The Reluctant Detectives

I wanted to thank one and all for the great feed back I've been getting from my reviewers. I plan on printing them all out and wallpapering my room with them. LOL!

***

Chapter Nineteen


The Weasley home was a madhouse. Hermione had been hugged, lectured, as well as immediately placed at a seat at the table with food in front of her. She ate in silence as she watched and listened to the loud group that she considered to be her second family. Fred and George were off to the side for a time, speaking to their mother and flicking looks towards her. They must have been telling her what had happened that morning, she reasoned, even as she moved that much closer to Severus. Absently he rubbed her thigh and went back to eating, knowing that this small sign of support would bolster her spirits better than a lecture.


It was in midbite that she saw the one person she could have done without seeing. Ron stepped through the doorway, his timid wife standing behind him as he tried to fill the room with his presence. She finished taking her bite, leaning over to Severus.


“Ron’s here,” she muttered. “Merlin, but I totally forgot about him. Let’s hope he isn’t his usual…”


“What’s she doing here?” he demanded, pointing to Hermione.


“Never mind,” she gave a resigned sigh.


Just as Severus was going to snarl at him, it was Mr. Weasley who went over to him and dragged him out of the house. Everyone was dying of curiosity, as it was never Mr. Weasley’s way to dole out punishments. He never even lost his temper that any of them could remember. And yet there he was clearly furious at his youngest son. Everyone streamed out of the house following them out to the lake.


Arthur threw his son in and waited until he came up coughing before he said a word.


“I don’t know what turned you into this self important, egocentric prat before me, but let me tell you, my boy, that I will not stand it a moment longer!” he roared, making everyone there take a step back. “Hermione is every bit like a daughter to me as Ginny is and I will not have her spoken about or to in the fashion you have been doing for more years than I care to think about! If you are not happy with yourself, that is one thing. But to blame Hermione for things that are not her fault is idiotic and beneath you, Ronald!”


Ron stood there gaping at his father, unable to come up with anything to say.


“You will behave, you will conduct yourself in a civil manor, or you will be tossed out on your arse until you can do so…”


“But…” Ron tried to exclaim, but was cut off by his father.


“I have heard enough of your mouth to last me,” he muttered, turning away from him. “William?”


“Yes, Father?” his oldest asked, joining him.


“You deal with him. I’ve had enough,” he said in a resigned voice and walked away from the group.


The moment Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had vanished, Ron snapped.


“This is all your fault!” he yelled, looking at Hermione who was watching with a dispassionate air as she stood next to Severus. “If you had just let me cheat off of your NEWTs like you did Harry…”


“What?” she asked, sounding puzzled. “He didn’t cheat off my test. We may have been sitting next to each other, but that was all. If he tried to cheat off of me he would have gotten the answers wrong. We weren’t taking the same NEWTs. No one sitting next to each other did. It was done that way to prevent cheating and has been that way for centuries.”


Ron’s face went a vivid red that nearly matched his hair.


“Oh Ron! So that’s why you kept failing,” George and Fred said at the same time, laughter clear in their voices.


“It never occurred to you to study, Ron?” Bill asked him flatly. “For a smart man, you certainly have been acting the fool, haven’t you?”


Ron began going on and on about how Hermione was to blame for so many of the things going wrong in his life. Feeling too tired to be dealing with Ron’s ranting Hermione turned on her heel and went back into the house.


“Enough.” Severus went over to him, snarling in his face. “Hermione hasn’t been well as of late. I will not have her distressed by the likes of you, Mr. Weasley. Why should you care about this? Because I will pay your brothers a good deal of money to make your life a living hell compared to how it is now. Which brothers you might ask? I will pay all of them if necessary. But seeing as none of them are all that overjoyed with you, they just might do it for free.” He stepped back from him. “You deal with him, Mr. Weasley. I need to check on my witch.”


***


Hermione had found a sunny spot in Mrs. Weasley’s small garden. She placed one of the matriarch’s small gardening chairs in the sunshine. Pointing her face towards the warmth, she allowed herself to forget Ron and everything he had ever said to her. This was how Severus found the young witch. His breath caught in his throat at just how beautiful she looked surrounded in the warm light. He went to her like a sleepwalker unable to stop himself, as he kneeled down next to her.


Hermione smiled dreamily as she felt Severus wrapping his arms around her. She rested her head on his shoulder as her own arms went around him as well. Inhaling his deep, rich musk, she let out a contented sigh.


“It’s been a long time since I allowed myself to just be,” she murmured, nuzzling his neck. “I usually did so alone. But I find the prospect of doing so too lonely.”


“Hmm, would you welcome my company in this endeavor?” he asked, feeling her pressing all the more against his body.


“Only if you teach me how to…” She whispered into his ear.


Puzzled he asked, “You mean that you don’t know how to…”


“No,” she interrupted. “I don’t know how, not properly at any rate.”


Rubbing his nose against hers affectionately. “It would be an honor to teach you how to play chess properly.”


***

Thanks for reading! Please review!!