Missing Pieces
By: Armitage Blade
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, and if I did, I sure wouldn't have Ron and Hermione hooking up. Seriously, what was JKR thinking?
Breaking the Habit
Hermione Granger, had decided to surprise her long-time boyfriend, Ron Weasley, by showing up at the hotel he and the Quiddich players were staying at to begin their three week exhibition tour of Europe. She wanted to not only surprise him by showing up for an interlude of her own, but also to tell him that she'd decided that she still wanted to attend university. This was something that she and Ron had been arguing over for quite some time, as he did not want her to go.
She had not only passed her N.E.W.T. tests with flying colors, but she had also passed her "A" levels as well. While Hermione was capable of standing on her own two feet, she wanted the support of her boyfriend as she took on this endeavor.
As she entered the hotel, she saw Ian, Ron's team captain.
"Hello Ian." Hermione said.
The tall, dark-haired Welshman stopped in his tracks and whipped his head around. From the look on his face, she knew that something was wrong. "Hello Hermione." He greeted, attempting to wipe the confusion from his face. "What are you doing here?"
Hermione ignored the warning bells at the tone and wording of his question and answered, "I'm here to have some time with Ron. Do you know his room number?"
Ian looked conflicted before he finally sighed. "Yes, he is in room 312." He said.
Hermione smiled brightly. "Thanks!" She said as worked her way over to the staircase to get to the third floor. Once there, she made her way down the hall, giving short greetings to each of the players she met on her way. She was two rooms away yet when she realized she heard very loud noises from the room she was heading to. Pulling her wand and disillusioning herself, she crept to the door and prepared herself to open it.
She could hear the low female screams of pleasure emanating from within. The shock of it stopped Hermione in her tracks. Ron was cheating on her! Seething with rage, Hermione knew that this was the fatal blow to not only their relationship, but their friendship as well. She could hear Ron groaning, signifying his climax. She wanted to see who Ron would cheat on her with, and opened the door and quietly snuck in, shutting the door behind her.
Ron was reaching down by the side of the bed, into his suitcase. As he did, Hermione saw that the woman Ron had in bed with him was none other than Lavender Brown. Seeing her had the rage flaring hotter in her body, to the point where it took all her self-control to not cancel the disillusionment charm and involve herself in the scene.
Ron came back up. "Lavender, you know I love you."
"If that's the case, why do you stay with her?" Lavender asked.
Hermione instinctively knew that in this triangle relationship, that she was the "her" Lavender was referring to.
"Because, everyone expects us to be together, even her. I don't love her, Lavender, plain and simple." Ron replied.
Hermione felt a new emotion well up to join the rage and anger flooding her system: hurt.
"Oh really?" Lavender asked, a sultry smile on her face. "And who are you in love with?"
"You really need to ask that question?" Ron asked, a soft, teasing smile on his face. He presented his left hand to Lavender and opened his fingers up so that whatever was hiding in his hand was now in view. "Lavender, will you marry me? Love me forever and make a family with me?" Ron asked.
Shock swept through Hermione's body, icing the fiery rage that had burned there moments ago. In her shock, she missed Lavender's answer, but judging by the way they were making out and the flash of brilliant light from her left hand, Hermione surmised the answer was yes.
Hermione couldn't bear to watch the couple any longer. She made her way out of the room. Once she closes the door quietly, the anger, hurt, and rage begins to fester below the surface of the deeply-rooted shock she's still reeling from, causing her to drop the disillusionment charm covering her body. Her only reaction is to run. She bolts down the stairs and out the door, not paying much notice to her surroundings or the shouts of Ron's teammates. She runs until she realizes that she is near the apparation point she used to get to the hotel. She stops in an alley nearby to force herself to calm down before she goes to apparate.
It takes her several minutes, but she finally calms down enough to get the image of her best friends' house in her mind before she decides she is fit to travel. She walks and makes the spin on her heel to make the trip to her best friends' house.
Once she lands, the image of Ron and Lavender in bed, newly engaged, is enough to send her running to the house and pounding on the door. By now, between the shock, anger, rage, hurt, and betrayal, she is well beyond societal niceties.
Harry w as the one who opened the door, and she saw that he had his wand in hand as he answered. "Hermione?" He asked, taking in her appearance. She was a little rough around the edges, with her hair windblown from running and her eyes bloodshot from tears barely held back. "What happened?"
"Ron happened." She said.
Harry wasn't sure if he should sigh or go to knock some sense into Ron. "Come in. We'll get it straightened out." He said, holding the door open wider for her to enter.
As Hermione passed him, he heard her say, "There is nothing to straighten out."
That made Harry pause. Hermione never uttered those words about her and Ron's relationship before. However, her sudden appearance is beginning to send up red flags in Harry's mind. As he watched her walk into the kitchen, he shut the door, thinking about it. As he turned back to the kitchen, it hit him: the last time he saw Hermione this upset about her relationship with Ron was Sixth Year at Hogwarts, when he was dating Lavender.
"Ron, please tell me you didn't do what I think you did." Harry said under his breath. He continued to the kitchen, where Hermione had placed the kettle down on the counter and was instead looking for the whiskey that she knew Harry had in stock. He watched for several minutes until she turned around with bottle in hand. As she set the bottle down, he asked, "What did he do this time?"
Without breaking stride, Hermione dragged down two glasses. As she filled them, she said, "Apparently, Ron's getting married." She heard Harry's gasp, and continued. "Apparently, he does not love me and never loved me." She said. She threw back the whiskey in the glass and refilled hers. "He was only with me because everyone expected it of him, and he's decided he's had enough of that."
"Oh Mia." Harry said, tossing back his own glass. "When did you hear all this?"
"About twenty minutes ago. I went to the hotel his team was staying at to surprise him." Hermione said. "Ian was shocked to see me, guess I know why now. I went up to his room and I walked in on them shagging each other. After they were done, they talked about them and me, and I heard Ron tell Lavender that he never loved me. To top it off, he proposed to that slag!" She said, spitting out the last word. She quickly threw back another glass of whiskey.
Harry copied her movements, and refilled both glasses. "Merlin." He swore. "I've known Ron to be an arrogant jerk, but for him to do that, wow…" Harry trailed off, not sure how to describe him.
"All I have to say now is: I guess I'm single again!" Hermione said, sardonically toasting herself and tossing the contents of the glass back.
Harry started to laugh, but the sound of the floo starting up caught his attention. Ron's voice boomed out into the house. "Harry, mate, I've got some news for you! I'm coming over!"
Hermione grit her teeth, and Harry put her glass out of reach. "No throwing the glassware." He reminded her. "They're my parents'."
Hermione managed a stiff nod before Ron appeared in the kitchen. "Hey Harry." He said. He saw Hermione standing there, and asked, "What's wrong with her?"
Harry threw a dark glare at Ron as Hermione finally lost the fragile hold she had on her temper. "What's wrong with me?" She said. "What's wrong with me?" She marched straight up to Ron. "Why don't you tell your good news to Harry, hm? Or shall I have the honors, Ronald? After all, I saw you fucking Lavender!" She screamed out. "To top it off, you tell her you never loved me and that I was simply an inconvenient expectation? Why couldn't you have broken up with me first, or at least let me know that we were permanently off?
"Even better, why did you have to yank me around like you did?" Hermione asked.
"Everyone expected us to be together, Hermione." Ron said. "I would have broken it off with you if I was able to do so."
"And when, pray tell, would that have been?" Hermione asked, ice drenching her voice.
"Oh, I don't know, when you would have taken a break from studying from all of the Merlin be damned tests that you insisted on taking." Ron said, his voice heated from anger long-buried.
Harry drew in a sharp breath. This is not going to end well. He thought.
"You have no idea what it is like to be expected to marry a girl that's been your best friend for seven years, simply because you're in a relationship. I wanted to go out and see the world, exactly what I will be doing with my career. Unlike you, who will never rise that far because of who you are. On top of that, you're a plain Jane," Ron replied, a malicious grin spreading across his face. "You just aren't beautiful. Any man who dares to tell you otherwise is flat-out lying to your face, and has been all your life."
Hermione was so enraged that she couldn't-didn't-think of using her wand. Her fist flew at Ron's face and she felt a satisfying crack from his nose. She stood back, rage vibrating outward from her body as she stared down the redhead. Ron had dropped to the floor, holding his nose and trying to stem the blood-flow from it.
"I'd wish you the best of luck, but since I don't see your impending marriage lasting to the altar, I don't think you need it." Hermione said. She stepped back, threw back the rest of the whiskey in her glass, and walked out of the kitchen.
Ron looked at Harry. "A little help here, mate?" Ron asked, the question muffled by the broken nose.
"Merlin knows you deserve it, Ron." Harry muttered as he pulled out his wand and field-healed his friend's broken nose. The blood stopped flowing and the nose healed, but now you can tell Ron's nose had been broken by the bump on his nose.
Ron looked cross-eyed at his nose. "Appreciate the healing, but couldn't you have reset it, and then healed it?" He whined.
"Nope. You had it coming." Harry said.
Ron's eyes flew up to Harry's face, not sure he heard Harry correctly
"You became engaged to someone else while dating her. You insulted her drive, her passion. You called her ugly to her face, and insulted her as a female. You know if Ginny was here, a broken nose would be the least of your worries." Harry said. "I might be a bloke, mate, but even I know not to make that mistake, especially when you're doing that to the smartest witch in the seven years we were at Hogwarts."
"You know I'm right though." Ron said, smugness dropping into his voice. "Hermione will always be just one of the guys, and not good enough for any of her dreams to come true."
"You're not correct, and you know it." Harry said, cold fury enveloping his body. "I thought I would pity you for that, but right now, I don't feel anything." He could hear Hermione's sobbing echoing from the library. "And Ron, you need to leave. Hermione needs me to be there for her."
"What, you're picking her over me?" Ron asked, incredulous.
"For the type of friend you've been to not only her, but me as well as of late, I'm going to choose someone that I trust and will have my back over someone who was dating two women and keeping it from them." Harry said, anger lacing his voice.
"Lavender knew." Ron said.
"The fact that Lavender condoned you dating both her and Hermione makes this situation so much worse." Harry replied, his wand beginning to send out red sparks.
Ron's mind finally grasped the fact that not only did he make Hermione angry, but he really pissed off his best mate, who was an accomplished Auror in his own right. "Fine. I was going to ask you to be my best man, but after this, I don't believe I want you at the wedding." Ron said, feeling faint.
"I think you'll find us in agreement, then." Harry said.
Ron walked straight out of the room and Harry heard him shout out his parents' floo address before the floo went off. After a few minutes, Harry called out, "He's gone Mia."
He waited several minutes until he was certain Hermione would not leave her hiding spot. He levitated the whiskey and glasses as he walked into the library, to find Hermione buried in her favorite chair, tears still streaming down her face.
"Don't cry now, Mia. Ron'll get his." Harry said, pouring three fingers' worth of the amber liquid in their respective glasses before handing Hermione her glass.
She took a sip, looking at Harry. "I bet Ron went home to a hero's welcome." Hermione said snidely. "He probably went crying to his Mum about how much of a bitch I'm being, affecting his future the way I did."
"I don't think Ron will find as receptive a welcome at his parents as he thinks." Harry said. "Ginny's over there right now."
"I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he announces his engagement." Hermione said. "Especially since he's never given any indication that it wouldn't be me he got engaged to."
As Harry opened his mouth, the house's floo chime went off. Harry looked at Hermione.
"I think Ginny's home." He said.
"How can you tell?" Hermione asked.
"That no good rat bastard! He's lucky I didn't hex him six ways from Sunday!" Ginny's bellow echoed through the house.
Harry sent a bland look towards Hermione. "Did you really need to ask?"
"You're the one that married her. You know redheads have tempers." Hermione replied, amusement dancing in her eyes.
"It must be a Potter thing." Harry said, shrugging.
Hermione couldn't help it; she let out a small laugh at Harry's dismissal of the situation.
"What? You know it is!" Harry continued, causing Hermione to laugh harder. If he could get his best friend to laugh, he had a feeling that she would be alright.
Ginny entered the library to see her husband shaking his head, a smile on his face, and her best friend-who just had her heart crushed-laughing.
"Um, did I miss something?" Ginny asked, a dumbfounded look on her face.
It took Hermione a few moments to calm down before she could finally answer her other best friend.
"It's either I laugh or I break down again. If given the option, I prefer to laugh." Hermione said. "Besides, your husband was telling me about how being attracted to redheads is a Potter thing."
Ginny let out a small laugh herself. "That's true."
They laughed for a few seconds about it, and Hermione quickly sobered up.
"I don't want to go back to my flat. I won't be able to stand it knowing what I know now." Hermione said, just barely loud enough to be heard.
Ginny smiled. "You know you're always welcome here. Come on, let's go back and get you packed up."
Hermione answered with a small smile of her own.
Harry sighed. "Do I need to go keep the peace at your parents?" He asked Ginny.
"I'd stay out of it, Harry." Ginny said. "Mum's always babied Ron, and she can't get past the fact that he's getting married. She's too happy to hear that to realize what it actually means. Dad and my brothers, however," Ginny said, a wicked smirk forming, "They realized that it wasn't Hermione right away, and I could tell they were planning on getting him out of Mum's clutches before too long and getting the full story out of him."
"And what did you do, Ginny?" Harry asked, waiting almost eagerly to hear how his wife dealt with her brother.
"Oh, I broke his nose." Ginny said, a wicked smile blossoming on her face. "All he could cry out was 'not again!'".
Hermione looked at Harry and this time, the laughter could not be contained. Harry struggled to keep from joining her.
"What?" Ginny asked.
"Hermione broke his nose before he left here. I may have field-fixed it, but I did not set it properly." Harry said, laughter lacing his voice. "I know he is your brother, but I would prefer to not attend his wedding after what he said to both her and me today."
"What'd he say to her?" Ginny asked.
Hermione sobered up, and for the first time, Ginny saw what this whole situation did to her best friend.
"He told me that I didn't understand what it was like to marry someone because everyone expected it, that being who I am, I won't get very far in life, unlike him, and that I was not beautiful and that any man that told me so was lying." Hermione said.
"He expected me to take his side after Mia broke his nose, and insulted my intelligence by telling me that what he said was right." Harry replied.
"That insensitive git! I can't believe he would say such things, and then expect you, Harry, to take his side over Hermione's! He's not even a man, he's a child pretending he is a man!" Ginny said. "He's stupid, not seeing the gem you actually are."
Harry could only nod. "You are perfect the way you are Mia."
"That's true." Hermione replied.
Harry and Ginny could tell that she didn't believe them, and they hoped that one day, she would see what they did.
They stayed quiet for a while, just trying to absorb the day's events. Harry, finally digesting the issue, asked, "Now what, Hermione?"
"About what, Harry?" Hermione asked. She was caught completely off-guard by Harry's question.
"I think Harry is asking about your university plans, Mia." Ginny replied.
"I don't want to stay here." Hermione said. "There's too much of a risk that Ron or Lavender will run into me and rub my face in it. Oxford is just too close, right now."
"So, where are you going to look?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, Harry." Hermione replied. "I guess I'll know where I belong when I find it."