Familial Obligations

A/N: Okay, wow, people are really enjoying this story! I’m speechless!! And to think, I almost scrapped this whole idea!! Like I told AlexisRose, writers are their own worst critics…lol. I’m sorry the last chapter was short, but I wanted to wait for the dinner. Thank you Valady for sitting in for my AWOL beta! You are a lifesaver!! A whole plate of cookies to you darling!! Again, I bow to TheAmazingKathy!!! You have saved me from myself too many times! Lol. I don’t know what I would do without you calling me constantly and asking, “are you writing yet???” Thanks for keeping me in line!! And for your, “Who’s next!? Ginny??!” comments. ;) "Wrap up" is a comment that Kathy (Mizco) came up with!! lol. Amadeo is a wine that my friend from Italy created in her vineyard, my husband and I absolutely love it!! This chapter is not for Ron lovers...you've been warned. Onto the fun!!
Familial Obligations

Part Three

Hermione and Ron arrived outside one of the most celebrated Italian restaurants in all of wizarding England. One of the establishment’s key selling points was its reasonable pricing. Here you could get excellent food without emptying your account in the process. They hadn’t allowed popularity to influence their prices. They were as inexpensive now as they were when they had opened three years before.

Ron held the door open for his fiancé, motioning for her to enter. She gave him a brilliant smile, bound and determined to make things right with him. He followed her into the restaurant. They made their way over to a large table already filled with red heads, save for two. One dark head and one pale head were interspersed into the sea of red. Apparently Fleur had made it back from France after all. For a minute her heart sped up at the thought of having to face Bill’s wife. Only two seats were left open at the table, one next to Bill, and the other next to Charlie. Hermione instinctively moved to the seat beside Charlie, leaving Ron to sit by his oldest brother.

“Hermione, dear, you look beautiful!” Mrs. Weasley gushed.

“Thank you! You are looking radiant yourself!” Ron’s mother blushed at the compliment.

“Wine?” Harry offered her, a bottle poised over her glass.

“No thank you, I think I will just stick to water this evening,” she replied.

“But, you loveAmadeo,” her green-eyed friend said in confusion.

“I know, but…can’t a girl get a break around here?” she huffed. “I would rather have water, thank you,” she told him pointedly, begging him not to push it. Seriously, was Ron’s big surprise such a shock that she needed to be inebriated to hear it? She knew there was very little chance that she could be pregnant yet, but she would rather not take the chance. Mrs. Weasley’s eyes narrowed, her gaze moving between her son and his fiancé.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to rile your feathers,” Harry apologized hesitantly.

“No problem!” she answered, a little too chipper.

Charlie snorted beside her. “Sounds like you’ve already had a bit to drink there, ‘Mione,” he told her under his breath. She just glared at him

The large group ordered their dinners while Fleur rattled on and on about her trip to France. She regaled them with stories of her sister Gabrielle’s new boyfriend. Apparently he was a well-to-do heir to some wizarding shipping empire. The part Veela was very pleased with her sister’s match. It took all of Hermione’s will power not to roll her eyes.

“Are you sure you don’t want some of that wine? Or maybe some firewhiskey? Could make her voice a little more bearable,” Charlie whispered to her, rolling his eyes at his sister-in-law.

Hermione snorted into her water, causing the table to turn shocked faces towards her. She reached over and pinched the red head hard on the thigh, causing him to jump. George, who was on the other side of Charlie, snickered at the silent bickering, earning him a glare.

“Sorry, water went down the wrong pipe,” she explained, a blush creeping up her neck. Charlie smiled at his food. Ron looked between his brother and fiancé, trying not to laugh.

Fleur sniffed indignantly, glaring between the brunette and her brother-in-law.

“So, Ron, you had some news, right?” Harry asked pointedly, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Oh, yeah. I guess now is a good time,” he replied, giving Hermione a quick smile before addressing the table. She noticed Mrs. Weasley’s eager and curious expression. She looked as if she was going to jump up and cheer the minute Ron spoke his secret. Mr. Weasley showed the same curiousness, but his expression also showed confusion. Hermione decided the elder Weasleys must not know any more than she did. She turned her attention back to Ron.

“Well, I am sure you have all read in the Daily Prophet about Oron Whittleby’s resignation as Head Auror of Beta Team. It was such a big to do, littered with controversy and all that,” he told them, waiting for conformation that they knew about the latest development at the MLE headquarters.

“Well, they have found a replacement for him. It isn’t in the papers yet, because…well, I wanted to tell you first. Last week I was promoted to captain and offered the lead position on Beta Team,” he finished with a large smile.

“Oh Ron!” Hermione gushed, jumping up to hug him. He slowly stood to return the embrace.

“Congrats mate!”

“Félicitations!”

“Excellent!”

“Thank you,” Ron told his family before turning to his fiancé. “Hermione, do you remember when I asked you to marry me?”

“How could I forget? We weren’t sure we were going to make it out of that storage building. I figured at first you just did it since you were about to die.”

Ron smiled at that. “Do you remember the conditions you gave when you said yes?”

She nodded. “I told you I wanted a long engagement and…and I told you that you had to do it properly one day,” she finished in a whisper.

When she had finished Ron dropped to one knee. That got everyone’s attention. Hermione could feel herself blushing. He pulled out a black velvet box.

“Hermione, you are the love of my life. You complete me. I have never imagined spending my life with anyone but you. Will you be my wife?” He opened the box. Nestled inside was a beautiful diamond solitaire ring. It had a platinum band and a large square cut diamond that sparkled brilliantly in the restaurant lighting. Hermione’s eyes widened. That ring had to have cost a fortune. She had told him many times before she didn’t need a ring, that she knew she was his. She assumed this had something to do with a male’s need to “mark his territory”. The former Gryffindor smiled nonetheless.

“You already know the answer to that,” she told him quietly. For some reason the simple word “yes” would not leave her lips. She raised her eyes slightly to lock onto Bill’s gaze. She had forgotten he was sitting directly behind Ron. Neither moved. For a brief minute she thought she saw a hurt look flicker across his face before his mouth twitched into a small smile. Her attention was pulled back to the kneeling red head when he slipped the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit and looked gorgeous on her hand. He stood again and wrapped his arms around her.

“I love you,” he whispered as the whole dining room broke into applause.

“I love you, too,” she replied, forcing the words out.

The couple pulled apart and faced the table. Everyone was smiling, save for Mrs. Weasley. The matriarch had a confused scowl on her face.

“Mum?” her son asked, a little hurt. “I thought you would be excited,” he said softly, reclaiming his seat.

“Oh, dear, of course I am happy for you. I just thought…well, I hoped…I mean, I thought you had a…different surprise to announce.” At this she turned her gaze to Hermione’s stomach.

“And what would that be?” the brunette asked the older woman, her eyes narrowing.

Mrs. Weasley seemed to blush as her eyes bored into her future mother-in-law. “Well, I thought you were going to tell us about…well, about the…the baby,” she finished uncertainly.

Hermione’s eyes widened then snapped to Bill’s. His eyes were just as wide and his face had gone deathly pale.

“You thought Hermione was pregnant!?” Ron demanded. “Where did you get an idea like that?”

“Well, I found the baby clothes in Ginny’s room,” she replied uncertainly. The entire table froze. Harry’s face turned an ugly shade of green. His eyes snapped to Ginny.

“But we were so careful!” he blurted out. Six pairs of angry eyes fell on the couple. Ginny’s face had turned puce from embarrassment.

“They’re not mine!” she bit out between clenched teeth.

“Of…of course not, dear. You told me they were a ‘friend’s’,” Mrs. Weasley told her daughter. “So naturally I assumed it was Hermione. I mean, in this day and age young people just don’t wait any more,” the matriarch said, her eyes sliding to her daughter and her embarrassed boyfriend.

“Well, it’s not me,” Hermione told her, her face burning almost as badly as Ginny’s.

Percy spoke up for the first time that night asking, “If it’s not Ginny or you, then…who is it?” Hermione glanced around the table. Most, like her, were searching out the guilty party. Three red heads were not searching. Ginny was looking between two of her brothers with an apologetic expression. Charlie and George were both staring at their plates. Charlie’s face held a smirk while George’s held barely concealed fear. Mrs. Weasley must have noticed as well.

“George Gideon Weasley, what have you done!?” she hissed at her son. Everyone’s eyes fell on the fidgeting man.

“Gee, Mum, what doyou think he’s done,” Charlie muttered under his breath, earning him another pinch from Hermione.

“Mum, please, I don’t think this is the time to discuss this,” George pleaded with his mother, unable to meet her furious eyes.

“No! I think this is the perfect time to discuss this!” she bit out. “What have you done? What poor girl have you gotten pregnant?”

“Mum! I said I don’t want to talk about this here!”

“Too bad! This is your family, they’re going to know sooner or later.”

“Fine! Alicia, mum, I got Alicia pregnant. Is that what you wanted to know?”

“That still doesn’t explain how the clothes got into Ginny’s room,” Bill interjected.

“I asked her to keep them. I bought them as a gift and needed to hide them,” Charlie explained with a shrug.

No one spoke for a moment. George continued to stare at his plate, a scowl on his face.

“Well, when are you getting married then?” Mrs. Weasley finally asked. “An unmarried, pregnant witch is just unacceptable, you know that.”

“Mum,” Charlie said, a note of warning in his voice.

“Don’t you Mum me!”

“Molly,” Arthur Weasley finally spoke up, a note of authority in his voice. “We can talk about this later. This is neither the time nor the place.”

“Well, dinner was memorable as always, but Penny and I must be going, early morning at the Ministry and all,” Percy spoke up, rising from his seat.

“Yes, of course, thanks for coming, Perce,” Ron stood as well, shaking his brother’s hand. Penelope gave a small smile and nodded to her in-laws.

“We should probably be heading out as well. We aren’t as young as you lot anymore,” Mr. Weasley spoke, gently pulling his wife up from her seat.

“But…”

“Molly, let’s leave these kids to celebrate,” he spoke once again with authority.

Mrs. Weasley clenched her jaw but allowed her husband to lead her to the door.

“Holy shit,” George mumbled, letting his head bang on the table.

Fleur scrunched her nose up at his language, then turned to her husband. “Beel, I am not feeling so well. I think that I will go ‘ome eenstead of going weeth you to ze club.”

“Sure. Would you like me to apparate with you?”

“No, I think zat your brother needs you more,” she told him as she pecked him on the lips. “Je t’adore.”

The remaining brother’s all eyed one another, wondering who would speak first. Finally Hermione broke the silence.

“Well, no one ever said Weasley family dinners were boring.”

Charlie burst out laughing. “Aren’t you so glad that you are going to be a part of our lovely family?”

“Speaking of becoming part of the family, Harry, mate, I think we need to have a talk,” Ron spoke up, his eyes narrowing at his best mate.

“Ron!” Ginny growled at her brother.

“Ron, not here. We were planning on going to The Onyx, let’s wait till we get there,” Bill spoke up, forestalling the coming argument. Harry’s shoulders slumped, he knew what was coming and he knew there was no way to get out of it, not if he wanted to continue dating Ginny Weasley. If he had any hope, he was going to have to run the “Weasley Brother Gauntlet” as Dean Thomas had dubbed it. So much for the lovely evening he had been hoping for.

The small group made their way through Muggle London to their favorite club, The Onyx. The place wasn’t too packed, which suited them fine, more room to move about that way. They made their way up to the bar.

“Seven shots of Jagermeister, please,” Bill ordered.

“Six,” Hermione interrupted. “I’ll just stick with water.”

He nodded, his eyes darkening as they met hers. A shiver ran down her back at the desire she saw there.

“Seven, I’ll drink hers,” Ron butted in, ending their moment. The bartender nodded, grabbing seven shot glasses and the dark green bottle. He filled each glass with the dark, thick liquid. Six hands reached out and grabbed a glass.

“To George, and fatherhood!” Charlie said, raising his glass. George glared at his older brother. All six threw their drinks back, each grimacing at the licorice flavor.

“Okay, before anyone says a thing, I want to make something very clear. Harry and I are adults. I may be your little sister, but you do not control my life. I will sleep with whomever I want,” Ginny told her brothers.

Ron pulled out a Muggle credit card that linked to his Gringotts account and dropped it onto the bar. “Give me another and start a tab,” he told the bartender.

“Gin,” Bill started.

“No! I am not going to put up with it. I happen to know for a fact that not a single one of you is a virgin, so you will not belittle me for sleeping with someone! I’ve done nothing that you all haven’t done!”

Harry balked at that. “How do you know that they’ve all done…that?”

“Oh, come on, Harry, they have to talk to someone, don’t they? Whom better than ‘little Ginny’?”

“Ron? You’re not a virgin?” George asked surprised.

Ron glared at him and threw another shot back. “No,” he mumbled.

“Ah! Our little Ronniekins is growing up!” Charlie gushed at his youngest brother.

“He slept with Lavender,” Hermione supplied.

“That’s not the one I’m surprised about. ‘Mione?” Harry asked.

Hermione suddenly found her dress hem very intriguing.

“Who?” Bill asked. He had wondered since her confession the day before, but hadn’t been brave enough to ask. Now he knew that she couldn’t get mad at him. If he didn’t ask, surely one of the others would.

“We are not talking about Hermione’s sex life here, we are talking about Ginny’s,” Ron butted in before Hermione could answer. She gave him a relieved look.

“No we aren’t. My sex life is my business, not yours!”

“You’re our little sister, everything you do is our business,” George told her. Ginny looked ready to hit her brother.

“Guys, let’s just give them a break. She does have a point. They aren’t doing anything we haven’t done. None of us waited until we were married. We are all adults here, let’s just let it go,” Charlie told the group, coming to George’s rescue. “Now, let’s have another shot, shall we?”

“Fine, just…be careful,” George told them, a knowing expression on his face.

“Yeah, mate, wrap up!” Charlie told him, slinging an arm around the messy haired young man.

“Wrap up?” Bill asked.

“Muggle saying. He’s talking about a muggle form of contraception. It’s called a condom,” Hermione rattled off. “It’s…well, it’s a piece of plastic that…that you wear over your penis, to keep the sperm from getting into the woman.”

“Like a glove for your wang?” George laughed.

“Err…something like that.”

Everyone seemed to relax as they laughed about odd muggle sex devices, everyone except Ron. He was just staring at his sixth shot, lost in thought.

“Hey, I’m gonna run to the bathroom,” Hermione heard Bill tell Charlie.

“Ron, are you okay?” she asked her fiancé. He didn’t answer but put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He turned to her and captured her lips with his. She could taste the alcohol on his breath. He deepened the kiss, both arms tightening around her, his hands caressing her back. She returned his kiss half-heartedly. She couldn’t help but compare his kiss to Bill’s. Ron was sloppy, but passionate. Bill was just…well…perfect. Hermione’s eyes snapped open, wondering where that thought came from. One of Ron’s hands trailed up to caress her escaping curls; his other hand came to rest against the curve of her hip, pulling her against him. She could feel the evidence of his arousal pressing against her stomach.

“Get a room, you two!” Charlie told the embracing couple. His voice snapped her back to the present. She pulled back, ending the kiss.

“Ron,” she started.

“Yeah, I know, ‘We can’t.’ You don’t have to say it,” he told her bitterly, turning his back on her. She just stared at the back of his head, hurt by his dismissal.

“Ron,” Harry hesitantly approached his friend.

“What?” he bit out.

“Look, mate, I don’t want to fight about this, why can’t you just be happy for me and Ginny?”

“Why!? Why?! Because you are sleeping together!”

“You’re really going to be mad at me for sleeping with your sister?”

“I’m not mad because you’re sleeping with my sister, I’m mad because your having sex, period!”

Harry looked confused at that. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you and Ginny are having sex and you didn’t even have to buy her a ring for it! I spent an ass-load on that ring and look what I get for it!” he raged.

Everyone froze at his words. Hermione considered hitting her fiancé, but Ginny beat her to it. In the blink of an eye, the youngest Weasley had made her way across the floor to punch her brother in the nose.

“You jerk!” she roared at him.

“What the fuck was that for!”

“What do you think? How could you say something like that?”

“Butt out, Ginny. Go fuck Harry.”

“Ron, you always were a lousy drunk. I think I’m going home,” Hermione muttered, quickly heading to the door of the club, the raised voices of the fighting siblings fading away. Tears blurred her vision. She knew Ron didn’t mean those things he said, or maybe he did, but wouldn’t have said it to her under normal circumstances. He had never been able to hold his liquor.

Bill had just finished in the bathroom and was making his way back to the bar when he saw a distraught Hermione blaze past him on her way to the door, tears falling down her face. He glanced over to his siblings to find Ginny and Ron nose to nose, red faced and swearing. He quickly slipped out of the club to follow the upset witch. He caught her in the alleyway, preparing to disapparate.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he told her, causing her to jump in surprise. “If you try to apparate that upset, you’ll end up splinching yourself.”

“Bill! You scared me! What are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be in there with the others?”

“Nah, they can handle themselves. I saw you leave and you looked upset. You’re crying,” he said, gingerly wiping away one of her tears.

“I’m fine, really,” she assured him. “I just need a minute, then I’ll be okay to apparate.”

Bill stepped closer to her, his hands coming to rest on her hips. “What did my idiot brother do?”

“Oh, the normal, got drunk, spoke without thinking, you know how he is,” she said in an offhand manner, hoping to disguise the hurt in her voice.

“I don’t know how you put up with him,” he whispered, his lips coming to rest on her throat. She leaned into his hard frame needing support. “Let me apparate you home, that way I’ll know you are safe.”

“Okay,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his. He wrapped his arms around her holding her close as he focused on her flat. They disappeared with aPop!.

The couple was so engrossed in each other that neither noticed the shocked brown eyes that were watching them from the club door.