Chapter Ten: At the Burrow

Hermione knocked on the door and then pushed it open and stepped into the kitchen of the Burrow.

"Hello? Arthur? Are you home?" She assumed he was, and that he was up already, since he'd left the door unwarded, though she knew the password.

She heard Arthur on the stairs, and a moment later, he was there, dressed in an open-necked white shirt, brown trousers, and slightly scuffed brown shoes, drying his hands on a small towel. Hermione was already at the kettle, wand out, heating water for tea.

"Hermione! I hadn't expected to see you today! But I am glad," Arthur said with an enthusiastic grin. "I thought you were going to your parents' this Sunday."

"I am, but later, just for the afternoon, I think," Hermione replied. "You haven't had breakfast yet?"

"I was about to . . . corn flakes, I thought."

"Corn flakes? That won't hold you. And knowing you, you'll forget your lunch until you're about to fall over. Let me fix you a fry-up," Hermione said, opening the door to the cool cupboard. She smiled. "Glad to see you've been to the market."

"I did pick up a few things, yes, and there's fresh milk and eggs, but I have to admit that Bill and Fleur stopped by yesterday afternoon with the baby, and they brought me some groceries—some nice fresh fruit and vegetables, you'll be happy to hear," Arthur said with a smile. He spooned some tea leaves into the waiting teapot, then Hermione poured the hot water over them.

"What would you like with your eggs? Bacon or sausages?" she asked.

"Oh, bangers would be lovely." He Summoned two sets of cups and saucers and two plates, then opened a drawer and pulled out some silverware.

"Bangers it is, then!" Hermione said, setting a pair of frying pans on the cooker.

Arthur set the table for them and poured some milk into a small pitcher, then he sat down and watched as Hermione started the bangers cooking.

"Toast?" Hermione asked.

"I'd not mind a bit of fried bread, actually, but toast is fine—less work," Arthur said.

"No trouble." Hermione sliced some bread.

"You'll have something, too, won't you?" Arthur asked.

"Just a slice of toast," Hermione said. "I ate already."

"I think there were some nice preserves in the groceries Bill and Fleur brought."

Hermione smiled. "I'll try some of it, then."

Arthur poured the tea as Hermione broke two eggs into another hot frying pan and then moved the sausages aside and put a slice of bread in to fry.

"I love your fried bread," Arthur said.

"It's just fried bread."

"I like the way you butter both sides first and don't just cook it in the fat."

Hermione nodded. "My mother's always done it that way, on those rare occasions she makes it. You can have another slice after this one is done and there's room to cook it."

"So . . . I am pleased to see you, but was there a reason for this early morning visit? I'd thought you probably wouldn't be around until later this week, at the soonest."

Hermione shrugged and put the eggs on a plate, which she had first warmed with her wand. "I hadn't been able to drop by last weekend, and this week was really busy between my apprenticeship and everything else, but I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I got your owl the other day. I'm sorry I didn't write back immediately, but it was a busy week at work for me, too. I didn't mean to worry you."

Hermione put the plate of food in front of Arthur, used her wand to send another slice of buttered bread to fry, then waved her wand over a third slice to toast it. "That's all right—it's only been a few days."

"I don't want you to worry that I've fallen back into chaos again, though," Arthur said, smiling wryly. "I'm keeping the place up well, and still eating, too."

"I'm sure that I'd hear from Dobby if you weren't!" Hermione said with a grin. "Is he still coming every Friday?"

Arthur nodded, his mouth full.

Hermione spread mixed berry jam on her toast. "I saw Ron yesterday."

"Did you? I went to the game. He played really well. Afterwards, I went to the pub they were all at, but it was noisy and crowded, so I didn't stay long. I just congratulated him and let him have fun with his mates—didn't want to have his old dad hanging around when he was partying with his friends. Were you there? I didn't see you."

Hermione shook her head. "No, we worked most of the day yesterday. I saw him at the house. He came around yesterday morning with Luna."

"Huh. Was it a Hogsmeade weekend, then?" he asked rhetorically. He dunked a bit of his fried bread in his egg yolk. "Great fry-up, Hermione. I'm glad Ron got back together with Luna. I felt badly when he just stopped seeing her so suddenly. I don't think he even talked to her about it, you know. Just disappeared from her life right when she needed him. But you know how I felt about that."

Hermione nodded, looking pensive.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I know that at one time, you and he . . . we thought so, too. Molly and I."

She shook her head. "I wasn't even thinking about that. I rarely think of it these days, in fact. I was just thinking about the different couples I know, and how I might have thought some of them unlikely ones, but really, they aren't. And what matters is whether the couple is happy."

Arthur sipped his tea and nodded. "Right you are, Hermione. How is Tarrant?"

"I haven't seen him in a couple weeks. I think we're better just being friends, actually. He and Gareth went out with a bunch of friends on Friday night, though, and Gareth said Tarrant's fine."

"Didn't break his heart?" Arthur asked, smiling.

Hermione laughed lightly. "No, confused him and frustrated him, maybe, but I didn't break his heart. I think it was a relief to him when I said it might be better if we didn't date."

Arthur smiled at her across the table. "Someday, Hermione, you'll meet the right wizard, and he'll be a lucky, lucky man."

"You're just saying that because you like my fry-ups," Hermione said with a laugh.

"More than just your fry-ups." Arthur blushed and cut a piece of sausage with his fork.

"Speaking of couples, Ginny's started seeing someone new," Hermione said, Summoning a banana from the counter.

"Really?" Arthur chewed and swallowed. "She hadn't mentioned anything to me about it—unless it's this mysterious bloke she's been revising with. Maybe that's why she's sounding so cheerful in her letters recently."

"I think so," Hermione agreed. "She does seem happier. Ron actually ran into them in Hogsmeade yesterday morning before he and Luna came to see me. They were all out in a group, I guess, Ginny, her date, Niamh Donovan and her date, and Luna, who'd planned to meet Ron in the village but hadn't mentioned it to anyone. They all had lunch together later."

"That sounds like fun. So, who's the wizard?" Arthur asked, taking a bite of his second slice of fried bread.

Hermione took a sip of tea and waited for Arthur to swallow. "Draco. Draco Newman." She was glad that she had waited until Arthur had swallowed, since he turned beet red and looked as though he were about to choke as it was.

"That's Draco Malfoy," he finally said.

"Yes. That's him. Luna says that he is making Ginny very happy—" Hermione began.

"Making her happy?" He shoved his chair back from the table. He stared and shook his head slightly. "I don't think there's been a Malfoy born who's ever cared about anyone's happiness—and if you mean, well, the other, I don't want him touching my daughter!" He shoved his chair back farther and stood.

"Calm down, Arthur. You can't very well go charging up to Hogwarts and demand that Ginny not see him, after all."

"Can't I? Can't I just?"

"No, you can't," Hermione said reasonably, "and it's a good thing, too. It would only make Ginny more attached to him—or to the idea of going out with him, anyway—if you did something like that. And I don't know whether they've done anything physical yet, and I don't think that's something you should be thinking about."

Arthur sat heavily back in his chair. "How can I not think about it? And like father, like son, I'm sure." He shook his head. "He was always nasty. He hates Weasleys as much as his father does. Ron must have been livid."

"I'd say that Ron was pretty shocked, yeah, but they all had lunch together after, and the Aurors weren't called in to break up any honour duels, so I'd say it went peacefully."

Arthur snorted. "After what Lucius Malfoy did to her, I can't believe the nerve of that boy thinking he can go out with her. I don't understand why Ginny doesn't see how bad this is—she hasn't forgotten the diary and how it nearly killed her. No one can tell me that Lucius wasn't fully aware that he was giving my daughter something evil."

"That was Draco's father who did that," Hermione said, "not Draco himself. I am sure that Ginny hasn't forgotten it. But Draco did change his name in order to distance himself from his father, after all."

"It doesn't change who he is at heart."

"No, but if his heart is changing, that could be why he was moved to change his name, and why he appreciates Ginny," Hermione replied. Before Arthur could respond with another objection, she added, "Don't forget that Ginny has been at school with him all this year. She's only started seeing him recently. I don't think that she would be dating someone who was like the Draco who I was in school with. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and to trust Ginny's judgment, at least for now, at least until he does something to break our trust. I think you should, too. She will appreciate your support, especially if she does fall in love with him." Hermione reached across the table and patted Arthur's hand. "I'm sure she doesn't want you to disapprove of who she falls in love with, whoever it is. After all, how much control do we have over things like that? It's a matter of the heart."

"And Draco's heart is a black as ever," Arthur said with a sigh.

"People have said that about Severus Snape and you always used to defend him. I've always found that one of your admirable traits, you know, your defence of Severus," Hermione said softly. "Severus must have been much worse than Draco was—or at least, he became much worse—but he changed. Draco was given an opportunity to take a different path from the rest of his family, and he took it. That should count for something."

Arthur's shoulders were slumped. "I know I will only drive her closer to him—or even just drive a wedge between us—if I try to interfere, but I remember Lucius too well, and I see the man in his son."

"It may not go anywhere. You might have nothing to worry about at all. It could be one of those end-of-school flings people have sometimes. And before you knew that it was Draco, you said yourself that Ginny was sounding happier."

Arthur nodded. "I did. You are wise, Hermione. I will restrain myself. But I wish she had told me herself."

"I can just imagine your reaction to such a bombshell dropped in a letter," Hermione said.

Arthur smiled at her and turned over his hand to give hers a squeeze. "That's why you came today, so I wouldn't hear about it some other way and go flying off the handle and do something I would regret. Thank you, Hermione."

Hermione smiled. "You Weasleys do have a bit of a temper, and you're not Sorted into Gryffindor for nothing!"

"And you're right about Severus. I know that he changed sides years ago and that some people made it very hard for him. He would have been an easier man, a . . . better man, if more people had accepted him after he turned away from Voldemort. That took guts. And he's been a friend to me."

Hermione nodded. "I know. He's become one of the best men I know, even if he's still not an easy man."

"All right, Hermione," Arthur said with a nod. "If he and Ginny are still seeing each other after the Leaving Feast, I'll give the lad a chance. If he doesn't treat her properly, though—"

"You're her father. Of course that's a concern, and you'd have every right to be angry if he didn't treat her well. But I'm glad you're going to give him a chance. It will mean a lot to Ginny, I'm sure."

Arthur gave a slight smile. "As you say, it's a matter of the heart, and we don't always have a choice about whom we fall in love with, even if everyone around us tells us that it's inappropriate."

"Then let's make it easier for Ginny and let her know that if she thinks Draco's appropriate for her, then so do we—as long as he treats her right," Hermione added with a grin.

"Agreed! Now, I'll clean up the dishes—no, no, let me. You made breakfast, and I ate more than you did," Arthur said, standing up and drawing his wand to begin taking care of the dirty dishes. "Tell me about how your apprenticeship is going. Does Gareth regret refusing the Ministry's commission? I know there were some rather unhappy people in the Department of Mysteries when he told them he'd burned all his notes and wasn't going to take the commission, whatever it was."

"Well, after they practically arrested his mother, you can hardly blame him for having uneasy feelings about the Ministry, besides . . . I can't say what the commission was, but it was . . . somewhat related. I guess he felt they'd be using him—all of us, including his mother—for something he didn't really approve of, once he figured out their purpose."

"Mysteriouser and mysteriouser!" Arthur said. "So has he received any other interesting commissions since then, or is it still—how did you put it?—unimaginative tripe and as interesting as the dust bunnies under your bed?"

"Less interesting than the dust bunnies under my bed," Hermione said with a giggle. "We have a new commission from the Venetian Ministry that's interesting, and Gareth's working on something in collaboration with his cousin Morgana, who's a big muckety-muck in Australia. He's working on that alone, though, so I don't know what it is."

"She's the one who helped you find your parents when you lost them last spring, isn't she? Morgana McGonagall?"

Hermione nodded as she took a swallow of tea. "Yes, and she was a Slytherin, too. No one here would give her a chance to advance in the Ministry, so she emigrated to Australia back in the early eighties, and now she's Deputy Minister for Information Sorcery."

"She visited the Ministry for a couple weeks earlier in the spring—they're thinking of implementing some innovations and were consulting her about it. I didn't meet with her, although I did hear that she's clever."

"I saw her again, too, when she visited Gareth whilst she was in England—and I agree, she certainly is clever. What innovations are they considering?"

"Oh, by the time they're implemented, my grandchildren will have grandchildren, probably, but they're thinking of completely reorganising the Department of Mysteries, the Magical Law Enforcement Department, and a few other departments, as well, realigning things, creating new subdivisions, that kind of thing. Kingsley calls it 'modernisation,' and most of the people at the Ministry call it a mess, but it might be good." Arthur shrugged.

"I was impressed by the differences between the wizarding world in Australia and the way things are done here. It's quite different, quite modern, to use Kingsley's term. I think we probably could get a lot of good ideas from them. I wished I'd had more time to learn about things there, but I needed to get my mother and father home and find them a place to live here."

"How are the renovations to the house in Cornwall going?"

"Very well—Mum and Dad are glad that they decided to add on rather than change anything about the old house itself. They think they'll be able to have their new practice open by mid-June."

"Will your mother still be going to Truro regularly?" Arthur asked as he waved his wand to dry all the dishes before putting them away.

"Yes. She really enjoys that. Reconstructive dentistry is really her main interest, what she trained in, and it was a bit of good luck that there was that opening in Truro when there was."

"Is it a long way for her to go?" Arthur asked, trying to puzzle out Muggle distances.

Hermione shrugged. "I guess, but she enjoys the drive, and sometimes she gives someone else a lift who's going in, too, which saves them the bus and gives her some company."

"A pity you can't just give her Portkeys," Arthur said.

"I'd be in more trouble with that than if I made her car fly!" Hermione said with a giggle.

Arthur laughed, remembering his flying Ford. "Yes, that was a difficult one to wriggle out of."

"Ron had some lunkheaded ideas sometimes, but that one!" Hermione laughed. "People are still talking about it. And apparently the centaurs were none too happy to have a Ford Anglia chugging around their forest, either!"

"I just wanted to see whether I could do it, you know. And the car did have a cloaking charm. It wasn't meant to last long. Just for zipping around the field here at the house. And I never did have a chance to try it myself," he said with a sigh.

"Probably just as well! Molly would not have been happy," Hermione said with a laugh.

Arthur shook his head, but he smiled. "No, she was very unhappy with me as it was."

"But you got to keep your shed!" Hermione pointed out.

"That I did. I'm going to tinker about in the shed a bit today, in fact—can you join me?"

"I'm really glad you're doing that again," Hermione said, standing. "Taking an interest. It's important for you. You had a lot of people worried about you, you know."

"I know. And thanks to you, I am taking an interest again." He turned pink. "In my hobbies and such."

"I told Mum I'd be there at noon, so yes, I can stay for a while, make sure you don't blow something up or set yourself on fire—or make a toaster fly!"

Arthur laughed. "Let's go tinker a bit, then."

Next: "Letter from Home." Ginny gets a letter, then writes a few of her own.