Disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter
2 – The Parental Inquisition
Ron found himself grating his teeth and seething with anger over so many things that he felt he might burst at the seams. First of all, he was angry at his sister for losing her temper in such a furious way at Hermione of all people, and although he knew that their relationship was none of his business, he felt that after everything Hermione had done for Ginny, that she might treat her with a little respect. Secondly, he was angry at Hermione for bringing up their mission and the Horcruxes right in front of Ginny, provoking what was sure to be an unbearable barrage of questions from his youngest sibling. Finally, he felt an unhindered and potentially violent rage at the news that Harry Potter had broken his sister's heart and dumped her at Dumbledore's funeral!
His eyes snapped to Harry the second Ginny had left and he let him know just how furious he was with his best mate for hurting his sister, when he saw the look of arid desolation in Harry's gaze. He looked just as heartbroken as Ginny had, and suddenly the rest of what Ginny had said hit Ron in the face, somewhat delayed after the initial information about their break-up.
"You broke up with Ginny to protect her from You-Know-Who, Potter?" he spat, a tad harsher than was necessary. Harry seemed surprised at his vehemence, but he answered Ron levelly.
"Yes. If she was my girlfriend that would make her a natural target for Voldemort and his Death Eaters."
Ron winced only slightly at the sound of Voldemort's name, but when Hermione clucked her tongue beside him, he whirled around, expecting to have to defend his wince. Hermione, however, was glaring at Harry.
"You really believe that, don't you Harry?"
"That Ginny would be in unnecessary danger if she was with me? Yes, of course she would…"
"And has it occurred to you that she's already a target for Voldemort?"
"Not as much as she would be if she was with me. Now I don't want to talk about it anymore."
"But Harry, for goodness' …"
"I SAID DROP IT, HERMIONE!" Harry roared at the top of his voice, surprising the hell out of Ron and causing him to drop his trunk on his foot. Several passers-by in the corridor peered through the glass at them, but Ron snarled at them and fingered his prefect's badge, and they quickly scampered. He turned back to look at a extremely vulnerable looking Harry, who seemed to be struggling not to break down, and at a positively fuming Hermione, who was nonetheless biting her lip to keep from antagonising Harry anymore. He felt the need to intervene.
"Hermione, drop it. We'll talk about this later, at the Dursley's. Right now, we need to focus on convincing our parents…"
Hermione narrowed her gaze at Harry, who stared back unflinchingly, anger emanating from him, and her glare suddenly softened. She turned to look at Ron with a sparkle in her eyes, which might have been a tear but Ron suspected was some deep well of sadness that she kept bottled up. He was surprised at his own perceptiveness but the gaze fixed upon him suddenly turned all his thoughts to much as he felt his breath hitch under the intensity of Hermione's gaze. Gulping, he tried in vain to break the sudden bond the two of them had found, but Hermione managed it first, her eyes conveying her very deep regret at having to do so. Or was Ron imagining that?
"You're right Ron. Harry, I'm sorry… I know this isn't easy for you… but I will talk to you about this later!" she said adamantly, her eyes flashing. Ron suddenly felt his arousal triple, and he couldn't understand it. Hermione's fierce gaze at Harry pushed so many of his buttons that he had trouble containing his sudden urge to maul Hermione right there on the carriage seat, but he thankfully restrained his less-than-idle hands. Breathing heavily, he ripped his gaze to Harry, who was looking sullen.
"Fine Hermione, we'll discuss it…" he said moodily, then turned his eyes to Ron. His expression showed a sudden puzzlement, followed by a quick flick of his eyes to Hermione, then unmistakeable amusement in his eyes, even if it didn't carry to his grin. "Hey Ron, why are you all red? A little hot under the collar?"
Harry's grin suddenly returned full-force as Ron glared at him, feeling his colour suddenly intensify. He stoically avoided Hermione's curious gaze and lugged his trunk out of the compartment, muttering about Harry and all the hexes he'd like to hit him with. Harry gave a rare chuckle of amusement and allowed Hermione to leave the compartment before him, which attracted Ron's attention primarily because Hermione gave him a curious smile and said "That's very gentlemanly of you Harry, thank you!" She flashed him a timid smile which he returned with a massive grin as his eyes flicked to Ron, who felt like he was suddenly bubbling over and icily cold all at once.
He didn't even realise Hermione had smiled at him as she left the train, because his gaze was narrowed so intently on Harry, who was uncharacteristically beaming. Ron wasn't sure he liked Harry's only source of amusement being taunting Ron about Hermione. Steaming at him, Ron leapt off the train and scanned the platform for his parents. Hermione urged him and Harry on, before breaking off to talk to Mr and Mrs Granger, who waved merrily at Harry and Ron. Ron smiled stiffly at them, still unhappy, while Harry shot them a wide grin. Ron watched with a rather vicious pleasure as Harry's grin faltered under Mrs Weasley's intense gaze, as his eyes travelled to Ginny, standing at her side and staring at the ceiling forcefully. Then Ron felt his heart sink as he realised that he was about to demand the right to go off on a dangerous mission with Harry and Hermione while his mother was angry.
Oh great. Dead before I even get my Apparition License.
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Hermione found herself shaking slightly as she approached her merrily grinning parents, happy to see her after a year of school. A slight splinter of guilt surfaced, mainly due to the fact that she'd hardly seen her parents in the last year, except during the Christmas break, and here she was dodging off again. However, she assured herself that the only place she could be without feeling twenty times the guilt she felt now was with Harry. Her loyalty lay with him.
Sighing, she greeted her smiling parents. "Mum! Dad! Hi! I missed you both so much!" Embracing them both in a wide hug, she savoured the last time she might see her parents for a long time. And then she was stung with the sharp thought that she might never see them again if she went off with Harry. Suddenly terrified, she spluttered out the first thing she could think of, even if it wasn't completely true. "Uh, Molly Weasley wanted me to invite you both to her son and his fiancé's wedding this summer!"
Both of them traded confused glances, before her mother said sweetly to Hermione; "Honey, Molly and Bill already invited us. Bill said he couldn't have his wedding without you there, and Molly was happy to invite us. When did she say to you to invite us?"
"Er…" Oh great. Way to put your foot in it Hermione. "Er… she asked me before term was over to write a letter, but I thought it'd be better if I asked you in person. I didn't realise they'd already done it. That's great. You're going, right?" she added warily.
"Of course darling, of course." Her father this time, smiling sweetly at her as well. But there was a genuine fondness in his gaze. She'd always had a lot of time for her father, he was an immensely intelligent man and knew when and when not to be patronising. Although she hated pet names, darling was what her father had always called her and it seemed natural. "In fact, that young Bill Weasley assured us that his youngest brother would be quite out of sorts if his… ah, how did he put it dear? Beau-to-be wasn't present!" He laughed jovially and then fixed Hermione with a piercing stare, which she felt herself heating up under. "Something you'd like to tell us about you and Mr Ron Weasley, darling?"
"Dad! Ron and I are just good friends!" Now she was definitely blushing. Her mother was looking at her, and then glancing over at the Weasley clan surreptitiously and smiling even more widely.
"He's a very handsome friend, wouldn't you say Hermione?" Her mother's eyes twinkled as Hermione turned her gaze stony.
"Yes Mum, he's very attractive. In fact, he had to beat the girls off with a stick this year. So did Harry, mind you, although Harry has eyes for only one girl: Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger sister."
"Yes dear, we met Ginny moments ago. She seemed like a very intelligent young women, although a tad out of sorts about something…" her father mused.
"Her and Harry had a falling out. But speaking of Harry… er… Mum… Dad… there's something I need to tell you…"
"Hey! Hermione! Er, can you bring your parents over here? I'd feel better if we did this one together…" Ron was suddenly muttering in her ear, and she felt her heart leap right out of her chest. Her blush only intensified upon having Ron so unnaturally close to her, and she turned to face him, suddenly aware of how close their faces were. She froze and stared into his piercing blue puddles, before her mother cleared her throat softly.
"Oh! Hello Mr and Mrs Granger… er… lovely to see you again…" Ron mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.
"Nice to see you too Ronald… my, haven't you grown into the handsome young man! So tall and strapping!" Mrs Granger was fixing Ron with an amused grin, which he suddenly wavered under.
"Um… thank you? Er… gee Mrs Granger, I'm not used…"
"Don't mind my wife, Ron. Granger women tend to be rather too attracted to redheads. I had to wrestle Alison away from her fixation with a young man named Leonard, who just happened to be immensely attractive and played football… and of course, had red hair. Luckily, brains beat bulk in the end. Granger women also tend to like the intelligent types."
Hermione's closed her eyes in mortification at the twinkling look in her father's eyes as he winked at her, then captured Ron's gaze. He had gone rigid at her side, evidently as embarrassed as she was at the sudden discussion about the preferences of Granger women, which Hermione had to admit were disturbingly accurate. Ron's firm, quasi-muscular body, his flaming mess of red hair and his latent but nonetheless expansive intelligence were some of the things she found unstoppably desirable about him. But his sudden embarrassment surely showed that he was disturbed by the thought, right?
Ron had dropped plenty of hints over the previous year that he was just as interested as she was, but he tended to avoid a direct confrontation of any feelings. Hermione wasn't stupid – she recognised male attraction when she saw it, having observed Harry fall to pieces over first Cho and then Ginny; but at the same time, she highly doubted that Ron's attraction to her was little more than a passing fancy. She knew that Ron could never return the intensity of feelings she felt for him, and was utterly saddened by it.
"Mr and Mrs Granger… would you mind coming over here for a minute? Er… Hermione and I have something to discuss with you both, and my parents…" Ron's voice broke her reverie, and she fixed her eyes upon him, as he shiftily avoided her gaze, crimson with embarrassment. She pretended not to notice, and turned her eyes upon her parents, who were looking at her quizzically.
"Of course, Ronald. This seems most interesting."
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Harry felt like sinking into a hole in the ground to escape the sheer awkwardness of this situation. He wasn't sure what had been communicated between Ginny and her mother, but he sensed that Molly was very much of the opinion that is was his, Harry's, fault. Therefore, the fact that Ron and Hermione – or rather, Hermione with Ron grunting his agreement in a small voice every few seconds – were appealing their parents to allow them to go and stay with Harry until Bill and Fleur's wedding made him feel like some kind of unwelcome slug. He was sure Mrs Weasley wouldn't hate him for breaking Ginny's heart, but Ginny was her only daughter, and there was sure to be some kind of bias there. Furthermore, the fact that he was dragging Ron and Hermione along with him to the Dursley's… and they hadn't even got to the question of the Horcruxes. Harry tuned out slightly until Hermione brought it up tentatively.
"Uh… well, unfortunately that's not all, Mum, Dad, Mr and Mrs Weasley. Er… there's something that comes after Bill and Fleur's wedding…"
"Oh? What could come after? Staying at Harry's until school restarts?" Mrs Weasley grated out, glaring at a thoroughly diminished Ron. Hermione coughed slightly and continued. "No… actually… see… we're not going back to Hogwarts…" she finished in a very small voice, glancing between the stunned face of Mrs Weasley and her very surprised faces. Arthur Weasley just looked extremely grim at this news.
"Not… going…?" Mrs Weasley appeared lost for words.
"Hermione, dear… if you're not going back to school, where are you going?" her mother asked tentatively. Harry saw a sudden danger in the situation, and suddenly called out to his best friends.
"Ron, Hermione, cast muffliato on the people in the station, will you?" he implored. Hermione's visage instantly darkened, but she gladly cast the curse upon those people remaining on Platform 9¾, while Ron cast it upon those students still filing from the train. Hermione turned back to the parents, but Ron suddenly seemed to have found his voice.
"We're going with Harry, Mum, Mrs Granger. We're going with Harry to destroy Lord V-Vol… V-Voldemort…" Ron struggled to form the last word, but when he finally said it, he seemed astonished at himself. Harry amused himself for a second at the look for incredulous admiration on Hermione's face, before turning to the utterly stunned parents. Harry had expected Ron's little surprise; he'd heard him practising under his breath on the train after Hermione had snapped at him about calling him "You-Know-Who" all the time.
"… Ronald. Bilius. WEASLEY! I hope you have a very good explanation for what you just said!" Mrs Weasley was suddenly enraged, towering over Ron, who, to Harry's utter astonishment, was not cowering in the slightest. Rather, he held his mother's gaze steadfastly and replied calmly as you come.
"I do. Professor Dumbledore supplied Harry with information he kept even from the Order of the Phoenix. Harry, and in turn Hermione and I through the fact that he told us, are the only people apart from Voldemort himself who know how to destroy him. We're also the only people who know WHY Harry has to destroy Lord Voldemort, since Harry also told us what the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries contained."
Harry could tell that the Weasley parents were utterly flabbergasted by this news, but Mr and Mrs Granger looked bemused and were staring at Hermione quizzically. "Hermione, dear…" her father started tentatively. "We know who Lord Voldemort and Professor Dumbledore are, since the former told us about the latter, but… why on Earth are you, Ron and Harry the only ones who know how to defeat him?"
Hermione met her father's gaze and said, "Sorry dad, but that's not something I can divulge. All you need to know is that Professor Dumbledore has given Harry the tools to finish Voldemort once and for all, and that Ron and I will stand at his side until the bitter end. We'll fight Lord Voldemort with him."
"You… you'll fight… but I thought Voldemort was an extremely dangerous Dark wizard, protected by a horde of his… what were his henchmen called?" asked Mrs Granger, seemingly overwhelmed.
"Death Eaters," supplied Ron quickly. "And you should know Mr and Mrs Granger, that Hermione is immensely capable of taking on Death Eaters. Last year, she, along with Harry, Ginny, myself and two others took on about twenty of them in the Department of Mysteries and emerged alive and in the end victorious. We fought them again last week, and… although we didn't win, we survived. We fought them on equal terms. But it ended in Professor Dumbledore's murder…"
"Dumbledore! Dead!" Mr Granger seemed astounded, as his wife was mouthing wordlessly. Hermione's whole face darkened as she nodded, before turning her blazing eyes upon her father.
"And that's why we're going with Harry. Only he can beat Voldemort now, and he can't get there alone. Harry trusts Ron and me above all others and we'll be the ones fighting Voldemort with him. There's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise, Dad, since I'm 17 and a legal adult in the Wizarding World."
"But not in our world, Hermione! You're not 18 yet!"
"No, but I don't live in your world anymore, Father. I'm an adult witch, and my first truly important decision is to go on this potentially life-threatening mission with Harry, to end the threat of Lord Voldemort once and for all."
Everyone apart from Ron, Harry, and – to Harry's surprise – Ginny appeared flabbergasted. Bill, Fred and George were all gaping at Ron, as though they'd never seen him before, as he stood there impassive against his mother's rage.
"RONALD WEASLEY! I AM NOT ABOUT TO PERMIT YOU TO THROW YOUR LIFE AND YOUR EDUCATION AWAY OVER SOME HALF-BAKED ADVENTURE TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE!" she roared, causing all Ron's brothers to flinch horribly. Ron, however, appeared enraged, but did not deign to shout at his mum.
"Oh yeah? Well, if I don't go, then Harry and Hermione go without me. And them the next thing you know, I'll have Apparated from the house as soon as I can and beside them all the same. I'm 17, mum, an adult. I'm going with Harry."
Mrs Weasley spun around to face Harry, who, like Ron's brothers, almost recoiled, but he held himself in check and met Mrs Weasley's barrage head on.
"HARRY, WHAT IS THIS MADNESS!"
"Madness!" Harry snarled, instantly icy. "You call the very thing Professor Dumbledore died for, madness!" Mrs Weasley was struck dumb by this fact, and she wavered suddenly under Harry's fury. "Molly, I'm not going to demand that Ron be allowed to come with me. But whichever way you and Ron resolve this, I'm going as soon as I turn 17 and as soon as Bill and Fleur are happily married. I'm leaving right away after that, going to destroy Voldemort with whoever I trust and is able to come with me."
"I'll be there Harry" said Hermione, automatically. She turned to Harry with a tear-laced expression, and Harry felt his heart go out to the sister he never had. He smiled with an expressionless gratitude and felt a tug at his heart at the loyalty and love Hermione was showing him.
"As will I. No matter what my mother says, I'll be there Harry." Harry shot his eyes to Ron, who was wearing a stony yet determined expression, and Harry felt similarly touched by Ron's loyalty and love for him.
"We'll be there Harry," Fred and George suddenly piped up, to the outrage of their mother. "If you'll allow us to be…"
Harry's surprised eyes travelled to the twins, but he found their loyalty less encouraging. He would very much like to have Fred and George on his side, but he couldn't trust them with the information he kept. Not that they were untrustworthy, but that they didn't deserve to be embroiled this deep in this. "No. Thank you both for the offer, but I'll have to decline. You're both valuable members of the Order, and Ron, Hermione and I won't be joining the Order for this."
Ron and Hermione gave him surprised glances, but he waved them off with an "I'll tell you later" look because Ginny had just met his gaze for the first time since he'd left the train. He was frozen by the force of love and pain and devotion emanating from his lithe figure, and he suddenly realised how desperately he wanted to be with her. The knowledge only deepened his hate for Voldemort, knowing that the evil Sorcerer deprived Harry of everything he'd ever wanted.
"I'll go Harry. Whether you want me to or not." Ginny said it almost like a command, but Harry – as much as it pained him to do so – refused her immediately.
"No way Ginny. You're underage. You can't do magic outside school."
"That didn't stop me in the Department of Mysteries!"
"No, but the Ministry only detects underage magic if the underage witch or wizard is in a sparsely populated area, in terms of wizards. They can't detect who casts the charms, which is why magic in the Ministry is hardly considered by them."
Ginny seemed surprised by this, but instantly narrowed her eyes. "Then why can't I go? They'll think that it's just you lot casting the spells…"
"Simple. You're not an adult. Therefore your mother's opinion on the subject is paramount, so I suggest you take it up with her. I'd gladly have you along, but your parents will never allow it." Molly Weasley shot him an appreciative look, but Harry only had eyes for Ginny, who was staring at him, lost for words. He tried to convey his strong desire for her not to force him to decide whether she came or not, but he wasn't sure the message got through, because he could see her instantly scheming.
Sighing, Harry turned to his two best friends. "Ron, Hermione, shall we go so hello to my Aunt and Uncle? If they haven't already left…"