Author's note: Uh, thanks to everyone who reviewed my last few fics! You're all such dolls! Here's the next chunk of Every So Often. It's not as, um, light-hearted, as my first few. But you may like it! I dunno and neither will you until you read! Oh yeah, and for those of you who can't picture Edwin, watch Frasier. Edwin is Niles with a wand. Anyway, without further ado:
Every So Often:
A Change of Seasons
A large brown barn owl rapped loudly on the window of Ron's office, just as it had every day for the last two years since Ron had joined the MLES. Ron opened the window, accepted his Daily Prophet and tipped the bird, which flew away with a haughty ruffling of his feathers.
On the cover of the paper, in big black letters that scrolled magically across the top was the headline MINISTRY OFFICIAL VICTIM OF DEATHEATER ATTACK. Ron flipped to the page and, knowing that most of his friends and family worked for the Ministry, kept his fingers crossed.
"Ministry official Edwin Brandt, longstanding press representative of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and rumored to be next in line for head of the department, fell victim to the deatheaters late last night. He was pronounced dead upon arrival…"
Shit.
Ron was grabbing his coat and on his way out the door when his partner, Ozzie, walked in.
"Hey! Ron, where're you going?" he asked. Ron grabbed the man's arm and pulled him alongside of him as he walked down the hallway.
"Glad you came, Ozzie. I need you to cover for me for the afternoon," Ron said to the shorter man, who was hurrying to keep up with Ron's longer gait. Ozzie, who painfully resembled Professor Flitwick, frowned.
"Sure. May I ask why?"
"Have you read today's Prophet?" Ron asked.
"I skimmed over it, yes."
"Did you skim over the article on the Ministry official? The one the deatheaters got to?"
"Oooh, yeah. What a way to go, ey?" replied Ozzie. Ron grimaced.
"Yeah. Well, he was going to propose to my best friend Friday night." Ozzie stopped short a moment, then ran to catch up with Ron, who had continued walking.
"Oy, hey Ron, I'm sorry. Anything I can do?" Ron stopped when he reached the door. He turned to face his partner and nodded.
"Yeah, if anyone asks where I am, tell them I left on family business."
Ron made his way to the DIMC building as quickly as he could. His brain felt like a squashy mess in his head. Eddie was dead. It was like saying the sun was out; he accepted it as a fact, but it didn't kick in the way it should have. It was as if they had been introduced only yesterday.
Ron grinned in spite of himself. He remembered the day Hermione had introduced him to her new boyfriend. Ron hadn't liked him. Eddie had been fey, fussy, precocious and persnickety; everything Hermione found endearing and Ron found annoying to the point of nausea. In fact, he reminded Ron a little of Percy. Obsessive-compulsive, always wore a tie, probably slept with a framed picture of Barty Crouch Sr. hanging over his bed… Ron had tried everything in his power to get Hermione away from this guy, from "forgetting" to pass on messages to magically locking him inside a closet. But Eddie had always forgiven him.
Ron snapped out of his reminiscing as he entered the DIMC building, a tall stone structure whose outer walls were coated with thousands of various international flags. Ron walked up the steps, waved at the receptionist to sit down and ran upstairs to the eleventh floor. The secretary, Miss Montgomery, was a friendly, plump Scotswoman who ran over to Ron as soon as he walked in. He wrapped her in a tight hug.
"Oh, hello dear! Did you have a lunch appointment with Miss Granger today?" she sniffled loudly. "I must have forgotten, what with things turning out the way they have…" Her voice drifted off and Ron noticed her puffy, swollen eyes and the tear tracks on her face. Eddie had been like a son to her.
"No, I didn't have an appointment, Donna. How're you holding out?" The older woman smoothed out a wrinkle out on his robes.
"I'll be alright. When you get to be my age you'll have experienced enough of these to cope. It's just… He was so young! Such a waste of life!" She had started crying again. Ron handed her a handkerchief and led her to a chair. She waved him away. "I'm fine, I'm fine! Now what is it you're here for? You couldn't possibly be that worried about little, old me," she said. Ron gave her a smile.
"Actually, I wanted to know if you've heard from Hermione at all. Has she owled or stopped in today?" Miss Montgomery shook her head.
"Haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon, when she went home. I was going to check on her myself, once I closed the office for the funeral preparations." Ron nodded. Hermione must be feeling terrible if she hadn't even owled the office. Miss Montgomery had started bawling again and Ron sighed.
"Donna, once you're finished here go home, have a nice cup of tea and get some rest. I'll check on Hermione and owl you or something, alright?" She nodded. "Would you mind if I used your fireplace? I can't Apparate out of here and I'd like to get there as soon as possible." She nodded again. Ron gave her a good-bye peck and strode over the fireplace.
It wasn't the average fireplace, in that this one was built with the intention of Floo powder in mind, so it was as tall and wide as a doorway. He pointed his wand and said "Incendio!" A cheerful fire was now roaring and crackling where there had been a cold log before. Ron grabbed the jar of Floo powder on the mantle piece and tossed some into the flames, which turned a nice welcoming shade of green and jumped up. He took a step inside.
"Don't forget to say 'nine' to get an outside fireplace, dear!" Miss Montgomery called after him.
"Er, yeah, right." He cleared his throat. "Nine. Thirty-five East Birmingham Drive," he shouted into the flames. There was the familiar spinning sensation as he shot past fireplace after fireplace. Ron found his thoughts turning to his friends again.
After he and Hermione had helped Harry defeat the Dark Lord, things had changed (to say the least). What had happened that day was something none of them had wanted to relive right away, so they had all gone their separate ways and kept in (very light) touch. Harry had become especially distant. Not to say that he didn't write; he sent an owl (or bird in some cases) to Ron every month or so, giving him vague descriptions about the weather or how his vegetable garden was doing. And Ron respected that. Hell, if he had been through half of what Harry had gone through he'd want to be left alone with his vegetable garden.
Hermione was a different story. He and Hermione had dated on and off at Hogwarts their sixth and seventh year. They had even talked, very casually, about marriage and kids and the lot. Ron loved her, he felt comfortable around her. She made it so easy to picture a future together. Then, after the final battle with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, while Ron had wanted fade into the background like Harry, Hermione forced contact. She wrote to them both every week, almost desperately trying to hold on to the friendship. Ron had written back, Harry had sent his monthly nicety.
Eventually Ron and Hermione became closer, moved in together, started careers. And then, one day they both decided to move on. It had become too stressful to begin their jobs and worry about a relationship besides. Ron had just started training for the MLES and Hermione had begun clawing her way up the Ministry hierarchy as an underpaid intern at the DIMC; it was just too much for them at the time. But they had stayed friends.
Eventually she had started seeing Eddie (who hated to be called that) and Ron's petty jealousy rekindled again. As was mentioned before, he had done everything he could to break to two up. That was, until he stepped back for a moment. It was at the holiday party his dad had thrown. Hermione was there with Edwin and it struck Ron suddenly how genuinely happy she was. He hadn't seen her glow like that since Hogwarts! Ron made up his mind then and there; if being with Eddie made Hermione happy, then he'd be happy for her (in a heart-stabbing, gut-wrenching, near suicidal kind of way).
And, much to his shock, Eddie turned out to be a not-so-bad guy! Sure he was prissy and would rather spend his time seasoning copper pots than go for a game of Quidditch. And so what if he ordered "a double cappuccino, half-caf, nonfat milk, with enough foam to be aesthetically pleasing but not so much that it would leave a mustache" instead of a plain old butterbeer? Ron actually started looking forward to spending time with the ninny. He had even helped him go ring shopping when Eddie had dropped the bomb that he wanted to marry Hermione, though Ron couldn't help feel that little pluck at his heart when they found the perfect one. That had been what? Two weeks ago? A week and a half? And now Eddie was dead.
All those thoughts and more flashed through Ron's head in the three seconds it took to arrive at the right fireplace. And when he stepped through into Hermione and Eddie's living room he almost started to cry. Almost
Ron followed the soft creaking sound to the bedroom. There sat Hermione, rocking back and forth and clutching a very patient looking Crookshanks as if she was drowning and he was a life-vest. She looked a mess; her hair was messy, her eyes were red from crying and she had slept in her work robes. It broke Ron's heart to see her that way.
"Hermione?" he asked quietly. Crookshanks let out a meow and wiggled out of her arms and out the door. Ron sat down next to the sobbing girl and hugged her. He felt her collapse against his shoulder as she started to cry harder. She was trying to say something but all that came out were choked words and gagging noises. He patted her head, he was crying now too, and tried to think of something, anything reassuring to say but he drew a blank. Sometimes words weren't enough.
Author's note: There, how was that? Hoped you all like it, I know that I feel emotionally drained after writing it. Not too terribly sad, I guess, but not a happy fic… Oh well! A special thanks to all six of you who reviewed my plea for help! You guys are the best! As for the rest of you, shame! Shame for not reading and reviewing!! But I'll forgive you if you read and review this time, just 'cause I'm nice!
^_~ Love ya!~*~*The Pixie Stix Fairy*~*~
Disclaimer: Ha ha! I can finally claim something this time around! Miss Donna Montgomery is mine. Ozzie is mine. Edwin Brandt's name is mine, although the personality traits belong to Mr. Christopher Lloyd and the rest of the producers of Frasier. As for Ron, Hermione, Harry, Professor Flitwick, Percy and any other names I may have forgotten; they belong to the very nice J K Rowling. Hope I didn't forget anyone….
