Moments of Love

Chapter 11: Luvyoutoo

'Oh Ron!' Hermione rushed to the door and took Ron's hand. 'I'm going to get that horrible woman, I swear!'

'So, it's not true, then?' Ron said in an odd voice. 'You didn't meet Viktor Krum?'

Hermione halted.

'Well, actually, I did meet him, but -'

'And when did you plan to tell me?'

'I was planning to tell you, but -'

'But you just hadn't got around to it yet?'

'Ron, listen to me! There's a perfectly -'

'You know what?' Ron whisked the paper to the floor. 'I've taken enough crap from Skeeter ever since she found out we're together. I can't believe you didn't know better than to chummy up to Vicky in the middle of Diagon Alley in broad daylight!'

He whirled around and banged the door on Hermione's face. Hermione turned to Juliana, who was perusing papers with a delicate yet aware expression. When Hermione stayed silent, she raised her eyes.

'I'd be mad, too,' she said calmly. 'Skeeter didn't get the posh celebrity pair she was hoping of you, so she has attacked Ron over and over again, no doubt out of pure spite. Did you notice how cleverly she did it in that article? She never called him names, but instead included plenty of vicious comments from readers and interviewees. If you ask me, a man who'd take that time after time without getting upset would be nothing short of a saint.'

'But he should trust me by now!' Hermione said exasperatedly. 'He should know that I'd never cheat on him.'

'I don't think he seriously thinks you'd do that. I think it's more of a self-esteem issue. Hermione, darling, let me tell you something as an older and more experienced woman...' Juliana came over and put her hand around Hermione's shoulders. 'Insecurity and a feeling of inferiority stemming all the way from childhood won't be brushed away with a couple of years of romantic bliss. No matter how wonderful those years have been.'

'I suppose not,' Hermione said uncertainly. The paper lay open at her feet, and she could see her own forlorn self waddling along the street, sipping coffee from a crimson paper cup. 'Do you know why I was crying there? The cup had a tear, and some of the coffee spilled on my hand. It's ridiculous, but all the pregnancy books say it's quite normal.'

Juliana smiled and stroked Hermione's arm.

'Go. You and hubby need a heart-to-heart.'

Hermione apparated right outside the building, staggering a bit as she landed on the porch of their house. Ron was not in any of the rooms, but the cloak of his Auror uniform lay wrinkled in an armchair, which meant he had been there. Hermione folded the cloak neatly and tapped one of the buttons lightly with her wand. A faint red line started squirming towards the back door like a snake, and Hermione followed it. It pierced the back door and led to the shadowy back garden, across a bridge spanning over a bubbling brook, and to a meadow warmed by the late summer sun.

Ron was lying half-buried in the grass with his hands underneath his head and a flower in his mouth. He squinted as Hermione sat down beside him.

'Ron.' Hermione touched his elbow. He didn't look angry any more, and his blue eyes were very bright. 'The first time I ran into Viktor was by accident. He's here in business, meeting various Quidditch people and whatnot. The second time was to talk about getting VIP tickets to next year's Quidditch World Cup. I thought we could go as a family.'

Ron raised his head, and the flower fell on the ground.

'I intended to tell you about it when the baby is born. You've been so supportive and great with my moods and everything that I wanted to surprise you,' Hermione said, fighting a laughable amount of melodramatic tears. 'That's all. Viktor congratulated us about the baby, and he even asked me if I knew any nice single witches I could introduce to him.'

'You wanted to get us tickets to the Quidditch World Cup?'

'Yes. Viktor has lots of contacts, and he said he can get VIP tickets pretty easily.'

Ron watched Hermione for a moment. Then he sat up and pulled her close.

'I'm sorry, I'm such a dunderhead. I wasn't really doubting you, though, I just lost my temper. Are you all right?'

'I'm fine.' Hermione grasped Ron like a lonely log drifting on a vast sea. He was warm and smelled of butter rolls, aftershave, and just Ron. She couldn't hold back the tears, and they sat in the grass for a while, listening to the gentle hum of the wind and the chirping of the birds.

'Hermione...' Ron lifted Hermione's chin gently and looked into her eyes. His voice was strained, achy. 'Why are you with me? Why aren't you with Harry? Or Viktor? Or some other fancy bloke?'

'Ron...'

'Because it would make sense, wouldn't it? It was true what that comment said: you've always been a star. But me - I'm just that regular red-haired bloke from the big and broke family. Sometimes I have these doubts why you'd be with someone like me, and then Skeeter confirms everything I've been thinking.'

'I'm with you because I love you, you silly man.' Hermione pressed a tear-stained kiss on Ron's lips and brushed her nose against his. 'It's always been you, ever since that spot of dirt on your nose in the Hogwarts Express.'

Ron closed his eyes, and Hermione waited patiently. This was never easy for Ron. Her patience was rewarded after a few minutes when Ron buried his face in her hair.

'Luvyoutoo.'

Hermione half-chuckled and half-hiccoughed. She dug out a hanky and blew her nose noisily, willing herself to say it. It was now or never.

'Ron, haven't you ever wondered why I don't have any Muggle friends?'

'Not really. You went to school at Hogwarts, so I supposed we were your friends.'

'Yes, but I lived in the Muggle world for the first eleven or so years of my life, and I spent some holidays there during my Hogwarts years. You'd think I'd have at least some friends there, wouldn't you?'

'Maybe it's because you were such an insufferable know-it-all,' Ron said with a grin.

'Yes.'

Ron furrowed his brow and opened his mouth, but Hermione pressed her finger on his lips. She spoke very fast, determined to get it all out at once.

'Before I came to Hogwarts, I had no friends. I knew all the school books by heart and got near perfect grades at school, but I didn't know how to deal with people. I had no clue how to play with the other kids because I was so concentrated on books and school. I thought that getting good grades and being a good student would make them like me, but it didn't. They hated me. They called me names -'

'What names? Who did it?' Ron perked up.

'Listen! My point is that I was never a star - I was the lonely geek that nobody wanted to be with. Nobody but the teachers applauded my efforts and results, and even my parents were anxious for me to find some friends and relax a bit.'

Ron brushed away a frizz of hair from Hermione's wet cheek and tightened his hold of her.

'Gits! Just give me the names, and I'll go and hex them. I'll be damned if anybody else calls you a know-it-all.'

'It's fine now,' Hermione said and wiped her nose again. 'But Ron, can't you see what it means? It means that I can understand how you feel! You just have to talk to me. Because all this star nonsense and who's worthy of who was never reality; it was invented by the media for their own purposes. Rita built me up as some kind of brainy Barbie doll with an exciting Muggle background. Of course people took an interest and wanted to see me with another shiny celebrity! It's a phenomenon of our times, and it happens even more in the Muggle world.'

'I know, I know,' Ron said weakly. 'It's just hard not to care.'

'It'll be easier from now on,' Hermione said firmly. 'I'm cancelling our subscription of the Prophet. It's time we showed some support for The Quibbler anyway.'

Ron chortled. He laid Hermione carefully on the ground and picked a dainty pink flower. He slid it behind her ear and kissed her belly.

'I don't care what the Muggles say. You're my insufferable know-it-all, and I wouldn't exchange you for the world.'

--X--X--

'Madam, you can't go in there!' The secretary shot up from behind her desk as Hermione reached for the door handle.

'Oh, I think I can,' Hermione said icily and pushed the door open.

Rita Skeeter's office was cluttered with tables and shelves packed with coffee cups, paper piles, sweets wrappers, chocolate bars, wine bottles, and jars of Quick-Quotes Quills. The walls were hardly visible behind posters of muscular wizards in tights posing on broom sticks.

'Mrs Weasley, what a happy surprise!' Rita rose from her chair and summoned a fresh Quick-Quotes Quill as fast as a bat of an eyelid. 'How are you? About to pop, I see. How's the baby? No complications or anything?'

'Nothing to concern you.' Hermione pointed her wand at the quill. 'Confringo!'

The quill exploded in Rita's hand. For a second, she looked dumbstruck, but soon a dazzling smile lit up her powdered face.

'Ah, a heavy dose of pregnancy hormones. Have you seen a specialist? Perhaps this is the cause for the recent rumoured rift between you and your lovely husband. Robert, isn't it?'

'Ronald.' Hermione raised her wand and pushed it on Rita's throat. 'And there is no rift as you very well know. Will you listen voluntarily, or do I tie you first?'

Rita's cheek twitched and she backed off to her chair with a fake smile.

'I'm always ready to listen to one of our most acclaimed war heroes.'

'Good.' Hermione pulled off her wand and sat in a chair facing Rita. 'I have a deal for you. A non-negotiable deal, mind you. You write a correction, in which you admit that you were completely wrong about Viktor Krum and me. Then you include my husband in your Wizard of the Month series and write a highly praising article about him. Before the article goes to print, you will send it to me, so that I can make sure you haven't sneaked in one of your hidden attacks.'

Rita watched Hermione intently over her jeweled spectacles, her long fingers caressing the rim of a wine glass.

'Quite formidable demands. Why would I comply? As I told you when you stormed my office after that article about your wedding, I'm now a registered Animagus. You have nothing on me any more.'

'Oh, but I do. If you don't comply, Viktor Krum will sue you for publishing an unsolicited biography of him and selling said book without him getting a sickle. He was quite livid about it, but I think I might just be able to persuade him not to sue you out of home and office.'

Rita's expression changed, and she pushed the wine glass angrily away.

'You're putting me out of work!'

'I'm doing nothing of the sort. I will send you detailed instructions of the correction and the Wizard of the Month article later today.'

Rita made no reply, just stared resolutely out of the window and tapped her blood-red fingernails against the table.

At the door, Hermione turned around and tucked her wand into one of the huge pockets in her maternity dress.

'Keep this in mind. Nobody messes with my man and gets away with it.'