Title: Second Time Around
Author: Billybob
Chapter: five
Chapter title: Castle to E4 – or - Ramblings of Unrequited love
Category: AU alternate universe ¼ PGFH Post Graduation from Hogwarts
In other words; it takes place after J. K. Rowland's - seventh and last book
Word count: 12501 (plus or minus a word or two)
Suggestion: considering the word count…pack a lunch
Rated; PG-13, for adult language, UK slang and profanity, with implied sexual innuendo
Pairings: HP-HG, CC-OQ, HP-GW and HG-RW
Author's disclaimer: This story is based in the wonderful magic world created by J. K. Rowling, she owns all legal rights to the characters, setting, etc. - I am merely borrowing the contents of the JKR world for my own amusement and that of my readers. In other words…her characters…my plot - savvy?
Author's thanks: to Dennis, Mark, and especially Wayne for beta-reading this.
Please note: Ron's pensive speech is highlighted by italics as are Harry and Hermione's thoughts
888888
"Hey, it's dark in here! I can't see anything," a voice declared
"Don't be a prat, Harry, I told you my eyes were closed. You're here to listen, not to see," Hermione said in an exasperated tone. "My memory will begin in a moment; you'll hear the noise of the door to my hospital room opening. There it is now, do you hear it?"
888888
"Doctor Potter, are you awake?" A hoarse, muffled voice asked from out of the darkness. "Doctor Potter, can you hear me…Hermione, are you awake?" the voice asked again tentatively, with a tone of obvious concern, the unidentified voice gaining volume growing louder as the speaker moved closer to the bed. A minute or so passed by before the unknown visitor spoke again.
"Bloody-hell… well doesn't that beat all? Here I get myself all dolled up in this get-up so that you'd recognize me and the Weasley jinx strikes again…in spades. Bugger on my rotten luck, but then again why should I be surprised, with the way my life has gone so far, If I didn't have bad luck with women, I'd have no luck at all.
No offense meant really, but you look like a royal mess. Doesn't that prat ever feed you, or is it that you're to busy at work for such commonplace things like eating? Do you ever go out in daylight anymore? How many times have I told you, over and over that "you need to sort-out your priorities Miss Granger' Don't you remember the old saying Dr. Potter all work and no play…hold on…what am I doing? Babbling like a first year in the grips of his first crush, but then being around you always did make my heart beat faster.
Now the smart thing to do, the "Granger" thing to do, would be to give this damn ring back, stop badgering an unconscious woman, and get out of here before I'm caught. But according to your book The Golden Trio, when has the comical sidekick ever been ever known to have done anything smart? Doing something intelligent wasn't in the job description of the trio's clown and Great Merlin, forbid I do something out of character for the stereotypical sidekick you described me as in your book.
How could you do that to me? All right… all right…I get the part where I wasn't good enough or rich and famous enough to be more than a source of amusement to you, but did I mean so little to you and Harry that you two had to make a mockery out of my name? And what happened to Malfoy, by the way? Your book barely mentions the ferret in passing, if he wasn't there, why did I get all those detentions, who did I beat the snot out of, if it wasn't him?
Oh, hold on, I get it now, you didn't want to mention all the times I gave the ferret a proper thrashing because the great hero Potter never laid a finger on the snot. If I appeared to defend your honor when you were called a Mudblood and Potter didn't, I might appear to be manlier of the male members of the trio, in the eyes of your readers and you couldn't have the clown be more of a man than the hero, now could you?
Where in your book were all the things I did for you lot? Wasn't I always there for Harry when he need me, didn't I give him everything I had until I had nothing left to give, I was willing to give up my life for him or do the same for you, and I nearly did die for you as it turned out.
And what, did I get in return for my years of loyal service? Nothing but contempt! Damnit, Dr. Potter, my parents read what you wrote about me, they had to live with the snide comments that came after my demise. The subtle insults, the calculated slights, all exclusively targeted at their dimwitted son. Single handed, you made me an embarrassment to my entire family.
Everyday someone else buys your book and laughs at the antics of the trio's pathetic red-headed clown. I'm even been told that the Ministry is pushing to make the 'Golden Trio, The Harry Potter Years at Hogwarts' required reading in History of Magic. Jjust think of it, entire generations of Gryffindors growing up thinking of me as an idiot, thanks loads for that one, Hermione.
Seven years ago, words were my enemies. My foot would find its way to my mouth without help as if it was a second home. So it took me a long time to express how I felt about you verbally. Things have changed a lot since then at least when comes to the written word But back then I use to sit in amazement at how you could fill three feet of parchment to my one. When I read what you wrote about me I was stunned. You wrote things about me out of context, slanted toward the comical…borderline libelous. Did you ever see the real me? Somehow I doubt it.
I shouldn't take advantage of your unconscious state. But what the heck, how often did I ever get the chance to speak to the all-wise Dr. Potter? How often did I get the opportunity to tell you how I felt about stuff, without you interrupting me every other word, or twisting what I said to make me feel stupid. So this one is for the record books, add it to 'Hogwarts A History,' whenever you get around to re-writing that classic bit of unreadable rubbish. I'm sure you'll put as much thought into accuracy in that book, as you did describing my attributes.
Oh by the way, seeing as I can't get into trouble for saying this to someone who is out cold, your novel, The Golden Trio, reads like a textbook and yes, before you ask, I can and have done better. Sure, I haven't sold a fraction of the copies that your book did, not even if you combine the total sales of all of them, but at least I have been told in a review that my work is an easy and enjoyable read which is more than I can say for your volume of half-truths and out-right distortions.
Y' know, I can almost see the headline now, the disembodied voice declared with forced amusement. 'Seven years after his 'alleged' death, the idiot sidekick of the Great Harry Potter, the poor lovesick prat finally got the final word with the medically doped up, unconscious girl who crushed his heart into the dirt.' Only a footnote to that self-promoting literary work of yours I know, but then again that's all I ever was to you…wasn't I?…a footnote. A convenience, an amusement, I know the truth now, as much as I wish that I didn't.
Look, I know you can't hear me, and in a way I wish you could, so that I could let you know that you and your husband have nothing to fear from me as far as your careers are concerned. I've got no intention, now or ever, in letting anyone know that I'm still alive. The Ministry and the Potters have too much to lose if I come back and frankly I have nothing to gain by challenging the official account of what happened seven years ago
Believe it or not, I didn't come here for revenge. I' am more or less at peace with what you two did to me and my sister. I won't deny that I wish things had turned out differently, especially between us, but pain is a great teacher and I'm through with wishing for the impossible. What's done is done, I can't change the path that took the three of us to where we are now, but I do resent the way history will remember my part in the trio.
I see no point in trying to clear my name either; we both know that's a fight against the 'Chosen One' I'd never win. And quite frankly, I don't want to hear the name Ronald ever again, he's dead and good riddance to the bad rubbish that your book made him out to be. I have a new name now and a nice new sister to add to the old disloyal one that did a number on me by hooking back up again with the heroic prat who helped you destroy my reputation.
Oh, bloody hell, I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry. Its not her fault really, is there any woman alive that can keep her knickers on around the High and Mighty Potter, you couldn't, why should she be different," The disembodied voice declared in a tone dripping in sarcasm.
"A little red-haired bird, told me all about the cock-and-bull excuse that Harry came up with for what the two of you did to us, the infamous 'half-baked-plot'…pure cods-wallop in my opinion. Especially in light of the cost to the victims involved. This bird told me how she tried to get Harry to go public with the truth after they got back together and how he refused to do so because it would threaten your precious ambition to become the first ever Muggleborn Minister of Magic one day. He's still sacrificing his former best mate to benefit you, surprise-surprise, I guess, some things never change.
I'll tell you something else Doctor. Despite everything you and your husband have done to me. If I try hard enough, I can be objective enough in my thinking to understand the motivation behind his betrayal of an old friend, back then and now. Besides, how could I hope to prove that your so-called truth is wrong? Seven years later is too late to change things, your version of events is universally accepted by far too many people for a more actuate version of what happened to be considered now.
Then there is the Ministry to think about, they have gone to great lengths to protect the National hero and you his wife. They too have a vested interest in suppressing the truth. Believe it or not, I'm not as big a fool as you described me in your book, Dr. Potter. I know how stupid it would be to fight the entire Ministry and the wealth and fame of the Potters just to change a minor footnote in history.
After all, Dr. Potter, the basic facts concerning the battle itself, wouldn't be changed by a few personal issues of a minor bit-player in the grand scheme of things. Who would really care about the sacrifice of the court jester of the trio when all is said and done, beyond perhaps, my parents? And there just Weasleys, aren't they? Not the kind if people who could give you, a proper leg-up during your rapid climb up the rungs of the Ministry, so no one you had to worry about offending.
The basic difference between us Doctor is in the choices we make. If it had come down to me to make the choice between someone I loved and my childhood best mate, well…it would be a no-brainer for me, not really. Even for someone with the emotional capacity of a teaspoon, the person I was in love with would win hands down. I wasn't the sharpest knife in the tray Doctor, I admit that freely. That little red haired bird may believe the dragon dung that your husband whispers into her ear, but then again, she desperately wants to believe that he actually loves her.
I on the other hand was never one to succumb to that kind of false flattery, the sickly sweet words, and lover's lies that heroes like your husband use to melt the resistance of the next notch in their bedpost. All I ever wanted was three heartfelt words from you, three words of truth, three words you never said to me.
Tell me Doctor, did you have a good laugh at my expense while Harry snogged you senseless in broom cupboards all over Hogwarts? When you lay beneath him during a starkers 'slap and tickle' in the 'Room of Requirement' did it amuse you to think that Harry's hands had the freedom to go were mine were not?
That you never really loved me is the only reason that I can come up with for your willingness to make me look like a buffoon and it's the implications of that conclusion is what hurts most of all. I put my total trust in both of you and you used me as a decoy. That was the painful truth that filled my sleepless nights for what remained of my life as the sidekick clown.
I remember clearly asking you, no…that's not right, all but begging you, to tell me that what Ginny I saw in that charms classroom was a poly juice deception by Slytherins trying to break us up. You looked me straight in the eye and told me in a cold monotone that no, there was no potions, spells, jinxes or behavior altering hexes employed. You were with Harry by choice of your own free will. Harry at least had the grace to look embarrassed, but you…Damnit, you were so cold to me that day, I…"
Again there was a brief pause.
"…You were right about me; you know…I always was rather thick. Otherwise I would have realized that when I admitted that I loved you, I was the only one using those three vitally important words. As I look back on it now, you never did say you 'loved' me, not even once…pathetic, wasn't I, the classic dimwitted buffoon?"
The voice making this entire speech from out from the darkness, was a voice so heavy with emotion, sighing in an overwhelming sadness so thick, it was almost a presence in the room. There was a moment or two more of silence as the unseen speaker made an effort to pull himself together.
"Merlin, this hurts…seeing you again, feeling what I feel. How can anyone love and hate a person at the same time?
Where was I…oh yes, she told me your excuse for what you did, and to give the twin devils your due, it worked. If there really was such a plot, she did survive. It was a near thing at several points, but thanks to you and Harry she wasn't the center of attention for the Death Eaters out to kill the Chosen-one's girlfriend. I'll always be grateful to you both for doing that for her.
That's supposing for one second, that what your husband says to young girls in the bedroom is true. And let's face it, you and your spouse have a track record, as proven by your well known book, that the 'high and mighty prat' authorized as factual, did I mention that already?. Anyroad, you and you unfaithful spouse have a history of saying whatever it takes to get you what you want, good grades in class for you, seducing innocent, young, red headed, girls for him. When I take into account your manipulation of my personal history, why should I believe anything the little bird was told by your treacherous husband. Come to think of it…Are you sure that you two weren't actually born as Malfoy's' in disguise?
But I'm wandering off topic again, please forgive me. This isn't exactly easy for me, y'know.
Let's imagine for the sake of argument that this 'half baked plot' that the' little bird' mentioned…actually happened, if we assume that, it presents an interesting question in itself. What was my love really worth? Not much, apparently. Harry at least had the good manners to break up with Ginny before she saw you two going at it. As for me…well, the way I look at it now, either I wasn't worth the time or effort to let me know beforehand, or your little plan would be all the more believable to your intended audience, if someone got cheated on.
If you want my opinion, some seven years after the fact, choosing me to be the patsy was a brilliant chess move, making an arse out of a dimwitted fall-guy was a cunning bit of skullduggery, a perfect diversion. I have to give you full marks for ruthlessness. It takes a lot of gall to do that to someone who trusted you as much as I did, someone who was always there right beside you in good times and bad. I learned a lot about the dog eat dog world from you and Harry back then, a lesson on trust I'll not soon forget.
That poor misguided little bird I mentioned before, now claims that you don't love each other any more, I accept this as possible in light of the fact, that your marriage is approaching the' Seven Year Itch' timeframe. But honestly, I think its mostly wishful thinking on her part. Personally, I can't see the two of you getting married if you weren't in love at some point, right?"
The sound of soft sobbing could be heard in the background for a minute or two before the stuttering voice of someone nearly overcome with emotion began to speak again.
"I have to get out of here; I can't take much more of this. It hurts to be this close to you again, knowing that you belong to him body and soul. And even though he is an unfaithful cure, who cheats on you right and left…, I know that a few soft words from him and you'd jump his bones and serve his pleasure without hesitation all over again. For the 'Chosen One' must not be denied anything…right?
It's a good thing they doped you up on healing potions, Dr Potter. I would rather not have our last meeting be remembered as being filled with nothing more of import than the pathetic ramblings of the poster-boy victim of unrequited love.
She tells me you need this ring to regain your sanity. I think that's rubbish, but on the off chance she's right, and as I never wanted you to feel pain of any kind on account of me. …I have come here to return what Harry stole from my trunk.
Sweet Merlin…I wish I had never seen the bloody ring in that stupid display case…I wish that boy had never told me about that ruddy Veterans' Museum. 'Check it out on your way home', he told me. Why oh why did I listen to him? Drat that boy and his foolish suggestion. I was happier in my ignorance, the haze of not knowing who I was, not conscious of your contempt for the clown.
I wish that bloody ring hadn't unlocked the memories of the dead man inside of me …I bet you can guess which memories came back first and strongest. Yeah, you got it in one. The last half-year of my pitiful life, oh joy. A particular favorite that seems to be stuck in continuous playback, was being witness to…you and Harry…your top…undone, his hand …roaming about inside… your hand…inside his trousers…"
These last few words coming out mixed with deep sobs of anguish.
"I…wish…I wish, you had been mine, damnit! …But you weren't, were you? Not even when I foolishly thought we were a couple, it was always him. Potter the living God! You chose his wealth, and his fame, over some poor as dirt nobody who adored you. I mean how dumb could a bloke be, that outcome was easily predictable. Tell me Doctor, was the famous Viktor Krum the first famous lover, you welcomed into your bed? Like the little bird told me during sixth year, or did you wait to give up the goods to the mega-rich, high and mighty Chosen One?
You wouldn't let me touch you remember, we had to wait…what a laugh" the voice declared dripping with sarcasm "Why can't I believe that, unlike me, you didn't hold Harry at arms length until you became his wife, was he a good shag in the Room of Requirement?…" then abruptly there was silence for a moment or two, as the invisible speaker paused while making an effort to rein in his emotions.
"Look, I'm sorry about that last crack, you loved each other and becoming physical is part of that…I suppose. I'm just jealous, nothing new about that I guess. Jealous of Viktor and Harry…of all the blokes who have made love to you over the years… jealous, because you never felt me worthy enough to be a real lover to you. The old truth still stands, I imagine…nice guys really do finish last…bugger it all to hell. Fame and wealth always has been the key to unlock a bird's knickers, why should I have thought you'd be more resistant to material things than any other girl.
Sweet Merlin, the life of a poor as dirt sidekick, really…SUCKS!
By the way, I have to ask…why sidekick? Where did that term come from, the Muggle cinema? That's what she told me it came from. I always just thought I was at least your friend, but then that would imply an equal relationship wouldn't it? Whereas, calling me a sidekick implies a subservient position in the trio. Very cute Doctor, a subtle and yet cutting put down, take ten points for that one…Head Girl.
Well, I'm beating a dead horse here, I've said my piece and now it's time for me to go. I've wasted enough of your precious time during my very last appearance as the dead clown and the whole bit went as well as my first go as a Goal Keeper. When I get home, I fully intend to burn this get-up and disappear again. I think it is best for all concerned, don't you? The world thinks I'm dead and who am I to argue? "Weasley is our king" is going back to a well-earned comic obscurity. The king is dead; long live King and Queen Potter.
By the way…Doctor, please tell your husband to stop looking for me. Mainly because, if I never wear the Weasley-get-up again, he'll never find me, besides, finding me alive will bring down the house of cards you both live in. You don't want that, the Ministry doesn't want that, and frankly the clown from your book doesn't want that. Please, both of you…leave me alone, I want to stay DEAD." The voice said while its owner was desperately trying to regain control of his emotions
"Back to the ring, she didn't tell me what hand or finger she saw it on, during your little 'encounter' of four weeks ago. So if you don't mind I will put it on the baby finger of you left hand. Think of it as a tiny bit of stupid sidekick irony, for it is as close as any ring of mine will ever get to your wedding finger.
I really must go and I thank Merlin for keeping you unconscious though all of this. Because otherwise I would never have been able to say half of what I have just said to you.
Tragic isn't it, well for me anyway. Harry was famous and wealthy but that wasn't enough for him. He had to have you and Ginny Weasley share his bed. I'm frankly a bit surprised he hasn't suggested a three way slap and tickle romp at the Manor house, or has the randy bugger done that already? As sick as it sounds, I can almost imagine you both as his bedroom playthings for sweet Merlin forbid, that anything or anyone, deny the Chosen One his…carnal pleasures.
Oh, never mind that now, one last thing before I go. Do you want to know the saddest thing of all, the one thing above all others that makes me the dumbest prat Merlin ever put on this Earth? The most pathetic thing of all is that after all you have done to me, in spite of all my pain and suffering, the inscription still is true… for me at least. And doesn't that make me the biggest loser of all time?
Goodbye, Doctor Hermione Jane Granger-Potter. About the betrayal, all is forgiven. Find happiness and success in everything you do. You'll make a fine Minister of Magic someday, and like I said before, your version of history as written in the 'Golden Trio' is fine with me. As long as the Ministry leaves me alone, I won't rock the boat…Okay?
She tells me that my return from the dead has been the root cause for your attempted suicide, but personally, I rather doubt it. Take it from someone who went through years of painful recovery from battle wounds, suicide is the coward's way out. And whatever else I might think of you, coward you were not.
I read somewhere where some healer theorized that the pathetic clown of the trio had a death wish during that last battle. I want to thank you for not suggesting that in your book. I didn't intend to die that day, I just wanted to be there for you, defend you one last time, before you went off and married Potter.
The little bird was wrong when she suggested to me that you'd attempt suicide over a bloody friendship ring. There is no way for you to know that it wasn't just a common vandal that stole this bloody dragon ring Tuesday night. Everyone thinks I dead, there is no way you could have known it was me that reclaimed the property your husband took out of my trunk, seven years ago.
Even if you did figure out it, why would you get so upset over the return of a pathetic clown that you'd try to do yourself in? I just don't buy it, that's all. However, on the one out of a hundred chance she might be right, I am truly sorry to have caused you any pain, but I can promise you of this much, I will never bother you or your husband…EVER AGAIN.
Goodbye…good luck…Mione."
88888
There were no more words spoken, just an odd noise, then the sound of footsteps before the door to the room opened and closed again. Suddenly the three people who were within the dark pensive were back in their own bodies, all three of them looking shaken by their ordeal. The worst of the lot was Hermione, who had tears of sadness and regret pouring down her cheeks, as she looked down at the tiny dragon ring in her cupped hands. It was Kingsley who spoke up first
"What was that noise he made before he left?" the old wizard asked.
"That…that, was Ron kissing me goodbye on the forehead," Hermione replied before beginning to sob out loud as her hand balled into a protective fist around the Dragon ring.
"Harry, I didn't know Ron all that well, did he always talk so much?" Kingsley asked.
"Not that I can recall," Harry replied deep in thought. "The best mate I remember didn't go in for speechmaking; he barely put two sentences together at a time, mainly because Hermione would box his ears for one misspoken comment or another. In point of fact, that is the very first time he managed to talk that much, without inserting 'Bloody hell' every ten words." Harry said with a smirk.
"Prat" Hermione said between sobs of regret, before wailing out loud "Ron hates me!"
"Rubbish, Hermione he does not! It's like I was saying to Kingsley just the other day, Ron never vented how he felt about what we did to him all those years ago. There was no anger explosion, no fit of righteous outrage, he internalized the whole thing and according to Ginny, our betrayal destroyed him from the inside-out. What we just heard was seven years of pended up hurt in one big burst."
"Yeah, I agree with you, Harry, that was one hell of a vent!" Kingsley responded.
"What I can't get over is the fact that…he understands why we did it. Well he didn't actually say he understood, no in so many words, but he knows…he know why, that's something at least!" A stunned Harry reluctantly admitted.
"Snap out of it, boy! Stop behaving like an ex-best mate and start thinking like an Auror. What has Ronald told us about himself here? Believing Doctor Potter to be unconscious Ronald let slip a lot that I'll bet he wouldn't have said if he had known she was awake and listening," Kingsley said, the only one in a position to be objective about the whole thing.
When his statement was greeted with silence, the old Auror spoke again. "All right, I'll get the ball rolling; Ron kept referring to a 'SHE' and 'A little bird.' Shall we assume that he is referring to his sister Ginny?"
"Yes, that fits, and she was the only one beside you, Kingsley, who knew the real reason why Hermione and I dated before the last battle." Harry said coming out of his stupor.
"Well? …Go on boy, what else can we deduce about the R. H. B. by what he said about a person only identified as 'SHE'?" Kingsley asked.
"Ginny was the one who must have told him the real reason Hermione was here, what floor and what room she was in, the whole nine yards."
"Yes, but Miss Weasley, hasn't been seen since last Wednesday, three days before the R. H. B. first appearance at the Nationals and six days before the dragon ring disappeared. Can you explain how she could have known that?" Kingsley said, acting as the devil's advocate.
"Her flat-mate, Hannah Abbott, she works here, In fact, she is in charge of the ward at the other end of this very floor."
"Better and better! …As they say, 'All it takes is to pull a single thread for the tapestry to become undone'. So the source of Ron's pre-strike intelligence has been exposed, that's good. Abbott may be the key to tracking Ronald back to where he has gone into hiding," Kingsley said
"Hiding," Harry asked?
"In a frustrated tone, the senior Auror sarcastically quoted "Farewell appearance as the dead hero, and tell Harry to stop looking for me, remember? Oh yes, your quarry knows you're looking for him, and he has gone to ground, not that that matters anymore. He doesn't want to 'Rock the boat' so to speak and that was all the Ministry was worried about." Kingsley said.
"But if Ginny knows where he is…" Harry began.
"…The Fidelius Charm," Hermione said, between barely audible in-between sobs of angst. "Like Grimmauld Place, remember, Harry? All Ron has to do is charm his home or whereabouts and anyone who knows who or where he is will be unable to tell anyone his location as long as it's not someplace well known like the Leaky Cauldron. I am not sure how it works on people exactly, but I won't bet against it, so unless Ginny is Ron's secret keeper, he is right. We will never find him."
Hermione's eyes had a panic quality to them now. She had been shown the cold hard truth of what a book she had written at eighteen had done to the man she adored in secret, and it frighten her more than she wanted to admit that he had misunderstood so badly the literary admiration of Ron's homespun wit and humor.
"You know, that's not necessarily a bad thing, Harry," Kingsley grumbled out. "Like I said, I have done what I could to reassure the Ministry that the bloke in that picture wasn't Ronald Weasley, and his promise not to be seen again will go along way to letting this whole unfortunate incident fade back into oblivion."
"If the Ron and Ginny have both gone into hiding from both of us, I don't know what we can do. Especially if he has more than one of those 'get-ups,' and I would guess he does," Hermione said in a sad, soft, and frustrated tone.
"Get-up?" Kingsley asked.
"Disguise," Hermione replied, her eyes darting all over the room her expression becoming more frantic with each passing moment.
"There are counter-jinxes for disguise spells, Doctor Potter" Kingsley said with a knowing and condescending smile.
"But they won't work on Ron, right Hermione?" Harry said understanding where his wife was heading.
"What do you mean they won't work?"
"At the Nationals, you said no disguise spells or glamour jinxes were evident," Harry declared with a smirk. "That means Ron wasn't using magic. His get-up is or was composed of Muggle theater make-up and wigs." Harry said with a beaming smile as his Muggle-born wife nodded in agreement. Hermione however didn't return Harry's smile. She was aware that Kingsley knew more than he should about both her sham of a marriage, and her husbands' infidelity, but both of these paled in comparison to Ron's 'unfounded' accusations of destroying his memory.
"Then Ron can change his appearance at will," Kingsley stated, suddenly happy. "Then what he said was true, there is no way to prove who he was…or is now!"
"Yes, I suppose so, if he can change his hair color or complexion. He's right, we'll never find him. But why are you so happy about this, don't you want me to find him?" Harry said, agreeing with his boss.
"Officially, as head of the Auror Department I can state that it is better for all parties concerned that Ronald Weasley time of death remains unaltered. Too much effort and political capital has been placed by the Ministry in Dr. Potter's account of the last six months of the youngest Weasleys life for it to be changed now. His return from the dead at this time would be a major source of embarrassment for the Ministry, an assault on the credibility of the Wizard Government of Great Britain at a time when the last Death Eater has just been sent to Azkaban.
That was bloody brilliant for someone Doctor Potter called a thick dimwitted clown, to figure out that the best course for the Ministry would be to 'eliminate' any such threat to the governments credibility before such a threat could cause any damage." Kingsley declared, revealing obstacles aplenty to the reappearance of Ron.
These cautiously delivered words stirred a primal fear in Hermione. "Are you saying that there are people within the Ministry that would arrange for Ron to be killed?" Hermione asked horrified.
"Yes Doctor, that's exactly what I'm saying." Kingsley said with regret. "If Ron was to return and tell his side of what happened, you and Harry would get sweep into a scandal that could potentially bring down the whole government. I put Harry on the case not only because he is my best Auror, but also because he had the most to lose if his former friend, the dimwitted clown, was to return."
"No, no…NO. I never call him a 'dimwitted clown' in my book," Hermione said with some heat. "My aim was to point out how Ron's wit and sense of humor could and did lighten Harry's depressions and dark moods. In going on at some length about Ron's jealousy over my pen-pal relationship with Viktor I merely demonstrated Ron to be vulnerable to the most basic of normal human weaknesses. After the war everyone put Harry and me on pedestals as heroes, by writing Ron as I did, I tried to point out that the trio weren't Demi-gods. I used Ron as an example of how really human we all were, and that's all I did."
The senior Auror and Harry exchanged an uncomfortable looks before the old wizard said. "No offense, Dr. Potter, but I have to agree with your unseen visitor of about an hour ago. Anyone who actually knew Ronald, and I have spoken to quite a few who did, if these people then read your book, all most all of them couldn't help but come away with the feeling that you did everything in your power within your book to portray Ronald as an idiot.
You only pointed out in your book to those times when Ron did something foolish, not once did you single out an instance where you or Harry did something immature. You never once called Harry your sidekick in your book, he was always 'my friend'…the title of 'sidekick' was reserved exclusively for the trio's clown. You deliberately made Ron out to be an immature fool…No, strike that, worse than a fool; to your readers, Ronald Weasley was the world's biggest, moron." Kingsley said.
"What? - No! …That can't be right!" Hermione protested with a tragic edge forming in her words. "That wasn't my intention at all! …Harry, tell him… tell this boss of yours how wrong he is!"
Harry Potter sighed, shook his head in regret and then said, "I am sorry, Hermione, but Kingsley is spot-on about this. In fact I have been wondering for some time why you portrayed Ron as a kind of 'court jester' in your book. I counted no less than ten times where you referred to Ron as a 'loveable loser' in the first quarter of the book. I just figured you had your own reasons for leaving so much of the good stuff about Ron out, especially the heroic manner in which he died.
You always did have a habit of blaming Ron for anything that went wrong at school and I just assumed that you were humiliating him in your book as a kind of punishment for his 'dying' before you had the chance to explain the truth behind that half-baked-protection-plot idea of … 'YOURS'…that ended up ruining all four of our lives.
I didn't say anything at the time because, well…what was the point, HE WAS DEAD! If you wanted to vent your frustrations over the way you treated Ron before he died, by mocking his memory, what real harm could it cause, he couldn't be hurt anymore by your misguided rationalities, he was dead.
I admit to being hurt to when I learned exactly how he died, I mean…defending you. And I was totally gob smacked when someone told me that the manner of his death was left out of your book. By the time I finally got around to reading that lousy piece of slander it was to late, the damage had been done. His memory had been ruined beyond repair."
"Harry James Potter, I can not believe you could possibly think such a thing of me," Hermione snapped, her sorrow forgotten. "Ron was never made fun of in my book, he was…"
"…Bloody Hell! You wrote the damn thing…I didn't. You may not have intended your so-called remembrances of poor Ron's life to be interpreted they way they ended up, but it was your book…'start to finish'. Ron's name is now a running gag throughout England and the full credit for that…GOES TO YOU!" Harry shouted, interrupting his wife before a full-blown row could start. "I am sick and tired of people claiming I had anything to do with that lousy bit of trashy FICTION."
More to the point however is the fact that your 'unexpected visitor' of an hour ago, the bloke who just brought back your dragon ring, just happens to agree with Kingsley and me that your unflattering portrayal of Ron in the biography of our years at Hogwarts is a pile of dragon dung. A collection of half truths and out right distortions of how it really was back then, which I greatly regret that I ever authorized, without carefully reading over first.
For Ron was right you know, we are too wrapped up in the portrayal of him in your book to risk having him publicly declare that 'your' account of events to be the massive lie we both know it to be. Damnit Hermione, don't you realize, we…'you and I' destroyed him!
Not just with your half baked plot and your book written during seventh year, but after the war, when we allowed the Ministry to turn your lousy novel into something set in stone, first as unquestioned fact, and then unalterable history. His 'BLOOD' is on our hands Hermione," Harry shouted, "and we are too cowardly to face the music now. One hint of the truth now and our precious careers are over, our reputations ruined."
The truth of that comment took all the wind out of Hermione's sails for a moment and the anger she felt was instantly replaced with deep regret combined with all but overwhelming feelings of guilt.
"But we're the ones that deserved to be ruined, can't you see that?" Hermione franticly replied after a brief pause. "I purged my feelings in my book, belittled the man I loved, the man I could never say to out loud and to his face, that I loved him. Why can I say those three words to you lot, but not to him, never to Ron. I'll tell you why, because I never felt worthy of him. I use to row with him, put him down, because I didn't know any other way to flirt with him. I'm a failure as a woman, Harry, can't you see that?
He was the only boy to see me at school as more than a walking encyclopedia of answers. No one besides Ron looked at me with genuine desire at Hogwarts or at the Ministry after the war, not even Viktor. To Krum I was the one and only girl who wasn't impressed with his Quidditch fame. It was Ron and only Ron…who saw me as a desirable woman, and in spite of being book smart, I didn't know what to do with his heartfelt desire.
Then he died and I didn't need to be a seer to foretell my future. I tricked you into marring me Harry, because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life alone. I'm a terrible, self centered berk, my co-worker insult me behind my back, I know what the call me… a heartless…frigid…cold blooded… "
"Hermione, stop, you don't have to explain anything to me," Harry said interrupting his wife's unhinged rant. "I wanted to punish myself too for what we did to them." Harry said sadly in a tone of deep regret.
"You just don't get it, do you, Harry? You have Ginny. In spite of what we did, her love for you never completely faded. I on the other hand have no one. I never made friends easily; Ron was the outgoing one, on good terms with everyone.
I wake up every morning and I look in the mirror and I curse my know-it-all arrogance. I don't hate you, Harry, I know you didn't want to have any part of my half-baked plot, I talked you into it. I have been blaming you for a crime that I alone am responsible for. I have resented your happiness with Ginny a happiness that fate denied me with Ron. We both have been living a lie for too long, and my visitor tonight has made me want to end your suffering at least.
"So what do we do now is the question?" Kingsley asked, desperately trying to change the subject. "He brought your ring back, and you're feeling better, Dr. Potter, that's a good thing…right? But he's also promised not to bother you lot again, that'll make the Ministry happy. So if we let him stay dead like he asked, this R. H. B. problem disappears…case closed…right?"
"Are you mental? You want us to just forget that Ron's alive, and go back to the status-quo?" Harry asked shocked. "Aren't you overlooking the fact that Ginny knows he's alive and who he is now a days?"
"Yeah, his fading back into obscurity would have been best for everyone. But that won't happen with a red haired loose cannon running amuck." Kingsley replied now unhappy again. "Harry is there any chance of you talking to Miss Weasleys, convincing her to keep quite about all of this? No … I guess not, if she's half as stubborn as you say she is."
"Harry, please tell me that you don't agree with Kingsley idea about letting him go again," Hermione said outraged. "We have to make this right with him; I have to make him understand…Damnit Harry I still love that man… even if I never told him so. We just can't go back to living the lie, not now that we know that he's alive, somewhere out there.
You can do what you want, Harry, but I'm not going to let Ron get away again. I'd happily give up everything even my ambition to be Minister of Magic in exchange for gaining Ron's forgiveness and if I have to hunt him down alone, then I'll bloody well go it alone."
"Calm down, Hermione, please! Kingsley is right about closing the 'official' case to find Ron. There are too many feathers at the Ministry would get ruffled if he showed up alive again. So boss old chum, you can close the R.H.B. case with my blessing and while you're at it, consider my notice of registration as being submitted as of right now. I officially relinquish my position within the Auror Department effective immediately. From now on, my search for my long lost friend is a private affair."
"Harry you can't do that?" the old wizard replied with a somber expression on his face
"Why not? You said yourself all the Death Eaters are either in Azkaban or dead, so my job is done. Voldemort is gone Kingsley. I can have a private life at last, maybe get back in touch with an old friend again and repair some thought-to-be burnt bridges."
"Harry, for Merlin's sake be reasonable!" Kingsley retorted. "You're far too much of a public figure to just up and resign without all kinds of havoc breaking loose in the Ministry, to say nothing of the press. Unless the Government has a damn good reason for your abrupt 'retirement' calls will be made for the Minister to step down for whatever blunders he made to make you up and quit. Questions will be asked, inside the Ministry and without.
Besides, as you yourself have pointed out the R. H. B. is no fool. Your abrupt departure from the Auror department will be like waving a red flag in front of a bull, he's bound to conclude that this gambit on your part is an indication of your determination to track him down. Put yourself in his shoes Harry, how would you react if the county's best detective quit his job to go looking for you! He may have gone to ground, but this news might make him panic and leave England for good, taking his little red haired bird with him."
"Well, Damnit, what to suggest as an alternative? I can't just let him fade into the woodwork," Harry replied frustrated. "Hermione is right, he's alive and I owe him…more than he'll ever know. I refuse to let him live out the rest of his days thinking that we… that he was just a clown…that cannot stand! I have lived these seven years racked with guilt over what Hermione and I did to him.
Ron was my brother…in everything but blood. One mistake and I lost him and his entire family, seemingly forever. I'm no better than a leper to people I considered my second family brothers who use to like me and a second set of parents. They use to tease me, prank me and made me feel wanted and loved, now that's all gone. How have you like people so loving and caring passing you at the Ministry or in Diagon Alley and have them ignore you as if you don't exist. Speaking for myself…I hate it! The pure contempt I see in their eyes cuts me to the quick every time.
My best friend in the whole wide world went to his 'DEATH' thinking I stabbed him in the back! I have existed all these years hating myself and blaming Hermione for I plan that I agreed to…willingly. Kingsley, understand this if nothing else about us Potters, Hermione and I have been beating ourselves up for years in remorse for what happened to Ron, this is our chance to make amends, and we are bloody hell going to take it." Harry said his voice breaking with angst, his heart felt sincerity making his voice and body tremble in regret with his wife in no better condition.
Bugger, Kingsley, don't you see? Ron was my best mate; we were going to be Aurors together. His desk should be across from mine right now. We were supposed to have loads of adventures together catching the bad guys, before going home to our girls. I had it all planned, we were going to be heroes, and in an instant it was all gone.
I'm alone Kingsley, the blokes at work treat me like a god; I have no real friends there, no one who likes me for me! Not one of my co-workers calls me by my first name and I bet it is the same for Hermione. We're not people to average witch or wizard on the street. I'm the man who killed the Dark Lord.
Ron was special; to him I was just a bloke, a regular guy you'd knock back a butterbeer with. To him I was always, just, Harry. Do you have any idea how much I miss that! They say you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone, well I bloody well know what I've lost…and I want it back…Hermione does too.
All right Harry, I get the message. Just don't quit." Kingsley pleaded. "Take a leave of absence or personal time, hell, I'll go with you. I'm long overdue for a holiday anyway and if they don't like it…that's tough. Well have all the resources of the department behind us, and as long as the Ministry is reassured that out goal is damage control, to keep the Weasley problem contained, well get a blank check when it comes to expenses.
When we find him, we tell the higher ups that the bloke in the picture turned out to be just a look alike, that Ronald Weasley is still very dead."
"Don't look at me like that, Harry. That's what the good Doctors visitor of an hour ago wants… isn't it?" Kingsley said when he saw Harry frown over the wishes of the Ministry. "I'm willing to help you close the R. H. B. case officially…that is, if you still want my help?"
"Thanks, mate" Harry responded with a warm smile.
"Anytime, Harry, but that still leaves us with a spot of trouble, we still have to find Miss Weasley and convince her to keep the knowledge of a certain long missing and presumed dead sibling from becoming common knowledge. One point in our favor is the fact that she has been disowned by her parents and brothers so she is unlikely to have chatted with them since disappearing Wednesday.
If as I suspect, Ron's little bird has gone into hiding with her thought-to-be dead sibling, if we find one we'll find the other. Hang-on," Kingsley declared suddenly excited. "Didn't your wife's visitor just now say something about seeing the Veterans' Museum where the ring was on display…and I quote; 'On his way home'? And wouldn't that mean that he lives in the village of Hogsmeade?"
"Not necessarily," Hermione replied in a tone that was very much subdued, half her mind struggling with the hurt her novel had caused. "Hogsmeade is a convenient Apparition point for anyone living in northern or central Scotland. You can Apparate great distances, Harry, just like Dumbledore could, but the average witch or wizard can only Apparate short distances. That's why the Floo Network is so popular. It eliminates the need for several Apparition points between Hogsmeade and London."
"That's right, I remember now, Ron just barely passed his Apparition test so his range would most likely be pretty limited," Harry said in a hopeful tone. "So that means he would have had to use at least three jump-points to get from London to Hogsmeade, and then a final one to get to his hiding place. That would put it within a 100 to 300 kilometer diameter circle surrounding Hogsmeade."
"That's a lot of land to hide in, Harry," Kingsley pointed out.
"True, but it narrows' the search down from the entire UK and eliminates greater London, ninety-nine percent of England, all of Wales and Ireland. Still all in all, you're right. That is too big an area to search, especially if Ron is wearing a different get up than his Weasley one. Ron could literally pass all of us in the hall of this hospital an hour from now and we wouldn't know it was him," Harry said, dejected.
"That makes hunting him down next to impossible," Kingsley admitted.
"So, when do we start this search?" Hermione asked in a soft tentative voice that diminished the determination behind it.
"Your not coming, Hermione, your still in hospital, don't be daft."
"If you won't let me come with you lot, then I'll simply have to arrange for him to come to me again." Hermione declared with a pout, as she wiped the tears away.
"And exactly how are you going to arrange that Doctor?" Kingsley asked politely. "From what I just heard from the pensive, the R.H.B. was giving his farewell performance just now. He said things like, 'burn his Weasley get-up …my very last appearance as the dead clown' and 'I'll never bother you again'. Not once, did I hear him mention anything about seeing you again, instead he went on and on about starting a new life with a new name.
His old life like his old name is gone, due in large part to the book you wrote about him. To his credit he claims that he has made peace with what you and Harry did to him. Its clear, at least to me, that he wants to put 'the past' behind him and move on, and that most likely includes you."
"But the message in the ring, it says he still loves me!" Hermione declared firmly.
"Yes, it does, and I willing to concede that point," Kingsley said reasonably. "But you're forgetting one major obstacle to him wanting to see you again."
"What obstacle is that?" Hermione said preparing for a row.
"Doctor Potter, need I remind you of the fact that you and Harry are married. Miss Weasley has been disowned and shunned by every member of her family precisely because she was bunking up with your husband. Not even the rule breaking twins will speak to her," Kingsley said to Hermione's shocked face. "I have known Arthur and Molly for many years, and they allow their children a lot of personal freedom concerning a lot of things. But there is one line that no Weasley will cross and those that do are punished for it severely.
Ginny, has no family that will acknowledge her existence precisely because she is fooling about with a married man. Ron in his pensive comments is clearly deeply offended by his sister 'hooking up again with that disloyal prat of a husband of yours, the bloke who helped you destroyed my reputation.' So in spite of taking Ginny into hiding with him, it's clear at least to me, that even Ron disapproves of messing about with someone who is married.
If you think you can bat those brown eyes at him and he'll crumble like he did at Hogwarts, you're dead wrong! Biting your lower lip and looking like a lost kitten won't work either. You have hurt him Doctor, cut him to the quick. He risked a lot in coming here tonight and I doubt returning that ring was the prime motivation, remember he called the ring-sanity connection rubbish.
I believe that he really came here for closure, to put his past as Ron behind him, if he wanted to come back into your life he would have walked in here in broad daylight, revealed himself and stay revealed. By the way, did you notice that he didn't mention his new name, kind of hard to chat-up a bloke if you don't know that. Bottom line is Doctor…you're a married woman, whether your happily married or not doesn't change the fact that as long as your married, for a true Weasley…its hands off."
"Harry?" Hermione said turning to him for conformation of the old Aurors theory.
"Kingsley is right about this; Ginny doesn't exist to her family right now. She broke it off with me last Wednesday precisely because she couldn't handle being ostracized anymore," Harry replied crestfallen.
"Well if being married to you is keeping Ron away from me, then that obstacle will have to be removed. Harry, you can begin divorce proceedings now, I think you'll find that you have my full support this time," Hermione declared, as if she was issuing marching orders. "Once we are free of each other legally, we will be in a better position to lure our reluctant soul-mates out of hiding." She declared fighting down another sob of regret.
"Doctor, have you lost your mind completely, You can't be so naïve as to think that getting a divorce will be quick or easy, not in the Wizarding world of Great Britain anyway
"Why shouldn't it? Weren't you just ranting and raving that the Minister will do anything to prevent Harry from abruptly quitting?" Hermione asked calmly.
Threatening to resign will give you both leverage I grant you that, but you seem to forget how wrapped up in the Marriage Law our current Minister is. It has been the cornerstone of all three of his reelection campaigns, for Merlin's sake, he often boasts about the fact that there has not been a single divorce petition granted in all five years he has been in office. Just asking for a divorce won't work, believe me Harry has tried that route more than once and has been shot down every time.
"What If I could prove that our marriage isn't legally binding?" Hermione asked sweetly with a huge smirk.
"And how would you pull that off, may I ask?"
"Never mind that right now, Harry, give me back my ring," Hermione said holding out a trembling hand. "Ron doesn't have a chance once I'm single again, I have never failed to get what I willing to work hard enough for, and getting Ron as a spouse will be no exception.
"No offence again to you Hermione," Harry said as he handed back the ring. "But I believe you are underestimating Ron, as I have done myself for the last few days. He has been one step ahead of us during all of this, every move we have made he has countered. I never expected him to try to get into this hospital, and yet he successfully by-pass hospital security, eliminate both the guard and matron on duty on this floor without harming them or raising an alarm. Did what he came to do and departed…undetected."
"Harry, honesty… this is Ron we are talking about…" Hermione said, belittling her ex-boyfriend without realizing she was doing it.
"You're doing it again, even seven years after his…'alleged' death, the moment we start talking about Ron again and you automatically start to put him down." Harry said clearly disappointed.
Merlin's bread, you're right Harry," Hermione admitted, more than a little stunned. "I was thinking less of him again wasn't I? …Just like he said in the pensive. But I didn't intend it to be cruel to him; he was just sort of thick about so much…"
"Are you sure about him being thick about everything?" Harry replied in a thoughtful tone. "I'm beginning to wonder if his dumb as a post sidekick-routine back in school, might just possibly have been…a bit of an act. I've known you for almost fourteen years now Hermione and I have come to realize that you being smarter than everyone else, was then and still is the cornerstone of your ego."
"You lost me kid," Kingsley said confused.
"As any good Auror would in pursue of a suspect, I have tried to put myself into the head of the person I'm chasing. And the first thing Mad-Eye Moody use to tell me was to cancel out any preconceived notions I had on the perpetrators behavior. You said it yourself in describing the R.H.B., you called him cunning and patient, all excellent qualities in a chess player. Hermione here remembers Ron as being 'a bit thick' about a lot of stuff, and I'm sure to an extent he was, but lets assume for one moment, that about some things, like his intelligence, Ron deliberately downplayed how smart he really was.
"You're saying that by playing dimwitted he lured his opponents into underestimating him like Doctor Potter just did." Kingsley said catching on to Harry's line of thought.
"Exactly, the best way to pay Hermione a compliment back in school was to tell her how brilliant she was and no one did that more often than Ron did," Harry said forgetting for a bit that Hermione was listening in. "He was constantly asking for homework help from her, but suppose he did that for no other reason than to find an innocent reason to spend time…intimately close, in the company of the girl we now know he adored"
"Harry, get a grip, Ron smarter than he looked, no way!" Hermione said clearly in denial. "You can't seriously be proposing that Ron was cunning enough to 'pretend' to be thick just to chat-me-up by flattering my smarter than anyone else ego?"
"Think I'm being mental do you?" Harry smirked, "well then tell me this, why was it that the smartest witch of our age with a huge intellect and unmatched ability in logical thinking could not, even once, beat Ron at wizard chess?"
Hermione opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out of her mouth, for she sat on her hospital bed totally gob smacked. As the gears in her mind turned over Harry's conclusion her eyes bulged and her mouth open and closed like a fish out of water. The more she thought about it, the more she had to agree with Harry. All interest in the discussion between the two men inside of her hospital room faded to background noises as Hermione's mind wrapped itself around this new concept.
Ron's chess skill had always galled the book smart, know-it-all, although she often referred to it as a waste of time or a silly game, the truth of the matter was, her inability to beat Ron at chess had nearly driven Gryffindor's resident book-worm mental. Hermione didn't except defeat well, she hated be second in any of her classes, so the thought that someone, particularly Ron, could be unbeatable at a stupid board game proved to be…infuriating.
So between fourth and fifth year during the summer holiday following the Krum debacle, Hermione had spent a lot of time and effort learning everything she could about chess. She returned to Hogwarts that fall confident that she was finally going to wipe that smug grin off of Mr. Ronald Weasleys face. But her much anticipated victories never materialized, the smug prat rose to her challenge without comment and thrashed her properly every time she played him.
Every time Hermione came across a new chess book, she tried again, but each time the outcome was the same. She never made a fuss about it and come to think of it nor did Ron. Unlike their verbal rows, their combat on the chess board had always been silent and private. All these years later and only now did Hermione put the pieces together. That little red haired prat had been smarter than he put on and she had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.
She had thought her half baked plot had cured her of the 'always right' conceit, and here was yet another example of how very wrong Hermione could be. This was just another item to put on her list of things concerning 'why I was stupid about Ron'. She just sat there in hospital, thinking hard, for she had the biggest challenge of her life to face, and losing wasn't an option. Looking back on the tumultuous six year courtship between Ron and herself, Hermione, had an epiphany.
Hermione's adorable red fox had played the best chess game of his life, winning her heart. Each move bringing her closer to check mate. Ron's battle with the troll had proven his bravery; the last move of the black knight had proven self sacrifice. His jealousy over Krum had shown her that he cared for her more than a friend, his attacks on Malfoy his willingness to defend her honor.
When had Ron first consciously use her feelings of self-inflated mental-superiority against her by pretending to be dumb she couldn't begin to guess? But that he had played to her weakness to his advantage now made her smile. Ron had been correct when he had said that words were his enemy back in school, Hermione's mistake had been not realizing at the time that actions speak louder than words.
Hermione now realized that Harry was spot-on in his analyst of Ron, that git, had been brilliant in using her know everything conceit to ingratiate himself in her favor by acting dumb, all the while stroking her fragile ego with compliments on her brilliance. This eleventh hour epiphany about her ex-boyfriend, when combined with his history of loyal devotion to her happiness, didn't lessen Hermione's desire to be with Ronald again, instead it only strengthened her resolve.
Staring off into space, deep in thought, Hermione instinctively took the restored dragon engagement ring now back at its original size, into her right hand and then slipped Ron's dragon ring onto the wedding ring finger of her left hand. Whispering more to herself than the two men in the room, she said softly to herself.
"You did that for me, you silly twit, you suppressed your own intellect so that I could feel more needed within the trio. You knew that being smart was all that I had that made me feel of worth. Harry was the brave one, I was the brains, and you my beloved was the heart. Damn, I hope it's not too late for me to show you how much you mean to me!
What did you say…oh yes 'sort out my priorities' well Ronald you were right about that too! I've buried myself at work to ignore the pain over what I did to us as a couple. I have made enemies at the Ministry by my zero tolerance for incompetent political appointees. I take no joy in my work at all; it was just the means to fill the lonely hours of my days. It's time for a change in my life Ronald, and your being a major part of it, is the only way I'll find happiness "
"So you're smarter than you let on back at school," Hermione continued although this time out loud. "Well – well…all the better for our children's I.Q. potential. This game isn't over yet, Weasley…because I am coming after you, do you hear! You won't get away from me so easily the 'second time around'. I won't let you."
Harry noticed the symbolic significance of the dragon ring's presence on his wife's engagement-ring finger as did Kingsley and both men couldn't help but smile. Properly motivated, as she was now, Doctor Hermione Granger-Potter was as unstoppable as a force of nature. Ron had been wrong about some of the things he had said that night.
The loss of the dragon ring had not been the only cause of Hermione's suicidal depression, but it could not be denied that the ring had been Dr. Potters only link with the 'one that got away.' What her visitor hadn't taken into account was that the 'return of the ring' had been the equivalent of the Black knight from McGonagall giant chess set throwing downs his gauntlet. In returning the ring Ron had declared himself beyond Hermione's romantic reach. It was a kind of unspoken challenge, to obtain the unobtainable, and Doctor Potter had never walked away from a challenge in her life.
More than that, the look of grim determination on Hermione face proved that Harry's prediction had been correct. Now that she knew that Ron was indeed alive, Harry's 'soon to be' ex-spouse was filled with an unshakable resolve; to find her life mate, marry him and procreate repeatedly... with unbridled vigor.
In a way, Harry couldn't help but be amused at the irony of it all. After seven lonely years of self-imposed celibacy, Hermione had a whole lot of snogging and other more intimate activities time to make up for. His poor old friend Ron had been dead wrong about the number of lovers that had shared Hermione's bed. A big part of Dr. Potter's self-punishment for what she had done to Ron had been her denial of the pleasures of the flesh. A bushy-haired whirlwind with a ticking biological clock was heading Ron's way, he could run, but he couldn't hide, not for long.
As a matter of fact, Harry couldn't wait for the book worm mating season to begin. Not that he would ever hear the details from his former best mate. For unlike Seamus and Dean, Harry's other dorm mates, Ickle Ronniekins wasn't the type to 'kiss and tell.' With his own relationship with Hermione way too much like living with his sister, if he had one. There had been a times when Harry had wondered if Hermione realized she was actually female.
For Ron's sake, Harry hoped that old wives tale about sexually repressed bookworms was true. During seventh year, the librarian Irma Prince had been caught by a couple of fifth year prefects engaged in inappropriate activities with the caretaker Argus Filch. Even now, six years later the very thought of those two in the grips of passion made Harry's whole body shutter.
Anyroad, the old wives tale went that underneath prim and proper women like Hermione was a barely contained fireball of unbridled lust. If this 'theory' was true, and you combined this repressed fireball with seven years of guilt induced longing, the mixture would result in…wow! Oh…Ron, you lucky dog.
Besides, when Ron finally gets the lady of his dreams, maybe the ghost of Harry's dead best- mate will stop haunting the bedroom he shared with Ginny. Harry loved Ginny to death but their lovemaking had suffered due to the white elephant of the spectra called Ron that seemed to hover over their bed. There were times when the memories of what Harry had done to Ron and Ginny's feelings that she was disrespecting his memory was like a couple of buckets of ice cold water tossed on top of their desire for one another.
Harry knew exactly, what his former best friend meant to Hermione and that made him conclude that if living in obscurity under a different identify was what Ron wanted, then his Hermione would follow him into exile in a heart beat.
Harry sincerely hopped, for Ron's sake, that when the hunt was over and he was caught by the smartest witch of his age-mates, that his old former friend had the physical 'stamina' to 'keep-up' his role in destiny, when confronted with a particular force of nature hell-bent on reproduction.
Saying good night, to his 'wife' in her hospital room, Harry Flooed back to Godric's Hollow and the Potter Estate. After spending ten minutes reassuring Dobby that Mistress Grangy would recover. Harry took a quick shower and went to bed. The last thought he had before drifting off to sleep was an odd realization.
"Ron old friend, that was some move you pulled off tonight," Harry thought to himself. "I'm not sure if this whole adventure happened by accident or design, but from your opening gambit at the Nationals, your taking of the Dragon Ring pawn in Hogsmeade, to the boldness of the Black Knight's visit to St. Mungo's this evening. I have to admit that all your moves so far, have been aggressive and strong. If we Potters don't counter tonight's move decisively, I fear the white Queen has little chance of capturing her beloved Black Knight, and that old friend would be a tragedy for all of us.
Our move Ron," Harry said aloud, as he mockingly saluted the darkness of his bedroom, "and if Hermione does what I think she's going to do, this particular counter move is going to be a whopper!"
88888
To be continued
88888
Author's post chapter notes:
In a review I read that I am way out of character for the HP books, I suspect that's true. For there is only one writer who will ever be one hundred percent in character and that is JK herself. This story takes the HP people down a different road, and tells the tale of a lie told with the best of intentions, a lie that although effective in its goal, still managed to hurt the very ones it was meant to protect.
It's a tale of being caught trying to safeguard love ones by deceit, and in the process damaging two budding true love relationship. Ron had never felt himself to be Krum's equal in the HP books how much less so would he feel when completing with the mega-rich Chosen one.
Stay tune, more to come.