After the pudding debacle, Ginny refused to speak to Harry for the rest of the meal, much to his discomfort, Mrs Weasley's distress and Ron's intense amusement. Harry made a mental note never to complement a woman on her cooking again, it only lead to trouble. As they all retreated to the living room after supper, he sat as far away from her as possible and tried to ignore her steely glare.
As everyone made themselves comfortable and Mrs Weasley tuned into the WWN, Harry noticed that Ron and Hermione had stayed behind in the kitchen. Harry wasn't really sure how he felt about his two best friends romance, or lack thereof. He wanted them to be happy after all they had done for him, of course he did, but when the three of them were alone together he often felt as though their friendship was being stretched and that they, or at least Ron, resented Harry's presence. But perhaps he was just being paranoid.
Trying not to draw attention to himself he stretched over the side of the sofa to try and see through the kitchen door, he could hear them talking to each other, but their words were drowned out by the hiss and crackle of the radio. Giving up he returned his attention to the conversation in the room.
"I've tried to speak to someone about it," Mr Weasley was saying, "but everyone at the Ministry's so busy at the moment that I haven't had the chance to explain the idea. What do you think Harry?"
Harry floundered as everyone turned to look expectantly at him. "Er… sorry Mr Weasley I must've nodded off," he supplied lamely, "what were you saying?"
"I was just saying that after everything that happened, with You-know… well, anyway the Ministry aught to put up some sort of memorial or monument to all those who fought and died…" Mr Weasley looked away from everyone and cleared his throat loudly before continuing. "So what do you think? No one at the Ministry has much time for me at the moment."
Whether or not Mr Weasley was subtly asking Harry to help him, (and Harry doubted it) he immediately saw that he would be one of the few people who could actually make himself heard at the Ministry, being the Boy-who-lived and all.
"I think it's a great idea Mr Weasley, it could probably be put up at Hogwarts as well since so many of th…" Harry struggled to find a word that fitted, "those who fought were from there. It seems fitting." Unsure how to offer his help without taking over the idea, he paused for a second. "If you wanted to draw up some sort of proposal I could - I might…"
Catching on instantly Mr Weasley beamed at Harry and saved him the trouble of continuing. "Would you submit it for me Harry? Oh, that'd be excellent, and having it at Hogwarts is a fantastic idea."
After that the discussion turned to the latest Quidditch results and Mrs Weasley's none too gentle quizzing of Fleur on the relative likelihood of grandchildren in the near future. His stomach full after a delicious meal Harry sat sleepily on the corner of the sofa occasionally voicing his opinion on a particular team or the relative skill of a seeker.
Suddenly an explosion of angry voices from the kitchen disrupted the conversation, and Harry had no trouble in hearing what his friends were saying.
"HONESTLY RON, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? THAT I'LL JUST SIT AROUND FOREVER WAITING FOR YOU TO GROW UP?"
"Well I'm sorry you feel that way." Ron was practically spitting and Harry could just imagine the colour of his ears by now. "Perhaps you should stop waiting around and just go off and abandon your friends since that's what you so obviously want to do!"
At this point there was a disembodied scream of rage from the kitchen. "ABANDON! You're hardly one to talk about abandonment Ronald, especially this year!"
Harry winced as a deathly silence spread from the kitchen. After several tense seconds, during which no one in the living room dared to breath, Ron finally spoke in a clipped, cold voice. "Well if that's the way you feel then you're welcome to leave."
Without warning the kitchen door was thrown open and Ron stormed out, saw the stunned stares of his family and threw himself back the way he had come. Seconds later they heard the pounding of his feet receding up the stairs. After a pause Bill cleared his throat and said feebly, "So Dad… I think that's a fantastic idea of Dedalus Diggle's. Commemorative celebratory top hats eh?" George laughed half-heartedly at this, but otherwise the room remained silent. Mrs Weasley looked utterly distraught and Harry could almost see the wedding cake crumbling in her mind. Percy and Mr Weasley looked awkward and from across the room came an entirely audible, disapproving sniff from Ginny. Whether it was Ginny's supercilious attitude or just the awkward tension in the room Harry wasn't sure, but he couldn't bear to stay there for a second longer.
"I suppose I better go check on them." He mumbled as he slunk towards the door ignoring Ginny's outraged glare.
Entering the kitchen he found the room disserted and so continued upstairs to find his friends. Once he reached the landing he felt torn as to which one he should talk to first, Ron was probably sitting sulking in his room and he assumed that Hermione had returned to the room she shared with Ginny. Whichever friend he went to the other would no doubt feel sidelined and get upset with him. Why did they always put him in this position? Although come to think of it, if Ron's past moods were anything to go by then he wouldn't notice if Harry went up just now and cursed his eyebrows off - again. A muffled sob from the end of the corridor decided him.
Quietly he knocked on Ginny's bedroom door, "Hermione, can I come in?"
For a moment the sniffing paused and he heard her scrambling around frantically for a moment. Then, "Alohomora," the lock clicked and the door swung open. Walking into the room he slowly shut the door behind him and leant against it. His best friend was sitting on a camp bed set up in the corner, her face puffy and red from crying and her bushy hair frizzier than ever. As she gazed back at him her eyes filled with tears again, but the voice that spoke was calm and surprisingly defeated.
"Oh Harry, I'm such an idiot. I've made an awful mess of everything and -" she paused, "it doesn't matter, you wouldn't understand."
Harry was baffled by how tired and fatalistic she sounded; she never usually let Ron get to her this much. Normally when they fell out she continued shouting about him even when he was out of earshot. It was as though all the fire and spark had gone out of her, something was wrong. Moving across the room to sit beside her on the bed Harry reached out to take her hand, "Are you sure you don't want to talk; what were you arguing about?" He waited for her to gather herself together before she began.
"Well all I said to him was that I was thinking - thinking about going over to Australia soon to bring my parents back, and at first he seemed ok with it but then I explained I wanted to go on my own and he sort of blew up in my face and started going on about how I didn't care about us anymore. But that's just it Harry, I don't think I do care enough anymore. We fight all the time and it's mean sniping at each other and I don't like the person I become when that happens. If anything we fight even more now than we used to. Maybe it's best just to stay friends." She looked at Harry with nervous eyes as though seeking his opinion on the matter.
Sighing he decided how best to approach the situation, he couldn't exactly tell her to ditch his best friend, that would be to much like a betrayal, but he could also see that she was deeply unhappy and needed reassurance. Eventually he began tentatively, "the thing is Hermione, I can't tell you whether you should stay with Ron, that's up to you to decide. What I do think you should do though is talk to him, you never know, you might be able to fix it." At this some of Hermione's old spark returned as she gave a sceptical snort. "At least promise me you'll talk to him." He waited until she gave a resigned nod and then continued. "As for going to Australia of course you have to go and get your parents, and after everything you've done for me I wouldn't dream of stopping you. But are you sure you want to go on your own?" He hurried to explain himself as she angrily tried to interrupt him. "I know you'd be able to cope fine on your own, I just wanted to be sure you didn't want company."
"No thanks Harry," she squeezed his hand affectionately, "I need to do this on my own and have some time to myself after everything that's happened. You of all people know what that feels like."
"If you're sure," He didn't like the thought of her leaving on her own, but he knew he had no right to stop her.
"Mmhm," she sighed, "I better go and talk to R-"
The door flew open and hit the wall with a bang as Hermione jumped away from him. In the doorway stood a fuming Ginny. "Well don't you too look cosy," she drawled in a tone that would have made any Malfoy proud. Harry felt himself blushing and knew it made him look guilty as hell, which just made him blush even more. Although if he had nothing to be guilty about why could he still feel the imprint of Hermione's hand in his making his skin tingle?
Hermione stood up, nervously brushing her hair behind her ears. "Well I'll go and see Ron…" She trailed off as Ginny continued to glare at her.
"Remembered we have a boyfriend already have we?" she challenged as Hermione attempted to squeeze past her and run up the stairs.
As Hermione's footsteps faded above them Harry rounded on his girlfriend. "What was that all about?"
"As if you didn't know." Ginny practically spat it at him. "One minute she has a fight with her boyfriend, my brother by the way, and the next she goes running off to hold your hand. I'm sorry Harry but I do have a brain you know, I can see what's going on."
"Which is what exactly?" Harry's tone was icily dangerous now. "Tell me Ginny what exactly do you think is going on? Do you really think that I'd cheat on you? Because if that's how little you think of me then -" He paused for breath as the unsaid hung heavily in the air between them.
After a few tense seconds of silence Ginny reached out a placatory hand and said in a falsely sweet voice, "Of course I don't think that of you Harry, what I meant was that I wouldn't put it past Hermione to try and break us up. She's always been jealous of me and -"
With a jerk Harry wrenched his arm out of her grip, "Hermione is my best friend and she would never dream of doing anything of the sort. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body. So the next time you decide to open your mouth and let your stomach rumble just leave her out of it alright?" And with that he stormed out of the room.
As he reached the staircase he heard her infuriated scream. "Oh just - just grow up Harry!"
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