Family Ties

(pairing) Hermione/Cormac, Ron
Word Count: 859

Written for:
DelusionalMeanings for the August Monthly Oneshot Exchange, prompt used 'speechless', genre: friendship/family
Hogwarts September Event, prompt used: 'received Hogwarts letter'.

"I can't find them anywhere."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she wrapped her scarf around her neck, watching as her lanky boyfriend stumbled around the living room, overturning various objects on his search. "Do you have to smoke those horrible things?" she asked, referring to the box of cigarettes that he was looking for.

Cormac leaned up from looking behind the sofa and raised an eyebrow at Hermione. "Do we need to have that conversation again?"

Hermione attempted to roll her eyes, but the shadow of a grin was spreading across her face. She secretly didn't mind that Cormac indulged in the occasional cigarette—when she kissed him in the morning, he tasted like smokey-hot black coffee, and oddly, that was a good thing.

She imagined that if she held her head over a vat of Amortentia nowadays, it would probably stink to high heavens of cigarettes.

"Hurry up," she replied, watching as he struggled to stretch his long arm behind the couch. "The kids will be here soon."

"Aha," he suddenly reared up from the sofa, clutching a small, silver cardboard box. He popped the lid open and took one of the cigarettes between his teeth, reaching for his wand to light it with. However, at that point, a loud knock echoed through the living room.

"Come in!" Hermione shouted, and the sound of footsteps and laughter filled the house. Her two children, Hugo and Rose, bustled into the living room, followed by their father, Ron.

"MUM!" bellowed Hugo, almost knocking her over as he bowled straight into her. "Mum, we had such a great weekend! Dad took us to the zoo to see the lions, and one of them came straight up to me and roared right in my face, didn't it, Dad? Dad?"

As Hugo was chattering ten words to the dozen, Ron was glaring at Cormac, who was still standing awkwardly. As soon as the children had rushed into the room, he had taken the cigarette from his lips and subtly hidden it in his back pocket, but it hadn't gone unnoticed by Ron.

"—I thought it smelt funny in here," Ron suddenly interrupted Hugo. "You're letting him smoke in the house, now?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No it doesn't. Carry on, Hugo?"

Hugo's grin spread, the way it often did when the limelight had been placed back on him. "Oh, and guess what happened? Guess what Rose got!"

"No, I want to tell her!" Rose suddenly elbowed Hugo out of the way and beamed up at Hermione. "Mum, I got a letter from Hogwarts! My very own letter—Professor Flitwick sent it, and it has a list of everything that I have to have when I go in September!"

"Oh, well done Rosie!" Cormac exclaimed, feigning speechlessness. Rose grinned.

"I'm so happy! Come on then, go put your bags away so we can get going," Hermione told Rose, stroking back her red, bushy hair. Both children bustled past each other to get to the stairs, leaving Hermione and Cormac alone with Ron.

He mooched awkwardly by the doorway, his hands thrust in the pockets of his baggy jeans. Hermione recognised the pouty look on his sallow face—it was an expression that Hugo wore when he didn't get his own way.

"You're going out?" he muttered, avoiding looking at Cormac.

"Yes," Hermione replied, forcing herself not to sound stiff. The few chance meetings with her ex-husband like this were always awkward, but not because of her—Ron always made things difficult with his bad attitude, even though he had wanted a divorce just as much as Hermione had. "We're going to Cormac's parents house for dinner."

"I expect my sister will be there too—she's married to Herman Wintringham, you know," Cormac addressed Ron personally, while Hermione groaned inwardly. Cormac didn't mean to sound big-headed; he was just trying to make polite conversation with Ron as he always did—but he had a knack for making things worse.

"Of the Weird Sisters?" Ron replied, his voice slightly strained. "How wonderful for her."

Hermione glared between the two men—her lover and her ex-husband. "Shouldn't you be off anyway, Ron?" Hugo and Rose took that moment to fly back into the living room, and Hermione sighed with relief. "Say goodbye to your dad, kids!" she told them, and they obediently threw themselves on their father.

As Ron made his way to the door after promising to pick Hugo and Rose up by Wednesday, Hermione couldn't help but smile slightly at Ron's poor attitude. Even though things were so different now, some things never changed.