A/N: A short story, written for the Dictionary Competition by Blood and Moonshadows. I don't think I've ever written something similar to this... Do you like it? If you don't, what don't you like? Review, review, review! :)
Salad and Tears
The mood was generally chipper, as all the Weasleys and the Potters and their various relatives and acquaintances gathered around the table at the Burrow. What might have looked like a family reunion was simply dinner, planned and executed by Molly Weasley herself. Hermione marvelled at the woman's ability to organize such a large gathering and -despite the number of guests- manage to keep some kind of order, not without the occasional yell to Ronald or one of his siblings. It had been quite some time since they'd all sat down together though and Hermione thought that, in a sense, it could be considered a reunion after all. She couldn't help but notice how everyone seemed to avoid a certain chair, leaving it empty, as though they were expecting a late guest to arrive soon. As sorrow filled her heart, she realized the chair was intentionally left alone. She looked around at the happy faces while tears filled her eyes.
"What's the matter?"Ron asked her.
Hermione shook her head, wondering how he hadn't noticed, how he hadn't come to the same conclusion. That the chair shouldn't have been empty or better yet, it shouldn't have been there at all. Couldn't he see, she wondered, her vision blurred by unshed tears which were threatening to spill at any moment. The others kept laughing and she wanted to hex them for being so insensitive.
"Are you blind, Ronald?"she said, a bit too loudly and failed to notice that the chatter had stopped, as tears finally ran freely down her cheeks. "Don't you see the empty chair where Fred should be sitting? Doesn't it break your heart?"
Molly gave her a pained look but quickly turned her attention to Angelina, who was shoving a giggling Roxanne in her arms. Everybody else averted their eyes, unsure if they should say something or leave it at that, pretend they hadn't heard a thing. Hermione half expected someone to agree with her but that would clearly not happen.
"Keep your mawkish sentiments to yourself, Granger and pass me the salad."Angelina told her nonchalantly, not bothering to even glance at her.
"Certainly!"Hermione replied, feeling deeply humiliated and with a gracious flick of her wand, lifted the salad bowl in the air and turned it upside down, emptying its contents on Angelina. "And it's Weasley now!"she corrected her.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"Angelina shrieked while a piece of lettuce dangled carelessly from her ear. George laughed and soon, everyone joined him. Hermione jumped up and darted outside in order to get some air, before her anger forced her to mix the salad on Angelina with some stew. She could still hear the laughter coming from the kitchen and tried to focus on her breath. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale... Would Fred have laughed too? More tears. Inhale, exhale...
"Are you mad?"she heard Angelina shout behind her back and turned to face her.
"Mawkish sentiments?"she shouted back. "Mawkish sentiments? How dare you say that to me?"
"Me?"Angelina retorted, eyes blazing. "How dare you! Yelling at Ron in front of everyone! Bringing this up in the middle of a nice family dinner! Who do you think you are?"
"Fred is a part of this family too!"Hermione said. "Was... Is... What's the difference?"
"And you think we don't know that? You think we've forgotten and you're the only one who remembers? We all remember, Hermione! Not adressing the elephant in the room, doesn't mean we're blind to it!"Angelina told her and Hermione felt very embarassed upon hearing all the emotions in her voice, despite the small piece of lettuce still hanging from the woman's ear. "Do you think we sat down, looked at that damn chair and thought, hey, who put this here? We remember! More accurately, we can't forget! But do we have to talk about it? No!"Angelina concluded and tried to catch her breath as she felt tears running down her face as well. "Now look what you've done!"she shouted one last time, sobbing.
"I'm sorry, Angelina!"Hermione said gently and placed a friendly hand on the young woman's shoulder. "I shouldn't have said that. Sometimes, the words jump right out of my mouth. I'm really sorry!"
Hermione sat down on the grass and pulled Angelina next to her. She let her cry; hell, she was still crying herself! Maybe she should have done that sooner, definitely before coming here tonight, before embarassing Ron and herself in front of all their friends.
"I miss him so much!"Angelina said between sobs. "George is wonderful, he is! But I do miss Fred! It's not the same without him!"
"I know, I know..."Hermione agreed, patting Angelina's shoulder.
"Now I feel like a right bitch for yelling at you, Hermione!"she exclaimed.
"You were, a little bit."Hermione smiled. "But I deserved it."
Angelina sighed and wiped the tears off her face, smearing her mascara along the way. Not knowing how silly she looked, she turned to Hermione and looked at her intently. If she had something important to say, it completely slipped her mind when Hermione started laughing and rolling on the grass like a toddler.
"Why are you laughing?"she wanted to know.
Hermione tried to control her laughter and steady her hands, long enough to remove the lettuce and wipe some mascara off Angelina's cheek. When the latter realized what had happened, she chuckled nervously, fully appreciating the comedic element in their heated argument.
"How long has that been there?"she asked Hermione who was still holding her belly.
"Long enough!"she replied.
"Wow..."Angelina whispered. "I was trying to make you feel bad while wearing a vegetable..."
"Oh, don't worry! I was very intimidated!"Hermione nodded, her eyes still smiling.
They both remained silent for a while, observing the stars above and listening to the sounds coming from inside the house. Life had resumed its course, as it should, Hermione thought and turned to look at Angelina whose kind face was still turned to the stars, the traces of sorrow and tears still obvious on it.
"Sometimes..."Angelina began. "Sometimes, I'm afraid that it will never get better... How idiotic is that? We dated briefly when we were students and I still can't let him go!"
"It will get better."Hermione reassured her.
"Oh, I know!"Angelina huffed. "It will, eventually. But it's very hard, you know? It seems my heart broke when Fred died and all the magic in the world can't fix it!"
"Keep your mawkish sentiments to yourself, Johnson!"Hermione said with a kind voice and bumped her shoulder to Angelina's.
"It's Weasley now!"Angelina said, mimicking her move and with a last chuckle, they got up and went inside to join their family at the dinner table.