CHAPTER FOUR – The Plot Sickens
Harry stood in the kitchen of a small cottage in the Welsh countryside unpacking groceries and listening to Ginny Weasley deliver what could only be called an Oscar-worthy performance.
Seated on the couch next to a concerned Hermione on her left and an irate Ron on her right, Ginny spun a yarn of devotion and betrayal, of a past ignored and a future destroyed, of dreams turned into nightmares. 'My God, are those real tears ? She's bloody brilliant.' Harry had found an all-new respect for the youngest Weasley.
Just as Harry predicted, Hermione was all too happy to take time from her job to help console Ginny. Knowing a bit about love, or the loss of love to be more precise, Hermione felt it her duty to comfort the girl who had over the years become her closest female friend. The fact that she would have Ron alone for a couple of weeks did not enter the picture at all. Not once. Well….maybe once…or twice…a day.
Anyway, that wasn't important to Hermione at the moment…although Ron did smell amazing. What the hell was he wearing any way? It smelled so rugged and woodsy….
'Focus, Hermione. Focus. Remember Ginny's in pain.'
As Hermione broke from her reverie, she placed a concerned hand on Ginny's shoulder. But try as she might she could not help but stare at Ron. Though he always tall, he used to be thin, lanky almost. Ron's body decided to fill out marvelously over the last few years; a fact that was a source of great joy and sorrow for one Hermione Granger. She had become quite an admirer of the chiseled features and the broad shoulders and the way his waist narrowed just slightly into his hip over what she could only imagine as powerful thighs…..
'Focus, Hermione. Focus.'
She kept trying to remind herself that she was here for Ginny and not to gawk at Ron. Though she couldn't help but notice that despite his decidedly mature physique, he still had that boyish face. Shamelessly, he ran this hand through his hair, hair that was just a little too long over his eyes and he flashed that smile that revealed the dimple on his cheek that was otherwise hidden. That smile…that damn smile…the smile that haunted her for years. That mocked her in her dreams……
'Dammit! Focus!'
"Ginny," she had to interrupt Ginny's diatribe if she was ever going to get out of this Ron- induced coma that was stealing her senses. "Ginny," she continued, "He was not worthy of you. He obviously wasn't as devoted to you as he should have been, and it's better to know that now rather than ten years and three kids into a marriage that was not meant to be." A pause, a deep breath, and a hard swallow. "Take this time to start fresh… to get over him…to… to cast that other woman aside and remember that it's his loss and not yours." Her voice was rising in steady decibels. "That he chose to ignore the person you are, the person that could have been the best thing that ever happened to him and…" -now she was bordering on shouting - "and went for a tramp with a bad dye job and fake finger nails, which really isn't a surprise because I doubt anything on her is real in the first place… and…and furthermore…"
"Hermione." Ginny had to put a stop to this before Harry's great plan went up in smoke. "Hermione, stop. You're right. I know you're right. Thank you …for…your…your fervor. I knew having you both here would be just what I needed. I…I'm really feeling a lot better just being here with my friends. I think I'll go help Harry in the kitchen."
Ron and Hermione watched Ginny get up and leave. She seemed calmer than when they first arrived, but they both could sense that she was holding something back. Something was not right. Ron turned to Hermione.
"Hermione, how did you know so much about the girl Colin ran off with? Ginny didn't mention any of that stuff to me."
"Call it a hunch." She replied, unable to conceal the bitterness of her tone.
"You know what I think?"
"That Oliver Wood should quit the Wellington Warlocks and join the Chudley Cannons before the start of the next season?"
"Well of course, but that's just common sense, really… No, about what's going on here."
"What is going on here, Ron, is that Ginny has had her heart torn from her chest, stomped on, and crushed to a fine powder. Or did I miss a memo somewhere?"
"Don't you think it's odd that Ginny asked us here, and Harry as well. I mean, you are her best girl friend and I am her favorite brother. (Hermione rolled her eyes) But, Harry? As far as I know, they have never spent any real time alone together. Odd, don't you think?"
"She invited me for comfort. She invited you to keep you from hunting Colin down and pummeling him in to a bloody pulp, though I admit I like the sound of that. She probably invited Harry along in case you and I got on each other's nerves. Someone has to be the peace keeper."
"First of all, George and Fred are going to take care of Colin. And frankly, even I felt sorry for the guy after I saw what they were planning. I had no idea Taupin feathers could be used for that… Secondly, we are not children. We don't need a keeper."
"I choose not to comment on who is and who is not a child. Suffice it to say, I did notice you own a pair of 'Martin the Mad Muggle' pajamas. That would be the 'Martin the Mad Muggle' that's on children's comic books? Anyway, none of that matters. I don't think Ginny thought of anything more than being surrounded by her friends at this time. We need to take her out, have some fun, and help her forget Colin… And what, exactly, are they using Taupin feathers for?"
"Nothing I care to discuss with you as it involves a certain part of a man's anatomy and its various functions. But that's beside the point. I was discussing Ginny. I found the best way to get over an old love is to find a new love…And it is not a comic book; it is a graphic novel."
"It's a what?"
Choosing to ignore the comment, Ron continued.
"Don't you think Harry and Ginny are perfect for one another? I mean, it is so obvious that they are attracted to each other."
Hermione was shocked to hear those words coming from Ron, as the bugging eyes and gaping mouth would attest.
"Didn't you tell Harry back in school if he so much as looked at your sister's exposed ankle, you would make him a candidate for the Vienna's Boys Choir?"
"Well, probably not, since I have no idea what the Vienna's Boys Choir is."
"Ron, don't make me curse you. I can, you know. I'm quite good at it."
"You need not remind me of your skills as a witch, Hermione. I am more than well acquainted with your abilities. First hand, actually. Anyway, the things we discussed as children do not translate now. We are adults and to be truthful, I think Harry has been kind of lonely lately. Haven't you noticed how sad he seems all the time? He hasn't been himself for years, and I think it's time we did something about it. We are his best friends, after all. And I wouldn't mind if he and Ginny hit it off. Better him than Colin. I think they are well suited for one another. They may just need a push."
"Are you telling me that you want to set Harry up with Ginny?"
"I think so."
Hermione stared at him for a moment. He was serious. Since when did Ron Weasley notice anything, especially others' emotions? Maybe she didn't give him enough credit. Maybe he did notice things. Maybe he wasn't as blind as she thought. Maybe that wasn't the line of thought she wanted to follow just now. After all, it was hoping he was blind to what was in front of him that….that… 'Oh, not now, Hermione!'
With a sigh, she had to agree. "How do you propose we accomplish this?"
"Hermione, apparently being the brightest thing to come out of Hogwarts in the last century doesn't keep you from being dim about some things, does it?"
Smoke started to pour from her ears, or at least that's how it felt. "Who are you calling dim, you obnoxious…."
"Hermione, we are in the middle of the countryside in a cabin by a lake for two weeks. Can you think of a more romantic setting? I'm sure if we work on it we could come up with something."
"You mean it. You really are serious."
He looked at her, his eyes full of determination. "Of course. Can you think of a better thing to be serious about?"
Hermione had no answer.
