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The Engagement	By : saritat9 Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Ron/Hermione Views: 6588 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I'm not making any money with this. No copyright infrigment intended.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
The Engagement

Chapter 5: The Conversations
When Percy arrived at the Burrow the following Sunday he found his mother preparing lunch in the kitchen with his sister and Christina. Ginny was magically peeling potatoes and chopping onions while Molly was cutting the meat for a stew. Christina was talking animatedly while attempting to knead dough by hand. Attempting being the operative word. His mother was frowning slightly and Percy could see she was on edge. Molly had little patience for extra "helping" hands in her kitchen and Christina did not seem useful at all. Ginny at least was used to cooking and their mother's tight reign.

"...and Ron said we need to be especially nice to Hermione �cause she's still broken up over Viktor, and who wouldn't be, she had a star for a fianc� , but now that she has Percy she's surely feeling better about herself again. They make such a cute couple don't you think? So I told Ron, �Ron, we must go on a double date with your brother and Hermione!' and Ron said - oh hi, Percy!"

Percy's eyes met Ginny's as they each worked to maintain a neutral facial expression. For the first time in much longer awhile than he even wanted to consider, he knew that he and his little sister were on the same page entirely. Percy felt a warm burst of brotherly affection towards Ginny and even considered putting a hand on her shoulder. Somehow the gesture didn't feel quite right and he settled on just smiling at her until Molly asked after Hermione. Percy explained that Hermione was still very busy with her hippogriff case that was finally coming to a close. Molly sighed sympathetically and muttered something about hard work and needing a break.

"Is Ronald here?" Percy asked.

Before the other women had the chance to so much as catch a breath, Christina informed him that Ron was in the living room, and "Wasn't it just grand for Hermione to suggest a double date?" Christina personally couldn't wait! Maybe they could go to Jacques' ...

Ginny and Molly traded a knowing glance that screamed "I told you Christina didn't come up with that idea! "

= = =

Ron was sprawled on the sofa, listening to a Quidditch game on the Wizarding Wireless.

"Afternoon, Ronald. A good game?"

"Hi, Perce! Nah, it was played days ago, I know the score." With a flick of his wand Ron turned the apparatus off. "So, what's new with you and Hermione?"

"We're fine. There was talk of a get together, as I'm sure you're aware. Next Friday would be good for us, if it's alright for you and Christina?"

Ron found himself feeling a tiny bit annoyed with Percy for lumping himself and Hermione into an "us" twice already during this rather short conversation.

"Friday's good. We could go and have a drink at the Leaky first and then decide where we want to go out to eat."

"Sounds great!" Percy enthused, "So, Ron...how's work? Mother told me that you might be going back to the Auror Office?"

Ron found himself genuinely surprised that their mother had shared his somewhat secret and very tentative plans with Percy. He had considered it for a couple of months now but hadn't been able to make up his mind. His work relationship with Christina's brother might be the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. It would certainly be much more difficult to work with Christopher once his team-mate had castrated him for screwing around with his sister. Ron couldn't blame him though; if anyone had done the same to Ginny he would feel obliged to do the same. At times, Ron still felt like giving Harry a brotherly talk, just for the sake of keeping him on his toes - and Harry was his best friend!

"I dunno, I might. I've been thinking it might've been a mistake in the long run to leave the Aurors in favour of Quidditch. It's been fun and all but I'm not that good of a Keeper and it keeps me away a lot." Away from his family and away from Hermione...

"Good, good. Being an Auror is a real profession and a respected one. In time it can be a stepping board onto something bigger and better, remember Scrimgeour." Percy mused.

Ron had no plans on becoming the Minister for Magic. Or the head of the Auror Office or any kind of aspirations of such calibre. Ron felt himself to be a bit green still, especially since his absence from the department. Harry would be a more likely choice for the job sometime later, and even if Harry wasn't interested there were some senior officers who would be quite qualified. On the other hand, Ron had faith in his own skills as a strategist. He knew that he had been quite good at helping his superiors plan the missions to take out the remaining Death Eaters with minimal casualties. Perhaps a promotion or two within the MLE was not completely out of question...but certainly not for quite awhile. And not just for the sake of being made the Head.

"Oh no, Percy, one politician per family is quite enough. You're better suited for it than I am, and it's something you've been working toward for years. Me, I just want a simple kind of life, with something productive to do, somewhere where I can be of use."

Percy stood a bit taller and straighter at the compliment.

"Perhaps true. But to me it sounds like you've already made up your mind."

"No, I'm open to...oh, you mean with Quidditch. I guess I have." Ron had to smile and he could feel a weight being lifted off his shoulders that he hadn't even realized he had been carrying.

"Take your time, little brother, the world is full of opportunities. As for me, I hope I'll achieve what I've worked for. Even though it's still early, who knows - Hermione would make a first class Minister's wife."

"Please! Hermione would make a first class Minister rather than just a...what?!"

Ron was speechless. Marriage! Percy fancied himself marrying Hermione?

Percy grew thoughtful and seemed distressed by Ron's words. "You know her better than I, Ronald. Do you suppose she harbours any interest in politics?"

Ron knew he should not be surprised, no matter how premature Percy's plans were. Hermione was a living wet dream to almost any man but to Percy those reasons were different or at least more diverse than to most men. Ron began to feel sick as he could clearly picture Hermione smiling brightly, standing beside Percy at important functions, Percy making little jokes and casually telling people that his wife was not only very high up in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but also interested in Magical Law Enforcement.

"I...I honestly don't know. I think we are all aware that Hermione wants to help make the world a better place! And she wants the world to work fairly. I suppose she could be interested in a political career if she thought that was the way to achieve what she wanted."

"Hmmm." Percy hummed noncommittally. "I guess I'll just have to ask her."

= = =

Back in the kitchen, Molly was losing her already tried patience with the way her youngest son's girlfriend was working the dough. She had one hand in the bowl and the other was gesturing in wild circles as she was dreaming aloud of the type of table linens and chandeliers she had heard were used in Jacques'. Molly knew that Jacques' was a somewhat new and rather upscale restaurant at Diagon Alley. It was situated in a secluded part of the shopping district, near to that practically immoral store, what was it called again...Lady Chitterlay's Luxury Lingerie? Something of that sort.

Molly had never been to Jacques' but she had been secretly nursing a hope that Arthur might offer to take her there on their upcoming anniversary. His new position at the Ministry paid quite well and now that most of her children had left the nest, she spent far less money on the household expenses. Molly smiled to herself. Indeed, she could even afford to make a little visit to that other store, if she wanted. Hmm. Perhaps it would not be terribly indecent of her to buy a new nightgown to please her husband of more than thirty years. Arthur had always stressed that he loved her in anything - even her old, tattered nightgown; but then again, he had always been the loyal type. They could not really have afforded anything special before.

Molly lost the train of her wandering thoughts as she heard Ginny interrupt Christina to ask about the girl's family. Bless her perceptive daughter! As much as she would relish a chance to dine at Jacques', she certainly did not want to hear any more about the linen they used or their silverware or anything else at all. Molly wanted a chance to see and appreciate their finery for herself. Besides, she would much rather have the girl concentrate on the dough as much as she was concentrating on the restaurant.

"I don't really have much of family. My dad passed away a few years ago and my mum lives on the other side of the country. I don't see her a lot. I have an older brother of course, the one that works with Ron. I live with a roommate, Kate. We take care of each other."

"Two young women living alone, that's horrible! Not to mention dangerous! Doesn't your mother or your brother keep an eye- -"

"Mum! This isn't nineteen twenty." Ginny cried, "Hermione lives alone too, and like Christina said, not everyone has a family that is willing or capable to house everyone until they're thirty." Ginny rolled her eyes. It was no secret that she would have preferred to live on her own already but with Molly as her mother that was impossible. While she barely tolerated her sons living on their own she would never let her one and only daughter to do so.

"Hermione couldn't live with her parents, they are muggles and live most of the year in Australia. Your father and I offered your brother's room to her, but she wants to be independent. You are lucky to be able to live at home until you marry! You're already away a lot with the Harpies and it saves you a lot of money better used on a house later on and those rental places are - -"

"Your mum's right, Ginny. I mean, certainly I like the freedom to do as I choose and it is the 21st century, even in the wizarding world, but it's hard to get by with a meagre salary and no one to turn to for help." As if realizing she had said too much, Christina tried to smile and make a joke of it, "And you don't get to choose your rental neighbours...although I suppose the same goes for living at home."

Molly sniffed disapprovingly, but had to admit to herself that the girl had a point. Still, she could not even fathom a mother who agreed to live so far from her children and leave them to their own devices.

"Ummm... Molly?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Is this what the dough's supposed to look like?"

Molly turned to inspect it and nearly clucked her tongue.

"This is your first time baking, isn't it, dear?" she guessed. "Never you mind, I'll fix it. You go and wait with Ron if you want."

"Or come and sit in the garden with me! Percy and Ron are having a guy talk." Ginny suggested from the door. She'd just had a peek and a listen at her brothers and didn't want to interrupt their heartfelt conversation. Christina happily agreed.

Molly sighed in tired relief once the girls had left, but she had to start the dough again from scratch.

= = =

The girls sank onto the swing that was situated in the Burrow's little backyard garden. Ginny charmed the swing to sway gently while they chatted. A few feet away, some of the Weasleys' chickens were pecking at their dinner and sometimes at one another, too. Christina liked the silence and the scenery. Though she was hardly a farm girl, she felt she could get used to this in small doses. Ron did not realize how lucky he was, growing up in a place like this with the family he had. Even his mother, whom Christina found to be a bit suffocating and conservative, was fiercely loyal and caring. That was definitely much more than she could ever say about her own mother.

"I could get used to this," she voiced to Ginny.

"Chickens?"

"Well I meant overall, but chickens too." Christina smiled tranquilly.

"Don't you find it stifling?" Ginny sounded surprised.

"No, at least not as someone who wasn't born into this." she grinned, "But from what Ron has told me of your mother, stifling is not a bad word choice."

"I sound terribly selfish, don't I? it's just that... that...well, she treats me like first year..."

Christina nodded wisely.

"...and sometimes it just gets hard to take. I mean, Harry and I will probably get married soon and she'll probably keep treating me the same way �til I'm old and grey and until my children are old and grey, too."

Christina was silent for a while, thinking.

"I'm afraid I can't be of much use there, Ginny. My mother left us when I was six and my brother was ten. I've not seen her much since, and I can't really think of her as my mother. Dad took care of us until he died."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. I don't like to talk about it, and I haven't told much to Ron, either. It feels...like abandonment, no matter how many years it's been. I'll probably regret telling even you this once I realize what I've done ..."

Ginny turned to give her brother's girlfriend a huge hug.

"You have to take a chance on people sometime, Christina. And you should tell Ron. He's more understanding than you think. He's a sensitive fellow, he just hides it well."

That was what Christina was afraid of. She didn't so much mind entrapping him gently with sex, or feelings, but having Ron feel sorry for her was another thing entirely.

"I'll think about it. Thanks, Ginny."
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The Engagement