CHAPTER TWO
It didn't take the Weasley's – save for Ron – long to abandon Hermione outside with Ron, left with the task of finishing setting the table. Hermione had to give them credit. They had managed to disappear a lot faster than she had anticipated. Ron's mother had said there was some last minute cleaning she needed to do and dragged her husband inside with her. Ginny had made the excuse she was going to check on the food in the kitchen before disappearing as fast as someone with an invisibility cloak on.
"You sure know how to clear out a room," Ron joked, setting down another plate.
Hermione smacked him in his arm and he laughed.
When the laughter died down it left an awkward pause. It had been quite some time since it had just been the two of them alone. She was wondering if Ron was as nervous as her, but when he looked up at her he looked perfectly fine.
"You look good, Mione. Sorry," he added quickly. "Old habits die hard, I guess,"
Old habits indeed. He had a tendency to call her that on occasion and she hated it when he did. It the name he had often called her when they had been dating – and that was a road she didn't need to be reminded of.
"So, how come I had to hear from my dad that you got promoted to the head of Magical Law Enforcement Squad?"
She shrugged and handed him another plate. "I guess I didn't think you'd be interested. I know how you hate all that Ministry stuff,"
He looked hurt. "Hey, that's not true. Well, the part about the Ministry is, but you know I care about what you do. I know how important it is to you,"
"So, how come I had to hear from your sister that Dumbledore offered you a teaching job at Hogwarts," she countered, arching an eyebrow at him.
"My sister needs to learn to keep her fat trap shut," he scowled.
"Ron, you should have taken it,"
"Me? Teaching at Hogwarts? The guy who barely graduated? "I'm sure they would learn loads from me," he said, his tone sarcastic.
"You know Dumbledore wouldn't have asked you if he didn't think you could do it. I would have thought after the Ministry – "
Ron slammed down a plate harder than he had intended. "Hermione, can we not do this? You know I quit the Ministry of Magic because I hated it. It was never what I wanted to do. I tried it just to make my dad happy. But that doesn't mean I have to take the first job that comes along,"
"What do you want to do?" She asked, hoping not to anger him further.
"I don't know," he answered, forgetting about setting the table and flopping down on a chair.
"Ron, if you just – "
"Hermione if you say 'apply myself' I think I'm going to have to kick you out of my house. You've been telling me that for years, but I'm not you, okay? I can't just put my mind to something and accomplish it,"
This was definitely not the direction she was hoping the evening would take, but like Ron had said, old habits die hard and she wasn't about to back off from one of their arguments. She never had in the past and she wasn't about to start now. "I'm not going to apologize for thinking you're smart enough to do whatever you want. You're just too afraid to try,"
She saw him visible cringe at the last part, but he made no remark. Instead he got up from the table and said, "let's go see if Ginny needs a hand,"
Without waiting to see if she was following, he walked inside. She was following, but at a respectable distance behind. She knew how he got when he was in moods like that. It was better to stay silent until he was fully calmed down or else there would be a all-out yelling match and she really did not want an audience for that.
She wasn't paying attention and nearly ended up bumping into Ron when he stopped dead in his tracks for no apparent reason. But there was a reason. She could hear to people arguing. For a moment she thought it was Ron's parents, but the voices became clearer as she and Ron moved forward.
"I don't see why you care," they could hear Ginny saying.
"It was just a simple question. Can't I ask if Colin's going to be here?"
"No, you can't"
She and Ron exchanged a look. Harry was there, and whatever argument she and Ron had, what was going on between him and Ginny would be ten times worse. It was normal for her and Ron to argue. It was an integral part of their relationship, but Ginny and Harry's fights were never good.
She noticed Ron was moving closer to the closed kitchen door. She grabbed his arm, trying to pull him away without making too much noise. She was sure Ginny and Harry would not appreciate them listening in. But Ron insisted on staying where he was, and Hermione stayed with him, but not without protest.
"I didn't come here to fight with you, Gin,"
"I don't even know why you come here at all,"
"Ron is my best friend. I have every right to be here. And just because you're angry with me isn't going to change that,"
"I'm sorry, Harry, did you think I was angry with you? Let me correct that little mistake. I'm not angry with you, I hate you,"
Before Hermione or Ron had time to react, the kitchen door flew open and Ginny nearly ran right into them.
"Were you two eavesdropping?" She demanded.
"Uh…no," Ron lied.
Ginny didn't believe him and why should she when all the evidence pointed otherwise. Ginny's face had already been bright red with anger and somehow it seemed to go redder when she looked from Ron to her friend.
One thing Ginny had in common with her brother was a volatile temper. So it was either get out of the way or pray for mercy. Luckily for them with Harry there she didn't feel like sticking around and took off at the back door while Harry exited through the front.
After a chorus of slamming doors, Ron said, "I'll go deal with Harry. You go calm my sister down,"
Of course she got the impossible task. "Thanks, Ron,"
"No problem," he smirked at her before opening the front door.
Harry was sitting on the steps to the porch outside. When the door opened, he didn't turn to see who it was.
"It's nice to see I'm not the only one who can get my sister mad like that," Ron said.
"Ron, I swear I didn't mean to start a fight with her. I know I should have kept on walking straight past her, but I couldn't,"
"It's okay. You know how easily Ginny can get all riled up,"
"You're one to talk," Harry said, facing his friend.
"The point I'm trying to make," said Ron, ignoring the comment, "is she didn't mean that stuff she said to you,"
"It doesn't matter, Ron. I don't care,"
"Harry, you're a rotten liar – almost as bad as me. Of course you care. You wouldn't be out here if you didn't,"
Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "Since when did you get so smart?"
"I think its being around Hermione. She has that affect on people," he told him. He shook his head. "Even after all these years she still thinks I'm smarter then I am,"
"Ron, we've known her along time, and it's not often she's wrong. I can only think of one or two occasions where she was,"
"That doesn't mean she's right about me,"
Harry shrugged but said nothing. He knew better then to let himself get dragged into one of their debates.
"Is that her car?" Ron indicated to the sleek looking car parked behind his dad's. "It's nice,"
"What did you expect? She worked hard to got that promotion at the Ministry. It's good to see she's actually using a fraction of the money she's making,"
"She looks good," Ron commented. He noticed Harry was giving him a funny look. "What? She does,"
"You've never said that before when you've seen her,"
"Of course I have. I say it every time I see her,"
"No, you don't,"
"Fine, I don't. But who cares?"
"You know, I thought this whole wedding-planning thing was going to be hard for Hermione. Are you sure you're going to be okay with this, Ron?"
"Why wouldn't I be? I've got the most organized person in the world helping me plan it,"
"All I'm saying is you didn't think through asking her to help you. Things might get complicated,"
"You worry too much, Harry. Hermione's fine with it and so am I. Nothing's going to happen,"
Hermione found Ginny standing in the open paddock where they used to play Quidditch for fun during the summer months before they went back to Hogwarts. Hermione herself had never played – flying was not one of her favourite things – but she always came to watch them.
When she got to Ginny, she stood beside her, saying nothing, unsure if her friend was ready to talk yet.
"I'm sorry about back there, Hermione," she apologized after the two of them had been standing in silence for a while. "It's just Harry gets me so – so – I don't know," she said shaking her head.
"You know Harry wouldn't come here intentionally trying to hurt you," Hermione said to her.
She kicked at stone on the ground. "Yeah, I know that," she conceded reluctantly.
"Did you mean what you said?"
Ginny sighed. "Look, Hermione, I know Harry's one of your best friends and I hate to keep putting you in the middle, but that's the way things are with us,"
That didn't answer Hermione's question, but she let it go. "Have you tried getting along with him. Harry's a good person. He's – "
"The Boy Who Lived. I know," she said in a sarcastic voice.
"Ginny, it's been three years, don't you think it's time you've forgiven him?"
"Have you forgiven Ron?" Ginny shot at her.
The question caught Hermione off guard. She wasn't sure how to answer that.
"I guess I have my answer," said Ginny when she remained silent. "So, don't go preaching about how I need to forgive and forget when you can't do the same,"
She wanted to say that it was different for her and Ron but she very much doubted the younger girl would see it that way.
"I'll see you back at the house," Ginny said before walking away.
"Ginny, Harry was right to break it off with you,"
Ginny spun around, furious. "How can you – "
Hermione was going to regret this later. "When I first started at the Ministry, a file with Harry's name on it landed on my desk. I wasn't supposed to read it, but I was worried about him after he took off and no one had heard from him," she looked at Ginny gravely. "Gin, there was a very graphic and detailed report about how he had been tortured by some cult of dark wizards in Romania. There were pictures too,"
Ginny looked horrified. "Oh my god,"
"I never told him I knew. I figured if he wanted to he would have told me. Ron doesn't know either,"
"I always knew what he did was dangerous, but I had no idea…." She trailed off.
"You couldn't have. Listen, Gin, I could get in a lot of trouble for what I just told you. It's classified information that I'm not even supposed to know about. But you needed to know that Harry did what he did because he didn't want your name to end up in a report like that. That's how much he cared about you,"
Hermione left her then. Ginny would need some time to let what she had said to sink in. Hermione had some of her own thinking to do. Ginny was right. How could she criticize her friend for not forgiving Harry, when she didn't even know if she had gotten over what Ron had done to her?