Just Being Neighborly- Chapter 21
AN- Okay my beloved readers, we're going to jump ahead now to the end of September. That means school has been going on for abut a month now. Enjoy! (and review!)
Hermione volunteered to chaperone the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year. She was grateful for the opportunity to briefly escape the confines of the castle. It had been a long month consisting of endless lesson planning and grading, detentions, and student and staff meetings. She had spent her few free evenings hanging out with Severus in either his quarters or hers for the few hours between evening rounds and bed. Late night guard duty was tedious and always seemed to make the following day seem worse, due to her lack of sleep. The Gryffindors seemed to be pulling things together though. There hadn't been any more major incidents. They narrowly won their first Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, and they were currently ranked second in House points.
It was a pretty fine day for a Hogsmeade visit. A cool breeze necessitated a cloak, but it was not overly cool or rainy. She had a chaperoning post starting at Hogwarts itself, making sure that only those students permitted to go left the castle with the group. Severus was posted at the front gates of Hogwarts performing a second inspection of the list before allowing them to leave grounds. The Arithmancy professor was already in Hogsmeade, awaiting the descent of students on the quite village.
Ginny Weasley was waiting for Hermione at The Three Broomsticks. Hermione had invited her dear friend that she hadn't been able to see for a month. Harry, unfortunately, was away on business, so he could not join them. When the last student had left the castle, Hermione practically skipped down the path, at least for the first few feet. After a while the skipping started to hurt, so she changed to a brisk walk.
Severus was waiting at the front gate with his own list marked of the students who had left grounds. They compared to make sure their lists were exactly the same before walking into Hogsmeade. Argus Filch was in charge of marking off the students when they returned from the village.
Hermione squealed a little when she hugged Ginny inside the pub. A few students were already there, happily drinking Butterbeers. They turned briefly to look at the professor.
"How have you been?" Hermione asked.
"I'm quite the same, it's you who is different. How is teaching at Hogwarts? Is it odd?" the redheaded woman asked.
"Not particularly. I mean, occasionally I think about all the things that we did there, but not too often any more. Our antics are helpful though because I know more secret passageways and tricks to the castle that any of the students." Hermione explained.
"We certainly got into some serious mischief there." Ginny reminisced.
The two witches spent a couple of hours in the pub just reminiscing before they decided to have a stroll around town. They were nearing the shrieking shack when Hermione felt someone grab her wrist. She whipped around to see Ron Weasley standing there, wearing a new pair of every day robes over a Muggle dress shirt and jeans. He would have looked rather dashing if he weren't such a git.
"Hermione. I missed you," he said, still holding her arm.
"Hands off, Ronald." Hermione growled.
"Oh, now calm down you two. Hermione, I forgot to tell you that Ron came back yesterday. Ron, you really shouldn't be here." Ginny prattled. Neither of them seemed to hear her.
"It's been a long time, Hermione. I thought of you every day. Did you miss me?" he asked. A crowd of students was beginning to gather, not sure what they were going to see. Professor Granger certainly did not look happy.
"Let go of me, Ronald." she said sternly, glaring at him.
"What's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?" Ron asked, wrapping his arms around Hermione's waist. Ginny stared at them wide-eyed and ran off.
"Last warning, Ron. Let me go." Hermione demanded calmly.
"What's wrong love? You used to love it when I did stuff like this." Ron whispered, moving his head to kiss her neck.
Silently and without moving, Hermione blasted Ron backward into the fence of the shrieking shack.
"I know, Ronald." she said, "I've known for a long time now."
"Known what?" Ron asked, looking nervous. Hermione advanced on him, her wand drawn now.
"About her, the Latin American slut you were cheating on me with." Hermione growled. There was a gasp from the students.
"Maria? How did you find out about Maria?" he asked, terrified now.
"I really didn't need to know her name. It was in the magazines, you idiotic git. You really are moronic sometimes. You aren't supposed to have a fiancée and a girlfriend at the same time!" Hermione shouted, firing off a series of spells around him. Ron's eyes were the size of dinner plates.
There was a bang and suddenly Harry was standing between them. He glared at Ron before running up to Hermione and hugging her.
"That's enough, Hermione. You don't really want to kill him." Harry whispered. Hermione hugged him back, practically collapsing into him. There was a murmur around the gathered students, and Harry heard his name several times. He ignored it, focusing on whispering calming things to Hermione as he watched Ginny and Severus running down the road.
"Ginny, why don't you take Hermione up to Rosemerta's. Get her cleaned up and buy her a stiff drink. I'll be up shortly." Harry said, slowly detaching himself from Hermione.
"Wait. I've got to do one more thing." Hermione said. Harry looked at her seriously.
"Give me your wand. I don't trust you with it around him." Harry said. Hermione easily handed over her wand to the taller wizard before she started walking toward Ron again. She could feel that Harry was just a couple of steps behind her.
She reached up to her neck and pulled out small gold chain. At the end of the chair was Hermione's 4-carat diamond engagement ring. She broke the chain off her neck and tossed it and the ring to Ron.
"Here's your ring. It should have been my indication that we weren't going to work. If you had really paid attention to me, you would know that's far too large and flashy for me. Goodbye, Ron." she said. Hermione silently turned and walked toward Ginny. The two witches walked somberly back up the road to The Three Broomsticks.
Harry reached down to haul Ron off the ground.
"You shouldn't have done it, mate. Do us all a favor and just leave her alone. It took a long time for her to recover from what you did. Frankly, the fact that you're my brother-in-law and one of my best mates is the only thing stopping me from taking you down right now. Go home, Ron." Harry said seriously. He stepped back and watched Ron apparate away. Severus was busy shooing away all the students.
"Come on, Snape. They're going to whisper what they want anyway, might as well let them get it out of their systems." Harry said as he passed. Severus glared at the group of students before following Harry back into town.