Chapter 4: What's going on?
It took a while, but all of the Weasley's had returned to the Burrow, Harry and Hermione included, after the funeral. Once everyone was gathered at the kitchen table, George stood up to make an announcement. "Um, I think I'm gonna head back to the shop, mum," George announced. Mrs. Weasley's jaw dropped and was about to retort about something going wrong, but he cut her off. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna burn it down," he joked.
"I wasn't going to say anything about that," Molly insisted, hoping that her face didn't give away her true thoughts. She still hadn't ruled out the possibility that he might try to damage the shop, due to the fact that it screamed 'Fred'. "Just be careful."
"I will," he said, giving his mother a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then he left the house, walking to the apparition ward line and apparating away to the shop. He popped into the alley right behind the shop and he walked around to the front slowly, taking deep breaths as he went. Once around the front, he looked in the windows, and saw that it was still the same way it had been the night they had left to join the DA. "I guess those wards held," he mused to himself, referring to the security warding system he and Fred had come up with when they heard someone try to get in past their conventional locking system a few months back.
George waved his wand in several complex motions, and the wards deactivated. He opened the door and stale air came rushing out. He coughed as some of it was inhaled, but he cleared his lungs and walked into the shop. Everything was there, all the evidence that he and Fred were the epitome of successful businessmen that the wizarding world thought they were. He looked from one end of the shop to the other, and took a deep breath. He was determined to re-open in a week, so he needed to get to work with a redesign and to clean the shop up. "Alright, let's get crackin," he said to himself, cracking his knuckles and raising his wand.
"Hey mum," Ron yelled out to his mother, thundering down the stairs from his room. "Hermione and I are gonna head out to the village for a walk around."
"Go ahead, but be careful," she warned. "Keep your wands handy." Ron came into the kitchen and kissed his mother on the cheek. She watched as Ron and Hermione's back retreated to the front door, smiling to herself, and thinking that some day she just might get the daughter-in-law she always wanted for her son. They walked down the dirt road that led to the small village of Ottery St. Catchpole. Since Hermione had never been into the village before, after all the times she had spent at the Weasley household, she was enjoying seeing the new sights. Ron, having lived around here his entire life, had seen all the sights before, but was enjoying the company of the beautiful witch holding his left hand. Every place that they passed, whether it be a building, or along the path to the village, Ron had some kind of story that involved his family; like the time that Charlie was dared to hit on the middle-aged post-mistress his seventh year. Or when Fred and George did magic tricks for a small group of kids a few years back who were around the back of the local magic shop; they were so enthralled with how real the tricks looked, they always looked for the twins when a red-headed person came into town. And they passed the house of the Muggle that Bill tried to date for a few months, all they ended up doing was shagging before he left for Egypt and his job as a curse-breaker. Percy for the longest time fancied the lady who owned the stationary shop, because she had a rather large chest that was his eye level for the longest time. Even Ginny had a friend she used to play with in the village, before she went off to Hogwarts. And then there was the time that Ron did accidental magic in a candle shop that Mrs. Weasley brought him to when he was younger. The police men had ruled it as an employee knocking over a candle in the shop when it burned about half of the store. Hermione was kept in stitches as Ron told these stories and pointed out some of the places.
Ron had not seen Hermione smile and laugh this much in quite a long time; since the past year, there had been the locket that had drained them of all happy emotions. Once they had reached the edge of the village, Ron led Hermione around the slight hill at the end of the main road, leading her to his 'secret spot'.
His 'spot' was a small abandoned cave that was large enough for them to sit in there quite comfortably. Ron always fancied this spot because he thought that no one knew about it; though now he knew other people were have bound to have found it while he was away. He conjured up a soft blanket for them to sit on.
"This is a nice spot," Hermione commented, looking out over the landscape before them.
"I've kinda always wanted to show you this place."
"Why didn't you before?" she asked.
"To be honest," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You make me rather nervous."
She looked down at herself, confused. "How on Earth could I possibly intimidate you?"
"Are you kidding? Like hell you aren't intimidating," he said, she winced at his outburst. "Sorry, but you really are. I mean you're the smartest witch I've ever met. You've always made me feel rather dumb."
"I don't really mean to be like that," she said shyly. "My parent's always told me that I wouldn't make anything of myself if I didn't study hard when I was going into something new. I guess I just took that to heart."
"But I love the fact that you're smart, it makes you a better person, and I'm sorry for all the times that I made fun of you for it," Ron said. He stared at her features: her brown hair that wasn't quite as bushy as the previous years, for now it fell flatter in small ringlets that framed her face beautifully; her chocolate brown eyes, and how they sparkled in the small amount of sunlight that was still penetrating the cave; her teeth were now magnificently straight after she had Madam Pomfrey fix them in their fourth year; and her soft, creamy complexion – he just wanted to run his hands all over her skin, as well as his lips.
"What are you looking at?" she asked curiously. He blushed.
"Just you," he replied. "Look Hermione, I actually asked you here to tell you something."
"I gathered that much," she joked. He looked at her in mock stern-ness as she giggled lightly.
"Well, I want to talk about the night of the battle," he started carefully. She nodded her head, indicating that he should continue talking. "I need to know if that was just a one time thing or what."
"I know, or at least I thought that I knew, but you haven't said two words about it since, and I was beginning to wonder if you had really meant it. I know we spent the night together, but I didn't think anything of it really. And you said that you were going to tell your mother, but we just never got around to talking abou – "she was cut off. Ron placed a finger on her soft lips, stilling them for a moment.
"Sheesh, you talk too much," he chuckled, and she nodded in agreement. "If I let my finger off, will you not go into another little rant again?"
She nodded again, and he removed his finger. He smiled at the silence that filled the cave. "Now, I want to know how you felt about everything that had happened."
"I guess I was overwhelmed," she began. "I heard you talking about SPEW and I think I really wanted to forget completely about you leaving us. When you said we should get the house-elves out I think I just lost it. No more rational thoughts for me, I just leapt, and I think you know what followed."
"I think I remember that part," Ron said, giving her that lopsided grin she was rather fond of; but the next part he meant to keep to himself, but he voiced his mind. "But I think I need a refresher."
She giggled, but had a soft look to her face. "I wouldn't really mind either."
"But in all seriousness," Ron said. "Did you feel anything?"
"Of course I felt something," she placed her hand on his knee lightly. "Would I really be here, alone, if I didn't?"
"I suppose not," Ron muttered. "Well, I did ask you here for a particular reason."
"And what would that be?" she questioned.
"I may sound a bit corny, but I always envisioned bringing you here, and asking you to be my girlfriend," Ron said quietly.
"Are you serious?" she asked, equally as quietly.
"Yeah, I mean I've fancied for years," he said, taking her hand in his and kissing the back of it lightly; she blushed.
"What do you mean? Since when?" she asked, confused.
"I guess since like fourth year," Ron sighed lamely.
"What! You guys never told me this," she said loudly.
"Well I couldn't have told you then," he said. "I was too nervous."
"Well, I knew you were jealous over Viktor, but I never would have guessed that you liked me. I knew you were going to ask me to the ball after all your belly-aching, but I didn't realize that's what it all amounted to."
"I did like you, but once I plucked up enough courage to ask you, you already were going with Viktor," he shrugged.
"You knew that Viktor and I were only friends back then, right?" Hermione said quietly.
"Well back then I thought you two were going to get married or something," Ron chuckled. "I just turned into a stupid fourteen year old boy."
Now it was Hermione's turn to chuckled at his brutal honesty. "I really wish you would have told me then."
"I should have," he conceded; now entwining their fingers, making small circular patterns on the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Why not fifth year?"
"I don't know honestly. I mean, we spent too much time alone at Grimmauld Place, but I guess we were too into what was going on around us; with Harry and the war and all. And I know that's no excuse, but we were all rather distracted."
"Oh," she said quietly. Then her brain began to delve back into their sixth year at Hogwarts, and that was a time period that she didn't like to remember all that much. A small shudder ripped its way through her body before she could stifle it, but Ron noticed it right away and had an inkling as to what it was about.
"You know Lavender never meant anything to me," Ron said quickly, taking her by surprise.
"What? I never said anything about her," she replied, not wanting to get into a fight with him over it, since their day had been going so well.
"No, you didn't, but I know you were thinking about it," Ron said. "But it's okay. I wanted to tell you. She never meant anything to me. It was her who shoved her tongue down my throat in the first place."
"Oh, Ron, I don't want to hear about this," she said, cringing slightly.
"No, you have to hear me out on this," he said earnestly. She nodded for him to continue. "It seemed like every time you came into the room, I was snogging her. Part of me really wanted to make you jealous; jealous enough for you to realize that you wanted me and would give me a sign. I think I took the hint, in hindsight, from those wild birds you sent after me. And I couldn't have felt worse about it," he took a deep breath.
"When I was poisoned, the first person that saw was you, not Lavender. The first word that I tried to speak was your name. I guess I always faked sleep when she decided to come around." Hermione giggled at his sarcasm. "I couldn't believe you would have still been friends with me after all that I'd done to you. And after I left you this year, I thought you'd hate me forever. But then you kissed me."
"Well," she giggled. "You were talking about house-elves; that was one of the nicest things I have ever seen you do. I just couldn't help myself."
"Hermione, I – er, that it… Can I kiss you?" Ron asked, blushing furiously.
"Oh," she giggled, biting her lower lip. "Sure."
Ron leaned his torso into hers, letting his one hand rest on her cheek, letting it softly lay in his large hands. She released her lip as he leaned in closer to her, not letting her chocolate brown eyes leave his crystal blue ones. Just before their lips met, she closed her eyes and tilted her head to rest more fully into the large palm of his hand. His lips brushed against hers, very gently, and then pulled away. Her eyes fluttered open. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing, I just guess I was giving you a chance to back out, now that you've had time to think about it."
"Ronald Weasley, I don't want to back out," she said defiantly, but the second part of her rant would never get out because Ron returned his lips to hers, effectively cutting off any words coming out of her mouth. She sighed and smiled into the kiss, letting her self sink into the action. His lips were soft and gentle as they moved gently over hers. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip, tasting the minty lip gloss she applied earlier. Without hesitation, she did open them, allowing his tongue to play sweetly with hers. His one hand left her cheek and went to caress the back of her neck, keeping her close to him. They sank into the kiss, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Ron broke the kiss first, finally surfacing for air. 'He seems to be getting better since the skank,' Hermione mused to herself. She herself was no novice, and although she was never romantically involved with Viktor, she did learn quite a bit from him.
"Wow!" he breathed. Ever since he and Charlie had started owling back and forth, things had been becoming more and more clear, but he now wanted to try out the new style that he was introduced to. His face was slightly flushed, but hers was as well. She leaned her head against his chest, and he wrapped his long arms around her tiny body. He pulled her closer and they just sat there for what seemed like forever, but in reality was like two hours. Ron was surprised to see how much he enjoyed just sitting with Hermione, not even talking. He mostly enjoyed the fact that he was alive, as well as she, and that she could be here with him, enjoying life with him.
"You wanna head back to the Burrow?" Hermione asked, not really wanting to leave their comfortable position. "The sun's going down."
"Sure," he murmured into her hair. He helped her to her feet, and then hoisted himself off the ground. Ron took her small hand in his large calloused one and led them back through the village. They walked home through the village in comfortable silence, one that was natural, something they really hadn't experienced before. Once they arrived at the Burrow, Hermione pulled Ron to a stop and leaned up to kiss him quickly before they went inside.
"What are we gonna tell them?" she asked, looking up in his eyes. "Maybe it's too sudden for everyone, I mean with everyone, I mean with everything that's happened. Fred was just buried, I mean we can wait, I don't mind –"
Ron figured an easy solution to her rambling problem would be to kiss her. When they finally broke apart, he pulled her close to his body. "No, now I've gone and plucked up enough courage to ask you to be mine, I want to shout it to the world!" he yelled the last bit. She giggled and grabbed his hand, leading her love-struck, dare she say it, boyfriend, into the Burrow. They made it through the living room without seeing anyone, but were overwhelmed at the amount of people now congregated around the kitchen table.
"What's going on?" Ron asked, pulling Hermione closer to him out of habit. He saw a lot of Order members and several of their old teachers from Hogwarts sitting around their enlarged kitchen table.
"Well, Mister Weasley," said Professor McGonagall, rising from her chair around the table. "I was here to discuss the idea of your schooling in the upcoming years. We're going to be re-opening this school year, getting new teachers for our recently vacated subject areas, and we're going to let everyone catch up from this horrendous past year."
"Ohh," Hermione squealed, beaming at her old teacher. "That's wonderful!"
"I thought you'd agree with that Miss Granger," the old woman said brightly. "I was also hoping that you would become Head Girl in this upcoming school year."
"Oh dear," she replied, a nervous look on her face. "I'd love to, but you don't want to give it to someone who is really going to be in their seventh year?"
"No, and no offense to Miss Weasley, but that entire year is full of troublemakers, and she is one of the worst ones." Many people around the table chuckled. They all knew Ginny acted all sweet and innocent, but underneath it, they knew she acted more like Fred and George than they cared to admit.
"Then I accept," Hermione announced proudly. Ron gave her a rather large hug in congratulations. "Who's going to be Head Boy?"
"I was thinking about asking Neville Longbottom," Professor McGonagall said. "Give Harry a much needed break from the spot light. I'll also never allow any more couples as Head's; its cause too much trouble in the past, so Mister Weasley is out."
"Who were the couples?" she asked, not really catching on to what the Professor just said.
"Well, Lily Evans and James potter for one, and Percy and Penelope Clearwater; they might be the only two you would know."
"So how'd you know about us Professor?" Ron asked, still in disbelief about how she found out so quickly.
"Well, you two aren't arguing, you look happy, and you were holding hands. Don't think my age makes me any less observant. I did spend the past forty one years of my life teaching in a school full of adolescents."
"So," said Molly in a disbelieving manner. "You're telling me that my son and Hermione are finally together, Minerva?"
"Well, we just made it official today, and she's okay with it," Ron said, looping his arm around Hermione's shoulders.
"Are you sure she isn't brain damaged? You read one too many books Hermione?" Bill asked, leaning casually against on of the counter tops, his arms around Fleur's waist from behind.
"No, Bill, I'm completely sane. Yes I'm dating Ron," she replied brightly. Everyone applauded, much to their embarrassment, and seemed to be pleased by this little revelation, though they all secretly knew it would happen someday.
"So Miss Granger, would you accept the duties of being Head Girl if Neville was your counter part?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Oh, of course," she said cheerily. "We're friends, what could go wrong?"
"I think he'd make a great Head Boy," Ron said in agreement.
"I'm glad you think so," their professor said, cracking a small smile, a rare smile. The rest of the impromptu meeting dealt with the proper punishments that would be given out to the Death Eaters. They still needed to track down a few, but there were already task forces being formed to go after them. Molly announced that everyone should go outside to the back yard and keep talking while she finished preparing some dinner for the lot of them.
"Minerva, if you would, please transfigure some tables, enough for all of us and about ten more," Molly asked, still busy at the overcrowded stove.
"Of course," she said, now joining the building throng of people.
By the time the food was ready, all their guests has arrived: George had returned from the shop; Harry and Ginny returned from Hogwarts; Luna and her father came from their house, which they were repairing; Neville escorted his Gran, Augusta Longbottom; and Percy, Penelope, Charlie, and Arthur also came along from the Ministry. Minerva pulled Neville and Augusta aside shortly after they arrived to let Neville know about his new position. He accepted, much to Hermione's relief.
Kingsley arrived just as everyone was sitting down to eat, just getting out of the Ministry. Since he had been named Minister of Magic officially, he was making big changes around there already. He was working to get the Muggle-born Registration to be done away with, and changing many other laws that would let law breakers slip through the cracks, like Mundungus. He was always appreciative of Molly's fine cooking, and so never turned down a home cooked meal.
Hermione and Ron sat down with Luna, Ginny, Harry, and Neville to tell them all about what was going to be happening this school year.
"…and they made me Head Girl," she said.
"So who's Head Boy?" Harry asked nervously. He really hoped it wasn't him, because he wasn't really in the mood to be the one with all the responsibility against so soon.
"I am," said Neville proudly. Harry shook his hand, as did Ron, and they gave their warmest congratulations. Luna planted a big kiss on his lips, and he blushed almost a deep 'Weasley' red.
"So you and Luna?" Ginny asked, chuckling slightly.
"Yeah, we really started to hit it off when you guys didn't come back, but when she was taken off the train, we kinda put things on hold you know? I guess we just picked up where we left off when she came back," he said sheepishly. "And she kinda pinned me against the wall until I kissed her."
The group chuckled, and Luna turned a slight shade of pink. "As I remember correctly, I ended up against that wall not soon after," she said in her usual dreamy voice.
"Yeah, well, Gran's really happy that I found someone; for a while she thought I was hopeless with girls. She's really respecting me now, ever since the Department of Mysteries battle."
"I'm happy for you Neville, I really am," Harry said.
"Thanks Harry."
I know that the chapter ends abruptly but at this point, all I could write was small talk. the next chapter is something new that i am hoping to finish writing after my exam wednesday, so fingers crossed, and review for me = ) *keeps me motivated*
much love, Dana