AN: This chapter was supposed to be fluff, but it ended up furthering the plot instead. It's a bit of a mess, but things have to happen this way so this story can reach an ending close to the one that I have planned. I don't see this story having more than fifty chapters, which means that we are unfortunately nearing an end. However, I do promise to keep things interesting ;)

Chapter 38 – The Grave Mistake

Hermione woke up on the morning of Valentine's Day not knowing what to expect. Fred had said he had a surprise planned for her, but that could mean anything, so she was on guard as she went about her morning routine.

Her shower went uninterrupted, and as she was making herself breakfast she began to wonder if she was expecting too much. It could just be a dinner date or a cute gift or something. But this was Fred Gideon Weasley. He had to have something ridiculous up his sleeve.

He wouldn't have anything planned for her while she was at work, could he? She didn't think so, but she wouldn't put it past him. However, she had the strangest inkling that he would be a bit too busy to bother her at work today…

The last thing Fred was expecting when he walked into the shop was a shower of paper hearts. However, the singing cherubs were a surprise too. When had Hermione set this all up?

"Verity?" He called out. "Did you do this?"

She looked up from the ledger she was balancing. "No, sir."

"Then who did?"

"Your wife, of course. She was here last night setting things up."

Had she really spent all of last night grading papers in her study? Fred wasn't sure. He also wasn't sure how to get the cherubs to stop singing, as they had started to follow him around. She had skill, he had to give her that much. "Do you know how to get the cherubs to stop singing?"
"Hermione said the counterspell was written on one of the hearts." Verity replied, before putting in a pair of earplugs.

Fred leaned down and tried to pick a few up, but they fluttered to life and flew away from him. Once he had caught a couple, he realized that each of them appeared to have a spell written on it. Well, he had to start somewhere. He pointed his wand at a cherub, calling out the incantation written on the heart. Pink and orange heart shaped bubbles began to shoot out of the end of his wand, which caused the paper hearts to fly even farther out of reach.

This meant war.

"Alright class, follow me!" Hermione led her class of fifth years out of the classroom, through the halls, and outside to the courtyard, where the snow had melted enough to make being outside tolerable. Today, they were practicing Patronus charms.

She had the class organized and ready to begin when Bailey Perkins raised her hand. "Aren't you going to demonstrate it first?" She asked once Hermione called on her.

"Of course." She pulled out her wand. "First, you focus on a happy memory." She explained. "It's a bit more difficult when you're facing a Dementor, but sadly I couldn't acquire one for us to practice on." She chuckled. A happy memory. She put one hand on her necklace and though about the day with the fountains. "Expecto Patronum." A jet of silver shot from the end of her wand, and to the amazement of her class, an otter formed. "Patronuses take different forms for different wizards." She explained as her otter waddled over to her. She reached down to pat its head, and it sat at her feet, like a dog. "Mine happens to be an otter. Before anyone asks, Harry Potter's takes the form of a stag, like his father's." A girl in the back put her hand down.

Stephan Kline raised his hand. "So our patronus will take the same form as our parents'?"

"Not necessarily. Patronuses tend to reflect to the caster's own soul, like I've never met another wizard with an otter Patronus, but when there is a closeness between two people, the forms might reflect each other. Like my husband and his twin have twin Patronus forms - ferrets. Does that answer your question?" She was really getting the hang of this teaching thing.

Fred was out of hearts, and still the cherubs were not silent. Had he lost one? He leaned against the counter and went to put his wand in the breast pocket of his robe, when he discovered that there was something already there. It was a plushy heart, with the phrase I love you embroidered upon it. Upon inspection, he found a tiny paper heart tucked into a small pocket on the back, upon which the word Tacitum was written in his wife's tiny, neat handwriting.

Once the cursed cherubs were gone, Fred sat down and began lovingly planning his revenge.

Hermione saw a figure in the back of her second to last class that could have been gray or silver, she couldn't tell. She thought a student had cast a patronus while she was demonstrating hers until she realized what, or rather who, it was. Ron. "I've got a question." He said, floating to the front of the class. Despite the fact that he was all silver gray, Hermione could have sworn his hair had a red tint to it.

"As you can see, I have a class right now. We can talk later." She said finally. Her patronus chose that moment to rush at Ron, as though sensing her discomfort.

"Ouch!" He shrieked. "It bit me!"

"You're a ghost Ron, you can't feel pain."

"How do you know what I can and can't do?"

Hermione crossed her arms. "Ron, I am trying to teach."

He pestered her through the entire lesson, bothering her students while they tried to focus on happy memories. The only successful patronus was the otter at her feet that snapped at Ron whenever he got too close to Hermione. She was beginning to wonder if he could indeed feel pain, by the way he avoided it.

Ron followed her back to her office once she had let the class go early.

"Are you my personal raincloud now?" She asked irritably.

"How's Harry doing?" he asked.

"Good, he and Luna are expecting a baby girl in June."

"What are they naming her?"

"Serendipity." She replied, sitting at her desk. Godric, knowing that her returning to her office meant food, scurried to a corner of his terrarium, waiting for his new prey.

Ron shrieked in fear when he noticed her odd pet. "Why do you have a spider on your desk?"

She couldn't exactly tell him the truth. "Because Fred thought I would find him cute." She replied, setting a couple live crickets lose in the terrarium. The great hairy creature was starting to grow on her.

"That's bloody awful." Ron gave her a look of disgust. "How can you stand being married to him?"

"I don't know, how can you stand hanging out with Moaning Myrtle all the time?" Hermione had had more than enough of being pestered by the both of them.

"She understands my pain." He defended.

Hermione sighed. "Why did you stay?"

"What memory forms your patronus?"

"Why does that matter to you?"

"I have my reasons."

"If I tell you, will you tell me why you stayed?"

"Yes."

Hermione took a deep breath. She couldn't tell him the truth, that would only upset him. But what memory involving Ron would be strong enough to form a Patronus? All she could remember right now was the fights, not only her fighting with Ron, but just fighting to survive. The Quidditch Cup – no, definitely not the Yule Ball –

"The memory is of you and Fred, isn't it?"

Hermione nodded.

Ron gave her a disgusted look. "He's a complete git."

"What is your problem?"

"I died and you married my stupid older brother."

"We've been through this, Ron. I didn't have a choice."

"You did have a choice. You could have chosen someone else. Anyone else."

"So you would rather me be with some random person, rather than someone who makes me happy, just because he's your brother?"

Ron didn't answer.

"Well?" Hermione asked, with no small amount of venom.

Ron looked like he was about to answer when the sound of fireworks down the hall drew their attention. Hermione sighed. She was supposed to be watching the halls right now.

"We'll talk later, okay?" She said as she sprinted out of the classroom to see what the noise was all about.

Hermione was expecting a lot of things, but Fred leading a parade of pink firework dragons down the hall wasn't one of them.

Fred knelt down like a proper knight in front of his wife. "M'lady." He said, taking her hand. He was expecting a smile, but her look of shock and terror confused him. What did he do?

It wasn't until he noticed Ron standing behind her, his ghostly arms crossed and a sour look upon his face that Fred realized exactly how much he had messed up. He stood up and quickly dissipated his firework entourage, not that it helped any.

Hermione looked from Ron to him, trying to speak, but no words came out. Her bottom lip quivered.

"Hello Ron." Fred said, for lack of anything better to say.

A chilling laugh escaped Ron's lips. "Is that all you have to say? Hello? Almost a year since my death and that's all you have to say. If I cared about your existence at all, I'd be hurt."

Hermione tensed and spun around. "YOU INSUFFERABLE CREATURE. YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE WORM." She started shrieking. "IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW, LIFE HASN'T EXACTLY BEEN THE EASIEST FOR US SINCE YOU DIED. YOU GOT OFF EASY. YOU HAVEN'T HAD TO ATTEND THE FUNERALS OF FIRST YEARS, YOU HAVEN'T HAD NIGHTMARES EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, OR CRIED YOURSELF TO SLEEP, WISHING THAT IT HAD BEEN YOU THAT HAD DIED INSTEAD. WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST GONE INTO THE LIGHT IF YOU HATE US ALL SO MUCH, RON?" a crowd had gathered at this point. Hermione pulled out her wand. "I can make your death a living hell." Her voice was cold. Ron went to escape, but Hermione fired a spell that rendered him paralyzed.

"What have you done to me, you bloody bitch?" Ron screamed, struggling to escape the curse that she had bound him in.

Fred snapped out of his awestruck state. He placed his arm around Hermione, and tried to lower her shaking wand arm. "Hermione, honey, just leave him be."

She shook her head. "No."

"I wish I was a poltergeist!" Ron was screaming, and seemed like he was in pain. What had she done to him? "I would haunt you into oblivion!"

"Just stop it, Ron!" She screeched, hot tears rolling down her cheeks. "You have no idea what I've been through!"

Fred pulled her close to him. "Hermione, please." She struggled to get away from him. "Please. This stress isn't good for you or the baby."

"Baby?" Ron laughed coldly. "Good luck with that, Hermione. I'm sure you'll love parenthood, especially trying to raise that git's children."

"Let me go. I want to kill him." Hermione insisted, struggling with every ounce of her strength to get out of his grasp, but the murderous look in his wife's eyes meant that he wasn't going to let her go for anything.

"You can't kill what's already dead." He tried to take her wand away from her but her grip was too strong.

"Like hell I can't."

"Just calm down Hermione. Please? He's not worth it."

"If I'm not worth it then you're certainly not!"

"Ron! You aren't helping. Just shut your bloody gob!" He yelled at his brother.

"Make me!"

Fred then did something monumentally stupid. He let go of Hermione.

Fred held Hermione close as she sobbed. He had never liked being in the headmaster's office, and this time was no exception.

Professor McGonagall sat across from them, seeming to be unsure of what to do herself.

"I didn't mean to hurt him." Hermione whimpered, her face buried in his neck. "I just wanted him to leave me alone. He just wouldn't leave me alone."

"I know honey. I know." Hagrid and Flitwick had gotten there before she could do anything too terrible to him, and Hagrid had carried her away from the scene while Flitwick removed the curses Hermione had put on Ron, who promptly ran off to skulk and nurse his pride.

Fred looked at McGonagall. "Professor, I am truly sorry for the trouble I have caused."

"There was a time that I wished to see you sorry for your actions. I regret that wish now."

Fred felt like he was going to be sick. He had made a lot of mistakes in his life, but nothing like this.

"Hermione, do you need anything?" The headmistress asked.

She shook her head in response.

"Some tea maybe?" Fred asked.

Hermione sniffled. "Yes please."

They all sipped their tea in silence for some time, the sound the occasional sniffle from Hermione.

"Minerva?" Hermione said finally.

"Yes?"

"I'd like to resign."

"I'm sorry I made you quit, Hermione." Fred said softly as they got ready for bed. They hadn't discussed what had happened since getting home.

"It's not your fault. My being there wasn't helping anyone." She sat down on their bed, both hands on her stomach. "Thank you for keeping me from doing something stupid."

He smiled weakly, sitting beside her. "It's what I'm here for. I'm sorry I let go of you."

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

He kissed her cheek. "For all it's worth right now, happy Valentine's Day."

"It's worth a lot." She smiled. "Happy Valentine's day."

"I enjoyed your prank."

"I hoped you would. What was the surprise you were planning for me, anyway?"

"A quiet dinner out. I wasn't going to go to Hogwarts to bother you until I decided to get you back for the cherubs."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. They were fantastic."

A loud sound like gunshots or fireworks got their attention, and they rushed to the window to see what was going on. A grand firework display had gone up over George and Seamus's house.

"Aww, they're so cute." Hermione squealed. In bright crimson, the words I love you shone in the sky, surrounded by hundreds of sparkling silver hearts. At least they knew how to celebrate.

So, I realize that Ron is a super jerk in this chapter, so before you get mad at me, please recall a few chapters back when it was explained that most ghosts are rather awful towards the people they knew in life. Also, I have good reason for making this happen :)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and as always, please review and tell me what you think! This story is so close to 200 reviews, and I would really like to see that happen! If it does, I might even do something special (I'm not sure what, so if it does happen, let me know what you'd like to have happen)!

The next chapter is the reveal of the baby's gender, and I know you're all looking forward to that!:)

-Zen and Sirius