Sometimes It's Good to be Bad

Chapter 36 The Woes of Mr. Weasley

That night at dinner and while patrolling Hermione made sure to charm her shoes invisible so that if Snape happened to walk by, he would be less likely to call out her lie.

That night was try-outs for Keeper. Harry had decided to stay on the team thanks to the persuasion of Hermione, and the constant nagging of the entire house. Even Headmistress McGonagall had told him that he should stay on the team. In the end, he couldn't let everyone down after so many bad things had happened.

The next two days until the weekend were hectic. It was the first game of the season Sunday, so every available minute the team was practicing. Harry was just hoping he'd be able to catch the snitch quickly. The team was good, but with only three days practice together they were a bit rough around the edges. If he didn't have Hermione to help him with his homework after practices were over, he had no idea what he would have done.

Saturday morning the two went to the Headmistress' office to floo to the Ministry. When they got there, they first went to the Minister's office to say that they had arrived, and Hermione had a genial conversation with the man on her future options at the Ministry. Harry just rolled his eyes at her; he had expected nothing less of her than to take full advantage of the oppurtunity and talk about academics.

They were finally able to move around freely, as people had started to get used to Harry's visits. They stopped every couple of minutes to make small talk with someone or another. When they passed the cup Harry tipped his head towards it with such a small motion that if she wasn't looking for it she wouldn't have noticed the difference.

She shifted her weight around to allow herself a better view. Eventually they were in another hallway, and she excused herself to use the ladies room. Thankfully the directions she was given would lead her directly passed the object she was looking for. When she approached the display case she stood in front of it like she was reading the plaque under the cup. Within thirty seconds she had vanished the two cups. Seconds later they had reappeared. She knew the switch had worked because in her transfiguration she had been sure to leave one miniscule flaw to tell the difference. If anyone ever noticed it, it would be too late to do anything about it.

When she returned to the group Harry was still talking to she took a hold of his hand and squeezed it. He recriprocated the gesture, turning his head to smile at her. Everyone around thought to themselves how wonderful it was for the boy who lived to so obviously be in love with someone who also obviously loved him back. It was about time something went right for him.

Reaching Mr. Weasley's office, Hermione reached out and knocked on the door before Harry could stop her. There had been one thing he had kept from her about his visits to the Ministry. He had been dwelling on it since they had arrived, but had been too chicken to say anything. His heart was in his stomach as he regretted not saying anything ahread of time. He just hoped it would be better than last time.

The door opened to an extremely haggard Arthur Weasley. She looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. "Hi, Mr. Weasley. How have you been?" she asked softly.

The older man looked from her to Harry and back again, his eyes a mixture of pain, fear, and disgust. "Leave my family alone, Miss Granger." The sentance was spoken coldly before the dor was shut in her face. She stood there, her whole body in shock.

Harry put his hand on her arm. "Come on, Hermione. Let's go," he softly pleaded.

Instead, she straightened her posture and knocked in the door again. When there was no answer she opened it herself and walked into the small room. "Mister Weasley, if you are upset with me I need to know why. Yours has always been a second family to me. My only family since my parents..." she trailed her sentance off at the intense look he was giving her and Harry, who had followed behind her.

"Hermione. Family does not cause the others within it to suffer the way you and Harry have caused my family to suffer. Because of the two of you, my youngest son joined You-Know-Who and was murdered. Because of the two of you, my only daughter is currently in St Mungo's almost continuously under the influence of a calming draught. Family does not cause things like this to happen."

"What are you talking about? Harry nor I had anything to do with either of those things. Ron was one of my best friends, and so is Ginny! I love them and would never to anything to hurt them," she said fighting back tears.

"You cared nothing for my children!" he snarled, causing the tears to breach. When he spoke again, it was a little softer, but not much. "You knew that Ginny loves Harry. And that Ron had a crush on you. Yet you actively pursued Harry until both of my children suffered the consequences."

She was no longer crying. Instead she was shaking with contempt. Raising her voice, she said "I did absolutely no such thing! Everything was going great, Ginny was getting better. Then Ron freaked out at breakfast one day and wouldn't talk to us anymore. And sure Ginny saw Harry kiss me, but it was just a quick little peck that didn't mean anything but thank you because I had an idea that would help us with a project that we were working on with Ron. I know that she snapped then, but it couldn't have just been the one thing. I mean, she knew there was nothing going on between us... didn't she?" The tears were back as her voice got smaller and smaller.

She could see that Mr. Weasley was losing his resolve, but for the thought of the wrath of Molly, who had been ranting for weeks that she had taken them in as her own. HER OWN. And this is they way they repay her family. Death Eaters had invaded her son's wedding, and in the process one of her children had died (conviently leaving out that Percy had chosen on his own to join Voldemort and her entire family were considered blood traitors which were just as low as muggleborns) and another had gone crazy.

Then they discard her childrens feelings for their own pleasure, as she was sure the two were sleeping together now she wasn't there to impose her will. They had completely disregarded her daughter's fragile health and given in to their horomones and sent her over the edge. In the same fell swoop they had caused her son to join You-Know-Who and get himself killed. He heard it every day and knew that if he were to waver on this, she would make his life even more of a hell than it already was.

He shook his head at the now sobbing girl. "Please leave Hermione, Harry." They recieved more than a few looks as they returned to The Atrium to floo back to Hogwarts. Harry had to practically carry Hermione there, she was crying so hard.

"He's right, isn't he? It's all my fault," she whispered when they were safe in her common room, her eyes still leaking, though no longer in rivulets.

Harry pulled her away from him, staring her down, a hard glint in his emerald eyes. "Hermione. Hermione, look at me. This is not your fault. They're just upset, so much has happened. If anything, this is my fault. I knew how they felt but I didn't say anything to you. You shouldn't have had to listen to him." He then pulled her close into a tight hug, kissing her hair.

She then looked at the clock and kicked him out to get to his final practice before the match the next day. He didn't want to leave her in her current state but she insisted that she didn't want to see Gryffindor lose and they needed all the practice time they needed. When he left, he kissed her softly on the lips, his hands gently resting on her waist.

"You really seem to like kissing crying girls, huh?" she sniffled with a small smile on her lips. He started tickling her in response, causing her to arch herself into him trying to get away until he caught her lips again, this time with more force.

"Nope, I like kissing happy girls," he said when he pulled away. He turned around and left for practice and she sank down into the loveseat, thinking how the Weasleys had pegged exactly what had happened, but it just sounded like grieving parents to everyone else.