Chapter 14 - The brightest witch
Later that morning, Hermione walked into The Three Broomsticks to meet Ron, whom she hadn't seen in more than a week. She was nervous and scanned the half-empty pub.
Hermione hadn't been here in a few years, since the last Hogwarts reunion five years ago. It seemed like yesterday when she, Ron, Harry and Ginny reminisced with their classmates, divorce the furthest thing from their minds. She then spotted the back of Ron's ginger colored head; he was sitting in a corner booth nursing a butterbeer.
She approached the booth and touched him on the shoulder, making him jump.
"Ron?"
"Hermione! You scared me!"
She took a good look at her soon to be ex-husband, he had a week's worth of beard growth and he looked tired.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She said warily as she sat opposite him. "No Firewhiskey?"
"Nah, I've had my fill of it for the last few days." He said sulkily. "And I don't want to be drunk when we tell the kids."
Hermione nodded, deciding to get down to business. "Have you seen today's Daily Prophet?"
"Yeah, I have," Ron said quietly. "So is it true, are you shacking up with Harry?" he asked disdainfully.
Seeing his expression, Hermione went into defensive mode. "No! Well, not the way the papers are insinuating, anyway. I invited him to stay with me for a few days, in the guestroom, because I just didn't think it was a good idea for him to be in that empty house after Ginny took Lily and left him."
"So you're not sleeping with him?" Ron asked, skeptically as he took a sip of his drink.
"Of course not Ron, don't be ridiculous. Did you really believe this rubbish?"
Ron shrugged. "If you want to know the truth, I had my doubts. I even asked Harry about it when I last saw him, when he came to see me at the Ministry guest quarters."
"But that was before the story came out, Ron! Do you mean to tell me you thought Harry and I were having an affair?" Hermione was incredulous that Harry hadn't mentioned this to her.
"Oh come on, don't look so shocked." Ron said. "You were always taking in the backyard, huddled together or holding hands. You looked really cozy."
"Ron, you very well know that Harry and I have always been like that, it's just the way we are with each other." Hermione explained patiently. "I don't understand why I even have to justify this to you. You grew up with us!"
"I know that, Hermione. I just expected once we were married that you would be more affectionate with me!" Ron said angrily.
"Please keep your voice down." Hermione looked around to see if anyone overheard, but nobody seemed to pay them any mind.
"Ron, I'm sorry, I never realized you felt that way. Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"I dunno, I guess I didn't want to rock the boat…." He shrugged. "Hermione, can you honestly tell me that you don't have any feelings for Harry? That you've never had a non-platonic thought about him?"
"Ron, that's ridiculous." She said automatically. "Harry is my best friend, he's always been."
"And what was I?"
"You were my other best friend. You were the man I married and the father of my children…."
"That you aren't in love with anymore." Ron finished sadly, his blue eyes moist.
Hermione stared at him, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, Ron."
He nodded and looked away. "I know…so what do we tell the kids?"
"Well, I think we should keep it simple. We will tell them that we've decided to end our marriage because it's not working anymore. We need to let them know that we love them both very much and will continue to be their parents and make sure that they will spend equal time with both of us."
Hermione looked at Ron uncertainly. "Right?"
"I guess so." Ron nodded. "Listen, Hermione, I want to make something clear. I don't intend to pull a Ginny and use our kids as some kind of bargaining tool, that's the last thing that they need. I would like partial custody and be able to spend at least one month out of the summer with them. We can figure out things like Christmas holidays and the like."
Hermione nodded, relieved. "Thanks, I hope we can keep this as amicable as possible. I'm going to meet with my lawyer this week. Do you have representation yet?"
Ron shook his head. "No, but Luna says I should use her divorce lawyer."
"You saw Luna again?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"Yeah, she came by the shop and we had lunch. She wants to do a feature on George and me for The Quibbler."
"So you're back at the joke shop? What about the Ministry?"
"Hermione, to tell you the truth, I don't think I'm going back. I don't think I was ever cut out for an office job. I love working at the shop and talking to customers to help them find exactly what they need. It doesn't feel like work at all."
Ron gave her a genuine smile; it was the first smile she had seen from him in ages.
"That's wonderful." Hermione said. "I remember how happy you were when you worked there years ago. But I'm sure Harry will be disappointed to hear that you aren't coming back."
The smile disappeared from Ron's face. "I reckon Harry will be relieved. He and I aren't really the best of friends right now."
Hermione sighed sadly. "I'm sorry to hear that. Do you think you two will ever be able repair your friendship?"
"I don't know. I guess he'll have to forgive me for accusing him of having an affair with my wife. That might take a while." He said dryly. "You know, I think having time away from Harry will be good for me. Since I've been eleven years old, I feel like I've been living in his shadow. I need to establish myself as someone other than Harry Potter's best friend and associate."
Hermione nodded sympathetically. "Makes sense to me."
They sat there for a few moments in silence until Ron spoke.
"You know, Hermione. I know things are pretty crappy all around right now, but it will get better. When I was talking to Luna the other day she said she thinks our split might be the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't quite believe her yet, but maybe she's right."
"I hope that's true. For the both of us." Hermione agreed.
At that moment, Hermione saw her children enter the pub. Her heart sank as she smiled and waved to them. This was going to be one of the most difficult things she had ever done.
"Mum! Dad!" cried Hugo as he ran over to their table, with Rose following behind.
"Rosie, Hugo!" Ron exclaimed as he hugged his kids. "You've both grown at least a foot since I last saw you."
Rose rolled her eyes at her father as she sat down next to her mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Dad, you only saw us four weeks ago, we couldn't have grown that much."
"Rosie, you look and sound more like your mother all the time."
"Would you like to order some butterbeers?" Hermione asked her children.
"No, mum, actually I'm starving. Can we go to The Leaky Cauldron for lunch?" Hugo pleaded.
Ron nodded. "Yeah, Hugo's right. I'm starving."
"Like father, like son." Hermione commented. "All right let's go."
Hermione didn't have much of an appetite, she was too anxious about breaking the impending news. As the kids led the way towards The Leaky Cauldron, Ron pulled her aside.
"Hermione, let's have a nice lunch with the kids first, then we can tell them the news, okay?"
"All right, Ron. But we must tell them after lunch, no more stalling."
While the Weasleys ate their lunch, Rose watched her parents carefully. They were nicer to each other than usual, something was definitely up. The conversation was pleasant as the kids updated their parents about their classes, professors and friends until Rose decided to bring up the subject of her cousins' sudden departure.
"So Mum, did you hear that James and Al were pulled out of school by Aunt Ginny yesterday?"
Ron gave Hermione a look to say it's now or never.
Hermione shook her head. "Um, no I didn't. Do you know why?"
"I had no idea, well at least until this morning at breakfast." Rose reached into her schoolbag and pulled out The Daily Prophet and handed it to her mother.
"Scorpius Malfoy so generously gave me his copy." Rose said sarcastically as she folded her arms across her stomach.
"What a git, he's just like his father!" Ron exclaimed.
Meanwhile Hermione's heart sank even lower, this was her worst nightmare come true.
"Rose, honey, you know that I've told you that The Daily Prophet makes up a lot of rubbish to sell papers, right?" Hermione started.
"Yeah, I know. But why else would James and Al leave? It's a little too much of a coincidence."
Hermione sighed. "Yes, it's true that your Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny are splitting up."
"And what of the rest of it, mum? The article is implying that you and Uncle Harry are having an affair! Is that part also true? Is this why you and Dad wanted to see us?" Rose cried angrily.
Meanwhile, Hugo's jaw dropped. He wasn't quite sure what an affair meant, but it didn't look good by his sister's reaction.
"Rose, please keep your voice down, your dad and I can explain what's going on." Hermione said desperately. "Honey, there is nothing going on between your Uncle Harry and me, the papers have it all wrong."
"Are they wrong about you and dad, too?" Rose asked, her eyes shining with tears.
Hermione looked at Ron, pleading for help.
He reached over and grabbed his daughter's hand. "Rosie, sweetie. Listen to me. Your mom and I are ending our marriage. But it has nothing to do with Uncle Harry. We just don't love each other the way we used to. But we both love you and Hugo very much. We don't want to make this any harder on the two of you than it has to be."
Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her sinking feeling was correct. Her parents' marriage was ending. She looked at their pleading faces and all of a sudden they both looked so small to her. They were no longer the two people she looked up to most, they seemed like strangers.
She pulled away from the table and ran out of the restaurant. Meanwhile Hugo just stared at his parents in shock.
Hermione followed Rose out of the restaurant and found her daughter sobbing next to a tree.
"Rose, baby?" She said tentatively as she touched her daughter on the shoulder, but she flinched.
"Honey, I'm so sorry you had to find out like this. Your dad and I split up over a week ago, and we should've told you right away. I think we waited to tell you because we both wanted to be sure that it was really over. And it is, unfortunately. But I want you to know that we both love you so much and we always will."
`What will happen to Hugo and me?" Rose asked, not looking at her mother.
"Well, you'll continue with school and during the summer, you'll spend equal time with your dad and me. We'll work it out, honey. Your dad and I want to make this as painless as possible."
Hermione knew her words were empty. There was no way to make this less painful.
Finally Rose looked at her mother. "Were you really that unhappy with dad that you couldn't make it work?"
Hermione nodded at her daughter. "Yes. We tried, but I think your dad and I make better friends than husband and wife."
"Did any of this have to do with your new job?"
"Honestly? I think it was the catalyst, but I think the marriage would've ended sooner or later."
"And you're not in love with Uncle Harry?"
"Honey, I told you the papers make this stuff up."
"I'm not asking because of what the papers say, Mum." Rose said, wiping her eyes. "I'm asking because of what I've seen with my own two eyes."
Hermione was taken aback by her daughter's question. "What do you mean?"
"I've seen you and Uncle Harry when you're together. You just seem so close, you're always hugging or touching and you just click with him, it's not like that with Dad."
"Rose, you do know that we have been best friends since we were your age, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know, Mum. I've heard the troll story more times than I can count. But I thought you were also best friends with dad since then, too. It just seems sometimes that Uncle Harry means more to you than Dad does."
"Rose, that's not true."
"Are you sure, Mum? Maybe you should've married Uncle Harry instead of Dad and we wouldn't be in this mess!"
Rose looked at her mother's shocked face. "I'm sorry, it's just what I see." She then turned and ran back into the restaurant.
Hermione stood by the tree, dumbfounded by her daughter's observation. She had always prided herself that Rose had inherited her brains. Could the brightest witch in her class at Hogwarts be right about her mother's feelings?
TBC
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