Post HBP, pre-hunt, pre-weddingish.
Diclaimer: I am alone and bookless. This includes HP.
There's a theory that there are two types of people in the world- those who lead and those who allow themselves be led. It was unfortunate, Harry mused, that his two best friends and he all appeared to be leaders. Certainly they would defer to him on occasion, as he would them, but at times (like now) there was no telling them. Sometimes, Harry wished he had stupid, gullible friends.
"You have to do it Harry! There's no-one else!" It wasn't the first time, and it probably wouldn't be the last time, that he thought of her voice as shrill but it was the first time he was annoyed enough that he seriously considered telling her.
"What about you two? Why can't one of you do it?" He made a conscious effort not to pout. He really hated it when they ganged up on him.
"C'mon mate, where's all that legendary Boy-Who-Lived Gryffindor courage?" Harry scowled.
"Right now, it's wishing I'd taken that stupid hat up on its offer to be a Slytherin. At least then I might have a chance of figuring a way out of this." Ron actually had the nerve to laugh and even Hermione cracked a smile.
They were squeezed into Ron's bedroom at the Burrow (no mean feat considering the room contained five- yes, five- beds and Ron was a gargantuan) and it was July 29th, two days before Harry's birthday and the morning of Bill and Fleur's wedding.
He scowled again at the mere thought of Fleur and, by association, her cousin Martinique- a loud, ever so slightly obnoxious girl (not a Veela, thank Merlin for small mercies) with whom he had been paired for the first dance. And who he was expected to sit with for dinner. To make matters worse, Ginny had been paired with Fleur's teen-modelalike cousin Jean-Luc, who had the stupidest hair Harry had ever seen.
"You know we would if we could Harry, but I've already felt the wrath of Fleur once this week and that's enough, thank you very much." Harry couldn't help but grin- the memory of Ron's outburst at the announcement of Hermione's partner was set to go down in Weasley family legend. When Fleur had informed Hermione, in such a casual voice that Harry knew she didn't know any better, that she would be paired with none other than Viktor Krum for the evening, the entire Weasley family and half the Order had turned to stare at Ron expectantly. He hadn't failed them either- he'd announced, quite vocally, that Hermione (who turned bright red and buried her face in her hands) wouldn't be dancing with anyone other than him and that if Fleur (or Bill, by virtue of engagement) had a problem with it that she'd have to take it up with him.
Unsurprisingly, that hadn't gone down too well with any of the women involved. Fleur had accused him of trying to ruin her big day, Mrs. Weasley had told him (in quite a sharp tone but with a glint in her eye that Ron missed) that it wasn't up to him and Hermione had screeched at him that she wasn't his possession and she'd be quite happy to spend the evening with Viktor, thank you very much.
He'd been forced to back down at that point, resolving to not enjoy himself at all and to spend the entire wedding following the Bulgarian around to infuriate Hermione. That had very nearly been the reality, up until Hermione found out exactly who Ron's partner was. Apparently, Lavender Brown's mother was first cousin to Fleur's father.
At that point, Hermione had forcibly taken Fleur into a 'more private' setting (she'd dragged the surprised Frenchwoman by the elbow into the kitchen which was vacated by the twins and Oliver so quickly that Harry would swear she'd used magic) and in complete privacy- no amount of money could coerce either of them to confess what had happened- she had convinced Fleur to rearrange the wedding so that Lav-Lav was as far away from Ron as was humanly possible.
They'd been glaring daggers at each other ever since and Fleur had even been trying to get Molly on her side by talking Lavender up 'That pretty girl, she iz so kind' and dropping comments about how Lavender (being considerably taller than Hermione) made such a better pair with Ron.
It hadn't worked in the slightest (Molly, on the contrary, was delighted) but it meant that Fleur hated Hermione with a passion. And Ron too, although she was smart enough not to mention that to anyone.
All in all, it didn't make the prospect of Harry escaping Martinique's clutches any more likely.
"You know what? It doesn't matter. It's one evening, one dance and one dinner. I can put up with her for that long." He couldn't help but shudder as he spoke though. "And it's not like Gin would ever agree to it anyway- I'm sure she'll be perfectly happy with Jean-Luc." He spat the name out as if it were dirty.
"Harry Potter! If you dare leave me alone with that nasty, slimy, Frenchman for the whole of this wedding then I'm going to hurt you so badly that Voldemort won't need to bother!" If Hermione had been shrill earlier, Ginny was piercing. She looked calm though, despite her words and the anger in them.
"Eh… okay. I'll speak to Fleur." He couldn't keep a tiny note of hope out of his voice "Do you… do you really want to dance with me though? Would you be happier with someone else?"
"Yes Harry, I want to dance with you. I want to have dinner with you." Her voice was softer but the anger hadn't gone away. "You may have ditched me at the funeral but I haven't given up hope on you yet. I can be patient when I have to be. Now go and sort this out!" For a spilt second, Ron was sure he'd heard his mother yelling. Sometimes Gin was so like her it was downright creepy.
Harry slunk out of the room, brushing past her on the way, half-way between annoyed and ecstatic. Ginny moved into his seat- or at least, the perch he'd been occupying on the end of Charlie's bed. Idly playing with loose threads from one of the blankets, she addressed the remainder of the Trio.
"So... did you guys have a good time with the Dursley's?" The crack in her voice was slight but her brother and her best friend noticed it.
For once it was Ron who moved first, wrapping his arms around his baby sister like he used to do when they were really little.
"He's an idiot Ginny. I told him as much after I kicked the shit out of him for hurting you." She took several deep breaths to ward off tears before meeting her brother's gaze.
"Did you really? For me?" She actually looked eleven again, just like she'd been when she woke up after the Chamber of Secrets. Scared and lonely.
"Yeah Gin. Anything for you- you've always been my favourite sibling, you know." She grinned then, weakly, but a grin nonetheless. Maybe the first one in weeks, but she hadn't been counting.
"When do you leave?" Silence, for a beat, as Ron and Hermione exchanged glances.
"Tomorrow, after all the guests have gone home." Hermione admitted, after double-checking the silencing spell placed on the room.
"Why is it I can't come again?" She sounded… tired. As if she'd fought this argument too often, with herself and with them.
"Gin…" Ron paused and took a deep breath. "You're my only sister. My little sister and I haven't done a very good job of protecting you so far- and yes, I know that you're well able to look after yourself but that doesn't change the fact that I'll always try anyway…" She smiled indulgently, willing to let him believe that he could, for just a moment. "… and if… if you were to come with us this time, well, this time I wouldn't be able to protect you either. Hermione and I have already agreed that Harry comes first. I couldn't do that if you were there too."
A solitary tear slipped down her face but true to Weasley style, she broke the
miserable silence with a joke.
"I think that's the most words I've ever hear you say without mentioning Quidditch once." Their laughter may have been a little forced, but that'll happen sometimes.
As Ginny left, Hermione grabbed Ron's arm before he went to follow.
"Why did you lie to her Ron? You were the one who wanted her to come!" He smiled, a little sad.
"I know my sister Hermione- she'd hate it if she knew that Harry was too worried, truly too worried, to let her come. But I'm her brother- she's had a lifetime to get used to us protecting her. She'll be able to live with that."
"You're amazing, you know that?" Something gleamed in Hermione's eyes that Ron vaguely recognised as pride.
"I do, but I didn't think anyone else knew!"
A/N: Aw.