Chapter Thirty Six~ P.M.S
Weeks past and now it was a week before the wedding would take place. Everyone scented the tension in the air. People knew that this would be the hardest time for them. They were braced for almost anything, really.
Hermione wasn't concerned with the wedding right now. She was finishing her schoolwork for McGonagall. At the moment, she was completely immersed in a potions essay. She sat at the kitchen table, peering into the depths of her cauldron at a perfectly brewed potion that she made fifteen minutes previous. She scribbled down on her parchment and heard a sound from upstairs: a door slamming. Then she heard voices.
"Fine! Don't come with me! You'll regret it!" Ginny screamed. Hermione turned around to see a red-faced Ginny coming down the stairs. Ginny met her gaze and her face melted a little. She sighed angrily and she left out the door, slamming the door too. A sharp crack sound came from outside. Seconds later, Harry came down the stairs, looking frazzled.
"Ginny!" He called. That's when he saw Hermione sitting there, perfectly ignorant of the situation. Harry looked at Hermione with a sheepish look on his face and sighed. Hermione raised her eyebrow at him.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked him, kind of scared to ask. Harry ran his hand through his hair.
"Hermione, can I ask you some questions about woman?" Harry asked. Hermione pursed her lips but nodded. She gestured to the chair across from her. Harry sat down quickly and leaned his face in his hands, resting his elbows on the table. "…Okay. So, Ginny has been acting a little odd lately, if you haven't noticed. Do you know what I'm talking about?" he asked. Hermione shrugged.
"Well, sort of. There have been a lot of crazy things happening to her lately." Hermione said.
"Exactly. But do you know why she's so…cranky all the time?" Harry inquired. You could see in his eyes that he really was so confused and needed answers. Hermione sighed and leaned forward a little, pushing her bubbling cauldron aside slightly.
"She could be going through P.M.S. You do know what that is, right?" Hermione said. Harry nodded quickly.
"Whoa. I didn't think about that. I thought it was something I did." Harry said with relief.
"Well, it could be set off by something y0u did. Why did she storm out? Where's she going?" Hermione asked him. Harry ran his hand through his hair.
"She's going to sign up for the National Quidditch League at the International Quidditch Association. I didn't want her to sign up so close to the wedding. I wanted to get a job so I could pay for her application to the program, but…she decided to go ahead with it." He sounded angry. His teeth were clenching together a little. Hermione looked at him sympathetically.
"Unfortunately for you and Ron, Harry, you both decided to marry two very independent women. If we want something done at a certain time, we won't hesitate to do it. I know it's going to be difficult but both you and Ron have to realize that we aren't going to stick by you for every little thing," she explained. "Just because you're a couple doesn't mean that you and Ginny are going to be joined at the hip. The best thing about Ron and I is the fact that we enjoy totally different things. I enjoy working and reading and learning while he enjoys playing around, being lazy, etc. We get time apart to do what we love to do and we still come back to each other and talk about it later. But it's going to be more difficult for you and Ginny, seeing as you enjoy the same things and it'll be different trying to work things out like that." Hermione said. Harry pondered that.
"So, what should I do? Should I tell her that I'm fine with the Quidditch thing?" Harry asked. Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Are you fine with it?" Hermione asked. Harry shook his head.
"Not really."
"Then why lie?" Hermione asked curiously. Harry looked at her, confused for a moment. Then his face cleared.
"Hermione, guys lie to their girls more often than you think just to please them." Harry told her honestly. Hermione looked at him with incredulous eyes.
"But why? This is what I don't understand about guys. Why do you lie to us?" she asked him. Harry looked at his hands, which were on the table. He looked at his wedding ring.
"Well, for instance, I've noticed that Ginny has been gaining weight lately. But when she asks me whether I think she's gained weight, I tell her she hasn't and that it's just her eyes playing tricks on her." Harry explained. Hermione opened her mouth to object but he raised a hand to stop her. "I did this because I didn't want her to feel bad about herself. Plus, I think she looks fine either way. I just noticed, as a guy, that she'd been gaining weight. Guys look at the body a lot more than the looks. It's just how we're programed." He said.
"I understand that but you didn't answer the question." Hermione said quickly, trying to get him to the point.
"Well, do you think it's better to lie to someone to make them feel better than have to make them feel like crap?" Harry asked.
"You're asking the wrong person, Harry." Hermione said with a raised eyebrow. "I'm a blunt person. Ginny even more so."
"Well, I know," Harry said stiffly. He tried to figure out a way to make her understand. "She always gets angry or sad if I tell her something she really doesn't want to know, even if she asks me to tell the truth. So why bother telling the truth if you end up sleeping on the couch later anyway?" Harry asked her. Hermione pondered this for a moment.
"Hmm…I've never thought about it that way. But I guess you're right." Hermione said thoughtfully. Harry sat back, staring at her in wonder.
"Wow, this is a milestone; you telling people they're right." Harry smiled at her goofily as he ducked her hand, which swung to hit his head.
"Oh, leave me alone. You guys are right most of the time," Hermione gave him. Harry raised an eyebrow. "…I'm just right a lot more of the time." she finished. Harry grinned at her. "Anyway Harry, do you want my opinion on this?" she asked.
"Yes, oh fountain of knowledge." Harry said with a smile. He was just glad to have the old Hermione back. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Go after her. Tell her that you were wrong and that you'd be happy to help her get into the Quidditch Leagues and that you'll coach her personally." Hermione told him. Harry arched an eyebrow again with a grin on his face.
"But Hermione, you just told me not to lie to her." Harry said. Hermione leaned forward, smiling.
"Harry, if this is indeed P.M.S that we're talking about, I think that's the safest option. I'm just looking out for your health and well-being. Besides-," Hermione patted Harry's cheek. "We wouldn't want your pretty face all bruised for the wedding, now would we?" Harry grinned at her and kissed her cheek.
"Thanks Hermione. I'll see you later." Harry told her and quickly left the Burrow, chasing after Ginny.
When Hermione turned back to her potion, she heard Angelina Johnston and George come down the stairs. They were chatting quietly, Angelina laughing at whatever joke George was telling her. They didn't notice Hermione sitting at the table, so they walked right by. Angelina stood by the door and smiled shyly at George as he helped her into her jacket. Hermione heard her say she had a great time and then Hermione looked around just in time to see George swoop in and kiss her on the lips. Hermione beamed. Angelina had had a crush on George for years now and it was becoming more and more serious up until this point. Now it was official.
After a few seconds, George pulled back, smiled at Angelina and they said goodbye. Angelina left out the door and Apperated home. George turned around, looking dazed, but extremely happy. That's when he saw Hermione. He stared for a moment and then he blinked as Hermione smiled innocently at him.
"Hey. You two have a good time?" Hermione quoted him with a wink. George's ears went scarlet and he smiled cheekily.
"Not a word to anyone, understood?" George said.
"Hey, she can't keep secrets from her Fiancé, can she?" Ron's voice said. Hermione turned to see Ron sitting in the living room beside the door in an armchair, reading the latest Quidditch magazine. Both George and Hermione flushed brightly. He had overheard both conversations.
Helpless, George didn't answer his brother and bolted upstairs. Ron laughed and went over to Hermione, grinning at her.
"Anymore secrets I should be worried about? Is Charlie having a love affair with Seamus or something crazy like that?" he asked. Hermione laughed at him.
"Of course not. Besides, it's just George. They were bound to get together sometime, don't you think?" Hermione said.
"Uh…no. I didn't think that they would, actually." Ron admitted. Hermione rolled her eyes and continued to stir her potion.
"Honestly Ronald, it's like you notice nothing sometimes."
"Hey, I notice things! I'm just not as smart as you." Ron grumbled, sitting at the table. Hermione sighed, somewhat impatiently.
"It has nothing to do with your intellect level, Ron. You know, I never thought you'd have noticed me flirting with you if it weren't for your hormones. Sometimes it's good that you aren't so attuned to certain things. But it took you long enough to figure that out, didn't it?" Hermione said with a little arrogance in her voice as she stirred her cauldron and measured just the right amount of potion out on a spoon to look at up close. Ron stared at her, trying desperately to understand what she was talking about.
"Well, yeah, you didn't exactly make it easy. I thought you were just being crazy half the time." Ron told her honestly. Hermione focused on Ron for a moment, kind of intrigued.
"…Ron, when exactly did you realize I was flirting with you?" Hermione asked him. Ron shrugged, desperately trying to think back.
"Er… well, I remember there was that time when you kissed my cheek during the fifth year. But that was just because I was nervous. And, uh, I remember after Lavender and I broke up, we kind of…well, I guess we kind of hit off. And when we were on the run, it just seemed to get a little…well, you know, the flirting seemed a lot…um-,"
"More prophesying?" Hermione finished. Ron looked puzzled for a moment before Hermione sighed. "It means it became more pronounced."
"Ah. Yeah, that's it." Ron told her. Although Hermione was slightly disappointed with herself for not making her flirtatious attempts more "prophesying", she knew that Ron and, really, any other boy didn't notice when girls flirted with them. So she didn't take it to heart.
Hermione quickly scribbled down her findings on her essay and looked back at Ron, who was waiting patiently for her to respond in some way. Hermione put her quill down and looked at Ron with a smile on her face.
"Well, I'm glad you started noticing when you did. It was precisely the right time for you to notice." Hermione told him. Ron was confused.
"Wait. Did you flirt with me before I figured it out?" Ron asked. Hermione swallowed and had a little flashback to the nights in her dorm before the Yule ball when she'd put on her dress and only think about what Ron would think. That night was everything. It was her chance to look beautiful to Ron for the first time since they'd become friends. He couldn't see it before, obviously. She was so plain. But all Hermione could think about was making an impression on Ron for once. And even after Ron almost asked her to go with "one of us" (meaning either Harry or Ron), Hermione still couldn't gather the courage to say yes. She would have rather gone with Ron to the Yule ball but Victor Krum seemed the best choice since Ron was so oblivious to her feelings for him, which only grew stronger as the years went on. Hermione's fourth year was really the beginning of it all. All the pointless rows and arguments over little pieces of nothing, all the word-play, all the teasing and verbal jousting was all leading up to romance that Hermione had discovered in her fourth year at Hogwarts. She was just starting to understand how powerful this kind of crush could actually be.
"Hermione?" Ron brought her out of her little flashback, waving his large hand in front of her face. Hermione blinked and her eyes unclouded. She quickly put a smile on her face.
"Well, I guess you'll never know." Hermione teased. As she let that sink into Ron's mind, she picked up her wand and swished it to make the contents of the cauldron disappear and the cauldron transport back into her room. Hermione stood up, shut her potion's textbook, grabbed her essay, an envelope and some wax and a stamp and brought it over to
the window. She opened the window and looked around for Errol, the Weasley's owl. Ron came up behind her, peering at her with biting curiosity.
"What if I want to know?" Ron asked her, leaning against the counter, trying to get her to look at him. Hermione put the essay inside the envelope, sealed it with the wax, wrote "Professor Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Headmistresses office" on the outside of the envelope.
"Why would you want to know?" she asked as she looked out the window again. "Errol!" she called.
"Because I'm curious." Ron answered.
"Well, curiosity isn't always a good thing, Ronald. Sometimes you just don't need to know things like that." Hermione told him knowingly.
"But I want to-," Ron began to say but Errol flew in the window. Hermione ducked out of the way of the flying bird but it flew right into Ron's chest, knocking him off his feet. "Oof! Errol, you tosspot!" Ron exclaimed from the ground. Hermione giggled, as Errol flew unto Hermione's shoulder. Hermione quickly helped Ron to his feet and turned to give the letter to Errol, putting it in his sharp beak. Ron exhaled as Hermione turned to let him perch on the window.
"Take this to Professor McGonagall at Hogwarts in her office, okay Errol?" Hermione said. When the owl flew off, Hermione put away the envelopes. "What were you saying, Ron?" she asked. Ron looked at her with big eyes.
"Will you please just tell me?" Ron asked her. Hermione sighed heavily and turned around.
"The first time I flirted with you was in our fourth year. There, happy?" Hermione inquired, striding past him to grab her potions book. Ron turned, stuffing his hands in his pocket, feeling a tad stupid.
"Wow… was I really that-?" Ron started.
"Naïve? Yup," Hermione finished. There was a quick silence before Hermione turned around and smirked at Ron. "Ron, you're a guy. I don't hold it against you anymore. When I was younger I thought you weren't returning the flirting because you didn't feel the same way, which could have been true back then, but I'm fine with it now." Hermione assured him. Ron blinked.
"Well, uh-," Ron was trying to think up of some compliment. He felt like he should complement her right now. Hermione saw the look on his face and quickly kissed his lips.
"Don't worry about it, Ron. Seriously, I'm completely over it." she told him. Ron decided to let that be and he chuckled.
"Blimey, Hermione, I never thought you'd react that way. Where are all the silent treatment and the snide remarks?" Ron asked her. Hermione smirked at him.
"Do you remember all the times at Hogwarts when I wouldn't talk to you and everything I said to you was normally some sort of insult?" Hermione inquired, peering up at him. Ron thought back and then nodded. "I got most of my anger out then." She told him. Ron pondered on that for a moment before he grinned at her.
"So, I'm off the hook?" Ron asked her hopefully. Hermione smiled, leaned up and kissed his lips for a moment, just enough to tease him. She pulled back, looking in his eyes. Ron went to go kiss her again but Hermione put her finger to his lips.
"…For now." Hermione said slyly with a flirtatious smile. Hermione turned and walked away, leaving a happily stunned Ron in the living room of the Burrow.