Chapter 11 – Fist
Hi everyone...sorry, I should have posted this a bit earlier, but I was out for the day. Thank you all for your lovely reviews about the last chapter - and to the reviewer "Anonymous" I hope that this chapter explains a little more about Hermione's thoughts on the incident with Ron. Hope you like this one... :)
Two weeks since she'd bought the dress for the ball with Ginny, and Hermione felt like life simply couldn't get any better. She'd been exchanging letters with Rose on a daily basis, and hearing about her daughter's endeavours at Hogwarts almost made her feel as though she was back there herself. The case with Draco was moving slowly but surely forward, and when Ron had turned up two days after the…incident, she'd been only too happy to have him back as he did truly seem sorry that he'd hurt her. According to his pleas, he hadn't even realised that she was injured, and Hermione didn't want a confrontation – to be frank, she just wanted to pretend it had never happened. Harry and Ginny still knew nothing about what had happened, and she hoped to keep it that way. Though her marriage to Ron seemed to have taken a turn towards an almost stilted arrangement, it wasn't much worse than previously and at least now they had both acknowledged some of their mistakes and were trying to move on.
Not that she'd ever forget.
Still, she couldn't help but hum happily to herself as she changed out of her suit into some more suitable clothing for the Three Broomsticks. She and Ginny were meeting their husbands there, for some much needed time together like they had when they were back in school. Just as she was swiping on some lipstick, an ear-piercing shriek rang out through the entire house.
"MIIIIIONE! GET YOUR ARSE DOWN HERE ALREADY! I'M HUNGRY, AND I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO FINISH PREENING YOURSELF FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR NOW!"
In her shock, her arm jerked upwards, sending a line of scarlet sprawling across her cheek. Trust the fat pregnant woman to ruin things.
"Five minutes, Gin, you've been waiting for five!" she yelled, equally loudly.
"DON'T YOU ARGUE WTH ME, HERMIONE JEAN WEASLEY!" Ginny bellowed, and she heard the stairs begin to shake as she thundered up to her bedroom.
She hurriedly wiped the lipstick off her face, and grabbed her handbag just in time before Ginny burst through the doorway and grabbed her arm, giving her no other choice but to deal with side-along apparition.
ooooo
As soon as they'd touched the ground, Hermione bent over the pavement, stomach lurching.
"Oh, don't be such a drama queen." Ginny snapped, "Now come ON!" and she grasped her arm in a vice-like grip, dragging her down the road.
As soon as they'd entered their "destination", Harry jumped up from the table where he and Ron were sitting with butterbeers, and quite literally swept Ginny into his arms. Within seconds they were – to put it eloquently – making out, much to the amusement of Madam Rosmerta, and the disgust of Ron. As he shielded his eyes, she couldn't help but laugh at his put-out expression.
"Woah, major PDA! Back off guys, it's not the end of the world!" she laughed. When they made no indication they had heard her, she had to try to prise them apart, but the attempt was futile. Ron approached the three of them at the doorway, and in one of their rare moments of understanding, they each shot each other mischievous grins. Time for drastic action.
At the same time they both acted, but when Hermione began to tickle Ginny – making the red-head's entire body convulse with giggles – and expected Ron to do the same, she was shocked when instead, he kicked his friend…where the "sun-don't-shine".
He stood back, looking pleased with himself as Harry collapsed to the ground, groaning.
"WHAT THE HELL?! Have you completely lost it?" he yelled, between groans.
"Mate, I told you not to mess with my sister, and that there'd be consequences if you ignored me."
"THAT WAS MORE THAN TEN YEARS AGO!" both Hermione and Ginny yelled simultaneously.
"Meh." Ron shrugged. "You know what they say. Revenge has no boundaries."
ooooo
Fifteen minutes later, and they were seated at a table, an ice-pack gripped between Harry's legs, and the two men glowering at each other between snippets of conversation. The once-empty tavern was almost spilling over with people now, as once people had heard that the "Golden Trio plus one" were in town, a hoard of wizards and witches had run to grab a seat in the same room as them, much to Madam Rosmerta's delight and their dismay.
The atmosphere visibly tensed, however, when one brave teenage witch approached Ron, and asked to speak to him privately. When she'd dragged him a distance away from the table, begun to wave her arms about, the movements were so vigorous that her bleach-blonde ponytail had started to swing violently, and her muggle shorts shifted even higher up her legs, much to the delight of most of the male members in the prying crowd. Thrusting a copy of the "Daily Prophet" under Ron's nose, within seconds his face had turned thunderous, and he'd stormed back over to the table. Judging from the smug expression the girl now wore, and the glare she shot Hermione, she guessed that what was about to happen wasn't going to be good.
At all.
ooooo
"What," Ron began, "is the meaning of this?" he asked, dangerously quiet. His lowered tone only meant trouble – when Ron was upset, he sulked, when he was angry, he yelled, but when he was livid, his tone became perilously low. He slid the copy of the newspaper across the table, and when Hermione saw the picture at the front, it took all of her self-control not to collapse.
The image showed Draco whispering something to her, which must have amused her because seconds later she burst out laughing. Over, and over the scene played, taunting her and the headline only made matters worse:
TROUBLE IN OUR WAR HEROS' PARADISE? FORMER GRANGER SEEN WITH EX-SLYTHERIN ENEMY!
She should have known – trust Skeeter to bend a business meeting into a romantic rendezvous. She quickly scanned the article.
We've all heard of the two golden couples, our supposed "saviours" from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named: Harry and Ginevra Potter, and Ronald and Hermione Weasley. But when the latter seem to be going through tough times in their relationship, we have to say we were more than shocked to find the former Miss Granger turning to the ex-Slytherin Prince – Draco Malfoy himself – with whom she had a supposed hatred of during school years.
Our sources tell us Mr Malfoy – also married to a Mrs Astoria Malfoy (formerly Greengrass) – repeatedly insulted Mrs Weasley's blood status when they attended Hogwarts, usually calling her a "mudblood". However, circumstances have certainly changed, as we saw him cosy-ing up to Mrs Weasley no less than two weeks ago – not so "impure" now, is she "Draco"? Witnesses also heard Mr Malfoy mentioning "Granger and Potters' endeavours" during school. Is it true that the supposed "best friends" were actually romantically involved behind young Ronald's back?
We can confirm that Mr Weasley was also seen storming out of their family home on the same day…the couple currently have one daughter, but is the future looking bleak for young Rose's parents?
~ Rita Skeeter
It was disgusting. And to think that people actually believed what that witch wrote. She'd almost forgotten that the lies that possibly the entire Wizarding World were lapping up were about herself; it was like having an out-of-body experience. Only when she felt sharp slap on her cheek did she snap out of it. Her head jerked upwards.
"Ron! What the hell is wrong with you?" she heard Ginny scream.
So he'd hit her. Again.
"I want answers." He growled, and lunged towards her again, completely oblivious that they were in public.
"Leave off, Ron! Give Hermione a chance to explain!" Ginny tried to push forward.
"Woah, Ginny, don't even think about it!" Harry hauled her back, but as gently as possible. "Mate, calm down!" he tried to placate Ron, but received a fist in the face for his efforts.
Harry spat blood onto the tablecloth, before turning slowly to face Ron again. "Twice in one night, Ron. What the hell is wrong with you - "
"That's it!" Ginny screamed, before launching herself at her brother, but she was slow, and Ron shoved her hard into a table before advancing towards Hermione.
"So you and Malfoy, huh? After everything I've done for you, you go and throw yourself at that Death Eater? What is WRONG with you?!" he gripped her arm, nails digging in.
"Ron! Let go! You're hurting me!"
He only dug his nails in further. "What. Does. This. Mean?" he hissed, pushing his face right up to hers. She could see the flecks of spittle gathering in the corners of his mouth.
"It's business, Ron! You can't believe anything Skeeter says! Malfoy has approached us for a case!"
"Let me get this straight. You cheated on me with Harry in school - "
"NO!"
"SHUT UP!" he bellowed. "You cheated on me, and now you're helping Malfoy?"
She cowered away, expecting another blow, but instead felt her arm being released.
"I'm ashamed to call you my wife. I expect to see you home in half an hour." And he turned to stride away, pushing away the crowd who had gathered as he went.
She couldn't stop her body from trembling with shock, and only then realised that she wasn't the only one who had been hurt.
"Ginny!" she cried out, running over to where she was slumped by a table.
"Mione." She whispered, looking up.
"I think the baby's coming."
Heehee. Sorry, I hate Ron as always, but the ending of this sounds so much more dramatic than what actually happens later. Oh well :P As usual, please take the time to review as it's ALWAYS appreciated...and at about 125 I'll update. Love you all,
Tris xx
