The Gloriana Set

Surprises

Ron lowered his hands. "But it's meant to be with Slytherins, eh? Although you'll be waiting a while to get a personal gift from Draco Malfoy. Like he'd waste his precious galleons on a gift for a—"

He stopped. Hermione tried to keep her face neutral, but his eyes narrowed anyway. "Malfoy gave you a birthday present? He did! What was it, slutty underwear?"

"Ron!" Hermione snapped, her face red.

"Well, you wanted personal," Ron sneered.

"I'll have you know, Ronald, the only slutty underwear I received for my birthday was from your sister."

Ron's expression was priceless. "Malfoy's present was nothing disrespectful," she went on, "and if you think I'm telling you, you're barmy."

"But it was personal," Ron said, now looking ill.

"Well, it wasn't a book," she snapped.

That killed the conversation for a time, and only the popping and crackling of the fire could be heard.

"Ron, you wanted to tell me something," she finally said.

He looked hesitant. "First, let me get this straight," Ron said. "You and Harry aren't telling me things because you say I get ... excited when I don't like it."

Hermione nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"Well, if I'm going to stop doing that, you have to promise to stop doing it, too."

"When have I ever ..." Hermione's voice rose, then trailed off. "Are you saying you're not telling us something?"

"Two things, actually." Ron looked uncomfortable.

"What?" Now it was Hermione's turn to lean forward, eyes narrowed.

Ron was flushing now. "When I couldn't find any of you last night, I went off with ... Romilda Vane."

"Romilda Vane? That brainless groupie? What were you—" Hermione snapped her mouth shut. She was doing it. She closed her eyes and took a breath. "Romilda Vane," she said in a completely different tone. "How interesting."

Ron snickered. "Yes, interesting." He looked uncomfortable again. "Hermione, the night of the Gryffindor party, I kind of ... got involved with Romilda."

Hermione tilted her head. "Involved."

"We shagged," he admitted.

She stared at him. "Do you like her?" she asked, trying to sound calm.

"I don't know, but I like how she makes me feel," Ron said. "Like I'm powerful, important—"

"But she's just using you, she doesn't care—aaagh!" Hermione shook her head wildly. "I'm sorry," she said. "This is hard."

"You're telling me," Ron sighed. "You say I don't make you feel like a woman, well, maybe you don't make me feel like a man, just a sidekick."

Hermione took his hand. "You're not just a sidekick. Harry and I love you." Ron just looked down at their hands, not answering. "Ron, if you like being with Romilda, then you should be. What I think doesn't matter."

Ron looked up. "You're so beautiful, and I still want ... but ..." He sighed again.

"You said there were two things," Hermione said, hoping to change the subject.

"This next one is worse," he groaned. She looked at him skeptically. "I didn't want to come back to Hogwarts in the first place, but since the Aurors Office wouldn't take me, you said I didn't have a choice."