Hermione Granger bit her lip as she watched Ginny Potter approach her with an ashen face and brown eyes that wouldn't meet hers.

"Hermione…." The newest Lady Potter said quietly across a semi decent table set up in the back of The Burrow.

"Yes, Gin?" she responded, her eyes flicking to the left corner of the house that the other woman had just walked away from with wide eyes.

"Hermione…..come with me to the powder room." Ginny asked in an almost frantic whisper, her eyes darting to the same corner Hermione's had just left.

"Are you ok? You look as if you've seen a ghost." She felt bad for feigning innocence but had wondered when it would be too much for those around them to ignore the issue.

"Hermione, please, come inside with me, I have to tell you something right now. "

She raised an eyebrow before looking back to The Burrow as a rather upset looking Lavender and a furious looking Ronald stumbled around the corner with clothes mostly set to rights and hair that could only be described as 'almost fucked'.

"Oh Gods, Hermione, I...I, oh Gods." She heard the woman across from her moan as if in pain.

The lawn had grown quite and though she couldn't see them, she felt the eyes of everyone in attendance for brief moments as they tracked between herself and Ronald, who was pulling a very reluctant, if the way her shoes quite literally dragged over the grass was anything to go by, Lavender behind him as he all but charged to the table she sat at. She saw Harry attempting to beat the red head to the table in her peripheral vision but he'd been too far away to have a chance , given he didn't have a broom with him. The actual fear on his face was telling, though. Molly must be in the kitchen because she hadn't stopped her son as of yet.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Ron nearly screamed as he got within three meters of her, the hand not gripped around Lavenders flying up to point an accusing finger at her.

"Ronald, what do you mean? And please, keep your voice down, we're in public." She said steadily, casting a look around the lawn as if the accusation was a shock to her.

"I know you hexed me, Hermione! I know you did! Undo it NOW!" His voice lower but still no less hostile.

"Ron…..please, we're at your parents house. Don't…"

"Quite, Lav, She's going to answer me, this has gone on long enough!" He snapped. "Tell. Me. What. You've. Done!"

Hermione widened her eyes and only just stopped the corner of her mouth from curling up at that telling comment. His hair really did clash with the color of his face.

"What are you talking about, Ronald?" She asked with a blank look, glancing between Lavender and Ronald before meeting his eyes.

"Ron, calm down, mate." Harry said as he finally got to the table, putting a hand to his friend's chest to stop him from advancing to Hermione's side of the table. "You need to stop yelling at Hermione."

"She cursed me and you're telling me to be nice?! For six months I haven't been able to do ANYTHING and you're telling me to be NICE?!" The disbelieving question was almost shrill yet Hermione didn't flinch as she glanced, again, between Ronald and Lavender.

She absently thought that this could be the longest Lavender had been silent in her presence felt a corner of her mouth kick up as the other woman looked as if she wouldn't just welcome a hole opening up underneath her, she'd gladly invite one.

"Hermione wouldn't do that and you know it, Ron. Stop it." Harry said with slightly widened eyes as he got a glimpse of the blonde all but hiding behind him before he turned almost furious eyes onto the taller man.

"Ronald Weasley, what are you doing?" Molly came over to tsk at her youngest son before nervously looking between Lavender and Hermione. "Lavender, dear, I didn't realize you were able to make it." She said after a few beats of awkward silence.

"She came with Seamus." Hermione supplied, making a show to look around the crowd, who were all now blatantly staring, before she found the Irishman and sent him a small wave. He flushed and looked away, not meeting her eyes.

"Mum, Hermione cursed me. I know she did!"

"Ronald, be quiet." Molly all but hissed. "And let go of Lavender's hand."

Ron looked down and all but threw the hand he was holding away from him before he went an almost green color before he locked eyes with Hermione, the anger from earlier giving way to horror.

"Hermione….."

"I must thank you, Molly." Hermione said with a smug smile, her eyes going to the matriarch of the family who looked confused but not willing to let a compliment get away from her.

"Thank you, dear." The older woman responded almost instantly, a tight smile.

"You took over all of the wedding planning for me when it became clear I was in over my head and I never really got the chance to thank you for adding so many traditions into the ceremony. It was quite lovely." Hermione explained with a genuine grin. "Right down to the vows, if I'm not mistaken."

Hermione saw the moment it 'clicked' for Molly and watched as the woman opened her mouth to respond but then closed it with a snap before she all but glared at her son, who had gotten some of his color back and was watching Hermione in confusion.

"What are you going on about, Hermione?" Ron asked, as subtle as ever as he took a large step away from Lavender, who looked to still be waiting for the hole to show up. "What does that have to do with you cursing me?"

"The handfasting ceremony was probably one of my favorite parts."

The color left Molly's face.

"I always did wonder if you'd learned Latin for the ceremony or if you'd only learned just enough to get through."

"What are you on about, Her…."

"Ronald. Be. Quiet. Let's go inside and we'll deal with this privately."

Hermione watched a wounded look cross his face at his mothers tight demand.

"Vultis esse particeps in vita fidelium or, for those who didn't brush up six months ago, will you be a faithful partner in life?" Hermione went on as if Molly hadn't spoken, watching Ron attempt to add three and two and not quite getting five. "Traditional….magically binding….marriage vows."

She heard Lavender gasp as it clicked and saw Ron look from one person to the next as those in the small group finally caught up to Hermione.

"Ronald, how could you?!" Molly all but wailed. "You promised you were done with Lavender before the wedding! How could you bring this shame on the family?"

"MUM!" Ronald said weakly, his eyes going wide he stared at his mother first before moving to Hermione. "You knew?"

"Of course, Ronald. Lavender is hardly subtle with her perfume and even less so with bold lipsticks." Hermione scoffed, just resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"You knew what those vows were and you knew, YOU KNEW that I wouldn't know what they said. How could you do this to me?!" he demanded, his anger returning as he pointed a finger at his wife, who sat looking at him with a tilted head.

"I'm sorry, Ron, are you saying that I knew you would cheat so I didn't tell you that the vows your mother chose for our wedding were meant to prevent us from straying from our marriage bed?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, her voice just loud enough to carry.

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" he yelled at her from across the table before he could stop himself, his eyes going wide at the admission.

"That is ENOUGH!" Molly shreaked.

Hermione glanced at the woman before looking around the now deserted party. She wondered if the guests had left or if they'd gone into the house to give them a bit of privacy. This confrontation had been brewing since the ropes had been taken from their hands at the ceremony and she was surprised that it had taken this long.

He'd placed the blame at her feet almost instantly, though, so that made up for the delay.

"Hermione, dear, I…."

"Mione….."

"Hermione, I….."

Hermione held her hand up as they rushed to speak and instead watched with some amusement as Lavender turned and fled, tears streaming, and Ron watched as he took a step to follow her before he remembered himself and turned to look at his mother then Hermione.

"You all knew that Ron wasn't capable of being faithful and still pushed for me to marry him. Ginny, you organized my Hen night." The pink on the younger woman's cheeks turned to a red at that. "Every night he was 'working over', you were there to tell me you'd walked out with him." Harry turned his face away from her and she saw his shoulders tense. "Molly all but admitted to telling him that it was ok to cheat on me up until the wedding day but I'm sure she thought that the binding spells would be able put a stop to philandering ways but didn't know that he would still be able to feel attraction to women other than me but it renders him impotent when it's time for physical consummation. He is able to keep and maintain an erection until the moment someone other than he or myself touches him." Ron turned a shade of red that she'd never seen on a person and Molly went almost grey as she continued to talk. "The fact that you all knew he wasn't faithful for, what I can only assume, the entirety of our relationship and the fact that Lavender was given an invite to what was supposed to be our 6th month anniversary party is telling."

She stopped and looked around those she, until almost five months ago, considered her family and stood.

"The divortium parchments are at your house, Ronald. They'll be your copies, the originals are filed at the solicitors and will be updated once you sign." She turned to go before turning back. "The only reason I went through with the ceremony was, as Diana was told, my face was already on the tea towels." She saw Harry wince but couldn't find it in her to care.

She wasn't used to her shoulders not being up around her shoulders or her stomach not being uneasy and she still smiled as she made her way to the apparition point.