A/N: new chapter, yay! I apologize for any mistakes or slip-ups in writing style, it is 2am here and my head is killing me. Please review and follow/favourite :) Make me a happy person? :)
Someone jumped off his seat upon Ginny's question and looked at the trio standing in the doorway incredulously.
"What the bloody hell is she doing here?!", Ron said through gritted teeth. His hair was longer than the last time Hermione had seen him and looked unkempt, like the newly-grown beard. And she wasn't sure if it wasn't the shirt, but she thought she saw something along the lines of a beer gut – although the rest of his figure was still lanky as always. For a second, she wanted to laugh, but she opted for sarcasm instead.
"Hello to you, too, Ronald. So nice to see you again, it has been way too long", she said. "I see the time away has become you, though." She resisted the urge to point at the newest developments in his appearance. Hermione Granger was by no means a shallow person, but this was her ex-husband, so she thought she had the right to bash him a little. No need to give the wrong impression, though. Also, the food smells nice, I wouldn't want to let him ruin what could be a perfectly happy and delicious meal.
"Do you actually expect me to be nice, you bi-"
"Ronald Bilius Weasley! I will not have this kind of language in this house, especially in present company!" Molly Weasley, too, had stood up. She had regained the slightly plump figure she had had before the war, but it suited her better, in Hermione's opinion. Some women were just meant to have fuller bodies, she thought, all the while enjoying watching the mother of her former throw daggers at him with her eyes, and then pointedly glancing at Albus and James.
"Also, Hermione is my guest, as are you, so you will do better-"
The door to the dining room opened, cutting Molly's sentence off.
"Sorry I'm late, I just... forgot we were gonna be here", Percy finished lamely.
"That's alright. Where is your wife, though?" Arthur asked, ushering Molly back into her seat and giving Ron a stern look that said "behave". Ron huffed and sat back down, not waiting for dinner to start before he picked up a chicken leg and began gnawing on it like a starved man. Considering I'm not cooking for him anymore, he probably is, Hermione thought bitterly, but quickly focused her attention on the newest arrival.
"...feeling well", she heard him answer. So Pansy wasn't up to dinner? She resolved to ask her about it at her session the following morning.
Percy chose a seat across from her and one to the left, and when dinner started with everyone digging into Molly's delicious food creations, Hermione found herself pondering the man instead of filling up her stomach like everyone else.
After the war and Fred's death, Percy had undergone a dramatic change. No longer the prim and proper man he once was, he chose to get drunk, party and bed a different girl every night, after the initial shock and grief had slightly subsided and acceptance started rolling in for most of the Weasleys, safe for George. In those years, he made more than one headline with his escapades, and Hermione often suspected that maybe he was trying to compensate and live for himself and Fred. She felt he did the things he thought Fred would consider fun, and no amount of talks or arguments could convince him to admit this to himself and seek help. Then, three years ago, he met Pansy, and they started dating. At first, everyone hoped he would pull through, that maybe she would be able to tame him. And they thought she had succeeded, because Pansy never told anybody else what she told Hermione in the strict confidence that couldn't be broken and Percy was much more careful.
"Hermione, dear, why aren't you eating? I swear, you're becoming thinner every time I see you", Molly voiced her concern for her former daughter-in-law. Hermione quickly speared a piece of roast potato on her fork, ate it, and smiled.
"You're imagining things, Molly. If anything, I've gained a couple of pounds."
Ron said something under his breath and she turned to him. "What was that, Ronald? I'm afraid I didn't quite catch it", she said in her sweetest voice possible. He just glared and continued stuffing his face.
The rest of dinner passed peacefully, George cracking jokes and Arthur spouting yet another insane theory on how electricity travelled through cables, this time claiming it was "probably shrunk birds who pushed it through", because he had recently learned that birds were immune and could under no circumstances be grilled by high voltage. Right.
However, when she walked by the broom shed to the Apparition point, someone grabbed her and pulled her inside it. She got ready to claw her way out of there and rip someone's eyes out if necessary, and almost relaxed when she noticed the red head; when she realized it was Ron, though, she got back into fighting position immediately, and grabbed her wand in the pocket of her trousers.
"What the fuck do you want, Ron?", she said bluntly. She didn't usually curse, but he just brought out that side in her.
"Well, why the hell did you come today?"
"Because your family and Harry insisted, and quite frankly, I missed everyone and wanted to see them again."
"You broke the bond with my family when you broke the one with me."
"I bet your mother and sister would disagree, and your brothers probably as well. You're just pissed off because I get invited, whereas you always invite yourself, and they accept you only because you're blood-kin. I can't help the fact that I'm cooler than you and they like me better, though, so fucking leave me alone."
His face was turning that unattractive puce-colour again and she gave him her most arrogant smirk, pleased she had successfully pissed him off – until he grabbed her hard and shoved her into the wall.
"You little bitch", he whispered. "Nobody likes you. We all just take pity on you. Hell, I married you out of pity. So don't go all high and mighty on me. We both know how easily you break." His mouth had turned into a vicious grin.
"Are you threatening me, you little piece of shit?" She was scared as her hand no longer rested on her wand, and he was considerably stronger than her, but she would be damned before she let it on.
"No. You're not worth the trouble. You're neither pretty nor valuable enough." With that, he let her go and forcefully shoved her out of the shed.
"Oh, and you're fat, too. I wonder how that new little boy-toy of yours puts up with it, really."
She wanted to ignore him, but she rounded on him instead, her temper getting the best of her.
"Listen here, you moronic bastard. You're an adult. Act like one. Pushing people around and throwing childish insults at them is really your only method of communicating anything, isn't it? And, of course, to make you feel better about the fact that you're a talentless loser who will never amount to anything, ever. And if you ever so much as look at me again, I will tell Kingsley that you violated the conditions, and imagine how much fun that would be. Good fucking bye." With this, she stormed away, apparated home and gave in to the angry tears which wanted to be spilled before she imploded in rage.
