Sacrifice

Author's Notes

This story takes place shortly after my story "Something for You", but may be read independently.

Some background: Harry and Ginny together have vanquished Voldemort, Ron and Hermione have acknowledged their feelings for each other.

This is the shortest of three chapters.

~ o ~ o ~

Ron grabbed Hermione firmly around the waist, pulled her into the fireplace and threw some powder to the floor. As the green flames leapt up around them, he ignored her shrieks and shouted, "The Seal and Stag!"

Hermione was trying to tell him something, but he couldn't hear her as they whirled around together, passing a number of blurred fireplaces until finally they slowed to a stop. Giddily they staggered out of the fireplace into a small, low area with dark exposed beams lining the ceiling. The windowless room was empty except for a single chair and a little table. The sounds and smells of a kitchen reached them through a door to their left.

"Ron! What on earth -"

"Welcome to The Seal and Stag!" interrupted a dark-clad young woman who had just appeared in the doorway. "My name is Beryl," she continued, "and I will be your waitress for this evening. What a pleasure it will be to take care of such distinguished guests. Please follow me..."

"Waitress?" mouthed Hermione silently at Ron, as she ran her fingers through her bushy hair in a fruitless attempt to tame it.

Beryl led them along a short corridor into a small restaurant whose walls were lined with dark wooden panels. There were only six tables, but all were occupied by families and couples enjoying the most delicious-smelling food. Ron and Hermione followed the waitress across the room as she beckoned them to a table at the window.

"Please be seated. May I bring you a drink? We have a wonderful selection of cocktails," she purred as she lit a single red candle on the table. "I must say, Mr. Weasley, your picture in the Daily Prophet did not do you justice."

Hermione scowled as the waitress turned to her, swishing her long black hair. "And you must be the learned Miss Granger," continued Beryl somewhat more coldly, although she was still smiling.

After they had placed their order for drinks, Hermione sat up straighter in her chair and glared across the small table at Ron. "Right! Now can you please tell me what's going on?" she challenged. "Where are we, and how does she know who we are?" she accused, gesturing towards the receding waitress.

"Relax, Hermione, I have everything under control."

Hermione tilted her head and raised her eyebrows sceptically.

"No, really," Ron asserted. "We're near a village on the Argyll coast, western Scotland. I reserved the table by Floo yesterday. At first they said they were fully booked, but then I mentioned my name and that business with You-Know-Who. Ginny reckons it's OK to trade on our new-found fame and fortune occasionally."

"Well, I suppose so. But then why didn't we bring Harry and Ginny along too? Ron, you've been very quiet recently, is everything OK?"

"Have you seen the view out of this window? It's fantastic."

Hermione had to agree. The evening sun shone down on a surprisingly blue ocean, dotted with rocky brown isles of varying sizes. On a larger island over to the left, there was what looked like the two remaining walls of an ancient ruined castle. In a clearer stretch of water straight ahead, she could make out four or five shapes moving in the water. Seals perhaps, she thought, or maybe even dolphins, it was hard to tell.

"Well, it is a lovely view, Ron. However, I'm still wondering -"

At that moment the waitress returned holding a polished wooden tray in front of her.

"Here you are, sir, your drinks and starters. Two 'Seal and Stag' special cocktails, the first round is on the house."

Hermione glared at Ron as Beryl handed each of them a tall glass and Ron thanked her effusively.

"And here are your -"

"But we haven't ordered any food yet, " interrupted Hermione.

"Ah, Hermione," said Ron sheepishly. "There's only a small kitchen here and I had to select our meals when I booked. I reckoned that after eating with you for seven years, I knew your tastes well enough, and the special menu sounded great."

"You could have asked me anyway."

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise! Look, just for once I tried arranging something without telling you, I thought girls liked that sort of thing. Seems I'm wrong yet again ..."

"Ahem."

The waitress cleared her throat.

"As I was saying, here are your O-O starters to share," she said, placing a large oval dish on the table.

"Oh oh?"

"O-O, that is oysters and olives: local Argyll rock oysters, plus olives stuffed with small strips of Loch Fyne smoked salmon."

Beryl leaned towards them and lowered her voice a little. "We tell the Muggle customers that the olives are Spanish, but actually we grow them with a little magical assistance in our hidden orchard behind the restaurant."

She straightened up and as she walked away she called out in her normal voice, "Do let me know if you require anything else. Good luck with the oysters!"

"Weird. I wonder what she meant by that?" asked Ron.

Hermione looked slightly embarrassed. "Oh, I'm not sure. Anyway, er, they're an excellent natural source of minerals."

Ron lifted his glass and clinked it against Hermione's. "Cheers!" he exclaimed before swallowing a large mouthful. "Wow, whatever this is, it's good!"

Hermione also had a drink and then tried one of the large green olives. "Mmm, that's tasty, much better than I expected. It's an odd combination, but somehow it works well."

Ron picked up an oyster and inspected it curiously. "What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked, looking baffled.

Hermione reached over and took the oyster from him. "Here, I'll open it for you," she said, picking up a sharp knife from the table. "Muggles use these, but you can easily cut your hand if you're not careful." She glanced around as if making sure no one was watching, then muttered, "Alohomora, diffindo."

Ron peered suspiciously at the revealed contents of the oyster. "I'm supposed to eat that slimy thing, raw?" he queried.

"It's traditional to do so. Here, I'll go first."

Hermione lifted her hand to her mouth, tilted her head back and swallowed the oyster. Ron seemed to be greatly relieved when she didn't collapse to the floor.

"Come on, Ron. You're not usually shy around food ..."

~ o ~ o ~

Ten minutes later the oval platter was clear and their glasses were nearly empty. Hermione and Ron sat back in their chairs, licked their lips and wiped their hands.

"Ron, that was delicious! Actually, I have to admit it was a great idea to come out for the evening; it seems so grown up somehow. How did you find this place?"

"A flyer, a leaflet, advertising the restaurant fell out of Mum's Witch Weekly last week."

"But it's not like you to notice such things. What inspired you this time?"

"Er, well ..." Ron coughed and took a sip of his drink. "I just thought it would be, er, nice to talk to you without Mum or Ginny or whoever listening in. I mean, it's great being at home and all that, but sometime it seems busier there than Christmas in Diagon Alley. And we've never really gone out anywhere together, not just the two of us."

Hermione chuckled.

"If I didn't know you better, Ron, I would almost be tempted to say this is a romantic gesture."

Ron's ears turned bright red and looked down at the table for a couple of seconds. Then he seemed to steel himself and looked up again in a determined manner.

"OK, let's say it is romantic. What do we do next?"

"Next? You mean like can you hold my hand or kiss me? You know -"

"No, I mean after this summer. For example, where are we going to live?"

"Didn't we agree that we would move in with Harry? It'll be fun for us all to live together without worrying about Death Eaters lurking around every corner. And it will work out cheaper too, especially when we're just starting out in our new jobs."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that. Do you think Harry would be very disappointed if we didn't live with him?"

"If we didn't ... ? But why wouldn't we, is there something wrong, Ron? Have you had an argument with Harry? Is that why you've been acting a little funny?"

Hermione sounded very concerned.

"No, there's nothing to worry about, at least I hope not."

Ron sighed and took a deep breath before continuing.

"In my own stupid way, what I'm trying to say is ... why don't we find somewhere to live together, just the two of us?"

"What!? Oh, Ron, I, er, ..."

~ o ~ o ~