AN: I don't own Harry Potter or any other characters. It's JK's world, I'm just visiting for a bit.

Thank you guys so much for the reviews, follows, and faves.

There's more drama in this chapter, but I think it adds to Ron's character trying to adjust.

Again, another longer than usual chapter coming in at almost 2,750 words. I can't help it. With my new laptop it's easier for me to get carried away and not be able to pick a stopping spot. You're welcome.

Alright, my lovelies. Go! Read and enjoy!

Ron Weasley sat in the living room of the Burrow grumbling quietly to himself, not seeing the strange looks Harry kept shooting him from beside him. Today was the day Snape's mum was marrying Professor Flitwick. That thought alone gave him the willies. The fact everyone in his family was making a big deal about it was just setting his teeth on edge.

"Ron, dear, go get changed." Molly said as she walked past him. "We need to be at Hermione's by three." she added.

Walking to his room with heavy steps, he childishly slammed the door as he entered. Going to his bed, he flung himself down on it, covering his eyes with his right arm. He didn't want to get changed, he didn't want to go to this wedding, and he didn't want to be around people right now.

"Yeah?" he called as someone knocked on the door.

"Hey." Harry said as he entered. "What's wrong?" he asked, sitting down on the edge of Ron's bed.

"Everything." Ron answered, not bothering with uncovering his eyes.

"Okay." Harry said slowly. "Like what?"

"I just...I don't know, really." Ron said. "I don't know why we have to go to this thing today."

"Because we were invited, for one. It's..."

"It's Snape's mum, Harry!" Ron exclaimed. "Snape!" he said again.

Harry nodded and looked at Ron with a frown. "Yeah? So?" he said.

"Why do we have to go to the Greasy Git's mum's wedding?" Ron asked. "We never liked Snape in school, and he sure as hell didn't like us. Plus, I've only met his mum twice." Ron said, sitting up.

"Uh...no." Harry said. "You've met her more than twice, mate."

"When?" Ron asked in a confused voice.

"Ron, Snape's mum is Madam Pince." he said. At Ron's blank look, he continued. "Librarian at Hogwarts." he added.

Ron's eyes got wide as he remembered seeing her at Hogwarts. "Oh." he said. Giving a little shiver, he said, "That's bloody weird, yeah?"

''A bit." Harry nodded. "But no weirder than her marrying Flitwick." he added. "What else is wrong?"

''I don't know if I belong here anymore, Harry." he said quietly.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I was over at Ginny's last night for a bit, and for a while it was just us. And it was nice. Like old times. But then, Malfoy came home. And I watched them hugging and he kissed her, and I just wanted to start yelling about how wrong it was." Ron said.

"Ron..." Harry sighed.

"And it's not just that. Every time I see Mione with Snape, or her kid, I just...I mean, we've been back for what, eight months or so now? And I just can't get over that she married him." he said. "I feel like we're living in some alternate universe, or something."

"You're thinking of leaving, again, aren't you?" a harsh voice asked from the door.

"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed, looking up. "How long have you been standing there?" he asked warily.

"Long enough." she said in a hard voice. "Answer the question." she said, glaring at Ron.

"No." Ron said. "Maybe. I don't know." he added.

"So that's it, huh?'' she asked, walking over to him as Harry tried to make himself invisible, knowing what Ginny's temper was like. "You come back long enough to totally disrupt our lives, then plan on leaving again? What, were you gonna sneak away like last time?" she asked.

"NO! Merlin, Ginny, give me some credit." he said, standing up. "I'm trying, and I've been trying for eight months, but I don't know if I can do this."

"Do what? What is it you can't do, exactly?" she yelled.

"Be apart of all...this." Ron said, waving his hand in the air. "Hermione being married to Snape. You and Malfoy. Not to mention Hermione's mum and Lucius Malfoy. Not to mention the Burrow being different." he said. "It's just too weird. Even after all this time, Ginny."

"You listen and you listen good, Ronald Bilius Weasley." Ginny said in a dangerous tone. "I don't give a thestral's ass what you can't do. You leave again with no notice, and cut off contact with Mum again and break her heart, and after I have this baby, I'll hunt you down and make you wish you were never born." she warned. Smiling a bit, she said in an overly sweet voice, "But I know you're not going to. You know what you are going to do?"

"What?" Ron asked keeping an eye on his sister's wand, which was still tucked behind her ear.

"You're gonna SUCK IT UP AND DEAL WITH IT!" she yelled. "You don't get to abandon us again just because you don't like how our lives are, Ron! You don't get to sit here bitching about how wrong everything is when you weren't here to deal with it in the first place! You should've known nothing was gonna be the same SEVEN YEARS LATER! You should've known you'd have to adjust!"

"I'M TRYING, GINNY!" Ron yelled. Letting out a breath, he sank back down on his bed. "It's not easy, alright. I knew things were going to be different, but not this different. I didn't think Hermione was going to marry the teacher who made our lives hell, or have a kid with him, and be happy about it. I didn't think that not only would her mum marry a Malfoy, but so would you. I just didn't think, I guess." he said sadly.

Ginny nodded. "Well, that's certainly true." she snorted.

"Oi!"

"Fine. You didn't count on things being this different. I can understand that. But you need to accept that this is how things are now." she said. "Now, before I go get ready, I have just one more thing to say. Ron, either you're going to get on board, or you're not. No more of this back and forth crap, alright." Ginny said.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Either you be fully supportive all the time, or you don't. Because I gotta say, after eight months, I'm getting a little tired of your attitude, Ron." she said. "It's been eight months since you've been back, and for eight months we've all been defending our lives to you. One day you're supportive, and the next you're not. Then you're supportive again. Then you're not. Then you are, then you're not. Enough is enough already. Either go full on supportive, or bugger off." she said. "But, fair warning. I wasn't kidding about hunting you down." she said. Turning her head to look at Harry glared at him. "That goes for you, too, Potter." she said before she turned and left the room, slamming the door shut hard enough to rattle the windows in Ron's room.

"Bloody hell." Ron whispered after a moment.

"She wasn't wrong, you know." Harry said quietly.

"What?" Ron asked with a frown. "You're taking her side? After she just threatened us?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded. "If you haven't noticed Ron, I've been more supportive these last few months." he said. "Have you even been to visit Hermione since she had Nicholas? Have you spent any time getting to know Malfoy? Either of them? Or Snape, for that matter?"

"Well...no." Ron admitted. "I mean, I tried to spend some time with Malfoy after I found out he was a part of the family, but then that got too weird, so..." he trailed off.

"There you go." Harry said. "Maybe that's why you feel the way you do. You haven't been trying to get accustomed to the way things are now. You don't want to adjust, so you've been putting up a fight to."

"Maybe."

"How about this, Ron. After the wedding today, me and you spend some time with Hermione for a bit?" Harry asked. After they had come back, he tried to start spending more time with Hermione and getting used to her life now, and he felt more than comfortable now with the way things had become after they left. "Start giving things a chance, yeah?"

"Yeah, alright." Ron agreed.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I now present Mr. and Mrs. Filius Flitwick." the official said as Eileen and Filius turned to face the crowd with smiles on their faces.

"How long until we go to dinner?" Ron asked Harry in a whisper from the back row.

Harry looked at his watch, and then back at Ron. "About twenty minutes or so."

"Bloody hell." Ron whispered. He had missed lunch and was now starving. And the ceremony seemed to drag on and on for him.

"Hey, guys." Hermione smiled as she came over to them. "You two want to ride with me to the restaurant?" she asked.

"Why don't you apparate?" Ron asked with his head tilted.

"Well, Nicholas is still too small to apparate with, so driving is safer for now." she said.

"Hermione, Nicholas needs changed before we go to the restaurant." Severus said from behind her, holding Nicholas.

"And that's my problem, why?" she asked as she turned around. At Severus' look, she sighed. "Alright, but you need to change one eventually, you know." she said."Come to mummy, sweetheart." she said, reaching out for her son. Checking his diaper, she saw that he did indeed need changed. "I'll be back, guys." she said, turning to go up to the house.

Harry nudged Ron as she started to leave, gesturing for him to go with her. Ron nodded, and ran to catch up with her.

"You don't mind if I come, do you?" he asked as he got into step beside her.

"Not at all." she smiled.

"Merlin, it feels nice out here." Ron said as they got outside. "I thought it'd be colder than it is."

"Yeah, thank Severus for that. He put up a warming charm around the back yard for the day. He didn't want Nicholas to get too cold while we were walking to the greenhouse." she explained.

"Oh." he said. "Maybe later." he said.

Once they were in the house, he went to the nursery with her. He was surprised to see it wasn't all baby books and potions stuff for kids. The nursery was done in a theme of ships. The walls were a dark cream color with light brown horizontal stripes. The carpet was white, and very plush beneath his feet. There was a ship's wheel mounted on one wall, with paintings of seas on either side. The ceiling was also a dark cream color, with a large compass painted on around the light. On the left wall was the beautiful mural Luna had painted of a serene looking ocean with a big ship sailing on it. There was a window seat with blue and white pillows, and floor to ceiling shelves on both sides filled with miniature ships and lighthouses, as well as a few teddy bears dressed as sailors. Nicholas' crib was black - he should've seen that coming - with white bedding, and there was a white gliding rocker with a ottoman in front of it to the right of the window seat.

"Blimey, this is nice." Ron said.

"Thanks." Hermione said as she laid Nicholas down on the changing table. "Severus wanted to do a jungle theme in here, but I thought a sailor theme was cuter." she said, smiling down at her son. "Please don't pee on mummy." she said, making Ron chuckle as he listened to her talking to Nicholas.

"I don't think I told you that you look nice today, Hermione." he said.

He wasn't lying, either. Hermione was wearing a turtle necked grey sweater dress with black tights and grey high heeled knee high boots. Her hair was hanging free around her, but with a black clip at the base of her neck holding it away from her face. Besides her wedding ring, the only jewelry she had on was a pair of black diamond hoop earrings and a silver watch he caught sight of when she pushed her sleeves up. She even looked like she had done her nails, too.

"Well, thank you." she said, flashing him a quick smile before looking back to Nicholas. "I talked to Ginny earlier." she said quietly, not looking at him.

Ron flushed as he looked down at his shoes. "Oh?" he asked in what he hoped was a calm voice, hoping he didn't give away the fact that with that simple sentence his heart had started racing.

"Yes. And I hope you know that when she goes looking for you, I'll be right beside her." she said in a fake cheery voice as she kept her attention on Nicholas.

"Hermione, I..."

"Did you know that after my mum married Lucius, that it still took me over a year to be a hundred percent comfortable with it?" she asked, ignoring him. "Or that I couldn't acknowledge their marriage for almost two years?"

"No."

"Did you also know that even after forgiving Draco, I still didn't believe he had really changed?" she asked, putting Nicholas' trousers back on him and picking him up.

"No."

Turning to face him, she pulled Nicholas' sweater down a bit as she held him. "It's not only you, Ron. I had a hard time dealing with all the changes, too." she said.

"Yeah, but they weren't thrown at you all at one time, were they?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "No. You're right, they weren't." she said. "But some of them were hard to deal with. Even being here to witness them wasn't the easiest thing, Ron."

Ron frowned. He hadn't thought out it from her point of view. He hadn't stopped to think about what it was like for her. First dealing with Harry and him leaving, then her dad dying, her mum marrying Lucius Malfoy, Ginny marrying Draco, her own romance, then the baby, her life probably wasn't what she had envisioned all those years ago. Yet here she was, accepting all of the changes. And more gracefully than he was.

"I didn't think of that." he said.

"I may be crazy for this, but I hope you stick around. Change can be difficult to deal with, but some things are worth it." she said softly, smiling at her son who she noticed was watching Ron.

"Yeah." Ron agreed, looking back at Nicholas. "I guess so, huh?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Would you...?" Hermione asked, gesturing toward Nicholas.

"Can I?" he asked, with what looked to be wet eyes.

"Sure. Just be gentle with him." she said, handing her son to Ron.

Ron looked at Nicholas as he cradled him. Despite looking like a mini-Snape, but with Hermione's nose, he really was a cute little guy. Especially in his little black trousers and his little green long sleeve shirt Hermione had dressed him in.

"Thank Merlin he doesn't have Snape's nose." Ron said, making Hermione burst out laughing.

"Come on. Let's go eat." she said, still laughing as they walked downstairs.

Review please.

There you go. I hope this chapter made up for the lack of Ron in the last couple of chapters.

Til next time!

XOXO - Onyx Obsidian