(A/N: Smut towards the end...skip if it isn't for you...carrytheotter)
Ch 43: Friday Night Fireworks
By Friday afternoon, Ron was looking forward to the evening. The night before Hermione had insisted on staying up late reviewing he charms materials and baking biscuits for Rose. He had offered to do the baking, but she said she wanted to do it herself, so he had eventually given up on trying to be helpful and simply went to bed. By the time he got up Friday, she was about to step into the floo to head up to Hogwarts.
Hugo had come home from school in a good mood. His class was putting on a play, but he had not been excited about having to be in the production. However, he had found out at school that morning that he was going to be able to get out of the acting side and be one of the students in charge of the set design. He had been giddy at the idea of getting to paint and design the various back drops and sets for the play. He'd come home and immediately started sketching various ideas, and he was sitting on the floor of the living room surrounded by sketches when Hermione walked in.
"Hi Hermione!" he said cheerfully. "I found out I can be one of the lead set designers for the play, and now I don't have to do any of the acting! Isn't that brilliant!"
"Yes, darling, it is," Hermione said distractedly. "Where's Ron?"
"In the kitchen finishing up dinner I think."
Hermione dropped her briefcase and stormed quickly into the kitchen.
"Evening, Love," greeted Ron from behind the sink. "We're having roast chicken and potatoes for dinner. Would you like red or white wine?"
"I am not exactly in the mood for wine," she said curtly. Ron eyed her body language nervously as she had her arms crossed and was standing with a very aggressive posture.
"Is everything alright, Hermione?"
"Anything I need to know, Ron?" she asked with a bite in her tone.
Ron looked at her blankly. Her eyes had a furious fire in them, and he knew he was about to be in serious trouble, but for the life of him he could not figure out what he had done.
"I really don't know what we are talking about, Hermione. You're clearly hacked off at me, and odds are strong that I deserve it, but I am really not quite sure what I've done."
"Really? Because I had the chance to go up to Hogwarts today, remember?"
"Yeah – did you get to see Rose?"
"No. Don't change the subject."
"I can't change the subject if I don't know what the subject is to start with," he said earnestly.
"I had my meeting with McGonagall this morning."
"Ok," Ron said, still not following.
"Well, since I was there, I thought I would ask McGonagall about the bill for Rose's tuition, as I hadn't received one yet."
"Oh," said Ron suddenly.
"Yeah, oh. Imagine my surprise when she said that Rose's tuition had been paid in full, and she was rather shocked I didn't know anything about it. She said she'd assumed I'd known that you had paid the whole thing."
Ron just looked at her. He was struck by the fact that she looked remarkably like a combination of his mum and his sister when they were about to boil over in rage, only with less red hair and more crazy curls. And somehow the curls seemed to be reacting with the fury that was flowing off of her in waves, and they were springing out in every direction. Her cheeks were flaming red, and her eyes were leaping with a piercing anger that was very much focused on him.
Hermione was seething but trying very hard to keep her voice in a conversational volume so that Hugo wouldn't overhear from the other room. So, her words came out in a relatively hushed angry hiss punctuated by the logical argumentative style of a seasoned solicitor.
"Did it not occur to you, Ron Weasley, that my daughter's tuition would be a relevant topic for us to discuss? And while I appreciate the gesture of you paying the bill, I do not appreciate being treated like some daft muppet who has to be tricked into being some sort of project. And I also do not appreciate being made a fool in front of one of the leaders of the entire bloody magical community who is doing me a favor by tutoring me in her spare time."
"Hermione," Ron said in a desperately pleading tone as he came from around the counter. "I am really sorry I forgot to mention it, Hermione. Please, please believe me when I tell you it was an honest mistake."
"Then why didn't you say anything at all? What could have possibly possessed you to do this behind my back?" she said, her voice now vacillating between a whispered yell and a whimpered cry.
"I am so, so sorry, Hermione. I didn't think it would be a problem. I was up there one day, thought about it and just paid it. You know the financial resources are there to do that, so I just did."
Hermione was pacing by this point. Ron desperately wanted to hug her or kiss or do anything to try and diffuse the anger and get her to take a breath.
"I cannot and will not be one of your bloody charity cases. I know I am not exactly up to speed in the magical world yet, but I am getting there. And I absolutely refuse to be made a fool," she said, now so angry that she was wiping tears from her eyes with the back of her hands.
"Hermione," he said as he reached out to touch her arm.
"Don't touch me," she said shaking him off. "Do you not see how furious I am about this?"
"Of course I do, and I am trying desperately to apologize here. I am so sorry I messed this up. The last thing I ever wanted to do was upset you. You have to know that."
"Don't tell me what I have to know. Don't you get it? You can't manage me, Ron. You can't order me about or take care of things behind my back and then pat me on the head and parade me about as someone you are so nicely taking under your wing because she can't manage on her own. I can't be that woman, Ron. I am not her – never have been and never will be."
"Hermione, what are you talking about? I am trying to say I am sorry. I realize I screwed up rather spectacularly and didn't think to tell you I had paid the bill. But, it was an honest mistake, Love, I swear."
Hermione was still pacing, but her breathing had slowed down to a more normal level. But there were tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Hermione, can you look at me, please?" Ron pleaded. "Please?"
When she finally met his gaze, her eyes were red and tears were spilling down.
"What can I do? How can I make this ok? Please tell me."
Hermione took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "You really don't get it do you?"
"I'm trying to," he confessed. "I realize I should have told you I paid it. But, I am definitely sensing there is more to this that I am not fully grasping at the moment. But if you could help me understand what that is, I promise I will never do it again."
She eyed him carefully, trying to determine if he was being truthful. As she looked at him, she could sense his pain at hurting her, and his sincere fear at having done something she might not forgive. But she also sensed his earnest bewilderment at her fury.
"I need you to understand," she said in a stern and measured voice, "that I can only do this if we are partners. Equal partners."
Ron just nodded, hoping she would continue so he could begin to understand what was going on.
"When you just go off and handle my financial matters – especially significant financial matters – and I don't know about them - that is not ok. And if or when we are married, we will have to figure out how all of that will work. But I can't not know, Ron. She's my daughter. And since the minute I realized she was mine, I have cared for her. I have provided for her. I have managed all of the details and arranged everything for her. And I want you to be in her life, and I want us to be a family. And I am trying very hard to get to a place where I can let go of some of those tight reigns I have held for all of these years and share that with you. But that is a process. And the basis of that is trust and honesty and transparency and respect and equal partnership. And let me just say that this did not help that at all."
She looked back at Ron, and saw that now his eyes were red, with tears threatening to fall.
"I am so, so sorry, Hermione. I really didn't understand that this would upset you like this. I was so stupid and obviously, or hopefully obviously anyway, didn't realize how my actions would hurt you or how they would make you feel. I am not, and have never been, the sharpest tool in the shed. So this idea of me managing you or trying to trick you behind your back is so utterly far from possible. You think I'm joking when I say you will know more about magic than me in a short time. But it's true. You are the most brilliant woman and the most brilliant witch I have ever known. And I worry sometimes I am not smart enough to keep up with you or that I'm holding you back. And I worry you will be bored with me when I can no longer help you learn more. And most days I really can't understand why you are here with me. But you are, and I am so bloody grateful. But you must understand that I have never, and will never, pretend that I can trick you into anything or do anything behind your back."
"We'll get back to the part of you holding me back in a minute because that is total shite. But why did you pay it and not tell me? It wasn't a small amount. Because now I feel like I owe you the money, Ron, and I really don't feel comfortable with that."
"What are you talking about?"
"What do you mean what am I talking about? It was an expensive bill, Ron. You just paid it in full in one lump sum. It was tens of thousands of pounds – or whatever the hell that is in galleons anyway. I would have paid it off monthly over the whole year and could have managed. But now I feel like I have to pay you every month, and that feels bad – really bad actually. It changes the relationship between us. Now we're not equals – you're suddenly the bank and I'm the borrower, and I am not ok with that. Especially when I didn't even know about it to begin with and had to find out about my new loan from McGonagall."
Ron had been staring at her in utter confusion until suddenly a dawning moment of comprehension crossed his face. "Oh Merlin, I get it. You don't think of it as our money."
"What?"
"The accounts that I paid the bill from. You think of that as my money and not our money."
She stared at him for a moment, her mouth slightly open as she sought words to match her astonishment. "What possible reason would I have for thinking of that as our money? It was money given to you for basically saving the world. And then you invested it wisely for decades. Why on earth would I have any claim to that?"
"I don't know. I guess I just assumed, apparently in error, that we would both think of it as our money. We keep saying we're heading towards marriage, though one of the conversations we obviously need to have before that is about how we want to handle money. But, that's definitely not one for this evening, but anyway – right or wrong - I just did. I have been thinking of it as ours since I told you the money existed. No one else even knows about it."
Hermione was completely caught off guard by this and stammered, "I can't just suddenly share all that money with you, Ron. That was given to you to honor and recognize all that you did. I didn't even know the wizarding world existed then, let alone risk anything, to protect it. I was safe and sound in university, and you were risking everything. That can't be my money. It's just not right."
"OK. Clearly we need to discuss that further but maybe not right this minute, yeah? But, do you at least believe me when I tell you I am sorry. I really just thought I was paying a bill out of our money and forgot to tell you. And that alone was a bad error – I need to let you know when I handle a financial matter of that size, especially when it is for Rose. But it wasn't some plan to control you, and it wasn't meant to be behind your back. It was just an honest mistake by a bloke who clearly needs to learn how to communicate a little better."
Hermione looked at him carefully. "Really? That's really what happened? You weren't trying to trick me into taking charity money?"
"Honestly, I swear it, Hermione. I really just paid it and never remembered to mention it. I am so, so sorry. And I really have been thinking of it as our money. It wasn't charity at all."
Hermione looked at his face. He was practically holding his breath waiting on her reaction. The whole thing was so ludicrous, she thought. He'd said he had millions of pounds. Why would anyone suddenly just assume they would share their multimillion pound bank account and forget to mention it? Who did that? But then she realized. Ron did that. Her eyes softened as she looked again at his face. While Nicola was telling her to get a pre-nuptial agreement, Ron on the other hand already felt like all that he had was hers, not hesitating at all to hand over millions if there was some useful reason for her to have it. And he already thought of Rose as his responsibility, so he simply paid the bill. And she had just reamed him for it.
"Ok," she said slowly. "Then, that's what happened. And, I think I owe you a rather significant apology at the moment."
"What? That wasn't the take away I got from that conversation."
"Yes- I jumped to conclusions and didn't stop to clarify what you had intended to do. And I am sorry, and rather embarrassed actually, at the way I acted just now."
"No, Hermione, don't apologize. I should have told you I paid it. You're right – Rose is your daughter, and I should not have just stepped in and assumed that I could or should pay that bill let alone without mentioning it."
"No – that's not it. Don't apologize for caring for her as your child, Ron. I love that you love her that much. And that she loves you that much in return. But I've been honest from the start that this would be the hardest thing for me. I am not used to sharing her – either the amazing wonderful parts or the responsibility of caring and providing for her. And that is a really, really hard habit to break."
"I'm really trying not to overstep you know."
"I know. And you have been beyond amazing with her. And Hugo for that matter. But it will take time. But I don't want us to have his and hers kids. I want them to be our kids. But it's hard."
"I know," he sighed. "It's hard for me too – for different reasons I suppose, but it is hard."
"And we obviously need to talk about some things."
"Yeah, s'pose we do," Ron said with a half-hearted laugh. "But, are we ok?"
Hermione looked at his face and realized he was still scared. "Ron, we're ok."
"Really?"
"Really. I mean, we definitely need to have that money conversation sooner rather than later as we are clearly not on the same page about that, but I most assuredly don't want to have another round of what we just had."
"Me either," exhaled Ron nervously.
"And we are also clearly not on the same page about some other things."
"Like what?" asked Ron with his head nervously snapping back to face her.
"Like that fact that you said you were worried you were holding me back or some stupid thing about me not wanting to be with you once I learn more magic. Please tell me you don't really think that."
Ron looked down at his hands. "Um, I don't really believe it, but I'd be lying if I said I never thought it."
"Ron," she said walking over to him, "you are the most amazing man I have ever met in my whole life. And long before I knew anything about magic, I somehow knew you were the one person on this whole planet who could match me and challenge me and be the partner I needed and that I had always dreamed of." She touched his face as he took a steadying breath. She looked in his wide eyes that were red and damp and swirling in a strange combination of fear and love. "You are brilliant, Ron. And honestly, I am not bad myself. But the amazing thing is we are brilliant in different ways. I don't care that you aren't the book fiend I am. And I am hoping that you don't care that I will never be the able to think 15 moves ahead like you can. But in the things that matter we match Ron. We are both passionate about righting wrongs. We both are willing to dedicate our lives to children who surprisingly made us parents. We both take risks to make the world a better place. You help me be a better me. And I hope I do the same for you. Because I am so in love with you."
Ron listened as she spoke and engulfed her in his arms muttering "I love you so much, Hermione." He kissed her passionately as he backed her towards the wall of the kitchen. She threw her arms around his neck and as he pinned her against the wall she wrapped her legs around his waist. Before they knew it, they were grinding against each other, frantically kissing each other and moaning in response. Just as Hermione was about to lose herself completely in the feel of him, she caught a whiff of a smell that caught her attention.
"Is something burning?" she muttered, pulling back between kisses.
Just as the words left her mouth, the smoke detector went off in the kitchen, bringing Hugo bolting into the room to find a bewildered Ron still crushing Hermione against the wall.
"You two were so busy being mushy you didn't notice the kitchen was on fire? REALLY?"
"What in the hell is that horrible noise?" yelped Ron trying to let Hermione down to her feet without dropping her.
"You have got to be kidding me," muttered Hermione as she ducked out from under Ron's embrace. She grabbed an oven mitt and yanked a scorched and still smoking chicken from the oven. Then she quickly found a chair and stood on it trying to yank the smoke detector out of the ceiling but she still couldn't reach it.
"What are you doing?" yelled Ron as his hands were covering his ears.
"I can't reach it. Can you get it off the ceiling?" she asked.
"Yeah, 'course I can – but so can you. You are a witch, right?" laughed Ron as he flicked his wand at the screeching alarm and accio'd it into his hands.
Hermione smacked herself in the forehead laughing before she took the alarm from Ron and quickly yanked out the battery silencing the piercing noise.
"What in the bloody hell was that?" asked Ron.
"Don't they have smoke detectors in the magical world?"
"Not like that they don't," said Ron.
"Did you two really get so kissy kissy you didn't notice the smoke from the oven?" accused a slightly bemused Hugo.
"Uh, well," stammered Ron.
"Forget I asked. I really don't want to know," said Hugo with his hand up. "But it looks like this dinner isn't happening. Should I floo call your parents or maybe Ginny and explain what happened and see if they'll feed us, or will you be ordering us pizza with extra pepperoni and one of those dessert pizzas for me too?"
"Why you sly little trickster," laughed Ron. "You are trying to blackmail us for pizza aren't you?"
"Pretty much," giggled Hugo. "Is it working?"
"Is it working?" Ron scoffed. "Merlin help us. You will definitely be joining Al in Slytherin, won't you?"
Hugo was too busy laughing to answer. Even Hermione started giggling along with him. Between the smoky kitchen and the burnt chicken they decided that going out for pizza was actually a wiser choice while they let the fan air out the kitchen. After the three of them came home, Ron and Hugo curled up on the sofa to read as usual.
"Hugo, I am sorry you had to walk in on me kissing Hermione this afternoon. I'm just wanting to check you're fine and everything."
"I'm fine, Ron. It's weird, but it's weird in a good way. I walked in on mummy and daddy kissing a few times too and it was just as weird and just as weird good."
"Did you try to blackmail them too?" Ron teased.
"Nah," said Hugo. "Wasn't as easy as you two."
"You are too much, Hugo.
Ron finally got Hugo tucked into bed and headed down the stairs. As he came into the living room, he caught a glimpse of Hermione sitting on the sofa, legs tucked under her, reading in front of the fireplace. The light from the fire caught the golden flecks in her hair and framed her face in glowing curls. Never would have imagined that I could be turned on watching a woman read, he thought. She looked up and caught him looking at her and gave him a smile, gesturing him to come sit next to her.
"So," she said in a quiet chuckle. "Quite an evening, huh?"
"Not sure what you're so fussed about," Ron deadpanned. "Just our first real argument and we were definitely headed for some what I presume would have been fabulous make up sex until Hugo walked in on me grinding you into the wall. And that was all before I caught the kitchen on fire and he threatened to blackmail us."
"Do you think we scarred him for life?" said Hermione trying to stifle her laughter.
"Nah, not for life," scoffed Ron. "He mentioned he'd walked in on Fi and Dennis before. So, at least we weren't a horribly new site I guess."
Hermione started giggling uncontrollably, and soon Ron had joined her. They were trying to laugh quietly to not wake Hugo, but finally Ron grabbed his wand and cast a silencing spell over the room so they would not have to worry. Soon they were both laughing so hard that there were tears coming out of her eyes and a few snorts between the laughs. As their belly laughs calmed down to giggles, Hermione was leaning on Ron, and his arm was around her, gently twirling her curls around his fingers. She sighed, looked up towards his face and nuzzled into his chest.
"A year ago you were still living the carefree bachelor life. Now your exciting Friday night is setting a kitchen on fire and having Hugo walk in on you kissing me."
"I am so much happier than I could have ever imagined being," Ron admitted a he caressed her cheek. "I think that is why I was so scared today. I was terrified I was losing you right in front of my eyes, and I had no idea how to fix it."
"Oh Ron," she said as she turned to look in his eyes. "You weren't losing me. I love you. And I was hurt by what I thought had happened. But you can't think that just because we argue that we are over. We are both headstrong, smart, passionate people. We are going to have arguments and misunderstandings and probably some all-out rows. And one of us may need to go cool off a bit before we say things we would later regret. And you may even sleep at Gin and Harry's, or maybe I'll storm home and sleep in the other house one night. But that doesn't mean anything other than we have finally found a relationship worth fighting for."
"It doesn't bother you that you think we'll fight more in our future?"
"I couldn't be with someone who didn't care enough to fight back. I know you seem to think you aren't swotty enough or something for me - which is completely absurd by the way. But what you seem to miss is that over the years most of the people in my life wouldn't even engage in the discussion. They either think I am so ridiculously well read that I must know it all so they automatically defer to me. Or they are so annoyed by my continuous spouting of often worthless information that they just don't even want to hear what I have to say. But you – you listen and then challenge me. You push back. And you even seem to see more to me than my mind, which I am still trying to wrap my brain around. But, yes – we will argue because you will engage. You will push back. And that is a large part of why we work. Does that make sense?"
"Hmm. I am smart enough to know you're brilliant, but not smart enough not to cross you?" he teased.
"No, you're missing the point," she said seriously. "You're smart enough to fight back. You're strong enough to hold your own. You're brave enough to take it on. And you're wise enough to know when to argue and when to diffuse it all with a joke. But really you're wonderful enough to just hold me and tell me it's going to be ok. And to write encouraging notes to Rose. And to read stories to Hugo. And to support your family and friends. But I am here to tell you, Ron Weasley, the years of you thinking you don't matter – that you are the disposable sidekick in the story -those days are over. You were never disposable, but somehow you believed that myth anyway. But I need you. The kids need you. Without you, this family doesn't work. You aren't some secondary character in someone else's story. You are my hero and the partner in my story, as I hope I am the partner in yours. You don't come second. So – get used to it, ok?"
He stared at her for a moment. His eyes were damp and the lump in his throat let him know speaking was out of the question. His brain felt momentarily paralyzed as it tried to decide if he was going to cry on her, hug her or shag her senseless. She looked him in the eye and slowly traced her fingers across his eyebrow, and down to his cheek and then down his jaw line. Then she gently ran her fingertips across his lips and back up to his now closed eyelids. Moving her hands back to his ears, she continued to ever so lightly touch him all over his exposed skin. Finally unable to be still any longer, he moved one hand into her hair, slowly pulling her face towards his as his other hand moved up her thigh. As their faces grew nearer, he could feel her breath on his skin. He ghosted his nose against her cheek, and finally their lips met. It was not the ravenous passion they'd had earlier in the kitchen. They kissed slowly and sensually, reminding each of them of some of their first kisses where each sensation was new.
Moving so slowly each sense felt heightened. While they had undressed each other before, the slow and deliberate way that Ron unfastened each tiny button on Hermione's blouse, letting his finger just graze her breasts and bare skin below was like lightening to her. She could feel the yearning growing within in her, and each touch sent a jolt through her. When he finally had her down to her bra and knickers, she decided she could induce as much pleasure and agony of anticipation as he had, and began torturing him in the same slow, measured, careful hints of touch across his chest and arse as she undressed him.
He was painfully aroused watching her, but the delicious torture of the deliberate pace was dizzying. His breath caught in his throat as she stood before him. He went to stand to meet her, but she pushed him back to sit. Then holding his gaze she slowly unhooked her bra, peeling it from her and tossing it to the side. The fire behind her backlit her silhouette as she slowly removed her knickers, with Ron staring with his mouth open at the scene in front of him. She knelt before him and began to shimmy his pants off over his erection. She was gentle and deliberate with each touch and soon had him gasping her name.
He could no longer keep his hands off of her. Soon he had her on the couch torturing her with the same light touch she had given him. His lips began to rove over her entire body, lingering over her nipples which were firmly erect in anticipation. As her whimpers increased, he finally moved his tongue down to her core. When she was grabbing the pillows and tossing her head from side to side, he began to finger her as he continued his attention with his tongue. Watching her writhe at his touch had Ron fiercely aroused once more. She whimpered and moaned as she came closer, and finally she gasped and seized in tension before crying out his name.
As she steadied her breathing he ran his hands along her hips and arms, and soon she had turned in his embrace. He grasped her from behind clutching her breasts as she leaned her head back against his chest to allow him access to her neck and collarbone. Soon she was leaning over the arm of sofa, and he had entered her. His thrusts were quickening as she moaned in both encouragement and pleasure. She had thought she knew what it felt like to orgasm, but with his thrusting continuing long after she thought she was done she came harder and harder and harder until she was sure her eyes would roll back in her head from the pure overload of sensations and pleasure. When Ron finally came, they both collapsed in a sweaty lump on the couch. As they panted and floated in the post coital haze, Hermione looked at Ron with a knowing smile.
"That was fucking incredible," he finally said.
"I'd say," she sighed. She smiled as he kissed her head.
"You know, I may rethink my earlier wish that we wouldn't fight if that is what making up will be like," he chuckled.
"Well, I could be wrong, but I have a sneaking suspicion there could be a good amount of both fighting and make up sex in our future."
"Couldn't we skip the fighting and just go straight to the incredible sex?" he asked.
"Who knows," she mused. "And tonight wasn't really fighting. It was misunderstanding. But I'm glad we've gotten through it. If we are really going to make it in a relationship we have to learn how to fight and make up -or at least work through misunderstandings and such."
"OK. Well, I guess that's good. But I still think we should figure out how to skip that part and go straight to the mind blowing make up sex."
(A/N: I hope the fight and smoke detector scene came across somewhat as tense and funny as it was in my head. And I hope I didn't overdo it on the smut...but those two needed it after that fight! I always love hearing from you via review or PM. I won't be able to post for another week or so, but there is definitely more to come. Thanks so much for sticking with the story...carrytheotter)
