Birds of a Feather, Chapter 18, Serious Conversations, part 2
It took awhile, but finally the slugs were all out of Ron, although they had stacked up somewhat on his body, since he had no way of shaking them off or encouraging them to slither any faster than slugs do.
It must be noted, however, that Lavender did not vomit at the sight--Ron wondered if she had used this curse enough not to be affected by the sight of the victim, but the truth was that Lavender was a lot tougher than she looked, as she was proving to him at that very moment.
“Ron,” Lavender finally said. “I really like you. I’ve enjoyed spending time with you, and I think we work pretty well together. You like me too, don’t you?”
Ron nodded quickly, deciding that every time he spoke he just got into more trouble, so he’d just keep his mouth closed, although he wished he could do some sort of mouth- tasting- better charm, because that slug slime was worse even than vomit- flavored Bertie Botts Beans.
“I’m glad to know that, Ron. I wouldn’t want to be taking your attention away from all the other girls in the school just because I’m your girlfriend.”
Ron just about smiled, but as he replayed Lavender’s words in his head, he realized that this was that sarcasm thing again. It kept biting him when he least expected it, and he had grown to hate it. He opened his mouth to protest, but just in time remembered his previous decision.
Lavender watched as Ron’s face showed very clearly his thought process, and upon his closing his mouth, she nodded. Better, she thought to herself.
“But,” she continued, “You have a big problem. Do you know what it is?”
Ron thought about nodding, but since he hadn’t been doing well in guessing what would upset Lavender, he just lay there.
That proved to be the wrong answer too.
“Ronald, I asked you a question. Are you going to be man enough to answer it?” Her wand was spitting sparks at this point.
He nodded.
“Oh, you do? Then tell me, what is this big problem you have that I very much doubt you understand?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He tried one more time to think of what he could say to lessen Lavender’s anger, but couldn’t even think of what he might say, since he still didn’t have any idea what he’d done wrong.
Lavender smiled victoriously. “Ron, you really have no idea what’s going on, do you?”
Ron just frowned and shook his head.
“All right, Ron. They always say that the first step is admitting the problem. So, I’m going to release you and we’re going to sit here while I tell you what your main problem is, and then you’re going to figure out why you got dragged out of the Hospital Wing. Understand?”
Ron nodded wearily. He was just hoping to be able to move a little, and perhaps clean up the slug slime that now left tracks all over any part of his body that wasn’t covered with ropes.
Lavender glared a little bit longer, then nodded sharply. “Finite Incantatem!” She watched as Ron stiffly sat up, then got to his feet. When he started walking toward her, she raised her wand. “Sit down over there, Ron--we still have some serious talking to do.”
Ron sighed and took the indicated seat. “Lavender?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, Ron?” Lavender responded. She was a little worried at how downcast he looked, but she couldn’t afford to give in yet.
“Could you maybe clean me up a bit? I’m still covered with slug stuff.”
Lavender cracked a little grin, but acceded to his request. After all, if things turned out well, then she wanted to get some snogging time in, and having slug slime interfering just wasn’t a great idea. Of course, she’d also want to supply him with the clean-mouth charm too.
“Ron, we can do this the quick way, which is more painful, but over faster, like ripping off a scab. Or I can walk you through the things you need to know slowly, helping you come to the right conclusions. It takes longer that way, but isn’t as painful. The major downside is that you have to do some serious thinking. On the other hand, the major plus is that if you come to the knowledge naturally, you’ll believe it much better than if I were to just tell you. In this, I think you need to make the decision. I won’t force you either way.”
Ron gave this some thought. He could see some of Lavender’s points, but wasn’t so sure about others. Finally he said, “Well, I guess I’m not doing a very good job so far. Maybe you could just give it to me straight, yeah? I mean, Gryffindors charge in, don’t they? It’s just. . .” he trailed off.
“It’s just what, Ron?” Lavender asked, gently. She could afford to be gentle with him now, to kind of soften the blows that would be coming sooner than she’d hoped.
“Well, I just want you to stick with me, okay? If you give it to me straight, then it’s likely that I’ll get angry. I’m a Weasley--it’s in my blood. And chances are I’ll be angry at you. But I don’t want you to leave me because of something I might say while I’m yelling. You know I don’t mean half of what I say, right? And I’m just hoping that you’ll ignore the bad half of what I say, so that you can help me afterward. Would that be okay?”
Lavender smiled. “Ron, I think that’s very smart thinking. And really, that kind of touches on what I need to say to you anyway, so it kind of fits. All right, I promise that I won’t take anything you say this afternoon in this room as a personal attack, even if you yell at me. And I know you wouldn’t hurt me, so I think we will actually end up stronger for this discussion. But I also want you to promise me something.”
Ron nodded his head. “Anything, Lavender, you know that.”
Lavender giggled. “You might need to be more careful with your promises, Ron. I might have to take you up on that someday.”
Ron looked confusedly at her, then blushed when he caught her meaning. “What.. . That’s not what. . .I mean, yeah, someday. . .”
“Stop, Ron. I know we’re not ready for anything more than snogging, and I’m fine with that. But maybe, someday, we’ll be at a place where that can happen. But back to your promise. Ron, I’m going to say some things that might make you feel bad, might hurt you. But I am not doing them to be cruel. I think it’s just time for you to hear them, and I want you to be able to grow into the best person you can be. So please promise that you won’t take this as a personal attack. I do like you, Ron, quite a lot, and I don’t like seeing you get hurt. So, please, don’t let your anger at what I say last past this afternoon. Can you promise me that?”
Ron nodded: it was only fair after all. Now that the pre-discussion discussion was over, Ron was happy to get down to what he hoped would be the last hurdle before his normal happy relationship came back. “Well, you better give it to me straight--although I might not get it all right the first time, okay?”
Lavender agreed, and steeled herself for one of the hardest discussions she hoped to ever have.
oooooooooo
Fleur, Ginny, and Gabrielle, who had latched onto Ginny’s hand with all the strength her body had, eventually came over to where Harry and Mrs. Weasley were talking. Ginny had been a little worried when her mother--her Molly-mother--had latched onto Harry like that, but she’d been able to sneak a few glances at the pair and it looked like things had been going rather better than expected.
Molly climbed to her feet and pulled Ginny into her famous hug. Gabrielle was sort of involved too. Fleur just managed to escape, and came over to sit next to her brother to see how he was doing, and get, from him, a little more insight into the family that had raised her younger sister.
oooooooooo
What followed was perhaps one of the most painful times in Ron’s life. Lavender spent almost half an hour showing Ron exactly what he was doing to his friends, enemies and casual acquaintances by speaking without thinking, by reacting without understanding, and by jumping to conclusions with insufficient data.
She brought up the whole mess with Ginny in their second year and why he had made things worse instead of better when she had come to him with her fears.
Lavender also showed a surprisingly insightful mind when discussing why Hermione would only ever be distant friends with him--they really had nothing in common except for the fact that Hermione was Ginny’s best friend.
The discussion went on and covered Ron’s eating style, his dressing style, and his assumption that anyone not a full-blood wizard or witch was beneath his notice. This part was particularly painful, as Lavender told him exactly how stupid his point of view was, citing the class rankings of their entire year (being the information specialist meant lots of ties to the Ravenclaws, who knew literally EVERYBODY’S standing) and showing that the purebloods averaged at least a full letter grade lower than the muggle-born, with the half-bloods sitting between them. It was also noted that brilliant purebloods, like Ginny and Padma helped boost the drag that the more stupid students (Nott, Goyle and Crabbe, for example) put on their status’ rankings.
And finally, Lavender dissected his lazy assumption that everything should be handed to him on a silver platter. Amazing to Ron, she mentioned each of his older brothers in turn, pointing out that they had the same disadvantages as Ron had, lack of money and lack of status, and still had all managed to shine in their own chosen fields. Ron perhaps hated this part the most. He had seen his brothers excel in their fields, and while Fred and George hadn’t yet been able to start their dream joke shop, they still were absolutely fabulous at being Beaters in Quidditch. He had subconsciously decided early on that it wouldn’t make any difference what he did, because his brothers would always be better than he, so why study so hard?
Lavender drilled into this area mercilessly, knowing that if she didn’t, she was really doing a disservice to Ron--he needed to learn these lessons, and if the only way he could learn them was by having them thrown straight into his face, then she’d do it. After that, if he failed, she’d at least know she had done her best, and could then make her own decisions as to what needed to happen in the future.
oooooooooo
Predictably, the Weasley twins were the last ones to stop chattering. The rest of the group had all reached natural pauses in their conversations--the kind that are always a precursor to someone saying, “You know, every seven minutes there’s a lull. . .”
“. . . so all we really need to do is get one of Fleur’s hairs, right?”
George’s head popped up at the sound of Fleur’s outraged huff, and found all the eyes in the room staring at him and his brother. He none-too-subtly elbowed Fred, and uncharacteristically blushed at the attention.
Fred looked around, and cleared his throat. “We were just talking about whether we might be able to make a shampoo that would make someone’s hair look like Fleur’s.” He turned to Fleur. “I mean, surely you know that you have the most beautiful hair in the world, right?” He ignored Ginny’s snort of amusement. “If we could kind of copy that look, we’d be, well, it would be like a license to mint galleons.”
Molly drew in a deep breath, preparatory to some major league scolding, but didn’t get the chance--Fleur got there first.
“Hmmm. Monsieurs Weasley, you have an interesting proposition. Over the years there ‘ave been many who ‘ave tried to capture some of the mystique of the Veela. In truth, it is what caused the invention of the Amortentia potion--you ‘ave ‘eard of it, no?”
Fred and George both nodded enthusiastically, but Ginny noticed that they had a rather blank look in their eyes, and she wondered how much they were actually understanding. Deciding to not interfere--after all, she thought to herself maliciously, I wouldn’t want to come in-between familial bonding, right?
Harry noticed the blank stares too, and knew exactly what was wrong. But when he went to say something, Ginny caught his arm and pulled him back toward her, shaking her head all the while.
“But Gin,” Harry whispered, “they’re--”
“I don’t rightly care what it is they’re doing. Or having done to them,” Ginny whispered back. “I think it’s about time they got pranked by someone. And if it’s my. . . my. . . big sister--” she finally dragged the words out, “then that’s all the better!”
Harry shook his head, delighted to get to know a little more about the girl he had fallen in love with, and determined to be on his guard around her--there was no telling when she might decide that he needed to be pranked.
oooooooooo
The final discussion focused completely on Ginny. And while the whole lazy-because-why-bother part had hurt a lot, this one was the one where Ron learned the most.
“Ron, do you remember when your family found Ginny? How old were you?”
Ron scratched his head. “I’m not sure. I think I was one or two. And no, I don’t remember what happened, although Mum and Dad told me later. The first thing I remember about Ginny was that I shared a birthday with her. I was okay with that to start, since Fred and George shared one. But then I found out that Ginny wasn’t my twin!”
“Did you know she had been adopted?”
“No! I found that out at the same time--Mum and Dad explained it to me when I was about five or six. I think they were trying to get me to be nicer to her. But really, the only thing I cared about was that she had stolen my birthday.”
Lavender pondered that for a bit. “So you must have been jealous, right?”
Ron snorted. “Yeah, of course. And I was angry that I had to share my birthday with someone who wasn’t really even my twin. And to make it even worse, it was with a girl!”
“How do you feel about that now?” Lavender asked quietly.
Ron squirmed a bit at that question. “Oh, well, you know. . . I’m not as jealous, I guess. I mean, I can see that Mum and Dad are trying really hard to treat both of us the same. But, well, it’s just. . .” Ron huffed, then put both hands down in front of him, flat on the desk. Probably to keep from making fists. “Look, you know we’re not very rich. We always have to get used books for Hogwarts--I mean, my Potions book has gone through all of my brothers. And clothes, too. But for Ginny, there really isn’t anyone to hand down clothes. I have to wear Bill’s old trousers, and Charlie’s shirts. But Ginny gets her clothes from a store. Yeah, obviously they’re second-hand, but they’re still better than mine.
“And like my Potions book. Well, Ginny’s in Ravenclaw, right? So of course she gets a new book for Potions. And for every other class we both have.” Ron’s frustration was plainly visible on his face.
“She really got new textbooks?” Lavender asked, to clarify.
“Well, no. I mean, they were used too. But they’re still in better shape than mine, aren’t they?”
“Did you ask your parents about that? That doesn’t quite seem fair,” Lavender said, wondering if there were some other, more deep-seated issue here.
Ron scuffed the toe of one of his trainers. “Well, um, I guess.”
“You guess?” Lavender asked sharply. “Yes or no, Ron, it’s not that hard of a question, is it?”
Ron sheepishly looked up. “Yeah, I asked them about it,” he admitted reluctantly.
Lavender waited for more, but when Ron didn’t continue she slapped a hand on the desk in front of her. “Ron!” Ron looked up, and Lavender glared. “What did they say?” she said, mentally adding another entry to her List of Things She Guessed Correctly About Ron.
“Well, you see. . . Ginny’s always reading!” Ron burst out. “Ever since Mum taught her to read, she’s always got some kind of book near her. Even when we went swimming she’d bring something to read. Honestly! I think she might even prefer reading to Quidditch!” The look on his face showed his utter contempt for such a possibility.
“So your parents told you that she got newer books because she was always reading?” Lavender asked, trying valiantly to suppress the snarkiness in her voice.
“Well, yeah. I mean, that’s not fair. . . Oh. I guess it is, isn’t it? But I could learn to like reading, right?” Even Ron didn’t believe that statement.
“Can you see how ridiculous that is, Ron? That they were willing to spend a little extra to help Ginny in something that she loves?” Lavender asked.
“Yeah, okay. I can understand that. But how come they never buy me anything like that?” Rom fumed.
“What do you mean they never buy you anything like that? I know that you’ve got a pretty decent broom, don’t you?” Lavender asked, wondering if she had been mis-remembering.
“Well, yeah, it’s okay I guess. But it’s not even a Nimbus 2000!” Ron expostulated, waving his hands in desperation.
“Ron!” shouted Lavender, getting his attention. “Did your parents buy all brand-new books for Ginny?”
“Well, no,” Ron admitted.
“How much do you think your broom cost?” Lavender asked, hoping that Ron could see where she was trying to lead him.
“Probably about 64 galleons. That’s the price they’re usually listed for in the back of Quidditch Monthly.” Ron was proud to be able to bring out that little piece of knowledge--it was so rare that anyone really cared about his fascination with Quidditch.
“How much do used textbooks cost?” Lavender asked innocently, having given up any lingering hope of his jumping to the right conclusions without being led by the hand. Or the ear.
“I don’t know, I never really looked at them. Since I’ve always had them handed down from Bill I haven’t really had to notice, have I?” Ron looked a little puzzled at Lavender’s line of inquiry. Which shouldn’t have surprised her.
“Ron, you know that I don’t have the newest books, right?” Although she probably shouldn’t expect too much from him regarding anything besides Quidditch. This had been a rather eye-opening experience in seeing just how much growing-up Ron had to do in order to be the person she thought he could be.
Ron looked rather befuddled. “Really? But aren’t your parents rich? I mean, you have new clothes and things. I guess I just assumed that. . .” his voice trailed off in embarrassment.
Lavender laughed. “Ron, yes, I have new clothes. But my parents aren’t that rich--I just choose to save some money on textbooks so I can spend a little more on clothes.” She was almost embarrassed herself about that admission, but then realized that Ron probably wouldn’t even think about it past this conversation.
“Either way, I do know more or less what used books cost. And let me tell you, your parents probably spent less than twenty-five galleons, thirty tops, for a complete set of good used textbooks. What did you say your broom probably cost?” Lavender asked.
Ron didn’t answer--his face, however, did.
“Do you see now, Ron?” Lavender chanted Please understand over and over while Ron was thinking.
Eventually he sighed and said, “Yeah, okay, I can understand that I wasn’t really being fair to Ginny.”
“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere,” Lavender said, her tone much less frosty than before. “Now, let’s talk about what would happen if the Delacours took Ginny back to France with them.”
“Well, they’re her real parents after all, so it’d probably be best all around,” Ron concluded with a small smile. Truthfully he would miss Ginny, but then things would be right again. Ron was interrupted in his thinking by a loud slam of Lavender’s hand on the desk right in front of him.
“Ron! You utterly mindless cretin!” Lavender shouted. She was almost hopping mad, and had Ron not been completely terrified by the amount of anger coming off of her, he would have appreciated the view much more.
“THEY! ARE! NOT! HER! REAL! PARENTS!” she screamed in his face. “Can’t you get that through your incredible thick head?!” she yelled again. She looked about ready to slap Ron, or hex him. Or something.
“What?” Ron asked. He wasn’t sure he believed his ears. “Didn’t you hear them? They did the test thingy and everything.”
Lavender’s next scream was both loud enough to hurt Ron’s ears, and angry enough to not be understandable by anyone close. Or even moderately far away, for that matter.
Lavender put both hands down on the desk in front of Ron and leaned in very closely. Ron, proving that he really could learn, backed up a bit, rather than go in for a kiss.
“Ronald Bilius Weasley. You are to stay in this classroom until you figure out why I told you that the Delacours weren’t Ginny’s real parents! I don’t want to see you, or hear from you, or hear about you, or smell you until you’re ready to come and explain. Is that understood?” she asked, with a glare that would have peeled the wainscoting off the walls of one of the typical Pureblood supremacist’s dark manors. “And if you can’t figure it out yourself, then consider yourself dumped. I’m not sure I want to go out with someone who can’t take the time to think of his sister as anything but a bother! Understand?” She said all this in the coldest voice Ron had yet heard.
“But-” he tried to interrupt.
“UNDERSTAND?” she asked again.
Ron nodded convulsively, and Lavender stood up. “Here’s your wand back,” she said as she tossed it into a nearby corner--she wasn’t quite sure she wanted Ron having a wand while she was still in the room--the temptation to challenge him to a duel might have overpowered her rational mind.
“But-” he tried once more.
“No!” she shouted.
The slamming of the door punctuated Ron’s problem. He looked sadly at the door, then slowly got up to retrieve his wand.
He stood there morosely for a moment, and then muttered. “But she said she was going to explain it to me, didn’t she?”
It looked like he might be there for awhile. He wondered about his chances of being able to hit the loo before starting his serious contemplation. It was going to be a long evening.
oooooooooo
Madam Pomfrey finally evicted the Weasely-Delacour family from the Hospital Wing, declaring that since there was really nothing wrong with anyone, they could go chatter somewhere else and stop messing up her cots.
Once outside the infirmary, there was kind of a general scrum until Molly took matters into her own hands. “All right, boys. Does anyone have any questions that need to be answered right now?”
Fred opened his mouth, but Molly glared him into submission. “No? Good. Then your father and I are going to go for a walk around the lake. We have some things to discuss about the family. Boys, I don’t want you pestering Ginny, okay?” After receiving confirming nods, she turned to the Delacours. “Giselle, Pierre, it was wonderful meeting you, and I know we still have a lot to talk about. Perhaps we can have dinner together tonight?”
Harry’s parents agreed graciously, and with that Molly and Arthur headed off towards the front doors of the castle.
Fred and George gave one last hug to Ginny, ruffled Harry’s hair, tried to ruffle Gabrielle’s, and very carefully avoided going too near Fleur, then disappeared down the hall muttering something about “two sickles a bottle.”
Ginny looked around and found that she was now the central focus of the remaining group of very beautiful people, and promptly blushed and dropped her head. Her blush set Gabrielle off into a fit of giggles, which in turn started Harry chuckling too.
Giselle and Pierre smiled at each other, then hugged each of their children. “We’ll say au revoir also, my dears. I’m somewhat tired and would like to lie down for a bit so I can feel fresh for this evening.”
Harry, Ginny, and Gabrielle all nodded and wished her the best, while Fleur just grinned mischievously at her parents. When Giselle saw her grin, she flushed slightly, but held her head high and walked away with her husband.
The other four looked at each other, then started wandering away, following the Weasley parents and chatting about whatever came to mind. Gabrielle even managed to calm down enough to talk in English, and they spent the better part of the afternoon comparing their homes and families and lives, and being astoundingly grateful they’d been able to become a family so quickly.
oooooooooo
Neville had the misfortune of seeing Lavender next, thus becoming the first person she could talk to after her long and frustrating amount of time with Ron. The look she sent him terrified him--he barely had the opportunity to blink before she came stalking over to him, face a furious mask of anger and. . . was that sadness? He barely had time to say, “H--” when she burst into tears and threw her arms around him.
Neville wasn’t that bad at consoling girls. He had, after all, been friends with Hermione and Ginny, and Luna of course, for the past years. He knew what was expected in this situation, and was willing to do it, but there was no sofa around. So he improvised.
Sliding slowly to the floor of the corridor, bringing Lavender with him, he leaned back against one of the walls and pulled Lavender close. He stroked her hair, and rubbed hopefully-soothing circles on her back. He had also learned what to say in matters like this. Or rather, how to say in matters like this. Because it didn’t really matter what he said. Of course, when it was Hermione (for example, on those memorable occasions back in the dark times before they were together) he tried to say things that made some sort of sense.
But Lavender was beyond caring what he said, so he just went into standard girl-comforting prose mode and thought about other things while she cried herself out on his shoulder.
oooooooooo
Hermione was going walkabout with Tex and Josette (as Tex called it--Hermione suspected some Australian influence) when they turned a corner and saw a most unexpected sight. The three of them stopped short, and stared. Josette and Tex turned to each other in horror at what they saw. Hermione’s boyfriend was almost cuddled up on the floor with some other girl, and they didn’t know what to do.
Josette took a deep breath and put her hand on Hermione’s arm. “It’s probably not what it looks like, Hermione,” she said quietly, hoping to stave off the explosion.
Hermione didn’t react. She just stayed there, frozen in mid-word.
Josette looked at Tex, which was no help. He didn’t have a whole lot of experience in the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing either. He shrugged and motioned that she should keep going.
“Neville certainly wouldn’t cheat on you, he’s much too nice a person,” Josette tried.
That got some reaction. Hermione closed her mouth.
Neville noticed them at that point. He almost gave in to his first impulse, which was to jump to his feet and rush to Hermione’s side. But he really had learned how to take care of girls (contrary to most young men his age), and knew that Lavender would come off rather the worse for wear in that scenario.
Instead, he just raised a hand and beckoned frantically to his girlfriend to come over as fast as possible.
Neville’s hand waving broke Hermione out of her freeze. His face didn’t look guilty, and she really couldn’t imagine his doing this to her. She decided to trust him and hurried over to his side. In a hurried whisper he told her exactly what he knew of the situation (“Lavender’s upset”), and begged her for help (“Can you find a handkerchief or something? Only her snot’s starting to seep through my shirt”), and begged her for more help (“Can’t you do something?”).
Eventually Lavender calmed down enough to notice whom she was holding onto (“Oh, um, hi, Neville!”), and who was surrounding her (“Merlin, Hermione! I’m sorry--I wasn’t trying to do anything with Neville--he was just the first person I saw!”). She let go of Neville and made some futile attempts at fixing her hair. Tex conjured up a red-checked handkerchief and gave it to her, and they all turned politely towards each other while Lavender had a truly impressive session of nose-blowing and sniffling.
When she had finally found her equilibrium again, she told Hermione and Neville what had been going on between her and Ron. Tex and Josette listened too, because even though it felt rather impolite to eavesdrop on something that was obviously very emotional and personal, it felt even worse to walk off.
“And so here I am, not even sure I’m going to have a boyfriend any more. And what makes it even worse is that I’m not sure what would be the best ending. I mean, I knew when I started flirting with him that he’d test my patience, and that he had a long way to go before he’d be good husband material.” At Hermione’s surprised squeal, Lavender smiled. “No, Hermione, I’m not planning on marrying any time soon, but I will eventually, and I think Ron would do well.” Her smile left. “Well, after that whole growing-up thing I was working on. But he’s so thick I might do better to just content myself with the little that I’ve been able to change him--”
“His eating,” Neville offered.
Lavender smiled again. “Yes, I’m pretty proud of that. But if he can’t even deal maturely with the idea of a family--I mean, I know he’s only fourteen, but shouldn’t guys have some sort of clue about what it takes to make a family?”
Tex shrugged and shook his head, which didn’t endear him to Josette any, but he leaned down and whispered, “I’m hoping that you’ll help me learn,” which brought her brilliant smile out again.
Neville shook his head too. “Lavender, I honestly can’t think of any guy anywhere close to my age who knows that kind of thing. Well,” he paused, “maybe Harry. But I know that I’d be a little confused too, if I’d had all that dumped on me, then had to try to understand it quickly. Don’t get me wrong,” he hastened to say. “I’m not trying to persuade you to go back to Ron--I think that whatever happens between you two is really your business and nobody else’s, but you might want to think about the fact that he’s never really had any kind of crisis like this happen.” Neville paused, then went on, “I’m still not sure he had any clue what happened to Ginny our second year. But it’s all been quite a shock to him.”
Hermione took over. “Neville’s right, Lavender. We wouldn’t presume to tell you what to do. But remember also that he’s a Weasley, and while they are rather hot-headed, and stubborn, and Quidditch-obsessed, they do have good hearts, and can be your best friend once they get past the other stuff.”
Lavender looked at them with a sharp gleam in her eye. “I see what you’re doing here; you just don’t want to have to deal with Ron yourselves--you want me to go back and be his handler again!”
Hermione gasped in horror. “Oh, NO! Lavender that’s not what we’re trying to do at all! We just. . .” she trailed off as she saw Lavender trying to contain her smile. “Ooh, that’s not nice! See if I ever let you blow snot all over my boyfriend again!”
All the girls burst into laughter, but when the laughter calmed down, Hermione got that look in her eye. “Lavender, what was it exactly that Ron was having a hard time with?”
“Well, it’s just that he kept saying that the Delacours were Ginny’s real parents, and he just couldn’t understand why they weren’t!”
Hermione nodded thoughtfully, but Neville looked confused. “Lavender,” he finally asked. “Maybe I’m being particularly dense today, but can you maybe tell me why they aren’t?”
Lavender took a deep breath--this was sounding too much like Ron for her peace of mind--then let it out slowly. “You really can’t see it?” she finally asked.
Neville shook his head, a shameful look coming over his face when Hermione huffed in impatience. But Tex also shook his head. “No, Lavender, I don’t really see it.”
Hermione looked askance at Neville, but was forced to believe him. Josette seemed to be understanding too. “You mean, you really think that Ginny’s real parents are the Delacours?”
The boys exchanged nervous glances, then nodded their heads.
Lavender looked aghast at Hermione. “Do you think--?”
“Yeah, I do. You need to go back and apologize to Ron. Soon!”
“Oh, this is just--I mean, I know he’s not the brightest, but I didn’t realize. . .! Yeah, okay. Well, I’d better do it soon--wouldn’t want him to miss dinner.”
And with that, Lavender got up and headed back to rescue Ron from his girlfriend-imposed detention, while the others headed off toward the Great Hall, each girl explaining to her Significant Other just why it was that the Weasleys were still Ginny’s Real Parents.
Chapter 18, Serious Conversations, part 1
It must be noted, however, that Lavender did not vomit at the sight--Ron wondered if she had used this curse enough not to be affected by the sight of the victim, but the truth was that Lavender was a lot tougher than she looked, as she was proving to him at that very moment.
“Ron,” Lavender finally said. “I really like you. I’ve enjoyed spending time with you, and I think we work pretty well together. You like me too, don’t you?”
Ron nodded quickly, deciding that every time he spoke he just got into more trouble, so he’d just keep his mouth closed, although he wished he could do some sort of mouth- tasting- better charm, because that slug slime was worse even than vomit- flavored Bertie Botts Beans.
“I’m glad to know that, Ron. I wouldn’t want to be taking your attention away from all the other girls in the school just because I’m your girlfriend.”
Ron just about smiled, but as he replayed Lavender’s words in his head, he realized that this was that sarcasm thing again. It kept biting him when he least expected it, and he had grown to hate it. He opened his mouth to protest, but just in time remembered his previous decision.
Lavender watched as Ron’s face showed very clearly his thought process, and upon his closing his mouth, she nodded. Better, she thought to herself.
“But,” she continued, “You have a big problem. Do you know what it is?”
Ron thought about nodding, but since he hadn’t been doing well in guessing what would upset Lavender, he just lay there.
That proved to be the wrong answer too.
“Ronald, I asked you a question. Are you going to be man enough to answer it?” Her wand was spitting sparks at this point.
He nodded.
“Oh, you do? Then tell me, what is this big problem you have that I very much doubt you understand?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He tried one more time to think of what he could say to lessen Lavender’s anger, but couldn’t even think of what he might say, since he still didn’t have any idea what he’d done wrong.
Lavender smiled victoriously. “Ron, you really have no idea what’s going on, do you?”
Ron just frowned and shook his head.
“All right, Ron. They always say that the first step is admitting the problem. So, I’m going to release you and we’re going to sit here while I tell you what your main problem is, and then you’re going to figure out why you got dragged out of the Hospital Wing. Understand?”
Ron nodded wearily. He was just hoping to be able to move a little, and perhaps clean up the slug slime that now left tracks all over any part of his body that wasn’t covered with ropes.
Lavender glared a little bit longer, then nodded sharply. “Finite Incantatem!” She watched as Ron stiffly sat up, then got to his feet. When he started walking toward her, she raised her wand. “Sit down over there, Ron--we still have some serious talking to do.”
Ron sighed and took the indicated seat. “Lavender?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, Ron?” Lavender responded. She was a little worried at how downcast he looked, but she couldn’t afford to give in yet.
“Could you maybe clean me up a bit? I’m still covered with slug stuff.”
Lavender cracked a little grin, but acceded to his request. After all, if things turned out well, then she wanted to get some snogging time in, and having slug slime interfering just wasn’t a great idea. Of course, she’d also want to supply him with the clean-mouth charm too.
“Ron, we can do this the quick way, which is more painful, but over faster, like ripping off a scab. Or I can walk you through the things you need to know slowly, helping you come to the right conclusions. It takes longer that way, but isn’t as painful. The major downside is that you have to do some serious thinking. On the other hand, the major plus is that if you come to the knowledge naturally, you’ll believe it much better than if I were to just tell you. In this, I think you need to make the decision. I won’t force you either way.”
Ron gave this some thought. He could see some of Lavender’s points, but wasn’t so sure about others. Finally he said, “Well, I guess I’m not doing a very good job so far. Maybe you could just give it to me straight, yeah? I mean, Gryffindors charge in, don’t they? It’s just. . .” he trailed off.
“It’s just what, Ron?” Lavender asked, gently. She could afford to be gentle with him now, to kind of soften the blows that would be coming sooner than she’d hoped.
“Well, I just want you to stick with me, okay? If you give it to me straight, then it’s likely that I’ll get angry. I’m a Weasley--it’s in my blood. And chances are I’ll be angry at you. But I don’t want you to leave me because of something I might say while I’m yelling. You know I don’t mean half of what I say, right? And I’m just hoping that you’ll ignore the bad half of what I say, so that you can help me afterward. Would that be okay?”
Lavender smiled. “Ron, I think that’s very smart thinking. And really, that kind of touches on what I need to say to you anyway, so it kind of fits. All right, I promise that I won’t take anything you say this afternoon in this room as a personal attack, even if you yell at me. And I know you wouldn’t hurt me, so I think we will actually end up stronger for this discussion. But I also want you to promise me something.”
Ron nodded his head. “Anything, Lavender, you know that.”
Lavender giggled. “You might need to be more careful with your promises, Ron. I might have to take you up on that someday.”
Ron looked confusedly at her, then blushed when he caught her meaning. “What.. . That’s not what. . .I mean, yeah, someday. . .”
“Stop, Ron. I know we’re not ready for anything more than snogging, and I’m fine with that. But maybe, someday, we’ll be at a place where that can happen. But back to your promise. Ron, I’m going to say some things that might make you feel bad, might hurt you. But I am not doing them to be cruel. I think it’s just time for you to hear them, and I want you to be able to grow into the best person you can be. So please promise that you won’t take this as a personal attack. I do like you, Ron, quite a lot, and I don’t like seeing you get hurt. So, please, don’t let your anger at what I say last past this afternoon. Can you promise me that?”
Ron nodded: it was only fair after all. Now that the pre-discussion discussion was over, Ron was happy to get down to what he hoped would be the last hurdle before his normal happy relationship came back. “Well, you better give it to me straight--although I might not get it all right the first time, okay?”
Lavender agreed, and steeled herself for one of the hardest discussions she hoped to ever have.
oooooooooo
Fleur, Ginny, and Gabrielle, who had latched onto Ginny’s hand with all the strength her body had, eventually came over to where Harry and Mrs. Weasley were talking. Ginny had been a little worried when her mother--her Molly-mother--had latched onto Harry like that, but she’d been able to sneak a few glances at the pair and it looked like things had been going rather better than expected.
Molly climbed to her feet and pulled Ginny into her famous hug. Gabrielle was sort of involved too. Fleur just managed to escape, and came over to sit next to her brother to see how he was doing, and get, from him, a little more insight into the family that had raised her younger sister.
oooooooooo
What followed was perhaps one of the most painful times in Ron’s life. Lavender spent almost half an hour showing Ron exactly what he was doing to his friends, enemies and casual acquaintances by speaking without thinking, by reacting without understanding, and by jumping to conclusions with insufficient data.
She brought up the whole mess with Ginny in their second year and why he had made things worse instead of better when she had come to him with her fears.
Lavender also showed a surprisingly insightful mind when discussing why Hermione would only ever be distant friends with him--they really had nothing in common except for the fact that Hermione was Ginny’s best friend.
The discussion went on and covered Ron’s eating style, his dressing style, and his assumption that anyone not a full-blood wizard or witch was beneath his notice. This part was particularly painful, as Lavender told him exactly how stupid his point of view was, citing the class rankings of their entire year (being the information specialist meant lots of ties to the Ravenclaws, who knew literally EVERYBODY’S standing) and showing that the purebloods averaged at least a full letter grade lower than the muggle-born, with the half-bloods sitting between them. It was also noted that brilliant purebloods, like Ginny and Padma helped boost the drag that the more stupid students (Nott, Goyle and Crabbe, for example) put on their status’ rankings.
And finally, Lavender dissected his lazy assumption that everything should be handed to him on a silver platter. Amazing to Ron, she mentioned each of his older brothers in turn, pointing out that they had the same disadvantages as Ron had, lack of money and lack of status, and still had all managed to shine in their own chosen fields. Ron perhaps hated this part the most. He had seen his brothers excel in their fields, and while Fred and George hadn’t yet been able to start their dream joke shop, they still were absolutely fabulous at being Beaters in Quidditch. He had subconsciously decided early on that it wouldn’t make any difference what he did, because his brothers would always be better than he, so why study so hard?
Lavender drilled into this area mercilessly, knowing that if she didn’t, she was really doing a disservice to Ron--he needed to learn these lessons, and if the only way he could learn them was by having them thrown straight into his face, then she’d do it. After that, if he failed, she’d at least know she had done her best, and could then make her own decisions as to what needed to happen in the future.
oooooooooo
Predictably, the Weasley twins were the last ones to stop chattering. The rest of the group had all reached natural pauses in their conversations--the kind that are always a precursor to someone saying, “You know, every seven minutes there’s a lull. . .”
“. . . so all we really need to do is get one of Fleur’s hairs, right?”
George’s head popped up at the sound of Fleur’s outraged huff, and found all the eyes in the room staring at him and his brother. He none-too-subtly elbowed Fred, and uncharacteristically blushed at the attention.
Fred looked around, and cleared his throat. “We were just talking about whether we might be able to make a shampoo that would make someone’s hair look like Fleur’s.” He turned to Fleur. “I mean, surely you know that you have the most beautiful hair in the world, right?” He ignored Ginny’s snort of amusement. “If we could kind of copy that look, we’d be, well, it would be like a license to mint galleons.”
Molly drew in a deep breath, preparatory to some major league scolding, but didn’t get the chance--Fleur got there first.
“Hmmm. Monsieurs Weasley, you have an interesting proposition. Over the years there ‘ave been many who ‘ave tried to capture some of the mystique of the Veela. In truth, it is what caused the invention of the Amortentia potion--you ‘ave ‘eard of it, no?”
Fred and George both nodded enthusiastically, but Ginny noticed that they had a rather blank look in their eyes, and she wondered how much they were actually understanding. Deciding to not interfere--after all, she thought to herself maliciously, I wouldn’t want to come in-between familial bonding, right?
Harry noticed the blank stares too, and knew exactly what was wrong. But when he went to say something, Ginny caught his arm and pulled him back toward her, shaking her head all the while.
“But Gin,” Harry whispered, “they’re--”
“I don’t rightly care what it is they’re doing. Or having done to them,” Ginny whispered back. “I think it’s about time they got pranked by someone. And if it’s my. . . my. . . big sister--” she finally dragged the words out, “then that’s all the better!”
Harry shook his head, delighted to get to know a little more about the girl he had fallen in love with, and determined to be on his guard around her--there was no telling when she might decide that he needed to be pranked.
oooooooooo
The final discussion focused completely on Ginny. And while the whole lazy-because-why-bother part had hurt a lot, this one was the one where Ron learned the most.
“Ron, do you remember when your family found Ginny? How old were you?”
Ron scratched his head. “I’m not sure. I think I was one or two. And no, I don’t remember what happened, although Mum and Dad told me later. The first thing I remember about Ginny was that I shared a birthday with her. I was okay with that to start, since Fred and George shared one. But then I found out that Ginny wasn’t my twin!”
“Did you know she had been adopted?”
“No! I found that out at the same time--Mum and Dad explained it to me when I was about five or six. I think they were trying to get me to be nicer to her. But really, the only thing I cared about was that she had stolen my birthday.”
Lavender pondered that for a bit. “So you must have been jealous, right?”
Ron snorted. “Yeah, of course. And I was angry that I had to share my birthday with someone who wasn’t really even my twin. And to make it even worse, it was with a girl!”
“How do you feel about that now?” Lavender asked quietly.
Ron squirmed a bit at that question. “Oh, well, you know. . . I’m not as jealous, I guess. I mean, I can see that Mum and Dad are trying really hard to treat both of us the same. But, well, it’s just. . .” Ron huffed, then put both hands down in front of him, flat on the desk. Probably to keep from making fists. “Look, you know we’re not very rich. We always have to get used books for Hogwarts--I mean, my Potions book has gone through all of my brothers. And clothes, too. But for Ginny, there really isn’t anyone to hand down clothes. I have to wear Bill’s old trousers, and Charlie’s shirts. But Ginny gets her clothes from a store. Yeah, obviously they’re second-hand, but they’re still better than mine.
“And like my Potions book. Well, Ginny’s in Ravenclaw, right? So of course she gets a new book for Potions. And for every other class we both have.” Ron’s frustration was plainly visible on his face.
“She really got new textbooks?” Lavender asked, to clarify.
“Well, no. I mean, they were used too. But they’re still in better shape than mine, aren’t they?”
“Did you ask your parents about that? That doesn’t quite seem fair,” Lavender said, wondering if there were some other, more deep-seated issue here.
Ron scuffed the toe of one of his trainers. “Well, um, I guess.”
“You guess?” Lavender asked sharply. “Yes or no, Ron, it’s not that hard of a question, is it?”
Ron sheepishly looked up. “Yeah, I asked them about it,” he admitted reluctantly.
Lavender waited for more, but when Ron didn’t continue she slapped a hand on the desk in front of her. “Ron!” Ron looked up, and Lavender glared. “What did they say?” she said, mentally adding another entry to her List of Things She Guessed Correctly About Ron.
“Well, you see. . . Ginny’s always reading!” Ron burst out. “Ever since Mum taught her to read, she’s always got some kind of book near her. Even when we went swimming she’d bring something to read. Honestly! I think she might even prefer reading to Quidditch!” The look on his face showed his utter contempt for such a possibility.
“So your parents told you that she got newer books because she was always reading?” Lavender asked, trying valiantly to suppress the snarkiness in her voice.
“Well, yeah. I mean, that’s not fair. . . Oh. I guess it is, isn’t it? But I could learn to like reading, right?” Even Ron didn’t believe that statement.
“Can you see how ridiculous that is, Ron? That they were willing to spend a little extra to help Ginny in something that she loves?” Lavender asked.
“Yeah, okay. I can understand that. But how come they never buy me anything like that?” Rom fumed.
“What do you mean they never buy you anything like that? I know that you’ve got a pretty decent broom, don’t you?” Lavender asked, wondering if she had been mis-remembering.
“Well, yeah, it’s okay I guess. But it’s not even a Nimbus 2000!” Ron expostulated, waving his hands in desperation.
“Ron!” shouted Lavender, getting his attention. “Did your parents buy all brand-new books for Ginny?”
“Well, no,” Ron admitted.
“How much do you think your broom cost?” Lavender asked, hoping that Ron could see where she was trying to lead him.
“Probably about 64 galleons. That’s the price they’re usually listed for in the back of Quidditch Monthly.” Ron was proud to be able to bring out that little piece of knowledge--it was so rare that anyone really cared about his fascination with Quidditch.
“How much do used textbooks cost?” Lavender asked innocently, having given up any lingering hope of his jumping to the right conclusions without being led by the hand. Or the ear.
“I don’t know, I never really looked at them. Since I’ve always had them handed down from Bill I haven’t really had to notice, have I?” Ron looked a little puzzled at Lavender’s line of inquiry. Which shouldn’t have surprised her.
“Ron, you know that I don’t have the newest books, right?” Although she probably shouldn’t expect too much from him regarding anything besides Quidditch. This had been a rather eye-opening experience in seeing just how much growing-up Ron had to do in order to be the person she thought he could be.
Ron looked rather befuddled. “Really? But aren’t your parents rich? I mean, you have new clothes and things. I guess I just assumed that. . .” his voice trailed off in embarrassment.
Lavender laughed. “Ron, yes, I have new clothes. But my parents aren’t that rich--I just choose to save some money on textbooks so I can spend a little more on clothes.” She was almost embarrassed herself about that admission, but then realized that Ron probably wouldn’t even think about it past this conversation.
“Either way, I do know more or less what used books cost. And let me tell you, your parents probably spent less than twenty-five galleons, thirty tops, for a complete set of good used textbooks. What did you say your broom probably cost?” Lavender asked.
Ron didn’t answer--his face, however, did.
“Do you see now, Ron?” Lavender chanted Please understand over and over while Ron was thinking.
Eventually he sighed and said, “Yeah, okay, I can understand that I wasn’t really being fair to Ginny.”
“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere,” Lavender said, her tone much less frosty than before. “Now, let’s talk about what would happen if the Delacours took Ginny back to France with them.”
“Well, they’re her real parents after all, so it’d probably be best all around,” Ron concluded with a small smile. Truthfully he would miss Ginny, but then things would be right again. Ron was interrupted in his thinking by a loud slam of Lavender’s hand on the desk right in front of him.
“Ron! You utterly mindless cretin!” Lavender shouted. She was almost hopping mad, and had Ron not been completely terrified by the amount of anger coming off of her, he would have appreciated the view much more.
“THEY! ARE! NOT! HER! REAL! PARENTS!” she screamed in his face. “Can’t you get that through your incredible thick head?!” she yelled again. She looked about ready to slap Ron, or hex him. Or something.
“What?” Ron asked. He wasn’t sure he believed his ears. “Didn’t you hear them? They did the test thingy and everything.”
Lavender’s next scream was both loud enough to hurt Ron’s ears, and angry enough to not be understandable by anyone close. Or even moderately far away, for that matter.
Lavender put both hands down on the desk in front of Ron and leaned in very closely. Ron, proving that he really could learn, backed up a bit, rather than go in for a kiss.
“Ronald Bilius Weasley. You are to stay in this classroom until you figure out why I told you that the Delacours weren’t Ginny’s real parents! I don’t want to see you, or hear from you, or hear about you, or smell you until you’re ready to come and explain. Is that understood?” she asked, with a glare that would have peeled the wainscoting off the walls of one of the typical Pureblood supremacist’s dark manors. “And if you can’t figure it out yourself, then consider yourself dumped. I’m not sure I want to go out with someone who can’t take the time to think of his sister as anything but a bother! Understand?” She said all this in the coldest voice Ron had yet heard.
“But-” he tried to interrupt.
“UNDERSTAND?” she asked again.
Ron nodded convulsively, and Lavender stood up. “Here’s your wand back,” she said as she tossed it into a nearby corner--she wasn’t quite sure she wanted Ron having a wand while she was still in the room--the temptation to challenge him to a duel might have overpowered her rational mind.
“But-” he tried once more.
“No!” she shouted.
The slamming of the door punctuated Ron’s problem. He looked sadly at the door, then slowly got up to retrieve his wand.
He stood there morosely for a moment, and then muttered. “But she said she was going to explain it to me, didn’t she?”
It looked like he might be there for awhile. He wondered about his chances of being able to hit the loo before starting his serious contemplation. It was going to be a long evening.
oooooooooo
Madam Pomfrey finally evicted the Weasely-Delacour family from the Hospital Wing, declaring that since there was really nothing wrong with anyone, they could go chatter somewhere else and stop messing up her cots.
Once outside the infirmary, there was kind of a general scrum until Molly took matters into her own hands. “All right, boys. Does anyone have any questions that need to be answered right now?”
Fred opened his mouth, but Molly glared him into submission. “No? Good. Then your father and I are going to go for a walk around the lake. We have some things to discuss about the family. Boys, I don’t want you pestering Ginny, okay?” After receiving confirming nods, she turned to the Delacours. “Giselle, Pierre, it was wonderful meeting you, and I know we still have a lot to talk about. Perhaps we can have dinner together tonight?”
Harry’s parents agreed graciously, and with that Molly and Arthur headed off towards the front doors of the castle.
Fred and George gave one last hug to Ginny, ruffled Harry’s hair, tried to ruffle Gabrielle’s, and very carefully avoided going too near Fleur, then disappeared down the hall muttering something about “two sickles a bottle.”
Ginny looked around and found that she was now the central focus of the remaining group of very beautiful people, and promptly blushed and dropped her head. Her blush set Gabrielle off into a fit of giggles, which in turn started Harry chuckling too.
Giselle and Pierre smiled at each other, then hugged each of their children. “We’ll say au revoir also, my dears. I’m somewhat tired and would like to lie down for a bit so I can feel fresh for this evening.”
Harry, Ginny, and Gabrielle all nodded and wished her the best, while Fleur just grinned mischievously at her parents. When Giselle saw her grin, she flushed slightly, but held her head high and walked away with her husband.
The other four looked at each other, then started wandering away, following the Weasley parents and chatting about whatever came to mind. Gabrielle even managed to calm down enough to talk in English, and they spent the better part of the afternoon comparing their homes and families and lives, and being astoundingly grateful they’d been able to become a family so quickly.
oooooooooo
Neville had the misfortune of seeing Lavender next, thus becoming the first person she could talk to after her long and frustrating amount of time with Ron. The look she sent him terrified him--he barely had the opportunity to blink before she came stalking over to him, face a furious mask of anger and. . . was that sadness? He barely had time to say, “H--” when she burst into tears and threw her arms around him.
Neville wasn’t that bad at consoling girls. He had, after all, been friends with Hermione and Ginny, and Luna of course, for the past years. He knew what was expected in this situation, and was willing to do it, but there was no sofa around. So he improvised.
Sliding slowly to the floor of the corridor, bringing Lavender with him, he leaned back against one of the walls and pulled Lavender close. He stroked her hair, and rubbed hopefully-soothing circles on her back. He had also learned what to say in matters like this. Or rather, how to say in matters like this. Because it didn’t really matter what he said. Of course, when it was Hermione (for example, on those memorable occasions back in the dark times before they were together) he tried to say things that made some sort of sense.
But Lavender was beyond caring what he said, so he just went into standard girl-comforting prose mode and thought about other things while she cried herself out on his shoulder.
oooooooooo
Hermione was going walkabout with Tex and Josette (as Tex called it--Hermione suspected some Australian influence) when they turned a corner and saw a most unexpected sight. The three of them stopped short, and stared. Josette and Tex turned to each other in horror at what they saw. Hermione’s boyfriend was almost cuddled up on the floor with some other girl, and they didn’t know what to do.
Josette took a deep breath and put her hand on Hermione’s arm. “It’s probably not what it looks like, Hermione,” she said quietly, hoping to stave off the explosion.
Hermione didn’t react. She just stayed there, frozen in mid-word.
Josette looked at Tex, which was no help. He didn’t have a whole lot of experience in the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing either. He shrugged and motioned that she should keep going.
“Neville certainly wouldn’t cheat on you, he’s much too nice a person,” Josette tried.
That got some reaction. Hermione closed her mouth.
Neville noticed them at that point. He almost gave in to his first impulse, which was to jump to his feet and rush to Hermione’s side. But he really had learned how to take care of girls (contrary to most young men his age), and knew that Lavender would come off rather the worse for wear in that scenario.
Instead, he just raised a hand and beckoned frantically to his girlfriend to come over as fast as possible.
Neville’s hand waving broke Hermione out of her freeze. His face didn’t look guilty, and she really couldn’t imagine his doing this to her. She decided to trust him and hurried over to his side. In a hurried whisper he told her exactly what he knew of the situation (“Lavender’s upset”), and begged her for help (“Can you find a handkerchief or something? Only her snot’s starting to seep through my shirt”), and begged her for more help (“Can’t you do something?”).
Eventually Lavender calmed down enough to notice whom she was holding onto (“Oh, um, hi, Neville!”), and who was surrounding her (“Merlin, Hermione! I’m sorry--I wasn’t trying to do anything with Neville--he was just the first person I saw!”). She let go of Neville and made some futile attempts at fixing her hair. Tex conjured up a red-checked handkerchief and gave it to her, and they all turned politely towards each other while Lavender had a truly impressive session of nose-blowing and sniffling.
When she had finally found her equilibrium again, she told Hermione and Neville what had been going on between her and Ron. Tex and Josette listened too, because even though it felt rather impolite to eavesdrop on something that was obviously very emotional and personal, it felt even worse to walk off.
“And so here I am, not even sure I’m going to have a boyfriend any more. And what makes it even worse is that I’m not sure what would be the best ending. I mean, I knew when I started flirting with him that he’d test my patience, and that he had a long way to go before he’d be good husband material.” At Hermione’s surprised squeal, Lavender smiled. “No, Hermione, I’m not planning on marrying any time soon, but I will eventually, and I think Ron would do well.” Her smile left. “Well, after that whole growing-up thing I was working on. But he’s so thick I might do better to just content myself with the little that I’ve been able to change him--”
“His eating,” Neville offered.
Lavender smiled again. “Yes, I’m pretty proud of that. But if he can’t even deal maturely with the idea of a family--I mean, I know he’s only fourteen, but shouldn’t guys have some sort of clue about what it takes to make a family?”
Tex shrugged and shook his head, which didn’t endear him to Josette any, but he leaned down and whispered, “I’m hoping that you’ll help me learn,” which brought her brilliant smile out again.
Neville shook his head too. “Lavender, I honestly can’t think of any guy anywhere close to my age who knows that kind of thing. Well,” he paused, “maybe Harry. But I know that I’d be a little confused too, if I’d had all that dumped on me, then had to try to understand it quickly. Don’t get me wrong,” he hastened to say. “I’m not trying to persuade you to go back to Ron--I think that whatever happens between you two is really your business and nobody else’s, but you might want to think about the fact that he’s never really had any kind of crisis like this happen.” Neville paused, then went on, “I’m still not sure he had any clue what happened to Ginny our second year. But it’s all been quite a shock to him.”
Hermione took over. “Neville’s right, Lavender. We wouldn’t presume to tell you what to do. But remember also that he’s a Weasley, and while they are rather hot-headed, and stubborn, and Quidditch-obsessed, they do have good hearts, and can be your best friend once they get past the other stuff.”
Lavender looked at them with a sharp gleam in her eye. “I see what you’re doing here; you just don’t want to have to deal with Ron yourselves--you want me to go back and be his handler again!”
Hermione gasped in horror. “Oh, NO! Lavender that’s not what we’re trying to do at all! We just. . .” she trailed off as she saw Lavender trying to contain her smile. “Ooh, that’s not nice! See if I ever let you blow snot all over my boyfriend again!”
All the girls burst into laughter, but when the laughter calmed down, Hermione got that look in her eye. “Lavender, what was it exactly that Ron was having a hard time with?”
“Well, it’s just that he kept saying that the Delacours were Ginny’s real parents, and he just couldn’t understand why they weren’t!”
Hermione nodded thoughtfully, but Neville looked confused. “Lavender,” he finally asked. “Maybe I’m being particularly dense today, but can you maybe tell me why they aren’t?”
Lavender took a deep breath--this was sounding too much like Ron for her peace of mind--then let it out slowly. “You really can’t see it?” she finally asked.
Neville shook his head, a shameful look coming over his face when Hermione huffed in impatience. But Tex also shook his head. “No, Lavender, I don’t really see it.”
Hermione looked askance at Neville, but was forced to believe him. Josette seemed to be understanding too. “You mean, you really think that Ginny’s real parents are the Delacours?”
The boys exchanged nervous glances, then nodded their heads.
Lavender looked aghast at Hermione. “Do you think--?”
“Yeah, I do. You need to go back and apologize to Ron. Soon!”
“Oh, this is just--I mean, I know he’s not the brightest, but I didn’t realize. . .! Yeah, okay. Well, I’d better do it soon--wouldn’t want him to miss dinner.”
And with that, Lavender got up and headed back to rescue Ron from his girlfriend-imposed detention, while the others headed off toward the Great Hall, each girl explaining to her Significant Other just why it was that the Weasleys were still Ginny’s Real Parents.
Chapter 18, Serious Conversations, part 1