Tuesday, 3 November 1998
Hermione let out a desperate sigh as she shot a glare at the three snapped hair elastics in the sink in front of her. She looked up at the mirror to find a grumpy girl with an enormous bushy mass of hair glare back at her. It was quite obvious that she hadn't brushed her hair for the past three days. She had, after all, spent the majority of those days in bed.
She sighed again and bent down, opening the cabinet underneath the sink and searching through the bottles of shampoo and conditioner and perfume that were stored in there. In the back she discovered the bottle she was looking for. It hadn't been used in a long time and the purple-and-green label was laced with a thin layer of dust, but the bright orange letters that spelled Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and Scalp Treatment were still readable. The bottle was half empty, but there was more than enough left for bad-hair-day emergencies like today.
After she had used a generous amount of the potion, Hermione watched how her frizzy mass of hair turned into nice, soft, and most importantly, manageable curls, and she sighed once more. Over the past few years, she had used the hair potion only on a handful of occasions before on days like this, when her hair was an absolute disaster, but just like before it made her a little uncomfortable; Sleekeazy's always made her feel a bit pretentious.
People always noticed the change immediately. It was, after all, rather difficult to not notice the big change. For some reason, it always reminded people of when she had appeared at the Yule Ball as Viktor Krum's date, and it meant that people would be talking about it again.
It wasn't that the event in question wasn't worth remembering, because it really had been a great evening, at least until Ron had ruined most of it. Somehow, people always immediately seemed to associate her tamed curls with a date, and given the fact that she had no idea what was going on between her and Ron anymore, she didn't think she was prepared for another week of gossip.
After finally being able to successfully brush her hair, Hermione exited the bathroom, shouldered her bag and descended the stairs, tying her hair together in a ponytail as she went. She entered the common room the same time Malfoy did, and she immediately slowed down. The uncomfortable atmosphere from the previous evening was back instantly, and she saw right away that he felt it too.
"Good morning," she muttered.
"Morning," he replied with some reluctance, studying her with a small frown. "You look… well… better than you did yesterday."
"That's not difficult," Hermione said curtly. "It's hardly possible to look worse."
Much to her surprise, Malfoy didn't confirm nor deny her statement. He let her exit the common room first and followed closely behind. They made their way downstairs in silence and upon reaching the Great Hall, Malfoy muttered a hurried "See you in class," before quickly making his way over to the Slytherin table.
Hermione walked up to Ginny, Trev, Ritchie, Jennifer, Seamus and Dean and seated herself next to Trev and Jennifer, across from Ginny. "Good morning," she greeted them, pouring herself some tea, receiving a similar greeting in return.
"Feeling better?" Ginny asked with a small smile.
Hermione nodded in confirmation as she scooped some poached egg, bacon, buttered toast and slices of tomato onto her plate. "Good enough for a full day of class," she said. "What about you? You look tired."
"Couldn't sleep," the redhead shrugged casually, clearly indicating that she would rather change the subject. "So, one of those days, I'm guessing?" she asked, pointing at her own hair as she motioned her head at Hermione's, asking about her hair without the actual question.
"Yeah," she sighed. "I haven't brushed it in days, it was impossible to get through."
"It's so… shiny," Jennifer said softly, reaching out to touch a string of curls. "And so soft..."
Hermione grimaced uncomfortably and then noticed the pieces of parchment each of them was holding. "What's this?" she asked, glancing at Trev's piece, determining that it was some sort of schedule.
"Grief counselling schedule," Ginny muttered with clear reluctance. "Most sixth-years have already had it, but Trev is scheduled for today and Pauline and I are scheduled for tomorrow. I talked to Luna earlier, and she's scheduled in the same group as Trev. I don't want to do this," she added in a desperate whimper.
"It's not that bad, Ginny," Jennifer said softly. "The woman is really kind, and the first session is not that personal. It's more of an introduction."
"And she is a true professional," Dean added with a confirming nod. "Her name's Tristitia Medens, and from what I've heard, she's one of the best grief counsellors in Europe."
"Yeah, me mam says she helped a lot of people after the First War and the Global War. She has set up this new ward in St. Mungo's I've heard, to help people move on," said Seamus, waving around his fork with a piece of sausage as he spoke, sending drops of gravy around the table.
Hermione shot a quick glance at Ginny and saw that her younger friend had withdrawn herself from the conversation. She was poking her fork around through her scrambled eggs and stared at the table with unseeing eyes, most probably thinking of George, who was staying in the ward Seamus had just described.
"I heard the fifth-year Gryffindors didn't take their session too well," Trev said softly. "Mary and Anna were crying all the way through, and Romilda went hysterical and had to be carried out by Kevin Whitby and Darrel Turner from Hufflepuff. Madam Pomfrey forced Calming Draught down her throat, and she had to stay the night."
The group of Gryffindors fell silent for a while. Julie Parkes, a fifth-year Gryffindor that had been in the same year as the girls Trev just mentioned, was brutally murdered along with most of her family during the Easter holidays of their sixth year.
Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to rid the image of Julie's gravestone from her mind. Gone, but not forgotten, it had said. The young girl was buried in Godric's Hollow, and Hermione had seen her gravestone while searching for Harry's parents' grave. Because of her young age, she had never really talked to Julie while at Hogwarts, and while her name had been familiar, Hermione hadn't realised who she was until a few weeks ago.
She was pulled from her thoughts when an envelope landed on her plate. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Hermione removed the parchment from her breakfast and tried not to touch the side that had fallen on top of the buttered toast. She turned it over, took out the letter and gasped softly when she recognised the messy handwriting.
Dear Hermione,
I reckon you're probably quite angry with me by now, and I guess I can't blame you for that. I know I've been a lousy… friend… lately, and trust me when I say that Harry takes every opportunity to rub that in, and even Neville has mentioned it once or twice.
Things at the Ministry are tough, but there's some progress and Robards says he's pleased with our work so far. The recruitment is going slow so we still haven't been able to go after the bad guys because there aren't enough Aurors left.
Even though I'm doing okay now, I never seem to learn, do I? It's been so hard for me to admit that I was feeling bloody awful, and I guess I let my pride get in the way. I'm so sorry for pushing you away and for not being there for you. I feel horrible about missing your birthday…
I miss you, Hermione. I really do. I know you've got a Hogsmeade weekend coming up, and I would really like to see you. Please don't be mad. I'll make it up to you.
Give Ginny a hug from me.
Love,
Ron
"Who's it from? Is it Ron? Please tell me it's from Ron!" Ginny asked loudly as soon as Hermione looked up.
She nodded disbelievingly at her. "It's from Ron..."
"That ignorant little dung beetle," the redhead snarled. "It's about bloody time!"
The others wisely remained quiet. Hermione could tell that Jennifer wanted to say something about her friend's foul language with which she described her brother but thankfully decided against it. After all, she was more than familiar with the redhead's fiery temper.
Hermione passed the letter on to Ginny, who quickly read it and snorted mockingly at Ron's request to Hermione about giving her a hug, muttering dark nothings under her breath.
Soon after, the group rose from the benches, grabbing their book bags and last-minute pieces of breakfast to consume on the way to the classroom, and parted ways in the Entrance Hall. Seamus and Dean made their way up to the Gryffindor Tower while Ginny, Jennifer and Trev headed toward the greenhouses. Hermione caught up with Stephen and Anthony and joined their conversation about the current state of their Polyjuice Potions, pushing Ron's letter to the back of her mind. She couldn't be distracted today, not after missing an entire day of class.
"I missed you at the prefects' meeting yesterday," Anthony commented. "Malfoy said something about you being ill."
"Yes," Hermione sighed. "The epidemic realised that it had skipped me so it surprised me with a belated cold."
Stephen snorted. "How thoughtful of it. Don't worry, though, you didn't miss that much yesterday. I think Padma has collected your homework. We'll tell her that you're better so she can give it to you after lunch."
"That would be great, thanks," she said, gratefully smiling at her classmates. They entered the Potions classroom, and Hermione joined Malfoy and Greengrass at their table. Professor Slughorn announced that everyone was on schedule, and the students continued the brewing.
"Right," Greengrass started curtly as she opened her book and scanned the page. "Where were we?"
"Part one, step five," Hermione answered immediately. "We have to add four leeches to the potion now and add two scoops of lacewing flies to the mortar, crush it to a fine powder, then add two measures of the crushed lacewings to the cauldron. So, Malfoy, if you add the leeches, and Greengrass, if you crush and add the flies, I'll prepare the bicorn horn, which has to be added afterwards."
The two Slytherins did not move and they glared at her with raised eyebrows. She sighed and closed her eyes in frustration. "Please?" They both smirked and started moving. Greengrass made her way to the ingredient cabinet for the lacewings while Hermione rolled her eyes and took out her mortar, after which she got to her feet to get the needed bicorn horn.
"Malfoy, when Greengrass has added the crushed lacewing flies to the cauldron, will you please heat it for thirty seconds on low temperature and complete this stage?"
The blond glanced up with an annoyed look in his eyes. He raised an eyebrow and tapped against the pages of the book in front of him, sighing dramatically. "I can read, Granger."
Hermione rolled her eyes again and followed Greengrass, making her way to the ingredient cabinet. She took some bicorn horn and made her way back, adding it to her mortar and starting to crush it to a fine powder. After a while, Greengrass added the lacewings powder to the potion and Malfoy poked his wand underneath the cauldron, lighting a little fire as he stared intently at his wristwatch to keep track of the time. After half a minute, he removed his wand, extinguishing the fire again.
"How many measures of boomslang skin again?" the blonde Slytherin girl muttered as she peered at the instructions in her book.
"Three," Malfoy answered inattentively while waving his wand above the cauldron to complete the first brewing stage. Greengrass prepared the measures and stirred the potion clockwise as Hermione finished crushing the bicorn horn. After the blonde girl added the measures of boomslang skin, Hermione added one measure of the powdered horn to the cauldron and waved her hand to get Malfoy's attention.
"Twenty seconds at a high temperature. Then wrap it up."
After shooting a glare in her direction for bossing him around, he once again poked his wand underneath the cauldron and lit an unnecessarily violent fire for twenty seconds. He then waved his wand, and the thick, disgusting-looking brown potion started to bubble slowly, very much resembling mud.
Greengrass moved her index finger through the written lines. "Copper cauldron… Copper cauldron…" she muttered, searching for the next instruction. "Ah, here it is. It has to brew for eighteen hours," she said a bit louder before sighing dramatically. "So now what?"
Hermione checked her wristwatch. "Only ten more minutes left. In eighteen hours, we have to stir the potion three times, anti-clockwise. Next class we should be able to get started on the second stage.
"Good," the Slytherin girl grumbled in response. The bell chimed, and the students headed to their next class.
Saturday, 7 November 1998
"Ginny," Hermione said as she gently shook her friend. "Ginny, wake up."
The redhead made an annoyed mumbling sound and turned over on her other side, pulling the blanket up to cover her head. Despite feeling extremely nervous, Hermione couldn't help but giggle. "Ginny," she repeated a bit louder. "Wake up, lazy, it's almost nine."
"Wazzemadder?" the youngest Weasley mumbled sleepily, sounding uncannily like Ron.
"I need you," Hermione said softly. "Come on, get up."
"Couple more minutes," the girl protested.
"No, you'll fall asleep again."
"Fine," Ginny sighed grumpily, dramatically kicking the blankets back. "But you should know that I'm going to get back at you for this."
Hermione smiled and rose, making her way back to the door. "I know, trust me, I know."
~ X ~
"Okay," Ginny muttered, who still wasn't completely awake. They sat at the Gryffindor table in a nearly empty Great Hall. The younger Gryffindor held a mug of coffee between her hands and took small sips. "So you two are having a date, then?"
"No!" Hermione exclaimed. "I haven't seen him in months, and I have no idea what's going on between us anymore. There won't be any dating until he has explained himself. We need to catch up first."
The redhead nodded approvingly. "That's good. Where will you two meet?"
"The Three Broomsticks," she answered.
"He's expecting you to be angry. Are you?"
Hermione took her time replying. "I don't know," she admitted. "On the one hand, I understand what he's going through, but on the other hand... You're all hurting. We're all hurting. And I can't help but feel like he has neglected me. And Harry. And all of you."
"He has," Ginny agreed softly, "but like you, we understand. In the end we all grieve differently, don't we? We can only hope that it gets better with time. And he came back before, didn't he? You gave him a second chance back then. I think he deserves a second chance now."
"I wouldn't be meeting him today if I didn't think he deserved one," Hermione answered. "I miss him more than I'm angry with him, but I've been there before and last time I didn't exactly welcome him back with open arms."
"Look, Hermione, you don't have to explain yourself to me. He's my brother, and I love him very much, but I also know better than anyone else what an insufferable and insensitive arse he can be," Ginny said seriously. "I guess it's a guy thing. Harry is hardly better in many ways."
Hermione sighed and shook her head. "I'll never understand boys."
Ginny smiled at that. "And they will never understand us."
~ X ~
As she neared Hogsmeade village, Hermione felt that she was getting more and more nervous, and she didn't quite understand why. This was Ron of all people. One of her very best friends for years and years now; the boy she loved with all her heart and the person she had been through so much with.
Despite the fact that she was excited to see him, she also found that her conversation with Ginny had made her reflect on the times Ron had turned to poor judgement and hurtful actions. She could forgive most of their falling-outs during their childhood, but it still stung that he had left Harry and her behind during the search for Horcruxes, and she still couldn't look past the hurt from his continuous silence over the past few months.
Feeling a little betrayed and sad, Hermione opened the door of the Three Broomsticks Inn and entered the slightly smoky pub, grateful for the inviting warmth that greeted her as soon as she closed the door behind her, shutting out the cold and windy Autumn morning. She looked around, searching, and the moment she spotted the oh so familiar fiery red hair in a corner, all her negative thoughts vanished instantly and she couldn't keep the broad smile from her face.
Ron was looking around the pub, making a slightly nervous impression as well. When his blue eyes found her, still standing by the door, a smile appeared on his face and his eyes started to twinkle. He got to his feet, and Hermione rushed forward.
When he had returned to them in the Forest of Dean, she had flung herself forward and hit him in every accessible spot, angry and upset with him for abandoning them when they had needed him most. She had been so afraid of losing her temper and repeating that very moment now, but instead she found herself throwing her arms around Ron's neck, hugging him so tightly that he gasped for air before taking her in his arms.
"Hey, Hermione," he murmured in her hair as he held her close.
She let go of him after a lengthy hug and leaned back, staring into his blue eyes. "You come back after all this time, and you say hey?" she said with slight sarcasm, repeating the words she'd said when he had returned during the Horcrux hunt.
Ron's ears turned slightly red in embarrassment and he looked away for a moment. "I remember you had a difficult time forgiving me back then," he said softly. "And I don't have a destroyed Horcrux to make up for it this time."
"Doesn't matter," she muttered. "It wasn't good enough, anyway."
"I have something in mind that might be," he whispered in return, and as soon as he had said that he leaned in and pressed his lips on hers.
Slightly taken aback for a moment, Hermione remained motionless, shocked at this unexpected public display of affection, but she soon relaxed. She closed her eyes and kissed him back, making sure to let him know how much she had missed him. After several long seconds they let go of each other, smiling shyly at one another.
Hermione sat down across from Ron, only barely remembering that this wasn't supposed to be a date and that he had some explaining to do first. Ron tried to get Madam Rosmerta's attention so they could order, and finally the curvy woman made her way towards them.
"Wasn't sure I'd be seeing you lot back here so soon," she greeted them with a genuine smile. "Is Harry Potter joining you, too?"
"Nah," Ron said, blushing slightly. "It's just us two. Harry's at the Ministry, they couldn't miss him for the day."
The pretty-faced landlady nodded in understanding. "They must be relying on him a lot in there. After all, he's the one who did what no one thought possible," she said. "Anyway, what brings you here, then?"
"I'm back at Hogwarts," Hermione answered. "I wanted to go back to finish my last year and graduate."
"And I'm visiting her for the day," Ron said.
"Well, I won't be bothering you any longer then!" Madam Rosmerta exclaimed. "What can I get you two?"
"I'll have a Cornish breakfast, please," Ron said without even touching the menu.
Hermione scanned over the many different listed breakfast meals. "I'll have fried eggs with bacon, fried mushrooms, fried tomatoes and toast with butter, please," she said finally.
"Coffee or tea?" the landlady asked as she wrote down the order.
"Tea, please" they answered at the same time.
Madam Rosmerta left to get their food and drinks. Ron looked after her, clearly still having a soft spot for the blonde woman. Instead of being bothered by that, like it had when she was younger, Hermione gratefully used this time in which he was distracted to have a good look at him.
Ron's hair was trimmed and no longer looked messy and dirty like it had for the majority of last year. The dark circles under his eyes were gone too and he made a healthy impression, but Hermione knew him well enough to see that he didn't get as much sleep as he needed. He was wearing dark jeans and a red checked logger's blouse. He looked good.
"So," Ron said finally, his eyes finding hers again, "I heard you've been made Head Girl. I'm far from surprised, but I'm really proud. Congratulations."
"Thanks," she smiled. "How are you, Ron?"
"Good," he shrugged. "Keeping myself busy. It's mad at the Ministry, but Shacklebolt is a great Minister. I hope they're keeping him, he has some brilliant plans to get the Ministry back up and running efficiently. It's been rumoured that he wants to ban the use of Dementors in Azkaban, did you hear?"
"Well, it's about time," said Hermione a little indignantly. "They're untrustworthy and the way they affect the prisoners is simply inhumane and turns them into an even bigger threat once they leave Azkaban."
"Hmm, I never thought of it like that," Ron muttered thoughtfully, "but I suppose you're right, of course."
Madam Rosmerta came back with their food and drinks and they remained silent, taking in the lovely smells that rose from the plates. Ron instantly brought a spoonful of egg to his mouth and closed his eyes, enjoying the food as only Ron could. Hermione smiled fondly and shook her head, using her fork and knife to reduce her food to manageable pieces. They ate in silence for a while, something Hermione preferred as Ron had the tendency to talk with his mouth still full, and she would rather avoid feeling revolted, especially since she hadn't seen him in a while.
"How's Neville?" she asked after swallowing some mushroom and egg.
"Pwetty guwd," Ron answered as he chewed on a potato cake. He quickly swallowed and washed his food away with some tea, shooting an apologetic glance at Hermione, who couldn't help but wrinkle her nose.
"Last year has definitely done him good, sometimes we simply forget it's Neville; he has developed quite a bit of self-confidence, it's brilliant. Some Ministry bloke came to observe our weekly training the other day, and he told Neville that he reminded him of Frank Longbottom. You should've seen his face; bright red he was."
"That's really all he ever lacked, self-confidence," Hermione smiled, happy to hear that her friend was doing well. "Has he mentioned that he visited Luna during the summer?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it, he did tell us that," Ron said with a thoughtful frown on his brows. "Apparently old Xeno Lovegood asked him the weirdest questions."
They laughed and moved on to other subjects, filling each other in on things they had missed. Ron talked some more about his activities at the Ministry and the training, and Hermione talked about things she had learned from their friends at school. She told him about Dean's father and Ginny meeting one of her Quidditch idols. She talked about the grief counsel sessions, about the new Professors and her classes and Head Girl duties. Madam Rosmerta came over to collect their empty plates and provided them both with a large complimentary glass of butterbeer.
"S,o who's the Head Boy this year, anyway?" Ron asked good-naturedly and unsuspecting.
Hermione put her butterbeer down at once and shot him a confused look. "Harry didn't tell you?"
"No," he shrugged, "I don't recall him ever bringing it up. Why?"
"Why do I always have to be the messenger?" she grumbled, making a mental note to send a flock of canaries at Harry's face next time.
Ron put down his butterbeer as well and looked at her with a slightly concerned look. "What's going on, what did I miss?"
"It's Malfoy," she sighed, dreading his response. "Malfoy's the new Head Boy."
As she had anticipated, the conversation fell silent and Ron's blue eyes stared at her in confusion, accusation and anger. "What?!" he finally managed to choke out. "Is this a joke?"
"No, it's not a joke, Ron, please keep your voice down," Hermione said quietly, noticing from the corner of her eye that a few people were turning their heads to look at them.
"Keep my voice down? I can't believe you're so calm about all this! The foul git doesn't even deserve to be back at Hogwarts, so don't even get me started on this… this…"
"Ron!" snapped Hermione. "I've had a little over two months to wrap my head around this," she continued a bit more quietly. "Do you honestly think I was okay with it at first?"
"Are you okay with it now, then?"
"Oh come on, I really thought you knew me by now. I don't like it, no, but it is what it is. I can't really do much about it, can I?"
The grumpy redhead gulped down the remainder of his butterbeer and took a couple of silver Sickles from his pocket, forcefully slamming them down on the table to pay for his consumptions. Hermione hurriedly followed his lead and dug in her pockets for some coins. They rose from their chairs, and Hermione waved Madam Rosmerta goodbye before leaving the warm pub.
Once outside, they made their way further into Hogsmeade down the High Street, passing Zonko's and Honeydukes. They walked past Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop and turned the corner after Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. Hermione followed the redhead wordlessly, knowing better than to force him to talk about it in a mood like this.
"So what's the genius explanation behind this ridiculous idea? It has Dumbledore written all over it," Ron grumbled after a lengthy silence.
Hermione sighed. "Look, we all know Malfoy's not entirely evil—"
"My arse he's not..."
"—and Professor Dumbledore wanted to motivate him to do better by appointing him Head Boy," she continued, despite Ron's grumbling interruption. "It also gives Professor McGonagall the opportunity to keep him in check, because he has certain responsibilities now and because of his position he can't misbehave, or he'll be thrown out. I have to monitor him and keep a weekly report, and it actually seems to be working, to an extent."
Ron snorted indignantly. "So what, you're his babysitter now?"
"Yes, Ron, Lucius Malfoy pays me a generous amount of Galleons every month so I can keep an eye on his precious only son," Hermione snapped sarcastically, annoyed with the redhead's childish attitude. He tried to cover up a laugh by coughing.
Hermione shot him a glare before entering the Hogsmeade Post Office where she paid for the delivery services of a Great Grey Owl to quickly deliver a box of Peppermint Toads and Toothflossing Springmints to her parents. When she made her way outside again, Ron was standing in front of Gladrags Wizardwear, staring into the large shop window at a bright orange set of dress robes that would perfectly match with the colour of his hair. They leisurely made their way to the outskirts of the village and sat down on the fence that separated Hogsmeade from the Shrieking Shack, their backs turned to the abandoned house.
"So who is your snake spy?"
"Sorry, what?" Hermione said, looking up at him in confusion.
"Your spy," Ron repeated impatiently. "If you have to keep an eye on Malfoy all the time I expect him to be down in the dungeons all the time so he doesn't have to be around you. That's what I would do, anyway. You're not the brightest witch of our age for nothing, you get around stuff like that."
"Ron… That's not how this thing works," she uttered weakly, knowing his temper would get the better of him if she told him that she had to share separate living quarters with the guy he hated with his entire being. "Besides, I don't want to spend our time together discussing Malfoy. I won't see you again until the Christmas holidays, let's not waste our time like this."
For a moment it looked as though Ron was going to protest, but after a few long seconds he just sighed. "Fine," he grumbled.
They sat in silence for a while, enjoying their view of the picturesque little village of cottages and shops and the beautiful agile violin sounds that came from Dominic Maestro's Music Shop. Hermione wanted to stay in this moment forever, but she once again reminded herself that she shouldn't treat this as a date. She gathered her courage and looked up at Ron.
"I would like to talk to you about something," she forced herself to say.
Ron looked down at her with slight concern. "About what?"
"About… the past few months…"
He looked away, suddenly making an exhausted impression. "I've messed up, haven't I?" he uttered.
She took his hand and squeezed it in an attempt to comfort him. "I wouldn't say it like that," she said softly. "But you have to realise that this is the second time that you've left me hanging when I really needed you. I know the past few months have been hard, but you know that I understand how you feel. And you can't keep shutting everyone out, Ron, you can't keep running from things."
"I know I'm not good at making the right decisions," Ron answered quietly. "Especially not when emotions are involved. I don't know how to handle all these feelings. I know a few months ago wasn't just the Horcrux's fault, and that it just… magnified the insecurity and jealousy and doubt that I had been feeling all along. I had just hidden it beneath everything else. And what happened in May…"
He sniffed and rubbed the underside of his nose with his left sleeve, taking a deep breath. "I'm just… I was in such a bad place and I don't want to go back there, Hermione, I can't go back there. I need to stay busy. I don't know how else to cope."
"I know, Ron," she whispered. "I understand. I loved Fred and he was like family to me. I know how large the hole is that he's leaving behind, it hurts me too. But you can't neglect the people that are still here for someone who is not and won't come back. I know how hard it is, I really do, but you have to give it a place and move forward. You can't keep ignoring it."
"But... I can't be here for you if I'm the one that has to heal first."
Hermione smiled sadly at his confession through her tears. "We can't move forward if you remain stuck in one place, anyway."
He stared at her with hurt evident in his blue eyes. "Are you saying you… don't want to be with me anymore?" he whispered hoarsely.
"No, Ron, I'm not," she said forcefully, squeezing his hand again. "But this is not the right time to take things further. We can't rush this, especially not after months of silence. It's just... the timing is all wrong..."
He took another deep breath. "Blimey, this is not how I expected today to unfold," he admitted softly. "But you're right. I shouldn't have been so stupid to avoid everyone these past few months. I just… I thought I was doing the right thing by not burdening everyone with my… feelings."
"We're all feeling the same grief, Ron," Hermione murmured. "Everyone is hurt in the same ways, we just express it differently. But you should have known that we would have gotten through this together. That's what the rest of your family has been doing, that's what Harry and I have been doing. We were in this together. We have always been in this together."
"I know," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."
She jumped off the fence and turned back to look at him, touching his knee in an affectionate gesture of sympathy. "Don't remain stuck in the past, Ron," she repeated. "Let's not linger on what you've done, let's focus on how you go from here."
Ron jumped off the fence as well, looking slightly less embarrassed. "All right," he said forcefully. He started searching through his pocket and fished out a little black box. "Here, a belated birthday gift," he mumbled shyly, handing it to her.
Hermione took the little box with slightly trembling hands. She had not expected this. She slowly opened it and gasped softly. Inside she found a shiny, fragile-looking silver necklace with a tiny glass orb pendant. Carefully taking the necklace from the box, she examined the orb and gasped again.
"It's snowing inside!" she exclaimed. Inside the tiny glass orb, tiny specks of white slowly moved around, glittering in the light of the faint November sun. "Oh Ron, where did you get this? It's beautiful! It must have been expensive!"
He took the necklace from her and motioned for her to turn around. Hermione took her hair, keeping the bushy mass up so Ron could close the necklace around her neck. "I remembered something you told me once. Sixth year, I think. Harry must have been at Dumbledore's for background class on You-Know-Who… And you explained to me where your name came from, remember?"
She nodded, remembering that particular evening. They had been bickering about Ron's Potions essay, which had been horribly incomplete and badly written. At one point he had childishly mocked her unusual name, and after cooling down, he had sheepishly asked her where her name came from.
"You told me about this famous writer your mother loves so much," Ron continued. "That weird snake spear guy—"
Hermione burst out in giggles. "Shakespeare, Ron! His name was William Shakespeare."
"Yeah, him. Whatever," he muttered, his ears turning slightly red. "But I thought it was cool that your mother chose your name from a play by her favourite writer. I saw this, and it reminded me of the name, Winter's Tale, and I thought you might like it."
"I love it, Ron," she said honestly. "It's perfect. I can't believe you remembered all this, though."
"I listen sometimes," he mumbled. She smiled and embraced him tightly. He put his arms around her shoulders and buried his face in her hair. They stood there like that for a while until Hermione slowly and carefully moved away from him.
"Come on," she said. "Let's go find the rest. I'm sure everyone is dying to see you."
"Everyone? Even Ginny?"
"Even Ginny," she confirmed with a small smile.
They leisurely made their way back to the Three Broomsticks. Ron opened the door and let her enter first. They spotted Ginny, Luna, Seamus and Dean at the bar. They all looked both excited and a little scared and were staring in the direction of the table in the corner where she and Ron had met up earlier. Hermione followed their stare and found herself looking at Madam Rosmerta's back. She was standing in front of the table with her hands resting on her hips. She was clearly very angry, even though Hermione could not see her face.
"I will repeat myself one last time," she barked. "You are not welcome here. Do you need help finding the door or are you able to manage that yourself?"
"Fine, fine, I'll go," an unpleasantly familiar voice snapped. Malfoy and Parkinson rose from their chairs and moved past the angry landlady who was glaring after the blond. Once the two Slytherins caught sight of Ron, they slowed down.
"Weaselbee," Malfoy sneered softly. "How lovely to see you back here."
Ron shot his nemesis a glare unlike any Hermione had seen before. "Get out of my sight, you cowardly two-faced son of a—"
"Ooh, aren't we touchy," the blond boy interjected nastily. "Don't worry, I won't waste my precious spare time on your beggarly ass. I've got better things to do, a pretty girl to entertain." He put his arm around Parkinson's shoulders and pulled her a little closer, as though he wanted to make sure everyone understood that she was the pretty girl he was talking about.
Ron's ears rapidly turned red again. This time it wasn't from embarrassment, but from anger. "You're pathetic, Malfoy."
"No," Malfoy answered scornfully. "But you are. At least I know how to be a proper boyfriend. You, on the other hand…" he shook his head, smirking nastily. "Tsk, tsk, Weasley. You've made this young lady over here very unhappy," he said, motioning his head at Hermione. "And you know, she put in much more effort for the date she had on Tuesday. Large amounts of Sleekeazy's and all that. But I understand… I wouldn't try hard for you either…"
"Yeah, Weasley," Parkinson added in an annoyingly high-pitched voice, "you should have seen the jealousy in Granger's eyes when she walked in on us being a proper couple. It's so sad that you've neglected her. No wonder that she ran off with guys like Krum and McLaggen, at least they know how to treat a girl."
"Luckily I've been around her all the time, distracting her from your sorry ass," Malfoy said with a careless shrug. "It's a disgusting job, but someone has to do it."
Ron launched himself forward at the blond Slytherin, but Seamus and Dean had already anticipated this course of action. They hurried forward and grabbed Ron's arms, holding him back as the furious redhead tried to release himself from their grip. Malfoy and Parkinson howled with laughter as they left the pub, and Hermione moved around the boys and brought her hands to Ron's face, forcing him to look at her.
"Ron, Ron, calm down, don't let them get to you. Don't you see, this is exactly what they were after! They're not worth it, Ron, please!"
He finally managed to get away from his two former dorm mates and glared down at Hermione with anger in his eyes. "What did they mean, Hermione?" he demanded.
Ginny hurried forward as well, trying to calm her brother down. "Ron, stop being ridiculous, you can't honestly believe that there's any truth to Malfoy's words. It's Malfoy, for Merlin's sake! And that ugly troll of a Parkinson is hardly better! Just because Hermione used Sleekeazy's doesn't mean she's dating anyone!"
"She didn't even use it for Bill's wedding! Said it was too much trouble! But she did go through all that trouble to please Vicky. And now she's used it on a plain Tuesday at school?"
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, feeling utterly insulted. "You're being ridiculous!"
"Yeah, 'cause that's just me, isn't it?" he spat. "The ridiculous Ron Weasley, the maker of stupid decisions. Well, I prefer being that over someone who seeks out Slytherins!"
"I did not seek them out!" she snapped indignantly. "I can't help it that they were snogging each other senseless on the couch of the common room, she wasn't even allowed to be in there in the first place and I was only on my way to bed!" The moment she had finished the sentence she knew she had slipped up.
"What common room?!" Ron hissed, and Ginny and Hermione shot each other alarmed looks.
"It's not her fault, Ron," Ginny said in a warning tone. "She never asked for it!"
"Asked for what?!"
"McGonagall has arranged for a separate common room so I can keep an eye on Malfoy," Hermione explained softly. "He is not allowed to leave there after dinner. It's just for us as Head students."
Ron stared at her in silence for a while, apparently at a loss for words. "Why didn't you tell me this?" he demanded angrily once he had found his voice again. "Are you so at ease with his presence that it completely slipped your mind?"
"Ron—" Hermione uttered.
"I think she didn't tell you because of this," came Luna's airy voice from behind Ron. The five Gryffindors turned their heads as one to look at the little blonde girl, whom they had all temporarily forgotten about.
"Because of what?!" snapped Ron.
The sixth-year Ravenclaw stared up at him with her protuberant grey eyes, completely unimpressed with his anger. "I think you're really nice, Ronald, but you are really unkind at times," she told him bluntly. "You seem rather tense about Draco Malfoy and you're being really insensitive towards Hermione. Everyone can see that she doesn't want to be around him. It was really unnecessary to yell at her like that, and I think you should apologise to her."
"And she talks about being insensitive," Seamus muttered in disbelief, staring at Luna as though he was unsure if he wanted to stay or run. Her straightforwardness clearly didn't earn her any points with him.
Dean chuckled in response. "She means well," he muttered back. "She's actually all right."
"Luna's right," Ginny said angrily. "You're being such an insensitive arse right now. It's Malfoy you should be mad at, or yourself for that matter, but not Hermione. She hasn't done anything wrong; she is the one who's being punished by being forced to live with the git."
Ron shot his younger sister a glare. "Stay out of this, Ginny, this doesn't concern you!" he growled.
"Ron," Hermione interjected forcefully, "just look at what happened earlier. At the mere mention of Malfoy being Head Boy the entire mood turned upside-down. We were having such a good time at first! I know you're not happy about this, but neither am I and you don't hear me yelling at you about it. I knew you wouldn't be able to control your temper, and that's why I didn't tell you."
For a moment, it looked like Ron was going to leave angrily, but after a few long seconds he sighed and sat down at the bar. "You're right. I'm sorry," he muttered with slight reluctance.
"He sees sense!" Ginny exclaimed as she threw her hands up, only to be grabbed by her older brother. He held her in a headlock, ignoring her loud curses as he roughly rubbed her on the head with his knuckles.
The group laughed and took their seats at the bar again, ordering a round of butterbeer and moving the earlier incidents to the back of their minds to make the most of their day trip.