MetaFic

“Are you sure you don’t want to come Ginny?” Harry asked as searched under his bed for his trainers.

Ginny watched amusedly as her boyfriend’s bottom wiggled in the air as his search continued.

“No, I’m sure,” she replied less than convincingly. In truth she really did want to come along but she had so many other things demanding her attention she could afford to take the night off.

“I’ve got a stack of paperwork to go through and besides I think Ron and Hermione would like to have you to themselves tonight.” She looked over at the pile of scrolls and ledgers that were piled high on the kitchen table.

Harry’s head finally reappeared from under the bed, his hair looking more dishevelled than usual its messiness further emphasised by the dust and fluff that adorned it.

“Ginny have you seen my trainers?” He got to his feet and attempted to wrestle his unruly locks into shape with his fingers.

She smiled at him amused that his nervousness at meeting his old friends again would have caused him to forget such elementary things about being a wizard. Pleased that he should have given her such an opportunity to demonstrate her progress in the old magic she closed her eyes and used the positive emotions stirring in her to focus on her magic.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she pictured Harry’s trainers walking from the shoe rack by the door to the where she stood. It had taken her a lot of practise to become this proficient but she was determined to show Harry how far she’d come.

She completed the brief hand movement needed to complete the spell and was gratified to hear the sound of the trainers hopping off the shoe rack and making their way towards her.

Harry stopped playing with his hair and looked at her quizzically trying to work out why she was smiling broadly. His question was answered when his trainers settled themselves at Ginny’s feet.

“Are these what you are looking for?”

He smiled at her and planted a soft kiss on her cheek.

“Could be. You’ve been practising. A lot.”

“Would do for you to be doing all this fancy ‘before the foundation of the world’ type magic and me still stumbling along with all that Roman stuff would it?”

“You need to be careful, it takes a lot out of you, more than you think.”

“I’ll be fine Harry, don’t you worry. And besides didn’t you say the more you practised the easier it became? That once I grew proficient I would use more of the magical energy around me and less of my own?”

“Yes I did, but I do worry about you. You’re working very hard on things for 3W as well as all the stuff for the charitable trust. Why don’t you take a break, come out tonight, let your hair down a bit.”

“Coming to the pub with you is not going to help me get anything done. And besides I don’t think Ron and Hermione want to share you with me tonight. I get the feeling from Ron that he’s feeling a bit left behind as his life is standing still and that you and I are forging ahead. Even Hermione confessed that she was feeling a little confused by the way things had turned out post Voldemort.”

“How so?”

“Well, she admitted that since the demise of Voldemort, she had sought for and been unable to find an identity separate from you and Ron and the whole thing as The Golden Trio or The Ones Who Vanquished Voldemort.”

“I didn’t know she thought that way, why didn’t she tell me?”

“Apart from the fact that you were unconscious whilst she was doing a lot of the thinking, I think that your decision not to follow the obvious route and train to be an Auror spurred her on to try something different.”

“So she thought she do something reckless like go to university?”

“Don’t laugh at her Harry. Its hard being a friend of Harry Potter, you can feel yourself being submerged in everything that goes on around you.”

“Is that what you think? Is it hard being my girlfriend.”

“It is hard Harry, I won’t kid you on that one, but it does have its benefits.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at him causing to laugh.

“What I don’t understand, is why she , well, dumped Ron.”

“She didn’t dump him Harry, they were never going out in the first place.”

”You could have fooled me. If ever two people were suited it was them.”

“It would have helped if my brother had actually asked her, you know, told her he fancied her and would she like to go out on Friday, that sort of thing. Girls like to be asked Harry, they like to be told, not just be left to work it out for themselves.”

“So was that why she went out with that Alistair bloke, because he asked?”

“Partly, but also because he seemed to know what he wanted from life. You’ve got to admit, after all he’d been through, Ron should be aiming higher than his current position.”

“So why is she now at the ministry and getting together with Ron and me?”

“ She hasn’t actually said but If pushed I would say its because she’s realised that once you’ve been friends with you and Ron everyone else pales in comparison. You’re a tough act to follow Mr Potter.”

“So what’s Ron’s problem? Life too dull after Voldemort? God if I’d have known that he’d brought such excitement to everyone’s life I’d have let him off with a smacked bottom and sent him to bed with no tea.”

“Don’t be so cruel Harry, you know no one thinks that.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m beginning to think that my friend’s problems are all my fault.”

“No one’s saying that, its just, well, Ron thought that after Hogwarts he had expected that with his NEWTS and the fact that he’d played a key role in the downfall of Lord Voldemort, life would be treating him better. And that fact that it isn’t is making him more than a little angry and frustrated.”

“So tonight’s just like any other meeting I go to these days.”

“How so?”

“Everyone is nice a polite about it but ultimately they all want something from me.”

“Is that how you see me then, as someone who wants something from you?”

“Sometimes… but it helps that I tend to want the same thing from you.” He winked and smiled at her causing her to blush at the memory of the last time their needs and desires had coincided. She took a step closer to him and received the long kiss that he gave her. As their tongues entwined and they pressed their bodies closer together Ginny let her hands play across his backside taking unashamed pleasure in the firm muscles she found.

“You know,” she whispered, “you’ve still got twenty minutes before you have to be at the Three Broomsticks you know.”

He trailed kisses across her neck before nibbling on her ear lobe.

“And when do you expect me to eat?” he asked pulling his mouth clear long enough to reply.”

She began to tug at his belt and soon he was stepping out of his jeans.

“I hear that the evening menu is very good. Now shut up we’re wasting time.”

Harry walked along the darkened high street towards the Three Broomsticks. He had previously looked upon his meeting with Ron and Hermione as nothing more than a reunion with a couple of old mates. Now after his conversation with Ginny he realised that from Ron and Hermione’s point of view it was far more than that. He had hoped that he had done his bit for everyone else but he was finding out that that was not the case. As the brightly light exterior of the pub loomed in the darkness he thought wistfully of Ginny and how much he enjoyed being with someone with whom he could relax and wasn’t out to use him for their own purposes.

He pushed through the door into the noisy smoke filled taproom scanning the evening’s patron for either the tell tale shock of red hair or the brown bushy barnet that would tell him that his friends had arrived. He caught sight of Ron sitting at a table in the far corner of the pub waving to him madly and pointing to the bar where Hermione was getting in a round. He sidled over to Hermione and clearing his throat he said:

“And a pint of Goblins Demise whilst you’re about it Miss.”

Hermione wheeled around and shrieked with delight as she saw Harry. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

“Oh Harry!” she exclaimed, “it’s so good to see you. It seems like ages since we’ve spoken.”

Despite his earlier misgivings about the get together, Harry found himself grinning from ear to ear hugged Hermione just as tightly as she’d hugged him.

“I know Hermione; it has been nearly six months. How did we let it go for so long?”

She looked at him sheepishly and nodded over his shoulder at the table where Ron was sitting. “Why don’t you take these drinks over and I’ll follow on with your pint when it’s finished bubbling.”

“Butter beer will do just fine, I’ve got training tomorrow so I best stay on the wagon tonight.”

Harry picked up the two glasses and wandered over to where Ron was sitting enduring the less than discrete stares from the other patrons as he did so.

“Harry mate!” declared Ron standing up to greet him. Harry placed the drinks on the table and the two friends hugged each other. “It’s great to see you. Hermione getting one in for you?”

“I must certainly am,” a voice behind them declared. Harry turned and took the foaming mug of butter beer that his friend was offering him. The three of them grinned at each other before settling into their seats. For a few moments none of them spoke each of them happy sipped their drinks and grinned at each other.

“Do you remember the last time we were in here?” asked Hermione.

“How could I forget,” replied Harry his face betraying his embarrassment. “How you lot could do that to me I don’t know. What’s worse is the fact that you got Ginny involved as well.”

“It was her idea in the first place mate. You know that sister of mine, wind her up the wrong way and it’s just a matter of time before she gets her own back.”

“Ah but do you remember the look on Romilda Vane’s face when she found out that she wasn’t kissing you after all.”

“Don’t,” groaned Harry.” That girl has more hands than an octopus. I sear that I’ve had less thorough examinations at St Mungo’s than she gave me that night.”

“What I want to know,” asked Hermione, “ was how Ginny managed to switch you for a chicken before Romilda decided that she was going to try and suck your face off.”

“Well Harry,” asked Ron.

“She’s never told me. Not that I haven’t asked. I mean, when your girlfriend is willing to give you up, albeit temporarily to her fiercest rival, you want to get chapter and verse on it.”

“Did you ever find out what you’d done to deserve it all?”

“Nope.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“I wish I was.”

“Come off it Harry, surely my sister would have let you in on it by now.”

“I’m telling the truth Ron. As sure as eggs is eggs, I’m no wiser now than when it all happened.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a disturbance at the entrance to the pub where Madam Rosemerta was trying to prevent two men from entering.

“I don’t care what you think, the patrons of this establishment have a right to their privacy and it is not in the public interest for Harry Potter to have his evening disturbed.”

At the sound of his name Harry turned round and was rewarded with a few shouted questions and the flash of a camera.

“Mr Potter, are you supposed to be out drinking? Don’t the Vikings have rules about their players being out late in the week?”

Before he could stop her, Hermione got to her feet and began to harangue the journalist in question.

“He’s got a perfect right to meet with a few friends,” she declared indignantly. And what’s more-“

Harry tugged at her arm. “Hermione, sit down.”

“But Harry, they can’t just barge in on you like that, its, its…”

“Unfair? Immoral ? A breach of my human rights?”

“Well yes, you have a right to your privacy. We all do. Why can’t they just leave you alone? After all you’ve done for them you’d think they’d give you some space.”

“Hermione, you’re just making matters worse. Now you’ll be in the paper too.”

As if to confirm the point Harry was making the camera flashed again.

“Hermione,” said Ron softly. Harry’s right. To them he’s public property and they don’t think twice about barging in. Let Harry deal with it the way he wants to, its his life remember.”

Reluctantly Hermione returned to her seat and sat there fuming at the intrusion. Satisfied that they had got their story the two journalists allowed themselves to be hustled out of the pub.

“It just seems so unfair Harry. Why can’t they just leave you alone? Why does everyone always want something from you?”

Harry’s mind replayed the conversation that he’d had with Ginny before he’d come out and compared Hermione’s indignation with the picture Ginny had given him of a witch who’d decided that her future was tied to his. Over the last few months he begun to trust less and less people as even those he thought where his friends, such as Oliver Wood turned out to working their own angle on everything. He wondered what Hermione’s was and so he decided to ask her about it.

“So Hermione, what brings you back from University to the mundane delights of working for the Ministry?”

“Oh lots of things really, she said airily, snatching a glance at Ron, “but mainly I just wanted to get my hands dirty. You know, get stuck into things, help with the reconstruction. I realised that there was little point in putting my life on the line to defeat Voldemort and then walk away leaving others to pick up the pieces. Do you know how many people out there are still blasé about the whole thing? I’ll tell you Harry that unless we’re careful the next time another Dark Lord appears we’ll make the same mistakes as last time.”

“So what do you want me to do about it?”

She looked at him quizzically, her face screwed up baffled at his reply.

“What do you mean ‘what do you want me to do about it?’”

“What gave you the idea that I wanted you to do something?”

“Most people usually do.”

“Well I’m not most people. All I want you to do Harry is to enjoy life. Play Quidditch, marry Ginny, have lots of kids or whatever. You’ve done your bit, it’s up to the rest of us now.”

It was Harry’s turn to be puzzled. Hermione was the first person he’d met in months who didn’t want anything from him apart from his friendship and she already had that. After months of feeling like a commodity he felt a smile forming on his lips as he remembered what it was like to be accepted just as he was and he decided he enjoyed that feeling.

He noticed that their glasses were empty and decided that it was his turn to get a round.

“Same again?” he asked gesturing at the glasses.

“Yes please,” replied Hermione.

“Thanks mate, and can you get me some pork scratching?”

“I don’t know how you can eat those things Ron. They’re so unhealthy, so full of fat and do you know how much fat there is in them?”

“Hermione, you’re not my mum.”

Harry left the two of them to their argument as he wound his way through the tables to the bar. Despite the length of time that had passed since their last get together he felt as though they’d never been apart. And as much as he grew weary of it from time to time, there was something reassuring about the way they bickered that he realised he’d missed it. He also noted with a smile the similarities between the way they argued and a lot of his and Ginny’s verbal sparring.

Returning to with their drinks he found their argument in full flow.

“I didn’t not tell you about Alistair to wind you up Ron. I thought that as my friendyou’d want to know what was going on in my life. Just because you decided to react in such a Neanderthal manner is not my fault.”

“Hermione,” replied Ron placing his hand on hers to calm her down, “It was great that you were making new friends and all, but there are some things a bloke doesn’t want to know. When he’s been, er close to someone it can take a bit of getting used to.”

Hermione placed her other hand on top of his a smiles gently at him. ”I’m sorry Ron, I should’ve been a bit more thoughtful about it all. I just got a bit carried away.”

Ron placed his hand on top of hers gently stroking it with his thumb. For a few moments neither of them spoke, each lost in their own thoughts and Harry had the feeling that something had changed in their relationship. When Ron returned with their third round of drinks Harry noticed that he sat closer to Hermione than he had previously and that the amount of ‘accidental’ body contact between them increased as the evening wore on.

As they chatted, it became clear to Harry that although Ron was far from happy with the role his was playing within the Department of Magical Games and Pastimes but he had an interview the following week for a more senior position. When asked if he thought he’d get it he was surprisingly optimistic.

“I can’t say for definite, but I was told to apply for the job in the first place and as far as I know there are no other candidates.”

“So you’re a shoe in then?”

“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” he replied with a grin.

Harry looked at his watch and decided that ten o’clock was a good time to say goodnight. His two friends stood up to hug him and make him promise that they would do this again soon but made it clear that they weren’t about to leave.

“I thought we’d stay for one more,” said Hermione not quite managing to look Harry in the eye.

“Yes,” added Ron his pleading expression begging Harry not to ask to may questions,” one for the road eh?”

“Well, I’ll leave Ron to make sure that you get home safely then Hermione,” winking at her and causing her to blush.

When he got back to his flat, he found Ginny on the sofa surrounded by ledgers and scrolls and snoring softly. He thought about waking her and sending her home, but decided better of it. He also thought it might be easier to ask her about Ron and Hermione. The picture she’d painted of them was of two people struggling with life and wanting Harry to help them sort it out. Instead he found that his two friends wanted nothing more than to renew their friendship and see him left to his own devices to enjoy his life. As he scribbled hasty note for his owl to take to The Burrow, he wondered what Ginny’s motives were for misleading him and hoped that it didn’t mean that she was slipping back into her old habits and starting to doubt herself again.