Chapter forty five ~ Fix it
Dear Professor McGonagall,
I am very pleased to inform you that I will be able to begin teaching as soon as possible. I know it is very late in the term and that I will probably be starting as Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts in the fall, but I wanted to send you this Owl to tell you personally. I sincerely hope everything is going well and I look forward to working for you.
Yours truly, Hermione Weasley.
Hermione blew on the page to help the ink dry and read it over once before she put it in the envelope and sealed it with wax. She looked around for Pig, Ron's owl, and saw he was nowhere to be seen.
"Pig! Pig, come here!" she called. Soon, she heard twittering from Ron's room and the little brown owl fluttered over and perched itself on Hermione's shoulder, hooting gleefully. Hermione smiled and petted his head before giving the letter to him. Pig took it in his tiny beak. "There you go. Can you take this to Hogwarts to Professor McGonagall?"
Pig hooted quietly in response, his big eyes intent on her face. Hermione smiled and led him to the open window and she let him fly off. She stared out of the window, watching him leave. She watched until he was a tiny brown speck against the blue sky but her peaceful moment was interrupted when she felt someone come up behind her. Familiar arms wrapped around her waist and she felt herself go warm inside. She let herself enjoy the touch for a couple of seconds before she edged out of the arms and turned to face Ron. When she faced him, Ron's face seemed disappointed but as though he expected it.
"May I help you?" she asked, her tone light. She wasn't angry at him anymore, not really – she was more frustrated than anything.
"Just wondered what you were doing," Ron mumbled awkwardly. He glanced at the window. "Where'd you send Pig?"
"To McGonagall," Hermione said, striding back into the kitchen to put away her quill and ink. Ron followed her. "I wrote her a letter to tell her I was ready to work again."
"What? Why would you do that?" Ron asked, like he didn't understand. Hermione turned with a raised eyebrow.
"Because…I am ready to work." she said slowly. Ron looked more disappointed.
"You really have to go to work right away? I mean, we were just married. We just came back from our honeymoon."
"Our honeymoon could have been longer if you hadn't left." Hermione snipped as she washed her quill tip under the sink. Ron groaned and grabbed at his hair.
"Oh, c'mon Hermione, don't be like that! I said I was sorry, didn't I?"
"Do you know what 'I'm sorry' means, Ron?" Hermione asked, turning on him.
"'Course. It means I did something wrong and I want to fix it." he said easily. Hermione shook her head.
"No. I'm sorry means you won't do it again. So, this is the question, Ron: will you do it again?" Hermione asked him.
Ron looked at her with bewilderment on his face.
"No, of course not, but-,"
"Look – moral of the story: if you're going to do something wrong and then apologize for it, make sure you mean it because it's just going back on a promise if you do it again." Hermione said firmly as she put her quill back in its holder and went to stride out of the kitchen. A long hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She sighed impatiently and looked over at Ron.
"Hermione, please-,"
"Have you talked to Harry yet?" Hermione asked simply. Ron flinched as though he was remembering a bad memory.
"No, but-,"
"But what? Are you planning to?"
"Well, yeah, I just haven't decided when yet." Ron said quietly. Hermione nodded, expecting that answer.
"So, in other words, you're just going to wait for him to come to you." Hermione said smoothly, her eyebrow raised. Ron's eyes widened in exasperation.
"No!"
"Then why don't you go right now and fix it?"
"Because!"
"Because, why?"
"Because he's probably busy." Ron said shortly. Hermione crossing her arms.
"With what?" she inquired dryly. Ron shot her a look.
"How am I supposed to know? He's probably busy with baby stuff." Ron muttered. Hermione gave him a look back.
"And what are you busy with?" drilled Hermione.
"Nothing!" Ron exclaimed. Hermione leaned back, a sly smirk on her face, knowing she'd won the argument.
"Then go and get your best friend back." Hermione ordered simply. Ron's face went red with anger.
"I don't want to!" Ron whined, acting almost child-like. Hermione raised her eyebrow again and sighed. She had an idea.
"Fine. I guess tonight's off then." She said with fake disappointment. Ron came out of his anger, his face contorting with confusion.
"What's tonight?" Ron asked. Hermione shrugged, turning away, giving him a nice view of her behind as she walked.
"Oh, it was nothing. I'd just hoped that you could have fixed this thing with Harry by now and we could have a-," Hermione turned her head back to look at him slowly. "-romantic night off…" Hermione ended seductively. Ron blinked in stunned silence, staring at Hermione for a moment. He understood what was happening now.
"…So, if I do it before tonight…" Ron started. Hermione put a hand on Ron's chest and trailed her fingers down, her eyes following her hand.
"You and I will have a fun time." Hermione finished. She peeked up through her lashes at him, biting her lip. Ron tensed up, his eyes filling with determination. Finally, he spoke.
"Okay, okay," Ron said. "I'll be right back." He pecked Hermione on the lips, put on his shoes and ran out the door, grabbing his wand and Disapperating to Harry's house, leaving a smirking Hermione behind him.
Meanwhile, in the Potter household, Ginny was feeding the cat, which'd grown very fond of Harry. Harry was putting up some photos of the two of them and some of the wedding pictures they'd gotten from the photographer. The pictures moved, and most of them were of Harry holding Ginny, or kissing her. He had a couple of pictures from their dates they went on after the war and also a photo of the two of them in their sixth year in a Quidditch team photo. There were also pictures of the Weasley children, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Teddy Lupin, Neville and Luna and a few other of his friends. He had a ton of pictures of Ron and Hermione, but every time he picked up a picture with Ron in it, his stomach gave a little twinge of guilt. Harry turned with another picture of him and Hermione and hung it on the wall.
Suddenly, there was a knock on their door and Harry stopped what he was doing to go over to open it. When he saw who was at the door, he was mildly surprised.
"Oh, hello Ron." Harry said stiffly, looking at his ginger brother-in-law. Ron looked rushed and almost out of breath.
"Can we go get a Firewhisky?" he panted desperately. Harry's black eyebrows pulled together while Ginny snuck a look around the corner to see who was at the door.
"Uh, sure." Harry said confusingly. He turned to look at Ginny, who'd heard that and had now seen that it was indeed her brother at the door. "Is it okay if I go, Ginny?"
"I don't see why not," Ginny said stiffly, staring at Ron. She turned to face Harry. "I don't run your life." She turned back into the kitchen, Piper following at her heels. Harry gave a very hesitant glance before grabbing his wand and following Ron outside.
They went to the little pub that led to Diagon Alley and sat down. Both boys ordered a Firewhisky. While they waited for it to come, Ron stared awkwardly down at the table, trying to figure out where to start.
"So, er," Harry started for him, seeing how anxious he was. "What are we here for?"
"I – uh, I came to apologize," Ron said. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did to you. It was wrong of me." it didn't sound as sincere as Hermione was expecting, and Harry had a feeling that the only reason Ron was apologizing was because he wanted to get back on Hermione's good side. Harry remembered a conversation he and Hermione had over the phone a couple days ago also. She told him to not accept any apology that Ron gave if it wasn't absolutely sincere. He's going to try and rush through this, Harry, Hermione had said. You need to make sure he means it. You two need to fix this. You two are best friends. You can't stay mad at each other forever.
Even if Harry found this slightly hypocritical of Hermione, seeing as most of the time that he'd known her, she and Ron would be having a row, but he agreed. He wasn't as mad at Ron anymore, and he intended on apologizing too – maybe if he said he was sorry and mended his part, Ron would see that he wronged Harry too.
"Well, thanks, mate," Harry said after a moment of silence. "I'm sorry too."
Ron stopped avoiding eye contact and looked at Harry with confused blue eyes.
"…You're sorry?" Ron said, his tone perplexed.
"Yeah, 'course," said Harry easily. "I'm sorry I didn't wait to have sex with your sister until marriage. It was wrong of me – I should have told you, or said something at least."
Ron blinked, looking satisfied with the apology. However, there was a hesitance in the back of Ron's eyes that Harry saw. Apparently, he wanted to get some things off his chest too.
"Apology accepted. Just saying, though, I wouldn't have been angry if you told me about you and Ginny – I just would have been surprised." Ron admitted. Harry raised his eyebrow.
"I wasn't surprised when you told me about you and Hermione. I mean, it was sort of obvious with both of you."
Ron's ears turned a dark shade of pink.
"Was it?"
"Yeah, mate. And it was obvious with Ginny and I too. I just thought you'd have asked me first. I mean, think about it: if I had a sister, and you and her had sex then how would you feel telling me about that?" Harry inquired.
Ron flinched away from the thought.
"Uh, probably pretty bloody terrified, to be honest." Ron admitted. Harry gave him a nod as the waiter set down to Firewhiskys next to them. Ron immediately took a gulp and winced as it burned down his throat.
"Exactly – and I'm not saying that what I did was right by any means – hiding something like that from you is one of my biggest regrets. But you have to see my point of view too." Harry told Ron, who looked at him as Harry took a swig of his drink.
"How?" Ron asked.
"Well, think about this for a second: you barged in on my honeymoon and made your sister and I feel like crap for having sex with one another. Then, you left Hermione all by herself to mend everything up."
"But so did you!" Ron objected, pointing his bottle at Harry. "You left too! You left my sister alone!"
"She wasn't alone – she was with Hermione, Ron," Harry reminded him. "Besides, I've apologized to Hermione and Ginny about that. They've forgiven me; now I just want to know if you can forgive me too."
There was a long bout of heavy silence as Ron stared at Harry, contemplating his decision. Finally, Ron heaved a heavy sigh and nodded.
"I forgive you, mate." Ron said gruffly. Harry felt the little anxious ball of worry melt off his chest and he gave him a smile.
"Thanks, Ron." He said.
Ron nodded awkwardly. It looked as though he wanted to say something more than what he had, so Harry waited for him to say something, taking another drink of his Firewhisky. When Ron was ready (after downing half of his drink) he spoke again.
"And, y'know, I'm sorry about that stuff too," Ron said without taking his eyes off the bottle in his hand. "Like, I'm sorry about leaving, and blaming you for getting my sister pregnant…"
Harry continued to wait, his eyes patiently resting on the nervous redhead.
"…And-and, you know," Ron continued slowly. "…I could have been slightly angry at the fact that you didn't tell me…or maybe I could have been really angry that you didn't tell me," Ron corrected himself.
Harry smirked as Ron fidgeted with his drink bottle, drumming his hands on it. He finally sighed.
"Look, Harry, I wasn't mad that you for having sex with Ginny before marriage – you know I don't give a rat's ass about that. I just was angry that you didn't tell me about it and I told you about Hermione and me." Ron finally admitted to Harry.
"I know, Ron, and I'm sorry for that. I really am. If I could do it over again, I would, but I can't." Harry said simply. Ron nodded and quietly snuck a glance up at Harry.
"…Can you, uh…can you forgive me for being a git to you?" Ron asked Harry.
Harry stared at his best friend and a huge grin lit his face. He held out his hand to Ron, who looked a little surprised.
"Of course, mate." Harry said happily. A gigantic smile lit Ron's face as he took Harry's hand and shook it before leaning across the table to give him a quick hug. When Ron sat down, he held his bottle out to Harry, who clinked it against his, signifying the bond of their friendship had been mended.
Hermione folded down her bedcovers as she listened to Pigwidgeon twitter on the window, staring out at the ever-darkening night sky. He'd been waiting for Ron to come back for hours since he'd come back at 7:00 PM from his trip to Hogwarts. Crookshanks was, of course, standing outside of Hermione's bedroom door, guarding it. He did this every night and had been more vicious since Hermione had told Ron that he couldn't sleep in the same bed as she did until he fixed things with Harry. If Ron came anywhere close to the bedroom, Crookshanks would hiss at him and attack his legs until he retreated.
She had been waiting for hours for Ron to come back too. She didn't know what was taking him so long or why he was still out. She hoped that he'd fixed it and not gotten into another fight with Harry about this. She was too tired to do anything with him tonight even if he came back. It was too late, and Hermione was beginning to get anxious.
Hermione climbed into bed and picked up her copy of The Teaching of Transfiguration, a textbook that McGonagall had given to Hermione to read before the start-of-term in September. She was halfway through it, and had been trying desperately to finish it, even though she had a long time to complete it. However, every time she picked it up, it seemed as though something was stopping her. For some reason, she couldn't concentrate enough to read anything.
When Pigwidgeon hooted loudly to get Hermione's attention and then looked up at the window again, Hermione gave him a look.
"I know, Pig, okay? He should be home sooner or later," Hermione assured the tiny owl. Pigwidgeon tweeted and gave her a reproachful look. Hermione glared at the bird. "Stop looking at me like that." she said testily.
Pig hooted indifferently and quietly fluttered to his perch where he nestled down comfortably and put his head under his wing.
Hermione sighed and tried to follow his example by getting comfortable. She fidgeted as she opened the marked page of her book and let her brown eyes run over the sentences. However, a few moments later, she felt that tugging on her attention that normally occurred at this time of night. She huffed angrily and looked up from the book, completely annoyed with herself.
"Why can't you just concentrate, Hermione?" She asked herself wearily. When she couldn't come up with an answer, she sighed and tried again.
For half an hour she tried and tried to read the book but she just couldn't seem to focus whatsoever. Finally, she slammed down the book, making Pigwidgeon startle out of sleep and Crookshanks hiss from outside the door. She turned off her light and settled down in her bed, turning on her side. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow, Hermione said to herself. Yes, I'll have better luck tomorrow. I must have better luck tomorrow.
She closed her eyes for what seemed to be the briefest of seconds before she heard footsteps on the stairs – heavy footsteps that she immediately recognized.
Ron came up to his and Hermione's bedroom and went to open the door. However, Crookshanks hissed furiously, turning on his side and going very puffy indeed. Ron looked down at the ginger cat and gave him a look.
"I fixed it, alright? I apologized. Now, let me in." he said to the cat. Crookshanks stared up at Ron with his beady eyes and then he straightened from his defensive position and took a few steps away from the door so he could go in. Ron gave him an appreciative pet before he turned the doorknob and let himself into his room, Crookshanks eying him the entire time.
Hermione heard Ron come towards the bed through the darkness. She then heard his clothes hitting the floor and him pulling on his pajama bottoms. The springs lurched quietly when Ron's body climbed into bed and Hermione felt him get under the covers. His body heat emanated from where he laid, making her normally frigid form warm for the first time in weeks. Just when Ron was settling into the bed, she felt cool lips press against her cheek and then she felt pressure beside her on the pillows. Ron didn't touch her, seeing as he thought she was sleeping and he didn't want to wake her, but he stayed close to her, just glad to be sleeping in the same bed as her again. Hermione felt herself smile a little.
"Thank you for not kicking Crookshanks." Hermione mumbled through the darkness. There was a small creak of the bedsprings as Ron sat up a little, figuring out that she indeed was awake after all.
"It's no problem. Besides, I'd never kick the cat." Ron told her quietly. Hermione smiled when she heard the difference in how he addressed Crookshanks; he said it was 'the cat' not 'your cat'. Hermione saw it as a good sign.
There was a few moments of silence that didn't weigh on Hermione like the previous ones they'd encountered in the last few weeks.
"You fixed it, then?" she asked, even though she knew; she just wanted to hear it from him.
"Totally and completely, yes." Ron assured her. There was some more creaking of the bedsprings as Hermione turned and kissed him gently.
"Thank you." she whispered. Through the dark, she could almost hear Ron smile.
"No, thank you." Ron said softly. He cupped her face and kissed her lips for a moment before Hermione snuggled into him and Ron put a long arm around him. They both fell asleep to the familiar sounds of an ecstatic Pigwidgeon, who was happy that his owner was finally out of the doghouse and into the bed where he belonged.
