Chapter 5: Dinner at the Weasleys
"Just keep smiling," she told herself as she and Harry Apparated to the Weasleys kitchen. Already, she found it disturbing. When had they ever been able to Apparate from outside into the house. As a security measure during the war, most houses held anti-Apparation wards to stop unwelcome visitors. But she supposed, there was no need for that fear anymore.
"It'll be fine," Harry promised her quietly. "Mrs Weasley?" He called out.
The plump woman who had been like a mother to her came into the kitchen, her face breaking out into a huge smile. "Harry, dear," she hugged him and then turned to hug her. "And Hermione! Merlin, we have missed you."
"I miss you too," Hermione said, not looking her in the eyes. Mr Weasley was bad enough, but she knew she could bare to see the emptiness in Mrs Weasley. It would make her break down. The woman had always been like a mother to her, kind and compassionate. She was sure this new post-potion woman was the same, but it wasn't her anymore. And she missed the woman she had known.
Harry sent her a pointed look at her wording.
"Arthur and the others will be down shortly. George came by this morning, and Bill and Fleur as well as Percy just minutes ago. They're all very excited to see you," Mrs Weasley beamed. "And look at you, Merlin, you were always a small thing but it's like you have no meat left on this bones. We'll have to fix you up right away. You'll be having fourths, you hear. No excuses."
"I'll try," she promised, still looking anywhere but at Mrs Weasley's face.
"That's a good girl," the matronly figure smiled. "Why don't you both run along to the den until dinner is ready? It'll give everyone a chance to catch up!"
Hermione just nodded and followed Harry out of the kitchen. "That was awful," she whispered quietly. "It's like it's her, but it's not."
"It'll get easier," he promised, though she could tell he was just trying to comfort her. She could see from his face that despite the fact that Harry had dealt with this countless times before, he was having just as hard a time as her.
She knew why. Hermione had always had a family outside of the Weasleys. She had had 2 parents who lived her, she still did. But Harry's first true experience of family that he could remember was the Weasleys. They had taken him in when even his mother's own sister had treated him badly. She knew this must even harder on him to see them like this. She squeezed his hand to comfort him, and he smiled weakly at her.
"Ah, Harry my boy and Hermione," Mr Weasley came into the room. He shook Harry's hand and hugged her. Once again, Hermione didn't look him in the eyes. "Molly just told us you were here. Good to see you."
"Hello, Mr Weasley," she smiled slightly. "How are you?"
"Quite well, quite well," he said and sat down.
"Harry, Hermione," George came in and plopped down on the couch. He nodded to them.
Hermione breathed in relief. George hadn't taken the potion, she remembered. There would be at least one person in her extended family that was normal. "Hello, George," she said, not hesitating to meet his eyes. "Where's Ron?"
"Sleeping, poor chap," he said.
"Awful business about Ron," Mr Weasley shook his head. "Can't have him out and about when company is over."
"Harry and Hermione are hardly company, Dad," George reminded him. "They're family."
"Ah yes of course, but I ran into Lucius today at Diagon Alley," Mr Weasley said jovially. "Didn't have any plans today so I invited him and Draco."
"I thought he was in prison," Hermione looked at Harry to explain. Isn't that what he said? Draco suspected about the potion because of something Lucius had said while they were visiting him in Azkaban.
It was Mr Weasley who answered. "Of course not. Lucius is a respectable man, the whole Malfoy family is."
She had never thought she would hear Mr Weasley call the Malfoys a respectable family let alone that he had invited them to dinner, or that they had accepted. "Oh," was all she could manage to say.
"Ah, Hermione, Harry," Bill's voice broke through her thoughts as he and Percy entered the room. Hermione looked at him and then had to do a double take. Gone was the earring and the long hair. Instead, his hair was cut short and professional. He looked so different.
"Bill," she said cautiously. "How are you?"
"Well enough," he grinned. "Fleur is here as well though she's in the kitchen helping Mum."
It was like Hermione had entered a parallel universe. She had known it would be strange but she had not been prepared for this level of difference in her second family.
Harry broke the silence thankfully as it had begun to drag on. "How's work, Bill? Percy?"
"Excellent," Percy said. "We're starting a new bill that allows younger people to go through initiation to enter our society. It is 8 right, but we're trying to make it 5. We're fairly confident it'll pass. The Minister himself suggested it."
"Initiation?" Hermione asked. She had a feeling she knew what it was before he spoke again.
"Ah, yes, I had forgotten you weren't part of our new world for the last several years," Percy said kindly. "It's what you went through when you first arrived back, Hermione. Just a simple potion. Of course, the job assignments won't be given until they've finished Hogwarts still. Can't know where they'll be needed until it's actually time to start giving back to society, can we? Demand of labour changes so quickly."
The potion was going to be given to 5 year olds now? Hermione had to breathe deeply to calm herself. It was far more barbaric than she had thought.
"That means Victoire will be initiated this coming Spring," Bill said.
"Yes, I am hopeful," Percy grinned. "It should cause the defect rate in the potion's ability to go down quite considerable."
Of course it would! What 5 year old would be able to fight against that potion? So far, the strongest adults she had ever known had fallen susceptible to its curse.
"How's work with you, Bill?" Harry said quickly when he saw Hermione's tense face.
"It's going well," Bill said. "Not quite as helpful as Perc, of course, but we're doing well. We were able to break a particularly powerful curse on this bracelet that the Goyles owned. It cursed anyone that wasn't Pureblood to combust. What with the son marrying that Muggleborn Lisa Turpin in a few months, they wanted to handle it quickly."
Gregory Goyle was marrying a Muggleborn? She had to fight to keep her mouth from dropping. How did that even happen? She asked Harry as much quietly.
"The Ministry," he told her. "If you can't find anyone on your own, the Ministry assigns you someone."
"That's medieval," she shook her head.
"Without personalities to find someone, there isn't much hope," he said quietly. "And without personal preferences written into their coding, there isn't protest."
And so they continued to play with people's lives. The Ministry truly controlled everything. It was disgusting.
"Ah, Lucius, Draco," Mr Weasley's voice broke her from her thoughts. She looked up to watch Lucius Malfoy enter the room with his son. She couldn't help but stare. The old Lucius Malfoy that she had known had been intimidating, his very presence prominent and aristocratic. He had walked with an air of fine breeding and a lifetime of being on top of the food chain. But this one, well he was lighter to say the least. He was still dressed in all black and looked the same, but he seemed - friendly. Perhaps it was the genuine smile on his face.
"Arthur, good of you to invite us," he strode into the room. "It is wonderful to see you all again."
"Nice to see you as well," Bill grinned. "Please have a seat. We're just catching up with our Hermione. She's been out of the country for some years now."
"I'll get you a firewhiskey," Mr Weasley stood and went off for the drink.
Lucius and Draco came and sat down on one of the couches. Hermione had to stop herself from laughing out loud at the sight of them sitting on one of the Weasleys couch. They looked out of place to her, but it seemed they were as comfortable there as the others seemed to be with them being there. She took it that this was a frequent affair. Who would have thought?
"Yes, Draco told me Miss Granger had returned to our side of the world," Lucius smiled at her. She flinched slightly, remembering that the last time she had seen him was when she was bleeding on his floor. But there seemed to be no semblance of that man here.
"Yes, I felt it was time I returned to my friends," she said, trying to keep her voice even.
"And how do you find it after being abroad for 5 years?" Draco asked jovially. She had to admit he was a very good actor.
"It's lovely," she lied. "I was afraid of what I'd find after the war, but I'm happy to see the world has been rebuilding nicely."
"And you are Draco's secretary now, I believe?" Lucius asked. "Are you enjoying it?"
"I've only been at it one day," she said. "But it's quite enjoyable. The work is a little easier than I am used to, of course, but I do enjoy being," she searched for the word. Patronized? "Organized."
"She's really rather good at being ... organized," Draco agreed, a small smirk on his face as if he knew what she had really meant to say. "You wouldn't find anyone more organized than our Hermione here."
George started laughing, and Harry smiled at bit. Hermione plastered a smile on her face though she wanted to slug him.
Lucius, however, saw nothing wrong with this statement, and nodded along. "I hope you run off on Draco," he said, which made Draco stop smirking. Like her, the words were clearly unsettling to him. Not so long ago, Lucius would have done anything in his power to make sure none of her kind's influence could even touch his Pureblood son. "He's a bit of a slob. I don't know where he gets it. His mother and I are quite meticulous."
"Keeping work files scattered across my desk hardly makes me a slob, Father," Draco rolled his eyes.
They all laughed this time. Mr Weasley returned with the glass of firewhiskey for Mr Malfoy. "I'm afraid you'll have to enjoy this with dinner, Lucius," Mr Weasley said. "Molly asked me to call you all in for dinner."
"Finally, I'm starved," George stood up and they all followed out to the dining room. It had been enlarged to include their company.
Hermione was seated between Harry and Draco. "Can we leave after dinner?" she whispered to Harry.
He nodded. "I'd like to check in on Ron first though," he said quietly so only she could hear. She agreed wholeheartedly.
"So you're Draco's secretary, Hermione?" Bill continued the conversation as they started eating. "I'm surprised they gave you that position. I would have thought a brain like yours would be teaching at Hogwarts."
"You know it goes by demand, Bill," Percy corrected him.
"And the Minister himself suggested her for the position," Mr Weasley contributed.
As revenge for the outcome of the war, she thought to herself. But it seemed that this statement was enough for the rest of them. It seemed the potion also gave them the utmost respect for their esteemed Minister, no matter what he had done.
"What do you do?" she asked Fleur who was cutting up chicken for their daughter Victoire. She was an exact copy of the blonde witch. Hermione was glad the little girl had been been put through this travesty yet and hoped they could fix this before she ever had to.
"I take care of thees little girl," Fleur beamed at her daughter. "Luckily she ees not a handful."
"Meaning she's not another Fred and George," Bill grinned. Everyone laughed but she saw George tense in his seat, though he had a smile on his face. Poor George, she thought. He was still grieving for his twin, and the people that should have been helping him through it had been magically made to forget about it, or at least get over it already.
"What did that knife ever do to you, Granger?" Draco asked from her other side quietly so no one else could hear.
She hadn't realized she had been gripping her utensils so tightly. "Accident," she mumbled.
"Careful," he warned, his eyes looking around to make sure no one had noticed. "I know it's hard, but it's necessary."
She nodded, thinking she knew what he meant. They needed to play their parts well now so they could continue to work on their plan to save everyone. Even if it was with her extended family, she needed to be careful. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Malfoy was right. This was necessary. She needed to see what they were fighting against. She needed to witness just how far the Ministry had gone. So that she could be more determined to fix it.
"By the way, Harry," Percy said amidst the chatter. "Have you decided if you'll finally be going through the initiation this year?"
The group had broken off into private conversations but everyone stopped and listened for this. "I'm afraid not," Harry said, smiling. "I've found I don't need it just yet."
She must have looked confused because Draco leaned in slightly. "Every year, the Ministry asks him if he wants to take the potion," he explained to her quietly.
"It's not about what you need," Percy argued. "It's about what society needs. And having you agree to the initiation would go a long way with convincing international Ministries of its positive effects. We could have a united wizarding world globally, not just here in the UK."
"I think you're overestimating my influence again, Perc," Harry laughed though it did not meet his eyes.
"Percy is right, Harry," Mr Weasley added. "After Dumbledore was killed, the entire world grew afraid. He Who Must Not Be Named had focused on the UK, only slightly extending his reach to parts of the continent, but they thought that once Albus Dumbledore was killed, he would win this island and go after them. You saved them all. If you took the potion, I'm sure the world would follow with our example of peace." They all looked at him hopefully.
Harry was quiet for a long time. She could tell this was a speech he had heard several times, and she could see it was weighing on him. He was probably thinking of how to say no without ruining everything. He was free to choose by not making a commotion, but if he did anything rash, they might force it on him. She reached down under the table and took his hand in hers. He seemed startled, pulled out of his thoughts and looked at her. She gave him a small smile, willing her strength into him.
"I'll have to think on it," he said diplomatically. "But I think it'll be a no again this year."
"Well, we can't force you to do anything you don't want to do," Mr Weasley said pleasantly, as if he hadn't just tried to coax him into it. "Molly, this chicken is divine."
And just like that, conversation picked right up again, the intensity of the moment gone. They resumed eating, but Hermione held onto Harry's hand, realizing they would need each other's strength to make it through.
Another chapter now revised :) this is actually mostly different from the way I had it on granger enchanted. I noticed some inconsistencies and such. And yes I know everyone is SO out of character like Lucius Malfoy but that's the point ;) Anyways I hope you liked it, please let me know your thoughts :)
Also, the guest who asked what George meant when he said Ginny had rubbed off on Hermione. Firstly, compared to Hermione, Harry is dumb too. She's been classified ad the brightest witch of her age. He was not talking about her intelligence. Also, as Ginny was a member of the DA and in the thick with the Order, I think it's safe to say she knew more than one spell. Hermione was fierce but she also used her brain to not let her temper dictate her actions all the time like Ginny did when she cursed Zacharias Smith in the sixth book for continuously asking about what happened at the Ministry because it annoyed her. What I simply meant is that Hermione has never been one to threaten to "hex someone's ball's off". That I think, is something Ginny would do. I don't think Hermione CANT do it, I just think she wouldn't threaten it. She would be more reasonable, like she usually was when she was trying to stop Harry and Ron from fighting with Malfoy in the halls because they'd get in trouble. So when George said that he meant that Ginny's temper was rubbing off on Hermione. And no, Hermione had not seen Ginny in 5 years, but Hermione has also not seen Harry or Ron in 5 years. Does that mean their friendship was diminished in any way? I believe not. You may not like Ginny, but Hermione does in my story and in the book.