Disclaimer: The characters of the Harry Potter-series belong to J.K. Rowling. I merely borrowed them for entertainment purposes that will gain me nothing. No copyright infringement was, is, or will ever be intended.
Timeline: Year 6 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, right after they got their OWL - Ordinary Wizarding Level - results in "An Excess of Phlegm."
A few hours after they got their OWL results, Ron went in search of Hermione who hadn't joined Harry and him in his room upstairs. Harry had started grooming his broomstick as he sometimes did when he didn't want to talk about something - this something obviously being how he felt about Sirius' death - and Ron felt stupid just watching him. His search brought him to the back yard where Hermione sat on a blanket and - what else - read a book. The red-haired boy rolled his eyes but sauntered over, maybe he could distract her from her - no doubt - "fascinating" read.
"Hey." Hermione looked up for a moment and smiled. He sat down across from her on the blanket and stretched his long legs. It was a nice sunny day, not a cloud in sight, and Hermione was clad in shorts and a top. Ron stole looks at the amount of skin she was showing, it was a pleasant sight. He smiled to himself.
Ron had hoped that Hermione would put away her book and talk to him but she didn't give him the time of day..
"So, what are you reading then?" He asked after a couple more moments and she looked up. She contemplated him for a second then closed the book over her finger and showed him the front: The Achievements of Witches in a Wizard's World by (of all people) Minerva McGonagall.
"I didn't know McGonagall wrote a book," Ron exclaimed which earned him one of Hermione Granger's special eye-rolls.
"Not 'a' book, Ron. Professor McGonagall has written several books, most of them on Transfiguration, of course, but also three in her original line of studies: history of magic," Hermione informed her friend with that superior tone she sometimes still got that informed him that he was stupid not to have known.
"She studied history?" Hermione sighed dramatically. She made a show of opening her book again and stuffing an index card into it where she had stopped reading then she closed it and turned toward Ron. Obviously it was time to educate him. He didn't mind, at least she was paying attention to him and he could look at her more openly when he was talking to her.
"Yes, Professor McGonagall studied history, especially, the history of witches which was - and I am sad to say this - often left out of the history books." Ron seemed to contemplate that.
"But how did she study something that wasn't in any books?" This earned him another eye-roll.
"One might think you have never done any research on anything... there are other resources than books, Ron. Diaries, newspapers, you can talk to people who are old and remember things, all kinds of things. History actually happened, Ron, it's not something someone made up to put in a fancy novel."
"You would never know that from the way Binns teaches it." Ron said.
"Professor Binns, and, no, unfortunately not. On the other hand, he's been dead for a while and it's not like he could crack open a book and read it. His knowledge must be outdated." Professor Binns was the History of Magic professor at Hogwarts; he was a ghost, and a bore. Even Hermione had trouble staying focused during his lessons and that was saying a lot because Hermione was the kind of girl who found knowledge fascinating and useful. "You know, that was always my greatest regret about our studies at Hogwarts. I'm glad that I don't have to worry about that anymore."
"You're ditching History of Magic?" Ron asked surprised. For a moment he thought that Hermione had decided to do that because both he and Harry had failed the subject but then Hermione shook her wild mane of hair.
"No, but I am taking a class with Professor McGonagall this year," and she tipped her finger on the book she had been reading, "on this topic. She offered for those who achieved an 'outstanding' in their OWLs." Hermione smiled happily. Not only was she going to take another class with her decided favorite teacher but the topic was one that fascinated her. Ron's brows furrowed.
"How come you can just ditch Binns and have a class with McGonagall?" he groused.
"Well, last semester I became increasingly dissatisfied about... the lack of direction in my studies. I was searching for role models to follow and couldn't find any. Of course, there are the usual books about wizards like Flamel or Dumbledore or whonot in the section of achievements of famous wizards in the library but you rarely find anything about witches. If you're lucky you find something about Rowena Ravenclaw or Helga Hufflepuff in a general overview but a single book on a witch and her..." Hermione stopped. Looking at Ron she had found that he was paying more attention to the slight curves that were just visible under her top than the topic she was so animatedly discussing. Hermione folded her arms across her chest.
"Ron," she warned and he raised his eyes to hers in an obvious effort. Her look told him that she had caught him staring and a furious blush spread over his whole body, the curse of any red-haired person.
"I was... thinking about what you said..." he stuttered. "Lack of women... witches... I..." He was saved by Harry who chose that moment to come into the garden and waved at them.
"There you are!" He came over and plopped down on the blanket next to Hermione.
"Hey, mate. What took you so long? Tell me you haven't been grooming your broomstick all this time," Ron smiled at Harry like he hadn't seen him in a year and the dark-haired boy easily picked up on the tension between his friends. This wasn't new, of course, these two rarely met without having some kind of squabble.
"No, I helped Ginny with the dishes," he answered truthfully which earned him a smile and Ron a glare from Hermione.
"What did I do now?" Ron asked.
"Well, obviously you didn't do the dishes as your mother specifically asked you to do before she left after breakfast, or your sister wouldn't have to have done it, would she? Tell me, Ronald, do you think that the women in your family are just here to pick up your slack?" She sounded annoyed and Ron started squirming under her intense gaze.
"I would have done it later."
"Would that have been before or after your mom came back?"
He grumbled something unintelligible in answer and leaned back on the blanket to stare at the sky. Hermione looked at Harry apologetically. The dark-haired boy looked bewildered.
"We were talking about the history class I'm taking this year with Professor McGonagall," Hermione explained and showed him the book.
"Wow, I didn't know that McGonagall wrote books," Harry acknowledged and flipped the book open. He looked at the chapter titles.
"Professor McGonagall and that's exactly the point she is making here. We so often ignore the achievements of witches because of the dominant male perspective on everything," Hermione supplied and was happy that at least someone seemed to be interested in the topic. She had tried to get Ginny involved in a discussion but since Ginny was going to take her OWLs this year, she didn't have much time for extra-curricular reading, Mrs. Weasley was too busy and Fleur... Fleur was Fleur.
"I thought witches and wizards were pretty much equals," Harry said. He knew that Hermione wouldn't go off on him like she sometimes did on Ron because he was still fairly new to the wizarding world and still came across things he had never seen or not known.
"It is just not discussed as it is in the muggle world, Harry. The only kind of discrimination openly discussed in the wizarding world is that against muggles, you just have to look at the elf-discrimination..."
"Oh, not with SPEW again," Ron grumbled putting an arm over his eyes and thus missing the glare the young witch directed at him.
"Elf-discrimination is only one of the things that are completely ignored in the wizarding society. Tell me, Harry, which are the two most prestigious institutions of the wizarding world," she now sounded like a teacher and Harry thought he got a glimpse of her future job. Of course, with Hermione's grades she could choose any kind of profession but he thought that nothing suited her as much as spreading knowledge upon those too lazy to look it up themselves. At the moment that would be him and Ron but there was definite potential for a whole classroom of students indiscriminately subjected to lectures and eye-rolls from Hermione Granger.
"I would say the Ministry for Magic, obviously, and... Hogwarts," he exclaimed, proud when she nodded her approval.
"And who are the people heading these prestigious institutions?" She continued her line of questioning.
"The Minister for Magic who is now Rufus Scrimgeour, and Dumbledore, of course."
"Professor Dumbledore but you're quite right. And which one of these is a woman?" Ron snorted and Harry grinned at the question.
"None of them, as far as I know," he quipped. Ron laughed and sat up, he now seemed willing enough to rejoin the conversation.
"No, not as far as I know either. Who is the most powerful wizard in the world?"
"Dum... Professor Dumbledore," Harry answered amiably and Hermione nodded.
"And who is the most powerful dark wizard?" Harry's mood sobered abruptly and he could see that Hermione wished she wouldn't have brought it up. But it was to prove her point and she so loved to prove her points.
"Voldemort," the dark-haired boy answered and his friends flinched at the mention of the name. Hermione nodded.
"Everywhere you look there are famous or infamous wizards but you rarely ever encounter a witch in a position of the highest power. I think, Madame Maxime would be the only one at the moment who holds the highest position in any of the institutions, and, well, she is rather... imposing," Hermione referred to the headmistress of the French wizarding school Beauxbatons. She was part giant and a rather impressive sight. "Apart from her, wizards all around. You just have to look at the wall of portraits in Professor Dumbledore's office to know that this has almost always been the case. How many pictures of headmasters are there compared to those of headmistresses?" She asked but Harry didn't know the answer to this one, although he had been in Dumbledore's office quite often - he blushed as he remembered his temper tantrum last year and the way the portraits had stared at him in disgust and outrage afterward.
"There are obviously more wizards on that wall than witches. Yet where would Dumbledore be without the ever-present and practical guidance of Professor McGonagall? She's the one who's always around. Yes, she is strict, stricter than Dumbledore but she's the one who concerns herself with any kind of trouble, day and night. She's the one her fellow teachers turn to when something comes up and they don't want to disturb the headmaster." Hermione was talking animatedly now and didn't even notice that she had forgotten to add Dumbledore's title twice. She was passionate about this subject, and whenever Hermione was passionate about something Ron would belittle her commitment with an inappropriate comment as he did now:
"Did you read that in that book? Does she complain about Dumbledore in it?" Ron pointed at the book that lay between his best friend and Hermione. She turned towards him with a look of anger.
"No, that is what I see at Hogwarts every day, Ronald. Tell me, when was the last time you saw your dad in the kitchen doing anything other than eat, and not just him, for that matter, you can include yourself and your brothers, too." She stared at him but this time he accepted the challenge because no one was going to slag his family.
"Oh, so now you're calling my dad... what are you calling him? A discriminator of witches?" His face took on the colour of his hair.
"I have a lot of respect for your father, Ron, but let's face it, his job - or the job he had before he got his promotion - was to tinker with muggle inventions. He enjoyed that, it wasn't only his job, it was his obsession and it didn't pay well. But who keeps this house and the family together. Who cooks, cleans, does laundry, and all of the shopping? Your mom organizes not just this household but during our time at Grimauld Place she did the same thing there, kept the members of the order well-fed, and her kids out of those people's hairs. She raised six boys and one girl and Ginny is the only one helping her with the household. And that is sad, Ron, sad!"
"Mom never..." Ron got out between clenched teeth.
"She never complains? Of course not, because she chose this life. Your mother is a remarkable woman, Ron, she is also a capable witch and she chose to be a wife and a mother. She is happy. But that isn't the point; the point is that without witches like your mother or Minerva McGonagall, wizards like Nicholas Flamel or Albus Dumbledore wouldn't be able to be the great wizards that they are. Their lives would fall apart around their ears. And now consider how much harder it is for a witch to make any great achievement - and there are plenty of marvellous achievements that can be linked to witches, they are all in this book - while still making sure her life isn't falling apart, while doing all the 'little chores' that wizards are too busy or too self-important to do." Hermione ended her speech. Ron looked at her with a frown that gradually cleared.
"Makes one wonder...," he said and Hermione's expression brightened at the prospect that for once she had gotten through to him. "... what my mother does with all the time she could spend achieving things." Ron smirked; Harry snorted a laugh that turned into a cough when Hermione's glare hit him.
"You...," she exploded as she sat up on her knees obviously preparing to leave but not wanting to let Ron get away with mocking her. She wanted to throw an insult at him but that wasn't like Hermione, instead she calmed herself and said very deliberately: "You and I both know that at some point in the foreseeable future you will need a witch's skills to get you out of trouble. As this witch will most likely be me, I'm telling you now: my skills are not going to be at your service until you apologize, until you say that witches are equals to wizards and should be treated as such, that without witches' achievements our world would be a lot poorer and that you will acknowledge witches' greatness by never treating a woman like she was less than you - and that includes your mother and your sister!" With this Hermione grabbed the book she had been reading and stormed off.
Ron looked at Harry.
"Great work, mate, she won't be talking to us for days now," Harry said.
"Right. We both know she'll be talking to you again come tomorrow. She's never as mad at you as she is at me. And if she isn't talking to me, I at least don't have to listen to any more of this equality nonsense. If witches were so great their accomplishments would be in every book and Binns would bore us with them for hours. That's the way I see it," Ron lay back down on the blanket. Harry thought about pointing out to his friend that he was lying in the noon sun without any sunscreen on but didn't. He thought Hermione had a point but that it would be useless trying to argue this with Ron. He could be as stubborn as a mule, and maybe Hermione had the right idea of teaching him a lesson.
"Well, there's one thing she's right about, Ron." The red-haired boy looked up at his friend. "You will be needing her help at some point this year. Both of us usually do, and if it's only copying notes from Transfiguration." Ron frowned again, he knew Harry was right but he would never say any of that crap she wanted him to say.
"Not me. I will just borrow the notes from someone else. She's not going to get one over me, not this time," he professed. His expression cleared some as he contemplated the afternoon activities:
"Hey, wanna play some Quidditch later or just throw some quaffels at me for keeper practice?"
"Sure," Harry answered, he was always game when it gave him the chance of flying.
It wasn't as harmless as copying notes when Ron needed Hermione's help next.
He had made good on his promise for the rest of the summer; he never asked anything of her, not even for her to pass the mashed potatoes at supper. He would either ask someone else or get them himself. Hermione seemed amused by this and she also noted that Ron was more eager these days to do things around the house which seemed to indicate that at least some of what she had said had entered his thick skull and latched on something in his brain. That was really all Hermione wanted - besides his apology, of course. They went back to their normal bickering three days after their fight and Harry might have forgotten all about it, had not Ron remained absolutely stubborn about asking Hermione for help.
The summer ended, they went back to Hogwarts and nothing much changed. OWLs were over but that didn't mean that they would have a lot of free time since homework increased once more. Ron started flailing with his amount of homework and unrevised amounts of written essays that would usually get done by Hermione. She still did it for Harry but Ron knew the price of asking and didn't.
Then came the first Hogsmeade weekend and everything changed. They didn't even know where those dark outlines of four Death Eaters appeared first but they were following the friends who fled into an alley, a dead end. They were trapped and four wands started firing Unforgivable Curses while Harry, Ron and Hermione cowered against a wall trying to fire some hexes and jinxes of their own but never hitting anything other than trash cans.
"Bloody hell, what is going on?! And where are those Order people, I thought they were patrolling Hogsmeade." Ron bellowed as he ducked another Cruciatus Curse that singed some of his red hair.
"I thought Tonks would be here by now," Harry gasped. He didn't have any idea what to do either other than wait for reinforcements who didn't seem to be in a hurry to appear. He looked at Hermione who looked about as frightened as he felt. She looked around them, trying to come up with a plan, some way to get out of this without having to rely on people who were obviously unreliable.
"If you have a brilliant plan in that head of yours, Mione, it's time to let it out," Ron bellowed and blindly fired another jellyleg jinx into the alley. Hermione looked at him curiously.
"What did you just say?"
"I SAID," he yelled over the deadly repercussions of their enemies. "GET US OUT OF HERE IF YOU CAN!" Hermione blinked.
"Are you asking for help, Ron Weasley?" He froze at her question, so did Harry.
"Hermione, this is really not the right time for this," he tried to put in but the witch lifted a hand to silence him.
"I think there has never been a better time, Harry. Are you asking for my help, Ron?" Ron's chin was set in a stubborn line but it was wavering. They were glaring at each other among this ruckus and Harry thought they had both lost their minds. Hermione for wanting an apology in a situation like this and Ron for not wanting to give it. In. A. Situation. Like. This.
"Damn, duck!" He yelled when he saw that one of the Death Eaters had edged closer and was aiming at them now. He pulled his friends down and at the same time fired back at the enemy who retreated again.
"Bugger, Hermione, please if you know a way out just do it!" Ron begged, his body pressed close against the red brick wall.
"I want to hear it, Ron. Say it!" He looked at her pleadingly but she didn't budge. She knew how insane all this was, she didn't even know if she would be able to get them out but she was prepared to die trying, as always. All she wanted was the acknowledgment that he didn't think her less valuable or less brave because she was a woman, that he was one of a new generation of wizards who would do their darndest for some semblance of equality. "Just say it," she asked of him in a quiet yet stern voice.
"Witches are just as brave and accomplished as wizards and those books that deny it are bogus. You are the most amazing witch I know, much better at everything than I am and I will never treat you or any other witch of my acquaintance as my inferior ever again, I promise. So, would you now use that big brain of yours to get us out of here?" He seemed stricken but there was the tiniest of smiles playing around the corners of his lips and she answered with a tiny smile of her own. Harry meanwhile was having trouble fending off curses and he was getting really tired of all this nonsense.
"Need a little help here," he groused and Ron was beside him in a flash. Hermione meanwhile went back to contemplating their choices which weren't numerous. She edged forward a little to try to see their attackers but retreated quickly when one aimed a Killing Curse at her.
"Hmmmm."
"Any time now, Hermione," Harry yelled. Hermione nodded slowly then more confident.
"Yes, come on." Both Harry and Ron sent some hexes into the general direction of the Death Eaters then huddled with Hermione over her plan. It was an excellent plan and they nodded eagerly.
"Ready when you are." She nodded at them and they send the most vicious hexes they knew down the alley while Hermione aimed her wand at the back wall that blocked their escape:
"Tabula reflectum," she made a swish and flick motion with her wand and the wall turned into a mirror showing them plainly where their attackers stood - but also giving away their current position. But before anyone could react, Hermione aimed her wand at the mirror and exclaimed:
"Illuminato!" A ball of light shot from her wand and the three friends all shielded their eyes before it exploded into a flash of light at hitting the mirror. The attackers were blinded for the moment and Harry, Ron and Hermione stepped out of their hiding place, all shouting:
"Expelliarmus!" Wands came flying, One, two, three, four, after Harry repeated the disarming charm at the last attacker. The rest was almost too easy, they hexed and jinxed the Death Eaters until none of them was able to run away. As they stepped out from the alley, they could see curious faces staring their way, also some people who wandered around blindly, the flash Hermione had used to incapacitate their attackers must have hit some bystanders.
"Oops, I better see to these before anyone gets hurt," she said and rushed off to help an elderly lady who had just crashed into a lamp post.
"That was a good plan," Ron said.
"Are any of Hermione's plans ever not good?" Harry asked.
"Fortunately for us, no." They smiled at each other and watched Hermione as she helped two other blinded people. That was the moment Tonks and Minerva McGonagall came running up the street.
"Looks like Tonks was at Hogwarts," Harry commented. When the two witches arrived, they filled them in on what had happened. Harry gave Tonks the Death Eaters' wands and she and professor McGonagall assured the boys that they would take care of everything else which would probably mean that those four pests would come to see the inside of Azkaban pretty soon.
Hermione rejoined her friends.
"I probably shouldn't have used that spell. I was lucky these people weren't permanently blinded," she said with a worried face.
"Hermione," Ron rolled his eyes at her worrying. He laid his two big hands on her shoulders and looked her straight into the eyes. "You just saved our skins for the umpteenth time. Cut yourself a break, will you?" She smiled up at him.
"Alright."
"Good and something else: I really meant what I said in the alley, it wasn't just panic speaking, okay?" Her smile grew even brighter. She nodded in acknowledgment but didn't say anything. She didn't need to.
Harry watched amused as his two friends realized how close they stood and that there was actual touching involved, they both blushed and Ron pulled his hands from Hermione's shoulders as if they were on fire. Harry presumed that this was at least metaphorically true.
They went to the Three Broomsticks to get three bottles of much deserved butterbeer.
They never talked much about these things, getting into dangerous situations and out of them. They never talked about who saved whose life how many times. They were friends and at least as far as each one of them was concerned, they all brought something to the table; they were equals.
A/N: I wrote this story for a project for a class called 'Women's Studies Revisited.' While Rowling created great female character, I sometimes feel like their achievements should be acknowledged more, especially those of Molly Weasley and Bellatrix Lestrange - and yes, I'm aware that Bellatrix is bad but she is so much better at it than Voldemort. ;)