A/N: It took a bit longer than I thought, but here it is now. Part two of the fateful Sunday dinner at the Burrow. I hope it will have been worth the wait. Please let me know what you think in the reviews. I enjoy reading them immensely. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews so far, I really appreciate it.
Now, where did we stop last time? We left with Hermione running after Ginny to comfort her after Harry's proposal. They kissed and Hermione glimpsed someone in the corner of her eye...
Disclaimer: same as always...
Chapter Eight – Sunday with the Weasleys Pt2
Hermione looked up and saw Harry standing in the door, eyes narrowed and face angrier than she had ever seen him before.
"What is going on here?" he whispered hoarsley.
Ginny swirled around and sat up as if she had been lying on hot coals, "Harry." she stated, her voice strained from crying.
"What the hell is going on here?", Harry repeated and glinted furiously at Hermione, never even looking at Ginny.
"Harry, before you..." Hermione started but was cut off by Harry, "Silencio!" he bellowed.
"I don't want to hear cheap excuses from you. Ginny is mine. She is with me and me only, and maybe I picked the wrong time to propose and it upset her, but she is not free for the taking, especially not for you. You are supposed to be my best friend!" Harry had talked himself into a rage and began to close the distance between the two women still sitting on the bed and himself. The door was wide open and everyone else downstairs at the dinner table could hear what was going on up there. They all sat in silence, staring at their fingers or plates in embarrassment, but neither was ready to stop listening. They all wanted to know what was going on.
Ginny jumped up from the bed and stepped protectively between Harry and the still muted Hermione, "Stay away from her Harry, she has nothing to do with this."
Harry clenched his fists, one of them around his wand. "I believe this has everything to with her. I'm not stupid, you know," Harry yelled.
"For someone not stupid you sure are very thick. And for the record, I'm not yours. I'm not something you possess. And if I ever was yours, you lost me a long time ago," Ginny said, surprised her temper was still mostly in check.
"But I...I love you and you love me and I will make up for my mistakes," Harry said, his anger gone and his face now screwed up in pain.
"Harry, I do love you. I care very much about you. But I'm not in love with you, not anymore. We don't work in a relationship. We were friends and so we thought we would work, but we didn't, and it's time that we recognise that we just don't go together as a couple," Ginny explained. She was tearing up again. She hated hurting him, but this had to be done. She could not think of any other way to get through this.
"But what do you want with her? She's a woman? She can never give you what I can give you!" Harry said, biting back like a wounded animal. Hermione got up and started at Harry, eyes glinting. She couldn't speak but that didn't mean she wouldn't defend herself. But Ginny was quick to hold her back, "No, Hermione. Please let me do this. Harry, I know you are hurt and your ego is a bit ruffled now, but this doesn't have to play out this way," Ginny was still wondering why she out of all people was the voice of reason in this room and then she saw Harry lose the last bit of restraint he had possessed. She had never seen him like that and would never have thought he was even capable of being so hot headed. But it seemed this was not the day anyone behaved like their usual selves anyway.
"How long has this been going on? How long have you two been shagging behind my back, making a fool of me? Was it good at least?" he yelled at the top of his lungs.
And with that Ginny's unusually strong level-headedness had crumbled to pieces too, she had had enough. She knew she had had hurt Harry deeply, but there was a line and he had clearly stepped over it. Now it was her turn to let loose and pour salt into wounds, "You're an ass, Harry. So what if I screw her behind your back. What if she's so much better than you? You're such an idiot, Harry. This was never about sex. I would have left you way earlier if this had been about sex. I love her. Get that into that thick head of yours!" Ginny shot back. She clearly aimed to kill.
Harry gasped and so did everyone else downstairs. They heard a loud snapping sound and then nothing but silence.
"Okay, this is enough," Valerie snapped out of it first. She got up and almost flew up the stairs to prevent anything from happening.
She rushed into the room and found Ginny burying her face in Hermione's embrace, blood soaking her t-shirt. Harry was staring madly at the two women, still clenching his fingers to a fist. Hermione was livid, looking daggers at Harry. What had gotten into him? Valerie quickly overpowered Harry from behind, twisting his arm onto his back. He bent over and groaned in pain. Valerie frog marched him out of the room and into the next room she could find, which happened to be Ron's. She shoved him onto one of the beds and said, "Sit down, cool off and come out of this room when you are ready to apologise," She walked out and slammed the door shut. When she entered Ginny's room again, she saw the full damage Harry had done. Ginny's nose was clearly broken , still bleeding heavily. Both women's tops were soaked in blood and Ginny was desperately trying to prevent herself from whimpering in pain. Hermione was gesturing to Valerie that she couldn't speak.
George appeared in the door way and saw his little sister hurt and Valerie a bit helpless. "Where is he? I'm going to kill him!" he growled.
"You'll do nothing of the sorts. Can you make Hermione talk again?" Valerie asked.
George took out his wand and murmured something.
"Thank you," Hermione sighed in relief. She took Ginny by the shoulders and pushed her away just enough to see the damage Harry's fist had caused to the redheads nose. It looked grim. "Go get Molly, I believe she has more experience with broken bones than I do," Hermione ordered and Valerie started down the stairs.
When Molly looked at her daughter it was all she could do not to walk straight into the other room and strangle the man she usually thought so highly of. What had gotten into the boy?
She came closer and examined Ginny's nose, "Darling, this is going to hurt quite a bit, but I can set the bone myself. No need to go to St. Mungo's. Are you ready?"
Ginny nodded, feeling Hermione's hand slip into hers, ready to be squeezed.
"Episkey!" Molly whispered carefully and Ginny screamed in agony. The bone snapped back into its place, the bleeding stopping almost instantly. Ginny carefully touched her nose and smiled weakly, "Thanks Mum."
"Now go get cleaned up while I go deal with Harry," Molly said, a grim look on her face.
Molly stepped into Ron's room and found Harry sitting on the bed, head in his hands. He was rubbing his temples
"Harry James Potter!" Molly thundered, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Harry looked up and realised there was nothing that he could say. Getting angry was one thing, hitting below the belt with his remarks might have been forgiveable, but slamming his fist into Ginny's face was not. There was no excuse for what he had done and he knew better than to defend himself to Molly Weasley.
"I'm sorry..." he began meekly.
"Save your breath. You don't have to apologize to me, apologize to the girls. Do you even know what you've done?" Molly threw her hands up to underline her exasperation.
"Will she be alright? Could you mend the nose?" Harry cautiously enquired.
"Yes, the nose is fine. It'll hurt for a bit, but the nose really isn't the issue here," Molly had calmed down a bit, seeing the guilt in Harry's eyes.
"I didn't mean to do it, you know? I just got so angry. I love Ginny. I don't know what to do without her and now I've ruined everything. I'll never be able to get her back after this." Harry buried his head in his hands again to hide his tears from Molly.
Molly sat down next to him on the bed and softly stroked his back like she would with any one of her own children, "Harry, let me be honest here. The way I see it, you've lost her a while ago and your recent actions didn't help getting her back. I don't really know what's going on there, but she seems to be in love with someone else and she doesn't have any more control over it than you do," Molly held a sobbing Harry as tightly as she could. To her he was like a son after all and she didn't like to see any of her children in pain.
"I-I know I-I shou-ld let...let her g-go and b-be happy, b-but it h-hurt-s so mu-much," Harry managed to get out between sobs.
Molly simply hugged him even more tightly and held on until his breathing had calmed down a bit.
"Why Hermione?" Harry managed to get out after a while, "She's my best friend. How could she do that to me?" Harry was at a loss. His world had broken down into little pieces and he had no idea how to put the puzzle back together. His expression matched that of a little child who has lost his mum in a gigantic supermarket.
"From what I can tell, Hermione seems to be in love as well. I'm sure they weren't out to hurt you. Maybe they just didn't know how to tell you." Molly tried, "but really, my guess is as good as yours."
"I feel so stupid. I don't even know how long it's been going on. I mean, it could be months. At least that's how long we've been having troubles," Harry felt his anger rise again.
"Harry, I don't know any more than you do," Molly was interrupted by Valerie entering the room.
"Two years," she said and when she saw Harry's and Molly's eyes grow wide she quickly added, "No, no. They haven't been screwing around behind your back for two years, that was an unlucky choice of words. But Hermione has been in love with Ginny for almost two years now. She never acted on it and it ate away at her. It killed her inside to know that Ginny was with you and that she could never be with her. She tried to get over it and move on, but she couldn't and that's why she started to withdraw from their friendship. She didn't want to hurt anyone. Ginny realised her feelings for Hermione at her birthday last year but didn't act on them for the same reasons. They were both hurting for such a long time and last Monday when everything blew up they just couldn't bear it anymore. As far as I know there was a kiss or two then but nothing else happened. They didn't even see each other until Friday. They went out for dinner and there were a couple of kisses but that's it, Harry. Ginny wanted to tell you on that Monday when you were over for dinner but you were gone when she got home and only found your letter. Hermione told me that Ginny had planned to talk to you today but I guess you know how the rest of the story goes." Valerie didn't really think it was her place to share that story but she wanted to prevent any more knee-jerk reactions and felt it was best to opt for full disclosure.
"Two years..." Molly mumbled.
"Why did Hermione never say anything? I mean, we're best friends she's supposed to come to me when she needs a friend," Harry's head spun.
"Yes, that would've worked really well," Valerie said sarcastically, "Harry, I'm in love with your girlfriend. You don't mind. Do you?...Very smooth."
"What do I do now?" Harry said, looking back and forth between the two women.
"Apologize," Molly said softly. Valerie nodded in agreement.
"Yes, that's the easy part. I am in fact sorry. But how do I walk away? How do I just let her go? I'm not prepared to do that," Harry was tearing up again.
Valerie squatted down in front of the broken mess that was Harry and said, "Go and apologise and then, if you can, try to catch a glimpse of Ginny's eyes when she looks at Hermione. It will hurt like hell but you'll see how happy she is with her and that should help you. She is in good hands at least. If all else fails you can always be happy it's Hermione and not a random dickhead she's leaving you for."
Harry nodded. He'd try. He wiped away a couple of tears and got up to find Ginny.
As soon as Harry had left the room, Molly sighed deeply, "Thanks for clearing up the whole thing a little, Valerie."
"I feel a bit bad about sharing a story that really isn't mine to tell, but I don't think it would have done anyone any good if I hadn't explained it," Valerie looked at Molly and saw something in her face she couldn't quite place, "Are you okay?" she asked.
Molly looked up, "Yes, I'm fine. It's just all very surprising, and so much is happening so fast. I think I just need time to process."
"It's difficult, you know. Coming out to your parents," Valerie had a faint idea what it was that Molly had to process.
"She knows I'll love her no matter what. Or at least I thought she did," Molly was grateful that Valerie caught on so quickly.
"I'm sure Ginny was just insecure. She was in a relationship with her best friend's best friend, while secretly loving her best friend, not wanting to risk any of the friendships involved. It gets to you. She knows you love her, I'm sure of that. But she also knows that you love Harry and I guess she didn't want to make it any harder for you. It's easy to get lost in your own thoughts and feelings and you feel alone and it doesn't occur to you that you don't have to go through all that on your own."
"You seem to understand all this very well..." Molly stated, thankful to have someone to talk to.
"I'm good with people, is all," Valerie dodged the implied question, "Take your time to process, and by all means, rather bite your tongue off before you say something discouraging. Not that I think you disapprove of them being together or anything. But if you do, keep it to yourself when they are around," Valerie added, a hint of bitterness in her voice.
"Sore point?" Molly asked. She was a mother after all and prided herself in knowing what was going on with the people around her.
"Yeah, sort of. But that's a story for another day," Valerie added before getting up, "now if you'll excuse me, I will go and check how this soap opera went on." And with that Valerie left Molly alone in Ron's room wondering what on earth a soap opera was.
Harry found Ginny and Hermione sitting under a tree in the Weasley's back yard. As he came closer he could see the happiness on Ginny's face that Valerie had been talking about. Her eyes all but sparkled with love for the brunette. He could also feel the pain Valerie had promised. He imagined an invisible hand tearing out his heart through his chest. He approached the women nonetheless, carefully stepping on a twig to give them a warning someone was near. He watched them turn their heads in his direction and the pained look return to Ginny's face. He couldn't read Hermione's face but he hardly ever could, he had gotten used to that.
Harry stopped and sat down in the grass opposite them, "I came to apologize. I know there isn't really an excuse for my actions, but I wanted you to know that I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you and I didn't mean to hurt you with what I said. Hell, I didn't even mean to treat you the way I've done for months now," Harry stopped talking, swallowing hard. There was a knot in his throat that wouldn't go away, trying to keep him from talking. He tried anyway, "I love you Ginny, and it will take me a while to get over you and move on, but I understand that you two are in love and have been for a while now. It's nobody's fault, it just is. I have to be honest, I'm not there yet, I can't tell you I'm happy for you two, but what I can say is that I want you to be happy and that I wish you all the best," Harry ended his little speech and got back on his feet. Ginny reached forward and quickly took his hand, "Thank you, Harry. You still mean a lot to me. I'll be there when you are ready to be friends again." With that Ginny let go of Harry's hand and both women watched him turn and walk away.
"What do we do now?" Ginny asked.
"I think we should probably get inside and see how your family is holding up. They probably have questions or will at least want to know you're alright," Hermione said, ever the practical one.
They got to their feet and made their way across the yard.
When they walked into the kitchen Harry and Ron had already left. George, Percy, Molly and Arthur were sitting and talking, each nursing a glass of firewhiskey.
"Where is Val?" Hermione asked.
"She went outside to take pictures." George answered.
"Alone?" Hermione's voice sounded alarmed.
"Erm...yes.." Percy answered confused.
"No..." Hermione turned on her heel and ran outside again looking for her flat mate. 'I told her not to wander off alone. I told her about Lucius. Dammit, Val, why don't you ever listen to me?' Hermione's thoughts raced, "Val, where are you?", she screamed.
The Weasleys came running out of the kitchen behind Hermione. With all of the day's events they had completely forgotten about Lucius Malfoy's threat. Ginny and George rushed to the broom shed to canvas the area from above. Molly and Arthur went one way on the ground and Percy caught up with Hermione, who had already started walking into the other direction.
Ginny saw something flash in the distance and pointed it out to George, "I think I saw someone casting something over there!" They both sped towards the flashes of white, wands at the ready. When they came nearer they could make out a slender woman's figure that quickly turned out to be Valerie. Another flash of white. 'Where was the attacker?' Ginny asked her brother as they sped on. They practically jumped off their broomsticks, ready to strike. Valerie almost jumped out of her skin, when Ginny and George landed next to her. "What the hell?" she cursed.
"Where is he?" Ginny said, slightly out of breath while turning around to make out the threat.
"Where is who?" Valerie was confused.
"We saw someone casting something here. We thought maybe Lucius..." George started but was cut off.
"There is no one here. What is going on?" Valerie was still confused.
"But we saw flashes, white flashes that looked like someone was casting some spells around here," George explained.
Valerie started to laugh. She doubled over and fell to her knees. She had to laugh even harder when she saw the confused faces of the two Weasleys in front of her. They were sure she had lost her mind. Valerie tried to calm down. She took her camera and held it right in front of their faces before pressing the trigger. A white flash lit up the air and the camera clicked.
Ginny and George looked at each other, or at least tried to, they had white dots dancing in front of their eyes. "I'm sorry I scared you guys, but I'm fine. Just taking pictures - with a flash," Valerie explained.
"We probably should get back and tell the others," Ginny said, embarrassed about her mistake.
"Erm...do you think I could maybe ride a broom with one of you? Do two people fit on it?" Valerie asked, unusually shy.
"Sure, hop on!" George smiled, he still couldn't believe they were dumb enough to confuse a photo flash with spell casting.
Valerie climbed onto George's broom sitting in front of him and holding on as tight as she could. George kicked off and soared into the air. Ginny followed suit.
Valerie squealed with joy. This was so much better than a roller coaster or a plane ride. It was like riding a motorbike, free and fast and daring. She enjoyed every second of it.
They saw Hermione and Percy in a field, wands alight since it had gotten dark by now. They both descended and Ginny called down to them, "Hermione, Percy, we found her! You can go back to the Burrow!" Hermione and Percy looked up and saw the three of them up in the air. Valerie was waving happily to Hermione.
'Oh no, not another one who likes to fly those damned broom sticks' Hermione thought to herself. She took a deep breath and called up, "Thank you! I'll send my Patronus to Molly and Arthur. We'll meet up at the Burrow. Expecto Patronum!"
Valerie saw a silvery blue otter shoot from Hermione's wand and speed off into the distance, "Wow, what was that?" she asked George, who then proceeded to explain the concept of a Patronus while flying them back to the Burrow.
Percy and Hermione apparated back into the kitchen, meeting Molly and Arthur who arrived a few seconds after them. Relieved, they all fell into the soft chairs in the sitting room. Two minutes later George and Valerie emerged with Ginny in tow.
"I told you not to wander off alone!" Hermione tried to be angry with her flat mate but was mostly just relieved to see her alive and well.
"I know. I'm sorry. I got carried away. I didn't mean to scare anyone," Valerie apologized, gazing at her feet.
"I need some more firewhiskey!" George stated and got up to get glasses and the bottle from the kitchen.
Valerie sat down on the comfortable sofa next to Hermione. Ginny was on Hermione's other side, her head on Hermione's shoulder and they were holding hands. Arthur, Molly, Percy and George sat on various armchairs, everyone nipping on their firewhiskey.
"I just wanted to say," Molly started, "even though there was a bit of drama involved and not everything went as you two probably planned it, I'm glad to see my daughter so happy and I'm happy to see Hermione so happy, too. You're like family to me, I hope you know that."
Valerie knew that Molly had obviously processed the initial shock of her daughter loving another woman. She smiled and inconspicuously raised her camera and took snapshots, recording the moment for later. Hermione and Ginny felt on top of the world. They were exhausted by the days' events but they were happy they could finally move on with their relationship. Ginny raised her head and looked into Hermione's caramel coloured eyes. She got lost in those eyes, those were the eyes of the woman she had waited a year to be with, the eyes she could sink into and make the world around her drift away, the eyes that promised love and happiness. For a moment there, Ginny felt alright again.
They all finished their firewhiskey and fell back into easy conversation, glad that the day was ending and with it all the drama.
At around midnight Hermione got up and announced that she was getting tired and that she and Valerie should probably be going.
"Of course, you probably have an early day tomorrow," Arthur said, hugging both Hermione and Valerie good bye before leaving the room. Percy politely said his good byes and stepped into the fireplace to floo home. George hugged his parents and went over to Hermione and Ginny pulling them both into a big group hug whispering into Hermione's ear, "Take good care of her, will you?"
They broke the hug and Hermione put her arm around Ginny's waist and pulled her close as George stepped into the fireplace.
"You will stay here?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, I think I'll stay the night, and get my things from Grimmauld tomorrow and then move into team quarters for as long as I can stand it," Ginny smiled.
"When will I see you again?" Hermione asked, playing for time. She liked having Ginny around and wasn't quite ready to leave yet.
"Hmm. We have a pretty tough game on Thursday, so the coach will not be happy to see me travelling back and forth this week. How about dinner on Friday?" Ginny suggested.
'Again? You keep me waiting for a week again?' Hermione thought. But she knew it wasn't by choice.
"Alright. I'll miss you terribly and I'll probably owl you non-stop." Hermione tucked an errand strand of hair behind Ginny's ear and softly touched her cheek. Ginny leaned in for a kiss. Soft at first, then more demanding. Hermione's fingers travelled from Ginny's hair to her waist and pulled her closer. Ginny let her hands travel, sending shivers down Hermione's spine. They were lost in each other, nothing else existed.
"Ahem..." Valerie cleared her throat, "There are still people in the room, you know."
The two witches ignored their friend for a second longer and then broke the kiss.
"I'll see you on Friday," Ginny said.
"Good luck for the game and try to be careful, yes?" Hermione said before stepping into the green fire with Valerie holding on to her,"Granger-Cox-Residence!"
A/N: So this was it. I'll try to have the next chapter up soon. I promise to further the actual story a bit next time. Let me know what you think in the reviews!