Fic: Tuesday Night Dinner (Hermione/Cormac)
Title: Tuesday Night Dinner
Characters/Pairings: Hermione/Cormac
Rating: Any Age
Summary: Hermione has her weekly Tuesday night dinner with Harry and Ron
Word Count: 2275
Beta: None so please excuse an errors.
Series: Take a Chance #4. Follows The Last Hour
“So, you and McLaggen?”
Hermione looks up from the menu to see Harry looking at her with an amused expression on his face. “What of it?”
“Oh, nothing.” Harry pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, but she can see his lips twitching. “Guess he’s a better kisser now, huh?”
“You’ve wanted to say that since Friday, haven’t you?” Hermione rolls her eyes when he laughs.
“Ginny said I couldn’t Floo on Saturday morning to find out because she’d hex me for being a dumbarse,” he admits. “Even I’m smart enough to know that you’d hex me if I brought it up at work, so I had to wait. I’ve been very patient, considering.”
“I wasn’t home on Saturday anyway, so you’d have earned a hex for no reason.” She smiles demurely when he blinks at her.
“Weren’t home?” He leans back in his chair and whistles lowly. “You’re blushing. Staying out all day plus blushing means our Hermione’s been a naughty girl.”
“Extremely naughty.” She smirks but is saved from a further inquisition by Ron’s appearance.
“Blimey, I didn’t think I’d ever get here. Remind me to tell my arsehole of a boss not to assign me anymore cases involving lonely old witches,” he says, knocking his elbow into Harry’s side after he’s seated beside him. “You look flummoxed, mate. What’d I miss?”
“Hermione and McLaggen,” Harry says, making a gesture with his hands that is entirely inappropriate for a public place. “And she seems way too smug for it to have gone poorly.”
“McLaggen? Bloody hell, Hermione. Why’d it have to be that smarmy git? Do we have to play nice with him now?” Ron is whinging and making faces. “He’s almost as bad as Malfoy.”
“No one’s as bad as Malfoy,” Harry and Hermione say at the same time, which makes them all laugh.
“He isn’t that smarmy anymore,” Hermione points out. “He’s grown up, same as the rest of us.”
“Don’t hear you denying he’s a git.” Ron smirks.
“Oh, he is.” She smiles. “But there’s a balance now. Besides, he more than makes up for that with his hands, mouth, and the size of his-“
“I think that’s enough detail,” Harry interrupts, wagging a finger at her when she snorts. “Stop that. You know you’re my sister, and I don’t want to know the size of anything regarding a bloke you spent two nights with.”
“Two nights?” Ron groans. “Fuck. That means we do have to be nice because he’s survived the one night stand curse.”
“There is no such curse,” she says, shaking her head before taking a drink of pumpkin juice. “I just enjoy getting off and haven’t been looking for repeats.”
“Sometimes I think Ginny’s right when she mentions that you’ve spent far too much time with boys as your main friends when you start sounding like Seamus. This is our fault, Ron. We should have made time to look at fashion magazines and take quizzes about romance and girly shite,” Harry says, frowning in an exaggerated manner that makes her kick him under the table.
“Oi! There’s nothing wrong with our girl. She has a whole collection of frilly knickers that don’t make me think about blokes at all.” Ron winks at her. “She just knows how to pull and doesn’t tolerate a bunch of nonsense. McLaggen did survive the curse, and yes there is one because I’ve heard strong men crying in their butterbeer about being kicked out before dawn when the poor ol’ things just wanted a cuddle.”
“I never said anything was wrong with her. We raised her well. Takes no shite from anyone and doesn’t need a bloke to feel happy.” Harry smiles smugly. “If we could have just made a Quidditch player out of her, she’d be right bloody perfect.”
“Should I let Ginny know that she’s been replaced?” Hermione asks. “Or is she my step-father? Since Harry certainly has to be the mum in this ridiculous scenario you’re blabbering on about.”
“Be nice or we’ll ground you without any pudding.” Ron nudges her leg under the table. “Seriously, though, McLaggen? Is it done now?”
“Seriously, though, Greengrass?” she asks, watching his cheeks redden and knowing she’s scored a direct hit. She hadn’t known for certain that he’d left with Daphne after the wedding, since she’d probably been upstairs being shagged rotten by that point, but she knows her boys better than they know themselves sometimes.
“We’re seeing each other again,” Ron says. “She’s right smashing.”
“I have a date with Cormac tomorrow evening,” Hermione admits, fussing with her glass and menu as she feels her cheek warm. “We’re having dinner together.”
“Good. It serves both of you right if you start dating and get into a relationship after all the teasing Ginny and I’ve put up with for being a young couple in love.” Harry grins when she and Ron both kick him. “I can’t wait to tell her that we’re going to get to enjoy making fun of both of you.”
“It’s just dinner. I have no idea if it’ll be a relationship or not. No matter how amazing the sex is, and it’s bloody marvelous, I can’t be certain it’ll become more,” she says.
“Me either. We’re just dating and shagging and see what happens.” Ron shrugs. “McLaggen deserves some applause, though, for getting our girl to even take a chance on a relationship. It took me bloody years to get that opportunity, and he managed in a weekend.”
Harry picks up his glass and holds it up. “To McLaggen for being a not so smarmy git who got Hermione to agree to a real date.”
“To McLaggen.” Ron grins and knocks his glass against Harry’s.
“You’re both so fortunate that I promised Seamus that I’d never hex anyone in his pub unless it was self-defense,” she mutters, glaring at them both before taking a sip of her water. “Tell us more about Daphne, Ron. I think I’ve suffered enough attention for the moment.”
Ron doesn’t require much prodding before he’s off on a ramble about Daphne and how smashing she is despite being a Slytherin. They might be grown up now, but Ron still places more importance on someone’s former house than he should. Hermione hopes he’ll grown out of it eventually, but it seems to be common for Pureblood wizards to be house focused despite the fact that the sorting happens when a child is eleven and has no idea what choices they’ll make in life.
A server arrives to take their order, which interrupts Ron’s story about the elderly witch he’d been interviewing before dinner. When the server leaves, he continues. “So, anyway, she’s got about two dozen cats, and the house smells like cat piss, even though I reckon she could just cast a charm to fix that, so maybe she likes it? People are into weird shite, I’ve learned. She’s called in the aurors because Maximillian is missing, right? That’s what the report says that Harry gave me, I owe you for that, by the way, mate. It turns out? Maximillian is one of her bloody cats.”
“Just because it’s a cat doesn’t mean it isn’t important,” Hermione points out. “All creatures deserve respect and-“
“Blimey! Don’t start nattering on about creature rights. I don’t wanna doze in my soup,” Ron says, moving quickly before she’s able to kick him. “Ow! You’re supposed to be on my side, mate!”
“You shouldn’t instigate,” Harry says, winking at Hermione while Ron rubs his arm that’s been pinched.
“The point to my story,” Ron continues after a moment of sulking, “is that I was able to close the case because Maximillian was actually there, just hiding because all the other cats scared him or something. Another successful case closed. I am the best. C’mon. Say it.”
“You’re the best,” Harry says dryly, adding a yawn at the end before laughing.
“Well, I spent my day interviewing witnesses to the Archly-Brown case,” Hermione says, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know why Archly can’t just confess and save us all time and energy. The witness testimony is airtight, and he’s refusing to take veritaserum because he knows he’s guilty.”
“Maybe he thinks he’ll get a better offer before trial,” Harry suggests. “Everyone knows the Ministry hates wasting time with juror selection and dealing with the Wizengamot unless it’s absolutely necessary. He probably figures putting it off means he’ll reduce his sentence. If you want, I can have one of the aurors assigned to the case go speak with him and casually mention that the case is assigned to you, and that you tend to request harsher punishment if your time is wasted.”
“I think it was Majors and Corner who handled that one. Corner’d love going to see the bloke, I’m sure.” Ron nods. “He likes watching them squirm.”
“That might not be a bad idea. I have other a dozen witnesses who saw Archly curse Brown, and we have solid evidence supporting why there was animosity between the two.” Hermione makes a face. “The hours I’m spending on this case could be spent looking into something else.”
“Who got assigned the Walters case?” Harry leans back as their food arrives.
“McLaggen. He’s got a high success rate with the abuse cases, actually.” Hermione grabs a chip off her plate and eats it. “I generally get the cases involving murder, or attempted murder, and children, and he gets the cases involving abuse, especially when women are involved, and the more Pureblood focused crimes because he knows that society backwards and forwards.”
“You’re gushing, Hermione,” Harry points out with a slight smile.
“Like he’s a bloody saint among wizards,” Ron adds.
“Saint McLaggen?” Harry shakes his head. “Like a Muggle superhero maybe?”
“Oi! Like That bat bloke or the one running around in tights and flying.” Ron snickers. “McLaggen probably likes tights.”
“Can’t think of any smarmy pompous gits who are superheroes,” Harry admits. “I haven’t read comics since I was a wee lad sneaking about in the library at school.”
“Dad has some of them in his Random Muggle Item Collection out in the garage. I’ll take a quick peak next time I visit the parents and see if any of them are fit blond arseholes with a cocky attitude.”
“You two aren’t nearly as funny and clever as you seem to think you are,” she says, adding a hmph at the end of her statement for emphasis. Maybe she had been gushing a little, but it was purely profession because Cormac was very good at his job. She could easily see him dominating a courtroom in the Muggle world if they were solicitors there. As it is, they’re the wizarding equivalent, which is heavily research based and problem solving with a focus on settling cases before they have to actually go to trial. She’s watched his trials, though, and has admired the way he can get female victims in abuse cases to feel safe enough to testify.
“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” Harry asks, grinning when she feels a blush spread across her cheeks. “It’s so sweet. I can’t wait to tell Ginny.”
“Shut up, Potter.” She rolls her eyes when he and Ron giggle in a way that reminds her of Parvati and Lavender during their first year of Hogwarts. “You both need to grow up.”
Harry grins. “I’ll have you know, I’m the head of the aurors at the Ministry of Magic, and I have a beautiful wife who is an amazing pro Quidditch player, and we’ll have fantastic children in a few years when we’re ready. I wear nice robes to work and have working lunches with the Minister and meet old school friends for drinks at the pub at least once a month. I also meet my sister and brother for a good meal every Tuesday night because we’re grown-ups who have to schedule things like that.”
“And I’m the deputy head of the aurors at the Ministry, and I do all those things Harry said except the wife and kids thing. Not yet, at least, and I meet friends for drinks every week, but I also meet my favorite brother and sister, don’t tell Ginny or she’ll hex me, for dinner every Tuesday night.” Ron smirks. “Besides, the smartest witch I know just said not long ago that we’re all grown up now in defense of her new paramour’s former arrogant pratishness.”
“I’m an only child, and pratishness isn’t even a word,” she says, glaring at them both before they start giving her the sad eyes and pouts and she finally sticks her tongue out at them. “I hate you both.”
“Love you, too, babe.” Ron laughs before stuffing his mouth full of mash with gravy.
“It really is sweet, Hermione. It’s been ages since I’ve seen you interested in a bloke, and I hope it means you’ll stop working so hard if you’ve got a bit on the side distracting you. Merlin only knows McLaggen is going to be needy and jealous if you don’t give him enough attention.” Harry smiles. “He actually might do you some good. If not, well, I won’t mind hexing him at all cause it’s McLaggen.”
“If you don’t hush and eat your food, I’m going to start telling you about how good he is with his tongue and the way he shagged me up against the window of the penthouse suite,” Hermione warns, smirking when Harry covers his ears and Ron grimaces. They both deliberately take a bite of their food while glaring at her, and she laughs. It’s just too easy sometimes.
End
Characters/Pairings: Hermione/Cormac
Rating: Any Age
Summary: Hermione has her weekly Tuesday night dinner with Harry and Ron
Word Count: 2275
Beta: None so please excuse an errors.
Series: Take a Chance #4. Follows The Last Hour
“So, you and McLaggen?”
Hermione looks up from the menu to see Harry looking at her with an amused expression on his face. “What of it?”
“Oh, nothing.” Harry pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, but she can see his lips twitching. “Guess he’s a better kisser now, huh?”
“You’ve wanted to say that since Friday, haven’t you?” Hermione rolls her eyes when he laughs.
“Ginny said I couldn’t Floo on Saturday morning to find out because she’d hex me for being a dumbarse,” he admits. “Even I’m smart enough to know that you’d hex me if I brought it up at work, so I had to wait. I’ve been very patient, considering.”
“I wasn’t home on Saturday anyway, so you’d have earned a hex for no reason.” She smiles demurely when he blinks at her.
“Weren’t home?” He leans back in his chair and whistles lowly. “You’re blushing. Staying out all day plus blushing means our Hermione’s been a naughty girl.”
“Extremely naughty.” She smirks but is saved from a further inquisition by Ron’s appearance.
“Blimey, I didn’t think I’d ever get here. Remind me to tell my arsehole of a boss not to assign me anymore cases involving lonely old witches,” he says, knocking his elbow into Harry’s side after he’s seated beside him. “You look flummoxed, mate. What’d I miss?”
“Hermione and McLaggen,” Harry says, making a gesture with his hands that is entirely inappropriate for a public place. “And she seems way too smug for it to have gone poorly.”
“McLaggen? Bloody hell, Hermione. Why’d it have to be that smarmy git? Do we have to play nice with him now?” Ron is whinging and making faces. “He’s almost as bad as Malfoy.”
“No one’s as bad as Malfoy,” Harry and Hermione say at the same time, which makes them all laugh.
“He isn’t that smarmy anymore,” Hermione points out. “He’s grown up, same as the rest of us.”
“Don’t hear you denying he’s a git.” Ron smirks.
“Oh, he is.” She smiles. “But there’s a balance now. Besides, he more than makes up for that with his hands, mouth, and the size of his-“
“I think that’s enough detail,” Harry interrupts, wagging a finger at her when she snorts. “Stop that. You know you’re my sister, and I don’t want to know the size of anything regarding a bloke you spent two nights with.”
“Two nights?” Ron groans. “Fuck. That means we do have to be nice because he’s survived the one night stand curse.”
“There is no such curse,” she says, shaking her head before taking a drink of pumpkin juice. “I just enjoy getting off and haven’t been looking for repeats.”
“Sometimes I think Ginny’s right when she mentions that you’ve spent far too much time with boys as your main friends when you start sounding like Seamus. This is our fault, Ron. We should have made time to look at fashion magazines and take quizzes about romance and girly shite,” Harry says, frowning in an exaggerated manner that makes her kick him under the table.
“Oi! There’s nothing wrong with our girl. She has a whole collection of frilly knickers that don’t make me think about blokes at all.” Ron winks at her. “She just knows how to pull and doesn’t tolerate a bunch of nonsense. McLaggen did survive the curse, and yes there is one because I’ve heard strong men crying in their butterbeer about being kicked out before dawn when the poor ol’ things just wanted a cuddle.”
“I never said anything was wrong with her. We raised her well. Takes no shite from anyone and doesn’t need a bloke to feel happy.” Harry smiles smugly. “If we could have just made a Quidditch player out of her, she’d be right bloody perfect.”
“Should I let Ginny know that she’s been replaced?” Hermione asks. “Or is she my step-father? Since Harry certainly has to be the mum in this ridiculous scenario you’re blabbering on about.”
“Be nice or we’ll ground you without any pudding.” Ron nudges her leg under the table. “Seriously, though, McLaggen? Is it done now?”
“Seriously, though, Greengrass?” she asks, watching his cheeks redden and knowing she’s scored a direct hit. She hadn’t known for certain that he’d left with Daphne after the wedding, since she’d probably been upstairs being shagged rotten by that point, but she knows her boys better than they know themselves sometimes.
“We’re seeing each other again,” Ron says. “She’s right smashing.”
“I have a date with Cormac tomorrow evening,” Hermione admits, fussing with her glass and menu as she feels her cheek warm. “We’re having dinner together.”
“Good. It serves both of you right if you start dating and get into a relationship after all the teasing Ginny and I’ve put up with for being a young couple in love.” Harry grins when she and Ron both kick him. “I can’t wait to tell her that we’re going to get to enjoy making fun of both of you.”
“It’s just dinner. I have no idea if it’ll be a relationship or not. No matter how amazing the sex is, and it’s bloody marvelous, I can’t be certain it’ll become more,” she says.
“Me either. We’re just dating and shagging and see what happens.” Ron shrugs. “McLaggen deserves some applause, though, for getting our girl to even take a chance on a relationship. It took me bloody years to get that opportunity, and he managed in a weekend.”
Harry picks up his glass and holds it up. “To McLaggen for being a not so smarmy git who got Hermione to agree to a real date.”
“To McLaggen.” Ron grins and knocks his glass against Harry’s.
“You’re both so fortunate that I promised Seamus that I’d never hex anyone in his pub unless it was self-defense,” she mutters, glaring at them both before taking a sip of her water. “Tell us more about Daphne, Ron. I think I’ve suffered enough attention for the moment.”
Ron doesn’t require much prodding before he’s off on a ramble about Daphne and how smashing she is despite being a Slytherin. They might be grown up now, but Ron still places more importance on someone’s former house than he should. Hermione hopes he’ll grown out of it eventually, but it seems to be common for Pureblood wizards to be house focused despite the fact that the sorting happens when a child is eleven and has no idea what choices they’ll make in life.
A server arrives to take their order, which interrupts Ron’s story about the elderly witch he’d been interviewing before dinner. When the server leaves, he continues. “So, anyway, she’s got about two dozen cats, and the house smells like cat piss, even though I reckon she could just cast a charm to fix that, so maybe she likes it? People are into weird shite, I’ve learned. She’s called in the aurors because Maximillian is missing, right? That’s what the report says that Harry gave me, I owe you for that, by the way, mate. It turns out? Maximillian is one of her bloody cats.”
“Just because it’s a cat doesn’t mean it isn’t important,” Hermione points out. “All creatures deserve respect and-“
“Blimey! Don’t start nattering on about creature rights. I don’t wanna doze in my soup,” Ron says, moving quickly before she’s able to kick him. “Ow! You’re supposed to be on my side, mate!”
“You shouldn’t instigate,” Harry says, winking at Hermione while Ron rubs his arm that’s been pinched.
“The point to my story,” Ron continues after a moment of sulking, “is that I was able to close the case because Maximillian was actually there, just hiding because all the other cats scared him or something. Another successful case closed. I am the best. C’mon. Say it.”
“You’re the best,” Harry says dryly, adding a yawn at the end before laughing.
“Well, I spent my day interviewing witnesses to the Archly-Brown case,” Hermione says, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know why Archly can’t just confess and save us all time and energy. The witness testimony is airtight, and he’s refusing to take veritaserum because he knows he’s guilty.”
“Maybe he thinks he’ll get a better offer before trial,” Harry suggests. “Everyone knows the Ministry hates wasting time with juror selection and dealing with the Wizengamot unless it’s absolutely necessary. He probably figures putting it off means he’ll reduce his sentence. If you want, I can have one of the aurors assigned to the case go speak with him and casually mention that the case is assigned to you, and that you tend to request harsher punishment if your time is wasted.”
“I think it was Majors and Corner who handled that one. Corner’d love going to see the bloke, I’m sure.” Ron nods. “He likes watching them squirm.”
“That might not be a bad idea. I have other a dozen witnesses who saw Archly curse Brown, and we have solid evidence supporting why there was animosity between the two.” Hermione makes a face. “The hours I’m spending on this case could be spent looking into something else.”
“Who got assigned the Walters case?” Harry leans back as their food arrives.
“McLaggen. He’s got a high success rate with the abuse cases, actually.” Hermione grabs a chip off her plate and eats it. “I generally get the cases involving murder, or attempted murder, and children, and he gets the cases involving abuse, especially when women are involved, and the more Pureblood focused crimes because he knows that society backwards and forwards.”
“You’re gushing, Hermione,” Harry points out with a slight smile.
“Like he’s a bloody saint among wizards,” Ron adds.
“Saint McLaggen?” Harry shakes his head. “Like a Muggle superhero maybe?”
“Oi! Like That bat bloke or the one running around in tights and flying.” Ron snickers. “McLaggen probably likes tights.”
“Can’t think of any smarmy pompous gits who are superheroes,” Harry admits. “I haven’t read comics since I was a wee lad sneaking about in the library at school.”
“Dad has some of them in his Random Muggle Item Collection out in the garage. I’ll take a quick peak next time I visit the parents and see if any of them are fit blond arseholes with a cocky attitude.”
“You two aren’t nearly as funny and clever as you seem to think you are,” she says, adding a hmph at the end of her statement for emphasis. Maybe she had been gushing a little, but it was purely profession because Cormac was very good at his job. She could easily see him dominating a courtroom in the Muggle world if they were solicitors there. As it is, they’re the wizarding equivalent, which is heavily research based and problem solving with a focus on settling cases before they have to actually go to trial. She’s watched his trials, though, and has admired the way he can get female victims in abuse cases to feel safe enough to testify.
“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” Harry asks, grinning when she feels a blush spread across her cheeks. “It’s so sweet. I can’t wait to tell Ginny.”
“Shut up, Potter.” She rolls her eyes when he and Ron giggle in a way that reminds her of Parvati and Lavender during their first year of Hogwarts. “You both need to grow up.”
Harry grins. “I’ll have you know, I’m the head of the aurors at the Ministry of Magic, and I have a beautiful wife who is an amazing pro Quidditch player, and we’ll have fantastic children in a few years when we’re ready. I wear nice robes to work and have working lunches with the Minister and meet old school friends for drinks at the pub at least once a month. I also meet my sister and brother for a good meal every Tuesday night because we’re grown-ups who have to schedule things like that.”
“And I’m the deputy head of the aurors at the Ministry, and I do all those things Harry said except the wife and kids thing. Not yet, at least, and I meet friends for drinks every week, but I also meet my favorite brother and sister, don’t tell Ginny or she’ll hex me, for dinner every Tuesday night.” Ron smirks. “Besides, the smartest witch I know just said not long ago that we’re all grown up now in defense of her new paramour’s former arrogant pratishness.”
“I’m an only child, and pratishness isn’t even a word,” she says, glaring at them both before they start giving her the sad eyes and pouts and she finally sticks her tongue out at them. “I hate you both.”
“Love you, too, babe.” Ron laughs before stuffing his mouth full of mash with gravy.
“It really is sweet, Hermione. It’s been ages since I’ve seen you interested in a bloke, and I hope it means you’ll stop working so hard if you’ve got a bit on the side distracting you. Merlin only knows McLaggen is going to be needy and jealous if you don’t give him enough attention.” Harry smiles. “He actually might do you some good. If not, well, I won’t mind hexing him at all cause it’s McLaggen.”
“If you don’t hush and eat your food, I’m going to start telling you about how good he is with his tongue and the way he shagged me up against the window of the penthouse suite,” Hermione warns, smirking when Harry covers his ears and Ron grimaces. They both deliberately take a bite of their food while glaring at her, and she laughs. It’s just too easy sometimes.
End