More important things
Chapter 8: The Curious Nature of Moving On
Harry was certain that Molly's late night visit would not be the last intrusion he was to endure over his burgeoning relationship with Hermione, he was right. The following morning he was awakened by a howler loudly bellowing Molly's disapproval. She resumed her vilification of Hermione, portraying her as a galleon hungry, attention-seeking tramp. In between these descriptions of Hermione she took the opportunity to remind Harry of every single sacrifice she, Arthur and the rest of the Weasleys had ever made for him.
Driven from bed by Molly's howler Harry got an early start that morning. His breakfast and after breakfast tea was followed by a visit from Hermione. Ordinarily Harry would have been pleased to see her but the set of her jaw and the flash of fire in her brown eyes were sure signs that she was in a right strop. He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth asking what was wrong before Hermione was recounting the vicious diatribe she had endured that morning, she too had been awoken by the discordant bellows of a Molly Weasley howler. It seemed that Molly had decided to vent her spleen on the - harlot - at the heart of the matter and had sent her second howler of the day. Hermione recounted Molly's venomous attack verbatim for Harry. She thoroughly detailed the myriad of ways Molly used to impugn her sense of honor and decency. By the end of Hermione's account the sound of Molly's name was beginning to set Harry's teeth on edge.
It was then that an extremely flustered Arthur Weasley arrived hoping to speak to the two of them. It seemed that Arthur had learned of Molly's early morning activities and had come, hopefully, to quell some of his wife's venom. Arthur had stopped by the Granger's first hoping to speak to Hermione and he'd gotten quite an earful from Jane. It happened that Jane had overheard Molly's howler- hard not to hear a howler - and she was none too pleased by the characterization of her daughter as a galleon hungry harlot. She made it abundantly clear to Arthur that should there be a repeat of the affronting behavior, Molly would have to answer to her. Hermione apologized for her mother's over zealous mothering as Arthur apologized for Molly's and Harry apologized because he felt awful for creating the situation to begin with. Arthur had hoped to work out some sort of means for Harry and Hermione to coexist with the Weasley clan but by the time he took his leave an hour later the only progress that had been made was a mutual agreement for all involved parties to steer as clear of each other as possible.
The understanding between Arthur, Hermione and Harry proved to be just that - an understanding between the three of them. While Arthur, Harry and Hermione maintained a very civil relationship that bordered on friendly most of the Weasley family seemed to feel they were not bound by any agreement they hadn't made themselves. Molly had already made her position clear enough. Fleur, who was expecting, seemed to take Molly's view that Hermione was a shameless opportunist who pitted to best friends against one another. Though Bill never went so far as to agree that his mother and his wife were right in their characterizations there was a cold aloofness in his dealings with the two whenever he happened to come across them that suggested he harbored similar thoughts.
Percy was much more obvious in his disdain. He never spoke a word to either of them, was known for giving them baleful glances and could often be heard tutting or sniffing in irritation if he passed them in the corridors of the Ministry. He was also quite adept at making remarks about the failings of some people's character in a very loud voice should Harry or Hermione happen to walk by. Harry was certain that the only reason Percy never vocalized the anger he felt towards he and Hermione openly was the rather high opinion that most of the senior ministry staff held of them, Percy was after all still quite ambitious.
George and Charlie were a different matter. Though George was obviously quite supportive of Ron and Ginny he refused to condemn Harry and Hermione for what they had done. He took the line that while it was unfortunate that it had happened he would not believe that it had been done intentionally or with malice. Charlie agreed. Charlie, who'd spent less time with the trio than any of the other Weasleys, had seen his siblings fascinations with Harry and Hermione as the first passing fancies of childhood. He never imagined that either relationship would last much longer than Hogwarts.
The opinions of their family notwithstanding, Ron and Ginny's positions in the matter were clear enough, they felt as if they had been severely wronged and Ginny was absolutely livid about it.
While Arthur had somehow managed to curb Molly's tongue the same could not be done with Ginny. Initially, as she was still away at Hogwarts Ginny was at liberty to do as she chose and what she was chose to do was to vent her fury about the matter to anyone who would listen. Owls from Neville during the week following Harry and Hermione's revelation brought the news that Ginny was ranting about Harry and Hermione's treachery to anyone who would listen.
According to Neville, Ginny had sat in the Gryffindor common room the evening following Hermione's departure going on and on about how Hermione had ill-used Ron to steal Harry away from her. This soon became a nightly event. Every evening Ginny would sit by the fire in the Gryffindor common room and go on and on about how shabbily she had been treated by Hermione whom she viewed as a sister. She lamented the loss of the great love of her life so thoroughly that she seemed to have forgotten the fact that she was back with Dean - a fact that Dean took a strong exception to. A few nights before the end of term the two had the row to end all rows. As it happened Ginny was again revisiting the subject of Harry and Hermione when Dean, rather loudly, informed Ginny that he was sick of her mooning over the loss of a bloke who wasn't and hadn't been her boyfriend for more than a year and who had clearly moved on. He then added that he reckoned it was time he moved on as well and found someone who would truly appreciate him.
News of Dean and Ginny's breakup created a watershed. Because it happened just days before the end of term, the reason behind the split made its way through the castle, onto the Hogwarts Express and into the homes of witches and wizards up and down the country. The Prophet got wind of the story and began canvassing it thoroughly. Reporters began popping up in Lectworth, around the Ministry and in the general vicinity of Grimmauld Place trying to get glimpses of Harry and Hermione together. They also camped out around the Burrow and at both of George's shops hoping to see something of Ginny and Ron but were unable to get anyone to say anything worth printing.
Though Ron was not out spreading his tale of woe to all who wanted to hear he was making a bit of a spectacle of himself by wallowing in self-pity. After the breakup with Hermione, Ron took to his cups. A visit from Hagrid revealed that Ron had been barred from The Three Broomsticks, The Hog's Head and The Leaky Cauldron; it seemed that Rosemerta, Aberforth and Tom were concerned about the amounts of firewhiskey he was consuming and the chance he would inadvertently embarrass himself in some way. Banned from his preferred drinking haunts and unable to get at George's best drink at home Ron seemed to revert to the life he'd had before with two distinct exceptions. The first exception was the fact that the mention of either Hermione or Harry's name in his presence was likely to result in something or someone ending up hexed. The second exception was that Ron often spent his evenings in the company of the type of witch who would never be allowed to grace the entrance of Molly Weasley's home let alone sit through one of her suppers.
The news of Ron's debauchery coupled with the consistent reports of Ginny's vicious tirades only fanned the curiosity of the general wizarding public. As the weeks following Hogwart's end of term came and went Harry and Hermione found their relationship to be front page fodder for the Daily and Evening editions of the Prophet. Much speculation about the nature of their relationship abounded and was helped along by the thoughtfully thoughtless actions of their friends and acquaintances.
An account of a conversation of Lavender Brown's that had been overheard and repeated to the Prophet by Romilda Vane purported that the breakup between Ron and Hermione was just Ron getting his comeuppance for having treated her so shabbily back in sixth year. She went on to add that anyone with eyes had always known that something was brewing between Harry and Hermione. A letter to the editor of the Prophet from Horace Slughorn concerning Harry and Hermione as a couple echoed Lavender's sentiments. Slughorn wrote that when he got wind of the news about two of his all-time favorite students, he sent them a bottle of elf made wine and a note congratulating them on their fine choice in companions. He added that he had always hoped they would end up together as he thought they were indeed perfect for one another in temperament, magical ability and character.
It seemed that there was a variety of opinions on the subject of Harry and Hermione. There were those who thought Hermione wrong for having treated Ron so contemptibly. Others suspected that Ron's penchant for overly made-up, large breasted, witches of questionable reputation had something to do with Hermione moving on. And then there were those who looked on it as no ones fault but as something that had simply happened. Oddly enough, no one voiced an opinion that lay any blame whatsoever at Harry's feet. It seemed that his status as the savior of the wizarding world had made him impervious to censure for any transgression, factual, imagined or otherwise. Luna pointed out that considering the many times the wizarding world had judged Harry wrongly they now appeared to have decided to ignore his obvious shortcomings.
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In the midst of all the hubbub surrounding her personal life Hermione began her new job at the Ministry. As the junior assistant to the Minister of Magical Law, Hermione worked on level two of the Ministry of Magic, the same level that housed Auror Headquarters. Normally a new employee's arrival draws the most notice amongst those who will be working with them directly. Hermione's arrival however, drew the notice of the entire Ministry, specifically her floor. It seemed that everyone was vying to get a glimpse of the new junior assistant to the Minister of Magical Law. During the first two weeks of her new job, it was not uncommon for Hermione to find people staring at her as she moved about the Ministry. She often looked up and found a scrum of people around her door stealing looks at her. Conversations ended abruptly when she entered a room and whispering broke out whenever she exited it. It was clear that most of the Ministry staff was curious about her relationship with Harry; they dearly wanted to see the pair in some clandestine moment. Harry noticed the change as well. The constant, obviously open stares that had plagued him when he first began at the Ministry returned in full. It seemed that half of the Ministry was surreptitiously watching to see how he would react when he ran into Hermione in the corridors.
The much anticipated moment of Harry and Hermione meeting for the first time within the halls of the Ministry was long in coming, it took a solid month, and when it did occur, it was wholly uneventful. The pair ran into each other in the main corridor of level two one morning and exchanged hellos. They inquired about how work was progressing for the other and made a vague rather noncommittal reference to getting together for lunch sometime soon. They went their separate ways with smiles on their faces at the curious and disappointed glances peering over and around cubicles at their exchange. After that things settled down and the stares and whispers grew less and less. Hermione settled into the flow of her job, and Harry's presence only created the level of distraction that it had created before his private associations with Hermione became public knowledge. The worst they had to endure was several awkward moments that arose whenever a new article appeared in the Prophet and they ran into Arthur in the hallways.
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July drew to a close and with it brought Harry and Neville's birthday. Harry would have been content with a quiet evening at home with Hermione, Luna, however, had other ideas. She thought it would be really nice to celebrate the joint birthday of Harry and Neville at Fortescue's. Fortescue's was Diagon Alley's newest eatery. Following the war Florean Fortescue's grandson Fabian had decided to honor his grandfather's memory by reopening his shop in Diagon Alley. However, Fabian thought that the Alley needed an establishment that offered more than just ice cream. Although he still sold every one of the flavors his grandfather had - plus a few flavors Florean had never thought of - Fabian also added a menu of surprisingly good soups, sandwiches and salads with a decidedly Italian flare. Seeing how well those items were received he designed an evening menu of gourmet Italian fare and the eatery became an instant hit. Fortescue's was now the height of fashion among younger witches and wizards. Thus when Harry and Neville's birthday arrived nothing short of a sighting of a herd of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks could have stopped Luna making reservations at Fortescue's.
Harry arrived at the Granger's home just after six to pick up Hermione. He spent half an hour with the family receiving birthday wishes and exchanging pleasantries before he and Hermione left to meet the rest of their group for dinner. They arrived outside Fortescue's at the same exact moment as Neville and his girlfriend Hannah Abbott, whom he'd been seeing since the last half of term at Hogwarts. Following his heroism in the final battle at Hogwarts, Neville had become a most attractive commodity to the female population of the wizarding world. For a time Neville had availed himself of the delights of dating a new witch every week but all of that changed after one date with Hannah, when he'd described the encounter to friends later all he could say was that being with Hannah was like being home.
Neville smiled brightly when he caught sight of Harry and Hermione standing under the awning of Fortescue's. His grip on Hannah's hand tightened slightly as he hurried to his two fiends. The foursome exchanged hugs, handshakes and kisses as they exchanged hellos. Once the greetings had been exchanged the group went inside the restaurant and took seats at the far end of the bar to await Luna's arrival. A surly looking wizard took their drink orders, it was only after he'd deposited two glasses of meade, an ale and a firewhiskey that the four friends began to converse.
Harry nodded towards Hannah's glass of firewhiskey and queried, "Neville driving you to drink already?" Before Hannah could reply Neville's head swung around and in a slightly pitchy tone he cried, "I'm not driving her to drink, Han just happens to like firewhiskey!" Hannah ducked her head and attempted to stifle a giggle. The result was a sort of honking snort that sent both she and Hermione into a raucous riot of giggles and sniggers. Harry nodded his head good-naturedly and wryly added, "My mistake you're not driving her to drink, you're driving her into manic episodes of laughter." Neville grinned sheepishly and took a stout swallow of his meade.
After she recovered from her fit of laughter, Hermione sipped her meade delicately and inquired, "How is your auror training coming along Neville?" Neville set his drink down and replied. "It's the hardest thing I've ever done. I was dead petrified about the potions bit but Hannah's been helping me and the head of training, Auror Sotheby has been very encouraging."
Harry chimed in "Sotheby's a good bloke. He's been with training a long time and he's more concerned with turning out good aurors than anything else." Neville nodded in agreement. "He has been at it a long time, he knew my mum and dad, said they were two of the best aurors he ever trained and that if I was anything like them I'd do just fine." Neville paused for a moment then added, "he speaks right highly of you Harry. Said he'd never seen anyone with your natural talent, he reckons you'll be the youngest wizard to ever head the auror department - says you'll be in that office before you're thirty."
Harry turned stunned eyes to Neville, "Sotheby said that." Neville nodded. "Most of the senior auror agree with him, they all say they've never seen anyone quite like you." Harry sat nursing his ale with a dumbfounded expression covering his face. He'd never imagined that his superiors thought so highly of him and his abilities. He was drawn from his musings by the sound of Hannah's admiring voice. "Of course everyone thinks you'll be a brilliant auror Harry, it's what you've always done isn't it? It makes sense that with all the things you have done in the past that you would do well as an auror. Merlin knows I wish I were good at something like that, then at least I'd have some sense of direction at least."
Sensing Harry's discomfort at the turn of the conversation, Hermione latched on to the last bit of Hannah's statement. "Aren't you enjoying your new post at the Ministry?" Hanna shook her head. "It's just a clerk's position in the archives, dead dull to be honest. All day I sit behind a desk surrounded by dusty old ledgers and rolls upon rolls of musty parchment waiting for someone to come in. I was hoping for something with more interaction with people." Neville patted her hand sympathetically, "Han's more of a people person."
Hermione launched into a series of possible options of other jobs at the Ministry and in other venues that may interest Hannah. The foursome bounced ideas back and forth between themselves about the subject. They became so engrossed in the topic that the sound of Dean Thomas' familiarly friendly baritone surprised them. "I think you'd make a brilliant shopkeeper Hannah," he paused for a neat then added, "or maybe an innkeeper as I recall you're really handy with a pitcher of ale." Hannah smiled, "Dean, Demelza, hello, how are you?"
Dean returned Hannah's smile "We're good Hannah. Hi Neville, Hermione, Harry." Harry, Neville and Hermione exchanged hellos with Dean and Demelza Robbins. It was clear that the two were a couple, considering that they were standing scarcely a breath apart and had their arms wrapped around each other's waists. Hermione posed a question, "So, Dean, how is your apprenticeship with Mr. Ollivander coming along?" The time he'd spent at Bill and Fleur's cottage during the war with Mr. Ollivander had unearthed an intense interest in wandlore that had led to a desire to take up the art of wand making. As Ollivander had no partner or any children to pass, his shop onto he agreed to take Dean on as an apprentice.
Dean smiled as he spoke, "it's a lot of work and most of the time I'm making a right mess of things but Ollivander thinks I've got the makings of right good wand maker."
"We all knew you would make a wonderful wand maker Dean, you are after all an artist and what is wand making if it isn't art." Luna's airy tones drew the attention of the group around the bar. Before anyone had the chance to respond Luna continued. "Dean will you and Demelza be joining our little celebration?"
Dean raised an eyebrow in question. "Celebration?" Luna nodded, "We're celebrating Harry and Neville's birthday. Luna spun around as though she was looking for someone. A smile blossomed across her face as she caught sight of Fabian Fortescue and called out brightly, "Fabian, our party of five has grown to eight, I trust that won't be a problem." Fabian Fortescue stopped a wide smile covering his face as he grasped Luna's hand in both of his and said, "No trouble at all my dear Luna. I took the liberty of clearing off a portion of the back patio for you and your guests." Luna's smile brightened and Fabian added, "If you'll all step this way."
As everyone rose to their feet Hannah looked to Luna, "Who else is joining us?" Everyone looked around at Hannah with mildly curious expressions, she elaborated. "Luna said our party had grown from five to eight and there are only seven of us here, so who is our eighth?" The voice that answered Hannah's query was a deep unfamiliar baritone. "I believe, my dear, that the eighth of whom you speak would be me!"
A tall slightly windswept wizard with light brown hair and bright blue eyes hurried to Luna's side. He leaned down and dropped haphazard kiss on Luna's right cheek as he simultaneously apologized, "I'm so sorry I'm late darling but a shipment of Bowtruckles got loose in the offices and Perenelle needed a had hand nipping back in their crates, she gets so flustered when dealing with accidents the poor dear." Luna smiled and nodded, "Its quiet all right, we were just going out to the table." She turned casually to the group and said, "Everyone I'd like you to meet Newton Schmander, IV, my boyfriend." Luna turned and headed after Fabian wondering aloud about which dish she'd be having that evening.
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Harry and Hermione arrived at 12 Grimmauld place just after eleven. They'd had a wonderful evening at Fortescue's. The company and the conversation had been excellent. There had been a minor incident with a snap happy photographer from the Prophet but all in all Harry had to say that it had been one of his better birthdays. Spending the evening in the company of his friends and their significant others had woken him to fact of exactly how much he and Hermione had been missing by closeting themselves away in an attempt not to hurt Ron and Ginny's feelings. The more Harry thought about it the more pointless that line of thinking seemed. Ron and Ginny were never going to move on if they didn't ever accept he and Hermione as a couple. Having that idea firmly set in his mind Harry turned to look at Hermione and calmly stated, "Hermione, I think it's high time we stopped indulging the whims and wants of everyone else and looked after ourselves and what we want," he paused to gather himself then said, "What do you think about you and I living together?"
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