Hermione's Love Life, Or Lack There-Of

Disclaimer:

I do not claim any ownership or rights to the characters, plots and places that have previously been mentioned in the Harry Potter World created by J.K. Rowling.

Kyabett

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'Mione!' shrieked a voice.

Where was that coming from? Was that from her right?

'Mione!'

There, there was that voice again. And it was definitely coming from the right.

Twisting around, Hermione's mind was barely able to focus on the speeding form of Ginny Weasley, when it began to dredge up the old memories of exactly what had happened each and every time Hermione had had to deal with Ginny.

And the chaos Ginny managed to provide, and was promised, simply by the tone in her voice as she called Hermione's name.

And as such, the only possible reaction to all of this was -Oh shit!-

There was a reason why she avoided drifting through Diagon Alley as much as possible during this point of time. There were actually many reasons, all of them good, but Ginny was involved in one of the most important ones.

And it was all due to the simple fact that it was impossible to not bump into at least one Weasley, of some kind, during this time of day. The twins and Lee just had to pick the busiest part of Diagon Alley to open up their Weasley's Wizard Wheezes (Triple Double V's), which made perfect business sense as they managed to attract large crowds if not by ads, or word of mouth then simply by being next to the re-opened Flortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and the newly refurbished Flourish and Blotts. Hermione just had to pass by the twins and Lee's shop at any time to hear the excited squeals of laughter as children, and usually some adults as well, as they perused through the well-renowned prank shop.

But due to the need of added security, some customers seemed to think that they would be able to sneak out some of the goods without being detected, Fred, George and Lee had invested in not only special spells to alert them whenever someone tried to leave without paying, but also had at least one of their employees always at the front windows in order to catch any sign of suspicious activity outside. Such as people plotting outside exactly how they would manage to do so.

Unfortunately this all meant that there was always an employee of Fred, George and Lee glancing outside into the crowds. And since all of the employees of the three knew Hermione by sight, whether it be because they had watched as she was dragged inside of the shop by another Weasley, or cautiously wandered in due to the insistence of someone else that she pass certain information on to Fred, George and Lee, if one of the employees saw Hermione...

Hermione gave the slightest of sighs.

Well, the employees weren't above rushing out of the shop, not going as far as to grabbing her as they knew better than to give her such physical contact, but hounding her by being on the edges of her personal space and continually talking until Hermione gave in, and found herself surrounded by pranks, shrieking children and adults, loud voices of other customers and the resonating tones of Fred, George and Lee.

And in the case of the other Weasleys, honorary or not?

They certainly weren't above wrapping their arms around her, hauling her into the shop and then announcing to everyone present that they, and Hermione could be found in the back room. Hermione would barely have enough time to get herself released from the hold before either Fred, George and/or Lee would stomp in, closing the only accessing door out of the shop with a loud bang. And then start loudly proclaiming that it had been too long and force Hermione to remain there until they decided that she could leave.

But this constant carefree attitude Fred, George and Lee had of members of the Weasley family passing freely in and out of the shop meant that any point of the day there would be either the flash of red drifting down Diagon Alley, or the forms of any of the honorary Weasleys (all of them now had the name Weasley attached to them). And if they saw Hermione, then they would grab her.

There were only slight reprieves for Hermione, certain parts of the day when she could travel through Diagon Alley with the best chance of not meeting any Weasleys. She had quickly learnt of when she should avoid the shopping area.

Such as when the employees of the Triple Double V's were in the shop, just starting their shift. More than once an employee had sprung through the front door, and Hermione knew that it had been locked, even though the shop wasn't due to be opened yet or else yelled for Fred, George and Lee to go and get her.

Or when it was closing, as even if they were half way through shutting down the tills, Hermione could expect one of the employees or the twins and/or Lee to re-open the door so they could drag her in.

And then of course there were the breaks to depend on, ones that ranged from between ten to twelve. The employees were prone to darting out of the shop in order to grab lunch from one of the nearby cafes or take-away places, and even though Fred, George and Lee had their apartment only one storey above, they liked to do the same. Though at least the twins and Lee did get food that was at least slightly healthy, mostly because of the continuous battering of Hermione, Ginny, Alicia and Katie for them to eat their greens.

The same with the lunches, from one until three, and the later breaks between four and five. The sheer chaos of what the shop experienced on a daily business meant that Fred, George and Lee understood that their employees, along with themselves, needed time away from it, and as such, all who worked there were given three points of the day to escape.

And if it wasn't that busy, they were also allowed to pop into the back to relieve their thirst or else grab a snack.

It was one good part of working under the twins and Lee. They were more than fair to their employees, even Hermione had to admit that.

But this all meant that there were too many times when Hermione might be noticed, and so despite her own Common Sense, Hermione sometimes had to rely on Lady Luck to be kind to her.

But obviously not today.

She had been spotted.

And there was no chance of Hermione escaping. Ginny was only steps away. The only reaction Hermione had left to her was to hold out her hands so that she managed to catch Ginny. To stop Ginny from barrelling into her at the speed she was going.

Hermione was not in the mood to fall with a thump on her ass.

And so as she felt the shock waves crash through her body, Hermione strengthened her stance in order to accommodate it. It was only when she felt the last of the ripples shoot through her, did a thought manage to creep across her brain and manage to catch her attention.

An evil thought.

Crushing Ginny into her, Hermione curled her hands into the woman's clothes and rested her head on Ginny's shoulder. She didn't wait for herself to become comfortable, she knew that Ginny would try and wriggle out of it so that she could stare directly into Hermione's eyes, and so Hermione allowed herself to carry out the evil thought.

'Ginny!' she cried, making sure to scream the words straight into the woman's ear.

Ginny pulled away, wrestling her hands free from Hermione's grip before taking a step back, rubbing the affected ear vigorously.

'What was that for?' Ginny muttered, giving a little shake of her head as if that would ease the sudden pain.

Her dark blue eyes glanced up at Hermione, but Hermione already had the smirk Harry and Ron used to remark about when the three of them were about to get in trouble. Or cause trouble.

'Payback for nearly knocking me over,' Hermione said, giving the slightest shrug of her shoulders.

There was, after all, always a reaction to any action. At one point Hermione had had to use the science analogy, it was one of Murphy's Laws if she remembered it correctly, when explaining exactly why the twins, Lee and Brian deserved to be re-planting nearly the entire garden surrounding The Burrow. They had somehow managed to get it into their head that it was a good idea to see how well their latest plan would work if it involved the ghoul up in the attic.

And they had been given fair warning beforehand by Charlie and Hermione, wasn't the two's fault if the twins and Lee were caught.

Ginny gave the softest of snorts as she shook her head, even managing to make it look as if she was saddened by Hermione's shriek.

'Nice to see that your vindictive side is well and truly still remaining within you,' said Ginny, as she gave away any chance of Hermione even believing that Ginny was actually annoyed at her. 'Anyway, long time, no see I must say.'

And there was a reason for that of course. Well, there usually was, and one that Hermione would feel like a good one. The rest may not agree, in actual fact, Hermione couldn't remember the last time one of the Weasley family had agreed with her reasoning, but Hermione wouldn't budge.

Her need to maintain space between herself and her adoptive family was rarely recognised, whether she wished for them to be near her or not, one of them would manage to creep in. And all Hermione could do was try to keep these instances to a minimum, therefore rarely seeing the rest of the Weasley family.

But they, of course, wouldn't allow any of this to be met without disapproval, and would go out of their way to try and convince her to not try it again. They rarely did manage to convince her, but that never stopped them.

And undoubtedly, this conversation would, at some point, turn in that direction and Hermione would find herself, once again, trying to defend her actions.

'Yes, I know,' said Hermione. 'You may inform everyone that I will try and visit The Burrow at some point.'

At some point was the key word. She had already received an owl from Ginny, the little owl had tried to dive bomb Hermione when she had finally allowed Silver in, to inform her that there was a Weasley Family Gathering this weekend. Not that Hermione needed reminding. It was usually decided from the beginning of the year, when all of the members of the Weasley and their friends were gathered at The Burrow during the Winter Holidays.

It was all faithfully recorded on the calendar Hermione kept in the kitchen, just as everyone else did. The matters concerning the Weasley Family Gatherings were not a laughing matter, and unless there was a very good excuse, the wrath of Aunt Molly caused several 'unhappy' memories to reappear, mainly of all the other instances that had caused Aunt Molly to scream at one of them.

And if Hermione missed this Weasley Family Gathering...

Hermione would get to that further on in the week. She needed to plan exactly when she would appear at The Burrow, as the day she arrived could determine exactly when she could leave again. The Weasley family could be extremely persuasive, and if Hermione didn't plan this out to each and every point, then she wouldn't be allowed to leave.

Hermione would find herself staying longer than she wanted to, longer than was prudent to her own sanity. And if that suffered, then the rest of the Weasley would be taking the brunt of her attack.

'What about Friday?' Ginny said, raising one of her eyebrows.

Friday? As in Hermione actually being there on Friday instead of the day she was more leaning towards, Saturday? At least if she arrived on Saturday that meant she would only be there for two days and one night.

Better chance of less destruction and hurt feelings, the usual after effects whenever Hermione tried to be at The Burrow during a Weasley Family Gathering.

'The Gathering?' said Hermione, shaking her head to prove the extent of her refusal. 'No.'

But Ginny didn't seem to be taking the disappointment as badly as Hermione had thought. She didn't immediately launch into a long-winded explanation of exactly why Hermione needed to go to the Gathering, or even cross her arms across her chest to signal her anger at Hermione once again refusing to simply go without causing 'a big fuss'.

Alicia's words, not Hermione's that had been spitted at Hermione when Hermione had faced down all of the Weasley siblings in Fred, George and Lee's apartment. It hadn't started in such a manner. Alicia and Lee had actually been laughing their heads off at the fallen forms of Hermione and Fred. Or to be more precise, Fred lying on top of Hermione.

It had taken him a while to be able to get enough control of his limbs in order to get off her. Alicia, Lee, and eventually George, once he had been untied by Bill, had been no help at all, simply watching as they continued to laugh.

'So you did receive the letter,' said Ginny. 'Good. I was afraid when Silver returned with it all crumbled that it had gotten ruined in transport.'

Hermione gave a little snort.

When was the last time that Silver had failed to find the recipient of one of the letters Ginny had sent out? Hermione couldn't even remember when Silver had. The owl had proved to be more than reliable than any other owl that the Weasley family had owned.

Even Hermes, who had been a favourite of Percy's hadn't come as close as Silver. And in the case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds?

Hermione gave a soft snort.

Those two owls were complete mirror images of their three masters.

'I couldn't avoid her,' Hermione spoke up.

It was always the lesser of two evils to have Silver at her window, rather than many of the other owls owned by a Weasley. All of the carrier owls had been trained to refuse to give up until the package or letter they had been asked to deliver was in the hands of the intended recipient, and some were more insistent than others. Some of them had even been trained to remain hovering nearby until the letter was actually read, and/or the package opened.

But the worst, as always were Four and Twenty Blackbirds. They were just....

Hermione's lips twitched.

'There have actually been some changes to The Burrow since the last time you have been there,' said Ginny, giving Hermione a small smile.

And there would have been.

The last time Hermione had been at The Burrow was during the Winter Holidays, over seven months before. She had managed to keep all of her previous visits for a Weasley Family Gathering, all which had taken place at other Weasley homes, to the two-day maximum stay. And not allow herself to be forced to arrive on a Friday when the lunch would be spent at The Burrow.

Only the Main Gatherings, celebrating certain dates, were at The Burrow; such as the one coming up this week.

There would have been changes at the Main Family Home since then, there always was.

The original structure of The Burrow, the one that Hermione remembered from before the War, had but all disappeared. More rooms had been added since, passageways that were hidden within the walls in order to give any who lived there several options to escape. And more kept being added, as time passed.

Just because the War was now over, that didn't mean there weren't still some dangers out there. There were still moments when the entire Weasley family and their friends had to disappear, and what was more safe then The Burrow? A home and its grounds that were still Unplottable, though mostly now in order to keep The Ministry from being able to find them there.

'And...' Ginny spoke up again, though she seemed to try and continue her statement with the twinkle in her eyes rather than speaking. It was all an elaborate ploy to try and get Hermione to inquire further, to spark the curiosity that Ginny knew that Hermione had.

Damn it, Ginny knew it too well.

Ginny knew that in most cases, Hermione's inquisitive sides would win out. It was what had kept her alive during the War. Hermione's need to know everything meant that information that might have otherwise been lost on the wayside or else never discovered, came to light and could either be used or else carefully explored so that if the situation came to, then the Fighters and Researchers would be able fight against or around it.

And Hermione hadn't lost it, just because the War was over.

She should, if she was to follow a large part of her Common Sense, simply ignore it. But doing so wouldn't get rid of the problem. Ginny knew her weaknesses and knew that Hermione's inquisitive nature nearly always won out. Ginny would keep going, keep leaving out hints until finally...

Or she could do what another part of her Common Sense was telling her, and simply save herself all of the aggravation and follow Ginny's line of questioning. It would certainly get rid of this topic of conversation faster.

And it was currently leading on what would be the best action to take.

'And?' said Hermione.

Ginny's head tipped, ever so slightly to the right side.

'And,' said Ginny, 'when you do come, you should bring Robert with you. None of us have properly met him, other than few glimpses of him over your shoulder.'

Hermione certainly didn't want any of the Weasleys getting any closer to him than that. They had a habit of poking their noses in, catching a simple glimpse of her current boyfriend and then somehow managing to dredge up all of this information. Hermione blamed the networks they had formed during the War for most of it, there was always someone watching in The Ministry, on the streets or even the 'what should have been' private meetings.

But that didn't keep Hermione from continuing to try to keep her relationships secret, even if she didn't have such a good success rate with her previous ones. She had actually managed to keep Robert a secret until...

Hermione rolled her eyes.

'Not a chance,' she said.

She even managed to let a growl creep in, an addition to her voice range that had been carefully nurtured with the help of one Remus Lupin. Nothing seemed to scare the one being faced down then the possibility there was a Were-Wolf in front of them. And Remus had known this, therefore teaching all of his adoptive Pups, whether you were born of a Marauder or not, during the War.

It still was useful every now and then.

Though not against Ginny obviously, Ginny knew most of the tricks and being threatened with a Wolf would hardly make her bat an eyelid. Hermione, along with the rest of the Weasleys, had been brought up on the proper decorum when facing a Were-Wolf, as most Were-Wolves at least understand the bare necessities of ties and status.

And Remus, through his work during the War, was quite well known by the Wolves that they had fought alongside, with most of the Were-Wolves knowing of the witches and wizards he considered his Pups.

'Why not?' said Ginny, even managing to carry an almost curious Tone in her voice.

Hermione snorted.

She wasn't fooled.

And Ginny deserved, completely, the Look she was now on the receiving end of. Ginny knew exactly what Hermione was capable of, especially as she had been around when others who had earned themselves the Look had been given their just punishment.

And with the way the Wizarding World was acting around her, though Hermione doubted that she had ever been given a reprieve since the War had ended, there were others among the Wizarding population who were beginning to fear it. Even by the ones who didn't know her very well.

The newer workers of The Ministry were some of them, as they couldn't escape seeing and hearing the near chaos that swept through the building whenever Hermione, or a fellow Fighter or Researcher, was called before the Officials of The Ministry who had been around during the War. Those older ones hadn't done anything about the War, until it was nearly too late.

Hermione shifted.

'Why not?' repeated Ginny.

Hermione could feel her mouth twitching again.

She was fast losing what little Common Sense she had had at the beginning, the one that had told her to simply get Ginny to give up whatever information she was dangling before Hermione. She was regretting even bothering to listen to that, it was only leading down the path the other side of her Common Sense had been warning her about.

Now Ginny was fast pushing for Hermione to venture into the second part of her Look. And unfortunately for Ginny, Hermione wasn't finding a reason not to.

Hermione had a feeling that Ginny wasn't joking. That this wasn't a trick question, or something that was being said in jest. Ginny actually thought...

'Have you already forgotten what it was like for you?' said Hermione.

Hermione certainly doubted that, as Hermione had been by Ginny's side just before she and her new partner had entered The Burrow to introduce him to the rest of the Weasleys, seen the destruction and wounds due to Ginny not taking it very well when the rest of the members of the Weasley had been less than enthusiastic about her choice, and had been there for the aftermath. Ginny had certainly bitched about the Weasley Sunday Dinner that had become firmly imprinted in everyone's minds, mostly due to the wounds that were suffered, to Hermione for months later, and even after Ginny had finally gotten her partner at least partially accepted by everyone else.

Though, when everyone found out that he was actually her fiancé, it had nearly blown up again. And Hermione had witnessed that as well.

'For me?' said Ginny.

Hermione fought against the urge to roll her eyes. Ginny may be acting understanding of Hermione's other reactions, managing to meet Hermione's Look with one of her own cool gazes, but the act of rolling her eyes might send Ginny into a less than pleased mood.

Even though Hermione could argue correctly that it was Ginny who had brought up the entire incident in the first place.

'It could not have escaped your memory of what you and Draco had to face when you brought him over to The Burrow for the first time?' said Hermione.

Even after all of these years, there were still instances of when it was brought up in conversation, usually to the chorus of the male Weasleys protesting. Any time it was, it usually meant that they would all face Ginny's anger all over again. The only ones able to calm her down were Hermione, Alicia, Katie and even sometimes Aunt Molly.

Aunt Molly kept out of these conversations for the most part, she easily recognised that this was a matter that needed to be decided upon, even if it was for the millionth time, by the younger Weasleys. It was only if there was a danger of The Burrow being destroyed, sometimes Ginny became less accurate with her throwing of spells, did Aunt Molly add her voice to the chaos.

And the trigger to all of this was sometimes something as simple as one of the males being idiotic enough to say a disparaging comment about Draco, behind his back or else straight to his face. Or else placing the wrong kind of Tone to their voice when speaking about Draco.

Draco's sense of pride hadn't dissipated since the beginning of the War. He was more than capable of leaving others wounded, as he clenched his fists and rose himself to his full height. He and Ginny would continue battling it out against the rest until all involved were successfully pulled apart, usually dumped in separate rooms, or else...

Or else by the screams of Penny.

Hermione shivered.

For the most part, the first sign of distress from Penny, the first shudder or hunched shoulders was enough to end any argument. It only took one of them to notice, one of them to catch it, and the mention of Penny could silence the entire room. Their voices would dwindle away to nothing, and though their fists would still be clenched and their eyes sparking with anger, Penny would be spoken to with kindness. She would be asked to go up to her room, or outside, accompanied by one of them, and then the rest of the Talk would be postponed.

Hopefully, it would never need to be spoken of again. Yet the past had shown that the words exchanged would always be brought up, the few times when there were physical wounds may disappear but would still be felt months later.

The need for the air to be cleared between all of them meant that it would have to be.

'There were pre-conceived ideas about Draco,' said Ginny. 'Any previous interaction had been negative and so when he was introduced to the family for the first time-'

'It was a near bloodbath,' cut in Hermione.

It was never good to bring back up what they faced during the War, the destruction, but Hermione hadn't seen such a tearing within the Weasley family since it. It had even looked as though the very fabric of the Weasleys would never be repaired, as if this would be what would destroy the Weasleys. As if it would be that, that would do what the War couldn't.

Hermione knew that the Weasleys didn't have such a perception with Robert. None of them had ever met him, other than as Ginny said, over Hermione's shoulder as they tried to bargain their way into Hermione's apartment. Yet, they would still disapprove of Robert, simply because of any boyfriend Hermione had was never good enough. There were always excuses, always reasons for why she should dump them, and more than once, Hermione had learnt that it was because of their interference that Hermione found herself dumped.

Yes, Hermione would admit that there had been boyfriends who hadn't been worth a moment of her time. That there had been ones that she had known from the very beginning were a waste of her time, but still... Somehow, Hermione had still found herself falling for them.

It was a part of life that Hermione couldn't be protected from, even if the rest of the Weasleys tried to keep her from being hurt. Through the War, they had managed to keep her from being going out with anyone they disproved of, which seemed to be everyone, but now that Hermione was living alone...

It was just a pity that they didn't seem to realise that.

And so they had had no right to get their own back upon finding out that her ex-boyfriend had wronged her; that he had had ulterior motives. They had acted as if they were more outraged than she was upon learning that her ex-boyfriend had used her in order to get back with his ex-girlfriend, or else had been cheating on her the entire time they had been going out.

And it had never helped their case when Lee had been stupid enough to ask her why hadn't she been a bit suspicious about Richard Licion considering that he had never brought her out to anywhere nice and public.

Hermione gave the softest of snorts.

She certainly had made sure that he would think twice the next time he brought up her ex-boyfriends.

'But in the end,' said Ginny, 'it turned all right for Draco, right?'

This time, Hermione did roll her eyes.

Ginny had even managed to pull in the smallest hint of a wheedling tone in her voice. It was almost enough to convince Hermione that Ginny genuinely thought that the Weasleys would accept Robert, except Hermione knew better.

Hermione knew that Robert wouldn't be.

How many Curses had it taken for Draco to be even partially accepted? How many fights and arguments?

'You won't be giving him that chance,' Hermione said.

Or any chance for that matter.

At least in the case of Draco, he had Ron and Harry to at least speak of a few good things to say about him. The fact that the three of them had a past, not a very easy one, as their time as students had been filled with various arguments, physical fights and even a few duels, but they had one. And once the War had grown to full-out battles, the three's relationship had changed once again.

Draco's cover had been blown only several years into the War, and so he no longer had to skirt around the edges of the Fighters and Researchers. The amount of time he could spend with other Light witches and wizards increased, and somehow...somehow during that time, Ron and Harry became better acquainted with Draco.

And Draco fought alongside the two.

When the War ended, Draco was no longer the cold, Pureblood maniac he had been when they had all been students. Ron and Harry saw him differently, and could at least vouch that Draco wasn't as bad as he had been.

Draco and Ginny couldn't expect anything more, considering Harry, Ron and Draco's history.

But none of the Weasleys knew Robert, which was half a blessing, and half not. It meant that none of them could interfere directly in any part of her life concerning Robert, as they didn't know anything about him, but it did mean that they would push her even more to meet Robert, just so they would use the opportunity to grill Robert in order to find something that they could use against him.

Any bit of information they could use to try and convince Hermione to dump him.

And Hermione wanted to hold onto Robert. They had been going out for eleven months, had been living together for five. Hermione felt comfortable with him, he could fire her up with their arguments and he made her feel normal. As though she could truly cut herself from her life during the War.

But sometimes it felt as though the Weasleys didn't want to give her that. And this was all down to the Weasleys trying to regain control over her by delegating exactly who she could go out with, and if they couldn't have that, then at least interfering with her boyfriends.

It sounded unfair Hermione knew, but...

What else could she call it? How many of her boyfriends had Hermione lost not because she wanted to, but because the Weasleys had decided she should?

And they got worse with retribution of any ex-boyfriends who had wronged her. The male Weasleys were the worst offenders of it, though every now and then...

Ginny shouldn't be defending them, but ever since she had finally managed to get Draco accepted, it was as if Hermione had lost one of the few Weasleys she had on her side. Now Ginny-

That was probably why Ginny's eyes became glazed, before a sad smile took control over her lips.

Oh no.

No.

Ginny couldn't do that to her.

Not again.

'They care for you, Mione,' said Ginny, 'and you know that. It's just that they...they are a bit over-protective over the ones they love.'

It took all of Hermione's strength of will to not snort at that comment.

Now that was the understatement of the year, and Ginny could not use that against her.

'I used that exact same wording when I was trying to calm you down after they were stupid enough to curse Draco,' said Hermione, 'and look how well that worked out.'

Hermione had been the only one told beforehand that Ginny was going to bring Draco with her to that Sunday Meal, and so she had approached that Weasley meal only after having a long talk with Ginny with a growing feeling of dread. It wasn't as though Hermione would willingly be around the Weasleys when she knew that there was going to be a huge argument, one that would probably erupt into spells being thrown, and this one, Hermione had known, would be no exception. But somehow Ginny had convinced Hermione to, and so after the first spell had been cast at Draco, it had been Hermione who had tried to pull Ginny away so that she could cool down, yelling at Draco to follow them.

The rest of the Weasleys had still been digesting the information that Ginny was going out with Draco.

But Hermione hadn't been able to. Ginny had managed to wrench herself from Hermione's grasp, and Draco wouldn't leave the scene, not when he was being attacked from all sides. And so despite Hermione's yells, Ginny and Draco had fought back.

And all Hermione could do was step back and let them at it. She had turned away from the squabbling Weasleys, grabbed Penny and ordered the young girl to go to the farthest paddock and remain there until Hermione, and only Hermione, came and got her.

And that hadn't happened until many hours later, after all of the ones who had been wounded had been herded elsewhere.

'So?' suddenly cut in Ginny's voice.