there is nothing that i love more than ronald and harry being the dumbest of all husbands and hermione and draco being in a never ending state of exasperation and fondness at their idiotic half’s antics. it heals me.
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Chapter 30
“You know,” Ron said, unable to contain the smile that formed on his lips when Hermione emerged from their room, “one day I’m going to be literally blown away by how amazing you look, and it’s going to entirely be your fault. you look beautiful.”
Beautiful was an understatement. Hermione was absolutely stunning. She really did like to dress up for special occasions, and while he sincerely thought she was beautiful even when she got out of bed in the mornings and her already wild hair was askew and unbrushed, his heart skipped two beats whenever he saw her with it tied up, sleaked down smooth and wearing a dress, or something more elegant than her usual attire of Ministry robes.
It reminded him of the Yule Ball back in fourth year, or Bill and Fleur’s wedding, when she had undoubtedly been the most beautiful person in the whole room on both occasions. At least now he had the ability and the sense to let her know that that was still the case.
“You always know how to flatter,” Hermione said; she said it in a teasing way, but he could tell she appreciated the compliment by the way her cheeks tinged a pleasurable pink. She always appreciated it.
Ron leaned forward to kiss her, but Hermione pulled back. “Not yet,” she said. “I haven’t placed the no-smudge charms on the makeup yet. If you kiss me, I’ll have to do it all over again.”
“That’s such a shame!” Ron called after her as she disappeared into the bathroom, perhaps to see if her makeup had smudged by him just looking at her. “Also, the party starts in ten minutes, and we’re not allowed to Apparate directly into the place, so we still need to walk from the Apparition point.”
“No one ever shows up on time to a party such as this anyway!” Hermione called back, her voice muffled from the walls of the bathroom.
“That’s a very un-Hermione-like thing to say,” Ron said, thinking of all the times she’d hurried him out the door, or into the Floo, repeating about how they’ll be late. He collapsed onto the sofa, ensuring that his no-crease charm had worked on his suit. It had, thankfully.
Wearing a Muggle suit was such a discomfort; he didn’t know how they did it. It was tight, there were too many pieces, and after many attempts to do up a tie, Hermione had ended up using her wand, but she’d performed the spell too well and for a brief moment, Ron had been unable to breathe.
At least for Hermione, Muggle women wore dresses that flowed either to their knees, or their ankles, or somewhere in between, and they weren’t really any different to what he’d seen Hermione, Ginny, or even Fleur wear before.
But Ron missed his dress robes.
A moment later, Hermione returned from the bathroom. “Ready!” she said.
“Can I kiss you now?” Ron asked, standing up. “Or is that forbidden?”
“You can kiss me as much as you want, and this makeup won’t budge,” Hermione assured him.
“Good!” Ron said, and he moved to her, kissing her hard, trying to make a point.
Once he pulled away, he looked her over once again, revelling in just how lucky he felt to be with her. He loved absolutely everything about her, and more than anything he wished that this engagement party was theirs.
After their holiday together in Croatia, after promising her that he’d ask soon, he had been so ready to do it. He was ready to do it. It was no longer a ‘one day’ for him; it was a very real, very now thing, and he was fairly certain Hermione felt the same.
He found himself thinking about asking her in every waking moment, and just how he’d do it. It had to be romantic. He liked being romantic with her, doing nice things, and showing her how much he loved her. Maybe a dinner — though that was a little cliche, but it didn’t have to be a traditional type of dinner. Maybe he could take her somewhere special, a place they’d never been. Paris, maybe.
And he had to get her a ring. That was something he really wanted to get right, and the biggest reason he hadn’t yet asked her. She’d already promised she would say yes to him, and Hermione being Hermione, she’d probably guess any attempt he made to surprise her. But an engagement ring was something he could surprise her with, because there were so many options that there would be no way she would guess which one he had chosen.
The only problem with that was finding the time to get it. Ever since their holiday in mid February, Ron had been hit hard with training. He was reaching the end of his second year of Auror training, and that meant a lot of cramming of information and practice. On the weekends he should have been able to look for a ring, he was being called into the Auror Office for extra courses. He’d had absolutely no time to go anywhere at all, let alone by himself.
Then came late March, and Percy and Audrey announced their engagement to everyone, which meant that there was no way Ron could do it without stealing the moment from his brother.
So now, in mid May, rather than preparing for their own engagement party like he and Hermione might have hoped, they were heading off to some fancy Muggle hall, no magic allowed, celebrating the impending marriage of Percy and Audrey.
“Is the suit bothering you?” Hermione asked.
“What?”
“You keep playing with the tie. Is it still too tight? I could loosen it some more if you want.”
“It’s fine,” Ron said, though that was a lie. He’d still much prefer dress robes, and when he did marry Hermione, everyone was welcome to wear whatever made them the most comfortable. “It’s just weird, isn’t it? They haven’t been together all that long, really. And they’re getting married already.”
“Longer than we have,” Hermione reminded him, which was technically true, but he’d loved Hermione for much longer, and for Ron, that counted for something.
“Ready to go?” he asked, glancing at his watch. “We will now officially be late.”
Hermione nodded, smiling. She accepted Ron’s offered arm and Apparated them both to the Leaky Cauldron, which was near the party.
Personally, Ron couldn’t understand why it needed to be so fancy. Wasn’t dressing up supposed to be for the wedding, not the engagement? What was wrong with a small gathering at a house? The Burrow would have been perfect. They could have gathered in the garden.
But over the year and a bit Ron had gotten to know Audrey, he had learnt that Audrey liked things fancy. And so did her parents. Not the Granger kind of fancy, where they’d splurge on the occasional dinner, but everything needed to be the best and the most expensive.
Really, the fact that she was marrying a Weasley astounded Ron. But then again, she had no idea about it, and Ron was sure Percy didn’t willingly share just how difficult things had been for them all growing up. He probably flaunted all of the money he had now and Audrey thought they were all like that.
Another thing Ron had learnt was, whilst Audrey thought she had hit the jackpot with marrying someone who could perform magic, her parents were far from impressed. Any extended family was absolutely forbidden to know, and therefore — as they were paying for the party and the wedding — their rules applied.
No magic.
The request had been no wands either, but Ron had his tucked firmly in his suit, and he was certain Hermione had hers somewhere as well. No doubt Percy was also carrying his. Leaving a wand in another room of a house was one thing, but to go out without it…
Audrey’s parents did not need to know that wands were used to Apparate.
“All these rules and regulations, you’d think her parents would like Percy a bit more than they do,” Ron said as they reached the hall where the party would be. Even the outside had been elaborately decorated with very expensive things.
“Take away the magic, and perhaps they would,” Hermione said, grinning. “But you have to admit, Audrey is perfect for your brother.”
“They’re the same person,” Ron reasoned. “It’s freaky.”
“Makes them a perfect match.”
Ron smiled at her, thinking that he and Hermione were a perfect match as well. He started to say that he wished this could be them, but stopped at the last minute. Why get her hopes up — or scare her away — when he couldn’t even get her a ring?
“Come on,” he said. “I’m sure Ginny is making fun of every little detail right now.”
If the outside of the hall was elaborate, then the inside was something else entirely. Ron had attended a few weddings in his life, those of distant relatives mostly, and none of the weddings had ever looked this fancy. He’d never even heard of an engagement party until they’d been invited to Percy and Audrey’s. Hermione had said it was fairly common in the Muggle world.
Every single spare bit of wall was covered in white and red flowers. There were round tables with white tablecloths, the centrepiece was the same flowers on the walls, but in small pots. Guests — none of whom Ron immediately recognised — mingled around the tables, glasses of wine or other drinks in hand.
Ron suppressed the urge to tell Hermione that when they got married they were having a simple wedding and Audrey’s parents weren’t invited.
“Oh, look!” Hermione said, not sounding anywhere near as appalled by the state of this room as Ron felt. “We’ve even got place settings. How lovely.”
They walked through the crowd, checking the names at each table. They eventually found theirs on table three, where they’d been designated seats with Harry, Ginny, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, George, and Molly and Arthur. Oh, and Victoire.
“I’m expecting a surprise wedding by the end of this,” Ron said, spotting his sister in the crowd and waving her over.
“Evening,” Ron said. “You look nice,” he added, noticing that Ginny was also dressed up wonderfully for the occasion, wearing a deep blue dress.
“Talking Dad through how a water fountain works without… magic.” She lowered her voice at the last word, rolling her eyes. “I mean, we’re not stupid, we’re not all going to pull out our wands and start casting fireworks into the hall, are we? Besides, how were we supposed to get here via Apparition without our wands?”
“That’s what I said!” Ron said. “And this looks more like a wedding than a celebration to say you’re getting married one day.”
“I think it’s lovely,” Hermione said, scanning the room. “It’s always nice to dress up.”
“You look amazing, by the way, Hermione,” Ginny noted.
“That’s what I said!” Ron replied. “Doesn’t she?”
Ginny smiled, turning her head just as Harry joined them. “I don’t even know how the bloody water fountain works,” he grumbled. “I’m not a plumber.”
Everyone laughed as Audrey came over to them, smiling, with two older and wary people slightly behind her.
“Hello, everyone!” she said cheerfully. “I’m glad you could make it. This is Percy’s brother, Ron, and his sister Ginny,” she said to the people behind her. Her parents, Ron assumed. “And their partners Hermione and Harry.”
In Ron’s opinion, Audrey’s parents looked far from impressed about having such wayward guests for their daughter’s engagement party. They probably had plans that she’d marry some wealthy businessman or something, not a red-haired, freckled and bespectacled bookworm. The only thing about Percy that would appeal to them was his pompous approach to life.
“I trust you have received our instructions about… everything?” Audrey’s mother asked, looking them all over with uncertainty.
Ron looked at Ginny and Harry, who grinned. Not a single member of the Weasley family was here without a wand tonight.
“Hermione grew up without magic,” Audrey said to her parents. “Remember, I told you about her?”
“Oh, yes,” Audrey’s mother said, and she gave Hermione such a fake smile she would have given Umbridge a run for her money. “Well, it’s nice to finally put faces to names. Audrey has spoken a lot about you.” She turned to leave, Audrey giving them all an apologetic smile before following.
“Lovely people, they are,” Ron said.
“It is a bit of a shock when you find out magic exists,” Hermione replied.
“Yeah, but I like your parents,” Ron said. “They’re nice people.”
Hermione tried her best to look annoyed, but she smiled anyway. They all knew Audrey’s parents were rich, upper class snobs who thought themselves better than everyone else. One only had to look at the decorations to determine that.
“Come on,” Hermione said, sighing, “let’s sit down.”
They all sat around the table, taking in the finer details of the decorations.
“These tablecloths are made from really expensive silk,” Hermione pointed out.
“How do you know they’re expensive?” Ron asked.
Hermione flushed, seeming reluctant to answer. “Because my parents have a few similar ones for special occasions.”
Ron grinned, but said nothing. Her parents could have been the rudest, snobby-ish people in the whole country, and it wouldn’t have changed his opinion of her one bit. He supposed that was how Percy felt about Audrey.
“So, how’s Quidditch going?” Hermione then said, turning to Ginny.
“Training is good, I guess,” Ginny said. “Though I want to get out playing.”
“When will you play?” Ron asked.
Ginny shrugged. “When they need me. Probably not this season, though. Maybe next.”
“Well, whenever it’s your first game, let us know,” Hermione said. “We’ll all come to see.”
“Oh Merlin,” Ginny said, eyes widening slightly, “I never even thought about family coming to watch…”
“You’ll be fine,” Harry said, patting her on the back. “You’ll do great. I keep telling you that. You’ll be on the pitch in no time.”
Ginny smiled. “I hope so.”
They were then joined by Molly, Arthur, Bill, and Fleur, all equally dressed up in Muggle clothing. Ron was pleasantly surprised to find his parents had managed to find items that matched, though he did wonder if Audrey had helped them. She always seemed amused by wizarding style, especially those of her future inlaws. Arthur’s attempts, especially, to dress more casually had always ended in disaster.
While Arthur also wore a plain black suit, Molly wore an ankle-length floral dress that really suited her.
Everyone, in Ron's opinion, had done well to not stand out.
"This is exciting, isn't it?" Arthur said, grinning from ear to ear. "I've already spoken to three Muggles along the way! One is a doctor. A Muggle Healer! He was more than happy to share with me all the details of an operation — you know, when they cut someone open. Fascinating stuff!"
"Yes, fascinating being cut open," Molly said with a sigh. "Not what I'd want to happen to me."
"Isn't that what your parents do, Hermione?" Arthur asked.
"They treat teeth," Hermione reminded him. "They don't cut — well, I suppose they've had to cut some teeth out of gums before, but nothing more than that. They’ve retired anyway."
“Fascinating!" Arthur said. "I really must remember to invite them for dinner one night and pick their brains about it." He glanced sideways to where Audrey's parents stood talking to their own family, suddenly looking disappointed. "I don't think they are as interested in sharing their stories as your parents are, Hermione."
Everyone turned to look at the couple, Audrey's mum still wearing a sour expression.
"We are having lunch with them tomorrow," Hermione said, and everyone looked back at her. "Mum and Dad, I mean. Why don't you join us? They won't mind. You too, Molly."
"Oh, dear, I'm sure they don't want us intruding in on a family —"
"They'll be delighted," Hermione said kindly, and Ron suspected that was not the answer his mother wanted to hear.
"Then we accept!" Arthur said cheerfully. "I'll get the address from you later, and we will be there with bells on!"
"Not real bells, I hope," Ginny said, snorting.
"It's a Muggle phrase," Arthur explained. "It means we'll be there promptly. Eagerly..."
More guests gradually filled the hall to the point that Ron estimated around three hundred people, the vast majority being family or friends of Audrey's parents. Charlie and George joined them as some of the last to arrive.
Ron spotted a few of Percy's friends from Hogwarts mixed with the crowd, but no one he knew more personally apart from the people who sat at his table.
At least he’d be more prepared for the wedding, which was scheduled for November this year.
One thing they could all agree on was that the food was good. Like everything else with Audrey's family, they'd hired only the best caterers to provide the food. It was three courses and all of them were as tasty as the next.
As he didn't know anyone else here, Ron was glad he could at least enjoy the food.
“You know,” Ron began, setting down his knife and fork from the main meal of chicken and potatoes, served elegantly on his plate, “I’m actually looking forward to the wedding now if it’s going to be like this.” He cast his eyes over to the table where Percy and Audrey sat with her parents and Audrey’s brother and sister. Percy appeared to fit in perfectly with them all, sitting straight, taking small bites, looking rather serious. Ron smirked. “And it looks like Percy has found the perfect family for him — more respectable our mischievous bunch.”
“Ron!” his mother scolded, though she did cast a nervous glance Percy’s way — as if she wondered if Percy might have been happier with the family he’d found with Audrey.
Music had played through the whole evening, and as people began to finish their main courses, some ventured out onto the dance floor. They weren’t a bunch of dancers, these people, and honestly, the music wasn’t that great anyway, but it seemed to entice the rowdier people, including Bill and Fleur, Harry and Ginny, and even Molly and Arthur.
“Maybe we should dance, too,” Hermione said to Ron, her eyes following Harry and Ginny as Ginny dragged Harry away.
“With this music?” Ron asked, scoffing. “No thanks.” He smiled at her as George also stood up, perhaps in search of a drink. “Though, I did like dancing with you at Bill and Fleur’s wedding. Bill’s a lot more fun than Percy, though.”
Hermione returned his smile. “I liked that, too. I think about that often.”
Ron stared at her. “You do?” They hadn’t even really been together then, and neither of them had brought it up until now. He’d always thought for her, it had just been a dance, and for him… for him it had been a moment where he’d contemplated kissing her, but hadn’t. He’d liked being alone with her, touching her... and the fact that she’d still chosen to dance with him with Krum as an option had pleased him more than he’d ever admit.
“Of course!” Hermione said. “It’s the only time we’ve ever danced together.”
“We’ve never been anywhere to dance since then,” Ron reasoned, though he was being convinced by just her presence and her words.
“Well, now we have an excuse,” Hermione said, and she offered her hand to him from where they sat. “Dance with me?”
For a long moment, Ron watched her, unable to hide his smile. She was the most beautiful, amazing person in the whole world and he just loved her so damn much. Not a moment went by where he didn’t want to hold her, or kiss her, or run his fingers through her crazy hair. He thought the absolute world of her, and in their two years together, his feelings had only gotten stronger.
Tonight, they were celebrating the engagement of his brother, but soon, Ron hoped everyone would be celebrating for him and Hermione. He wanted to marry her. As she smiled back at him, hand proffered, looking radiant under the light, he made up his mind.
“I can’t come to lunch tomorrow,” he said abruptly.
Hermione lowered her hand and frowned, understandably confused by the sudden change in subject. “I’m sorry?”
“I just remembered — I have some work to catch up on. Didn’t finish it in the time frame and it’s due on Monday... sorry.”
“Oh, well… I’ve already invited your parents…” She eyed him suspiciously, like she knew he was lying.
“Great, then you’ll have company!” Ron now offered his hand to her. “I accept your request to dance. I love dancing with you.” He grinned.
Hermione watched him for a moment, as if she was trying to work out what he was up to. But even if she did, she said nothing, instead taking his hand and jumping to her feet.
As they weaved through the tables to reach the dance floor, Ron could only smile like an idiot. He was going to ask Hermione to marry him, and he was going to do it with the finest ring he could find.
I see that the “Did Hermione belong with Ron?” discourse has returned, so I’m back to give my consistent and perhaps controversial take: absolutely yes.
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In the books, Ron constantly stands up for and looks out for Hermione. In the third book, he is the one who tells Harry that Hermione is taking an impossible number of classes; he also takes on some of her work when she’s panicking about final exams. Hermione is high-strung and anxious, often panicking in tough situations, but Ron calms her down, and she helps him be more serious and dedicated.
.
I think this discourse suffers from the way the films treat Ron: as the funny buffoon of a sidekick to the duo instead of as a crucial piece of the trio. They take away a lot of his support of Hermione—in the first volume, Snape deducts points from Hermione for being an “insufferable know-it-all.” In the movies, he shrugs off a: “He’s got a point, you know.” In the books, Ron defends her and gets in trouble for it. “You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don’t want to be told!”
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More crucially, the film gives many of Ron’s best moments and lines…to Hermione. The one that always hurts me the most: in the Shrieking Shack, when the trio still thinks Sirius is a murderer, book Ron stands up on his broken ankle and stands between this murderer and Harry. In the movie, Hermione does this as Ron lays on a bed in the background. These moments where lines/scenes are taken from Ron and given to Hermione (there are a lot of them!) make Hermione seem too good for Ron.
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You can still by all means ship Hermione with someone else (or no one). But I do believe in Hermione and Ron, and I think the discourse could be improved if we give Ron more credit for being the fantastic, brave, concerned friend that he is in the books.
Ron was beginning to get restless, he was waiting for the rest of his dorm mates to fall asleep, so he could sneak out for some late-night fun. Although it was more difficult now than it would have been if he’d begun his romance earlier after the war most found I difficult to sleep instead talking late into the night to stave off the nightmares. Especially Harry, Ron loved his best friend as much as anyone also would love their best friend, but it was beginning to grate on him how he couldn’t get out, on the nights that Harry did sleep he woke at the slightest sound. Tonight, would be different Ron had finally had enough and slipped a sleeping potion into everyone’s drinks and waited for it to take effect, all the boys were sleeping. Small snores followed him as he passed each bad careful to avoid the floorboards he knew would groan under his weight. He gently pulled the door open and made his way down the stairs with no problems until he realised there was someone sleeping in the common room, quite a few people actually, and as he began to tiptoe past them discovered that one of them was Hermione. He managed to make it all the way to the back of the painting when a hand brushed his shoulder making him quite literally jump into the air ‘’Ron?’’ Hermione whispered softly as she tried to stifle her laughter. ‘’That’s not funny ‘mione’’ He complained trying to control his breathing, she stopped laughing and her smile turned into more of a frown, ‘’Where are you going Ron?’’ she said her voice on the verge of breaking. He tried not to meet her eyes instead opting to look at the ground, but his kind girlfriend lifted his chin, so his eyes did meet hers and he saw tears welling in her eyes. ‘’You’re going to see him, aren’t you? When you told me about him I thought you were joking, it’s just wrong’’. Ron pulled her hand away his hand wrapped around her wrist gently. ‘’Listen Hermione just because I want this doesn’t mean I want you any less, I want to be with you, but I can’t stop thinking about him’’. ‘’Ok, only if you’re sure’’ She said before wiping her eyes and standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek before she turned and left heading to her dorm.
The corridor was cold when Ron stepped out of the dorm shivering he wrapped his arms around him before realising he would have to stop holding himself if he wanted to use both his wand to cast lumos and to hold the marauders map that he ‘borrowed’ from Harry when he ‘fell asleep’. He shook his head trying to dispel the guilt before beginning to walk down the corridor. He had his goal in mind and began walking to the room until he was stood around the corner. It really was cold and now he wished that he’d thought to bring the invisibility cloak as well to keep him warm and to hide him from any curious eyes that might be spying on him.
He ended up waiting around a half an hour before he saw movement from the room and he ducked waiting until he saw the retreating figure before he sprinted to the door before it could close, the room was warm almost stifling and cluttered but clean. The walls had no pictures of the man himself but many of Umbridge and a lot of plates with mewling kittens, probably presents from his friend. Ron stalked through the room after having the revelation that the man he wanted was not so desperately alone, seducing him may be more difficult than he first thought.
I've found a lot of similarities between the Ronmione-Eremika ships. Idk wht to think abt it. ☺ . . #ronmione #eremika #lookalike #shingekinokyojin #attackontitan #harrypotter #eremikashipper #erenxmikasa #mikasaxeren #hermionexron #ronxhermione
