This short story is inspired by a theory about Hermione and Ron's marriage that they would go to couple's therapy on some occasion to address some of their problems. Considering they are total opposites in terms of attitude. And I just love the idea of Hermione and Ron going to couple's therapy.
~*~
"So, Mrs. Granger and Mr. Weasley, why don't we start with a bit of background."
On a couch with a throw-pillow distance between them, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley sat in completely different manners. Hermione sitting with poise, her back and shoulders straight, her legs crossed together, and a face full of determination and eagerness, while Ron sat in a slouch, his legs wide, and a look of disinterest. Across from them, a older woman sat in a lone couch with a pen and notebook in hand, waiting for their story.
"Well," Hermione cleared her throat. "Where to begin? We both met at school, and we've been friends for a very long time before we dated."
"It was actually during a war when we officially started," Ron added.
"It was a game – we used to play a game with our friend – it's a role-playing game. Like Dungeons and Dragons," Hermione quickly added before the woman could ask what war he meant. "Anyway, we didn't really have a good start of things."
"What she meant was, we argued a lot," Ron sighed.
"And what do these arguments be?" The woman asked.
"Just silly things, really," Hermione said. "Just school things – childish."
"Can you tell me one argument?"
"Well, he tends to be very immature and disorganized," Hermione sighed.
Ron's silence caught the woman's attention. "What about you, Mr. Weasley? You seem to be reluctant to be here."
Ron sighed. "I am."
"Ron, we talked about this," Hermione whispered.
"You talked – I just don't see how this is going to help."
"Because I'm at my wits end. I don't know how else we're going to solve this. I don't want our children to always see us fighting!"
"Then we don't!"
"You don't give them enough credit that they could sense that we've been fighting for days now."
Ron and Hermione then fell silent. The older woman observed the couple for a moment. They were the strangest couple she has ever met, not because of their problem – she has yet to know that – but because of their way of their clothing – not that she was quick to judge about people's preference but seeing their robes, it's just a bit out of today's fashion; how they chose their words carefully when talking about their past, their jobs ("I work in the government," said Hermione; "I run a joke shop with my brother," said Ron), and school ("It's just a boarding school in Scotland" said Hermione), and how Mr. Weasley said "war" like they both been to one and not just a campaign in Dungeons and Dragons. But nonetheless, though they seem odd, she could still see the similarities of other problems that couples deal with in their marriages.
Seeing that she wasn't going to get anything more from their background, she decided to go with their present. "So, what brought you both here? What made you decide to take couple's therapy?"
Ron sighed. "Well, it was actually suggested to us by a friend of ours. He and his husband have friends who go to couple's therapy and said that this would be a good idea."
"And does that friend of yours go to couple's therapy as well?"
"No,"
"Was this your first option?"
"No," Hermione sighed. "Before they suggested this actually, we went to ask a couple of our friends who were also married."
"I asked my best mate, since he's married to my sister," Ron added.
"And I asked a really close friend of mine," said Hermione.
Ron scoffed then muttered, "I told you their advice wouldn't work."
"I was desperate! Carina and Theodore were the only people I could talk about these things, considering you talk to Harry! And because they're practically the only couple that looks like they're doing fine!"
"If I may, could I ask why you asked these people for advice? Why did you think they could help?" Said the therapist.
"Well, Harry's our best mate, and he kind of married my sister, so that's why I came to ask him," said Ron.
"And Carina and Theodore – well, Carina and I have been friends since we started school, and her marriage looks like they're always on this stage..." Hermione continued.
"Honeymoons stage," Ron filled up.
"Exactly."
"You mentioned that it wasn't really their advice to go to couple's therapy, yes? But your friend and his husband's?" The therapist asked.
"Yes," they replied.
"Why? Can you tell me what their advice was? Maybe we should start with Mrs. Granger? What did Carina offer as an advice?"
Hermione pursed her lips and tried to hide her blushing face as she remembered that night she tried to do what Carina and Theodore said that they usually do to end their arguments. It was very much unlike her and uncomfortable, and just made things weird. Where to begin, Hermione though. And after taking a deep breath, she finally began her story.
It was two weeks before she and Ron found themselves sitting on the couch of their couple's therapy, and day three of their fight and neither of the two were willing to backdown or admit it was their fault or at least apologize or say "you were right" or just talk civilly. As it was her day off, Hermione dropped off her children to school then headed straight to Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon to visit her closest girl friend. Apparating at the Hill, Hermione was greeted by the sight of Alcander the chimera and Snuffles the three-headed-dog carrying laundry baskets while following Carina around as she collected the laundry.
"Is it a bad time?" Hermione spoke.
Carina turned and grinned when she saw Hermione. She placed one of the onesies that belonged to one of the children into the basket that Alcander carried then greeted her with an embrace.
"I haven't seen you for the past couple of days, how are you?" Carina said.
"Sorry, I've been busy – and I see that you are as well."
"Laundry day, and also it's my day-off," Carina shrugged, she went back to getting the other clothes hanging on the line and placed them in the basket. Hermione went to help her as well. "Need something?" Carina asked.
"I actually wanted to talk, but if you're busy today or if you want to just relax with Nott, I could just –"
"Theodore's out, he went to take the kids to school then he'll head straight to the Reserve, so it's just me and my lonesome," Carina finished the last pile of clothes then took them from the beasts, letting the baskets float into the house. She reached inside her pocket and tossed some treats for Alcander and Snuffles, but before they went to run for them, got on his hind paws and got his front paws on Carina then licked her face. After Snuffles went to get the treat, Alcander purred and nudged Carina with his snout, a way to show his affection.
"You've become very well versed with magical creatures," said Hermione.
"Well, I married a Dragonologist and a Magizoologist – and let's not forget, Roman, Theodore, and I would run in the Forbidden Forest during our spare time."
Entering the house, Carina waved her wand and had the kettle on the stove to boil water for tea, and then the teacups and tea bags magically floated around to prepare their beverage, and as well as the biscuits. While she and Hermione sat down on the long couch where the laundry baskets were placed, there were three baskets that needed folding, and from all three Carina used magic on only one basket, it was the ones that needed to be pressed and hung in the closet.
"I know that I have magic to do this, but I just enjoy," Carina took one of the clothes from the basket. It was Theo's and pressed it on her face. "Smelling them. I could still remember how they smelled the first time I held them."
"What do they smell like?" Hermione asked.
"Sofia and Rom smelled like sweets, Viktor smelled like smoke, and Theo smelled like apples," Carina smiled at the memory. "Merlin, I wish they would just slow down – in a couple of years now, Sofe, Rom, and Vik will start in Hogwarts then I'd rarely see them."
"It's part of life," Hermione smiled. "We all went through it too."
"I know, I just can't imagine having to take them to Platform 9 ¾, then waiting for the holidays just to see them," Carina sighed as she started folding the clothes.
"I agree."
The door of the house opened, and Theodore came in wearing only his Muggle clothes and salamander boots, but with a snap of a finger, his vest and salamander skin coat that had the Dragonologist and Magizoologist pin placed on the upper part of his left side of his chest came to wear itself on him. He didn't notice the additional presence of someone in his home until he went to the living room to say goodbye to Carina, he slightly jumped when he saw Hermione sitting on the couch helping Carina with folding their laundry.
"Granger, what brings you here?" Theodore greeted.
"I just came for a visit, see Carina. Sorry to barge in suddenly," Hermione replied.
"Not a problem, you're always welcome here," Theodore maneuvered around the couch and bent down to kiss Carina. "I'll just head to the reserve to see how things are going then I'll come straight home."
"Theodore, if you have things to do, then do it," Carina told him.
"It's your day-off, of course I'm coming home. And besides it's laundry day, wouldn't miss that for the world."
Carina chuckled, she kissed him one last time before waving him away. "Only you would find the fun in laundry day. Just focus on your job, the last thing I need is Ivar telling me that you got your head bitten off because you want to fold your children's underwear."
"I'll be careful – I'm off, I'll just do my rounds, see the issues then I'll head back!"
"Say hi to Viktor an Erik for me!"
"Will do! See you around, Granger," Theodore disappeared up the stairs, and not long, they heard the sound of the Floo being used and he has gone to Scotland.
"Theodore's mentors are here?" Hermione asked while folding one of Sofia's shirts.
"Yeah, the Kholers came here a couple of days ago, to visit Theodore," Carina replied. "They miss him in Norway and Romania. Have you heard the story on how Theodore got transferred to Norway – I mean abducted?"
"No, I don't think I have," Hermione laughed. "Hold on, abducted?"
"He calls it abduction, but he was actually willing to go. It happened after he stayed at Romania for a year and a month, Viktor Kholer came to visit his brother and daughter, Erik and Kassandra, at Romania. While he was looking around, he took a liking towards Theodore. Then Viktor and Erik were dueling in the Hall. Everyone was just watching. And after Viktor disarmed Erik he suddenly pointed at Theodore and said, "Pack your bags boy, you're going with me to Norway!" Theodore had no idea what just happened, but the next thing he knew he was being escorted by Viktor Kholer to his home, helped him pack then took him away.
"At first it was just for a couple of days, to let him see the reserve in Norway, but when he was taken back to Romania, Theodore agreed to be transferred to Norway. Charlie and Erik cried when he left, and won't let go of him, Viktor and Kassandra had to have the two men be tied up to a tree just so they could let him go."
Hermione laughed. "Why is it that random things always happen to you guys?"
"You'll get used to it. Besides, life would be boring if it's too predictable, so let it be more random."
"I have no doubt that it is with a chimera and a Cerberus as house-pets, and I'm sure the children are having their fair share in trouble?"
"You have no idea."
The two women caught up in their lives while folding clothes, though they had magic to do it, Carina always enjoyed folding her children's clothes as she would smell them whenever she could. Hermione would laugh heartily when she would see Carina doing so, but she would also do that as well, smell Rose and Hugo's clothes whenever she would fold their laundry. After they have finished, Carina snapped her fingers and had the clothes float to the respective rooms of whoever owns them. It amused Hermione that each of them has their own color palette in the closets – Carina having a palette for the colorful galaxies, Theodore having earth tones and more black, Viktor and Romulus being a mix of earth and vibrance, Sofia with her soft colors, and Theo having too many black and gray than and kid had in their closet.
"I see you're also doing some wandless magic now," said Hermoine.
"I've been practicing, but all I could do now is get the laundry sorted or summoning things or levitating them."
"I'm sure it took Nott years to get a hang of wandless magic."
Carina and Hermione moved to the kitchen where Carina prepared some tea for them and took out their biscuit jar for them to eat. They sat down on table – unlike their own table in London, the Black-Nott family dinner table resembled much like the table in Hogwarts' Great Hall. Instead of individual seats, it had two long benches, then two individual ones at both ends. It amused Hermione to see such set up since it wasn't the most conventional one, but then again, since when did Carina, Theodore, or Roman do anything conventional.
"So, aside from helping me with my laundry, what is Hermione "workaholic" Granger doing here in my home?" Carina teased.
"I just want to see how you are, and I really need to get out of the house."
"Why?"
"Because Ron's been acting really immature –"
"Not surprising."
"—and he's getting on my last nerve."
"I thought you knew that when you married him? You know Ron's messy and disorganized and very... Ron. You can't even leave Theodore with him without him making a complete fool of himself – and Theodore once told me that he would rather be left with Harry than with Ron if they were to be stuck in the Ministry's lift."
"How come you never told me about this?"
"Well, because it's Ron, and Theodore didn't want to make things even more awkward between them – if Ron doesn't think that Theodore isn't comfortable with him or is annoyed with him, means less family drama. Theodore would rather just suck it up than cause a scene. Hermione, you have to promise not to tell Ron."
"Alright, I won't," Hermione fidgeted with her teacup. "Can I ask you something."
"You already are."
"Do you and Nott ever fight?"
Carina took a breath. "Fight it a really serious term, I'd say we'd argue about things."
"Like..."
"Well. There are times when I'd still be this arrogant and impulsive arse, and Theodore would show his know-it-all-arse side, and jealousy side that is something both cute but annoying and rude... most of our arguments revolve there."
"But does it last for days, though? Like a week?"
Carina thought for a moment. "No, not really. The longest fight we probably had lasted about a whole day. It involved a lot of yelling, angry-sex, and long-time outs... then sex."
Hermione choked on her tea. "I'm sorry?"
"We would make love, Hermione," Carina teased.
"You do that every argument?"
"Well, not always, just for the really stupid ones, which come often – it kind of brings back the fire when we were teenagers, you know, since we always argued then. Merlin, I miss those days." Carina had a dreamy look in her face. "Though, we haven't really explored sex at that time, so I like this age as well."
"Does it work? The... sex during and after the fight?" Hermione asked, blushing red.
"We're still together, right? Hermione, what's wrong? You don't usually ask these questions unless you're dealing with something that you want to do on your own – and don't try to dig yourself out of this, I was your roommate for seven years, I'd know when you want advice but are too proud to ask. It's a bloody Gryffindor thing."
Hermione sighed. "Fine, Ron and I are having a fight. And it's been days," she embarrassingly admitted. "We've been keeping it a secret because we don't want anyone to worry, especially the kids, but I doubt he didn't keep this from Harry – those two would always talk."
"Gossip more like," Carina snorted. "Is the fight really that bad? What is it about anyway – if you don't mind me asking."
"It's just the way he acts at home – he's sometimes immature and messy and disorganized – I love that about him, but sometimes it gets on my nerves, you know."
"I know."
"And please don't take this the wrong way, but whenever we would see your and Theodore's marriage, it's a bit... it makes us insecure."
"What?"
"Carina, you and Nott have been together since we were in Hogwarts, and when you're together it's like nothing's ever wrong between you two – it's like you both read each other's minds – you make it look like marriage is just a walk in a park! It's if marriage is a competition, you two would be on the lead, with Roman and Morgan, then Harry and Ginny, then Cedric and his partner, then Remus and Tonks would probably at the finish line already, and Sirius and Charity – and they're not even married, they're in-laws who live together!"
"Okay," Carina placed down her tea. "First, I am flattered to hear that, and second, it's not mind reading, it's communication. Theodore and I still have our ups and downs over the littlest things – his tendency to over-think and to be too controlling and my very carefree up bringing. We still fight –"
"But not like how Ron and I fight. Carina, it's been days – probably a week now since it started – Rose and Hugo could feel it. Last night, Hugo approached me and asked if everything is fine between me and Ron. How do you two do it? And please don't say sex because I doubt it would help."
"Well, it does help with loosening the tension," a voice spoke.
The two women jumped at the additional person and were surprised to find Theodore standing at the entrance to the kitchen. Theodore sighed, he walked around the table and sat down beside Carina on the table and took a sip of tea from her cup.
"Too sweet," Theodore's nose scrunched up.
"For someone whose first love is toffee, you don't like sweet tea?" Carina stated.
"I grew out of it."
"Love, I know you have a hidden stash of sweets in your office table."
"Fine, I just like my tea black, happy?"
"When did you get here anyway? And how much have you heard?"
Theodore took a biscuit. "Just came a couple of minutes ago, I could hear you two talking all the way at the office, and I am flattered to know that you think we're winning in this non-existent marriage-tournament, which I believe Sirius and Charity are winning as well even when they're not married – OW!"
Carina pinched him and Theodore just rubbed his abused arm. "Merlin, do you really have to pinch me at the arm that just got a new tattoo?"
"You got another one?" Hermione raised a brow.
"She's got a new one as well," Theodore pointed his thumb at Carina. "But back to Granger's problem. Carina's right, we don't really read minds, we just talk – and we prefer to be frank, no coated words of suggestions. And compromise, well, that is if Weasley's willing to come out of his comfort zone to do it."
"Ron's changed, he's not the same as he was back in Hogwarts. He's grown up," said Hermione.
"Highly doubt it. Didn't you just say that he's immature sometimes?"
"You're just being biased; you don't like Ron."
"It's not that I don't like him, it's just – we never really found that common ground to start a conversation..."
Hermione shook her head. "So, how do you two do it?"
"Compromise," Theodore answered.
"And sex," Carina added.
Theodore agreed. "Very helpful."
"Really?" Hermione asked. "Is sex really the answer to that?"
Carina and Theodore chuckled. "No, no it's not," Carina shook her head. "But I think it goes back to our wedding vows."
"You mean the vows that you purposely said in Greek so none of us would be able to understand?" Hermione said.
"Yes. Because we wanted to keep our vows to ourselves," said Theodore.
"Go tell her," Carina took Theodore's hand and slipped her fingers between its gaps.
"I thought you said that you like it to be between the two of us?"
"Well, it won't be long until we have to eventually tell that story, so, why not? Please, Achilles?"
Theodore chuckled, he brought Carina's hand to his and kissed her ring. "We may be married now, but nothing will change. I promise to be your servant, your master, your partner, your equal, and your best friend, from this day until we become wandering shades in Elysium, forever side by side. We started this journey together, so let us end it together as well. Stay strong."
Carina smiled as she remembered when she said those words to Theodore as well. "Stay strong," she whispered.
"We didn't let marriage change us, the night Carina proposed, she didn't knell down, she didn't even prepare a grand gesture. We were both alone and made a promise to one another that we will always be partners and best friends even when we marry. And we still are.
"You and Weasley are friends before you became a couple, and eventually married, but you both stopped when you finally tied the knot. That's the problem. You two are totally different people – Carina and I are different people, but she's my best friend, and we don't let anyone meddle in our marriage."
"What does that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked.
"You said that Ron would go to Harry for advice, and you went to me... it's okay to ask for advice, but at least consider if it would work for you both," Carina said. "You don't have to live in that idea on how a marriage should be because all marriages are different. It's okay to admit that there are times that Ron drives you nuts or that you two fight – hell, you could even tell him how insufferable he is, I tell Theodore that every time we argue. And he calls me a "hubris arse"."
"Again, I'm sorry about that," Theodore told her.
"It's fine," Carina shrugged. "And don't be ashamed to experiment on things."
"I don't think that's necessary."
"You might be surprised on with the sex after fights," Carina grinned.
"Okay," Theodore got out a handkerchief from his pocket and covered Carina's mouth with a good knot. "That's enough."
"You did that quite well," Hermione mentioned as she saw the knot that Theodore did. It wasn't tight enough to hurt Carina nor was it too loose to let her get free so easily.
Theodore froze and quickly hid his face in his hands, Carina smiled, she pulled down the silk and patted Theodore's head.
"He's still a bit shy about it," Carina said. "If you want to lean about knots, Roman's a good teacher."
"Don't, just don't," Theodore embarrassingly said.
"Good to know."
~*~
"Hold on, Nott doesn't like me?" Ron faced Hermione on the couch.
Hermione turned to her husband with no ounce of regret of telling him. "Well, you're not really trying with him, aren't you? And I don't recall you ever saying anything nice to him."
"I say nice things to him."
"Congratulating him when got Order of Merlin Second Class isn't enough to say that you say nice things to him!"
"How about he stops showing off that he's better than anyone else."
"That's not what Theodore does – he's just frank and does well on his job."
"He keeps talking about it."
"Because you ask!"
"What am I supposed to say? It's the only thing I could think about to start a conversation with him! Why didn't Carina tell me anything?"
"Because she and Theodore agreed not to tell us! Carina just accidentally blurted it out when she made the analogy that he would rather be stuck in the lift with Harry than with you."
"Of course, he would rather be stuck in a lift with Harry – who doesn't?"
"Before you even think about anything else, please do remember that Harry and Theodore lived under the same roof for months before they got their own places and shared a few days doing chores together. So, they can be comfortable with each other's presence."
"Did you both try that approach?" the therapist asked.
Hermione and Ron turned away as they remembered the embarrassing night that they both tried it.
"It just wasn't our thing," Ron shrugged. "But I did appreciate the effort."
"How about what your other friends said? Did you try it as well?"
Ron shifted in his seat as he remembered Harry's advice. It wasn't the best one he's gotten, he would admit since it was the most passive-aggressive advice he's ever given. "He said that we should just try to talk about it but we ended up walking out on each other. I went to out after that fight, ended up in the pub where I found our friends."
"Roman and Morgan," Hermione clarified. "They're the ones who suggested you. They said that you used to give Roman's parents' therapy? Alric Alston and Jenny Alston."
The therapist smiled. "Yes... I heard about what happened to Alric. I'm very sorry about it – I sent word to Roman and Jenny as well... Mr. Weasley, what was your reaction when Roman suggested couple's therapy."
Ron snorted. "I thought it was utter nonsense but turns out they also suggested it to Hermione, and she insisted we go. It happened three days ago..."
~*~
Arriving at the Goldstein Estate, the Granger-Weasley family were greeted by one of the twins. As much as Hermione would like to say that she could distinguish Ethan and Elias, it was quite difficult with the boys being identical from their hair, their mannerisms, and their clothes. This was something that the twins would do on purpose, to dress up identically – clothes, hair, and all – and make everyone visiting to guess which is which. Only Sirius, Charity, Maisie, Carina and Theodore, and Harry would be able to identify the twins, along with Teddy. Well, sometimes even Teddy would join the joke, he would transform into one of the twins and make the adults wonder who Teddy from the "triplets" is.
"Hello, boys," Hermione greeted them.
"Hello!"
"Oh, don't start with that!" Ron chuckled. "You know that I never win in this!"
The two twelve-year-old snickered and went to take Rose and Hugo to join the other children to play. Even when she and Theo were not always in good terms, Rose still joined Theo and Albus' little group and the two boys still lets her join them and listened to whatever it was she going to say, which was followed later by Theo saying a witty remark that Albus laughed at. Hugo joined Lily where the girl was getting her hair braided from Maeve. Roman's sister happily greeted Hugo and had him sit beside Lily and read the books that Teddy laid out for them.
Aside from the children of the family, the Diggorys also came to join the fun. Cillian Diggory were playing with James and the others, acting as Sofia's knight in shining armor, though the girl was not even close to being a damsel in distress as she sat on her twin, who was biting her ankles to get off him, and Fred trying to get Romulus from under the girl but was being held back by said girl.
While the children were having fun, Hermione and Ron tried to at least show that they were both fine, but it seems that even their friends could see through the charade and decided to separate the two. Harry invited Ron to join him and the half of the adults in the estate, where they were discussing about their lives, at that time it was Theodore who was talking about the latest transport that Charlie oversaw.
"Charlie's here?" Ron asked, surprised.
"Aye, he just arrived last night. We all had a long night trying to get the Wyren settled," Theodore sighed. "And Viktor won't stop drinking."
"How come he didn't tell us – does Mum and Dad know? How come you didn't tell us?"
"Ron, Charlie just arrived last night, and they were busy," Harry said. "I'm sure once Charlie wakes later he'll come over to the here to visit and see his nieces and nephews."
"What time did the night even end?" Cedric chuckled.
"I was able to sleep for two hours before the kids started jumping and saying that we had a day with Grandma and Grandpaddy. Luckily, Carina handled them and gave me an hour for a nap," Theodore replied.
"I told you that you should take a nap upstairs," Carina joined them. She sat on the armrest of the couch Theodore was and took his third cup of coffee. "Use the time to rest because I doubt that later you'll get any sleep with Charlie and your old boss joining us for dinner."
"I feel guilty leaving you with the kids when its my day off... I should be taking care of them so you could have your twelve hours of sleep. Especially with you taking the nightshift for the past three days."
"I'm a mom, I'm used to sleepless nights," she teased.
"He's just being a baby, truth is, he misses you," Roman snorted. "Carina, why don't you take Tan upstairs and tuck him in. I'll look after the wee bairns."
"We'll make sure he doesn't do anything too extremely fun," Morgan added when he heard of the plan, referring to him and his brother.
After Carina finally convinced Theodore to rest, the man reluctantly followed his wife to the stairs and to her old bedroom to get some sleep. The moment the door closed, Roman turned to his husband and Maisie, and said, "Five Sickles they –"
"What did I say about betting on our best friends' sex life?" Morgan cut him off. "Or your sister and brother-in-law?" he turned to Maisie at the last part.
"To not to..." Roman and Maisie pouted.
"Exactly."
"But we made bets when we all went to Italy last summer."
"Only because it's just us and Sirius and the others are not there."
"Kill joy," Maisie grumbled. The absence of Carina and Theodore had Cedric, Sirius, and the others to go outside of the house to look after the children. With most of their companions gone, leaving only the close friends – and with Hermione joining Charity, Remus, and Morgan at the greenhouse to see something, Maisie decided to do what she does best (ever since she was in Hogwarts), fish for gossip. "So, how about you, Ronikins? How's your marriage life?"
Ron rolled his eyes at the old nickname and the fact that Maisie asked. "Ginny told you, didn't she?"
"Well, I was her Maid of Honor, Ron – and we have been sharing secrets since we were in diapers, so you should have known that," she grinned mischievously.
"Things that bad?" Roman asked.
"You know too?!"
Roman raised his hands in defense. "It was obvious. I knew ever since I picked up Rose and Hugo to join me and the other children to the cinema! And the fact that you both were quick in giving me their overnight bags."
With Roman and Morgan not having children, they started treating the children of their close friends and family as their own. Even when they had their own nieces and nephews to worry about, and godchildren, they never forgot their friends' children to join the fun, especially when all of them were close. Whenever Roman and Morgan would be at the country, they would always spoil their nieces and nephew, and godchildren to the point that the parents were annoyed and would reprimand them (Theodore and Carina once scolded Roman for feeding the Nott kids with too much junk food and for buying them too many toys). But they never forgot the Potter children or the Weasleys or the Granger-Weasleys.
"So, what's the problem that it lasted for a week now?" Roman asked.
"And don't make it last like the last major fight you two had," Maisie said, referring to the fight Ron and Hermione had because of Lavender Brown and snogging.
"It's nothing. This happens all the time, we argue and we just make up." Ron shrugged.
Roman snorted. "No, Carina and Theodore argue. They debate, they scream at each other, they keep people out of it, they have sex, have a resolution, make-up sex, and they change." Ron groaned and sighed. "You and Mione, on the other hand, fight. You make a big deal out of it that you involve all your friends, that we must take sides, and it lasts for weeks."
"Don't even remind me of that sex bit," Ron shook his head to get rid of the awkward night."
"Ohoho!" Roman and Maisie grinned. "We sense something steamy and also very awkward, do tell us more!"
"Keep your bloody nose out of my business!"
Roman and Maisie laughed. The two held onto each other to stop themselves from falling to the ground. Just as Maisie was to say a witty remark, she was called by her mother to help with something at the kitchen, the woman excused herself from Roman and Ron and left.
"Ever thought of couple's therapy?" Roman suggested.
"What?"
"Couple's therapy. It's like normal therapy but for couples – you get a therapist to help you – do some activities and all that. Since you two are always telling people about your problems, at least have a neutral ground that is not your family to hear it out. That way, you both could deal with things."
"I don't believe in therapy."
Roman raised a brow. "You do know that Carina and Theodore went to therapy, right? They got help to deal with the things they went through during the war – so did Sirius, Maisie, Charity." His eyes then went to the window where he saw his sister rolling her eyes as Ethan held out a flower to her. "Even Maeve went to therapy... and so did my parents."
"Your parents went to couples therapy?" Ron asked, his face filled with disbelief.
"Aye... as we all know, Maeve wasn't really Dad's... Mum and Dad's relationship were already rough when I started in Hogwarts. They started going to couple's therapy right after Maeve was born."
"But it didn't work – I mean, your parents, they..." Ron stopped himself upon realizing what he said. "Sorry, that was a complete arse of me."
"Yeah, it was," Roman chuckled. "But, yes, in the end things didn't go so well, but only because of the secrets they kept – Dad kept the fact that he was a wizard until I started showing magic, he was forced to tell Mum about me being a wizard too before my letter came. And Mum, well... I also asked my Mum once if Dad were alive, would they have sorted things out, and she said 'no'," he smiled bitterly. "They would have gotten a divorce if he were alive, had shared custody with Maeve... the love was gone, there was no trust anymore, but they still care for each other. She's just sorry that they didn't do it earlier, would have saved me the heartbreak of living through it. I don't blame them though.
"Listen, Ron. Don't let a simple fight ruin you and Hermione – you two are opposites but you make it work. If you don't learn from your previous fights, I'm afraid you'll end up just like my parents, and I don't want anyone going through that, especially Rose and Hugo." Roman waved his wand and conjured something from his old trunk filled with memorabilia. It was a crumpled card that had a name, a phone number, and address. "She's good. And she also talked to me about some things when I was going through the rough times."
"I don't know, Rome. Besides, isn't this doctor a Muggle?"
"Just let Hermione think of a backstory for you both. Come on, don't let this silly fight affect Rose and Hugo anymore, you'll be surprised at how children are smart enough to know what's going on and would start to make conclusions about it... and sometimes it's not good."
"Thanks, Rome... I'll tell Hermione about it." Ron said, though he wasn't sure.
~*~
"So, that's how you both ended up here," the doctor said, once Hermione and Ron told their story. As it turns out, the time Roman talked to Ron about going to couple's therapy, Morgan also told Hermione about it. Later that night, Hermione told Ron about what Morgan said to her, and Ron told her about the talk he had with Roman. Though he wasn't convinced about the therapy, Hermione was persistent that they go to sort things out, thus their current predicament.
Hermione and Ron sighed. "Yes."
"Well," the doctor smiled. "Shall we get started?"