Chapter Five
Ron
I had just gotten back from referring to a quidditch game at Hogwarts. Ravenclaw Vs. Slytherin. Ravenclaw won, which I mentally did a happy dance over. I always referee fairly but for obvious reasons I have a hard time enjoying watching Slytherin win. Normally I take Jamie with me to the games but he was feeling a bit under the weather so I left him with Molly. Ginny was on the road again and won't be back for a few weeks.
Plopping myself on the sofa, Tucker curled up on the floor by my feet. Pulling out my wand I summoned a cold one from the fridge. Kicking off my shoes I plopped my feet up on the coffee table and popped open the can. Just as I was about to take a sip there was a knock at my door. It was unusual for us to get visitors, first of all because our nearest neighbor is over half a mile away and second my property is warded so it can't be seen by muggles or anyone with ill intentions. So whoever it was had to be a witch or wizard that I knew.
With an annoyed groan I stood from my comfy spot on the couch and answered the door. I was more than a little surprised by who was on the other side.
"Ron." I deadpanned. I hadn't seen him in months and honestly I had no desire to be anywhere near him.
"Hey Harry, can I come in?" I was very tempted to tell him to get lost, but he had been my best friend for years and we had been through hell and back together. Plus he was my brother-in-law.
"I guess, but not for long, I have to go get Jamie from Molly's in a few."
"No problem," he replied and so I let him in. I sat back down on my sofa, plunked my feet back on my coffee table and took a sip of my beer.
"What do you want, Ron?"
"Have you heard from Hermione lately?" He had an honestly concerned look in his eyes, and I wondered if he was truly worried about her.
"I saw her a couple days ago, why?"
He sighed and ran his hand through his overgrown ginger hair. "She wont answer my owls, she's blocked my flo calls. I think she warded her house too, I know where it is but I can't find it."
I just shrugged. He ran out of chances with his wife and me long ago. There was no way I was helping him. If Hermione was blocking him from her and Rosie I was sure there was a pretty good reason for it.
"Can you tell her I want to talk to her."
I let out a laugh of unbelief. He has been like this for as long as I have known him, he screws up big time, takes forever to come to his senses and then expects all to be forgiven. Not this time.
"Honestly Ron, you had your chance. She tried so hard to save your marriage, your family. You seriously fucked-up mate. I think you waited too long to try and fix it this time."
Ron sighed, his shoulders drooped. "I know Harry. I just need to talk to her. I...I got an offer to play for the Brizillian National Quidditch team. I'm going to take the offer but I need to talk to Hermione about it."
"Are you fucking serious?" I asked in utter disbelief, "You're leaving the country?"
"I'd be crazy to pass up an offer like this. It's my dream job Harry!"
Taking a long, deep breath, I took my wand from the coffee table where I had placed it and in a millisecond it was pressed against Ron's neck. If he had come here to ask me to help him beg Hermione for forgiveness, while I wouldn't have helped him I would have at least respected him for trying, but knowing he's running off to a foreign country to play quidditch leaving his wife and daughter and two infants behind… I hadn't wanted to curse him this badly since he ditched us when we were hunting horcruxes.
"H-Harry...come on mate. Don't do anything rash."
I could feel my blood boiling in my veins. I couldn't even comprehend how he could fathom doing him. Splitting from Hermione was one thing but ditching his responsibilities to run off to a forgin country to play quidditch and act like some wizarding playboy.
Feeling my panic Tucker jumped up from the spot on the floor, stood between Ron and I and barked. He could sense the tension and he knew what my wand was capable of. He had seen me destroy tree trunks and boulders in frustration with that wand. But this wasn't a tree trunk, it was Ron, who despite all his faults was once my best friend, he's Ginny's brother, the father of Hermione's kids. As much as he deserved to be pulverized, I wouldn't do it… I wouldn't curse him. I wouldn't use my wand to harm him.
As I looked down at my wand I realized my hand was gripping it so tightly my knuckles turned white. Not only that my hand was actually shaking, I was literally shaking in rage. Had I really been that angry? Dropping my hand to my side, Tucker gently took my wand in his mouth, pulling it from my now loose grip, he dropped it on the floor. He then backed up so he was now standing beside me.
Ron took a few steps back, looked gratefully down at Tucker and then apprehensively back at me. "Can you please just tell Hermione I need to talk to her?"
Without a word I simply nodded. He then quickly appeared out of my home, not daring to turn his back on me.
I sat back down on my couch, finished my beer and then went to go pick up my son.
