TITLE: Ménage à Quatre
DISCLAIMER: All things Harry Potter belong to J K Rowling... basically, if you recognise it, it isn't mine... Please don't sic the Aurors on me, I'm just here for the fun.
Ballycastle
County Antrim
Northern Ireland
Saturday 27th September, 1999
Harry smiled contently as he leaned against a tree in the morning sun, watching the crowds of quidditch fans walking around, chatting to each other loudly and discussing the upcoming game.
Katie had had to side-along them up to the Ballycastle stadium for the game as neither Harry or Ginny had been here before or had any real idea where it was, they'd then found a nice out of the way spot for Harry and Ginny to relax and wait around while she went in and collected the tickets for the three of them.
"When's your first match?" Harry asked, looking to Ginny and realising he hadn't actually asked about how the Gryffindor quidditch team was doing since the school year had started. They'd spoken about quidditch and flying separately, but he hadn't actually asked much about how things were going now she was the team captain.
"No idea," Ginny admitted with a shrug, causing Harry to look at her curiously. "Professor Vector hasn't sorted out the dates yet." She explained. "There's only three teams this year, so it's all a mess."
"Only three?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, you know, there's barely thirty Slytherins in the entire school, and I don't think any of them really play or want to make a team of their own." Ginny explained. "So there's no Slytherin team, just the other three playing against each other."
"Huh," Harry considered that for a moment. So Gryffindor only really had to play three matches then. Ravenclaw, then Hufflepuff. Then play whoever was the winner out of the Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff match for the house cup. There'd only be four matches for the entire year, so no wonder Professor Vector was trying to figure out when to have them play and reorganising the entire year.
"I haven't seen the Ravenclaw team yet, but the Hufflepuff team is the same as always." Ginny laughed as she explained the current quidditch situation at Hogwarts. "Loads of friendly flyers, but none of them are really in it for the competition."
"Right," Harry nodded, that had pretty much been exactly how the Hufflepuff team had been when he'd been playing against them. Cedric was the only stand out player of the Hufflepuffs that he could really remember. "So it'll just be you against the Ravenclaws by the end of the year?"
"Probably," Ginny grinned.
"I'll have to ask and see if I can come up to watch the matches," Harry laughed at her confidence, it was pretty well placed to be honest, knowing how good of a player Ginny was on her own, and if she had some good talent on the team as well, they'd easily win against both Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. "Maybe bring Katie up so we can both watch."
"Ohh yes," Ginny nodded quickly in agreement with that plan, definitely loving the idea of Harry and Katie coming up to see her play. "Remember to make sure Katie finds out if the Harpies are sending scouts out, I'll want to know so I can really put on a show for them." She said eagerly.
"I'm sure she will." Harry laughed, amused by the whole thing. "She's done now..." He said, nodding to where Katie was coming over with three tickets in her hand. "All sorted?" He asked as she approached.
"Yup," Katie grinned, handing each of them a ticket. "Pretty packed in there, they're not great seats but..."
"It'll be fun," Ginny grinned, not really caring about not having the best seats or anything. It was their first official date together, so they could be at the far top seats for all she cared and it would still be the most memorable match ever.
True, it was Ballycastle Bats against the Kenmare Kestrels, while they were both really good teams, they weren't particularly teams that Ginny or Harry really cared about. They both played better than the Cannons though, so at the very least it was going to be a fun match to watch.
"Come on then, lets get some snacks before we grab our seats," Katie smiled, moving around to walk on the other side of Ginny so she could wrap her arm around the smaller witch's shoulders. "I don't fancy trying to fight my way through to the seats once everyone else is in there."
"Good idea," Harry nodded. "I'm cooking tonight though, so don't eat too much." He grinned as the three made their way over to the snack vendors.
"Oh?" Ginny looked at him with a grin. "You didn't say you were cooking anything?"
"I wanted to do something too," Harry smiled at the pair in amusement. "Since this is our first date, I thought we could have a proper romantic meal tonight as well." He explained.
"Best boyfriend ever," Ginny preened, pulling him in and giving him a very enticing kiss that was full of promises for what tonight would hold.
"Definitely," Katie followed suit, kissing Harry firmly with one arm wrapped around his back, and another around Ginny's, both arms sneaking down and squeezing their respective bums as she continued to kiss Harry and suck his bottom lip into her mouth playfully. "And I really need to get a better score tonight." She whispered to him with a wink as she broke the kiss, causing Ginny to break out in peals of laughter.
"You're both taking that scoreboard seriously?" Harry stared up as Ginny and Katie shared a truly evil grin.
"Yes." They both answered firmly, causing Harry to flick his attention between the two of them and wonder exactly what he was letting himself in for here.
"No snacks then," Katie grinned, pulling the pair away from the vendors and towards the main stadium to head inside and find their seats. "Harry will be eating enough tonight anyway." She said with a devious grin as she winked at Harry.
Ginny simply laughed, remembering Katie's idea about those tongue toffees and how much fun they promised to be tonight. The added bonus of a nice romantic meal as well was definitely shaping this date up to be the best date she'd ever been on.
Harry simply shook his head in amusement as he followed the pair, watching as Katie kept her arm around Ginny's shoulder and led them towards the pitch entrance where they could head off to find their seats.
Honestly he was still really surprised at how well everything was going. He always used to think that him and Ginny fit together, like they were meant to be... but now with Katie here, it was like she fit too, like an extra piece of a puzzle that created a whole.
Nothing had changed too much, he and Ginny were still just as they'd always been, but ever since they'd started dating Katie too, Ginny had seemed a bit more upbeat, a bit more mischievous and playful. It was good, it was a lot of fun, and it felt right, that was the main thing.
Something was actually going right for him and making his life feel great, that was definitely a sign that his life had completely turned around since the end of the war.
His life was his own now, no Voldemort or Dumbledore ruining his life and pulling his strings, this was his life now and he was living it just as he wanted. And it was brilliant!
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
Diagon Alley
London
Saturday's were mostly quiet in Diagon Alley for the Weasley's prank store, at least now that Hogwarts had started back up and all the kids had gone back to school.
They got a few customers wandering in from time to time, families with small children that weren't old enough to go to Hogwarts yet, and a few people buying things for friends that were at school to send up to them, but on the whole it it wasn't really a busy business if they relied on purely day to day traffic.
The peak times though, the holidays, summer times and Christmas, that's when they made a killing and really brought in the profits. More than enough to keep them afloat through the quiet periods between holidays.
It worked out well really, as through the quiet times it gave the three time to work on new products, testing ideas, rebuilding stock and researching new charms, potions and enchantments to work into their product catalogue.
Today though they were all crowded around the main counter with a single notebook open in front of the three of them, a large sketched out logo emblazoned with glowing red on a black background proclaimed 'Wicked Witch' as their new product line, something both Alicia and Angelina had been extremely excited about.
"What about enchanted skirts?" Angelina grinned, tapping her quill on the notebook where they'd been jotting down ideas. "So the skirt gets shorter or longer depending on your mood?" She explained when Alicia and George looked at her curiously.
"Ohh!" Alicia nodded with a grin, picturing wearing one of those and feeling the skirt shrink upwards whenever she was in a randy mood.
"That'd be fun," George grinned in agreement, indicating for Angelina to write it down. "Shouldn't be that hard either really, just a resizing charm right? Just have to figure out how to get it to adjust to the mood of things." He mused, wracking his brain for ideas on how to get that sort of thing to work.
"If we're working on clothes like that, some heels that shrink down to flats when your feet hurt would be amazing," Alicia pointed out, causing Angelina to laugh and nod in agreement. "Selling those would make a killing, trust me." She said when George looked at her curiously.
"Why wear shoes if they hurt you?" George asked, completely befuddled by the very idea of it.
"Because they look good stupid." Angelina rolled her eyes. "Nothing a few comfort charms can't take care of anyway, but having them automatically shrink down to flats would be amazing."
"Alright," George shrugged, more than happy to bow to the superior feminine wisdom when it came to things like this. "How about something with howlers?" He mused on the idea for a moment when both Alicia and Angelina looked at him. "Like a pink howler than whispers love letters in a sexy voice?" He asked.
"Those'd sell better than any pranks we've got." Alicia laughed, pushing the note book over to George for him to write that down. "Hot Howlers," She laughed at the idea.
"Love it," George grinned as he wrote down the idea and the name Alicia had come up with.
"What about a bra line?" Angelina asked. "Like enchanting bras with feather-light charms, I know a few witches that would pay through the nose for something like that." She pointed out.
"Like a full line of bras and knickers?" Alicia asked, tilting her head as she thought about the idea. "Could have some for quidditch as well. Like ones that are charmed with extra support and anti-sweat charms."
"Could enchant some fangs on some knickers, give handsy idiots a bite when they don't understand that no means no." George added in.
"Some knickers with warming and pain relief charms too, those'd definitely sell." Angelina said, tapping her finger on the notebook, causing Alicia to nod fervently in agreement with Angelina on that idea.
"What about expanding the perfumes too," George mused. "Could tweak some of the love potion recipes, mix up a perfume that smells like Amortentia but doesn't have the..."
George trailed off as the bell above the door chimed when the door was frantically pushed open, all three of them turning to see Hermione practically running into the store with tears running down her face.
"Bloody hell," George muttered, seeing the state Hermione looked in. "Upstairs." He said quickly as Angelina and Alicia were already jogging over to intercept Hermione.
Angelina simply nodded back to George as she slipped her arm around Hermione comfortingly, waiting for Alicia to do the same on the other side as they guided the crying witch up the stairs towards their flat at above the store.
"What the bloody hell..." George muttered to himself as he watched the girls take her upstairs, moving over to close the shop door before returning to the counter and pocketing the 'Wicked Witch' book for now.
It was nearly four anyway, closing up an hour early wouldn't hurt, and he owed Hermione more than enough to be there for her when she needed it.
Closing up the shop and securing the door and windows with a few flicks of his wand, he made his way to the stairs and turned off the lights on his way up, hearing the door to their flat above close as the girls took Hermione inside.
He'd give the girls some time together first, crying witches were definitely not his area of expertise, and there were only a couple of reasons he could think of that would cause Hermione to dash in here bawling her face out.
He didn't like the feeling he was getting one bit, not in the least.
"Come on, couch is just here." Angelina said softly, guiding Hermione over gently and sitting her down in the middle of the couch so that she and Alicia could sit on either sides. "Are... you're not hurt are you? Cursed? Anything?" She asked.
"No... no." Hermione gasped out between tears, shaking her head.
"What happened?" Alicia asked softly, rubbing Hermione's shoulder reassuringly.
"I... I was so happy!" Hermione burst out before another torrent of tears started running down her cheeks. "We were supposed to be celebrating! It... it was supposed to be a good day!" She cried out.
Angelina simply nodded, listening and comforting the younger witch, knowing that she didn't need to say anything right now, just be there and listen to her.
"I told Ron about doing my Mastery, I thought he'd be happy for me, that he'd support me and be as excited as I was." Hermione explained, more tears running down her cheeks before she rubbed at her eyes frantically with her hands, ruining what little was left of her makeup in the process.
Alicia grimaced at her words, having a very bad feeling about where this was going.
"Harry... I told Ron that Harry had organised so I could do my Mastery, that I was going to pay him back for everything." Hermione explained, rubbing her face more to dry out all the tears that had run down from her eyes. "He... he said I... I'd been..."
"Shh, it's alright." Angelina whispered, rubbing Hermione's back comfortingly.
"He called me a slut!" Hermione shouted out as her tears began again. "He said I'd... that I'd been spreading my legs for Harry!"
"Arsehole!" Alicia hissed out, narrowing her eyes in anger.
"I'd never... I've never... I wouldn't do that." Hermione said quickly.
"We know," Angelina said with a soft smile, reaching around and pulling Hermione into a tender hug. "Ron's just an arsehole." She whispered as she hugged the younger witch tightly.
"He... he said more horrible things, really horrible." Hermione cried out in Angelina's arms, sinking into the comfort that was being offered.
"He's an arsehole, really." Angelina said, leaning back to look Hermione in the eyes and make sure that she was listening to her. "He doesn't deserve you, he never did." She said firmly.
"She's right," Alicia smiled, rubbing Hermione's back as Angelina embraced her. "Ron's always been a jealous tosser. Remember the tri-wizard when he went on a right bender about Harry being entered into the thing?"
Hermione simply nodded mutely, sinking down a bit as she remembered all the awful things that Ron had said about Harry back then. "I can't... I can't believe he accused me of those horrible things! And he called me a slut!" She shouted out, anger bleeding through to her emotions now.
"He's an arsehole." Angelina repeated, her eyes flicking up as the door to the flat opened and George stepped in quietly. "You're better off without him, really." She said, returning her attention to Hermione as George simply stood by the door and listened.
"Definitely," Alicia nodded, smiling softly as Hermione untangled herself from Angelina's hug and gave a small watery smile back to her.
"We need comfort food," Angelina said quickly, standing up from the couch. "Ice cream? Chocolate? Cake?" She rattled off. "And lots of butterbeer." She said with a firm nod, looking over to George and gesturing for him to come towards the kitchen area with her.
"Sounds bad?" George whispered once they were far enough away from the couch where Alicia had taken over the role of hugging Hermione and listening to her rant more about everything Ron had said to her.
"Pretty bad," Angelina said softly, looking around the kitchen for any comfort foods they actually still had around. "Your brother got an Outstanding in being a real arsehole, you know this right?"
"Known for years," George confirmed with a nod. "He did this then?"
"She was all excited about doing her Mastery, got prettied up and everything to celebrate with him." Angelina explained.
"Oh bollocks," George groaned, dragging one hand down his face as he could already see where this was going. "Brother of mine made a complete arse of himself then?"
"Accused her of shagging Harry to pay for her Mastery, and some other stuff." Angelina explained. "Think anything between Ron and Hermione is well and truly over now." She said with a small shrug, knowing the couple had been on rocky terms ever since Hermione had helped Harry with all the Potter editions of The Prophet and showed the world exactly how much of a manipulative old arsehole Dumbledore had really been.
"Shit," George muttered, shaking his head. "Bugger it, I'll get ice cream and bits." He said, noticing how Angelina had had no luck at all in finding any comfort food in the flat. "You go and grab Harry and Ginny."
"Weren't they on a date today?" Angelina asked, pretty sure that Katie had mentioned something about going to a quidditch match for a date anyway.
"Dunno," George shrugged. "But it's better Harry learns about this now so we can calm him down. If he finds out what Ron said and nobody's around to stop him..."
"He'll kill Ron... he'll absolutely murder him." Angelina nodded, seeing what George was saying now. "Alright, I'll check his place first, but I'm sure they were going to the Ballycastle game today."
"Fingers crossed it was a short game then." George muttered, making sure he had a few galleons in his pocket. "Running across to Fortescue's, ice cream and chocolate coming right up." He said loudly so Alicia and Hermione could hear him before he dashed out of the flat, intent on getting the comfort food Hermione needed as quickly as possible.
Angelina just watched as Hermione started crying again, Alicia comforting her as best as she could and engaging in whispered conversations together.
"Fucking arsehole." Angelina muttered to herself, shaking her head in disgust at the thought of Ron Weasley as she headed to the fireplace, whispering "Holy House" quietly before vanishing from the flat.
Holy House
Holyhead
Holy Island
Anglesey
Wales
Angelina didn't even pause as she came out of the fireplace at Harry's house, since there was nobody in the living room she quickly darted around the ground floor, looking in the room with the strange muggle box thing first, then heading through to the kitchen and checking there, glancing out the windows as she jogged past before she saw the conservatory and swimming pool and froze for a moment, taking it all in before she shook her head and darted off again.
She was nearly half way up the stairs when she heard some rather excited moaning, which would have normally caused her to grin, but today she simply sped up and ran up the second flight of stairs as well, listening to where the erotic sounds were coming from to guide her through the house.
The bedroom door hadn't been closed, so she'd come from the hallway straight into the room and come face to face with a truly erotic sight. Katie was doing exactly what she'd described to them, actually sitting on Harry's face, and from the way her head was lolled back and the lewd moans coming out of her mouth, she was REALLY enjoying Harry's attention.
Ginny however was sitting on Harry's cock, riding it furiously while leant down and practically worshipping Katie's breasts, her lips and tongue moving over them tenderly while her hands gripped at Katie's body, pulling them together to form an erotic pyramid on top of Harry's prone body.
Staring should really have been an option right now, because she could watch this for fucking days, literally.
A beat passed before Angelina shook her head, clearing her thoughts from the erotic display in front of her. "Sorry to interrupt," Angelina grinned as Ginny yelped in surprise as her voice, pulling back from enjoying Katie's tits as both witches turned to her, sharing a startled expression on their faces.
"Angelina?" Katie demanded, wide eyed as she clambered off of Harry's face, letting him sit up from underneath her. "What the fuck..."
"It's Hermione," Angelina said quickly, doing her best not to stare at how Harry's face was actually dripping from where he'd been pressed into Katie's pussy for Merlin knew how long.
"What's happened?" Harry said quickly, sitting up as Ginny climbed off of his cock and got out of bed.
"Is she alright?" Ginny asked, climbing out of the bed properly now to face Angelina.
"She's not hurt or cursed or anything," Angelina shook her head, knowing those were the first things she'd thought of too. "It's... Ron's been a huge arsehole today, even more than usual."
"Shit," Ginny muttered, pulling her sweaty hair out of her face.
"How bad is she?" Harry asked, climbing out of bed and grabbing his clothes from the floor.
"She came into the shop crying her eyes out," Angelina explained, doing her best not to smirk at seeing Harry at full mast as he got dressed right in front of her, resisting the urge to ask inappropriate questions about the amusing looking green and gold ring that she could see nestled around the base of his cock.
"What did he do?" Ginny asked, grabbing her own clothes and getting dressed as Katie climbed out of the bed to join them.
"I don't think he raised his wand or anything, at least, she didn't say he did." Angelina explained. "It was pretty bad from what she said though. She was supposed to be celebrating going for her Mastery and Ron..."
"Ron showed he was exactly the same jealous entitled little shit that he's always been?" Ginny asked as she grabbed one of Harry's baggy t-shirts and threw it on quickly.
"Pretty much." Angelina nodded with a grimace. "He called her a few things too, I didn't get all of it from her but it was enough for her to run crying down Diagon Alley to the shop."
"I'm going to kill him, I'm actually going to kill him." Harry ground out, grabbing his wand and stuffing it into his jeans before he stalked over and pulled his dragon skin trench coat on.
"We'll talk to Hermione first," Ginny said quickly, running over to grab Harry and stop him from charging out after Ron straight away. "This is her fight, not yours." She said, doing her best to calm him down.
"We'll help Hermione first," Katie nodded in agreement. "Then... then we can curse the shit out of Ron." She added, actually in firm agreement with Harry's plan really. "Is she still at the shop?" She asked, looking back to Angelina.
"In the flat with Alicia," Angelina confirmed. "George ran out to get chocolate and ice cream." She explained.
"Who knew he could be trained," Ginny snorted in amusement, thinking that George had probably been sent on Angelina and Alicia's orders. Comfort drinks for him were generally fire whiskey shots as far as she knew, not ice cream and chocolate.
"Come on, I'll take you through." Angelina nodded as Katie pulled on her shoes, looking around to see Ginny and Harry were lacing up their boots as well while they'd been talking. "I'd say thanks for the free show too, but..."
"Tart," Katie snorted in amusement, sharing a grin with Ginny as Angelina laughed unashamedly.
"Hermione's alright though, no hexes or anything?" Harry asked.
"I asked that first, nothing." Angelina shook her head as Harry led the way out of the bedroom and downstairs. "If Ron had pulled his wand on her, I'm pretty sure she'd paint the walls with him anyway."
"Definitely," Ginny barked out a laugh at that. "She probably knows hundreds more curses than he does, some really nasty stuff too." She said with a shrug as the group came down to the living room. "Ron's an idiot, but even he's not stupid enough to get into a duel with Hermione."
"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry muttered as he got to the fireplace, grabbing a handful of floo powder before throwing it in. "April Fools!" She shouted before vanishing in a plume of emerald flame.
"He does remember the address then," Angelina laughed as she grabbed some floo powder herself. "See you there." She said before throwing it into the fire and following Harry through.
"Think we can stop him from actually killing Ron?" Katie asked as Ginny grabbed the floo powder next.
"I hope so," Ginny frowned as she paused by the fireplace. "Not that my brother deserves to be saved." She huffed. "But he's still my brother, no matter how big of a wanker he is." She said, rolling her eyes before she threw the powder into the fireplace and vanished with the same shout.
Katie simply nodded to herself, understanding how Ginny was torn between her friend and family here. If Ron did push things, then he'd find out Hermione had far more people in her corner now than she'd ever had before, and it would not end well for him, she'd make sure of it.
Alicia, Angelina and George's Flat
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
Diagon Alley
London
"Harry!"
Hermione was on her feet as soon as she saw him stumble through the fireplace, dashing over and sinking into his comforting hug within seconds.
His hugs felt as good as always, and there was a signature smell that always accompanied them, a mixture of the wax on his dragon skin coat, the shaving cream he used, and something else that was always just quintessentially Harry.
She stayed there, simply enjoying the comfort as he wrapped his arms around her, the ice cream now forgotten on the table as Alicia and George looked on and shared a glance between each other.
"Angelina told me," Harry said quietly, still holding Hermione in his arms. "I'm going to kill him."
"Don't... He's... he's not worth it Harry." Hermione said, leaning back from the hug and wiping away some more tears that had started to fall when Harry had embraced her. "He's not worth anything." She said, more to herself than to Harry.
"We all knew he was a wanker anyway,"
"Ginny," Hermione gave a watery smile as Ginny ran over and hugged Hermione from behind, sandwiching her between her and Harry.
"Don't listen to whatever the arsehole said, he's not worth it." Ginny said firmly as she happily hugged Hermione.
"Definitely not." Harry confirmed, squeezing Hermione tightly with a reassuring smile.
"I just... I wanted him to be happy for me," Hermione huffed out. "I wanted him to support me doing my Mastery, that isn't too much to ask for, is it?"
"Not at all," Harry shook his head. "Ron's... Ron's just Ron." He said sadly. "I should have known he'd throw another jealous fit when I offered to pay for things."
"It's Ron's fault Harry, not yours, not anyone elses." Ginny said firmly, leaning her head down on the back of Hermione's shoulder. "Ron's just an arsehole, just like he's always been." She said, causing Hermione to huff slightly before she nodded in agreement.
To the side Angelina and Katie headed over to sit with Alicia and George, the four sharing glances as they watched how close Ginny, Harry and Hermione really were together.
"Found them then?" George asked in a whisper, looking to Angelina curiously and trying to figure out why Katie had come through too.
"Did I ever," Angelina snorted back, giving Katie a sly grin.
"Later," Katie rolled her eyes, seeing the grin both Alicia and Angelina were giving her, and the very confused look on George's face.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, the concern evident on his face as they both let Hermione go from their sandwich hug. "What did he say?" He asked.
"Nothing that matters," Hermione shook her head. "I shouldn't..." She paused, taking a deep breath. "I shouldn't have listened to him anyway. I know he was just saying things to hurt me."
"Arsehole," Ginny practically growled out.
"No, he... nothing he said matters." Hermione shook her head. "He doesn't matter anymore." She said firmly, more to herself than to Harry or Ginny.
"About time you dumped his sorry arse," Ginny nodded with a proud smile on her face. "Told you, he doesn't deserve you."
"You're breaking up with him for good?" Harry asked, wanting to make sure he was hearing this right.
"Definitely," Hermione nodded to herself. "After... after everything he said... I wouldn't go back to him if he was the last man on earth." She said with a resolute frown on her lips. "I never want to see him again."
"Well, that's easy." Ginny grinned. "He's not going to go to Hogwarts again, and he doesn't know where you live, he couldn't even get near the place even if he did know." She said with a shrug.
"Right," Harry nodded in agreement. "Ron... I haven't missed him at all honestly, I only didn't say anything because you two were still together."
"I'll owl him tomorrow," Hermione said firmly. "God... is that supposed to feel that good?" She asked, looking between Harry and Ginny. "Just deciding it's over and making up my mind on it... it's like... I don't know... like a weight off of me."
"More like a weight that was tying you down." George spoke up for the first time, drawing the three's attention over to where he was sat with the three witches. "That's all Ron ever was, a weight dragging everyone down with him."
"You're right." Hermione sighed sadly. "I thought... I thought he could change, that he would grow up. I thought he could actually be the good man I kept hoping he was." She said with a frown.
"Ron's never going to grow up," Ginny shook her head, heading over and sitting on the couch next to Katie. "He's been like this since Hogwarts. He's always jealous of other people, it's like he's always shouting about how he should be entitled to everything, but never actually does the work to earn anything." She explained with a huff.
"Gin's right." George nodded. "He's been a shit since before Hogwarts. Why'd you think we turned his teddy bear into spiders?" He asked with a smirk. "He stole a load of our sweets that we'd been saving up under our bed." He explained when everyone looked at him.
"Pig," Ginny scoffed, shaking her head and leaning into Katie happily. "Ice cream?" She asked, spotting the tub of Chocolate Syrup Chaos from Fortescue's.
"Well, I didn't know you'd all be coming." George said quickly, noting the small tub of ice cream would probably barely be enough for a bowl each now that everyone was here.
"I can get more," Harry said quickly. "Honeycomb crunch?" He asked, looking to Hermione and seeing her smile when he remembered her favourite.
"You remembered?" Hermione smiled softly at that.
"I like it too," Harry grinned over. "Any other requests?" He asked, looking around and already tallying one of the cinnamon cherry for Ginny, and getting a request for mint choc chip from Katie too.
"I'll come with," George nodded, standing up and giving Ginny and Katie one last confused glance at how close they were sitting before he shook the thought off. "Actually... mind if we move this to Harry's place? Not that I'm not up for a pigging out evening with ice cream and drinking, but we're going to need more seats than we've got here."
"That's a point," Angelina nodded. "Floo to Harry's and the boys can meet us there?"
Both Hermione and Ginny nodded at that after sharing a glance, it would definitely be more comfortable there on the sofas and chairs that Harry had, and at his house there was certainly no threat of Ron trying to find Hermione at the store or flooing through to ask George if he'd seen her.
"Sounds good to me," Harry nodded. "Drinks too then?" He asked, looking around and getting firm nods from everyone in response. "Thought so." He grinned back.
"Come on mate, lets leave the girls to it." George laughed, pulling Harry away and sending one last questioning glance towards Ginny, a bit bemused by the way she was acting towards Katie right in front of Harry, and he didn't seem to see any problem with it.
"See you back home alright?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione now before he walked over and gave her one last hug. "Don't think about him anymore, and definitely don't let anything he said bother you." He said firmly as he broke the hug. "Like you said, he's not worth it."
"Right," Hermione gave a small smile and a resolute nod at that.
"See you at home." Harry smiled at her before he followed George out of the flat to go and stock up on ice cream, chocolate, alcohol and anything else they might need for tonight.
Hermione just sighed as she watched Harry and George leave, looking over to Ginny and Katie and giving them a soft smile. "Did you at least have a good date before I ruined it all?" She asked with a self-deprecating smile.
"You didn't ruin anything," Ginny said quickly, shaking her head reassuringly.
"The date seemed to be going really well when I found them," Angelina said with a wide grin. "Merlin, you told me that Harry loved having you sitting on his face... but actually seeing it!" She cackled loudly as Katie reached over and slapped her on the arm with a laugh.
"Oh god, she interrupted you having sex for me?" Hermione groaned, sinking her face into her hands.
"Oh I didn't mind at all," Angelina laughed, wiggling her eyebrows. "I'd have happily watched the free show if I wasn't worried about getting them here to help you out." She said, offering Hermione a friendly smile at that.
"I mind," Ginny huffed. "I only got to cum twice before you interrupted." She said with a huff, sending Angelina a mocking glare.
"I got four," Katie laughed.
"You're both terrible," Hermione muttered, still covering her face with her hands as she shook her head in dismay at her friends.
"Lucky witches!" Alicia laughed, jeering at the pair as she stood up. "Lets grab the alcohol first, then get over to Harry's place to settle down and make a night of it." She said with a smile. "Celebrate Hermione finally cutting that weight off of her ankle and making a break for freedom."
"I'll drink to that," Angelina nodded as she stood up. "Think we've still got a bottle of fire whiskey around in the back room."
"I'll grab it," Alicia said before dashing off quickly to fetch the alcohol they would definitely need for tonight.
"Sorry for ruining your date," Hermione said quickly, doing her best to offer Ginny and Katie an apologetic smile.
"It's fine," Ginny waved the apology off. "We can get back to it tonight." She said with a wink and a grin.
"Not if George caught on," Angelina pointed out, waving her finger between Ginny and Katie. "Saw him looking at you two, think he's figured something's going on." She pointed out.
"He'll be fine," Ginny shook her head when Katie looked at her.
"Yeah," Angelina shrugged. "We'll probably get it in the neck for not telling him, but he won't say anything bad about it."
"Not if he doesn't want to spend the next week sleeping on the couch." Alicia added with a snort of laughter as she came back into the room with two bottles of fire whiskey. "Got everything?" She asked, handing one of the bottles to Angelina.
"Come on," Ginny smiled, standing up from the couch and moving to wrap one arm around Hermione and guide her to the fireplace. "Lets give that horrible relationship of yours a proper send off, and celebrate you dumping him properly." She said with a grin.
Hermione just rolled her eyes at that, but couldn't help the smile that graced her lips. Breaking up with Ron was a huge step, but she had some great friends that would make it so much easier than if she'd been alone to battle through her feelings.
Ginny was the first to grab the floo powder and head through, with Hermione following before the rest made their way through, leaving the flat above the Weasley's store empty and quiet as the 'break up party' moved to Harry, Hermione and Ginny's home.
Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour
Harry leaned up against the side of the shop after placing their order, knowing it would take five minutes or so for them to make up the huge tubs of ice cream that he'd ordered.
It still felt weird, looking around the place and seeing how it had changed since before the war. Florean's daughter Florence ran the place now, and he was still honestly surprised that she'd reopened it after Florean had been killed in the war.
It was as popular as ever though, and if he was honest the ice cream actually tasted better now than it ever had before.
"Harry?" George asked, jumping up on one of the silver and red stools that ran down the side of the ice cream shop interior.
"Hmm?" Harry questioned, looking at George curiously.
"You can tell me to mind my own business mate, but... is there something going on?" George asked. "You know... between Ginny and Katie?"
"Oh... uh... maybe?" Harry hedged with a small grimace. "Yeah, there is." He admitted when George just looked at him. "Ginny... she talked about dating Katie too, you know... like you and Angelina and Alicia?"
"Right," George nodded. "That's... dunno, just never figured Gin would be up for something like that?"
"I didn't even know the whole three couple thing was a thing until you three started dating." Harry explained with a slightly nervous laugh. "Ginny wanted to try it though, and... it's actually been really good so far." He admitted.
"You know Katie's a bit of a wild witch though mate?" George pointed out. "We never dated or anything, but... I heard the stories." He explained before holding his hand up when he saw Harry was about to reply. "Second thoughts, I don't want to hear anything." He said, shaking his head. "Just... Ginny wanted it right?"
Harry simply nodded. "You think I'd risk Ginny's wrath to even suggest something like this?" He asked with an incredulous look on his face.
"Fair point," George laughed, nodding in agreement with Harry's point there. "Mum'll really throw a hissy fit if she finds out about this you know?" He pointed out.
"I really don't care anymore," Harry shook his head sadly. "I'm done trying to be who everyone else wants me to be. I just want to do what I want for a change." He said firmly.
"Good for you." George smiled at him. "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be a weird thing you know?"
"Shouldn't be," Harry shrugged. "But with them all getting drunk tonight..." He trailed off as the witch behind the counter waved towards Harry, holding up a big blue bag with his tubs of ice cream inside.
"Oh Merlin," George groaned as he thought about that, not wanting to be anywhere near the vicinity of a drunk Ginny and her girlfriend at the same time. "Right, you keep Gin from making me want to obliviate myself, and I'll... I don't know, keep Angelina from barging into your place again?" He offered as Harry led the way out of the ice cream shop.
"Can you really stop Angelina from doing anything she wanted to?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Er... no." George slumped a bit as he realised that, causing Harry to snort in amusement at his actions.
"Apparate or floo?" Harry asked, pausing in the middle of Diagon Alley.
"Apparate," George nodded.
"See you there," Harry said before twisting on the spot and vanishing with a nearly silent pop, leaving George to shake his head in amusement at how good Harry had got at apparating in such a short time, before he twisted and vanished as well.
Holy House
Holyhead
Holy Island
Anglesey
Wales
When Harry and George got to Harry's place, they pushed the front door open and were immediately hit with loud laughter and shouting.
The girls had completely commandeered the living room area and were sprawled out on all the couches, with two already open bottles of fire whiskey on the coffee table and each one of them had a glass in hand.
"Well, this is going better than I thought it would," Harry chuckled to himself as he walked through, putting the bag of ice cream down on the coffee table next to the fire whiskey.
"It's great," Ginny grinned up at him. "We're finally convincing Hermione that she's much better off without Ron dragging her down." She explained with a laugh, Hermione pushing her on the shoulder where she was sat next to her on one couch with Katie on the other side of her.
"Well, got to agree with that one." George smiled as he settled down on the other couch with Alicia and Angelina, giving each of them a quick kiss before he got comfortable.
"I'll get the bowls and spoons," Harry smiled down, happy to see Hermione had cleaned her face and was looking far more like her normal self without ruined makeup or tear tracks down her cheeks.
As he headed off to the kitchen, George took the time to actually look at Ginny and Katie, studying their body language as they sat comfortable closer to each other, both smiling and chatting with Alicia, Angelina and Hermione, laughing together and sharing grins every so often.
Even if Harry hadn't outright admitted it, he would have spotted what was going on after five minutes, and was rather bemused by the sight given how small Ginny looked sat next to Katie towering over her.
"At least now you can just do your Mastery and not worry about what Ron's going to do or what he's going to say about anything," Ginny pointed out to Hermione. "I can't believe you even stayed with him for so long." She said, rolling her eyes.
"It wasn't all bad," Hermione huffed. "Ron's... Ron's just..."
"An arsehole." George said firmly.
"He needs to grow up." Angelina added on.
"And stop being such a mummy's boy." Alicia finished off.
Hermione sighed but nodded, she couldn't disagree with any of those points really. Ron could be a great friend and a brilliant person, when he wasn't jealous or angry or envious of someone else, but as soon as his jealousy reared it's ugly head, he turned into a different person entirely.
She'd thought about it far too often in the past, wondering how Ron's jealousy would cope if she got a better job than he did, if she earned more money than he did, if she got the offers and opportunities, would he rant, rave and shout and force her to turn them down and settle for a mediocre life with him?
Perhaps everyone else was right, and she really was better off without him.
After tonight, she definitely thought so. She could put up with his jealousy and anger, since it was never really focused at her, but she certainly wasn't going to put up with him shouting at her and calling her a slut.
She wouldn't put up with that from anyone, least of all someone who claimed he loved her.
No, today was the last straw. She wasn't going to let Ron ruin her happiness at getting the chance to do something she'd believed she'd never get the chance to do, she wasn't going to let him drag her down anymore.
She'd write to him tomorrow and that would be the end of it.
"So, what normally happens during break up things?" Harry asked, coming back into the room with a large stack of bowls and a handful of spoons, putting them on the coffee table before he started to unpack the various tubs of ice cream.
"Nobody uses bowls, that's one." Angelina laughed, grabbing one of the tubs of Chocolate Caramel from Harry and a couple of spoons, leaning back on the couch and handing one spoon to Alicia before she tore open the top of the tub.
"Oh," Harry frowned before shrugging, leaving the bowls where they were as he watched everyone grab their own tub of ice cream, with Ginny, Hermione and Katie all going for the flavours they'd specifically requested. "I'm going to need to clear our some space in the freezer for all of these." He chuckled to himself, grabbing the last tub of treacle flavoured for himself.
"It's cute that you think there'll be any left," Ginny grinned at him, happily putting a spoonful of the cinnamon cherry in her mouth and savouring the flavour.
"This counts as my cheat day for at least a month," Katie sighed as she dug in to her mint choc chip with a smile. "Seriously, do you know how many calories are in these?" She asked.
"Who cares?" Angelina laughed from where she was happily sharing her tub of chocolate with Alicia, George leaning over every so often and stealing a spoonful for himself.
"I do, and I'm enjoying every single last one of them." Hermione huffed with a playful grin, firmly set on enjoying every spoonful of her honeycomb and caramel ice cream.
"See, Hermione's got the right idea." Alicia grinned over.
Harry simply laughed, enjoying the playful nature as he grabbed his tub and moved over to the couch in front of Ginny and Katie, sitting down comfortably on the floor and leaning back on the couch by Ginny's legs.
"You can conjure a chair mate," George laughed. "Or have you forgotten you're a wizard?" He grinned over.
"I'm fine here," Harry smiled, enjoying a spoonful of his ice cream.
"Actually, I meant to ask," Ginny said, turning to Hermione after swallowing another mouthful of ice cream. "When you spoke to Professor Flitwick, did you decide what Mastery you were even doing?" She asked.
"Not yet," Hermione shook her head, digging out another heaped spoonful of honeycomb and caramel. "I'm really thinking about enchanting though, I read some of the books in the library and it sounds really interesting."
"Hard work though," George pointed out. "Me and Fred stole a ton of our ideas from the enchanting books. Took us ages to work them out and get them working properly." He explained. "Really complicated stuff, not just simple charms, but actually making them permanent and part of whatever you're enchanting. Tricky as hell."
"I like a challenge," Hermione grinned over, feeling lighter and happier now they were on a conversation that was taking her mind off of the terrible day that she'd had so far. "Charms did look interesting too, but enchanting was so much more. It's a new challenge, not just doing the same stuff I've learnt before."
"Good enchanters make a mint," Alicia grinned over. "I know the broomstick companies headhunt good enchanters regularly, they pay sacks of galleons to keep them working for them."
"I didn't think about broomsticks," Hermione blinked, realising that was another enchanted item that was around in practically every wizarding house. "I'm surprised it's not a regular NEWT course if enchanters are so sought after."
"Word is it used to be, hasn't been for years though." George said. "Right shame though, me and Fred would have been in there like a shot if it had been at Hogwarts. Probably would have been one of the only classes we really paid attention to."
"It's probably hard to keep good enchanters as teachers too," Katie pointed out. "You could make ten times a teachers salary working for the broomstick companies, more if you developed faster brooms yourself." She explained.
"Right, who's going to want to be a boring old teacher when you could be designing broomsticks and rolling in galleons." George laughed, leaning towards the coffee table and grabbing an empty glass and one of the bottles of fire whiskey.
"Me too," Harry nodded over when George looked at him.
George simply got another glass ready, pouring out good measures of fire whiskey, oblivious to the thoughtful and curious look on Hermione's face as she considered what everyone was saying.
Once she passed her mastery in enchanting, would Professor Vector offer her a job at Hogwarts teaching it? That would quite literally be her dream, designing faster broomsticks didn't sound that interesting at all, but teaching such a fascinating and interesting topic would be absolutely amazing.
She was so entranced in her thoughts about what the future was going to bring, she didn't notice Ginny dripping some ice cream on her chin and Katie leaning over automatically to kiss it off.
She definitely noticed when the room fell completely silent though, with only Harry and herself not having noticed what had happened.
"If you two are going to snog or anything, can you do it elsewhere?" George piped up, firmly looking into his glass and doing his best to ignore the way Ginny and Katie were staring into each others eyes.
"Wait... who told you?" Ginny demanded, looking across at the other sofa now.
"Um, me?" Harry said. "He asked at the ice cream shop. I didn't think it was supposed to be a secret or anything?" He asked hesitantly.
"It's not," Katie shook her head. "It's... we're still new to it." She explained, looking at George and hoping he wasn't going to have a problem with it.
"Hey, don't look at me like that!" George held up his hands quickly in surrender. "You two, or three, do whatever you want, I just don't want to have to see it." He said with a snort of laughter.
"Just be happy you didn't see what I saw earlier," Angelina laughed at him, wiggling her eyebrows meaningfully.
"Angelina!" Ginny yelled, laughing at the same time.
"What?" Angelina smirked over with a wink towards Ginny and Katie. "It was hot." She said with a leer. "Anytime you three want another audience, just let me know." She grinned widely, wiggling her eyebrows as both Ginny and Katie laughed at her.
"No thanks," Hermione huffed playfully. "I have to hear them enough as it is." She laughed when Ginny gave her an outraged shove in the shoulder. "It's true!" She said with a giggle. "I don't know what Harry does, but I can hear Ginny's screams from my bedroom half the time."
"Oh Merlin," Harry groaned, rubbing his flushed red face in one hand as all the girls in the room started laughing and cheering for him.
"We're still on for shopping next weekend right?" Angelina asked through the laughter.
"Definitely!" Ginny grinned back, already having made plans for a few new things that she definitely wanted to buy from that amazing store.
"Oh god," Hermione groaned, rubbing her eyes with one hand. "It was easier going shopping when I didn't know what you were all getting up to with everything." She explained with a laugh.
"Oh we know," Angelina grinned over. "We REALLY know." She said with a wink at Ginny who shrieked with laughter and slapped Katie's arm repeatedly.
"You told them?" Ginny demanded.
"It was hot," Katie laughed. "Hell, I'm proud of it, you should be too." She grinned before pulling Ginny into a proper kiss, both of them tasting the ice cream on the tongues of each other.
"Again... I really don't want to see this." George groaned, sinking back on the sofa and trying to put as much of Alicia between him and whatever his baby sister was doing as possible.
"It was hot," Ginny laughed breathlessly as she broke the kiss. "Maybe when Hermione's got some enchanting books she can bewitch some toys for us." She said, looking to Hermione and raising an eyebrow.
"That's pushing it," Hermione snorted, shaking her head. "I'll take you shopping... but I'm not enchanting sex toys for you." She said through giggles. "Figure it out yourself or get Angelina to do it for you."
"Nope, not happening." George objected instantly. "I'm not having sex toys around the flat that are being enchanted for my little sister. Nope, there are some lines that should not be crossed." He said firmly.
"Spoil sport," Ginny huffed playfully, but inwardly agreed with him on that. Not that she'd ever trust any sex toy that he could have tinkered with anyway.
"Can we talk about something else... ANYTHING else?" Harry all but begged.
"Nope," Ginny grinned down at him, causing all the other girls around the room to laugh loudly in agreement with her.
"If I have to hear you having sex, you have to put up with them talking about it mister!" Hermione huffed down at him playfully.
"Maybe we should..." Katie paused, waiting for everyone to look at her incredulously. "Move to another room and have a girls night?" She finished off with a grin. "Leave the boys to their safe talk?" She pointed out.
"I'm game," Ginny grinned at the thought.
"Why not?" Hermione sighed, it wasn't how she's thought or hoped her evening was going to go, but having a proper girls night together was much better than moping around or crying and stewing over her emotions.
"Bedroom!" Angelina grinned, standing up from the couch and grabbing one of the bottles of fire whiskey.
"Bedroom!" Katie and Ginny cheered in agreement, both of them grabbing Hermione and dragging her laughingly to the stairs with Alicia following on as they headed up with laughter and cheering echoing down behind them.
"What the bloody hell just happened?" George asked, oddly amused by the sudden exodus of witches that had left him and Harry alone in the living room.
"Witches?" Harry shrugged, never having understood women anyway.
"Witches," George nodded as Harry climbed up and sat on the vacated couch, reaching to the coffee table and grabbing the glass of fire whiskey that George had poured for him.
"Think Ron and Herms are really over now then?" George asked after a moment of silence, the pair just drinking their fire whiskey quietly.
"Yeah," Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I do."
"Me too." George nodded, lifting up his glass and raising a toast when Harry mirrored his actions.
Auror Academy
Rosedale Abbey
North York Moors National Park
England
Sunday 28th September, 1999
It was late morning when a plain and unremarkable brown owl made it's way up to the Auror Academy, dropping a single thin letter off in the dormitories of the trainee Aurors.
The neat penmanship on the front of the letter told Ron exactly who it was from before he'd even opened it, seeing his name written there so perfectly and neatly used to fill him with a sense of love, now he only felt anger and a sense of foreboding.
Tearing the letter open he pulled out the single cut off piece of parchment inside, reading the two written lines that were plain and easy to read.
We're over.
I never want to see you again.
He let the letter fall to the floor as the meaning of it hit him. He'd been sure Hermione would come back to him, it was just one argument after all, they'd argued before and she'd always come back.
But this... this meant she wasn't coming back, not now... not ever.
That cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach as that realisation sank in.
She never wanted to see him again.
The anger flooded back as he thought about it, before he sneered and tossed the letter into the trash. He was better off without her anyway. He was going to become an Auror, then an Auror Captain, maybe even a hitwizard while she was stuck at Hogwarts doing her fancy mastery thing or whatever it was.
It wasn't his loss, it was hers.
She'd come crawling back, he was certain of it.
He put the letter out of his mind completely as he headed through the academy halls to go and find lunch. There were always a few people there who welcomed him and cheered him on as he told stories about how he'd helped defeat Voldemort during the war.
She'd come back, and he'd forgive her eventually. But until then, maybe he could have some fun since she'd dumped him for now, not that he'd tell anyone that, he'd just say they had mutually broken up so he could concentrate on being the best auror he could.
Yeah, that would work.
Settling a grin on his face he moved into the lunch hall, smiling and waving around at the other cadets as he headed to grab some food.
Everything was going to be just great, he knew it.
