A/N- Whee next chappy! You guys will love the slight twist at the end, I swear. The Christmas holidays are the perfect time for building relationships, are they not? -wink- Anyways, thank you for the reviews, and alerts! I can't believe how many people are reading my story. Thank you again, and enjoy! (Ron lovers, I apologise!)
Hermione arrived in front of the Burrow with a loud CRACK. She caught her bearings, and looked around at the snow that lightly dusted the landscape. Quite a change from warm, sunny Australia, she thought to herself with a chuckle. Wrapping her cloak around her tightly, she walked up to the lopsided house she knew so well, and entered.
"HERMIONE!" a loud squeal came from the direction of the kitchen, and the next second someone had rammed into her and was hugging her tightly.
"Hi, Gin," Hermione wheezed, as she hugged the excited redhead back.
"Oh Hermione, welcome home!" Mrs. Weasley said as she rushed from the kitchen after her daughter. She waited patiently for Ginny to be done, and went to hug a grinning Hermione.
"Hi, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said as she heartily returned the older woman's hug.
"Oi, 'Mione!" Harry said with a grin as he strode from the living room. "Nice to see you can take a break," he said jokingly as he leaned in to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Hermione laughed, and walked with her friends back into the kitchen after she had dumped her cloak on the large pile of abandoned travel wear. She walked in to see a surly-looking Ron peeling potatoes. Hesitantly, she walked up to him. "Hello, Ronald," she said kindly.
Ron turned to look at her, and gave her a small smile. "Hey, 'Mione," he said as he gave her a one armed hug.
Hermione smiled back encouragingly, and went to work on helping him with the peeling.
Luna and Draco arrived shortly after Hermione, and the afternoon passed in good cheer. Harry cracked jokes with Ron, and the redheaded boys mood improved as the afternoon went on. Everyone was at the table when they heard the door slam, and they all turned towards the door in unison. The twins walked in, huge grins on their faces as they deposited a large pile of Weasley's Wizarding Wheeze's products on the floor.
"Merry Christmas!" they shouted in unison, spreading their arms and looking around.
Harry roared with laughter as he bounded up to give the twins a hug. Ginny followed him, and Luna stood up serenely and gave Fred and George a firm handshake, which they ignored, engulfing her in a large hug anyways. Ron had made a beeline for the pile, and started to pick out what he wanted, not giving the twins more than a muttered hello.
"Woah, little brother," Fred began, eyeing Ron with amusement.
"Acting a bit selfish, aren't we?" George tutted as he waved his wand and the objects that Ron had in his hand zoomed back to the pile, much to Ron's anger. The twins ignored his cry of protest, turning instead to face their mother.
"Those are for the family, they are," Fred added indignantly. "Where's dad at?"
"And Bill and Fleur?" George asked as he looked around.
"Your father is at the Ministry, he should be home soon," Mrs. Weasley answered. "All that nasty business with some new curse, he's been severely over worked the past few weeks." She tutted at the idea of her husband working on Christmas day. "Bill and Fleur should be here soon, I don't know what is taking them so long."
Harry nodded. "It's pretty terrible at the ministry," he added. "New people are getting cursed every day and we still have yet to catch whomever is using the curse on innocent people."
Hermione remained silent, all though she was pleased to hear the Minister had taken hers and Severus's advice to heart, and had started to focus their attention on catching whomever was using the curse.
"Oi, it should be some sort of bad luck to be discussing depressing things like that on Christmas," George said indignantly.
"How about a game of Quidditch, everyone?" Fred asked enthusiastically as he turned to walk outside.
Everyone agreed heartily, except Hermione. She watched the group stomp outside, remaining inside due to the fact she didn't play Quidditch. She enjoyed a lovely chat with Mrs. Weasley, and was relieved that the Weasley patriarch didn't make any mention of her and Ron. Mr. Weasley came home a couple hours before dinner, and the thoroughly windblown and red-faced Quidditch players bustled inside shortly after. They all complained heartily about frozen appendages, and spent a few minutes shoving each other out of the way to get to the fire. Eventually Harry grew exasperated with the pushing, and performed a warming spell on himself, which everyone soon copied, with many sighs of relief.
Hermione smiled. It was so good to be back with her friends, and especially since Ron was being civil. They had parted on good terms, at least that was how Hermione saw it, and it was good that the boy was minding himself. The evening went on, and eventually she tired of gossiping with Ginny, and rose to go find Harry. She found him alone in the kitchen, watching the ham slowly turn itself over the magically lit fire beneath it. "Hey Harry," she said as she sat down on the chair next to him and scooted it closer to the black haired man.
Harry looked at her and grinned, throwing his arm around her. "Hey Hermione, everything going well?" he asked conversationally.
"As well as it could be," she replied. She filled him in on all that her and the potions master had discovered. "Snape is really the most emotionally distanced man I have ever come across," she stated. "He's so difficult to work with, but there are moments that make me enjoy being around him," Hermione said thoughtfully.
There was a crash, and both Hermione and Harry jolted up to see where it had come from. Ron stood behind them, his mug of hot chocolate splattered across the floor. "Snape?" he said incredulously as he stared at Hermione, his face slowly growing an unpleasant shade of red. "Why are you talking about Snape?"
Hermione looked at Ron in surprise. "Not that it's any of your business," she replied haughtily, "but I work with him, you know. We teach at the same school, and we are working together on a private project."
Ron turned an even darker shade of maroon, and looked from Harry to Hermione. "Is that what you're calling it now? How long have you been shagging him, 'Mione?" he said loudly.
Hermione stepped back, shocked. Sleeping with Snape? Ron thought she was actually sleeping with Severus Snape. She laughed loudly at the ludicrousness of the idea, which only served to anger Ron further. "Ron, we broke up. You cheated on me, what I do with my personal life is absolutely none of your business, why are you getting so angry over something that hasn't happened?"
"It's fucking true, isn't it?" He shouted angrily, clenching his fists. Mrs. Weasley came rushing in at his outburst, and stood there, shocked at the scene in front of her.
"You're fucking shagging Severus Snape! Is that why you left me, eh?" Ron hissed angrily and pointed an accusing finger at Hermione. "I loved you, Hermione. I fucking loved you, and you don't want a second chance with me, instead you do this! Is this your sick idea of revenge?"
"Ronald, dear, perhaps–" Mrs. Weasley began as she made a move to grab her son.
"No, mum, don't take that whores side," Ron said scathingly as he brushed his mother off, and advanced on Hermione.
Harry stepped in front of the angry redhead. "Ron, stop, she isn't shagging him, and you're drunk. Piss off before you say something you'll regret," he said firmly as he shoved Ron's chest, forcing him back and causing him to stumble slightly.
Ron ran at Harry, shoving him aside, and Harry stumbled over a rug, falling back on the table. Ron continued walking towards Hermione, brown eyes glittering furiously.
"Ronald, honestly," Hermione said angrily. "I am not sleeping with Severus Snape! And even if I were," she added venomously, her hair nearly crackling in anger. "It wouldn't be any of your bloody business. You cheated on me, Ron. You did. We agreed to end it, and you said you accepted it. We agreed to be civil, Ronald, what on earth has gotten into you?"
"Ron's had too much firewhiskey," Gin said angrily as she stood by her mum. "He always does this, the prick. Gets drunk on Christmas day because he can."
Draco looked as though he agreed, but he stayed silently behind Ginny. He didn't feel like getting in the middle of things, especially with how well things were going between their two families.
"So you are fucking him, aren't you?" Ron asked again, not paying attention to what Hermione and Ginny were saying. "You fucking slut! How could you possibly walk into my home after laying in bed with that – that – perverted, old man?" he spluttered, his face turning a ugly shade of scarlet.
Hermione felt tears prick her eyes. "Ronald, how dare you call me a slut," she said angrily as she swiped a tear off her cheek. The fact that he was drunk didn't stop the words from stinging her. "Especially after what you did. You don't have that right, or the right to even have an opinion on whom I wish to be with."
"Oh, what I did?" Ron laughed maniacally. "At least I'm not pathetic enough that I have to sleep with a Death Eater," he hissed.
"Death eater?" Hermione repeated shrilly, the tears falling fast now. "That man is worth ten times anything you could ever hope to be!"
"You're just saying that because he's stuffing you with his cock," Ron scoffed, his brown eyes filled with contempt.
At that, George let out a yell and tackled his brother, and Fred joined in angrily. The twins loved Hermione like a sister, and Ron saying that to her was it for them. They held Ron back as he tried to struggle out of their grasp, he looked as though he was ready to attack Hermione. Ron continued to yell obscenities at her, and Molly gasped at what her son was saying, and looked at Hermione, mortified at her sons behavior.
Hermione backed slowly to the wall, shaking her head at what Ron was screaming at her, and ran out of the room. She heard Harry shout out after her, but she didn't listen. Ginny rushed out of the kitchen to see Hermione grab her cloak and run outside. Hermione stumbled on the last step, but got up quickly and spun rapidly, thinking of the first place that came to mind as she disappeared. Landing, she looked at where she had arrived.
It was the porch of a great black mansion that looked vaguely familiar, but Hermione didn't bother trying to figure out where it was. Gasping, she crumpled on the floor and started to sob, drawing her knees up against her chest, hugging herself tightly. She heard footsteps coming from within the building, but didn't pay them any attention, she was too angry. The door opened, casting her in a sqaure of yellow light. She turned to look at who had opened the door, and saw a pair of shiny black dragon hide boots. Dragging her gaze up the body, she looked up, peering blearily at the face of a very surprised Severus Snape.