Chapter 9

Weeks went by without another word from Ron. Hermione didn't mind. She felt lighter than she had in years as she threw herself into her project. She took note that Mrs. Weasley also seemed happier.

"I think you'll have a lot more space down here after this." Hermione commented to Mrs. Weasley as she carried more junk from the cellar outside.

"That's nice."

"I was wondering if I might use it for a special project." She asked as she came back into the house and washed her hands, starting on dishes for Mrs. Weasley.

"Of course. You do seem to have quite a few projects going on. I barely see you anymore."

Hermione nodded and smiled.

"Things are really starting to come together." Hermione said to no one in particular as she scrubbed a plate.

Another week went by and Hermione stood in awe at her handiwork. She hadn't let Mr. or Mrs. Weasley downstairs the entire month, much to their annoyance.

She grinned as she took the space in, and stared at her two completed projects.

It was perfect timing too, as tonight was the Weasley Family dinner, and she could present her completed work there.

She took the time to shower off her sweat and hard work, buzzing with anticipation for tonight. Not only was she going to show Mr. and Mrs. Weasley how grateful for her time here, but she would also see Ron again. Unanswered questions circled her mind. She thought about the many paths the interaction would take, though most of her daydreams ended with them both undressing each other in the shower.

The afternoon arrived and she had pulled on a simple and easy, cotton sundress that hung just above her knees.

She helped Mrs. Weasley finish cooking while Mr. Weasley set the table.

Each looked up as they heard pops from the other room. Mrs. Weasley went in to greet her children while Hermione finished up.

There were loud voices and she could tell Fleur and Victoire were able to join them this time, Victoire screeching at the sight of the toys she pulled out from the cellar.

Hermione made her way into the living room as she wiped her hands off on a dishtowel.

"Hey Hermione." George called, walking over and giving her a squeeze.

"Hey George."

She looked around the room, and greeted the others. Everyone had been on time, except for Ron. As soon as she thought his name, he popped in.

Hermione quickly noticed that he was not alone. His strong arm was wrapped around a familiar feminine face.

"Everyone" Ron said loudly, "This is Evangeline." His eyes landed on Hermione. "My girlfriend."

Her heart panged, but she didn't let it show.

"Good to meet you." Mrs. Weasley started. Everyone chimed in welcoming her to the group.

"It's good to see you, Evangeline." Hermione gave her a quick hug, no animosity to be had.

"Hermione, it has been forever." Evangeline gushed. "I've been missing my sparring partner around the office." She said earnestly.

"Me too." Hermione chuckled. "Umm, congratulations!" She said genuinely.

Her mind was made up long before she told Ron how she felt. She wanted him to be happy. She had hurt him enough. Whomever made him happy, she would do everything in her power to support it, even if it wasn't with her.

Ron gave her a skeptical look as he grabbed Evangeline's hand. "Who's ready for dinner?"

As everyone settled down, Hermione had taken a moment to pull Harry outside on the porch. She had told him how much he meant to her and how sorry she was for her action's years ago. He accepted her with a strong brotherly hug. He emphasized his pain of losing his parents and reminded her that she saved his life countless times. That he was there for her and always would be.

As they made their way back inside, everyone else had taken a seat, talking amicably.

After food was served, conversation began at its normal pace. Hermione among them, chatting it up and laughing all the way through. Bill and Fleur recounted Victoire's fascination with climbing, explaining that they had searched for hours only to find him swinging from a tree branch. Bill laughed, and Hermione grinned, but Fleur didn't seem at all comforted by the story.

Everyone went around the room talking about the previous month. Charlie, Percy, Bill and Fleur, then George.

"Oh - that reminds me!" Hermione piped up, pulling herself out from behind the table. "I found something of yours." She said excitedly.

Everyone waited for her to hurry back into the room with an old toy.

"No way." George said in awe. "It can't be."

Hermione smiled and handed it over. George took it tenderly in his hands. "It's...our first prank toy…"

Everyone was silent. They didn't bring Fred up often, and it was always special when they did.

"I thought you might like it for your shop." She said gently.

George nodded.

"I'd like you to know, it literally almost killed me when it went off downstairs." Hermione joked, attempting to break the tension.

George looked up; eyes now happily mischievous. "Yeah?"

Hermione nodded. "Almost hexed myself trying to fight the screaming banshee voice coming from that thing after I set it off."

Everyone laughed. Everyone except Ron.

Hermione ignored it.

"Thanks Hermione." George said as he gave her a long hug.

They continued on for a while, enjoying the food and conversation.

"Evangeline, tell us about yourself." Mr. Weasley posed.

Evangeline looked at Ron, who smiled back. "I'm an Auror at the ministry. Work with Harry, Ron and…" She glanced over at Hermione. Hermione smiled back at her encouraging her to continue.

"I'm originally from Liverpool, but I moved to London after the war to become an Auror. Best decision of my life." She gleamed.

She continued on for a while, and Hermione listened, her attention drifting in and out. She knew most of this about Evangeline, and liked her enough. Ron seemed to hang on her every word, looking out at the crowd of family members every time she said something funny. Hermione tried to ignore it, but it poked a little.

After the conversation had died down and everyone was filled with food, Hermione decided it was time to present her gifts to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"Excuse me." She said getting everyone's attention.

"I…" She looked around the room, now somewhat nervous with all the eyes staring at her, "I just wanted to say...thank you…" she looked at Mrs. Weasley, "for everything you have done for me these past few months."

Mrs. Weasley touched Mr. Weasley's arm, giving Hermione a loving look.

"I've been trying to find a way to say thank you, and couldn't find anything that quite covered it."

Everyone continued to watch.

"Mr. Weasley" Hermione said, looking at him. His eyes widened in loving surprise, "it has been such a joy fixing up muggle machines and gizmos with you. I've loved answering your questions and after cleaning out the cellar, I found a great way to use some of the extra space."

She continued. "For you, I've sectioned off a portion of the cellar for a Muggle home movie room." She said. Mr. Weasley smiled, though it was clear he had no idea what that was.

She could see Harry give a knowing grin, recognizing it as the perfect gift for Mr. Weasley.

"Basically" she continued, "There is now a place downstairs, where you can watch moving pictures of how muggles live. I've founded hundreds of leftover videos and stacked them on a shelf."

Mr. Weasley's eyes widened in anticipation. "Harry or I can show you how to work it. You can watch stories about muggles every day if you'd like. I've magicked it to connect to the local electrical tower."

"Thank you, Hermione." Mr. Weasley said with love. "I honestly can't wait!"

"But before you go" Hermione said as she watched Mr. Weasley, Charlie and Bill all prepare to race downstairs, "I have something else."

"Mrs. Weasley." She said. "You've quite literally saved my life and there is nothing I can say or do that will ever be able to repay you kindness."

Mrs. Weasley put her hand on her chest, feeling the emotions swell.

"While I was downstairs cleaning, I found boxes and boxes of old photographs…" She tapered off as she magicked a small bookshelf of thick photo albums up from the cellar and into the kitchen. The shelf made a loud thump as it settled on the kitchen floor.

Mrs. Weasley already knew where she was headed with this.

"I took all the pictures of everyone growing up, and of your wedding and put them in these albums so you could enjoy them."

Mrs. Weasley sucked in her breath as she got up and pulled Hermione in a deep hug.

"Some of them were really faded, but I found some great books on restoring old wizard pictures and it worked like a charm...You have an amazing family, Mrs. Weasley. Thank you so much for letting me...be a part of it."

A strangled noise came from across the room.

They looked over. It was Ron, and he was on fire.

Evangeline had looked at him as if he'd sprouted another head, and everyone else rolled their eyes, ready for him to blow his top.

"You had no right." He hissed across the table towards Hermione.

"What?" Hermione responded, perplexed.

"You had no right going through our things."

Hermione took a breath, the anger that she had let go of, starting to rise up.

"Ron, please don't. I thought we were moving past this." She let out a disappointed sigh..

She heard a loud clang as Ron dropped his silverware onto his plate. Evangeline tried to grab his arm and pull him down but he wouldn't budge.

"This is not your home, Hermione. You can't think that we want you to just live here indefinitely." He barked out.

"Son -" Mr. Weasley warned.

Ron ignored him, shooting daggers to Hermione.

Hermione took a breath and then looked over at Mrs. Weasley, "Thank you so much for everything. I hope you like it." She said giving Mrs. Weasley another loving hug.

Mrs. Weasley was about to say something, but Hermione had already switched gears, storming out the back door. "RONALD WEASLEY, OUTSIDE, NOW!" She barked not looking at him.

Ron ignored his family's cautionary whistles and worried looks, then stormed out after her.

"Is this...normal?" Evangeline asked from the back porch looking out across the lawn at her boyfriend and Hermione screaming and waving their hands wildly at the other.

Everyone had cleaned up. Charlie, Bill, Fleur, Victoire and Harry had all gone downstairs to learn how to watch what muggles called 'a movie', and George, Ginny and Evangeline ended up on the back porch watching the never-ending show that was Ron and Hermione.

"Umm…" Ginny looked over at George. "Yeah" They both shrugged simultaneously.

Evangeline watched Ron continue to fling his arms around, wild eyes, stabbing his index finger in the direction of Hermione. She watched as Hermione stomped around, jeering and making loud sarcastic noises in his direction.

"Should I be worried?" Evangeline craned her neck, unable to make up her mind.

"Worried?" George asked.

"I mean, how long were they together?" Evangeline asked.

Ginny and George looked at each other in awkward surprise.

"Don't worry, I'm not jealous." she hurried. "I'm just tired of dating guys that are hung up on someone else." She said. "I don't want to waste my time."

"Oh, don't worry." Ginny said. "They have them all the time. It's just a fight."

Evangeline responded after a moment. "It looks like foreplay to me."

George and Ginny gave each other another look behind her back.

"Hey George" Evangeline changed the subject. "I have a wicked idea for a phase two of your screeching child prank."

"Yeah?" He said, intrigued.

Evangeline nodded ready to go into detail, but was cut short by a stomping Ron making his way up the lawn to the porch.

"We're going." He barked to Evangeline.

"Ahh well" Evangeline shrugged in George's direction. "Another time then." she said as Ron dragged her through the door, past Mrs. Weasley sat at the table smiling as she flipped through pages of Percy's photo album.

"Have a good night, dears!" Mrs. Weasley called out to Ron and Evangeline without looking up.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley-" Evangeline tried to get out before she and Ron popped out of the house.