Outbursts.
Ron groggily opened his eyes, groaning slightly when he realised he wasn't alone. Lying flat out beside him was a naked blonde witch, a witch whose name Ron couldn't remember. The previous evening Ron had gone out for a few drinks with some of his teammates, but after a couple of drinks they'd left, despite the fact The Cannons had the entire weekend free. Ron hadn't been in the mood to just go home, so he'd carried on his partying and somewhere along the line he'd clearly picked up his companion. Ron just couldn't really remember how they'd hooked up, or what her name was.
Nameless one night stands weren't a new experience for Ron as he'd had more than his fair share of random sex since leaving school. Back in school Ron had never been that successful with girls, his on and off romance with Lavender Brown in sixth and seventh year being his only notable achievement. However, he'd quickly learnt that as a professional quidditch player, even a one who was stuck playing for the reserves, that a certain type of women were always more than eager to please. Quidditch groupies as they were known, hung around pubs and clubs where they knew the quidditch players tended to socialise, and they made it their business to go home with one of the players. Ron had enjoyed many a fun night with the quidditch groupies, and even though he couldn't quite remember the previous night, he expected it had been good.
As Ron was lying, trying to remember the previous night and what the witch in his bed was called, his companion began to stir. Before Ron even had a chance of getting out of bed to avoid her, she turned her head to him and greeted him with a wide smile.
"Hey sexy," she purred, stretching and causing her bare breasts to pop out over the top of the bed covers.
"Hey," Ron replied, his eyes glued to her breasts.
"Do you have plans for the day?" The witch asked with a small smile.
"I do actually," Ron answered regretfully. "I'm due at my parents' house for lunch."
"Never mind, we'll just have to make the most of our morning," the witch answered with a grin as she suddenly vanished under the covers.
Glancing over at the clock, Ron realised he was already running late if he wanted to make it to The Burrow before his family sat down to eat. However, any protests died on his lips as his nameless lover wrapped her mouth around his rapidly forming erection.
"Sod lunch," he growled, pushing the covers back to watch the witch at work.
An hour later, after some amazing sex, Ron said goodbye to his lover, whose name he'd learnt was Sophie, and hopped in the shower. He now knew the only way he would make it to The Burrow in time for lunch was to dress and leave immediately, but he knew his mother would not appreciate him turning up smelling like alcohol and sex. One shower later, Ron got dressed and since he was already late, he decided to grab a drink and check out the morning papers. He knew Molly would have saved him some lunch and it was easily warmed up so he could eat when he got to The Burrow.
Settling down at the kitchen table with the paper, Ron spotted an advert in the corner advertising the free Cannons magazine. Deciding to leave the paper and check out the magazine, Ron pulled the glossy magazine from the centre of the paper. The front cover featured one of the group pictures Colin had taken of the Cannons squad in their new look uniform. Ron winced at the picture, thinking how unlike The Chudley Cannons they looked. Hermione might have been trying to start a fresh with the team, but in Ron's opinion all she'd done was alienate them from their old fans. She might as well have just changed the club's name, although maybe she would have if she thought she would get away with it.
Not expecting much, Ron flicked open the magazine. Scanning Padma's opening editorial, he quickly realised the magazine was a fluff piece. Even though Padma had pointed out The Cannons troubles and had tried to make it sound as though Harry and Hermione had a tough road ahead of them, the entire tone of the article was way too gushing for Ron's liking. Anyone reading it would easily be able to see that Hermione had merely paid for the free publicity.
Further proof that the magazine was just a glowing advert for the team came when Ron spotted the part about the new uniforms and logos. Instead of calling Hermione out on changing them, Padma had praised her for reinventing The Cannons look. According to Padma, the changes marked a fresh start in The Cannons history, but to Ron the changes stunk of Hermione just trying to erase the past. It was as though she was embarrassed of the club she'd bought, and was doing everything in her power to change everything about the club. Ron couldn't imagine that the long term supports would be happy with the changes, and he suspected Hermione was going to get a rude awakening once the new season started.
Flicking past the interview with Harry and Hermione, even though they were his best friends he had no desire to read about them bragging about their plans for the club, Ron reached the player profiles. The first couple of profiles took up a page each and Ron had to admit the set-up of the page was good. Along with a couple of photos, there was a fact box introducing the player and touching on their record as a player, before the rest of the page was taken up with highlights of the interview Padma had conducted with them.
Eager to find his own page, Ron flicked onwards and came to an abrupt halt when he found that he only had half a page dedicated to him. When he scanned the questions, he found Padma had made it sound as though he was enthused to be part of the new Cannons. Ron knew he hadn't said anything negative, he hadn't wanted to when Hermione had been sitting nearby, but he did know that his attitude was anything but positive. However, to read the interview, it sounded as though he was totally on board with Harry and Hermione's plans to revamp The Cannons.
Disgusted by the lack of space he'd been given in the magazine, Ron continued to flick through it and he was equally appalled to find Ginny was also just half a page. Ron thought it was an awful way for Harry and Hermione to treat him and Ginny, and he vowed there and then that he would have it out with them. Although as he continued to flick through the magazine his temper got even worse when he found both Blaise and Draco had a double page spread.
"Bastards," Ron spat, hurling the magazine across the room.
Jumping to his feet, Ron picked the magazine back up, strode into the front room and grabbing some floo powder he headed to his childhood home. When he arrived, he found dinner was just ending and Molly was gathering up the dessert bowls. Aside from his parents, Harry and Ginny were at lunch along with the twins and their respective girlfriends.
"There you are," Molly gushed with a smile. "I've saved you some lunch and some dessert."
"Thanks Mum," Ron replied, before turning his attention to Harry and flinging the magazine at him. "What the hell is this?"
"You know what it is, Ron," Harry said evenly as he placed the magazine on the table. He'd already had words with Ginny about the magazine, and he suspected that Ron's problems were the same as his sisters, namely he wasn't featured prominently enough.
"How could you do this to us, Harry?" Ron demanded. "I'm your best friend and Ginny is your girlfriend, yet you sold us down the river."
"No-one was sold down the river," Harry argued.
"Half a measly page," Ron yelled. "We get half a page and Malfoy and Zabini get double spreads. How is that fair?"
"I'm sorry you're upset Ron, but it has nothing to do with us," Harry insisted. "Hermione brokered the deal with the Prophet, but they wouldn't give us copyright approval. They edited and put together the magazine as they saw fit."
"Bullshit," Ron spat.
"Ronald," Molly scolded, unimpressed with the language of her youngest son.
"You can't expect us to believe that you gave away all rights to what the magazine would look like," Ron continued after quickly apologising to his mother. "You're not that stupid, or should I say Hermione isn't. You might not have had anything to do with this, but she did."
"Hermione didn't see the magazine until it was finished," Harry said as he got to his feet and approached Ron.
"Of course Hermione knew," Ginny interjected from behind her boyfriend. "Ron's right, she wouldn't give up control of something so vital. She wouldn't have taken the risk that the magazine wasn't a hatchet job."
"Precisely," Ron agreed, nodding in his sister's direction. "Thanks Gin."
"The pair of you need to get over it," Harry said sharply. "The magazine was put together by The Prophet, and we had no control of how that was done. So what if you only got half a page? Buckle down and get yourselves into the first team, and then if something like this happens again, you're in a position to warrant more coverage."
"So basically you're saying it's our fault for being crap?" Ron questioned challengingly.
"No, I'm just pointing out that The Prophet merely highlighted our star players," Harry argued. "Like it or not Ron, your name or Ginny's name is not going to draw the crowds, not yet anyway. Right now Blaise and Draco are our big stars, and we'd be mad not to use that to help relaunch the Cannons. Either you get behind that, or we're going to have some problems."
"Is that a threat?" Ron asked, taking a step away from Harry.
"No, it's a promise," Harry returned, before he thanked Molly for lunch and beat a hasty retreat, leaving Ginny behind.
Ron opened his mouth to continue arguing after Harry had left, but his mother distracted him by offering to warm his lunch up for him. As Ron sat down to eat, the twins and their girlfriends left the kitchen table and headed outside. As he ate, Ron watched his family through the window, but it couldn't take away the anger he felt. By the time he finished dessert, he was ready to confront Hermione, and claiming he was going home for a quiet afternoon, he left The Burrow and headed to Hermione's flat. It was time to speak to his best friend and find out what she was playing at with the magazine.
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The sound of someone knocking on Hermione's front door filtered through to the bedroom and disturbed Hermione, who was in the throes of passion with Draco. The previous day the pair had ventured into the muggle world and Hermione had taken Draco to her favourite museum, before they'd returned to her flat and spent the time since talking and making love. Hermione wasn't exactly inexperienced and she'd had other good lovers, and some good sex in her time, but she'd never before been with someone she felt as though she couldn't get enough of. However, with Draco she felt as though she would never tire of him, whether it was the hot sex they were indulging in or just the hours they could spend talking about everything and nothing.
"Bugger," Hermione swore as the knocking continued.
"Ignore it," Draco panted, his focus on Hermione's bare breasts.
Hermione nodded, planning on doing just that as she pulled Draco's head back up to hers and connected their lips. Even though the knocking continued, Hermione resolutely drowned it out as Draco proceeded to whisper naughty things in her ear as their bodies moved together in perfect sync. Feeling the pleasure build, Hermione forgot all about whoever was as the door as she lost herself in Draco and the pair fell over the edge together.
"I don't think I'll ever get enough of that," Draco panted as they collapsed back onto the bed in a tangle of hot, sweaty limbs.
"Hmm," Hermione murmured in agreement, nuzzling into Draco neck as her fingers absentmindedly ran down his back.
Hermione's contentment was short lived as with another loud banging, whoever was knocking at the door started again.
"I thought they'd gone," Draco groaned, rolling off Hermione.
"It doesn't sound like they're going anywhere," Hermione sighed as she got off the bed.
Reaching for her silk dressing gown, Hermione wrapped it around herself and stalked out of the bedroom. Unless it was urgent, whoever was at the door was going to get a piece of her mind. It was Sunday, and she couldn't think of any reason barring an emergency why someone would practically knock her door down. Muttering to herself about being disturbed, Hermione opened the door and was nearly knocked over by Ron barrelling into the flat.
"About sodding time," Ron grumbled as he headed directly into the front room.
"What the hell are you doing Ron?" Hermione demanded, pulling her robe tighter as she was suddenly aware that she was naked underneath the thin material.
"I should be the one asking you that," Ron spat. "Where do you get off screwing Ginny and I over like that?"
"Excuse me?" Hermione frowned, her sex addled brain not understanding what Ron was getting at.
"That sodding magazine," Ron yelled. "Half a page we get, half a poxy page."
"You've barged into my flat to talk about the magazine in The Prophet?" Hermione asked in bewilderment. "Are you serious?"
"This is serious, Hermione," Ron protested.
"No, it's childish," Hermione corrected in a steely voice. "I'm actually busy, so will you please leave."
"Busy?" Ron queried, taking in Hermione's appearance and blushing slightly when it became obvious she'd just gotten out of bed. "Oh, that sort of busy."
"Yes, that sort of busy," Hermione answered through gritted teeth. "I'm sorry if you're upset Ron, but now is not the time."
"I'm sorry I disturbed you, but now is the time," Ron argued. "All I want is an answer. Why did you do it Hermione? Why did you shaft me and give those blasted Slytherins all the headlines?"
"I had nothing to do with the layout of the magazine," Hermione said. "I agreed the deal, but I just had to rely on Padma to send out the right message. She set out the magazine, not me."
"I don't believe you," Ron said. "I don't believe you would give someone else that much power. A magazine like that could have destroyed The Cannons."
"It was a calculated risk," Hermione shrugged. "Now, I've asked you to leave. Please don't make me ask again, Ron."
"You haven't heard the last of this," Ron vowed as he stalked towards the front door.
Hermione followed Ron, eager to get rid of him, when suddenly her best friend froze in the hallway. Following Ron's gaze, Hermione spotted she'd left the bedroom door open and totally oblivious to his audience, Draco was wandering around the bedroom stark naked.
"Malfoy," Ron screeched, drawing the blond's attention. "You're shagging Malfoy."
"My love life is my business," Hermione said as Draco yanked on his boxers and moved to join her in the hallway.
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
"Everything is just fine," Ron spat. "At least now I know why Malfoy had a double spread in the magazine. Tell me Hermione, did Zabini give you one as well to get his double spread?"
"How dare you," Hermione exploded, raising her hand to slap Ron.
However, before Hermione could hit her friend, Draco lunged forward and landed a solid fist right to Ron's nose. Ron immediately staggered backwards and blood flew from his likely broken nose.
"Speak to Hermione like that again, and it won't be your nose I break," Draco warned in a low voice.
"You'll pay for this," Ron muttered glaring at the blond.
"Just go Ron, before you say anything else you're going to regret," Hermione said, pushing her friend out of the flat and slamming the door in his face.
"Sorry," Draco said, flexing his hand.
"Don't be," Hermione said with a sigh. "It had to come out eventually. I just didn't expect Ron to be such a jerk about it all."
"Keeping his temper under control was never Weasley's strong suit," Draco remarked. "But for the record, I'm not sorry I hit him, I'm sorry he saw me here."
"What's done is done," Hermione shrugged. "We'll deal with it together. But for now, let's get your hand iced before it bruises."
Taking hold of Draco's good hand, Hermione took him into the kitchen where she iced his knuckles. The couple then got dressed and refusing to let Ron ruin their weekend, they headed off to a quiet pub in a village near to where Draco grew up and had a late Sunday lunch. They then returned to Hermione's flat, where they curled up for the rest of the weekend, before they had to face the world on Monday morning.