Chapter Twenty-Three: Clearing the Air

The kitchen at Grimmauld Place was a horrible place. The House Elf that was supposed to keep the place clean had not done so. Arthur knew his wife had done all she could to make not just the kitchen workable but the rest of the house liveable. As he looked at the woman he had loved for over half of his life, he took a few moments to choose his next words.

'Molly,' he began, 'I have loved you since before I knew what it was to love somebody, and I always will, however, these last few months, I have been finding it very difficult to like you very much. At a meeting before the summer holidays you agreed that our son was a liability. You also agreed to a plan that forced a young woman to choose between her only ever friends and court a young man she does not love. You then forced our son out of his childhood home when you told him that you planned to foist that unpleasant old bag, Muriel, upon him for seven weeks, and now, you are sending him Howlers for defending himself – most admirably I might add – from four other boys.

'Also, I have recently discovered that you have been allowing Ginny to perform underage magic at home. Do you have any idea how much trouble I would be in at the Ministry if Fudge found out about it?

'It would not just be me, either; you would be facing charges as would Ginny. Speaking of Ginny, I have heard that she pretty much whips out her wand and hexes her brothers on a regular basis, sometimes for the most insignificant of things. During the last altercation between Ginny and Ron last Friday evening, Ron disarmed her for the second time in three months and for the same thing: attempting to curse him and Hermione.

'Yesterday morning he returned her wand to her, unfortunately, it was in two pieces,' finished Arthur.

'He broke her wand? Now he really has gone too far!' exclaimed Molly.

'I don't agree, in fact I think Ginny got what she deserved, and I am prohibiting you from buying her a new wand! If Ron had to go a whole year unable to do magic, so can Ginny! After all, it's not like you made any effort to replace the broken old wand that was Charlie's with a wand that had chosen Ron, is it?' said Arthur.

Molly found herself unable to make a reasonable argument.

'Furthermore, Ginny needs to learn that magic is a gift and she needs to learn to be responsible. Ginny needs to learn restraint and to control her emotions, and I think not being able to whip out her wand and hex somebody because she feels like it will do her some good, and hopefully keep her from getting into trouble with the Improper Use of Magic Office for breaking the bloody law! You need to take her in hand, Molly, because I shouldn't, and I suggest you start right now!' Arthur told her. 'That is an order from the Head of the Ancient and most Noble House of Weasley.'

Before Molly could say anything, there was a knock on the kitchen door before Sirius popped his inside and said, 'A letter has just arrived for you, Molly, and I'm pretty sure it isn't a Howler.'

Sirius handed Molly the letter, and very carefully she opened it to see that all that was inside was a letter. Arthur watched as his wife read the letter as her face went red with anger.

When she had finished reading, she said, 'Your son has gone too far this time, Arthur!'

'My son?' he said coolly, 'and what has he done now?'

'He forced Harry, Fred and George to buy back their wands!' she yelled.

'What about Neville's wand, Molly?' he replied.

'He gave it back to Neville for free because of its sentimental value to the poor boy,' said Molly. 'It was his father's old wand,' she clarified.

Arthur and Sirius shared a sad smile as they thought of Frank Longbottom, who was in the Permanent Spell Damage Ward at St. Mungo's Hospital.

'So, my son is not so evil after all, even if he does have a truce with a Malfoy,' Arthur said coolly.

'He has what?' yelled Molly.

'He does? How did you know about that?' asked Sirius.

'Percy told me as it was in a letter that Ron had written to him,' replied Arthur.

Arthur then decided to leave Molly alone to think about their conversation.

While the talk between his parents had been going on in London, Ron and Hermione were relaxing after finally finishing their homework. They were in his room kissing. Having Hermione lying on top of him as they kissed each other senseless was definitely Ron's favourite way to relax after a long day of learning. He had always known she was passionate, having heard her views on house elves last year, but when they were kissing passionately, the only word appropriate was: amazing. Hermione's lips moved to his neck and so he was able to speak.

'I love you, Hermione …' he said huskily, before Hermione reclaimed his lips again.

His hands were on her arse, squeezing, pinching and playfully swatting, making her moan into his mouth. Hermione was so beautiful and sexy it was ridiculous. However, she did not think she was all that pretty never mind what he told her, and then there was the sex.

The sex they had together was mind-blowing. Ron was convinced that out of every other man in the whole world, he was having better sex than all of them.

Eventually, he and Hermione fell asleep in each other's arms after making love.

By the time the nineteenth of September arrived, Ron and Hermione's lives had been very easy. Lessons were challenging, patrols were dull, but time alone with each other more than made up for it, and the truce with Malfoy was also paying dividends, simply because it was pissing off Harry Potter.

They soon discovered that humour and Malfoy did not go together at all. The so-called jokes that Malfoy deployed about other people were lame, it was much the same as the crap he had sent in their direction for four years, and so it was a case of just tolerating him for a short period of time.

When Ron awoke on Hermione's birthday, he found that she was still in his arms and naked. She had told him that it was easier to sleep naked with him than it was to wear something to bed. Ron woke her up by kissing her and she was soon returning the embrace.

'Morning, beautiful birthday girl,' he said once they broke apart.

'Mmm, kiss me, Ron,' she said.

Ron complied for several minutes before Hermione remembered that it was still a school day so they had to get out of bed and dress for the day.

As Ron watched her dress, he said, 'Are you sure you don't mind waiting until tonight to open your presents?'

'Of course not, and besides, I don't really have a choice now, do I?' she replied.

Ron walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist and said, 'Why might that be? It wouldn't be because you couldn't keep your hands off of me?'

'Yes,' she murmured before they shared another loving kiss.

'I love you, Hermione.'

'I love you too, Ron.'

Harry Potter had been sitting in the Great Hall with Neville, the twins and Ginny. Harry had been thinking about the things that had gone on since the beginning of term. First, there was Umbridge, the horrible, pink clad toad of a woman who had been the Defence professor for two days before being dismissed by Dumbledore. The strange Luna Lovegood girl, who had told him that she, too, could apparently see the ugly horses that pulled the carriages, and then there had been the fight with Ron and Hermione.

Harry couldn't help feeling sad about the whole thing. The truth was that he did miss them. He missed being able to go to Hermione for help with Potions, and he missed the humour that only Ron could provide. But then the fight happened. Of course, he had been hit a fair amount by Dudley, but being hit by Ron hurt far more. Physically and emotionally, it had hurt a lot. Today made it worse. Today is Hermione's birthday, and he had had to watch them enter the hall together and saw that they were really happy as Ron had the most content look on his face while Hermione was glowing, and if he was honest, he wished he could tease them about it, banter with Ron until he got the finger in response and Hermione would tell off Ron for it.

Harry thought about his new friends: Neville, Fred, George, Ginny and Luna.

Neville seemed to have gotten over the rejection by Hermione, but his self-esteem was still taking a battering from Snape in Potions. Neville didn't make him laugh as much as Ron used to, but then again, he had Fred and George to make him laugh nowadays. Although Fred and George were having their own problems; all of their joke products were gone since Ron had used the vanishing spell on them. Furthermore, they had had to remove their advertisement for premises as they could no longer afford it since Ron had relieved them of five hundred Galleons to get all their wands back, and now it looked like they would have to take their N.E.W.T exams after all, as they were thinking of leaving once the Quidditch Cup had been decided.

Then there was Ginny.

The changes in Ginny had been remarkable. He had been glad that she wanted to be his friend, and had been pleasantly surprised that she could talk in front of him now since she had a rather big crush on him, so maybe she had gotten over it. However, he had been taken aback by the things that she had been saying about her own brother. Harry hoped for Ginny's sake that she had gotten over him, because a, he still fancied Cho, and b; he did not find the permanent angry look on her face or her attitude towards Ron and Hermione very attractive. He looked over to Cho and saw that she had been crying again, and he knew that he did not have the words to comfort her.

And as for Luna Lovegood, well she seemed very nice – even if she wasn't a fan of Hagrid's teaching of Care of Magical Creatures. Harry then gave thought as to where his largest friend might be and hoped he would return soon.

Harry's musings were interrupted by the bell for the end of breakfast and the start of the day's classes.

When the end of the day finally arrived, Ron and Hermione went to the kitchen to get some food for the evening. Then they practically ran up to Gryffindor tower and to Ron's room. They set their food down on the table in the small common room between their rooms before collapsing on to the settee.

'I'm exhausted after practically flying up here!' Hermione said.

Ron clapped a hand to his head and said, 'Fuck, I should have thought to fly us up here instead of knackering ourselves out before we shag!'

Hermione giggled and said, 'Oh, yes, Ron, that would have looked good, wouldn't it? Two prefects flying on a broomstick inside the castle so they can get to their rooms quicker!'

'Could you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face?' he asked, grinning.

Hermione giggled again before she was swept into Ron's arms for a long snog.

'Happy birthday, love,' he said, 'do you want your presents now?'

'Yes, I'll just go and get what my parents sent me,' she replied, before going into her room to collect the present from her parents.

When she came back with her gift, she sat down and started to open it. From her parents she received a pair of earrings that had small sapphires. Ron then gave her his present. Once she had opened it, she saw a locket, which she opened to reveal a couple of pictures. One of him and one of her, they had been taken during the summer. Ron helped her to put it on before she gave him another kiss in appreciation. They then spent the next half an hour eating the food the house elves had given them. Hermione's rapport with the house elves had improved since Ron had taken her to them to apologise for her outbursts the previous year, and told them that she understood that they were happy at Hogwarts, but she did ask them to spare thoughts for their fellow elves like Dobby who had been treated awfully by his former masters, and the elves out there that were being mistreated.

Once the food was gone, they relaxed on the settee and when they were comfortable, Hermione asked Ron a question that had been on her mind for a while.

'Ron, the day we first made love, how did you know how to do the things you did to please me?'

'Ironically it was Bill and Charlie,' he replied.

'They told you what to do?' she asked.

'Yeah, it was the summer before last,' he began, 'I woke up one night thirsty, so I went down to the kitchen for a drink. When I got outside the kitchen, I could hear them talking. They were talking about what they had been doing when it came to girls – conquests I think was the word Charlie used. Anyway, I overheard Charlie telling Bill about a girl he had, er, shagged, and when I realised that they probably didn't want to be disturbed, I turned to go back to bed. Unfortunately, I stubbed my toe, swore, and they caught me.

'They asked me what I had heard and I told them, so they sat me down and gave me advice on what to do for when I might find a girl to be intimate with. As they talked, my imagination went into overdrive as I imagined doing the things they were advising me to do for when the time might come. I don't know if they knew, but in my imagination, the girl I was doing those things with, was you,' he finished.

'You remembered everything?' she asked.

'Yeah, because, if you remember, I never had any trouble recalling the things people tell me, so when you asked me to make love to you, everything they told me came back to me in a flash, and add in the fact I had been dreaming of you wanting me for ages …' he said.

'Oh, Ron, remind me, how long have you wanted me?'

'Since I was thirteen, Hermione,' he whispered.

'Ron, let's go to bed,' she murmured.

'Yes, love,' he replied.

They then got to their feet before Ron scooped her up into his arms and carried her into his room bridal style to make love before falling asleep naked in each other's arms.