Part Two.
Ten Year Reunion!
Come reunite with your friends and relive your days at Hogwarts.
It's been ten years since we graduated Hogwarts and the time has come to reunite and see the different paths our lives have taken us on. Join us at Hogsmeade on the 1st of August, starting at 10 am, for a family friendly reunion.
Ron threw down the gold edged invitation with a frustrated sigh. A reunion with the people he went to school with was the last thing he needed. He already had enough misgivings about his life without having it rubbed in his face how wonderful everyone else had it. He knew the reunion would just be a constant parade of everything people had achieved over the last ten years, and Ron knew he wouldn't be able to compete with any of it.
Money wise, he earned enough to live on and he was able to save up for the occasional holiday, but he was hardly rolling in it. Job wise, he'd spent his first year after leaving Hogwarts working for the twins, but moved to Ireland with Ginny when she'd signed for a professional quidditch team upon leaving school. Since then he'd done dozens of different jobs, and currently he was the manager of the local pub. Although rumour had it, the landlord was thinking about selling the place and that would leave Ron high and dry as he didn't have the money to even think about putting in an offer.
Although none of that would have been too bad, if only his personal life wasn't such a mess. He had a trail of broken relationships behind him, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to find the right witch for him. Although deep down he often wondered if he'd already found her in the form of Hermione, and had stupidly thrown her away. But he tried not to think like that too often as it only depressed him.
He didn't even have a house of his own to call home. Upon arriving in Ireland, he and Ginny had shared a small flat, but once his sister was earning decent money, she'd moved out and he'd stayed on at the flat by himself. Just recently Ginny had bought herself a small house, following the breakdown of a brief relationship which brought about her son, Milo, and to help his sister out and be there for her, Ron had moved into the spare room. So now he was living with his sister and nephew, but on the plus side, he was saving on rent.
"What's wrong with you?" Ginny asked, entering the room with five month old Milo on her hip.
"Nothing," Ron replied, but Ginny was too fast for him as she grabbed the invitation before he got a chance to hide it.
"Oh, a reunion," she remarked with a slight squeal.
"I'm not going," Ron said stubbornly.
"Why not?" Ginny asked. "I bet everyone else is going."
"And there's the problem," Ron snorted. "Everyone else will be there with their money, fancy careers and families. And what do I have? A spare room in my sister's house, a job I could lose any day and my love life is so dead I haven't had sex in six months."
"I haven't had sex in over a year," Ginny countered.
"Yeah, but you were pregnant for part of that time, and you have Milo," Ron countered. "It's hardly the same thing. I can't go to the reunion and let everyone see what a loser I am."
"Then don't tell them," Ginny suggested with a devious smirk as a plan began to form in her mind. "No-one knows what our lives are like over here, Ron, so why not embellish a bit. Who would know differently if you claimed you owned the pub, rather than just managed it? And who's to say this house wasn't your house? And who would question you if you said you had a gorgeous girlfriend, who just so happened to be away the weekend of the reunion, leaving you to attend with your son and sister."
"Son?" Ron frowned. "I don't have a son."
"Milo," Ginny said, handing her son over to her brother. "He could be yours for the day. We could say I was there to help you with him. And he's too young to tell people otherwise."
"Let me get this straight," Ron said, bouncing his nephew on his knee, causing him to giggle happily. "You're suggesting I attend the reunion and pretend I'm living this amazing life? You think I should tell everyone, I own the pub and your house. I should also claim to have a girlfriend whose away for some reason, and a son."
"That's exactly what I'm saying," Ginny replied with a smile. "You haven't seen these people for years Ron, and you're not likely to see them again for years. So why not embellish the life you do have. Why not let them think you've made a big success in your life."
"And what if someone knows differently?" Ron questioned. "What if certain people are still friendly with our family. They would know this was all lies."
"You really think Harry and Hermione are still in contact with our family?" Ginny scoffed.
Much to both her and Ron's annoyance, and genuine surprise, it turned out none of the rest of the family had assumed Ginny and Harry belonged together. Furthermore, no-one agreed with their decision to cut Harry and Hermione out of their lives. In fact the pair had still been welcome at The Burrow whenever they chose. However, that was all so many years ago, and Ginny honestly couldn't believe that her family would have kept up a friendship with the pair once her and Ron had left. Besides, neither Harry nor Hermione had ever been at The Burrow any time they visited home, and Ginny couldn't remember the last time any of their family mentioned them.
"I guess it is pretty unlikely," Ron conceded. Part of the reason he'd been pleased to stop working for the twins was due to their persistence in trying to get him to make amends with Harry and Hermione, but since moving to Ireland they'd stopped bothering him.
"Exactly," Ginny agreed with a firm nod of her head. "If they were still in touch with the family, we would have heard something about them. But no-one's mentioned them for years. They won't know what's going on with your life, Ron. So what do you say, do you want to go to this reunion and prove that you didn't need Harry and Hermione to make a success of your life?"
"Are you sure you wouldn't mind joining me?" Ron checked. "And you're sure I can say Milo is mine."
"It was my suggestion, wasn't it?" Ginny asked with a smile. "Of course, I don't mind, Ron. I'd quite like to see certain people anyway. I bet you any money their association with Slytherins blew up in their faces. It would be nice to show them that they threw us away for nothing."
"Yeah, it would," Ron agreed with a smirk. "Reunion, here we come."
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Several weeks later, Ron and Ginny arrived in Wizarding London with Milo in tow. Since they didn't know what to expect from the reunion up in Hogsmeade, they'd rented a hotel suite down in London and would just travel up to Hogsmeade on the day of the reunion. The two siblings had also chosen not to inform their family of their return. After all, if they were going to be spreading a story about Ron's wonderful life in Ireland, they didn't want any Weasleys popping up and bursting the bubble.
"Do you think this can work?" Ron asked as he and Ginny settled into their suite, which had two bedrooms, one for each of them.
"Of course it can," Ginny insisted. "Should we go over it again?"
"Yeah, I think that's for the best," Ron agreed as they grabbed a couple of drinks and settled on the balcony of their suite while Milo had his afternoon nap.
"So Ron, what do you do these days?" Ginny asked, playing the role of one of her brother's classmates.
"I live over in Ireland with Ginny," Ron replied. "For a long time I managed a pub where we lived, and just recently I bought it from the landlord when he wanted to retire."
"You own a pub, that must be amazing," Ginny gushed, still in character.
"It's hard work, but I love it," Ron answered, the lies falling easily from his lips.
"And do you live on the premises?" Ginny asked.
"No, I own a lovely cottage in the same village," Ron replied.
"And are you single?" Ginny questioned.
"Not for a couple of years," Ron answered with a smile. "I've been with my girlfriend, Marie, for a couple of years now."
"Is she here? I would love to meet her."
"I'm afraid, she's visiting her parents this weekend," Ron replied, sounding genuinely disappointed to be alone. "Her mother is sick, so she had to go and see her. But my son is with me, and Ginny came along to help me look after him."
"You have a son?" Ginny questioned, still thoroughly enjoying their play-acting.
"Milo," Ron said, a genuine smile gracing his lips at the mention of the nephew he adored. "He's nearly six months old now."
"See, you're perfect," Ginny assured her brother as she dropped her act. "I would have believed you."
"Are you sure?" Ron checked, frowning slightly as he still wasn't sure if everything he was saying was believable.
"Positive," Ginny replied with a nod of her head. "It helps that we're just tweaking the truth, not telling outright lies. You can talk about the pub as you do work there. The same with the cottage, you may not own it, but it is your home. And we didn't even have to make a girl up for you, we just used your last girlfriend. So when you're talking, just think about Marie. And we both know you could gush forever about Milo."
"I guess you're right," Ron conceded. "A few little lies aren't going to hurt anyone."
"Of course not," Ginny agreed as inside Milo began to whine as he woke up from his nap. "I've got to go and feed Milo. You keep running over what you're going to tell people."
"We're going to have to watch that tomorrow," Ron remarked. "You can't go around breastfeeding Milo. People will talk."
"I'm going to express some milk tonight," Ginny promised her brother. "Don't worry Ron, no-one will know that Milo is my son, not yours. Tomorrow, I'll be his Aunt Ginny and you'll be the doting Dad with the hot girlfriend, a successful business and a family home."
Smiling at the image, Ginny placed in his head, Ron continued to run over the embellishments he planned to implement the following day. After all, what harm was he going to do by telling a few little white lies? It wasn't like anyone would know the truth, and would be able to call him out on his dishonesty.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
At the very same time as Ron was sitting in his London hotel, preparing to spin a pile of lies at the reunion, his former friend and girlfriend were only a few miles away in Diagon Alley. In fact, Harry and Hermione were in the twins joke shop, and while Hermione's little four year old boy, Scorpius, chose himself a treat with the help of Fred, they were chatting to George about the imminent reunion.
"So you haven't heard from Ron?" Hermione checked. "I thought if he was attending the reunion, he would have at least contacted the family."
"I've given up trying to work out what Ron is going to do," George snorted. "Knowing him, he'll just turn up at Mum and Dad's house and expect us to lay out the red carpet for him."
"I think if he doesn't turn up, he'll be about the only one not coming," Harry remarked. "Almost everyone I've seen said they were going."
"It sounds like it'll be a good day," George said. "And if Ron doesn't turn up, then it'll be his loss."
"If he does come, I wonder if he'll be alone," Hermione mused.
"He'll not have a date," George chuckled. "His girlfriends don't stay with him long enough to even meet the family. His love life is pretty much a disaster."
"I was thinking more of Ginny," Hermione said. "After all, it has been pretty much them against the world these last ten years. Ron cast Harry and I aside for Ginny, and then he went off to Ireland with her."
"You're not worried about trouble, are you?" Harry asked his best friend.
"Are you not?" Hermione countered. "Things didn't exactly go well last time we saw Ron and Ginny. And do you think things will be any different now? I hardly think their anti-Slytherin stance would have changed."
"You would have to be pretty sad to be clinging onto old grudges after ten years," Harry remarked with a shrug.
"Harry's right," George agreed. "I'm sure Ron will have moved on. And I doubt you have to worry about Ginny being with him. She'll be too busy with Milo to attend a reunion that isn't even for her class."
Not convinced that George was right, Hermione allowed herself to hope she was wrong as her son returned to her side clutching several items in his small hands.
"I said you could pick one thing," Hermione said to Scorpius.
"I did," Scorpius answered. "I got a wand which you can make explode."
"An exploding wand?" Hermione gave Fred a questioning glare, wondering why they were even selling something as dangerous.
"It doesn't explode," Fred assured her with a chuckle. "It pretty much makes noises and shoots off harmless sparks."
"Okay," Hermione said, conceding that the wand was an okay treat for her son. "But what's all this other stuff?"
"This is everything a growing boy needs to learn how to become a master prankster," Fred said as he began to unload Scorpius's arms and put everything on the counter. "And don't worry, it's on the house. Call it an early birthday present from his Uncles Fred and George."
"His birthday isn't for another six months," Hermione countered.
"It's a very early present then," George remarked, flashing a grin at young Scorpius.
"You two are incorrigible," Hermione sighed.
"We just like to spoil our best future customer," Fred said as he and George put Scorpius's treats in one of the shops vibrant purple bags and handed it over to the excited four year old. "Just remember us when you're older, Scorp, and you've got lots of money."
"Yeah, come spend it all in here," George added with a chuckle.
"I will," Scorpius vowed with a nod of his small head.
"Say thank you for the presents, Scorpius," Hermione said to her son.
"Thank you for the presents, Scorpius," Scorpius said, exchanging mischievous grins with the twins.
"I love this kid," Fred laughed as Hermione shook her head and scooted her son out of the shop.
"We'll see you later," Harry called to the twins as he followed Hermione from the shop and they headed off to meet their partners and to get ready for the reunion the following day.