Author's Note: The plot for this story largely draws from the plot of "Family Ties" episodes 1 and 2 of season 4, (also called "The Real Thing," hence the title of my story,) but you don't have to be familiar with the TV show to understand it. Also, some characters will probably be a little OOC to make it work better (e.g., Lavender doesn't seem much like the Ministry worker type).
Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I don't own Harry Potter or Family Ties!
The biggest news on Monday morning at the Ministry of Magic was that there was a new girl in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Lavender Brown was her name, and she was rumored to be, in a word, attractive. So Ron Weasley made up his mind to go welcome her.
He headed down to her department during his lunch break. When he walked around a corner, he ran into a young woman, causing her to drop the stack of papers she was carrying.
"Sorry," Ron apologized, bending down to help pick up the papers. In the process, he surreptitiously glanced at the woman. With dark brown eyes and curly, slightly bushy brown hair, she wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, but she was still quite pretty. So he decided to take a chance.
"Lavender Brown?" he asked.
The woman sighed impatiently. "Lavender's at lunch. I'm one of her co-workers, Hermione Granger."
"Ron Weasley," Ron introduced himself. "Could you let Lavender know I was here? I had an appointment with her, but she must have forgotten."
"I'll do that," Hermione said as she collected the last paper and stood up. Ron got to his feet as well and brushed off his robes.
"Actually, on second thought, I'll wait for her to get back," he said.
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have other work to do?"
"It's my lunch break right now," Ron said.
"A moment ago you told me you had an appointment with Lavender," Hermione said.
"Erm…" Ron said, looking flustered. "What I meant was that the appointment was during –"
"I know why you're here, Ron," Hermione interrupted. "You're just like the fourteen other guys who have stopped by here today. You heard Lavender was good-looking, and you wanted to get a date with her."
"Excuse me, but I happen to be an Auror!" Ron said indignantly.
"So that makes your intentions better than everyone else's?" Hermione said icily. "Look, I happen to know that Lavender doesn't have any meetings or appointments today since it's her first day."
"I could report you to the Minister of Magic, you know!" Ron threatened, his voice rising.
"For what? Telling the truth?" Hermione countered.
"For being an arrogant, patronizing, presumptuous idiot!" Ron yelled. He turned on his heel and came face-to-face with a blonde-haired girl who could only be Lavender. She was staring at him in bewilderment.
Ron quickly plastered a weak smile on his face and held out his hand. "Ronald Weasley. Welcome to the Ministry."
Despite their disastrous first meeting, Lavender agreed to a date with Ron. She turned out to be a bubby, enthusiastic person who Ron enjoyed being around. But there was something about their relationship that wasn't quite right. Ron sat pondering what it was one day at lunch while Lavender babbled on.
"What do you think?" Lavender asked suddenly.
"Hmm?" Ron said, turning to look at her.
"I asked you what color dress robes I should wear to the Ministry ball next weekend!" Lavender said.
"Er… Um… Green," Ron suggested.
"That would clash horribly with your hair, though," Lavender objected.
"Fine, then. How about orange?"
"Oh, Ron," Lavender giggled. "You're so clueless sometimes." She leaned across the table to give him a kiss, but then pulled away to wave at someone behind his shoulder.
"Hermione!" she called brightly. "Come sit with us! You don't mind, do you?" she added to Ron.
"Not at all," Ron said, though the idea of sitting with Hermione made him uncomfortable.
Hermione walked over to the table and pulled up a chair. She smiled at them awkwardly.
"Now, Hermione," Lavender began conversationally. "What color dress robes do you think I should wear to the Ministry ball? I was considering either light pink or white…"
Hermione caught Ron's eye and grinned, for real this time. "I think you should choose the white ones," she said when Lavender paused to take a breath.
"Good idea," Lavender agreed. "So have you decided what you're wearing to the ball? You're going, right?"
"Yeah, I'm going," Hermione said. "I'll probably wear my blue dress robes."
"Is Viktor coming too?" Lavender wanted to know.
"No, he can't make it," Hermione said.
"That's a shame," Lavender said. "I've heard so much about him. I was looking forward to meeting him!"
Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but she was interrupted by a Ministry worker approaching their table.
"Ms. Granger?" he said.
"That's me," Hermione said. "Can I help you?"
"I have an urgent message from the Minister," the worker said. "He requests that you meet with him about your proposed bill on house-elf rights."
"Thank you," Hermione said. She looked at Ron and Lavender. "If you two would excuse me…"
"No problem," Lavender said cheerfully. "Good luck!" As Hermione got up and left, Lavender reached across the table and took Ron's hand. "What's wrong?" she said. "You've been awfully quiet."
Ron didn't answer. "Who's Viktor?" he said instead.
"Viktor Krum? He's Hermione's boyfriend. He lives in Bulgaria, but they've been dating for a couple years now and I think they're going to get married. Isn't that nice?"
Ron glanced in the direction Hermione had gone. "Yeah. Nice," he said vaguely.
A few days later, Ron ran into Hermione as she was leaving her department after work.
"Looking for Lavender?" Hermione guessed.
"How did you know?" Ron said jokingly.
Hermione laughed. "She left early today," she said. "She claimed she was exhausted and wasn't being productive, but I think she just wanted to go shopping." Hermione rolled her eyes and flicked her wand to extinguish the lights in her office.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she did," Ron said. "By the way, how did your meeting with the Minister go?"
"Not very well, actually," Hermione said with a sigh. "He said I need to revise my proposal and add more support to it."
Ron cleared his throat. "Well, I – I got you something that might help." He reached into the pocket of his robes and withdrew a book entitled Elf Emancipation: Why These Loyal Creatures Deserve More.
"You got this for me?" Hermione said, taking the book and examining it.
"I know it's not much, but I thought you'd like it," Ron said.
"It's perfect!" Hermione assured him, looking up at him and beaming. "This will give me plenty of arguments to add to my proposal. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Ron said. "Hey, Hermione, I was wondering… Since Lavender is apparently busy right now, would you like to go to The Three Broomsticks with me? As friends, of course," he added hastily.
Hermione seemed surprised at the invitation. "You mean it?" she said.
"Sure," Ron said. "It's no fun going out by myself."
"All right," Hermione agreed. "Why don't we go home and change first? I'll meet you there in an hour."
"Sounds good," Ron said. "See you soon."