Chapter 3: Pouring Like an Avalanche

The snow was lighter in Hogsmeade when Hermione Apparated in front of The Three Broomsticks. She opened the door and went right to the bar.

"Two fingers of Ogden's, neat," she asked Stan the barkeep.

Stan poured her drink, but when she tried to pay he shook his head. "Your money's no good here, Mrs. Weasley."

Hermione smiled. "Thank you, Stan, but please call me Hermione. Mrs. Weasley is my mother-in-law."

Stan smiled.

"Is your gaffer in?"

"She's upstairs in her office."

Hermione took her drink and headed upstairs.

Ginny was standing with her back to the door as Hermione came in the room. From the back you'd never know she was pregnant, Hermione thought. As Ginny turned around, however, there was no doubt. She looked as though she had a Quaffle under her shirt. "Hermione!" Ginny said, a smile spreading across her face. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" She caught sight of the drink in Hermione's hand and her face fell. "Wait, this isn't a pleasure sort of visit is it?"

Hermione shook her head, but didn't trust herself to speak yet.

"Sit down," Ginny said, gesturing to a sofa on the far side of the room. "What's happened?"

Hermione sat down and sipped her drink, willing herself not to cry. "Ron and I have had a row."

Ginny sat next to her. "Must have been bad to have you here in the middle of a work day in this weather."

"We met for lunch, which was stupid. I'm just so stupid." She took another sip of her drink.

"Stupid isn't generally a word I'd associate with you," Ginny mused. "Now, Ron on the other hand..."

Hermione shook her head. "No, this time it's my fault. I knew he wouldn't like this, but instead of building up to it, I just blurted it out like an idiot."

Ginny furrowed her brow. "You want to tell me what we're talking about?"

Hermione sniffled and had some more fire whiskey. "Viktor's best friend, Todor, died yesterday. I want to go to his funeral. I am going to his funeral."

"And Ron doesn't want you to go?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. He got rather nasty about it actually, which made me equally nasty, and now it's just awful."

"I'm confused," Ginny said. "What is there to row about over a funeral? Is he just mad because this bloke was Viktor's friend?"

Hermione shook her head and swallowed the last of her drink. "No. I made the mistake of saying that we had vacationed with Todor and his wife, Pietra."

Ginny looked at her blankly.

"Ron leaped from that to Amsterdam." Hermione pressed her thumb against the rim of the glass.

"Stupid git."

Hermione looked up at her, "Not so stupid. Todor was there. He was the one who rented the house."

Ginny grimaced. "Oh."

"I know, but Amsterdam aside, we were friends. He and Pietra had broken up over his drug use before we went to Amsterdam. After…what happened...he pulled himself together and eventually got clean. He and Pietra got back together and got married." Hermione couldn't bring herself to say anything else, so she just stared at her empty glass. Finally, she let out a ragged sigh. "Viktor and I are the only ones left now."

"I don't–"

"Everyone else is dead. Everyone that was in Amsterdam, they're all dead now. I don't even know how to feel about that. It's just so weird. I can only imagine what Viktor must be going through. And Pietra, oh Pietra, she must be devastated."

"How did he die?" Ginny asked.

"Misadventure. A spell backfired on him. He was always toying with magic beyond his means. I guess it finally caught up to him."

"Bloody hell," Ginny said softly. "And the others?"

Hermione sniffled again. "Well, let's see. Marianna died of an overdose and then Boyka killed herself shortly thereafter. They were lovers. Boyka never recovered from the loss. She blamed herself for bringing Marianna to Amsterdam. And Filip was killed by a dragon, on a bet. Although, in his case, it wasn't such a loss." She sipped her drink.

They sat in silence for a while. The snow had turned to an icy rain and they could hear the ice hitting the windows. "You really were out of your element, weren't you?" Ginny said.

A single tear slipped down Hermione's cheek. "You've no idea." She closed her eyes.

"Can I ask you…?" Ginny started, but then stopped.

Hermione looked at her.

"Why did you stay with Viktor after everything that happened?"

Hermione looked back at her empty glass. "He was kind to me and I didn't really have anywhere else to go."

Ginny leaned in and touched her arm. "You could have come back to us."

Hermione smiled weakly and shook her head. "Until I ran into you at Madam Malkin's, no one ever offered."

"Harry sent owls. I know he did."

Hermione nodded, "Yes, but they were only chit chat to keep me posted on how everyone was and to ask how I was doing, never to say come home. And the few times we met for dinner Viktor was there, and of course, you never came, so what was I to think?"

Ginny's shoulders sagged and she sighed. "It's just Ron was in such a state when you left, and his version of events at the time was that you just left him. Not that he told you to leave, only that you left. Then you turned up with Krum. I mean, looking back on it now, I can see clearly something was wrong there, but at the time we were just so focused on trying to hold Ron together…I'm sorry. I should have gone to you and gotten the whole story…I just…I'm sorry. And as for not showing for the dinners, I swear I had legitimate conflicts. I wasn't signaling that I didn't want to see you."

"It's all right. It wasn't your fault. He's your brother, of course you stood by him." Hermione pushed her hair back and blew out a long sigh.

"I can't tell you how crazy he was," Ginny said. "Did you know he emptied your apartment out the window into the street? Every single thing in it, out the window. Fred and George were furious. They go to open up the shop in the morning and the whole street is littered with all manner of things, and Ron was upstairs in an empty apartment drunk as a skunk with all the windows open in the middle of January. What a bloody mess that was."

"I'm sorry. You all must have hated me."

Ginny shook her head. "No. We all saw him out drinking without you. We knew things weren't the best between you two. I guess we all just thought you'd work through it. And as it turns out, you did." Ginny smiled. "Only it took a bit longer than we figured."

Hermione chuckled softly. "Yes, well, we're slow that way."

"Stubborn that way, is more like it. So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go home, and when he gets there, I'll talk to him and try and make him see why I need to do this." Hermione tilted her head back against the sofa and closed her eyes again. "It's just so frustrating. I thought we really were past this and then bang we're right back to the beginning." She let out a frustrated growl. "If Todor wasn't already dead, I'd kill him."

"What?"

"He's the one who charmed the camera. Perverted git. I'm sure he thought it was very funny at the time."

Ginny shrugged. "Well…I mean..."

Hermione glared at her but then waved it off. "Enough of my drama. How are you and Harry doing?"

"Fine. Although, he was having a bit of a conniption this morning over the size of the baby's room. He thinks it's too small."

"Too small? How much room does an infant need?"

"You wouldn't think that much, but Harry has a bit of an issue about small rooms."

"Oh," Hermione said. "I suppose it's due to–"

"Those bloody Muggles keeping him in that cupboard under the stairs." Ginny grimaced. "Sorry, I don't have anything against Muggles in general, just those damn Dursley's."

"Don't be sorry. They're horrid. It's amazing really that Harry turned out to be such a great person after having lived with that lot for so long."

"Tell me about it." Ginny sighed. "He's petrified of being a Dad, you know."

Hermione smiled. "He'll be fine."

"I know. That's what I keep telling him, but he's still really nervous."

Hermione nodded. "I'm sure some of that's just normal nerves."

"He's at home reading a book on construction spells right now," Ginny said pointedly.

"Would you like me to speak to him?" Hermione asked. "Or at least help him, so he doesn't accidentally destroy your house."

Ginny covered her eyes. "If it comes to actual spell work, I promise I'll call you. Along with the rest of the family."

"Ron's rather good with construction charms. He's done some lovely work converting my parents' old offices into another library."

"You need another library in your house? The one where you have your office isn't big enough?"

Hermione shrugged. "He's really been a brick about it."

"He's a good bloke, Ron is, deep down."

"Yeah." Hermione sighed and set her now empty glass on the coffee table. "I should be getting home."

Ginny walked her to the door. "Good luck."

"Thanks. Hopefully, I won't need it."