Disclaimer: oh btw, this is an AU, because I like Lupin & Tonks too much and Fred. Fred shouldn't have died!!!
-Oh and sorry about the long wait between updates - school and a social life and a wicked case of writer's block. (I know exactly what I want to happen in the end, I just don't know how to get to the end, which is why you got the cliffy you guys did last chapter)
Chapter 13
At the sight of Charlie on the ground with some girl made Hermione angry, at first she couldn't identify the bubbling rage she felt inside her, never before had she felt such anger towards a woman before, it was later that she finally realized that it wasn't anger but jealousy she was feeling, bubbling over like water from a kettle.
She walked into the kitchen blinded by angry tears.
"Hermione? What's up?" Ginny had wandered in from the living room, where she and a couple of her brothers had been sitting.
"Stuff" she replies, trying to hide her feelings.
"What kind of stuff?" Ginny prods.
"Um, I'm planning my wedding, had a false alarm."
"Oh, cool. Wait, whoa what?"
"Yeah, I thought I was pregnant, took a test said I was, went to the OB/GYN and she said I wasn't. False Alarm." Hermione says crankily.
"Oh." Ginny says nothing then walks away recognizing Hermione's anger and annoyance.
Charlie and Andreea walk into the kitchen, immediately Hermione's mood takes another nosedive as she falls even deeper into her bad mood. Already she's jealous of the other woman walking into the room, she peers at his face, trying to determine what he still felt for her, his face was slightly red but didn't appear the least bit interested in her, and in fact was pointedly ignoring her presence. As though alerted by a call, all the Weasleys in the house had come into the kitchen-awaiting introduction to the new woman.
"Everybody, this is Andreea. A friend of mine from Romania."
"Is she single? Are you single?" George yells out asking Charlie, then a split second later realizing he should be asking Andreea.
"No, I am not single." She chooses that moment to grab onto Charlie's arm. "Sorry, I felt faint for a second." she whispers in an undertone to Charlie.
Hermione who has slowly been becoming angrier and angrier, says in a cold voice "Charlie may I speak to you for a second, alone?"
"Sure."
"Who the hell is she?" Hermione demands once they are in private. She doesn't allow Charlie to answer. "Your girlfriend?"
"NO! She is not my girlfriend! AND WHY DO YOU CARE?" he booms, now looking at her for the first time since him and the woman had appeared.
"I CARE, OK, I CARE!!" Hermione shrieks and puffs off in a cloud of smoke, not wanting Charlie to see the tears that threatened to spill from her cheeks, still inside Charlie stares at the place where Hermione had been and feels slightly weirded out.
The doorbell rings, and Charlie who is closest to the door answers it.
"Hey Charlie." Mariella says casually. "What's up?"
"Not that much, actually." Charlie says with an unpleasant face.
"How was visiting your mum?" Charlie asks, anxious to get her attention away from him.
"Not very pleasant. She was trying to set me up. With a man!"
"Very subtle." Charlie laughs.
"I know. And I told her that very angrily. 'MOTHER I AM A LESBIAN! GET THE FUCK OVER IT.THAT'S NOT GOING TO CHANGE!' I yelled then I stormed off and now I'm here." Mariella says with a grin. Inside the kitchen Andreea is fencing off requests for dates and long lonely nights.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are just ignoring their horny sons and continuing on with whatever they were doing.
"Mom, dad. You remember my friend from school. Mariella Dupre."
"Molly Weasley, and this is my husband Arthur." Mrs. Weasley says walking over and giving her a hug.
"Hey, Mariella." Fred says. "Want to go out tonight?"
"No, not really."
"Why?"
"I'm taken." Mariella smirks, grabbing Andreea and giving her a dip and kissing her.
"Oh." Fred says. "Wanna a third?" Fred grins.
Mrs. Weasley chucks a spoon at her son. "Shut up Fred!!" She bellows.
"Hello Mrs. Weasley, it's nice to see you again." Mariella says with a smile.
"Hello dear." she smiles. "How's your career going?"
"Oh, the dragon keep is great. But the men seem to think that since I'm a woman, I can't do anything dangerous."
"Those sexist pigs." Ginny interrupts. "Where'd Hermione go?" She asks noticing that Hermione has left.
"Dunno, she was pretty angry though." Charlie says, he's worried, but he can't show that.
"I'll be back." Ginny says, getting up from the table, no doubt to apparate to Hermione's house.
0 0 0 0 0
Why was she so upset over nothing? That's what Charlie was to her, nothing. Not quite, why would you be so upset if Charlie meant nothing to you? Hermione thought, reasoning with herself. Her voice of reason sounded suspiciously like her mother, which was kind of annoying. But it was exactly the kind of thing her mother would say.
"Hermione? You here?" A voice asks from the porch.
"Yeah. Door's open."
"Hey Hermione. Why'd you leave the Burrow like that?"
"Dunno, seeing Charlie with Andreea."
"Hermione, there's nothing to worry about there. I'm pretty sure they are just friends."
"How do you know that?"
"Andreea's a lesbian. Charlie and Andreea's girlfriend, Mariella have been friends since Hogwarts."
"Oh." Hermione has been stunned into silence. "A lesbian?" (Or not)
"Yes. They did a kiss and dip to demonstrate. Cos Fred was being an ass and kept hitting on her, Andi, then Mariella."
"Great, now I feel horrible for yelling at him for no reason."
"Hermione... you realize that Charlie would kill me if I told you this, so you better keep it to yourself."
"What?"
"I think Charlie really likes you." Ginny says.
"But I'm engaged. He can't like me. I'm hideous."
"You can like somebody even though they are engaged, you know that is how affairs start."
"The patronizing tone is so not what I need right now, Ginny."
"But seriously, I know Charlie doesn't think I know, but I do. He just is different when you're around, or when somebody talks about you. And you are not hideous. You are beautiful." Ginny hits Hermione at the last part.
"I am so hideous."
"You are not. Then why would Charlie like you so much? Or Michael?"
"Are you saying they only love my appearance???" Hermione demands.
"I don't know. All I am saying is that I am not a guy so I don't know what the hell they are thinking half the time, (and I don't really want to know) but I do know that you are not ugly." Ginny says Hermione rolls her eyes. Suddenly Ginny's face lights up.
"I have an idea." A brilliant smile cracks Ginny's face. "If I can get Harry and Ron to kiss, you are not allowed to say anything bad about yourself. And if I don't, you can."
"That's a stupid idea. How does that prove anything?" Hermione bellows.
"Don't know. I've always wanted to see two guys kiss though." Ginny sounds like a teenager.
Hermione smiles wickedly, "So have I."
So the girls summon a very confused Harry and an equally confused Ron to Hermione's house.
Ginny explains the rules to the guys. They go from 'understanding' to 'hell no!' in a matter of seconds. Ron, in an unusual bright moment, asks how that proves anything. The girls don't answer, but are too busy giving sad faces to the boys.
Harry and Ron look at each other with a sigh, and then Harry grabs Ron and kisses him full on the mouth. Tipping Ron over into a dip. They resurface. They step away from each other hastily.
"That was a good kiss, Ron, but not as good as Malfoy." Harry jokes.
"OH GOD! I JUST KISSED A MAN!!" Ron runs to the kitchen and begins rinsing his mouth out.
Hermione and Ginny are beside themselves with laughter at Ron's reaction.
"There, now you can't say anything bad about yourself." Ginny laughs.
"Whatever." Hermione tucks a brown curl behind her ear and smiles. It's such a natural and happy smile.
"Sweetie, you have to go talk to Charlie. He loves you."
"Ginny, I'm engaged to be married. I can't talk to him! I can't" Hermione screams.
"Can't what?" A new male voice asks. Hermione screams.
"Hi Michael." Ginny says faintly.
"What'd I miss?" Michael asks, while looking at Ron in the kitchen running around like a chicken with his head cut off, and Harry looking at Ginny all-gooey eyed. (Ginny does not notice, she's a bit distracted by Ron's antics and Michael's presence) "Clearly a lot." Michael says dryly.
"Hermione, may I speak to you for a minute?" He says.
"Sure."
"Hermione, I don't want you to have them over if I'm not here." Michael tells her.
Alarm bells are going off in her head, "Why?"
"Cos, if they are here, then you are here with them."
"Yea...?" Hermione says, still not understanding what he means.
"I don't know. I just don't like them. They give me a bad feeling." Michael says. Hermione frowns at him.
"Why would they give you a funny feeling? They are nice people."
"Yes, but they are wizards. I'm sorry sweetie, but I'm not all that comfortable with their powers."
Hermione frowns some more, "But..." when Michael captures her voice in a kiss. Her lips curve upward into a smile, a tingly sensation runs through her entire body. But Charlie made you feel better. The thought pops out of nowhere and Hermione shakes her head to rid herself of the thought.
Right now, she had a wedding to plan.
Later on, the mothers had arrived so the wedding planning was underway. Mrs. Desmond presented Hermione with the invitations that had arrived this morning. In a flourish she shows Hermione the invitations, the card was made of a rich creamy paper, and the finest raised ink announcing the date and details Hermione and Michael's impending nuptials.
"Aren't they beautiful, sweetheart?" Mrs. Desmond asked, beaming.
"They are very beautiful. Thank you, Mrs. Desmond." Hermione said, not wanting to offend her.
"Call me Laura or mom, now." Mrs. Desmond (Laura) says proudly.
"Ok." Hermione says.
"Hermione! Dear what kind of flowers did you want?"
"Snapdragons." Hermione says absently.
"What? But I have an order for white irises!" Mrs. Granger says her voice rising into a hysterical tone.
"No, I meant white irises. Chill, mum gosh." Hermione says with a bright smile.
"Not funny, dear." Mrs. Granger tells her daughter, her smile returning.
"Sorry."
0 0 0 0
"So Charlie" Andreea says.
Charlie looks up from what he is doing to look at Andreea and smiles, now she is dressed in business attire, complete with a small, pert little bun at the back of her head that hides the bright pink streaks liberally laced through her hair.
"Yes." Charlie replies.
"What have you been accused of?" Andreea asks readying her quill to take notes.
"Well, my crime according to Bobby Blumieri is that I released and set free all the dragons in the keep where I work."
"Where do you work?"
"The Slobozia Dragon Reserve."
"What do you do there?"
"I tend to the nesting females, feeding, cleaning, healing, and occasionally I tend to one of the other dragons if another keeper takes ill or is injured."
"Interesting." Andreea says murmuring. "Any particular dragons you care for."
"Maya, a Hungarian Horntail and Jessie a Norwegian Ridgeback. Nasty bitches they are, but I love em'."
"So your charge is that you released Maya and Jessie from their enclosures and then they proceeded to cause havoc and mayhem."
"I didn't do that, but yes in a nutshell."
"Are there witnesses to verify that you were in fact in England and not in Romania at the time of the crime?"
"The amount of people at my birthday party."
"Hm. Would they be willing to submit to questioning?"
"Probably. If you could convince them." Charlie says without much enthusiasm.
"Your mum and dad will be viable witnesses, I shall ask them."
"Ask them to keep it private though."
"Anybody else, people you might have been with privately for a long period of time? People that could account for the whole time?"
"I can think of one, but I don't think she'd be willing to testify." thinking about Hermione sent a shaft of pain through him as he answered hesitantly.
0 0 0 0
Everything Ginny had said to her was floating around in her head. Charlie loves me. I love Michael.
It was funny that she said that. Because as she thought that. Michael came down in his knickers and asked if Hermione was coming to bed.
"Michael, we have to talk."
"Yes, Hermione." He said, sitting down at the table.
"Michael, remember how I said I was pregnant."
"Yes, and I love you for it."
"Well, I'm sorry Mikey but it was a false alarm. I'm not pregnant."
"What?"
"Mikey, I'm not pregnant anymore."
"Did you have an abortion?" Michael explodes. "You know I'm against them."
"No! Michael, weren't you listening? I was never really pregnant. A false alarm."
"Oh." Michael is feeling foolish for his rash behavior. "I'm sorry"
Hermione is annoyed, after she explained that it had been a false alarm, he had still jumped to false conclusions!! An annoying, stubborn man. But she did love him, she supposed.
Did she?
It was hard to explain her feelings about Michael, they were all jumbled up inside of her, a part of her loved him and yet a part of her was sorry she had chosen him over Charlie. She didn't want to feel this way but fate had dealt her these cards and now it was her turn to either stand her ground or walk away. If she were being honest with herself she would have to say that that night at the party with Charlie had been the night were she had fallen in love, even if she didn't remember, her body had known and recognized that he was her one true mate, her mind had accepted him as a part of her, and her heart had taken him in, good thing she wasn't always honest with herself. It wasn't fair to Michael to be thinking about Charlie, he deserved better. Hermione sat down in a huff and concentrated on Michael who was looking very forlorn at the moment.
"What's the matter?" he said, his eyes were bright looking at her.
"I dunno... I guess I really wanted this baby."
"Oh honey, it'll be okay, we'll have children after we're married."
But what if I don't want to marry you? Her mind was screaming. What if I want more? What if I want Charlie? At least Charlie would have stuck up for me. At least Charlie would have cared more about this false alarm, he would have comforted me.
"Yea." she said, smiling, trying to cover up the dread she felt inside of herself.
"C'mon, let's go to bed."
"Okay."
A/N:
-Sorry about the very long time between updates :
-the random harry /ron kiss scene happened when i was very tired and had a headache. i was amused (then again that is not exactly hard)
-im tireddd
-Read&Review, please
brooke-ella1790
11.07.07