David Whitaker was not naïve, he knew, to get to the top, he had ruthlessly, regardless of the consequences. He also needed the right environment and so he chose his acquaintances true to the motto 'it is not important, what can I do for you, but it is important, what you can do for me'.

Already as a student he began to stretch out his feelers for an equivalent partner, but none of his female student colleagues or other women satisfy his requirements.

Until one day, Hermione Granger was introduced to him. Part of the golden trio, best friend of Harry Potter, decorated with the Order of Merlin, First Class, ambitious, as he himself. In a word: perfect. Together, they were able to achieve great things. And to complete the picture, she was also a sight for sore eyes with her luscious ass.

There was only one problem, although, in his eyes, however, a minor problem: Ronald B. Weasley, admittedly, a successful Auror, but without ambitions. He was sure, there was only a matter of time, before Hermione saw it the same way.

Unfortunately, he suffered a few days ago in Stockholm – due to his stupid action – a severe setback. His next steps needed to be well-considered.

And so he found himself, in search of something useful, at Mrs. Graham's desk, who was in the morning meeting in the office of her supervisor. He glanced at Hermione's office door, it's now or never. While he rummaged through the received messages, he listened with one ear to Hermione's and Hilda's quiet murmur.

"Mmm, nothing important, inquiries from other departments, invitations to meetings, wait, that sounds interesting!" He scanned the letter and grinned devilishly. "Sorry, Mr. Scamander, but Madame Undersecretary has something else to do." He put the note into his pants pockets and restored with a short skillful swing from his wand the state of Hilda's desk.

And this, just in time. "Mr. Whitaker, what are you doing at my desk." Mrs. Graham's reedy voice came from the door.

"I'm waiting for an urgent message and thought, that maybe this is mistakenly landed in Hermione's in-box."

"This don't entitle you, to browse in the post from Madame Undersecretary."

Wow, she looked, as if she wanted to hex him. He took a step back from the desk and smiled flatteringly: "You have, of course, absolutely right, especially since there is – as always – a perfect order on your desk and you would have noticed instantly a stray bullet."

She grumbled angrily to herself and David thought, it was best to retreat. He slipped his hand in his pocket and felt satisfied that piece of paper. Elated, he disappeared into his office.

As usual, when Ron was nervous, he feels the urge to rub his neck. Instead, he forced himself to smile politely at the officer, who conscientiously compared the picture in the passport with the person standing in front of her. After the second scrutiny, he swallowed and cleared his throat: "No razor!"

The officer narrowed her eyes: " Pardon?"

He pointed to his beard and croaked:."Therefore the beard."

For some incomprehensible reason (and beyond his grasp), she nodded relieved and pushed his passport through the slot: "Welcome back, Mr. Weasley."

"Thank you. It's nice to be back."

After he had survived the last hurdle (the luggage inspection), he entered the arrivals area, where Luna waited for him. She gave him a worried glance: "Were there any problems?"

"Nah, but I guess, she did not like my beard."

"Luna, Darling, here!", suddenly somebody shouted and both looked searchingly around. Grinning, Ron nudged Luna and pointed to a young man, who waved behind the barrier with both arms.

Luna's eyes lit up and she yelled back: "Rolf". Her fiance jumped over the barrier and rushed to Luna, who leaped into his arms. Ron felt himself placed in one of Jean's love tearjerker. Embarrassed, he looked seemingly interested in the many different perfumes in the shop window.

"Ron, you can turn around.", Rolf laughed, "For now, we are ready with our demonstrations of love."

"Phew, thank Merlin. The other passengers were already about, to pull out their cameras. " Ron smirked and greeted Rolf, who did not want to let go of his fiancée, with a firm handshake over the head of Luna.

"How did you know, that we get back today, sweetie?" Luna asked curiously, cuddled up in Rolf's arms.

Rolf glanced down at his girlfriend and smiled: "Of course, through the bush telegraph, my buttercup."

Puzzled, she furrowed her brow: "But I don't give up a bush telegraph."

With great difficulty, Ron bit back his laughter.

"Then somebody else have done it." He gave Luna a kiss on the head and Ron a wink.

As the three went to the exit, Rolf looked at him from the side: "Actually, I would have expected, that Hermione is also here."

"She probably cannot decipher a bush telegraph.", Ron quipped with a twinkle.

"That was not necessary, I send her a message by owl!"

Ron stopped thunderstruck: "Really?"

Luna's fiancé also stopped and nodded.

"Oh!" Ron looked down at his hands, to hide his disappointment.

Luna took his hands in hers and squeezed them reassuringly: "Hey, you know Hermione, surely something came up and she could not come."

He muttered bitterly: "Right, I know my busy wife." Gently, he withdrew his hands from Luna's: "I think, here ends my short trip in the world of water demons, mermaidsfull and other creatures." He hugged Luna and whispered in her ear: "I'm sorry, if I was no great support…"

"You were a great travel companion and without you, the new tribe of mermaids would never have been discovered." Luna snickered.

He blushed and groaned: "Don't remind me." He broke away from the hug and looked asking at Rolf: "May I?" As Rolf nodded approvingly, Ron leaned forward and gave Luna a peck on the cheek.

Rolf's eyes shone with excitement: "Are you sure, you want to go already? The boxes with your found pieces arrived yesterday and we could unpack these together."

Ron smiled tiredly: "Honestly, I am looking forward to a long sleep in my soft bed." He gave Rolf a friendly slap on the shoulder and shouldered his backpack.

Luna slapped her palm to her forehead: "Your wand!" She rummaged through her bag and eventually pulled out an umbrella: "Here!"

Sheepish, Ron grabbed his as an umbrella disguised wand: "My remaining stuff I'll pick up in the next few days, okay?"

Luna smiled softly: "Until then, bye Ronald!"

He waved over his shoulder and left.

David winked at Mrs. Graham, who observed him with suspicious eyes, and knocked three times in rapid succession, as always, at the door to Hermione's office. Without permission to enter, he poked his head into the door gap and asked contritely: "Is a repentant sinner allowed to enter?"

With a sigh, Hermione leaned back in her chair: "Honestly, David, I don't know, if I should forget the, hmm, incident. Just.… " She flicked her fingers "'at the drop of a hat'

He shook his head: "You can really believe me, that is not my intention! I only beg you, to hear me out." He pointed at the chair in front of her desk: "May I?"

Hermione was silent for a moment and glanced at him searchingly, but to Dave's great relief, she finally nodded.

Thankfully, he sat down and looked at her seriously: "First of all, even if I know that my behavior was inexcusable, you have to believe me, that I'm very, very sorry."

"What's in merlin's name gotten into you?"

"I ask myself this question too."

"Am I to blame?"

He gave her a baffled look: "You?"

She blushed and looked embarrassed down at her hands: "Did I send you wrong signals?"

He bent forward: "Hermione, look at me." – She glanced up. – "You have to accuse yourself of nothing. I am here to blame!" He pursed his lips thoughtfully and then counted mischievous: "and of course the devil alcohol, the romantic city, the nice hotel and the successful event!"

"Of course!", Hermione smiled slightly.

Both looked at each other in silence.

David cleared his throat: "So, what now? Maybe I should ask, for a transfer to another department?"

"Nonsense!" She replied in a firm voice.

"What else do you suggest?"

She chewed on her lower lip: "I think, for now, we should deal with each other only on a professional level."

He nodded understandingly: "That would be the best!" He got up and pointed at her with files overloaded desk. "Looks like a long night working."

"I'm afraid, you're right! Today, I must be jinxed. First, one of my memos went missing on the way to the Department of Improper Use of Magic, meaning, my work from the last few days was all a waste of time. And to top it all, Mafalda Hopkirk forced a new project, the organization of our annual summer feast, on me." Shaking her head, she muttered darkly to herself: "Woe to him, who has nominated me for this bullshit." She grinned sheepishly: "Sorry, usually I leave the cursing to my husband."

He winked: "Don't worry, my lips are sealed. Alright, I'd better go then, and keep you no longer from the work, unless, you need my help?"

She shrugged her shoulders: "No, no. It's alright." And added sadly to herself: "Besides, no one waits for me."

As soon as he was back in his office, he opened his, secured with a spell from prying eyes, drawer and took out Hermione's missing memo and the message from Rolf Scamander. "Good thing, that Peter Carson from the Improper Use of Magic owed to me a favor." He laid the papers on his desk and let both with 'Evanesco' for ever and ever vanish into nothingness.

Pleased with himself, he leaned back in his office chair and folded his hands behind his head. If she knew, that he was the one, who gave Mafilda the crucial tip. On the other hand, if anyone can organize something in such a short time, it was actually Hermione. David glanced at the watch and chuckled. "What a pity, Ronald, that your so busy wife not even take the time, to welcome you at the airport – and not only that, you'll have to wait for her very long."

With a loud thud Ron's backpack ends up on the floor. "Home sweet home!", he muttered sarcastically, as he glanced around the room, "What did I expect? Perhaps a wife, who is waiting for me with open arms – keep on dreaming, Ron! Everything as always."

He went through the bedroom into the bathroom and waved in passing to Crookshanks. "And as always, the old fur lies on my side of the bed."

Sighing, he looked at himself in the mirror and whispered: "Welcome, darling, I've missed you!"

"Thank you. By the way, you should shave off the beard!", replied the mirror.

"Shut up! I have not talked to you.", grumbled Ron and undressed.

Freshly showered, he stood half an hour later in search for something edible in front of the opened refrigerator. He sniffed at the milk carton and grimaced: "And as always, she forgot to fill the fridge." He closed the door with a push from his foot and tossed the carton of sour milk in the trash.

With a bag of corn flakes, he made his way into the living room. There he grabbed his post, which lay in a basket on the Kommade – as always – and sat down on the sofa. "Let's see, what we have there.

Advertising for quills, advertising for cauldrons – to the pile for the trash. Oh, an advertising flyer for the new comet 3000!" He placed this flyer carefully on the 'important' pile, just as his sports magazine 'Quidditch Life' and an invitation to an autograph session in the orphanage.

After he stuffed a handful of cornflakes in his mouth, he took a thick envelope, which was labeled, additionally to his name, with the word 'personal'. Curious, he turned the letter, to read the sender. 'Hotel de tre troll, Stockholm'. Frowned, he stroked his beard: "Hmm, isn't Stockholm a city in Sweden?"

Impatiently, he tore open the envelope, removed the letter (thankfully written in English) and he read to himself:

"Dear Mr. Weasley, we are pleased, to inform you, that your missing cufflink was found by one of our hotel staff. In the hope, that your wife and you spent an enjoyable stay in our hotel, we remain…."

Confused, Ron reached into the envelope and pulled out a gold cufflink. He closed his eyes horrified and swallowed. The cufflink wore the monogram * DW *.

Yawning, Hermione closed the file and put it aside. "And now to this damned summer party." She rubbed her tired eyes and grabbed a piece of blank paper. Just as she was about to make a few notes, someone knocked on the door frame and called cheerfully: "Knock, knock!" She glared at Harry: "How can you so cheerful..", She looked down at her watch, "around this time?"

"You are right, actually you should be the one, who is in high spirits!" He winked cheekily.

She huffed: "Since I'm responsible for the organization of the summer party? Not bloody likely!"

"No, I meant the grand reunion with your adventurer! And honestly, I had not expected, to meet you here."

She looked at him bewildered. Shaking his head, Harry pulled out the rolled evening paper from his jacket pocket and threw it on her desk: "Flip to page 3." Without a word, Hermione did as she was told.

Eagerly, Harry watched her reaction to the article on Luna's expedition and return. Her eyes widened and she murmured: "He's back?" She glanced at him with a mixture of incredulity and sheer joy. He nodded with a grin: "He's back!"

She jumped up so vigorously, that her chair fell backwards: "And that I learn only now?"

"I don't…."

Baffled, Harry saw behind the hurrying Hermione. Then he smiled and with a flick of his wand, turned the chair to its place and switched off the light.

Ron sat stunned several minutes on the sofa, with one hand he cluchted the crumpled letter and with the other, to a fist clenched, hand, the corpus delicti. As he finally got up from the sofa, he stuffed the letter and the cufflink into his pocket. Then he went into the bedroom, to grab the rest of his stuff.

As a last, he took his chess game under his arm. Without looking back, he flung a handful floo powder into the fireplace and called the first name, that came to his mind.

The emerald green flames lit up the living room, when Hermione arrived in the fireplace of their flat. She knocked the ashes out of her clothes neglectful and called for her husband: "Love?" Shaking her head, she looked amused at the colorful mishmash of cornflakes advertising flyers and letters, which was spread all over the sofa, and whispered overjoyed: "He is really back!". She opened the bedroom door, but no traces of Ron, not even in the bathroom and in the kitchen. Her brow furrowed and she chewed on her lip. The chaos on the sofa and the wet towels on the bathroom floor showed clearly, that he was here. "But the question is, where are you now, Ron."

Harry yawned heartily and wanted after his night shift only one thing, namely, to fall into bed and sleep, sleep, sleep. But as usual his destiny, i.e. his wife, disagreed his wish. No sooner had he set his foot on the first stair step, Ginny rushed out of the kitchen and pulled him into the living room. Confused, he asked: "Ginny, what the hell?" – "Hermione is here, because Ron has disappeared, although he must have been there, you know, the wet towels, she is completely dissolved, understandably..." – Harry grabbed her shoulders: "Stop!" Surprisingly, his wife shut her mouth without backtalk. He embraced her and rubbed her back: "Where is Hermione now?" – "In our kitchen." - "Are you alright?" – She freed herself from his arms and growled full of suppressed anger: "In any case better than my stupid brother, after my Bat Bogey Hex." - Harry rubbed his face and sighed: "Come on, let's go to Hermione."

A few minutes later

"All right, before we upset the apple cart, I suggest, that first of all I look for him at his possible whereabouts." – Both women looked at him questioningly – "There would, for example, the joke shop, Shell Cottage, Seamus's Flat." He waved his arm. "The list is long."

Ginny snorted: "You really think, that his first way, barely returned, leads him to George or Seamus?"

Harry nodded: "I think so! Don't forget, he spent several hours alone at home, perhaps he feels bored."

Hermione jumped up and paced around the kitchen: "Simply fantastic, my husband prefers Fleur's presence, instead of me."

If the situation were not so serious, Harry would have laughed heartily. "Firstly, to my knowledge Fleur lives not alone in Shell Cottage."

"Harry's right, Hermione, Ron loves Bill and Fleur's children."

Hermione stopped her pacing and smiled fondly: "I know."

"Secondly, is not even sure if he actually stays there." He paused and gazed Hermione straight in the eyes: "And besides, you were not there."

"And where is the problem? He knows exactly where my office is."

"Assuming that he would really have appeared in your office, what would you have done?"

Ginny giggled: "I know, what I would have done. However, I can not imagine, that our, sorry, prim and proper Hermione greeted her husband with a lovely welcome-sha.." – "GINNY!" – Uh, cuddle, moreover, on her desk."

Said friend blushed to the roots of the hair.

Harry cleared his throat: "Yeah, I guess that was my cue, to make my way. The best is probably, Hermione, that you wait for me in your flat."

His wife nugged Hermione gently: "I bring just James quickly to Mum and then I will come as well, alright?"

Hermione nodded and disappeared.

As Harry wanted to kiss his wife goodbye, she said, what he thought: "Harry, if Ron is really by George or Seamus, why did he not send a message?"

That was the crux of the matter. He forced himself to smile: "Maybe, he was too drunk."

She glanced at him incredulously, but left it at that.

Just as Harry was about to knock on the door to Seamus Flat, appeared Ginny's, Patronus, a horse: "Harry, come immediately to Hermione's flat, and please, hurry up!"

In the flat already waiting for him his furious (and mad as hell) wife and his apparently devastated sister-in-law. He knelt next to Hermione, who sat in tears on the sofa, and looked questioningly at his wife.

"That bastard has left his wife! I swear, if mom does not kill him, then I will do it."

"Bullshite!" He grabbed Hermione's hands and squeezed them: "Ron would never leave you again, for that he loves you too much."

"H..he emptied his closet a..and took his chess game." Hermione sniffed. "Let's face it, h..he left meee!" Sobbing, she fell into Harry's arms.