Chapter Five

Those Scheming Weasleys

She felt the immediate loss when Ron's lips pulled away to breathe. She looked at him just as breathless, ecstatic and starry-eyed.

"Hermione..." he gasped.

There was a knock at the door. Hermione got up to answer it, more to delay the situation than anything else. Her mind was a whirl of confusion: ecstasy, despair, sadness, all wrapped up. She had to think.

She pulled the door open, not really caring who was behind it, that it was a shock to her when she found her fiance right there.

"Hello darling, did you miss me?" Nathaniel greeted.

Hermione just stared at him, her mouth gaping but he didn't seem to notice.

"I still can't seem to apparate directly into your flat. I always end up on the street corner whenever I try."

"Uhhmm... the wards. We've placed wards during the war. Only our family members can get in," she explained. A sinking feeling was pulling at her stomach. Her poor dear Nathaniel. How could she marry him now?

"But I'm almost family sweetheart," he said. He made a move to kiss her but she stepped away. "It won't matter though. This won't be your flat anymore tomorrow." He stepped in and saw Ron.

"Weasel," he said with disdain. "You're here."

"I live here," replied Ron. "And it's Weasley. I should be asking you what you're doing here."

"Came to see my little muffin. So if you don't mind, I'm sure a good walk outside would do you good."

"Yes, I definitely mi—"

"Ron, please. Give us a minute alone," Hermione said. She had to end this now. It was cruel but Nathaniel needed to know the truth. It would be hard breaking it to him and she didn't need Ron to be there. She just wished she could say something to Ron to assure him that was what she intended. "I'll talk to you later," she said, hoping Ron would get the hint.

He looked at her hopefully. "I'll be at the Burrow." He apparated away.

"Finally, he's out of the way," said Nathaniel. He made himself at home on the couch and wrinkled his nose at the pile of ash on the coffee table. "Messy blokes you live with Hermione. But don't worry, after tomorrow, you'll be living in more sanitary conditions with me."

"I need to tell you something," she began.

"I need to tell you something too." He looked excited. "What do think of Thailand?"

"I think it's a lovely country, but I have to tell you—"

"Excellent! So guess what? After the wedding, when we go there for the honeymoon, we'll make the move there permanently. Isn't that wonderful?"

Hermione looked at him in confusion. "What? Move to Thailand?"

"Yes, darling. You'll love it there, I promise you. We'll make our own little world there where no one knows us."

Hermione frowned. He made plans to move without even consulting her! How dare he dictate how her life should go? She felt a little less pitiful of him now even though she was about to break up with him.

"Please listen to me," she said. "I want you to know that you're an amazing person and I'm sure that you're—"

A loud pop sounded in the living room near the door. Harry had just apparated in.

"YOU!" Harry shouted at Nathaniel. Hermione barely registered the fury in Harry's eyes, before he pointed his wand at her fiance and sent him flying towards the wall and crashing into a lamp.

"HARRY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

There was another pop and Ron appeared. "Harry, what hell were you—" He took one look around the room. "What is going on?"

Harry was pointing his wand at Nathaniel who was crouching on the ground, terrified at the wizard before him.

"Don't marry him, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. "He's a lying, cheating scum."

"What are you talking about? Harry, take that wand away." She made a move towards Nathaniel who was begging for her protection.

"Get away from him, Hermione," Harry said then to the fallen wizard he added: "Don't you dare touch her!"

"HARRY, PLEASE! What's wrong?"

"This!" Harry said. He tossed a sheaf of parchment in Hermione's direction. "I just talked to Percy. He went back to his old contact at the Civil Registry because Percy mentioned your problem and the bloke there said he remembered the name of your fiance. Percy had a hunch so he followed it up and had the records checked. It turns out he's already married!"

"What?" Hermione cried. She looked at Nathaniel in disbelief.

"I was married, Hermione," he implored. "Darling, it's true. But it was over. I was married to a muggle, we were divorced."

"Oh really?" said Harry. "It's true, he is divorced. Not once but twice, to two muggles. And you seem to forget, you still have another wife. Your first one, a witch—who has been until recently mysteriously lost her memory. Last week she just filed an annulment."

"Is this true?" Hermione asked.

Nathaniel looked white and shook his head, but he was very unconvincing. Hermione glanced at the sheaf of papers Harry tossed to her. The top parchment was an annullment form, similar to the one the Ministry sent her. It was filled by a woman named Sarah Bones. She knew the Bones were a well-known pureblood family. Her old classmate Susan must have been related to her.

"And there's more," Harry continued. "His wife claimed he stole her lifelong research work and published it in his name. He also liquidated all her inherited assets. She's left without a penny. Now that she's recovering, she's sent her family to track down his other two former wives—both foreigners. They're in mental institutions now but before that they were both brilliant scientists. The doctors can't seem to figure out why they seemed to have no memories at all."

Hermione was horrified. She looked at Nathaniel who had sunk even lower on the floor. "You've been taking credit for all your wives' works then erasing their memories?"

"Kind of like Lockheart, isn't he?" said Harry distatefully. "Just a smarter version, but a scum no less. The first wife also filled a case against him for swindling. The M.L.E.S. is after him now. The arrest warrant was approved today. He's planning to take off with you after the wedding to escape."

"Hermione, darling… I don't know what he's talking about. Surely this is just all a mistake."

"I'll tell you what's a mistake!" Ron cried. "You made a mistake of trying to mess up with Hermione!" He pointed his own wand at him, the same time that Harry did. They uttered two different spells. In the next instant, Hermione was staring at a rather large leech covered in fur and oozing on the floor.

Hermione turned to Harry and Ron. "Which one of you turned them him into a leech?"

Ron raised a finger.

Hermione threw his arms around him. "I love it when you get creative!" She kissed him on the lips.

Harry looked at them in surprise. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing Harry," said Ron. His cheeks were reddening but he was beaming at him proudly. "Just kissing my wife. Now go floo Percy so he can call the authorities. I want to get rid of the slimeball before he stains the carpet."

Much later after the Ministry officials left with the the fur-covered leech that was formerly Hermione's fiance, Ron sat with Harry and Hermione on the couch.

"By the way," said Ron. "Do you know something about these wedding rings that you got for us? We can't get them off."

"Really?" Harry said, looking innocent. "Have you tried removing it recently?"

"I did," replied Hermione. "It won't budge." She moved the ring to demonstrate and was surprised that it slipped off easily.

"Sticking charm must have worn off," said Harry.

"Harry?" Ron and Hermione narrowed their eyes at him. "Did you have something to do with this?"

"Oh no, the idea wasn't mine. If you must know, it was your mother, Ron. She figured, maybe if your wedding rings looked like they weren't coming off, Hermione might postpone her wedding and well… maybe, just maybe Ron could convince you to stay with him."

"And if I still went through my wedding…" Hermione asked, she sensed, there was more to it.

"Well for starters, your marriage won't get annulled at all."

"Let me guess, the annullment papers were fake?" guessed Ron.

Harry shook his head. "Those were authentic. Percy couldn't risk that with Hermione. But he figured you must have read the annullment requirements so he came up with a story of getting all the witnesses' signatures for you to ease your mind. That parchment he showed you was just the guest list. Most of your wedding guests didn't even know you intended to get an annullment."

"But that still won't stop me from Hermione marrying that git," said Ron.

"Yes, we're quite aware of that Ron. Your mother has a back-up plan for that. We had a family conference last night after you left and she had us all lined up for tasks to ruin your wedding."

"Ruin my wedding?" Hermione asked. "What exactly do you mean?"

Harry grinned. "Well, there's messing up with your caterer and the flowers to make your fiance mad—that's Bill's job, mixing up you hotel and plane reservations for your trip to Thailand—that was assigned to me and Ginny along with the sticky rings, Charlie's going to interrupt your wedding, and then…"

"Okay, okay, Harry enough!" said Ron. "My mother is such a scheming woman! I can't believe she'll go through all that trouble just to get me married to Hermione!"

"Thank her for us, Harry," said Hermione. "It might not exactly have worked, but we appreciate it just the same."

"Yeah, mate," said Ron. "Now get out. Go to the Burrow or wherever place you can bunk in. I want some privacy with my wife."

"No problem. Have fun," said Harry. With a pop, he was gone.

Hermione shyly turned to Ron. He didn't look at her but was fingering his Weasley ring, now fitted on his middle finger.

"Do you think the legend of the Weasley ring is true?" she asked. "That it would only fit the woman destined to be with its owner forever?"

"I don't know," he replied. He looked up at her with a face that was almost as bashful as hers. "It hasn't been wrong before."

"You think it will ever be wrong?"

Ron looked at her in the eye and Hermione felt her heart race. "I think that depends on you. Do you think it will be wrong this time?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "But I hope it won't be, not this time."

Ron's smile widened into a grin. He held out his arms and she moved towards them. But she never reached Ron's embrace. The lights suddenly went off and she stumbled over a footstool. She caught herself from falling in time and groped in the darkness.

"Ron, how did you—" She never got to finish her question. She suddenly felt stiff all over and she realized she was in a full body bind. Someone grabbed her from behind and lifted her off the ground.

"Get off—mmphh—" she heard Ron gasp before his voice died. Hermione was thrown into a sudden panic. Ron was struggling with someone! And another person was dragging her away to Merlin knows where!

"STOP! STOP! IT'S OKAY! THEY'RE TOGETHER NOW!" a voice she recognized as Harry's shouted in the darkness. Her attacker put her back down on the floor as the lights returned. She saw Harry immediately and Ron tied with magical ropes and a gag. Standing behind him was Fred who released the spell. Moments later, her body bind was also lifted by none other than George.

"What is going on?" Ron demanded when he could speak.

Fred and George looked at them guiltily.

"I forgot to tell you," said Harry. "Fred and George were assigned to kidnap you and have you shipped to some deserted location until you decide to get together."

Ron and Hermione looked at them incredulously.

"It was a last resort if nothing else worked," explained Harry. He turned to the twins and looked at them sternly. "I thought we had that clear!"

"Why go through all the trouble of messing up a wedding when we could just easily kidnap them the night before?" said George.

"Well there's no need for that. They're okay with each other. Come on, let's let them be. I'll explain at the Burrow."

"Sorry little bro," George muttered before disappearing.

"Yeah," said Fred. "We'll be leaving you alone now." He followed his twin.

"Anything else that my family planned that we should know about Harry?" asked Ron.

"Nope, that's it among the Weasleys," said Harry. He pointed his wand at himself but stopped and turned to his two best friends again. Hermione noticed he had a twinkle in his eye—a mark that reminded her of Fred and Percy. "Oh, by the way, you might want to talk about the… er… subject of having kids."

Hermione blushed.

"Why?" Ron blurted out.

"It's never too late to talk about it and be prepared. I mean if all goes well with those fertility pills Mr. and Mrs. Granger slipped into your wine this morning, they might have grandchildren soon."

He disappeared, leaving Hermione and Ron gaping at the air.

End

A/N: Thank you so much for all those who reviewed. Your enthusiasm really forced me to upload. This was so much fun to write and I'm glad a lot of you appreciated it. Thank you again! (And to the one who sent me a review in Spanish, muchas gracias, I do understand a little since I had 6 units of Spanish in college.)