This is my last re-post due to re-organisation, again, sorry for the confusion. So this is a 'Harry and Ron left straight after the war leaving Hermione behind' one shot, things change and they come back to a few unexpected things. It's also because I wanted to write one that didn't have Ron throwing his toys out the pram and being a complete git about it.
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Hermione walked outside the wedding tent, Ron at her heels. She whirled around to face him as soon as they got far enough away to avoid prying eyes and ears.
"Ronald, what the hell?!" Hermione hissed. "What is wrong with you?!"
"Wrong with me?" Ron frowned. "What's wrong with you?" It was George and Angelina's wedding day, five years after the Final Battle had ended. Ron and Harry had left two days after Voldemort had been defeated, deciding they needed a break and they had to get out of town for a while. They hadn't been back till now, coming back home for George's wedding...well, reception since they'd missed the wedding. Ron had been back all of an hour and half and already Hermione wanted to hex him, she was pretty there was only one other person who wanted to hurt him more than she did.
"Mione, you've barely looked at me since you saw me...you've been shrugging me off and acting all weird...I know it's been a while and we were on a break but..."
"On a break?" Hermione frowned, confused.
"Well yeah..." Ron frowned back at her nervously. "After that kiss at the final battle I thought we'd end up together, I thought we were going to be together...I just...we were still so young and I didn't want to settle down straight after the war, you know? But I'm home now and..."
"I need you to stop talking..." Hermione held her hand up at him in an attempt to hold him off.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you 'Mione, I didn't mean to, but I've always thought of you as my girl I suppose..." Ron said, seeing some of his family gathering around them.
"You did hurt me Ron, both you and Harry..." Hermione tried again.
"Let me make it up to you, please? I'm sorry, I truly am but I want nothing more than to give us a try...what d'you say?" Ron gave her a wink and Hermione visibly shivered, but not for the reasons Ron thought. He reached out to her and she stepped back. "What's wrong with you 'Mione? I said I was sorry..."
"Wrong with me? Wrong with me?!" Hermione growled. "I'm not the one who's been gone for five years and then came back and tried it on with the girl I fancied from school!" Hermione looked at him in disbelief. "I'm not the one who's spent the entire time he's been back home telling the press that he's so happy to be reconnecting with his family and friends but hasn't said more than three sentences to any of them combined! For merlin's sakes Ronald, did you even look us up to see if anything had changed since you'd been gone?!"
"Well...it's only been five years..." Ron flustered.
"Yes, five years! Five fucking years!" Hermione bellowed at him.
"Hermione! Language!" Molly Weasley admonished and Hermione barely looked guilty.
"Sorry Mum but she's right. Five years is a long time Ron..." Bill spoke up from behind them.
"We've been through a lot together since you left, all of us..." Charlie nodded.
"You can't just waltz back in and try and pick up where you left off!" George glared at him.
"You didn't even bother to find out what you missed..." Hermione looked at him disappointingly.
"What exactly did you get up to that was so important over these five years that meant you had to drag my arse out here to have a go at me then?!" Ron huffed.
"Oh I don't know...I got married..." Hermione didn't get much further.
"You got married?!" Ron cried.
"Yes. I got married!" Hermione snapped. "I sent you both invitations but you must have been moving so quickly that the owls couldn't track you...they kept coming back..."
"Sorry," Ron said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand sheepishly.
"You should be!" Hermione prodded his chest with her index finger. "I'm not sure my husband appreciated the way you kept trying to drape yourself over me and kept insinuating to the press that we might reconcile our romance as well as our friendship!"
"Well maybe if you'd told me you got married and introduced me to your husband, I wouldn't have made such a fool out of myself!" Ron bit back.
"When would you like me to have done that?!" Hermione screeched. "Because five bloody minutes after I saw you and said hi, you were parading us around in front of the fucking press!"
"Sorry!" Ron said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry...it was just a little exciting and overwhelming to be back..."
"I'm sure..." She glared at him.
"So...are you happily married?" He asked cheekily.
"Well, we have five children..."
"Four," Fred said with a frown.
"Five..."
"Four, Hermione you have four children..." George was frowning too, much like everyone else except Hermione.
"Five, I just hadn't got round to telling you about the last one yet..." Hermione said nonchalantly as everyone's jaws dropped and she turned back to Ron. "...we have five children, so yes, we're happy..."
"Hermione, are you pregnant again?" George let out an almost strangled cry.
"Is there another way to magically turn four children into five?" She asked him, sarcasm dripping from her tone.
"Have I ever mentioned how much I love when your pregnant?" Fred grinned at her.
"Sometimes, but most of the time you just show me..." She smirked.
"You're really pregnant?" Fred asked as he walked towards her, the pair of them totally forgetting about Ron and the rest of the circle.
"I'm really pregnant..." She nodded with a smile.
Fred closed the small distance between them with a little run and picked her up, twirling her around before setting her down and snogging her face off. Ron's eyes widened as he stepped back from the pair, shock and disbelief marred his face.
"I love you," Fred said to Hermione as they broke apart, breathless.
"I love you too," She grinned at him.
"You married my brother..." Ron said so quietly that it was almost lost. Hermione's eyes snapped back to Ron's as she waited for the outburst.
"You married Fred..." Ron snorted and couldn't hold in his laughter any longer. "You married Fred!" He grinned, and laughed again but it wasn't malicious or nasty or spiteful. Instead he looked delighted, joyful, beyond happy. "I can't believe you married Fred!" He beamed. "I'm so happy for you!" And Hermione could tell he was being completely sincere. While the rest of his family stood around dumbfounded, Hermione launched herself at him as tears fell down her cheeks.
"Thank you! You have no idea how much that means to me!" She cried.
"Hey, I'm sorry it took me so long to come home but...I didn't expect for you to wait for me, I was just worried you were..." Ron squeezed her tight. "We always worked better as friends..."
"We did..." Hermione nodded and sniffed as she withdrew from his embrace.
"I should have written more, I'm so sorry..." Ron found tears running down his own cheeks now. "I missed you all so much..."
"We both did..." Harry spoke up quietly from behind him, looking as guilty as ever.
"It was just so painful to think of actually corresponding back and forth because we knew we'd want to come home and we weren't ready to..." Ron shrugged as he wiped his tears away.
"Why'd you come back asking to 'give us a go' if you didn't want to?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"Because I didn't want to disappoint you or hurt you anymore than I already had..." Ron said, looking her dead in the eyes. "Because it was kind of expected of us..."
"You'd have come back and settled into a relationship with me, if I'd waited for you, regardless of the fact that you weren't in love with me?!" Hermione asked astounded.
"Yes," Ron said. "I know I was selfish when I left, I couldn't come back and be just as bad. Besides, I've always loved you...not like what you and Fred obviously have, but enough to at least have tried to give you what you wanted and make you happy...it wasn't that bad, living with you when we were on the run..." he smirked at her and she swiped at him playfully.
"I can't believe you actually went away and grew up..." Hermione laughed. "Come here..." She pulled him into another hug again. "And you, boy-who-never-dies!" She waved at Harry to join them and he grinned sheepishly before stepping forward and being enveloped into the hug.
"So...without pushing our luck...are we forgiven?" Ron asked with a cheeky grin and sheepish shrug.
"You're definitely pushing your luck," Hermione couldn't help the little smile that pushed its way onto her face. "But you are forgiven..."
"Just like that?" Fred frowned at her in concern.
"Just like that," Hermione said, her eyes meeting his with a smile only for him.
"You can't just forgive him like that Herms!" George cried in outrage.
"Sure I can," Hermione said. "It will do none of us any good if we hold on to the past...if they'd come back demanding answers and refusing to see what they'd miss I'd be more inclined to agree with you, but as it happens I think they've grown up quite well and I've missed them..."
"But everything they put you through..." George's own concern filled his face.
"I'm not saying we're going to go back to being the best of friends..." Hermione frowned. "I might forgive them but I can't forget what happened..." Harry and Ron's happy demeanour fell a little. "We've lived five years without them, they can't just come back and fit right in, they've missed too much..." Hermione looked at the two lost boys. "But they'll find their own new place and in doing so, we can all be a family again."
"But Herms..." George began again.
"Just get over it already George!" Hermione barked and George recoiled making everyone laugh.
"Again...love it when you're pregnant." Fred wrapped his arms around Hermione and pulled her into him so her back was against his chest and his hands were on her tummy.
"I'm sorry I didn't get chance to tell you before we told everyone else..." Hermione spoke guiltily.
"Meh...I could think of worse things to happen..." He grinned and kissed her cheek, then began peppering kisses along her jawline and her neck before he could stop himself.
"So..." Ron cleared his throat in an attempt to make Fred stop his nauseating public display of affection. "Congrats on the kids...all of them..."
"Thanks," Hermione grinned, hitting Fred's shoulder as he continued to nuzzle into her.
"Mmm, thanks..." Fred mumbled before nipping Hermione's ear causing her to stifle a moan and turn a little red.
"Fred!" Hermione hissed and the group chuckled.
"Come on, we'll go celebrate our newest family member and my marriage inside the tent whilst you celebrate your usual way somewhere else," George rolled his eyes.
"Their usual way?" Ron frowned.
"Escalate what Fred is currently doing now and you'll get the picture..." George said and Ron grimaced very quickly as his brother laughed at him. "On the upside, while they're doing that, we can corrupt our nieces and nephews..."
"George, there will be no corrupting...they are my children and they are too damn smart for your corruption..." Hermione called from behind them as the group began wondering away.
"They're just smart enough not to get caught Granger!" George laughed.
"Weasley!" Came a unified answer from Fred and Hermione.
"You still call her Granger?" Harry frowned.
"Only when it's safe to wind her up and piss her off..." George chuckled. "Once she's that attached to Fred, there's no getting her off until they're through unless you're one of their kids or it's a matter of life or death..."
"So, they have four children?" Ron said.
"Yep...they got married a year after the war ended and had Jacob a year after that, then they had twin girls Amelia and Georgia a year later and then a few months ago came Tyler..." George shrugged.
"Wow, that's a lot of kids in a short space of time..." Harry said.
"Yeah, but they're in love and they can't help it..." George said. "They seriously can't help it...muggle nor magical contraception seems to work for them, they've tried both and they keep ending up with more kids...apparently it's something to do with their magic overriding it...exceptionally rare thing to happen too..."
"Woah! I remember Mum telling us stories about couples like that..." Ron said with a smile.
"I take it that's a good thing...?" Harry asked.
"It's a happily ever after thing," Ron said and Harry nodded happily.
"Well, if anyone deserves a fairytale ending, it Hermione," Harry said.
...…...
"Okay, honey..." Fred spoke with a grin as he came up for some air, having thoroughly snogged the life out of his wife. "Please, explain to me how you could forgive Harry and Ron that quickly..."
"I thought that would have been obvious..." Hermione frowned at him with a half smile on her lips.
"Not exactly..." Fred shook his head and led his wife to a bench just outside the main house of the Burrow, facing the wedding tent but far enough away that no one would notice them or intrude.
"It's because of you, silly," She smiled and leaned into him, kissing him sweetly as he looked at her with an even deeper frown on his face.
"Me?" Fred reiterated, completely lost.
"Yes, you!" Hermione laughed and swung herself around on the bench to sit crossed legged opposite him, Fred mirroring her without even thinking.
"Continue on..." He gestured to her for a further, more detailed explanation.
"When Harry and Ron left, they broke my heart..."
"I remember..." Fred said, anger seeping into his tone.
"It must have shattered into nearly a millions pieces..." Hermione looked him deep in the eyes, her own were glazed with tears. "I don't ever think I remember feeling so lost or alone or betrayed, even after I obliviated my parents, even after Ron left while we were on the run...after everything, and nothing hurt quite like that..."
"I know..." Fred said softly and took her hand, soothingly sweeping his thumb over the back of her wrist. "That's why I don't understand..."
"Because, Fred, you put me back together..." Her smile was so full of love that it knocked the breath out of him, even after four years of marriage and four to five children. "I never thought I'd ever feel whole again, not really, not completely. I always figured my heart and my soul would have a lot of cracks and crevices where I hadn't been able to pick up all the pieces or put them back together quite right. But then there was you...Fred, you picked up every piece that shattered and put me back together so well that I don't even remember where the cracks were! I can't see them! It's like you put me back together better than I was before and I never would have had that, I never would have had you, if Ron and Harry hadn't decided to be absolute arseholes that day and for the next five consecutive years..." Hermione laughed as tears of happiness slid down her face. "I can forgive them that quickly, because of you...I wouldn't give up what we had and what we have for anything! I haven't regretted a day of it..."
She didn't get any further because Fred had finally come to his senses and much like the first time they kissed he launched himself forward and crashed their lips together like his life depended on it, because it did. He wasn't that great with words, he might have been almost as smart as Hermione but he could never really articulate his feelings all that well, so that just left his ability to show them. And he was really very good at showing her just how he felt.
"Come on, upstairs with you, now!" He grinned and motioned towards the house.
"What about the kids?" Hermione laughed.
"They're busy with their new uncles, not to mention they'll love the fit the pair of them are likely to throw when they realise who Ginervra married..." Fred snorted as he dragged Hermione to her feet and proceeded to walk her through the house and towards his boyhood bedroom.
"Draco isn't that bad anymore, I'm sure they'll come round...they've been in his company for an hour and a half without even noticing him!" Hermione pointed out as she made little to no effort dissuading her husband.
"Yes, but we all know that next to George, Draco is their favourite Uncle and if Ronald is going to have a fit over anything, it's that!" Fred grinned as he pulled Hermione into the room with him.
"So what? We're going for celebration time and ignoring the problem?" Hermione asked as she wound her arms around Fred's neck.
"Yes, that is exactly what we're doing, because d'you know what? It's not our fucking problem," Fred said as he began kissing his way up and down Hermione's neck, eliciting the most exquisite moan from her mouth. It happened to be one of Fred's favourite sounds.
"You're right, it's not," Hermione giggled as Fred niftily undid the clasp and zip on the back of her dress and stepped back to watch it pool at her feet.
"Besides, they all know what we're up to..." He shrugged. "You just told me our love created another human being and you know there's only so long before I have to re-enact that love in action, I'm pretty sure they'd prefer we leave them with that mess rather than making our own in the middle of it..." He smirked at Hermione's disgusted yet laughing face.
"You are despicable!" She squealed as he dropped his own clothes on the floor and ran at her, picking her up before throwing her on the bed.
"Yes, I am, but I'm pretty sure that was one of the reasons why you married me..." He grinned as he began trailing kisses up and down her almost naked body.
"I'm pretty sure it was despite that...oh merlin...Fred..." Hermione's train of thought and therefore her comeback were interrupted by Fred's insanely good ability to express his emotions in an entirely physical way.
"What was that love?" Fred asked innocently.
"Shut up and get on with it!" Hermione huffed, irritated by his purposeful pause.
"Love it when you're pregnant," He part laughed and part growled before resuming his activities and making damn sure his wife knew just how much he loved her. No one had to break his heart first for him to know he needed her to mend it.