A/n: Sorry, guys, I'm a day late, but I do have a longer chapter than usual to make up for it!
Just a warning: the flashback contains more bad language, because Ron and Hermione are angsty teenagers. :P
The Tales of Weasley the Father
By dieselwriter
Chapter 5: The Tale of Time
Rosie had her father's temper.
"We are not going to be late, Dad! We've still got an hour!"
A children's Quidditch league had been set up a few years after the second Wizarding War ended. As such, Rosie's temper was quite useful when she played Beater on her Quidditch team.
"It takes a half hour to get to the field!"
"And then what? We just twiddle our thumbs for another half hour and wait?"
"Well, what if there's car trouble? Or traffic?"
"We have MAGIC! We can use MAGIC!"
However, Rosie's temper also got her into quite a bit of trouble.
"I can use magic, but not when there's Muggles all around watching! Now get in the CAR!"
Rosie wrenched the back door open and climbed in, slamming the door right behind her.
"Well?" Ron glared heatedly at his wife, who shrugged nonchalantly and followed her daughter into car with much more grace.
"HUGO!" Ron roared into the house, still irate.
"Coming, Dad!" Hugo shouted as he bounded down the porch stairs and entered the backseat beside his sister.
Ron magically locked the front door of the house before entering into the passengers' seat in the car, not quite controlling his anger enough as he slammed the car door shut.
The foursome drove off in silence, with Rosie staring resolutely out the window, fuming silently. Ron's jaw was clenched as he too glanced out the window. Hermione kept her eyes on the road, determinedly fighting off a smile. Hugo watched his father and sister curiously for a few minutes before breaking the silence.
"So, Mom, can we still stop for ice cream after the game?"
"I don't know Hugo…if these two can't behave, I'm not sure we'll be able to go," Hermione replied, giving her husband a sly grin.
Hugo elbowed his sister. "Rosie!" he hissed in her ear. "Apologize!"
"I'm not apologizing!" she returned quietly. "He yelled at me!"
"You yelled at him first!" Hugo whispered back furiously. "Apologize, so we can get ice cream after the game!"
But Rose folded her arms across her chest and continued to glare outside the window.
Another minute passed in silence before Ron broke it.
"You know what this reminds me of…."
Hugo, who was initially happy that his father had finally talked, now looked exceedingly displeased.
"No! No, Rosie, apologize now, before Dad tells another story!"
Rosie's frown twitched momentarily but she said nothing.
"I used to be late to class all the time when I was at Hogwarts," Ron started, ignoring what his youngest child had said.
"I don't see why I have to be punished too," Hugo grumbled, sinking into the seat beside his sister.
"And," Ron pushed on, "I found out one time that there are very good reasons to be late for class."
Despite the fact that Ron's 17th birthday was only a day away, he could not have been in worse spirits.
He had Apparition lessons planned, which he would properly botch up, Hermione was still distant despite his attempts to start civilized conversations with her, and he and Lavender were now having a bit of down time.
It had actually started ever since he had returned from Christmas; he wasn't sure why he was avoiding his own girlfriend now, but all he knew was that he couldn't stand to have her hanging on him every second he had free time.
And that was why he found himself heading to Defense Against the Dark Arts alone. He had chosen this path to purposefully avoid Lavender, but it also kept him out of the path of most other students. So when he heard a familiar voice off another hall, he made a detour to check it out. He did have 10 minutes before class started after all.
"Cormac, I told you I wasn't interested!"
"C'mon, 'Mione, don't be like that."
"That is NOT my name!"
Ron felt his blood boiling as he peeked around the corner to see Hermione staring down a bemused Cormac McLaggen.
"Look, I'm sorry, all right?" Cormac pleaded, holding his hands out defensively. "You just completely left me at Slughorn's party; I want an explanation."
"I'm not interested," Hermione repeated in a no nonsense tone. "Just leave me alone."
"You were all over me before—" Cormac replied angrily, but Ron doubted he could be angrier than he felt at hearing those words.
"I'm sorry I led you on," Hermione said, trying to maneuver around him but to no avail—he was rather bulky in the narrow hallway. "What do you want from me?"
Cormac gave her a scathing look before shoving his hands deep into his pocket and stepping aside. "Something you're obviously not willing to give."
Hermione looked at him in confusion before sighing and walking past.
"Is it Weasley?"
Ron felt all the air leave his lungs as Hermione froze on the spot.
"It is, isn't it? You used me."
It was the calm before the storm, and everyone present in the hallway could tell. Cormac's fists clenched tightly, his knuckles turning just as white as Ron's already were, and Hermione turned back to face Cormac with a stern look.
"This has nothing to do with Ron," she replied evenly.
"Bullshit," Cormac spat back. "This has everything to do with him. That son of a—"
"You have NO right!" Hermione shouted at him, her face bright red. "You have no right," she repeated quietly, threateningly, "to say anything about him."
"And you have no right to use me to make him jealous!" he shouted.
"I didn't use you—"
"You invited me to Slughorn's party—I did you a favor by going with you—and then you ditched me! You and Weasley have been rowing and you just picked me to go to that party because he hates me!"
"You did me a favor!" Hermione retorted shrilly. "Talk about bullshit—"
"And now you're splitting hairs," McLaggen fumed. "Does it matter? You took me and left me. Tell me this isn't about Weasley!"
Hermione was about to reply when he interrupted again.
"Be honest, Hermione; you're a crap liar."
She gave him a resolute glare before crumbling.
"I'm sorry you feel like I used you," Hermione said, actually sounding sincere. "I had no intention of hurting you. But this isn't about Ron, so don't bring him into it."
Her softened voice seemed to soothe Cormac a bit; his knuckles returned to a shade closer to his actual skin color as his fists unclenched.
"'Mione," he said, stepping forward to get in a cringing Hermione's way again, "why don't we go somewhere more…private…so we can talk this- us- over."
Hermione looked extremely startled by this abrupt change in conversation.
"Private?"
"Yeah, maybe the library. I know how much you like the library," he said silkily, mistaking Hermione's reluctance as playing hard to get.
"Cormac, we've already had this discussion," she said, but both Ron and Cormac could hear the tremor in her voice.
"You mean you've had this discussion," Cormac replied, some of the anger returned. "Whenever 'we' talk it always seems you do all the talking and I do all the listening."
Despite the situation, Ron understood where Cormac was coming from in that regard.
"I don't know how many times I can tell you that I'm not interested!" Hermione sounded exasperated now.
"You owe me," Cormac replied, equally frustrated. "For leaving me at that party by myself; I looked a fool!"
Ron smiled at his internal retort for that remark, but Hermione interrupted his thoughts.
"I'm sorry; I'm not interested. Leave me alone!"
And Hermione once again tried to get around Cormac, but he purposefully blocked her path easily.
"No."
Hermione looked huffily up in his face. Ron saw her fingers itching toward her wand but she refrained.
"What do you want, Cormac?"
His teeth ground together in consternation and he pounded his fist into the wall beside him.
"Go out with me. Give us a chance."
"No."
The two stared each other down as Ron decided enough was enough. He doubled back a little ways down the hallway before turning right back around and running full speed toward Hermione and McLaggen.
"Shit, shit, shit!" he hissed, deciding to play his part correctly.
"What's that?" he heard Cormac murmur.
"It sounds like...," Hermione started.
"Snape's gonna kill…me…" Ron rounded the corner and halted as he ran into the couple.
"Ron," Hermione whispered.
Ron was about to reply before Cormac stepped in front of her.
"What do you want, Weasley?" he snarled.
"Getting to class," he growled back before turning to Hermione with a slightly softer tone. "You coming?"
She gave him a very shrewd look before nodding her head and shifting her books to her hip.
"We'll finish this discussion later, Cormac," she informed the angry McLaggen as she successfully moved around him and headed down the hall.
McLaggen looked ready to strike Ron but he contented himself by cracking his knuckles menacingly.
Ron flashed him a smile before following after Hermione. Cormac continued to gnash his teeth but didn't say anything as they left.
Hermione must have picked up speed after turning the corner, because it took Ron a few minutes to catch up with her.
"You certainly took the scenic route to get to class," Hermione said as Ron advanced.
"Yeah, just trying to escape—umm, I mean, you know, always nice to explore the castle," Ron amended, suddenly feeling self-conscious.
"You didn't hear anything back there, did you?" Hermione sent him an icy glare as they turned a corner.
"What? Of course not," Ron answered, hoping he sounded properly scandalized at her claim. "I'm not one to eavesdrop on a private conversation."
Hermione continued to glare at him, as if trying to find the hidden meaning in what he said. He stared resolutely forward, not used to Hermione paying this much attention to him.
"So," Hermione broke the silence after a few minutes, "any big plans for your birthday this weekend?"
Ron stopped a moment, wondering if Hermione had actually spoken at all. The look she gave him told him she had, so he walked again, still quite shocked at having addressed him in a civilized manner.
"Nothing big," Ron said, "Apparition lessons, but not much else. Maybe I'll sneak Harry down to Hogsmeade and we'll get a pint at the Hogs Head."
Ron had meant it to be a joke, but Hermione must have missed the humor in his voice (it had been quite a while since they last conversed).
"Ron, Harry could get into serious trouble if he drank underage! And considering what happened the last time we went to Hogsmeade, I would think you'd at least think about poor Katie Bell housed up in St. Mungo's before dragging Harry back there."
"Are you serious?" Ron asked after a brief moment of absorbing Hermione's mini tirade. "You can be the biggest…."
"The biggest what, Ronald?" Hermione goaded, pulling out his full name from her arsenal of insults to incite him most affectively.
He didn't want to answer, but she had such a smug expression that he couldn't help himself.
"You can be the biggest bitch sometimes."
"Well," she spluttered, knowing that that was what he had wanted to say, but disbelieving that he'd actually said it, "you can certainly be a big arse most of the time."
Despite the fact she had meant it to be a serious insult, Ron grinned.
"That's twice I've heard you swear today, Hermione. What's become of you?"
"I've only sworn once in front of…" she stopped, glaring at him with such intensity that Ron lost his grin with a flinch.
"You WERE spying on us!" she shrieked, making Ron flinch again with the ferocity behind her words.
"Well that's what you get for having private conversations in the middle of corridors," Ron returned, walking on toward the classroom.
Hermione didn't say another word during their trip to the classroom; she instead spent her time boring a hole into the back of Ron's head with a heated glare.
They walked into Snape's classroom late, and most heads turned in surprise as they entered together.
"Let's see, two Gryffindors five minutes late; better make it 10 points from Gryffindor," Snape said silkily as the two found seats far away from the other. "And perhaps," he continued, noticing the icy coolness between the two, "detention. Sunday night, eight o'clock, my office."
Ron vented his contempt at having to do a detention the day after his birthday by nearly ripping his quill apart while taking it out of his bag. Hermione stopped glaring at Ron a moment to look properly ashamed for being late.
Snape smiled in evil delight before turning back to the lesson.
"You never made up that detention, did you?"
Ron rolled his eyes before giving his wife a half grin.
"That's not the moral of the story."
"Sorry," Hermione returned her attention to the road, a smirk on her face.
Ron refrained from giving another roll of his eyes and instead turned around in his seat to face his daughter and son. "So?"
"You can be late to class if you save Mum from socially awkward conversations," Hugo answered chirpily.
But Rosie had finally stopped staring out the window long enough to give her father a serious look.
"How did you get out of detention with Snape?"
"Professor Snape," Hermione interrupted out of habit.
"Right, well, how did you get out of detention with him then?"
"Got poisoned on my birthday," Ron replied, making a face and sticking out his tongue at Hugo.
"Mum was so mad at you she poisoned you?" Rosie asked incredulously, as her brother laughed at the absurd expression on his father's face.
"No!" Hermione replied defensively as Ron joined in with Hugo's laughter.
"It was an accident," Ron said with a chuckle. "And then your Uncle Harry got in trouble with Snape—"
"Professor Snape," Hermione interrupted again.
"Snape," Ron repeated emphatically, "and served detention until the end of the year. Snape was so happy he forgot about making sure I got punished."
"Poor Uncle Harry," Hugo said sympathetically.
The rest of the ride passed in relative silence and they were soon piling out of the car and heading toward the field.
"Rosie, come here and help me with this junk," Ron said, trying to gather all of her Quidditch equipment in his arms.
She doubled back and grabbed her Beater's bat as well as her broom out of his hands. Hermione and Hugo continued on as Rosie and Ron brought up the rear, staggering under all the weight of the gear.
"Y'know, you never figured out my moral," Ron said.
Rosie adopted the same somber expression she showed him in the car.
"It's okay to be late if it's for a good reason," she said after a while.
"And?" Ron supplied, quirking an eyebrow at her.
She looked confusedly at him, however.
"And…umm…Mum's got bad taste in boyfriends other than you?" she said, quite sure that wasn't the answer he wanted to hear.
He smiled at her though.
"Well, yes, that is true," he laughed as Hermione looked over her shoulder long enough to roll her eyes at them. "But I was going to say that we have different ideas in being on time, right?"
Rosie just nodded so Ron continued.
"Just because we don't see eye-to-eye on the matter doesn't mean we should fight over it. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too, Daddy," Rosie said, smiling back.
"Yes!" Hugo shouted to the surprise of the rest of the family. "Now we get ice cream after the game, right Mum?"
Rose laughed as she poked her brother in the back with her broom.
"Don't you pay attention, Hugo? You're not supposed to eavesdrop on private conversations."
"Don't hold your private conversations in the middle of Quidditch fields then!"
Ron and Hermione laughed as Rosie spent the remaining half hour before the game by chasing her brother around the field with her bat.
A/n: Woohoo! Another chapter done!
Thanks to all my wonderful, super, splendiferous reviewers! I hope you enjoyed my latest chapter!
Any grammar mistakes can be attributed to me watching The Mole while editing. :P I can't help myself; I love that show!
My next update will hopefully be this weekend, but if that doesn't work out I'll definitely have one up the weekend after that. Sorry guys, the only reason I was able to update at all this week was that I'm off of work for a week. Boo working! :(
So yeah, let me know what you thought of this chapter! Too long? Too boring? Too awesome? Review, please! I'll love ya forever!
-dieselwriter