The Uses of a Melon
I do not own the Harry Potter Franchise; it belongs to JK. Rowling and others.
This is a challenge for Taragh McCarthy and her Bizarre Holidays over at HPFC. I was given Watermelon Seed Spitting Week (quite the tongue twister is you ask me xD). Well, on with the show… hope you like it!
Chapter 1: Monday 21 June 2011
Hermione Weasley sat on the porch of her house as she watched her two children play in their backyard. She had taken the present week off in order to spend some much needed time with her children and family. As they played on the toy brooms they had gotten from Uncle Harry last Christmas, Hermione held her current book in her lap, if only to make it look like she was reading. In reality, she was wondering what it was she was going to do with the week she now had free. She had urged her husband to do the same and just spend time together as a family of four, rather than the family of twenty-odd cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, and sisters. No, this week was to be theirs and theirs alone.
As she thought more on it, she began to think back on her days as a child. It was around this time when her parents and she would fly to the States where she would see some of her more distant cousins. She hadn't been to Texas in over two decades. There was a festival going on in a little town known as Luling and Hermione had to wonder if maybe it had started. Usually, it was at the end of the month. Standing up, Hermione placed her book on the chair she had been sitting in and went inside. Her house was made of muggle and magical appliances – something Ron had been hesitant about at first; and now, he knew how to do the laundry without a charm and how to use the telephone even. To say she was proud of him was an understatement.
Picking up the receiver, she called home to her parents' house first. She let it ring. Once. Twice. Three times it rung before her mother picked up. "Good afternoon, Mum." She said brightly. "I was wondering if you had Aunt Clara's phone number. I was thinking about taking a family trip with the kids down to Texas to the Watermelon Thump." Hermione listened as her mother rustled around for a phone book before she told her the number she desired. "Thank you." She told her mum. Her ear soon became glued to the telephone as she listened to the gossip that her mother had recently taken up. "Oh, well, I hope nothing went too bad. Give Dad a hug from me and tell him I said hi. I'm going to give Aunt Clara a call. Bye Mum." She quickly placed the receiver down so that she didn't have to listen to the shameless gossiping girl her mother had somehow turned into from the time Hermione left Hogwarts to when her Rosie was born.
Dialling the foreign number, again Hermione waited. One. Two. Three rings again and then she heard the gruff hello of her uncle. "Uncle Ricky? It's Hermione."
Dear, old Uncle Ricky's voice could be heard loud and clear from the other side of the receiver pulled a good five centimetres away from her ear. "Little Hermione? God, haven't heard from ya in years. W'as it been? Twen'y years now?"
Hermione chuckled. "Yes, Uncle Ricky. Mum and Dad sent me to a boarding school when I was eleven and I had schoolwork I needed to get done over the summer. Anyways, I was wondering if the Watermelon Seed Festival is there yet."
"Oh yeah. They've been settin' 'er up all this week. You and yer Mom and Dad should come down. I'd love to see that brother of mine."
"Mum and Dad have to work. But I'd be bringing down my own family. I'm married now. With two children." Hermione explained to her uncle. She could almost hear him nodding and it was odd. She hadn't talked to this man in over twenty years and now, here she was, hoping they'd house her family. "I miss Aunt Clara's gumbo."
"Aw, Claire makes the best gumbo. Those little uns of yours need to try it. Sadly, she doesn't make it as spicy anymore. But it's still good."
"Mummy!" Hermione heard her youngest scream and soon found herself having to say her goodbyes early.
"That's my son. I need to see what's wrong. Hopefully I can find some tickets to come down and you can meet them. Do you still have room?"
"We might. Darrell just moved in with Emmy an' li'l Bella so we might have some room down in 'is old room and Constance's old room. Gimme a call when you have those plane tickets, Hermione."
"I will. Bye Uncle Ricky." With that, Hermione hung the phone up and turned around just to bump into her son. "What's the matter, love?" She knelt down so that she was eye-level with Hugo.
"Rosie pushed me off my broom. She did it on purpose."
"Did not!" Came the screech of her daughter.
"Did too…"
"I did not. Mummy, you can't believe him. He's lying."
Hermione found a headache coming on as she stood up and picked her son up off the floor. "Follow me." It was all she said to her daughter before going into the kitchen. Unfortunately, Ron had been called in to work as George was having a bad flu coming on. She sat Hugo on the table before turning to grab an ice-pack from the freezer. She placed the pack on Hugo's bumped head and told him to hold it there. She then turned to Rose. "Why did you push your brother off of his broom?"
"I didn't, Mummy. I mean it."
"Rose Minerva, do not lie to me. Why did you push Hugo off of his broom?"
"He cheated." Rose mumbled as her eyes downcast.
"I did not." Hugo butt in.
"Did too."
"Did not."
Soon, Hermione was getting fed up with the children. "Please quiet down for one moment. I thought maybe a nice little holiday would be wonderful, but I'm thinking that was a bad idea."
"Holiday?" Both children perked up at the word. "What kind of holiday, Mummy?" Rose continued on. "Like another holiday to Gramma's house? Or a real holiday where we actually leave the country?"
"What?" Hermione was rather confused for the moment before she recovered. "Never mind, a real holiday I suppose. I have family in the States and I thought it would be nice to see them."
"Oh, so it's a family picnic like at Gramma's." Hugo commented.
"No, there's a festival going on in the town where my family lives. I thought it would be nice to get away for the week."
"Can Al come with us?" Rose asked.
"And Lily too?" added in Hugo. It wasn't a bad idea, having the Potters go along with them. Ginny would keep me sane. Hermione mused. "Please Mummy?"
Before she was even saying anything, Hermione was nodding her approval. "James can come too. Same with Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry too."
"I'm home." Hermione was barely able to finish before the kids ran out of the kitchen and into the room which held their fireplace, remnants of 'Daddy!' being heard down the hall. Hermione sat down in one of the chairs at the table and held onto the ice-pack she had given to her son and brought it to her head where the headache had started. "Hello, love." Hermione looked up to see Ron come into the kitchen with one child on his shoulders and the other hanging from his arm. It put a warm feeling in her stomach and fondness in her heart. This was her family regardless of whether or not they argued or whether or not they got along. "Hermione?" Ron snapped the fingers of his free hand and brought her attention to him. "Mind helping out? These two are getting a bit heavy."
"Sure." Hermione held up her arms and grabbed Rose from her father's shoulders and placed her on the ground. "Ron, I was thinking about taking a trip."
"I heard." He said. When Hermione gave him a puzzled look, he nodded over at their daughter. "Rosie told me you wanted to get away. A real holiday, she called it."
"Going to Gramma's for dinner on Sunday is not a holiday, Daddy." Ron stuck his tongue out at his daughter, causing her to do the same.
"Ron, grow up. Rose, Hugo, to your rooms to play. I want to talk this over with your father."
"Kay Mum." Both kids announced before they ran in the general direction where their rooms were.
"So what is it you wanted to discuss?" Ron took a seat at the table and pulled the Daily Prophet towards him.
"I was hoping to go to Texas…" she waited to continue on to see his reaction. He didn't seem to have one. "Ron, did you hear me?"
"Yes, Hermione. You want to go to Texas. You told me nothing else."
"You know where Texas is, right?" When Ron shrugged Hermione let out a groan. "Ron. I want to go to the States to see my family."
"What?" The paper fell from his grip as he looked at his wife.
"I have family in the States. When I was younger, Mum and Dad took me to the festival that comes to the town where my family lives." Still, he just looked at her. "I haven't seen my Aunt Clara or Uncle Richard in over twenty years. I was about nine the last time they saw me." His gaze stayed on her. "I thought it would be nice to see them, let them see how much I've grown. Maybe see some of my cousins. Meet their kids and see some old friends I made there." Silence still reigned once she stopped speaking. "Will you say something?"
"Hermione, your family usually means no magic."
"So?"
"What do you mean 'so'?" Ron stood from the chair. "Hermione… I don't think it's such a good idea. I mean, the kids are still young. What if they mess up and say something about our world?"
"Well, Hugo's four, they'd take it as his own little fantasy and Rosie is six now. She's pretty smart at keeping her mouth shut. Please Ron? You'll love the festival. And Harry, Ginny and their kids can come too. I mean, my uncle doesn't know that yet, but he'd love to have them. Please?" Hermione wasn't one to beg, and when she did, she really, truly wanted something. And how was Ron to say no to that?
"Fine." He wasn't.
"Wonderful. I need to call and see if I can book some tickets. Then we need to pack and I need to call Harry and Ginny. I'll also need—"
"Hold on a second, Hermione. What do you mean tickets?"
"Plane tickets, Ron. It would look suspicious if we just poofed there automatically."
"But Hermione, we can just 'poof' there automatically. We don't need them to pick us up. We can just apparate."
"I'd feel safer taking the plane. You know how I am with long distance apparation. Especially with a side-along." Hermione chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about it more and more. "I'd worry that someone got splinched and that is not something I would need or want to deal with. You remember when you got splinched. That is not something I want happening to our children."
Hermione seemed to find herself pacing the kitchen as she explained her reasons for using an aeroplane rather than apparation. Ron grabbed her by the shoulders and placed a kiss to her cheek. "Fine, Hermione. We'll go on the plane-thingy." With a hug, Hermione went to call the airport.
xxx
"Are we really going on a trip? A real trip?" Rosie jumped up and down on her bed as Ron stood in the doorway of her room, an amused expression on his face. He had told her that they were taking their first real and official holiday and Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry were going with them. "I can't believe it! Thank you, Daddy." Rosie jumped off her bed and ran to hug her father around his waist.
"There's no need for thanks, Rose. It was Mum's idea."
"I know. But she said she needed to talk to you about it. So I just figured she wanted to you let her have her way."
"I don't let her have her way."
"Yes you do, Daddy. You always give Mummy what she wants." The six-year-old nodded with certainty and let go of Ron. She then began to pack.
"We're taking an aeroplane." Ron told her, parroting what Hermione told him to say.
"What's that, Daddy?" Rose looked up from her small suitcase in wonder.
"Um, it's this huge metal object that flies in the air."
"You mean like Grampa's old flying car?"
"Who told you about the flying car?"
"Uncle Harry told me. He said in your second year you flew it to Hogwarts. Is the thing we're taking like that?"
"Kind of." Ron wasn't sure how to explain it to Rose. The way Hermione explained it made the contraption sound very dangerous and could just fall out of the sky in a split second. "It's a muggle transportation device." He opted to go with that as it made the thing sound a lot less dangerous and scary.
"Oh. Okay, Daddy."
"Mummy said she was going to get tickets for it. We're leaving tomorrow sometime." With that, Ron left his daughter's room in order to find his son. It was his turn to hear about the official trip.
xxx
The small conversation with Hugo went generally the same way it did with Rose. He was excited that Mummy and Daddy were taking him on a trip and his Lily could go with them along with James and Al and Aunty Ginny and Uncle Harry! When Hugo had exclaimed that out loud, it occurred to Ron that they had yet to actually ask the Potters if they wanted to join their little rendezvous to the States, so Ron made his way into the family area where their fireplace was and flooed Harry.
"Harry, you there?" Ron called as he tried to pull as much of his head through to look around.
"Ron? Hey there, mate." Harry walked into the room where his own fireplace was, little Lily trailing after her father. "How are you?"
"Good, good. Hey, Hermione got this idea in her head that she wants to go to the States to see some long lost family of hers."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. She wants us to go on this plane-thingy—"
"You mean an aeroplane, Ron?" Ron nodded a forlorn look on his face. "They're not dangerous. Well, not entirely; there are people who go to learn how to pilot them."
"I'm still nervous about it. I said we could just apparate… but y'know… her, uh, opinions on distance apparation. I'm also not sure if I want to go."
"Why not?"
"You know the small extra baggage that comes with being married to Hermione."
Harry supressed a chuckle and commented. "No, I don't, Ron. I'm not married to her."
"Harry! This is serious. With her family, comes no magic." Ron panicked.
"Ron?" Hermione's voice rang out. "Oh, there you are," a smile bright on her face.
"Hullo Hermione. Ron told me about your trip to the States."
"Hi Harry. It's a good thing he called you. Silly me went to go call the airport without asking you and Gin first."
"Asking us what exactly?"
"If you'd come with us. Hugo wants Lily to come with us and Rose wants to bring Albus. I figured it would be a nice family trip."
"Oh; sure Hermione. Let me just go talk to Ginny about it. Did you get fly times?"
"I did. Tell you what, why don't the five of you come on over for the time being and we'll plan everything?" The two patriarchs said their goodbyes and closed the floo line. "Did you talk to the children, Ron?" He just nodded. "Wonderful." Just as she left the room, one by one, the Potter family filed into their house.
xxx
"I'm not so sure about this…" came Ron's voice as he again questioned his wife's mode of transportation.
"I think it's a wonderful idea. Just think, the children will have a real holiday for the first time and you'll all get to meet my Aunt Clara and Uncle Richard." Hermione urged.
"I agree with Hermione." Ginny piped up. "The children deserve a holiday that isn't to Mum and Dad's. Think of it this way," Ginny turned to look at Ron, "both Harry and Hermione believe this metal contraption to be safe. Maybe it is."
"Gin, you haven't heard the worst part." Ron continued, "there's going to be no magic on this trip."
"Well, I suppose we could survive for a week without it." Ginny said slowly. "I mean, it's just a week and if something happens we will have our wands, right?"
"I suppose." Ron accepted.
"Then it's settled." Hermione smiled, "there is a plane going to Austin, Texas tomorrow. I gave a call to my aunt and uncle and told them that there would be five more occupants coming with us. They said it was fine. The kids could have a type of sleepover in their living room and they have two rooms available for us. They don't mind coming to pick us up in Austin. It's a little out of the way, but it's possible for them. I was going to take out about three hundred galleons from Gringotts tonight and put them into my muggle account to pay for the plane tickets.
"Harry, if I could have the money for yours that would be wonderful. They said for five it would be around 1850 pounds." Harry nodded at that. "Now then, I was going to take out another twenty or so for the trip and have it converted into pounds so that we can have it converted from pounds into dollars." Everyone had pretty much stopped listening to Hermione as she went over what to do out loud. "I can help Rose pack tonight, Ron will you help Hugo?" Her question was left unanswered, so she tried it again. "Ron you'll help Hugo pack." Again, she was met with silence. "Ronald Weasley!" She hollered. That got his attention.
"Oi, what 'Mione."
"I told you not to call me that." She glowered before she let it melt away. "I want you to help Hugo pack tonight. I'll get Rose packed after I get the tickets." Ron nodded at his job and went back to talking with Harry.
Rolling her eyes momentarily, Hermione made her way back to where they kept their telephone in the den and spoke with a woman about nine tickets to Austin in the States. Hermione charged it to the only credit card she had put in her name and was told she was all set. With a small smile tugging at her lips, she was finally going to give her children the holiday they've been wanting since they heard Teddy talk about his holiday to Greece with his grandmother.
"Everything is all set. All I need is to do is get to Gringotts and get things packed."
"When's the flight take?" Harry asked.
"Ten tomorrow morning. We need to be at the airport about twenty minutes earlier and the flight takes about nine hours."
At that, she heard Ron give a groan of discomfort. "Aw, 'Mione, are you sure we can't just apparate?"
"No, Ron. I told you, we're taking the plane. And that is that." Hermione snapped at him.
"But 'Mione… I don't even want to be on those suicide contraptions for an hour… let alone nine."
"Ronald, I told you to stop calling me that. And we'll be fine. The only thing that might happen is there'll be a teeny bit of turbulence and you might get bored."
Ron tried for one last thing. He knew Floo was out of the question, but maybe, just maybe, his wife would allow something else. "What about Portkey?" The gaze Hermione levelled him with gave him his answer.
After that, Ron remained silent at the fire alight in his wife's eyes. He was the idiot who said they could go.