a sharp reminder that he needed to think more strategically if he was going to be in charge of more than his squad. (She had to be harder on him because there was already talk of their connection and his fame being the reason for his rise through the ranks. Not amidst the DMLE, as they have both long proven their integrity and worth, but outside of it, they both still had their detractors.) Now, she wished he had stayed the boy whose best argument for something was 'I just know' because that meant that she would be able to hide just a little while longer from the truth.
She sighed as his expression settled into something more serious.
"Just tell me," he begged. "You know that I'll just keep digging until I find out. It's kind of what I do."
"It's not important," she tried. "It's for the best if I just ignore it."
"Well, that's a Dumbledore line if I ever heard one. 'It's for the best' sounds a lot like 'for the Greater Good'. Weren't you the one who said that we had to be better than that if we didn't want to end up back in the same situation that led to the war in the first place?"
"This is hardly the same thing!"
"Really?" Harry leaned forward in his seat. His eyes were focused on her face and his body tense as if preparing to dodge. When he continued, his tone held a familiar note of challenge. "Prove it. Tell me what is going on and I will judge for myself if it's something to worry about."
When she finally answered her best friend, the words came in fits and bursts. It was difficult speaking aloud the truth she had been hiding even from herself. But for Harry, she could do this.
She could.
-= LP =-
The temptation continues in
A Tempting Offer by Dark Angel of Sorrow Returns
-= LP =-