Hermione slept surprisingly well that night all new news considered, though it could be chalked up to the idea of the prank she would pull on Ron at dinner. Hermione spent the day catching up on paperwork, biting her nails and stopping for coffee breaks until it was time to get ready for dinner. She pulled on a pair of black straight cut jeans, a black long-sleeved loose turtleneck, and a deep maroon knitted vest, courtesy of Molly. Last was a pair of sensible but hardy pair of cherry Doc Martens as well her Gryffindor scarf. She grabbed her wand, threw a maroon beanie on over her curls and apparated to just outside of the Weasley home.
Hermione smiled up at the familiar sight, the house leaning impossibly but reinforced with magic that made everyone inside sure that it was stay standing. She walked through the front door with familiarity, the smell of food and home welcoming her and enveloping her in much needed comfort. That warm feeling was cut short by;
"Won Won! Stop playing chess and come sit wif me". Hermione could practically imagine the huge pout on Lavenders face right now as she vied for Ron's attention, as if she didn't already steal his attention enough.
"Yeah that's been going on all afternoon", Hermione heard from out of her view and whirled around to see Harry there, his usual cheeky grin on his face as he leant against the door frame before stepping forward, arms open wide for a hug.
"Oh the horror, I can't imagine the rest of the evening", Hermione responded with similar humour, eagerly stepping into the hug and gripping Harry tightly. Everyone always said that Molly gave the best hugs, but Hermione would be lying if she said that Harry's didn't make her feel the safest and most loved than anyone else's. She stepped back from the hug pulling off her beanie causing Harry to take advantage and ruffle her hair affectionately to which she gave a joking glare at and smoothed it down.
"You better come along, Ron has barely held out long enough for you to arrive to eat, Percy had to distract him with a game of Wizards Chess," Harry said. Before the battle Percy had left his family in favour of the Ministry but realised his errors and fought valiantly in the Battle of Hogwarts at Fred's side. The family weren't so eager to accept him back until George had held him and cried, cried for his lost twin but also that he was not alone and that Percy had stayed by Fred's side till his last breath, to which he found comfort in that. Speaking of George-
"Mione!" Hermione heard someone shout before she felt arms encircle her and she was spun around by George, causing her to yelp in surprise before erupting in small giggles.
"Hi George" Hermione said with affection, patting his shoulder to signal him to put her down before giving him a proper hug and receiving it just as enthusiastically. The two made an odd pair that had surprised much of the family considering one is a relaxed prankster, and one is a bossy rule-follower but they formed a strong brother-sister relationship. Hermione could laugh with his jokes and pranks but also brought out in him a maturity no one had seen, and he could make her straight face crack and help her to relax and give into fun when she needed to break her stern work mode. After Fred's death, the two could be seen hanging out and taking comfort in each other, but make no mistake it was strictly like siblings.
Hermione detached from the hug first but not before whispering to him, "I'm in a particularly vengeful mood, feel like helping me prank Ronald tonight?" She looked up to see a grin immediately on George's face.
"A woman after my own heart", George started, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead and feigning fainting, "of course I feel like helping. Not just because it's you asking, but Won Won has been especially grating lately."
"Perfect, here's my plan..." Hermione said, filling George in on the plan in a hushed whisper. George's eager nod and sharp glint in his eye was all Hermione needed to fuel the fire and set her plan into action.
"Alright you lot! Dinner is ready, and Hermione is now here, to the table everyone," Molly shouted, able to be heard by the whole house without use of any charm. Hermione gave Molly a quick hug and hello before sitting at the table, Ron conveniently sat across from her and beside Lavender, with George and Harry taking the seat on either side of her.
Everyone dug in, piling their plates full of roast chicken, mashed potato and gravy, peas, Yorkshire puddings and stuffing. Butter beer and wine flowed well that night, adding to Hermione's daring nature in pranking. Conversation steered toward the letter from the Ministry of Magic, the current buzz of the wizarding world.
"Most of it is completely pointless, plenty of families are still alive and still have all of their belongings and know who their bloody families are and their lineage, and of those a lot are in Azkaban for being deatheaters. Plus, muggleborns like our Hermione here don't have magical relatives so don't need this ruddy letter or test," ranted Molly.
"It's all a trick to bring prejudice into the world again I reckon. People like Malfoy and Parkinson wanting more money and land since their daddy's are locked up." Ron spat, food flying out of his mouth at an alarming rate causing Hermione to wipe away some mashed potato that landed on her cheek.
"Ronald, this whole war started with prejudice and judging people for their families, let's not start more hate speech and cause another. We can all agree that this is all a bunch of nonsense, but the rules are rules and unfortunately the Ministry can do this," Hermione stated calmly, hoping direct his attention away from other people and focus the annoyance toward the Ministry who started it all.
"Don't tell me you're defending those deatheater spawn, they started this! Don't you remember what they did to us in the Department of Mysteries? The Battle? To everyone who died? Don't go defending them now 'Mione, they would have killed you given the chance just for your blood. Those greedy bastards just can't keep their hands off what other people have." Ron said, steaming with anger you could practically see it coming out of his ears, face bright red. Lavender gave a sickening pat to his leg, trying in a futile way to placate him.
"Ron we all remember what people did, what both the good and the bad side did. It's time we left it in the past and get on with life, and if this is how we have to start then I guess that's what we have to do. Besides, plenty of good people did bad things, and people in bad families had to bad things to survive. But remember that some people in bad families did good things to help us. Like Malfoy, he didn't have to but he pretended he didn't recognise us when we were caught, and Narcissa pretended I was dead to Voldemort." Harry jumped in to not only defend Hermione but also be a peacekeeper in the mounting argument that was happening.
"Yeah... Alright... I guess..." Ron grumbled, still muttering under his breath and staring into his plate half embarrassed to have been reprimanded by his best mate.
Hermione felt a nudge to her leg and looked slightly to her side to George who caught her eye and gave her a questioning look... 'oh yes, after that, now is the perfect time'. Discreetly she moved her hand to her wand and gave a small swirl and flick of it, muttering an incantation under her breath before putting it away.
Ron still stared glumly at his plate when he swore he saw a pea twitch. He squinted at it, waiting to see if it would move again or if he was just going mad when THERE! It moved again. He used his fork to see what was moving but couldn't see anything. He turned his focus back to his siblings and parents who continued talking, and Lavender who sat simpering and not-so-discreetly staring at Bill. THERE! Out this corner of his eye he saw his peas move again, but did not notice the way Hermione and George were stifling their laughs. He cast another suspicious look towards his plate and managed to catch a few of the peas wiggling now. He sat dumbfounded until he noticed something underneath them, something black and moving. He then saw tiny black things poking between the individual peas and brought his face closer to his plate and-;
"AHHHHH", he left back when small black spiders squeezed out from underneath his peas and clambered over his plate, spreading across his mashed potatoes and spilling onto the table towards him. Ron squealed as they raced towards him and onto him, feeling their small hairy legs grabbing his skin and clothes as they raced to his arms. He pushed his chair back and stood quickly, chair knocking over behind him as he frantically swiped the spiders off but it never seemed to stop. Everyone watched in confusion while Hermione and George roared in laughter watching his futile attempts.
"Ronald what are you doing!?" Molly demanded, eyes narrowed at the son who had interrupted their dinner.
"Spiders, spiders everywhere, they're all over me!" He whisper-yelled, voice cracking with horror.
"What spiders?"
It was then Ron looked down in shock and was surprised to no longer see himself covered in spiders but could still feel their phantom legs clinging to him and crawling. "I-I thought- I could feel", he trailed off, shaking his head incredulously.
"Oh Won Won, are you okay? Let's go home where there are no spiders" Lavender said in sympathy, thought really she just wanted an excuse to leave already.
"Y-Yeah, let's go" he said, his voice still quivering, "bye everyone" he said in a daze, a thousand yard stare in his eyes as if he was lost in a world of spiders. The Floo roared and the two disappeared just in time for Hermione and George to crack up into laughter, holding on to each other to remain upright.
"You two? George I'd expect, but you Hermione?" Molly said with disappointment but a slight upturn to her mouth showing the humour she was trying to mask. She shook her head before asking if anyone wanted dessert and clearing the table.
The rest of the night went by smoothly with jokes and stories shared, and Molly trying to convince Harry to hang out with Ginny more to no avail. The night came to a close once everyone was full and tired and people started to Floo or apparate home. Hermione bid everyone goodbye with a hug or kiss on the cheek and apparated home. Stripping down and showering and changing int pyjamas, she soon climbed into bed, reminiscing on the successful prank but her stomach also gnawed at her with worry for the day at the Ministry.
'The would have killed you given the chance just for your blood' . Ron's words echoed in her head as she lay in bed. She couldn't help but agree with his words. And now she was to be reminded of that fact in a couple days that she was muggleborn and that she had nothing, no blood family, no family legacy. Sleep overtook her soon, her thoughts brooding.