Unexpected Outcomes

Two days later, the three of them were at the Leaky Cauldron for Ron's going away party. The other Auror's were there along with Hermione and Neville, who had worked with them right after the war. Ginny was coming later after practice. Harry was very excited because she'd be home for the next two weeks and he'd taken some time off. Recently, he'd arranged his schedule so that he worked every day while she was gone so he could be off the entire time she was home. Harry leaned against the bar and ordered three more ales from Hannah Abbott. As she was pulling them from the tap, she looked over toward Ron, whose arm was wrapped around Hermione and they were both laughing at something Taylor, one of the other Aurors, had said.

"He's in good spirits," Hannah said to Harry.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. I think he was ready to go a long time ago, but he stayed for me and to get other people trained."

Hannah smiled at him as she set a glass of ale on the bar. "That's a good friend."

"The best. I'm going to miss him at work, but I'm glad he's doing this. He really loves working with George and he's good at it. Have you seen the new joke wand?"

"The one that turns into a miniature tree if you get it even the slightest bit wet? I saw it the other day. Hilarious. Not to mention those mini-trees are really pretty. I was thinking of getting one with the same wood my wand is made of just to get the tree."

"Right?" Harry said. "You're not the only one. They're selling like hot cakes. They were Ron's idea, and he did the lion's share of the charm work too."

"That's great." Hannah set the third ale on the bar.

Harry picked up the three glasses, sloshing a bit of ale. "I should get back to it."

Hannah wiped the counter. "Righto."

Harry delivered the ale to Ron and Hermione. Ginny arrived a few minutes later and Harry was so happy to see her he picked her up and swung her around. She laughed. "I'm happy to see you too." She hugged Hermione and Ron.

"Congratulations on beating Puddlemere United. Great match that was," Ron said.

"Thanks," Ginny said. "Things did go our way."

"I'll get you a drink." Harry hurried off to the bar. As he was coming back, he noticed Madam Rosmerta come in with an older gentleman. It struck him as odd that Rosmerta would be at the Leaky Cauldron when she owned the Three Broomsticks. When he got back to the others, he handed Ginny her drink and slipped his arm around her waist. He was so happy she was back that even the trip to the bar seemed like too long of a separation. "Hey, did you notice Madam Rosmerta just came in with an old bloke? What's that about do you think?"

Hermione was talking to Neville and Brown, another Auror, so she didn't hear him, but Ron looked around. Sure enough, Madam Rosmerta was tucked into a corner table with Hermione's grandfather. They were holding hands across the table. Ron snorted. "He moves fast."

"What?" Harry said.

"That's Hermione's grandfather she's with."

Hearing her name Hermione turned around. "What?"

"Your grandad appears to be taking Madam Rosmerta for a night on the town," Ron said cheerily.

"What?" Hermione said looking around.

Ron nudged her in the right direction. Her mouth dropped open. "I guess he's feeling better."

"I guess he is," Ron said, smirking.

"That was fast, don't you think?" Hermione said, her brow wrinkling with concern.

Ron shrugged. "What's it been? A few days? He's right on schedule. That's about all you can go without sex."

Her mouth dropped open and she swatted his arm. "Ron!" He gave her a pointed look and she shrugged. "Oh, do shut up." Harry and Ginny laughed.

"Should I go over there? I don't want to interrupt their date, but it seems weird not to say something."

"Let it go," Ron said. "If he walks over this way, you can say something. Otherwise, I'd leave them be. They seem pretty busy."

Hermione looked over to see her grandfather kiss Rosmerta's hand. "Oh, good grief."

"Come on," Ron said. "Good for them."

"Isn't he kind of old for her?" Harry asked.

"Mum says Madam Rosmerta uses so many glamour charms no one knows how old she actually is," Ginny said. "He might be too young for her, for all we know."

Ron laughed.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Rumor has it," Ginny continued. "That she does a tidy business on the side doing exceptional glamour charms for other witches and wizards. It's all very discrete of course."

"Of course," Harry said, grinning.

"I'm going to the loo," Hermione said.

"I'll go with you," Ginny said.

Harry looked at Ron. "Why do birds always go together?"

Ron shrugged. "Power of suggestion?"

Harry laughed.

xXx

When Hermione and Ginny emerged from the ladies' room a few minutes later, Ginny ran into Hermione who had stopped suddenly and made a kind of irritated growl at the back of her throat.

"What?" Ginny said.

"Look at Padma over there flirting with Ron. She certainly has changed her opinion of him, and she knows we're married."

Ginny arched an eyebrow. "They're just talking."

"If they're just talking why does she keep flipping her hair like that?"

Ginny sighed. "As someone with long straight hair, I can tell you it slides forward and you have to push it back. It doesn't mean anything."

Hermione frowned at her. "You know they went to the Yule Ball together."

Ginny snorted. "For goodness sake, Hermione, he was fourteen. He didn't even ask her. Harry asked Parvati if she and Padma would go with him and Ron."

"Well, she still went," Hermione said.

"And left with someone else," Ginny said.

"Exactly, so why is she chatting him up now?"

"She's not. Since when are you jealous anyway?"

"I'm not," Hermione huffed.

Ginny arched an eyebrow at her.

"It's just, since the war, women are always coming on to him."

Ginny laughed. "Oh, please! I'm engaged to Harry Potter. Men, women, all manner of magical creatures, even ghosts are always surrounding him."

Hermione smiled. "I know. I'm sorry. It's fine. I'm just having a bucked teeth and bushy hair day."

"What?"

"It's nothing. I'm just feeling insecure. It's been a rough month."

"With Ron?" Ginny's forehead wrinkled with concern.

"No. He's been great actually. All this family stuff is making me crazy and when I get

frazzled, I get insecure."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No, but thanks. There isn't even really much I can do, which is a lot of the problem. I just need to let it go."

Ginny cocked her head sympathetically. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks." Hermione sighed and they walked back out to rejoin Ron and Harry. Padma had been joined by her sister and some of the Aurors and they were all chatting and laughing with Ron and Harry. Hermione slipped in next to Ron. He put his arm around her and drew her closer without skipping a beat in a story he was telling Neville. Ginny joined Harry and they all had another round of ale.

xXx

Later that night, as Ron and Hermione were getting ready for bed, Ron said, "Tonight was really great, don't you think?"

"It was. The other Aurors really respect you. I think you're going to be sorely missed."

"Bah," Ron said, blowing off the compliment, but she could tell he was pleased.

"And several people mentioned to me how cool those trick wands of yours are."

He grinned. "Really?"

"Really."

"Well," he said modestly. "They do seem to be selling well. Great night though, really great night."

She smiled at him. It had been a great night. She just wished her grandfather hadn't shown up with Madam Rosmerta. Their appearance had tainted the evening, but she couldn't put her finger on exactly why."

"Hey," Ron said, as he got into bed.

She looked up. "What?"

"Are you going to take that off or put it back on or what?"

She realized she had her shirt partially off and had clearly been standing there for a few moments. "Oh, right, sorry." She finished getting undressed and climbed into bed with him. She snuggled against him and he wrapped an arm around her.

"You all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine."

"You were a million miles away a second ago."

"I was just thinking about family stuff. I don't know how you manage it."

"What do you mean?"

She smoothed the sheet. "I don't know. It used to be just me and Mum and Dad but now there are all these other people involved."

He chuckled. "Hermione, having one grandmother, one grandfather, one great aunt and one great uncle doesn't count as 'all these other people.' With you and your parents that's still just seven people. You haven't even reached the number in my immediate family yet."

She rolled over on her side and looked at him. "I know. That's why I said I don't know how you handle it. I'm so sick of worrying about family stuff. I've got house elf work to do and all the Wizengamot work for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, not to mention trying to put together some kind of program to help Muggleborns and Squibs. I don't have time to fret about who my grandfather might be dating."

Ron bit back a smile. "So, don't fret about it. Everyone in your family is an adult. Let them work it out."

"I am, but now I find myself worrying about what Mum will think about her father dating."

"Why would she care?"

"I don't know. Maybe she wouldn't, but I can't help wondering, and I'm sick of it. I don't have time to think about all that. I feel completely out of sorts."

Ron let out a choked laugh.

She frowned at him. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." He put a hand over his mouth.

"Don't make fun of me."

"I'm not. You just get so wound up about everything."

She scowled at him. "I do not, but this important."

"That's the problem though, isn't it? Everything is important to you." She got out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown, and Ron knew he'd crossed the line into actually pissing her off.

"So, you don't think your family is important?"

"Of course, I do." He kept his voice calm trying to diffuse the situation. "But I don't panic over every little issue."

"I'm not panicked. I'm concerned. I'm allowed to be concerned. I only just got my parents back a few months ago and my gran is speaking to me for the first time in years. I don't think it's trivial that I'm worried about losing that again."

"Hey." Ron got out of bed and pulled on his own robe. "You're not going to lose anything."

"That's easy for you to say." She wrapped her arms around herself. "Your family comes together in a crisis. Mine has a tendency to fall apart."

"Come on," He went over to her side of the bed and put his hands on her shoulders. "That's not going to happen."

"You don't know that." Her eyes were glossy with unshed tears. "Landen is a wildcard. Mum has been so upset. Gran is still upset. It's distinctly likely that one or both of them will decide this is too much, and they'll go back to not speaking."

"Your mum is not going to stop speaking to you," Ron said soothingly.

Hermione shook her head. "I started all this. I took their memories—"

"Which you restored."

"But I took them and then I introduced all these new people. I should have just kept this to myself."

Ron shook his head. "You know that's not true. You had to tell them. It would've been wrong not to."

"Why did I ever go to Muriel in the first place? I should have just minded my own business." Hermione was wringing her hands.

Ron put his hands over hers. "Asking about family is minding your business. All of this is your business, profoundly yours. You have to relax. I know this is very emotional for all of you right now, but things will settle down. Just give it time."

"But what if it doesn't?"

Ron sighed. "Then it doesn't and you move on. You're part of my family now. You've got more than enough relatives through me, and I promise they all love you and will be perfectly happy to stick their noses in our business and otherwise make nuisances of themselves."

She gave him a slight smile.

He squeezed her hands.

She looked away from him and said in small voice. "I don't want to lose mine though."

He put his arms around her and held her close. "I know."

She clung to him for a minute before saying, "Let's go to bed. I'm supposed to go to the Burrow in the morning before work to talk to your mother about teaching the Muggleborns at Hogwarts."

Ron nodded. "I bet she says yes."

"I hope so."

"Come on," he said, taking her hand. "To bed with you."