Never Give Up

Chapter Twenty-Eight

‘Ron doesn’t want anyone to know and I only found out because he was so angry this morning. Well, I’m not too sure what happened but Isabelle and Ron had a huge fight over something at the house in the morning. Ron got extremely angry at her and she got angry too which just prompted Ron to break it off between them two. He said something about how she never seemed to be happy with any of the decisions he made,’ Ginny shrugged, thanking the bartender when they got their drinks, ‘Ron’s leaving tomorrow morning, he says he won’t be staying at the Burrow any more and Isabelle is also going to leave tomorrow.’

‘Shouldn’t we go in and speak to her?’ Hermione wondered out loud but Ginny rolled her eyes and she took it to mean an absolute no.

‘Come on, Hermione. Ron and Isabelle are not right for each other, we can all see that! He needs to find someone to make a commitment with, not just a sleeping partner. Isabelle’s not that great either, you know, she flirts a lot,’ Ginny rolled her eyes, ‘I’m glad Ron’s finally coming to his senses.’

‘Yes, I can understand the commitment idea. Sometimes drinking comes before everything else for Fred,’ Hermione sighed, turning to look at her husband. He had just finished the last shot while Harry was three shots behind and it looked as though they had bet on who could finish first as Harry handed over some money. Hermione turned back to Ginny, ‘but I still love him more than anything.’

‘Hey, Mia!’ Fred yelled over at them and Hermione turned around to see him holding up a shot glass, ‘bet you five pounds I can drink five shots before you can.’

‘I’m not stupid enough to bet on that, love, I know you’ve probably had more practice at drinking than anyone else here,’ Hermione said when she got to him. Fred sighed, rolling his eyes as Harry looked disappointed in having lost the bet.

‘Oh, come on! Just for fun, no betting,’ Fred suggested, holding up the bottle and Hermione sighed, giving in and taking the seat that Harry had vacated. Fred laughed, ‘alright, five shots, see who finishes first. It’s obviously going to be me.’

‘Are you sure we should be-’ Hermione was cut off by Fred.

‘Fun, remember?’ Fred laughed again and leaned forwards to kiss her.

Hermione could taste the alcohol on his lips and knew he would get drunk tonight but she hoped it would be the happy kind of drunk rather than the sad kind. But she also knew Fred was rarely the happy drunk. She was happy enough that he wasn’t ignoring her anymore like all through dinner he had been.

‘Fine, fun,’ Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Fred passed over five shot glasses to her and five to himself. Hermione held up the first one, nervously, as Fred picked his own up. He nodded at her to countdown, ‘okay... three... two... one. GO!’

Hermione downed her glass first and she realised it was pure vodka which made her want to throw it up instantly. Fred laughed at her as she groaned at the burning in her throat. Nevertheless, she picked up the second glass and drank that while Fred was on his first. Fred slammed his empty glasses onto the bar and wasted no time at all in picking up the next one.

‘Oh, no, no, no! Fred, you win!’ Hermione surrendered as Fred picked up his fifth and final glass while Hermione had just finished her third. She put the empty glass down and nodded at him, ‘you win, fair and square.’

‘Oh, come on...’ Fred took her hand and Hermione smiled as he raised the glass very slowly to his lips while saying, ‘you still have time! Quick! Drink!’

Hermione let out a giggle and drank the fourth glass as Fred’s own glass got to his lips. She laughed again as he moved the glass very slowly upwards so she would have time to drink the fifth one. Hermione drank the final glass and groaned again as the vodka burned her throat once more while Fred finally drank his last glass too.