Chapter Text
Hermione watched Susan Bones disappear through the Floo in a swirl of green flame with a tearful sniff as the sitting room settled into silence.
Hermione took a slow sip of tea, then, despite herself, she smiled.
Well, that had gone rather better than expected. She hadn't exactly lied, she’d been careful about that. Omission wasn't really dishonesty, if it were, every government report she'd ever edited would be chucked out. She'd merely provided Susan with the necessary… context.
Susan had asked perfectly innocent follow-up questions."But you're not together now?”
Hermione chose that moment to lower her voice, because sincerity was important, sincerity made people trust you. She frowned, just enough. “Our relationship has always been ...complicated."
Susan’s patient smile faltered. Ah - complicated. That word had served her well over the years. It implied depth and history - things far too meaningful for ordinary people to understand…It also avoided having to specify anything.
Hermione continued, apologetically.”We never actually broke up.”
Which was completely true…she just left out the part where they never officially got together in the first place
"We've just both been… so busy."
Also true. There had been a war, then there had been the aftermath of the war … and then Australia, and then Hogwarts. And then there had been the small matter of rebuilding magical society, because apparently no one else had noticed that the entire thing seemed to be held together with outdated ideas and a bit of spellotape. Really, it was unreasonable to expect Hermione to also schedule in a prolonged, uncomfortable conversation about relationship status. Speaking of which, she smiled weakly at Susan:
"Ron isn't very good at talking about difficult emotional subjects."
Painfully true. Ron had always struggled with difficult conversations…Of course, Hermione was choosing to overlook the fact that Ron had, on multiple occasions, attempted to have one.
There’d been that conversation in Australia, when he'd finally admitted that he didn't know where they stood. Hermione had explained, very patiently, given that they had all just survived a war and he’d just lost his brother, making major emotional decisions while traumatised was likely unwise. Then there had been the conversation after she returned to Hogwarts. Ron had asked whether they were still…Well to be fair he hadn’t been able to finish the sentence because Hermione had interrupted him to point out that she had three essays due and two Ministry applications to complete. The conversation had been postponed and then postponed again and eventually Ron had stopped asking. Which Hermione considered rather unfair of him.
She sniffed a little “It’s actually been rather difficult.”
Susan softened immediately,“Oh, Hermione.”
“I know.”
Hermione looked away.”I just worry sometimes that Ron feels he has to choose between the person who understands him and someone new who doesn’t know all the things he’s been through. I would never want you to feel like you were doing something wrong but he’s just so easily hurt.”
Susan went very still. Hermione almost admired her for lasting as long as she had
Hermione continued, “Ron has always struggled with expressing what he wants.”
Susan nodded slowly.“That’s true.”
Hermione frowned, she had expected resistance.
“I mean,” Susan continued, “he’s not always good at saying when something matters to him.”
“I just think,” Hermione said softly, “you should ask yourself whether he’s really moved on.”
Susan meanwhile was absorbed staring into her teacup for several long seconds, looking quite upset. Hermione almost felt a little guilty but really, wasn't it kinder this way? Susan deserved someone who was actually available and Ron deserved someone who understood him.
And Hermione….
Hermione simply needed time.
That was all.
The war had ended barely five years ago. She'd had to restore her parents' memories, rebuild a relationship with them, finish her education, begin her Ministry placement. Then it was helping draft legislation protecting Muggle-borns and campaign for werewolf employment reform. House-elf protections still needed expanding…
She was busy - she was important.
Love...
Love could wait.
Ron understood that. He always had. He'd simply become...distracted.
Again.
Hermione mentally crossed another name off the list.
Lavender Brown. The first warning sign. Hermione had barely needed a strategy for that one, Lavender had been defeated by proximity. All it took were a few little gestures - a hand on Ron's arm, a slightly longer-than-necessary hug after a particularly difficult day. Nothing inappropriate, of course, just enough to remind her that there was history there. Lavender had noticed and she had completely panicked and shot herself in the foot.
Demelza Robins. Not too difficult, she barely lasted two months. She wasn’t entirely sure what had kickstarted that particular relationship but Ginny had always been very good at pretending she wasn’t manipulating situations while actively manipulating situations. In return, Hermione had simply popped up everywhere and reminded Demelza, repeatedly and helpfully, that Ron and Hermione were best friends.The sort of best friends who had survived crazy things together, who understood each other without speaking…who were obviously not like ordinary best friends.
Hannah Abbott. Annoying but dealt with before it went anywhere. She was always smiling at Ron, laughing at his jokes, leaning across the bar provocatively. Then the free baskets of chips started. Hermione clocked her game straight away - Ron would walk into the pub, see Hannah smile, receive food, and begin mentally forming an emotional chain of connection between her and happiness. Enough was enough and one day she quietly reminded Hannah that the Leaky Cauldron was due for an inspection. Nothing threatening, of course, just a little friendly reminder that regulations were important and that Hermione happened to know several people involved in ensuring establishments remained compliant. Hannah had, very sensibly, decided Neville was a much safer person to give her free chips to. Ron had seemed a little hurt after and wondered several times what he’d done to offend her. Hermione had pretended not to know. It was important that Ron learned to notice these things himself.
And now Susan. She’d lasted almost as long as Lavender, five months. Five months of Susan - Susie - who apparently had an astonishing amount of patience and free time despite having a career of her own… Susan who answered Ron's owls immediately and caught spiders for him and would somehow manage to notice that Ron was upset before he had even said anything and would say things like “I believe in you.”
Hermione found this particularly irritating. Susan was very nice in an annoying way that made Hermione look rather inconsiderate. She remembered small details about Ron that Hermione had forgotten because she had been busy remembering much larger, more important things.
Still. It was better for everyone to discover these things early. Imagine if Susan had married him before learning the truth - that Ron and Hermione belonged together. Hermione shuddered, that would have been dreadfully complicated. She would have been very difficult to remove later.
Not that she was ready to make a commitment just yet. Hermione frowned, still surprised the answer wasn't obvious. I'll know when I'm ready, she thought with a shrug, and until then, well I can't exactly let him marry someone else.
********************************************************************
For several weeks afterwards, Hermione considered the matter settled. Susan was gone and Ron would soon realise that, actually, he had never wanted someone else.
It was only a matter of time. Unfortunately, Ron appeared to be taking an unusual amount of time. He had seemed sad at first but then two weeks later he seemed… different. He was suddenly unavailable all the time with plans that did not involve Hermione.
Eventually, even Harry noticed. “Ron seems different,” he said cautiously one evening.
Hermione looked up from her paperwork. “I think he’s just processing.”
Harry frowned.”Processing what?”
"The breakup with Susan."
Harry stared at her hard for a moment, then, wisely, said nothing.
Every time after that, whenever Hermione mentioned Ron's strange behaviour, Harry became very interested in whatever happened to be in his hands. Ginny, when asked, snarked "Maybe Ron is allowed to have a life.” which Hermione found unnecessarily dramatic.
Four months later, Hermione was sitting in the Leaky Cauldron with Harry and Ginny when the doors burst open and George came charging inside.
“Right,” George said, slightly out of breath. “Everyone needs to stop what they’re doing.”
Harry looked up.“Why?”
“Because you are never going to believe what I just walked in on.” George looked around the table. He looked like he had just discovered the funniest thing in the world and was struggling to contain himself.“I went to Ron’s flat…to get him to sign off on some inventory numbers.”
“And?”
George grinned.“And I walked in on Ron.”
Hermione frowned.“Doing what?”
George smirked “Pansy Parkinson.”
Hermione stared at him in disbelief and shook her head “Ron wouldn’t—”
“Apparently Ron would.”
Ginny immediately covered her mouth.
Hermione noticed.“You knew?”
Ginny’s eyes widened.“No.”
“Yes you did - you knew!”
“I knew he was seeing someone.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
Ginny looked at Harry and Harry looked at his drink.
“Pansy Parkinson?” Harry said eventually to George
George nodded.“Yep.”
“The Pansy Parkinson?”
“There is only one, thankfully.”
Before Hermione could formulate a response to that, the doors of the Leaky Cauldron opened again and this time, Ron hurried in, looking a bit of a mess, his jumper was on inside out and he had on two different shoes.
“George!”Ron stopped and for one horrible second, his expression suggested he had already realised exactly what had happened.
George smiled.“Oh, hello, little brother.”
Ron looked between them, then directly at George.“Did you tell them?”
George attempted innocence.“Tell them what?”
Ron stared.“George.”
“What?”
“You know what.”
George’s smile grew.“Do I?”
“Yes.”
“No idea.”
“George.”
“Ron.”
“You told them didn’t you?”
“That you’ve been caught boffing Parkinson, yes.” Ginny intervened.
Ron’s face went bright red. Harry was still looking stunned.“Pansy Parkinson… How?”
Ron looked uncomfortable.“Well.”He rubbed the back of his neck.“After Susie and I broke up, I was a bit…”He searched for the word. “Down.”
Harry and Ginny made sympathetic faces.
“I had that meeting in France,” Ron continued.
George nodded.“Business trip.”
“Yeah.” Ron shrugged.“I was staying at this hotel, and I went down to the bar because I couldn’t sleep. And she was there…She was staying at the same hotel because the magazine she works for had her there covering the fashion shows. We’d both had a long day. She’d been at shows all day. I’d been stuck in meetings and feeling miserable.”
Harry nodded.“Because of Susan?”
Ron shrugged.“A bit.”
Hermione looked down, avoiding Harry’s eye.
“Look, I know it sounds weird.”
George gave him a look.“It does.”
“But we both had a bit to drink and needed a bit of…” He hesitated “ stress relief.”
Ginny wrinkled her nose. Ron looked embarrassed. “Anyway.”He cleared his throat. “We’d both had too much to drink and I figured that was probably it.”
“A one-night thing?” Harry asked.
Ron nodded.“Yeah. But then I bumped into her again and we had coffee, and coffee turned into drinks which turned into dinner and then well, er, coffee again. When we got back though I thought for sure that’d be the end of it but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I ended up owling her.”
“To ask her out?” Harry asked.
Ron shook his head.“No.”
“What then?”
Ron looked embarrassed.“I said I wanted to talk to her about the Wonder Witch line.”
Harry looked suspicious.“And then?”
Ron looked away.“We ended up in bed together again.”
Silence. Hermione sat very still.
Right.
Okay.
That was fine.
Actually, more than fine, that made things much simpler. This was clearly just a physical thing.
A stupid rebound after Susan.
Another distraction.
A strange situation caused by alcohol, and the French.
George, however, seemed to have noticed something else, he frowned “That trip was ages ago.”
Ron looked at him.“Yeah.”
“So…”George pointed at Ron.“How long have you been shagging Parkinson?”
Ron went very quiet. Harry looked at him.“Ron?”
Ron rubbed the back of his neck again. “Four months.”
George slowly leaned back and whistled.“Four months?”
Ron nodded.
Ginny looked between them. “You’ve been seeing Pansy Parkinson for four months?”
“Yes.”
“And nobody knew?”
“I didn’t exactly tell people.”
Then George broke the silence.“You do realise who we’re talking about, right?”
Ron sighed.“Yes.”
“Pansy Parkinson.”
“Yes, George.”
“The same Pansy Parkinson who spent seven years being unpleasant to basically everyone? The girl who used to make people miserable for entertainment?”
“She’s still Pansy,” Ron sighed “She’s just not the same Pansy. She does know she was a right little arsehole at school. And she doesn’t believe all that blood purity rubbish.”
Ginny had been quiet for a while, she leaned forward “Ron?”
“Yeah?”
She spoke carefully.“Do you actually have feelings for Pansy Parkinson?”
Ron looked away and Hermione felt a strange flicker of hope. That was not the face of someone confidently declaring a grand romance.
“I didn’t mean to …It just happened.”
“Ron?”
Ron pressed his head into his hands and his muffled reply came out slightly desperate sounding “I’m in love with her. We’re in love.”
Hermione's mind went utterly blank. Her stomach lurched so violently she thought she might actually be sick, every conversation in the Leaky Cauldron disappearing beneath the sudden roar of blood in her ears.
I’m in love with her.
Hermione’s brain snapped to attention. He was confused. That was the obvious explanation, Ron had always had a tendency to mistake intensity for certainty. Or perhaps it was the physical side of things clouding his judgement, people did that all the time.
Or—
Parkinson.
Hermione seized on the thought with almost desperate relief.
Of course. Pansy Parkinson was a Slytherin, they manipulate people. They were ambitious, calculating, perfectly capable of playing a long game. Granted, Hermione had never actually witnessed Pansy execute anything especially subtle—mainly she just loudly insulted people in full view of everyone…But still, the principle remained.
“I’m sorry.” Ron pleaded.
Hermione’s attention snapped back except…he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at Harry. Hermione followed his gaze and immediately felt a familiar irritation. Harry had that face on.
Ron had just announced he was in love with Pansy Parkinson, and Harry was already making the face.
The face that said: Ron has made a mistake, but Ron is still Ron and I love him. The soft, understanding, tragically forgiving face that Hermione had seen countless times before. He did not need evidence that Ron had learned anything at all from the experience. Ron didn’t even need a proper apology to get it, just the tone - that forlorn voice and little frown.
“Ron,” Harry said quietly.
And there it was, the gentle voice, the one that meant Harry had already forgiven him.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” Ron said.
Harry nodded.
Ron had always been Harry’s weakness. It was a very good thing Voldemort never worked that out…
They were supposed to be a trio, a balanced friendship group with three equal parts. Except Hermione had always known the truth, Harry had a favourite. He might deny it but Hermione had eyes. Harry could be furious with Ron, he could spend hours explaining exactly why Ron’s behaviour had been unfair. He could list every mistake, every thoughtless comment, every way in which Ron had been unreasonable… And then Ron would say “sorry” in that slightly miserable voice and Harry would immediately start looking like someone had kicked his puppy.
Harry watched him for a moment, he asked quietly:“She makes you happy?”
Ron looked up as the question seemed to catch him off guard. “Yeah.”
Harry nodded slowly.“Then I’ll give her a chance.”
Hermione looked at him. What?
Ginny sighed.“Well….I suppose if Harry’s okay with it…”She pointed at Ron.“Don’t look so pleased. I’m not saying I suddenly trust Pansy.”
Ron nodded quickly.“Okay.”
“I mean it.”
“Okay.”
“She was awful.”
“I know.”
“And if she ever treats you badly, I will personally remind her exactly why she used to be scared of me.”
Ron smiled slightly.
George leaned back.“Well, this is disappointing.” Everyone looked over at him. “I was hoping for at least six months of dramatic family arguments over your sex life.”
“George.”
“What? It would have been entertaining.”
Ron narrowed his eyes.“You’re going to give her a chance?”
George sighed. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Why?”
George looked offended. “Because you’re my brother.”
Hermione frowned. Harry was predictable and Ginny had always been softer with Ron than she pretended.
But George?
George, who had spent years treating almost every serious situation as an opportunity for either a prank or a cruel joke, usually at Ron’s expense?
George had suddenly developed emotional maturity.
Now?
Fucking Now?
Hermione realised everyone was looking at her, she folded her hands together beneath the table until her knuckles hurt. Ron looked apologetic, as though he expected her to be disappointed.
He had no idea.
Hermione smiled. It felt brittle enough that she wondered whether anyone could hear it cracking. “Well,” she said pleasantly, “if everyone else is prepared to give her a chance…” She gave a tiny shrug. “Then so am I.”
Ron's shoulders dropped with visible relief. “Thanks, Hermione.”
Hermione inclined her head graciously. Internally, however, her thoughts were moving a million miles a minute.
Absolutely not, objecting now would be stupid. Ron had just declared himself in love. If she immediately attacked Pansy, she'd only confirm every ridiculous romantic instinct currently clouding his judgement. Nothing bound people together faster than believing the world disapproved of their relationship, they would become an us against everyone else. She knew Ron, he would dig his heels in, every criticism would become another opportunity for Ron to prove—to himself as much as anyone else—that this relationship was worth fighting for. No she wouldn’t do as an opponent but perhaps…
Hermione smiled more naturally this time."Actually..."Ron looked relieved."I think it's wonderful you've found someone."
"Really?"
"Of course."
Harry frowned slightly and Ginny narrowed her eyes. Hermione continued pleasantly."Although there is one thing you really ought to do."
"What?"
"You should bring Pansy to Sunday lunch."
Ginny was now watching Hermione with increasing suspicion.
Ron rubbed the back of his neck."Mum might..."
"What?"
"...not exactly..."
Hermione tilted her head."Not exactly what?"
Ron muttered,"Like her."
She gave him an encouraging smile."Then it's much better to find that out now.”
Ginny coughed rather pointedly.
Hermione ignored her."Besides," she added, "your mother has always been wonderfully fair once she's had the opportunity to get to know someone properly."
As Ron mulled this over across the table, Ginny caught Hermione's eye and for one terrifying second Hermione wondered if she'd worked it out. Hermione smiled at her, warm and guileless. Ginny's answering smile was razor thin. Ron was starting nodding, “Yeah you’re right, it’s not a bad idea - get it all out in the open.
Hermione's lips twitched. Molly Weasley possessed many excellent qualities, subtlety was not among them. Nor was restraint where her children were concerned.
Her thoughts drifted briefly to Fleur, Mrs Weasley had still spent a year convinced she wasn't good enough for Bill. Pansy Parkinson, by comparison…
She almost laughed out loud.